Kursi Cliff
Several decades ago, while in the course of paving the new road on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, bulldozers struck what proved to be an amazing discovery - the remains of a huge Byzantine church and monastic complex. Nearby stands a cliff close to the Sea of Galilee that recalls an event recorded in the Gospel of Mark.
It was rare for Jesus to perform a miracle on a non-Jew, but it happened that Jesus and His disciples crossed the lake and reached a steep slope near the shore. Pigs were grazing in the area, indicating that this was, indeed, a Gentile region.
When they got out of the boat Jesus saw a man possessed by demons. The people had tried to chain him but he tore the chains apart. "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones" [Mark, 5:5].
According to the Gospel account, Jesus asked the demons and they replied "My name is legion for we are many", [Mark 5:9, referring to the large number of demons who possessed him]. Jesus cast the demons into a large herd of swine that was feeding on the hillside and the swine "rushed down the steep bank to the lake and were drowned" [Mark 5:13].
There are remains of a 4th-century chapel near the hillside over the actual site where the miracle is recalled. A nearby cave was chosen by the Byzantine pilgrims to recall where the where the demon-possessed man made his home. The elaborate Byzantine church features arches and pillars, the entrance to a crypt, rows of columns and some wonderful mosaic floors. On the side is a carefully restored oil press with a draining pit.
