The house of Simon the Tanner, near Jaffa port, mentioned in the acts of the apostles". According to the New Testament, in this humble home events occurred that changed the course of history.

They are associated with the name of the Apostle Peter. In Jaffa died a Christian, Tabitha, and a fellow called Peter, who was in a nearby town. The power of prayer the Apostle revived the woman. Naturally, the event was struck by the townspeople, many believed. The miracle worker would accept to stay the richest houses, but he stopped in the poor house by the sea" - the hard working Simon the Tanner.

Thus began a chain of events that determined the fate of Nations. The next morning Peter went on the roof to pray, and felt the hunger. He's visited by a vision from the sky descended a vessel in which there were "all sorts of quadrupeds of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of heaven." Came a voice: "Rise, Peter, slay and eat." Law-abiding Jew, the Apostle refused to eat nasty and unclean. But the voice was categorical: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (acts 10:15).

Peter wondered – what would it mean? At that moment the gate of the house was approached by three seekers of the Apostle, and conveyed the invitation of the Roman centurion Cornelius, to visit his house. The laws of Moses forbade the Jews to approach the strangers, but the Holy Spirit said to Peter: go, no doubt. Cornelius ' house was full of relatives and friends of the owner, and Peter with great success preached to them. Then he realized that the morning vision the Lord commanded to bring the word of God to the pagan world.

Upon the return of Peter in Jerusalem some reproached him that he "went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them". But the story of the Apostle persuaded the believers: God gives repentance to the Gentiles, to bring them the word of God is the duty of Christians. The apostles dispersed to preach in all parts of the then known world, from Armenia to Spain. Thus was born the Catholic Apostolic Church, which became the Foundation of European civilization.

Today it is difficult to say in this house on the hill has experienced the divine revelation of the Apostle. There are different Christian traditions, and one of them is the true "house by the sea" was about 150 metres away, on the site of the present Catholic Church of St. Peter. However, in all the guidebooks the house of Simon the Tanner is called that it is a small building on a narrow street near striped lighthouse.

The house was rebuilt, during the Muslim era it put the minaret. The roof, as is customary, flat on her Holy could pray. In the yard there is a well from which, as they say, Simon took water to work, and the sarcophagus that supposedly she has hewn out for himself the Apostle Peter. To see this will not work: after a single incident of tourists are not allowed inside. One can only stand at the door, saying that the house belongs to the family Zakarian.

After two thousand years hardly matters at what point was the home of Simon. Pilgrims come here to reflect on an important episode from the New Testament and imagine how everything happened in these places, on the beach, near the old port.