Welcome to five minutes in church history hosted by Dr Stephen Nichols, where we take a little

break from the present to go exploring the past. Travel back in time as we look at the people,

events, and even the places that have shaped the story of Christianity.

This is our story, our family history.

Let's get started.

Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this

episode let's go on a field trip to Cessaria maritime. This city today is a national park in Israel. It is a city rich in history,

rich in biblical history, and even rich in church history. Herod built his palace there in the year six.

That's of course the year six a.

And it was and remained the main palace for Roman governors of Judea. Of course they would go to

Jerusalem often and there in Jerusalem they would conduct business but their

palace of choice as it were was this palace that Herod built at Cesseria Maritime.

Of course, as the governor's main residence, that would attract a lot of commerce and a lot of others to that

city and it would give that city quite a prominence and so it's no surprise

that this city shows up in history. One fascinating discovery there because

archaeologists are spending a great deal of time there and uncovering the

ruins and consistently working way back in 1961. There was a discovery there of the so-called

pilot stone. This stone has on it simply four lines and it notes a building that was built and dedicated by Panchus Pilate.

The original Pilate Stone has been removed there from Cessarya Maritime, and it's in a museum in Jerusalem.

This stone is our only to date archaeological reference or evidence that references Paunches Pilot.

So this was a very significant find and it demonstrates and corroborates as it were the biblical account.

And of course not only do we have Panchis Pilot in the gospel narrative,

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