Nazareth
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(a branch, an offshoot, or a protected place) (Matt. 2:23, Mark 1:9, Luke 1:26, John 1:45–48 and others) (in Arabic, En-Nasira, or Nazira)—a city in Galilee, in the tribe of Zebulun, situated southwest of Capernaum and west of the southern end of the Sea of Tiberias, six or seven English miles west of Mount Tabor, with more than 3,000 inhabitants, consisting of Greeks, Catholics, Muslims, and others. Nazareth stands in a mountain valley, from which opens a beautiful view over the Valley of Jezreel and the mountains of Tabor, Gilboa, Carmel, and others, and over the Mediterranean Sea. Its population in gospel times was poor and small, and the inhabitants, it seems, were not distinguished by good morals—at least they did not enjoy a good reputation among others.
“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” This expression became, as it were, a proverb. Nazareth has acquired worldwide fame as the place where the righteous Joseph, the betrothed of the Most Holy Virgin, lived, and especially as the place of the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Most Holy Virgin concerning the birth from Her of the Son of God (Luke 1:26). To Nazareth Jesus, Mary, and Joseph returned after their sojourn in Egypt (Matt. 2:23). In Nazareth passed all the childhood, adolescence, and subsequent life of Jesus, up to His very entrance upon His open ministry for the salvation of mankind (Luke 2:39–51).
Here, in the synagogue of Nazareth, He once read and expounded the Holy Scripture. After this, all who were in the synagogue were filled with wrath, and, driving Jesus out of the city, led Him to the brow of the hill on which Nazareth was built, that they might throw Him down, but He, passing through the midst of them, went His way (Luke 4:30). Owing to the circumstance that the Lord Jesus lived long in Nazareth, He was called Jesus of Nazareth (John 19:19). Even to this day the eastern name for Christians is Nozrani, or Nazarenes.
The chief point of interest in Nazareth is the site of the Annunciation, now occupied by a Latin monastery. The chief adornment of the Church of the Annunciation is the modest dwelling of the Most Holy Virgin, located beneath the main (central) part of the church and consisting of three rooms. Another tradition of the local Greeks