"[3] The association of this particular site with the biblical episode is based on a medieval tradition, labelled by Thomas Cook as "worthless".

[4] It is in this place that the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI, head of the Catholic Church and the Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was held in 1964, marking an important step in the ecumenical reconciliation attempt between the two denominations.

[5] To the right and to the left of the door are two pillars on which the inscription in Greek can be read (ΟΙ ΕΝΔΕΜΑΘΗΤΑΙ ΜΑΘΗΤΑΙ ΕΥΘΗΕΑΝΣΑΝ ΕΙΣ ΓΑΛΙΛΑΙΑΝ ΓΑΛΙΛΑΙΑΝ), from Matthew 28:16: "the eleven disciples return to Galilee".

After the 1967 Six-Day War and the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, this church has remain intact.

Israel's 1980 unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem was condemned as a violation of international law and was declared null and void by the United Nations Security Council in UNSC Resolution 478.