Crossing the Sea of Galilee to the eastern, Gentile shore, Christ disembarked into the country of the Gerasenes. A man came out of the tombs to meet Him — naked, uncontrollable, chained at times but always breaking the chains, cutting himself with stones, crying out night and day. Christ asked his name; the man replied: 'My name is Legion, for we are many' — a Roman military regiment was 6,000 men.
The demons begged not to be sent into the abyss, but to be allowed to enter a herd of 2,000 swine (kept by the local Gentile population) feeding on the hillside. Christ permitted it. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned. The cured man, clothed and in his right mind, asked to follow Christ; Christ instead sent him home to proclaim the mercy he had received. The site is identified with Kursi on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee; the Byzantine basilica built over the spot was uncovered in 1970 and is now an Israeli archaeological park.