Life-giving Spring

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Greek icon of the Theotokos, Life-giving Spring

The

Greek Orthodoxy.[4] Thus the term "Life-giving Font" became an epithet of the Holy Theotokos and she was represented as such in iconography.[5]

The

Bright Friday in the Eastern Orthodox Church,[2][note 3] and in those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite. Additionally, the icon of the Theotokos the "Life-giving Spring" is commemorated on April 4 / 17 in Slavic Orthodox churches.[8]

Legend

Russian icon of the Theotokos, Life-giving Spring, 17th century

Outside the Imperial City of Constantinople, near the Golden Gate (Porta Aurea) used to be found a grove of trees. A shrine was located there with a spring of water, which from early times had been dedicated to the Theotokos. Over time, the grove had become overgrown and the spring became fetid.[9]

The

Byzantine Emperor Leo I. On April 4, 450,[9][10]
as Leo was passing by the grove, he came across a blind man who had become lost. Leo took pity on him, led him to the pathway, seated him in the shade and began to search for water to give the thirsty man. Leo heard a voice say to him, "Do not trouble yourself, Leo, to look for water elsewhere, it is right here!" Looking about, he could see no one, and neither could he see any water. Then he heard the voice again,

The Holy well (hagíasma) of the Church of the Life Giving Font (Istanbul)

"Leo, Emperor, go into the grove, take the water which you will find and give it to the thirsty man. Then take the mud [from the stream] and put it on the blind man's eyes.... And build a temple [church] here ... that all who come here will find answers to their petitions."

Leo did as he was told, and when the blind man's eyes were anointed he regained his sight.

After his accession to the throne, the Emperor erected a magnificent church on this site, dedicated to the

resurrections from the dead, through the intercession of the Theotokos, and therefore it was called "The Life-Giving Spring."[2]

Church

Historians

Gate of the Spring" (Greek: Πύλη τῆς Πηγῆς, translit. Pýlē tês Pēgês).[11]

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the church was torn down by the Turks, and the stones used to build a mosque of Sultan Bayezid. Only a small chapel remained at the site of the church. Twenty-five steps led down to the site of the spring, surrounded by a railing. In 1547 the French humanist Petrus Gyllius noted that the church no longer existed, but that ailing people continued to visit the spring of holy water.[5]

As a result of the Greek War of Independence of 1821, even the little chapel was destroyed and the spring was left buried under the rubble.

In 1833 the reforming

consecrated
the church on February 2, 1835, celebrating with 12 bishops and an enormous flood of the faithful.

On September 6, 1955, during the anti-Greek

Istanbul Pogrom, the church was one of the targets of the fanatic mob. The building was burned to the ground while the abbot was lynched, and 90-year-old Archimandrite Chrisanthos Mantas was assassinated by the mob.[12]

Another small chapel has been rebuilt on the site, but the church has not yet been restored to its former size. The spring still flows to this day and is considered by the faithful to have

wonderworking
properties.

Feast day

Bright Friday
1959, Arcadia, Greece

The feast day is observed on

Lesser Blessing of Waters performed after the Divine Liturgy on Bright Friday.[citation needed
]

There is also a commemoration of the

This type of icon spread throughout the Orthodox world, particularly in places where a spring was believed to be sacred.[5]

In old

springs that were located near churches, dedicate them to the Holy Mother, and paint icons of her under the title The Life Giving Spring.[13]

A similar revelation of the Theotokos occurred in Estonia in the 16th century. The Pühtitsa Convent is located on a site where, according to a 16th-century legend, near the local village of Kuremäe, a shepherd witnessed a divine revelation of the Theotokos near a spring of water that is to this day venerated as holy and is famous for many miracles and healings. The icon, which was painted much later, is known as the Pühtitsa icon of the Mother of God "To the spring" (Russian: Пю́хтицкая ико́на Бо́жией Ма́тери «У исто́чника», tr. Pyúkhtitskaya ikóna Bózhiyey Máteri “U istóchnika”).[14]

Hymns

In the 9th century,

Mother of God for the first time.[5]

Apolytikion (Tone 3)[15]

As a life-giving fount, thou didst conceive the Dew that is transcendent in essence,
O
Virgin Maid
, and thou hast welled forth for our sakes the nectar of joy eternal,
which doth pour forth from thy fount with the water that springeth up
unto everlasting life in unending and mighty streams;
wherein, taking delight, we all cry out:
Rejoice, O thou Spring of life for all men.

Kontakion (Plagal of Tone 4)[15]

O Lady graced by God,
you reward me by letting gush forth, beyond reason,
the ever-flowing waters of your grace from your perpetual Spring.
I entreat you, who bore the Logos, in a manner beyond comprehension,
to refresh me in your grace that I may cry out,
“Hail redemptive waters.”

See also

Notes

  1. Leo I the Thracian was a pious man who is commemorated as a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day on January 20.[1][2]
  2. ^ The so-called "habitual miracle" (to synetés thauma).[4] Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos writing in the 14th century about the hagiasma, quoting from various sources, records a total of 63 miracles, of which 15 had occurred in his own time.[5]
  3. ^ Name days celebrated today include:

References

  1. ^ Great Synaxaristes (in Greek): Ὁ Ἅγιος Λέων Μακέλλης ὁ Μέγας. 20 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  2. ^ a b c Mother of God of the "Life-Giving Spring". Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Retrieved: 24 October 2012.
  3. ^
  4. ^ a b c (in French) Janin, Raymond (1953). La Géographie ecclésiastique de l'Empire byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères. Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines. pp.232-234.
  5. ^ a b c d e The Zoodochos Pege at Baloukli. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Retrieved: 25 October 2012.
  6. ^ πηγὴ (pēgē). Bible Hub (Greek Concordance). Retrieved: 30 December 2014.
  7. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek): Ζωοδόχου Πηγῆς. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  8. ^ a b April 4/17 Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine. Orthodox Calendar (Pravoslavie.ru).
  9. ^ a b Kovalchuk, Archpriest Feodor S. (1985). Wonder-Working Icons of the Theotokos. Youngstown OH: Central States Deanery, pp.67–70.
  10. ^ (in Russian) Икона Божией Матери «Живоносный Источник» Храм Святых равноапостольных Кирилла и Мефодия.
  11. ^ (in German) Müller-Wiener, Wolfgang (1977). Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul bis zum Beginn d. 17 Jh.. Tübingen: Wasmuth. p.416.
  12. ^ Λιμπιτσιούνη, Ανθή Γ. Το πλέγμα των ελληνοτουρκικών σχέσεων και η ελληνική μειονότητα στην Τουρκία, οι Έλληνες της Κωνσταντινούπολης της Ίμβρου και της Τενέδου (PDF) (in Greek). University of Thessaloniki. pp. 23–24. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  13. ^ Kristina Kondratieva (Global Art Communications project). Panagia The Life Giving Spring. Yuriy Kuznetsov: Icons of the XXI Century. Accessed: 2011-05-19.
  14. ^ (in Russian) Пюхтицкая икона Божией Матери «У источника». Православные.Ру. 07.07.2010. Retrieved: 2013-07-29.
  15. ^
    Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Bright Friday
    . Accessed: 2011-05-20.

External links