The Monastery of the mother of God at the Spring (full name in el, , pr. ''Moni tis Theotóku tis Pigis'';
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
name: ''Balıklı Meryem Ana Rum Manastiri'') or simply Zoödochos Pege ( el, Ζωοδόχος Πηγή, "
Life-giving Spring
The Mother of God of the Life-giving Spring or Life-giving Font (Greek: ''Ζωοδόχος Πηγή,'' ''Zoodochos Pigi'', Russian: ''Живоносный Источник'') is an epithet of the Holy Theotokos that originated with her revelation ...
") is an
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
sanctuary in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. The present church, built in 1835, bears the same dedication as the shrine erected in this place between the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century. After several renovations, this building was destroyed in the first half of the fifteenth century by the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
. The complex got its name from a nearby holy spring, reputed to have healing properties. For almost fifteen hundred years, this sanctuary has been one of the most important pilgrimage sites of
Greek Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...
.
[Janin (1953), p. 232.]
Location
The church is located in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, in the district of
Zeytinburnu, in the neighbourhood of
Balıklı, along ''Balıklı Sivrikapı Sokak''. It lies a few hundred meters outside the
walled city, about five hundred meters from the Gate of
Silivri
Silivri, formerly Selymbria (Greek: Σηλυμβρία), is a city and a district in Istanbul Province along the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, outside the urban core of Istanbul, containing many holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city. The ...
(
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
: ''Silivri Kapısı''). The complex is protected by a high wall, and – being surrounded by Eastern Orthodox and Armenian cemeteries – lies in a green landscape.
History
Byzantine Age
According to historians
Procopius and
Cedrenus
George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos ( el, Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, fl. 11th century) was a Byzantine Greek historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the ...
, the church was originally erected by
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
in the last years of his reign (559-560) near a fountain of water from a
holy well ( el, , ''hagiasma'', whence tr, ayazma) situated outside the
walls of Theodosius II in correspondence of today's
Gate of Silivri. During hunting the Emperor noticed a small chapel surrounded by many women.
[Janin (1953), p. 233] Asking the meaning of the building, he was told that this was the “source of the miracles”. He at once ordered that a magnificent church be built there, with the material remaining after the erection of the
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
.
[
According to a later legend, the sanctuary was erected by Emperor ]Leo I the Thracian
Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" ( la, Thrax; grc-gre, ο Θραξ),; grc-gre, Μακέλλης), referencing the murder of Aspar and his son. was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia A ...
(r. 457–474) because of a miracle that occurred when he was still a soldier. Before entering the city, Leo met a blind man who asked him to give him water. A female voice ordered the future Emperor to wet the eyes of the blind man with water from a nearby swamp. The same voice added that she had chosen that very place to be worshiped and that he would one day receive the crown to the empire. Leo followed her order and at once the blind man recovered his eyesight. After his accession to the throne, the emperor erected a magnificent church on this place.[ This legend is possibly a later invention of the monks of the sanctuary. It is possible that, before the Justinian's building was erected, a small monastery had already existed there.][
The building underwent many repairs over the centuries. The largest were required because of earthquakes: in 790, under ]Empress Irene
Irene of Athens ( el, Εἰρήνη, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaina (), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler ...
, and – after the great earthquake of 869 – under Basil I (r. 867–886).[ On 7 September 924 Tsar ]Simeon I of Bulgaria
Tsar Simeon (also Symeon) I the Great ( cu, цѣсар҄ь Сѷмеѡ́нъ А҃ Вели́къ, cěsarĭ Sỳmeonŭ prĭvŭ Velikŭ bg, цар Симеон I Велики, Simeon I Veliki el, Συμεών Αʹ ὁ Μέγας, Sumeṓn prôto ...
burned the complex, which was at once restored by Romanos I Lekapenos
Romanos I Lekapenos ( el, Ρωμανός Λεκαπηνός; 870 – 15 June 948), Latinisation of names, Latinized as Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for the infant Constantine ...
(r. 920–944).[Mamboury (1953), p. 208] Three years later the son of Simeon, Peter was married to Maria, the niece of Lekapenos.[Janin (1953), p. 234]
Due to its position outside the city, the monastery was often used as place of exile. In 1078 Georgios Monomachos was banished there. In 1084, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
confined the philosopher John Italus
John Italus or Italos ( el, , ''Iōánnēs ho Italós''; la, Johannes Italus) was a neoplatonic Byzantine philosopher of the eleventh century. He was Calabrian in origin, his father being a soldier. He came to Constantinople, where he became a ...
to the monastery, because of his neoplatonic theories.
After the Latin invasion of 1204, the church was occupied by the Latin clergy and, according to Byzantine sources, this caused the end of the so-called "habitual miracle" (''to synetés thauma'').[
In 1328 ]Andronikos III Palaiologos
, image = Andronikos_III_Palaiologos.jpg
, caption = 14th-century miniature. Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek.
, succession = Byzantine emperor
, reign = 24 May 1328 – 15 June 1341
, coronation = ...
used the monastery as base to attack Constantinople.[ Two years later, as he lay dying in the town of Didymoteicho, he drank water from the spring and recovered at once.][
During the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1422, Sultan Murad II camped in the sanctuary. It is unknown whether the Byzantines restored the building before the conquest of the city in 1453 ][Janin (1953), p. 235] Russian pilgrims of the fifteenth century do not mention the church, only the spring.
Ottoman and Turkish Ages
The 16th-century French scholar Pierre Gilles
Petrus Gyllius or Gillius (or Pierre Gilles) (1490–1555) was a French natural scientist, topographer and translator.
Gilles was born in Albi, southern France. A great traveller, he studied the Mediterranean and Orient, producing such works as ...
writes that in 1547 the church did not exist anymore, but the sick continued to attend the spring.[
In 1727 Nikodemos, ]Metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
of Dercos and Neochorion, built a small chapel above the Hagiasma. An icon, discovered in the foundations of the old church, was venerated in the chapel. The Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
tried to take possession of the spring, but several firmans secured the possession to the Greeks. The complex was controlled by Turkish guardians, who collected from the pilgrims a tax that used for the maintenance of the prisons. Later the complex came into the possession of the Patriarchate, until in 1821 the Janissaries
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
destroyed the chapel and poisoned the spring. In 1833, a firman allowed Patriarch Constantius I to rebuild the church, which was inaugurated in 1835.[
During the Istanbul Pogrom on 6 September 1955 it was targeted by the state-sponsored fanatic Muslim mob. During this attack the ]sarcophagus
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
es of the Ecumenical Patriarchs which are located outside the church were opened and their remains were scattered. Moreover, the church and the monastery were completely burned to the ground. Since then the damage has been restored.
The sanctuary is directed by a titular bishop and is one of the most popular among the Orthodox of Istanbul, who visit it especially during the Friday after Easter[ and on September 14. On these two days, a great feast, both profane and religious takes place there.][ Funerals of people to be buried in the nearby cemetery are also celebrated in the church.
In Byzantine times the sanctuary was one of the most important in ]Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. On Ascension Day
The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared b ...
, the Emperor arrived by boat to the small harbor of the Golden Gate. He rode up to the sanctuary, where he was acclaimed by the factions, who offered him a cross and garlands. Later, he dressed in his ceremonial robes in his apartments and, after receiving the Patriarch, the two entered the church hand-in-hand.[ After the celebration, he invited the Patriarch for dinner.][
Each future Empress coming to Constantinople for her wedding was received by her future spouse in the Monastery of the Spring.][
The dedication feast of the church took place on July 9. Moreover, the Ascension, the Marriage at Cana (8 January) and the anniversary of the Miracle of Leo I on 16 August were celebrated here.][
The Life-giving spring gave origin to many churches and monasteries bearing the same name in the Greek world, but most of them were erected after the end of the Byzantine Empire.][Janin (1953), p. 237]
The icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
that represents the Virgin of the Spring shows the Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
blessing and embracing the Child. She is surrounded by two angels and usually is sitting on the more elevated of two basins which are sustained by a water jet coming from a larger marble basin adorned with a cross. Around this, stands the Emperor with his guard, while on the left there is the Patriarch with his bishops. On the background, is represented Leo I with the blind man together with the walls of the city. Under the basin a paralytic and a mad are healed with the spring's water.[
]
Description
According to Nikephoros Kallistos (writing in fourteenth century) the church by that time had a rectangular shape of basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
type, with a 4:3 proportion between the sides, and was partly subterranean.[Janin (1953), p. 236.] It was surrounded by two exonartheces (on the E and W side) and two esonarteces (on the S and N sides). The light coming from outside was concentrated on the source, which could be reached descending two stairs having 25 steps. Each stair was delimited by a marble balustrade and surmounted by a marble arcade. The water fell into a marble basin, and a canalization distributed it in the church. The edifice was adorned with frescos and surmounted by a dome glittering with pure gold. Around the church there were three chapels, devoted respectively to Saint Eustratius, the Theotokos and Saint Anne
According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
.
The present church is also rectangular in shape. It is roughly oriented in E - W direction, and has three naves divided by columns and preceded by an esonarthex. By the Northwest corner rises a metallic bell tower. The interior is richly adorned. On the right side near the middle of the nave there is a Pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
, while at the end lies a rich iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis ( gr, εἰκονοστάσιον) is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand t ...
. Right of the iconostasis there is an icon which the tradition says painted by Saint Luke
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
.[ The source lies in a subterranean ]crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
outside the church,[Mamboury (1953), p. 208.] and can be accessed descending a stair parallel the long sides of the church. A symmetric stair leads from the crypt to the church's yard. The crypt is adorned with paintings and icons, and is surmounted by a dome painted with Christ in a starry sky. The water flows into a marble basin, where fishes are swimming. These fishes, present in the basin since centuries, gave origin to the Turkish name of the complex (''balikli'' in Turkish means "place where there are fishes").[ According to a late legend, the day of the ]Conquest of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...
a monk was frying fishes in a pan near the source. When a colleague announced him the fall of the city, he replied that he would have believed him only if the fishes in the pan would have come back to life. After his words these jumped in the source and began swimming.[
The yard in front of a church is a cemetery with marble tombs – mostly of them dating to the nineteenth and twentieth century - belonging to wealthy '']Rûm
Rūm ( ar, روم , collective; singulative: Rūmī ; plural: Arwām ; fa, روم Rum or Rumiyān, singular Rumi; tr, Rûm or , singular ), also romanized as ''Roum'', is a derivative of the Aramaic (''rhπmÈ'') and Parthian (''frwm'') te ...
s'' of Istanbul. Also several Patriarchs are buried here. Characteristic of this cemetery are also several gravestones with Karamanli inscriptions,[Eyice (1955), p. 123.] which constitute by far the largest surviving group in this language.[Blackwell (1978), p. 62.] The complex is also surrounded by two large cemeteries, respectively Armenian and Greek, each enclosed in high walls.
About one kilometer south of the church is active an important Greek hospital, the ''Balikli Rum Hastanesi Vakif'' (“Balikli Greek Hospital Balikli may refer to:
* Balıklı, Istanbul
** Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul)
The Monastery of the mother of God at the Spring (full name in el, , pr. ''Moni tis Theotóku tis Pigis''; Turkish name: ''Balıklı Meryem Ana Rum Mana ...
Foundation”).
Gallery
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9090.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring graveyard
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9091.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring graveyard
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9122.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring Naarthex
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9096.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring pulpit
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9102.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring general view
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9106.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring left side iconostasis
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9103.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring centre of iconostasis
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9101.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring right side iconostasis
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9116 panorama.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring panorama
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9111.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring formal chair
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9129.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring painting
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9133.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring in crypt
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9126.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring in crypt
File:Church of St. Mary of the Spring 9123.jpg, Church of St. Mary of the Spring fish pond
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mary of the Spring (Istanbul), Church of St.
6th-century churches
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1835
19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings
Mary of the Spring (Istanbul), Church of Saint
Byzantine sacred architecture
Christian pilgrimages
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
Holy springs of Turkey
Zeytinburnu
Greeks in Istanbul
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Turkey
Istanbul pogrom