The

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer ...

of the Life-giving Spring or Life-giving Font (, ; rus, Живоно́сный Исто́чник, Zhivonósny Istóchnik, ʐɨvɐˈnosnɨj ɪˈstotɕnʲɪk, links=y) is an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

of the Holy

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-beare ...

that originated with her revelation of a sacred spring () in Valoukli, Constantinople, to a soldier named Leo Marcellus, who later became

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Leo I (457-474). Leo built the historic Church of St. Mary of the Spring over this site,''The Great Horologion or Book of Hours.'' Boston MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1997. p.621. which witnessed numerous miraculous healings over the centuries, through her intercessions, becoming one of the most important

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

sites in Greek Orthodoxy. Thus the term "Life-giving Font" became an

of the Holy

and she was represented as such in

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

. The

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of the Life-giving Spring is celebrated on Bright Friday in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

, and in those

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

which follow the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

. Additionally, the

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of the

the "Life-giving Spring" is commemorated on

April 4 Events Pre-1600 * 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. * 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. * 611 &nd ...

/ 17 in Slavic Orthodox churches.
April 4/17
.'' Orthodox Calendar (Pravoslavie.ru).

Legend

Outside the Imperial City of Constantinople, near the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

() used to be found a grove of trees. A

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

was located there with a spring of water, which from early times had been dedicated to the

. Over time, the grove had become overgrown and the spring became fetid.Kovalchuk, Archpriest Feodor S. (1985). ''Wonder-Working Icons of the Theotokos.'' Youngstown OH: Central States Deanery, pp.67–70. The

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

account surrounding the feast of the Life-Giving Spring is recorded by Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, the last of the Greek ecclesiastical historians, who flourished around 1320. It begins with a miracle that occurred involving a soldier named Leo Marcellus, the future

Leo I. On April 4, 450, 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, Saint Mary Of The Spring 2010-10-09 02

"Leo, ''Emperor'', go into the grove, take the water which you will find and give it to the thirsty man. Then take the mud rom the streamand put it on the blind man's eyes.... And build a
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
hurchhere ... that all who come here will find answers to their
petitions A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
."

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

, and the water continued to work miraculous cures, as well as resurrections from the dead, through the intercession of the Theotokos, and therefore it was called "The Life-Giving Spring."

Church

Historians

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

and

Cedrenus George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos (, 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 time from the biblical account of cre ...

state that

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

erected a new church, larger than the first, in the last years of his reign (559-560), utilizing materials that had remained after the erection of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

. After the erection of the sanctuary, the Byzantines named the Gate that was situated outside the walls of Theodosius II ''" Gate of the Spring"'' (). After the

Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...

in 1453, the church was torn down by the Turks, and the stones used to build a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

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 Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

. As a result of the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

of 1821, even the little chapel was destroyed and the spring was left buried under the rubble. In 1833 the reforming Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Mahmud II gave permission for the Christians to rebuild the church. When the foundations of the original church were discovered during the course of construction, the Sultan issued a second

firman A firman (; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word ''firman'' co ...

permitting not only the reconstruction of the small chapel, but of a large church according to the original dimensions. Construction was completed on December 30, 1834, and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Constantius II

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

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 Istanbul pogrom, also known as the Istanbul riots, were a series of state-sponsored anti-Greek mob attacks directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955. The pogrom was orchestrated by the governing Democrat ...

, 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 The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...

Chrisanthos Mantas was assassinated by the mob. 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

The feast day is observed on Bright Friday, that is, the Friday following Pascha (Easter). It is the only feast day which may be celebrated during Bright Week, as all other commemorations which happen to fall during this time are usually transferred to another day. The

propers The proper (Latin: ''proprium'') is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the liturgical year, or of a particular saint or significant event. The term is used in contrast to the ...

(hymns and prayers) of the feast are combined with the Paschal hymns, and there is often a Lesser Blessing of Waters performed after the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy () or Holy Liturgy is the usual name used in most Eastern Christian rites for the Eucharistic service. The Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Lutheranism, Eastern Lutheran Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church believe the Divi ...

on Bright Friday. There is also a commemoration of the

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of the Theotokos the ''Life-giving Spring'' observed on

(

Julian Calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

) / April 17 (

Gregorian Calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

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

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

. In old

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, continuing Greek traditions, there was a custom to sanctify springs that were located near churches, dedicate them to the Holy Mother, and paint icons of her under the title ''The Life Giving Spring''. 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

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"'' ().Пюхтицкая икона Божией Матери «У источника»
Православные.Ру. 07.07.2010. Retrieved: 2013-07-29.

Hymns

In the 9th century, Joseph the Hymnographer gave the title 'Life-giving Spring' () to a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

() for the

for the first time. Apolytikion (Tone 3) Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
Bright Friday
'' Accessed: 2011-05-20. :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 A kontakion (Greek , ''kondákion'', plural κοντάκια, ''kondákia'') is a form of hymn in the Byzantine liturgical tradition. The kontakion form originated in Syriac hymnography and gained prominence in Byzantium during the 6th century, ...

(Plagal of Tone 4) :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 ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

, in a manner beyond comprehension, :to refresh me in your grace that I may cry out, :“Hail redemptive waters.”

Notes

References

External links

Bright Friday: The Life Giving Spring of the Mother of God
Orthodox

and

synaxarion Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; , from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of '' synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; ; Ge'ez: ሲናክሳሪየም(ስንክ� ...

«ЖИВОНОСНЫЙ ИСТОЧНИК»
Православная Энциклопедия. Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia
Holy icon rescued from 9/11 World Trade Center rubble
Formerly St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox parish, 155 Cedar Street, Lower Manhattan
Purported site of Mary's well
Nazareth, Palestine
Collection of Marian iconography of this type
''A Reader's Guide to Orthodox Icons''

Scriptural roots of Roman Catholic prayer
"Mary and Fountain in Art"
Article at The Marian Library of the International Marian Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio. {{Virgin Mary Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Eastern Orthodox icons of the Virgin Mary Holy wells of St Mary Marian apparitions Shrines to the Virgin Mary Supernatural healing Titles of Mary, mother of Jesus Holy springs of Turkey Greek epithets