The Life-giving Font of Constantinople

Since the 5th century, the Monastery of the Life-giving Spring, located in the west of today's Istanbul, has been the scene of a multitude of miracles through the intercession of Mary, source of life. This renowned shrine, which has existed for more than fifteen centuries, still inspires fervent devotion today.

La source miraculeuse. © Alessandro57, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Reasons to believe:

Miracles attributed to Constantinople's Life-giving Spring or Font have been numerous and regular over the centuries. Most concern healings.
The history and miracles of the spring are recorded in two collections and numerous poems. Several historiographies also make reference to it. The abundance of documentation on the shrine testifies to its importance in the Byzantine world.
The enduring popularity of the site through the vicissitudes of history is remarkable: more than a dozen times collapsed, looted, destroyed or razed to the ground, the church was systematically rebuilt.
Such is the influence of this shrine that its name "of the Life-giving Spring" has been adopted by numerous churches and monasteries throughout the Orthodox world.
Since its creation, it has been a major place of devotion and pilgrimage for the Eastern Christian Church. Even today, it is just as popular, if not more so.

Summary:

Byzantine historian Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos (13th-14th c.) tells of the spring's first miracle. One day, Leo the Thracian, a soldier from a modest background, acted as a guide to a blind man. The blind man was thirsty, so Leo set off in search of water. He heard a heavenly voice guiding him to a spring and telling him to rub the blind man's eyes with the muddy water. The latter regained his sight. The feminine voice also foretold that Leo would become emperor, and announced that she had chosen this place to be honored. When Leo I became emperor in 457, he had a church built near that spring.

In addition to Xanthopoulos' work, which lists the 17 miracles that happened in his time, there exists a 10th-century compilation of 45 miracles, including all kinds of cures (cancer, hemorrhage, fever, abscesses, sterility, leprosy, etc.) and a few life-saving apparitions. The abundance of physical and spiritual healings can be explained by the intercessory power of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Mary Theotokos, cf. Council of Ephesus 431): healing comes from her son Jesus, who is divine in nature, Creator and Redeemer.

For example, Our Lady intervened to save the monks of Constantinople from the great earthquake of 869. The dome under which they were all gathered was collapsing, but the dome was miraculously held together until all had exited the building safely.

It is also reported that the magistrissa Helena Artabasdina had stolen two icons from the shrine, one of the Virgin and the other of the Archangel Gabriel. Refusing to return them even though the Virgin had appeared to her twice in a dream, the chest in which she kept the icons caught fire. When the woman promised to return them, the fire suddenly went out. The icons were returned to the shrine of the Life-giving Spring. This miracle is the subject of a commemoration celebrated on the first day of Lent.

After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), the church and monastery were reduced to rubble, but the sick continued to flock to the spring, where miracles and cures multiplied: "What tongue can describe all that this water has produced and all that it works to this day, for the miracles we observe every day surpass in number the raindrops, the stars of heaven or the plants of the earth!" ( Lenten Triodion, Apostolic Diakonia, 1993). The shrine was rebuilt in 1834 with a solemn dedication. Since then, all the patriarchs of Constantinople have been buried in the monastery.

This water of salvation still flows to heal illnesses of body and soul: "O Virgin, you are indeed the Source of living water; you alone erase at your touch the cruel illnesses of souls and bodies, pouring Christ to us as the water of salvation" ( Eastern Matins).

Solveig Parent

Beyond reasons to believe:

Mary is truly the life-giving spring who gave the world the One who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6).

Going further:

S. Efthymiadis, « Le monastère de la Source à Constantinople et ses deux recueils de miracles », Revue des études byzantines, 2006, vol. 64-65, p. 283-309 (https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_2006_num_64_1_2393).