Page - 44
"Mary’s Well"
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
"Mary’s Well"
Nazareth, North District of Israel
Fifth Day of my Holy Land Trip, Mount Zion, Jerusalem
My Holy Land Trip
"Mary’s Well"
Nazareth, North District of Israel
Mary’s
Well ("The spring of the Virgin Mary") is reputed to be
located at the site where the Angel
Gabriel appeared to Mary and
announced that she would bear the Son
of God - an event known as the Annunciation.
Found
just below the Greek Orthodox
Church of the Annunciation in
modern-day Nazareth, the well was
positioned over an underground spring that served for centuries as a local
watering hole for the Arab villagers. Renovated twice, once in
1967 and once in 2000, the current structure is a symbolic representation of
the structure that was once in use.
The
earliest written account that lends credence to a well or spring being the site
of the Annunciation comes from the Proto
evangelism of James, a non-canonical gospel dating to the 2nd century. The author
writes:
"And
she took the pitcher and went forth to draw water, and behold, a voice said:
'Hail Mary, full of grace, you are blessed among women.'
However,
neither the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke nor the Gospel of John mentions the drawing of water in their
accounts of the Annunciation. Similarly, the Koran records a spirit visiting a chaste
Mary to inform her that the Lord has granted her a son to bear, without
referencing the drawing of water.
On the way to Mary's well, Basilica of the Annunciation is behind, Nazaret, Northern Israel:
An
underground spring in Nazareth traditionally served as the city’s main water
source for several centuries, possibly millennia; however, it was not always
referred to as "Mary's well" or "Mary's spring". According
to the Rosicrucian Forum (1935), before the Christian era, it was
known as the "spring of the guard house", so named because the few
houses located by it at the time housed a number of local guards who patrolled
an important highway that passed by the well. In his book, The Bible as History, Werner Keller
writes that "Mary's Well" or "Ain Maryam", as the locals
called it, had been so named since "time immemorial" and that it
provided the only water supply in the area. William Rae Wilson also
describes "a well of the Virgin, which supplied the inhabitants of
Nazareth with water" in his book, Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land (1824)
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
James Finn, then British Consul in Jerusalem,
visited Nazareth in late June 1853 and his company pitched their tents near the
fountain, - the only fountain there. He writes that "the water at this
spring was very deficient this summer season, yielding only a petty trickling
to the anxious inhabitants. All night long the women were there with their
jars, chattering, laughing, or scolding in competition for their turns. It
suggested a strange current of ideas to overhear pert damsels using the name of
Miriam (Mary), in jest and laughter at the fountain of Nazareth"
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
While
the current structure referred to as Mary's Well is a non-functional
reconstruction inaugurated as part of the Nazareth 2000 celebrations, the
traditional Mary's Well was a local watering hole, with an over ground stone
structure. Through the centuries, villagers would gather here to fill water
pitchers (up until 1966) or otherwise congregate to relax and exchange news. At
another area not too far off, which tapped into the same water source, shepherds and
others with domesticated animals would bring their herds to drink.
The
Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, located a little further up the hill
from the current site of Mary's Well, is a Byzantine era church built
over the spring in the 3rd century, based on the belief that the Annunciation
took place at the site. The Catholic Church believes the Annunciation to have taken
place less than 0.5 km away at the Basilica of the Annunciation, a
now modern structure which houses an older church inside of it that dates from
the 4th century.
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
Excavations
by Yardenna Alexandre and Butrus Hanna of the Israel Antiquities Authority in
1997-98 - sponsored by the Nazareth Municipality and the Government Tourist
Corporation - discovered a series of underground water systems and suggested
that the site today known as Mary’s Well served as Nazareth's main water supply
from as early as Byzantine times. Despite having found Roman era potsherds,
Alexander’s report claimed hard evidence of Roman-era use of the site was
lacking.
In
the late 1990s, a local Nazareth couple, Elias and Martina Shama, were trying
to discover the source of a water leak in their gift shop, Cactus, just in
front of Mary’s Well. Digging through the wall, they discovered underground
passages that, upon further digging revealed a vast underground complex.
A North American research team conducted high-resolution ground
penetrating radar (GPR) surveys at a number of locations in and around
Mary’s Well in 2004-5 to determine appropriate locations for further digging to
be conducted beneath the bathhouse. Samples were collected for radio-carbon
dating and the initial data from GPR readings seem to confirm the presence
of additional subterranean structures.
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret in 1947:
In 2003, archaeologist Richard Freund stated his belief that the site was clearly
of Byzantine origins: ""I am sure that what
we have here is a bathhouse," he says, "and the consequences of that
for archaeology, and for our knowledge of the well, are enormous."
Carbon 14 dating was done on 3 samples of charcoal, each was found to come
from a very different time period, indicating the bath house had been used in
multiple periods, and at least was used sometime between 1300–1400 BC, although
with only 3 samples dated, it is possible for the bath house to be older.
Mary's Well (or Mary's Spring) was the city's main source of water.
Some believe that this is where Mary used to bathe Jesus and wash his clothes,
and that Jesus himself would come down to the pool and fetch water for his
mother.
The plaza and the well were renovated and reconstructed for the
millennium celebrations in 2000. Archeological excavations have uncovered the
remains of tunnels and pools from different periods, and this is shown in an
exhibition in the Meeting Hall of the City Council. The well's current shape is
identical to the one in the pictures taken by the pilgrims in the nineteenth
century.
The spring and its water are considered holy by both Muslims and
Christians, and earlier generations attributed unusual healing properties to
it. In the seventeenth century, bottles of water from Mary's Well were sent to
France, and during the Middle Ages the Catholic Church granted forgiveness for
sins to those who visited the site.
Mary’s Well History
The spring rises in a cave thirty meters north of the Orthodox Church
of the Annunciation. Originally the public well was located next to the small
pool that is now inside the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. But after the
church was established, local people were barred from using the well and a
replacement was built in the shape of a public water trough, to which the water
was channeled from the church. The water was also used by farmers to irrigate
their fields.
