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 of a sacred spring (Greek: ἁγίασμα, hagiasma) in Valoukli, Constantinople, to a soldier named Leo Marcellus, who later became Byzantine Emperor Leo I (457-474). Leo built the historic Church of St. Mary of the Spring over this site, which witnessed numerous miraculous healings over the centuries, through her intercessions, becoming one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Greek Orthodoxy. Thus the term "Life-giving Font" became an epithet of the Holy Theotokos and she was represented as such in iconography.
The feast day of the Life-giving Spring is celebrated on Bright Friday in the Orthodox Church, 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.
Read more about Life-giving Spring: Legend, Church, Feast Day, Hymns
Famous quotes containing the words life-giving and/or spring:
“I do love thee as each flower
Loves the sun’s life-giving power,
For, dead, thy breath to life might move me.”
—Henry Constable (1562–1613)
“Some spring the white man came, built him a house, and made a clearing here, letting in the sun, dried up a farm, piled up the old gray stones in fences, cut down the pines around his dwelling, planted orchard seeds brought from the old country, and persuaded the civil apple-tree to blossom next to the wild pine and the juniper, shedding its perfume in the wilderness. Their old stocks still remain.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)