A holy spring is a small body of water that emerges from the ground and is revered in a pagan or Christian context, often in both: usually a pagan shrine that later became Christian. Initiation into knowledge is carried out at holy sources [1] .
The term “holy source” is commonly used to refer to any source of water that has some meaning in the folklore of the area where it is located. In Christian legends we can talk about a source that has arisen or acquired healing properties under the influence of a saint and is associated with his name; in paganism - about the supernatural presence of his guardian spirit.
In Armenian mythology, katnakhpyur is a legendary life-giving source, the water of which has the miraculous property to multiply the milk of women in labor, as a result of which it was considered the most reliable to take water for nursing mothers from katnakhpyur [2] .
Iconography Source
In iconography, where the Old Testament act is perceived as an example of Jesus’s life, the discovery of the source by Moses in the desert becomes a symbol of a wound in the side of the crucified Christ, whose blood brings redemption to humanity, and water personifies the water of baptism [3] . The source is one of the symbols of Christ the Savior and is regarded as a symbol of the baptism and life-giving water of faith. Christ is often called the stone from which the pure rivers of the four Gospels originate.
Andrei of Crete , denoting the source of these rivers: " Kamene, out of wondrousness of wisdom, a river, like a bowl, sheds the flow of theology, " refers to the psalms of David - the king of Hebron : " open the stone and the flow of water, the flow of the river " “Open the stone and give me drink” (Ps. 77:15), as well as to the words of the Apostle Paul : “ And all spiritual beer is written to you: piyahu bo from the spiritual next stone: the same stone is Christ ” (1 Cor. 10: 4) .
The “ Inexhaustible Chalice ” icon represents the image of the True Vine - the source of healing from drunkenness: I am the true Vine (John 15: 1) .
The source of the Garden of Eden is a significant spiritual symbol of the icon " Blessed be the host of the Heavenly King ."
In apocrypha
In “The Tale of Macarius of Rome” there is a description of the source flowing from the altar: the water at the source was as white as milk [4] .
In The Tale of the Indian Kingdom also describes the miraculous source, giving Christians healing. [5]
In heraldry
The source symbol is an element of heraldic plots. A bowl with a source of water is included in the compositions of the emblems of Voronezh , Veliky Ustyug , the South-Western District of Moscow.
Notes
- ↑ Source // Symbols, signs, emblems: Encyclopedia / ed.-ed. V.E. Bagdasaryan , I. B. Orlov , V.L. Telitsyn ; under total ed. V.L. Telitsyna . - 2nd ed. - M .: LOKID-PRESS, 2005. - 495 p.
- ↑ Astghik Israelian. The apotropic power of water in Armenian beliefs (Rus.) . - Yerevan: Zangak, 2012. - № 4 . - P. 121 . - ISSN 978–9939–68–094–1 . Archived October 20, 2013.
- ↑ Character Book (unavailable link) . The date of circulation is December 16, 2012. Archived January 16, 2013.
- ↑ The Tale of Macarius of Rome
- ↑ Batalin N. N. “The Tale of the Indian Kingdom” Archived November 11, 2013. // " Philological notes ", Voronezh, 1874.
Links
- Hall J. Dictionary of plots and characters in art. M., 1999.
- Mythological dictionary. M., 1991.
- Holy sources of the Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod regions.
- Holy sources of Russia