Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel, also known as the (Greek) Orthodox Church of the Annunciation (Greek: Ορθόδοξος Ναός του Ευαγγελισμού), is an Eastern Orthodox church in Nazareth, Israel. It is one of two claimants to the site of the Annunciation - where angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and announced that she would give birth to Jesus - the other being the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation.[1]
This article is about the Greek Orthodox church in Nazareth. For other uses, see Church of the Annunciation.Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
Likely first established in Byzantine-era Palaestina Prima, it was rebuilt during the time of the Crusades, and in its current shape in the 18th century under the rule of Zahir al-Umar, the Arab governor of the Galilee.[2]
Known colloquially among the Greek Orthodox worshippers of Galilee whom it serves as Kniset el-Rûm[i], or Church of the Romans in the sense of Eastern Romans or Byzantines in Levantine Arabic, the church is located over an underground "spring" (actually the outlet of a 17-metre conduit coming from an uphill spring[3]), which according to Eastern Orthodox belief is where the Virgin Mary was drawing water at the time of the Annunciation.[4][5] Water from the spring still runs inside a side chapel of the church and also fed the adjacent site of Mary's Well, located 150 yards (140 m) away.[2][6]
The spring[edit]
The first church was built, probably in the 4th century, at the site of a spring that was the village of Nazareth's only water supply.[10] Such natural sources of water were a vital part of every village, and the spring in Nazareth served as its local watering hole for approximately three thousand years.[8][11]
The waters of the spring issue from a mountain known as Jabal as-Sikh and flow through an underground channel in the rock for 17 meters (56 ft) before emerging in the church. As recently as the 1990s, they continued on underground from there for another 130 meters to emerge in the public fountain known as Mary's Well.[9] Today's Mary's Well is a non-functioning reconstruction of the original that was built for Nazareth's Millennium celebrations in 2000.
History[edit]
Late Roman and Byzantine periods[edit]
A first church might have been built in the Late Roman period during the rule of Constantine I, at the only spring that provided the village with water.[10]
Crusader period[edit]
Abbot Daniel, the Russian Orthodox Christian priest who travelled in the Holy Land, describes a church located at this site between 1106-1108 as follows:
