Ayazma | Sacred Water Source

Ayazma Mosque in Uskudar, Istanbul (1760) by Architect Mehmet Tahir Aga.

Bird Palace from the Ayazma Mosque

In Turkey sacred springs are called ayazma. People from different religious traditions go to these places, whether churches or mosques, for a drink of clean and curative water, and to ask God for help. Women especially seem to go to an ayazma. An especially famous one is “Mary’s House” near Ephesus.These are often ancient places – going back before Christianity or Islam. Perhaps they were once the shrine of a mother goddess. The ayazma waters are clean and sometimes believed to be able to cure sickness. In Turkey churches and mosques are often built in places where there is an ayazma.

When Abraham sent his servant went to Abraham’s homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac, he found Rebekah at the well or spring (Gen. 24:13ff). Jesus met the Samaritan woman also at a well or spring (John 4:14) and asked her for a drink. This surprised her. The Bible tells us that Jews did not share things in common with Samaritans.

"On the shore of the Golden Horn I entered the narrow streets of Ayvansaray in the old walled city of Istanbul and found myself walking beneath lines of colourful laundry hung between the upper storeys ofold wooden houses. The laundry seemed to be dancing to the tune of centuries old memories. When I came to a high pink wall I followed it to an iron door, and pushing it open found myself at the Blachernae Ayazma or Sacred Spring, a part of the Byzantine Blachernae Palace.The palace was built as a small pavilion in the 5th century, but from the 11th century became the main imperial residence of the Byzantine emperors.

The sacred spring originally stood inside Blachernae Church,which was the most venerated Byzantine church after Haghia Sophia. The church was extensively restored three times after it was built but finally burnt to ashes in 1434 after children trying to catch pigeons started a fire. Inside the building housing the spring, candles were burning and the air was heavy with the fragrance of incense. I dranksome of the water infused with memories of the long and eventful past."

By Yelda Baler, a freelance writer