For thousands of years the well has been one of the focal points of village life. For men, this usually revolved around the importance of water to the irrigation of the fields. For the women whose job it was to care and tend for the flocks in times gone by, and still is in many agrarian cultures around the world, the importance of the village well was both practical and social.
The Old Testament Bible tells us that the Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob found their respective wives, Rebecca and Rachel, as they were bringing their animals to the village well, Genesis 24 & 29. Later, the New Testament Gospel of John tells of a meeting between Jesus and a Samaritan woman that takes place at Jacob’s Well in Nablus.
Various traditions hold that the angel Gabriel first spoke to Mary by a well. They are based on the apocryphal gospels which read, “When the Virgin took the pitcher and went to draw water, behold a voice said to her: Hail, Mary full of grace. Mary saw no-one, but going into her house, while she was spinning purple wool, the angel appeared to her and said to her: Fear not, Mary …”.
Built by the Crusaders in the 12th century, the Church of St. Gabriel was destroyed by Muslims a hundred years later. The present structure was erected as a Greek Orthodox church in 1781.
Tradition says that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary as she was drawing water. Mary’s Well is Nazareth’s only spring, and is recognized by Orthodox Christians as the site where the Annunciation took place.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him....Acts 2:22
