Jacob's Well

John's gospel tells us the story of the Samaritan woman drawing water at a well in Samaria.  Jesus was hot and thirsty after a long journey (it was 'the sixth hour' .... i.e. mid-day) and when a woman of Samaria came to the well to draw water, he asked her to give him a drink.  She commented that there wasn't a bucket so he could draw some up for himself, and wasn't sure if she, a Samaritan, should be drawing water for a Jew ?    The story continues in John, chapter 4 ...

The church where the well is situated is the Greek Orthodox Church of St Photina in Nablus, and is found by descending stairs in front of the iconostasis to the crypt.   One of our group said he had visited the well about 40 years ago, when it was still in a field !  The present church on the site was completed in 2007.  Like all ancient sites, the key feature is below present day ground level, whether this is in the UK or the Middle East, so we went down the stairs to see the actual well.  

The winding gear at the top of the well .... the water is reached at about 30 metres, though it is thought in ancient times it was much deeper.   We tried the water which our guide wound up for us; it was cold, crystal clear and possibly with a slight sweet taste, though as I had a heavy cold, I couldn't taste much of anything.

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Nablus and Jacob’s Well has often been a site of contention and violence. In 1979 a Zionist group claimed it as a Jewish holy place and demanded that crosses and icons be removed. A week later the custodian, Archimandrite Philoumenos, was butchered to death in the crypt and the church was desecrated. No one was ever convicted of his murder.   This sad event is recorded in icons and paintings in the church, and around his coffin, which is in the church.

One of our group, the Dean of the Cathedral in Newport, had been a friend of Philoumenos, and so stood to one side and sang a psalm in Greek, which was very moving and other tourists stopped to listen.  The acoustics in modern Greek Orthodox churches are usually very good.