Water -- our most precious resource -- existed from the beginning of Creation.
The Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters before light divided day and night.
Water holds a sacred place in all cultures, but is especially holy for ancient Hebrews
and early Christians; it is life-sustaining, life-giving, and capable of cleansing both
soul and body, whether it’s the water we drink, the water of the womb, or the blessed
water of the baptismal font.
In dry and desolate climates, people lived and thrived in places where water was hewn
from the earth.
Shechem was such a place, as read in Holy Scripture.
It’s where the Patriarch Jacob pitched his tent and dug a well and centered his community
around it.
It became known as Jacob’s Well and is considered one of the most “authentic” places in
the Holy Land, equally recognized by modern day Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike.
Jacob’s Well is only a few days walk from Jerusalem, in modern Nablus (ancient
Neapolis), and appears in the New Testament where Christ meets the Samaritan woman in
the Gospel of John.
There, Christ offers her living water and promises that if she
drinks from it, it will become a fountain of living water within her and a spring of
eternal life.
This woman, now known as Saint Photini, was so moved by this encounter and by Christ revealing
her life to her that she proclaimed to those back in the village, “Come, see a man that
told me all things that I ever did.
Could this be the Christ?”
After Christ’s death and resurrection, Saint Photini preached the gospel in Carthage and
was martyred during the persecutions of the Emperor Nero.
By the fourth century A.D., people were using Jacob’s Well for baptisms, with the site
even gaining a mention in the writings of St. Jerome.
Numerous churches have been built upon this hallowed space over the centuries, only to
succumb to destruction during the Persian raids, the Crusades and other conquests.
The current beautiful structure was originally commissioned by the Orthodox Patriarchate
in the early 20th century, but due to the political upheavals of the West Bank, and
the great deal of tension as to who truly owns the site, equally sacred to Jews, Christians,
and Muslims, this church could not be finished.
As history repeated, and as small sparks of discontent often lead
to tremendous flames of violent conflict, the construction of the church was delayed
several times until the early twenty first century.
St. Philoumenos, an Archimandrite venerated as the protector of Jacob’s Well, was martyred
upon this holy ground on November 29th, 1979 in the midst of the columns of the unfinished
church.
His face was struck by the axe of the murderer carving the sign of
the cross on his face, and his right hand was mutilated: the fingers, which blessed
the faithful and served the holy Eucharist were cleaved at the joints.
His martyrdom is partially shrouded by claims that his violent
murder had nothing to do with his Orthodox faith, but witnesses say otherwise.
Given the gruesome, sacrilegious nature of his death, it is hard to define it as anything
else.
Thus, St. Philoumenos is recognized by the Church as a martyr.
St. Philoumenos was born on October 15th, 1913 and given the name Sophocles while his
twin brother was given the name Alexander.
They were two of thirteen children born to George and Magdalene in Orounta, Cyprus.
During this time, Cyprus was a British Protectorate.
It had been leased to the British by the Ottomans in the year 1878 in exchange for protection
against a possible Russian invasion.
It was officially declared a British colony in 1925, and an independent island nation
in 1960.
In 1974, several years before St. Philoumenos’ murder, his homeland of Cyprus was rife
with conflict as Turkish troops had invaded and caused much destruction.
St. Philoumenos and his twin brother were raised in the shadow of the parish of Saint
Savvas in Nicosia, where their family owned an inn and a bakery.
From an early age, both boys showed great love and enthusiasm for holy scripture and
the teachings of the Church; their grandmother was instrumental
in their upbringing in the faith, who along with their mother, helped to plant the seeds
of monasticism in their hearts.
From a young age, St. Philoumenos had a strong inclination
towards prayer and the reading of Holy Scriptures.
He also loved the lives of the saints.
He was especially inspired by the life of St. John the Hut-Dweller.
When they were fourteen, the twin brothers left home for the Monastery of Stavrovouni
-- founded by St. Helena, Equal to the Apostles - where they remained for five years, before
attending school in Jerusalem.
St. Philoumenos’ twin brother became known as Archimandrite Elpidios.
Upon completing their education in 1939, Father Elpidios served as a priest and eventually
departed for Mount Athos.
Saint Philoumenos remained in Jerusalem and joined the Monastic Brotherhood of the Holy
Sepulcher.
While he served as a monk, he also studied Arabic, even though his spiritual father disapproved
of academics for fear that it would tempt the brothers to leave the monastic life.
Following the example of St. John the Hut-Dweller, Philoumenos studied fervently: he wanted desperately
to be able to spread the Gospel of Christ to the lost souls among the native Palestinian
Christians.
So great were his efforts that he became fluent in both conversational and academic Arabic,
and could chant the liturgy, read scripture, and recite the Gospel even more easily than
many people who had Arabic as their mother tongue.
An exceedingly gentle man, blessed with additional serenity by the Holy Spirit, Father Philoumenos
was often sent to parishes that had been struck with scandal or other harm in order to restore
harmony and bring peace to parishioners' souls.
It is said that no one could even imagine an immodest or improper word escaping his
lips.
He was meticulous when it came to reading the services: he did not omit or rush a single
word of any of the divine services, and when the services were
abridged for pilgrims, he took care to read all the omitted words afterwards so that nothing
was neglected.
Saint Philoumenos was appointed the guardian of Jacob’s Well in May 1979.
He began fundraising for the completion of the Church of St. Photini, which remained
uncompleted since the First World War.
But also soon after his arrival, he began to receive threats from fanatical Jews who
claimed the Well of Jacob as their own and demanded that Philoumenos remove all the icons
from the church.
On November 29 of 1979, the fateful day he was to meet the Lord, his attacker stormed
the monastery with grenades while St. Philoumenos was celebrating Vespers; as the saint fled
the flames caused by the grenades, the assailant brutally struck him down with an axe.
The attacker chopped up the crucifixes, desecrated the liturgical vessels, and then fled the
scene.
The murderer was finally caught.
He confessed to this and several other crimes, including an attack on an Orthodox nun.
He was finally declared mentally ill by the Israeli Courts and committed to a mental hospital.
The funeral of St. Philoumenos was held at the Monastery of St. Thecla in Jerusalem and
he was buried in the cemetery of the Brotherhood of the Guardians of the Holy Sepulcher on
Mount Zion.
Four years later, when St. Philoumenos was exhumed as is customary for monastics, those
present found themselves in front of an amazing sight; his body was entirely incorrupt and
exuded a beautiful fragrance.
They quickly closed the tomb.
But when they opened it again a year later, around Christmas of 1984, he was still incorrupt
and fragrant.
His body was then brought out, washed in wine, and wrapped in white linen before being placed
in a glass shrine in the sacred Altar in Mount Zion.
There, pilgrims to the Holy Lands could witness the amazing sight of the incorrupt martyr
for the next two decades.
St. Philoumenos was formally declared a Saint by the Church of Jerusalem in August of
2008 and his incorrupt body was transferred to Nablus, to the newly built church at Jacob’s
Well, the place of his martyrdom, where he serves as its perpetual guardian.
The Lord allows for the creation of martyrs, even during these modern times, and preserves
their bodies incorrupt and fragrant, thus declaring to us that He is present in
our lives even now performing wondrous works according to His divine will and mercy.
O Martyr of Christ, pray for us to the Lord that we too may be saved!