We take some familiar things for granted. For example, when opening a faucet, we are sure that water should pour out of it, and this is really happening. We do not consider water to be the greatest jewel, but try to do without it: in a day you will not be able to think about anything other than quenching your thirst, and in 48 hours you will be ready to give anything for a sip of water. Living sources called our ancestors ponds and springs that possessed healing power, cured various diseases, endowed them with the abilities and gift of prophecy. In ancient Greece, there was a custom, seeing a traveler on the road, to wish him not only a good journey, but also fresh water.
Sources and attitude to them
The condition of our planet today can be called appalling: rivers are polluted, garbage is dumped into the seas and oceans, springs disappear, and the air of some megacities is simply unhealthy. And all these “achievements” mankind has made in the last 200 years. It is during this period that the significantly increased population of the Earth forgot about environmentally friendly behavior, as well as that 80% of people are water. It seems that the “king of nature" decided to self-destruct: otherwise it is impossible to explain the behavior of people destroying the eco-system that provides life on the planet.
But even at the beginning of our era, and even later, in the Middle Ages, living sources, or springs, were considered the eye of God, and the attitude towards them was careful. Only complete lunatics could risk destroying a well or a key breaking from underground: a punishment in the form of a curse pursued not only the guilty party, but also his family, including descendants. And if someone ruined the spring from a neighbor, then this was equivalent to an encroachment on life, and the punishment was appropriate.
The care of the springs was given great importance: they were cleaned of garbage in a timely manner, decorated the surrounding area with flowers, planted trees that created a shadow, and also erected temples in honor of the gods. Fontanalia existed in the ancient world - holidays celebrating the god of Font's springs and ponds.
Healing properties
Each spring is a living source of life with special unique properties. The ancient Greeks knew many places where keys were beaten from under the ground, and there were none among them of the same composition. There was a spring, from which water had the ability to influence a person’s consciousness, granting him prophetic dreams. This could have remained a legend if water had not been analyzed by researchers these days.
The answer turned out to be simple: the spring was located next to crevices of volcanic origin. During the period of volcanic activity, gases from the depths burst to the surface: inhaling them, a person sank into an altered state of consciousness. Archaeologists know that in any legend there is a grain of truth.
Greece was incredibly rich in such living springs. In one of them, the taste of water resembled a young wine and the same properties. After drinking from another spring, one could become addicted to wine drinking for a long time. And the third source, on the contrary, saved a person from pernicious passion. There were also healing keys that conquered the disease, both among those who believed in the magical power of water, and those who doubted it.
There were miraculous sources in other places. For example, the French city of Lourdes became a pilgrimage center for the whole of Europe thanks to the vision of the nun Bernadette, as well as numerous cases of miraculous healing, of which about 69 Church recognized miraculous. More than 70 thousand pilgrims from all over the world come here annually for healing. Since 1858, statistics have been kept of cases of health return that have no medical explanation. Pilgrims seek to enter the cave, where a living source of Lourdes water flows, next to which is a chapel.
Springs of Russia
Russian land is also rich in healing springs. Many of them have been known since ancient times, and some of them are opened at present. And there are those who were ravaged during the "parade of atheism", and today are reborn.
In 2006, priests of the Yekaterinburg diocese performed the rite of consecration of a spring in the village of Staropyshminsk.
The source is about 300 years old, it was destroyed and almost forgotten during the years of the Bolshevik persecution, and then gradually the parishioners of the nearby Sretensky church stretched towards it. Since 2004, work began on cleaning the spring and erecting the chapel "Softening Evil Hearts" in the place of the former destroyed. A bathhouse, the walls of which are lined with wood, was built next to the spring.
The composition of spring water revealed 36 healthy substances, so that it can rightfully be called living.
But from new sources, mention should be made of a spring beating from underground on the territory of the Commandant airfield in the city of St. Petersburg. The rumor about the wonderful properties of water spread quickly, and now a spontaneous pilgrimage arose to the source. People come with cans and other containers, claiming to receive help with kidney disease and a breakdown. They say that about 3 thousand years in this place the riverbed of the Praneva River passed, which after the earthquake went underground.
Holy Land
Speaking about the source of the living water, one cannot but say about Palestine, where the attitude to water was just a cult, given the climatic conditions. Wells in this ancient rocky land did not just dig, but hollowed, forming a kind of tank. Then their inner surface was covered with plaster. In this form, they came to our time after thousands of years.
The territory of the well was considered a sacred place and bore a certain name. Around the source, people settled, there were cities that bore the name of the well. The very name "source of living water" came from a well whose source was a spring.
However, in this connection we can speak of the figurative meaning of this expression. The holy books say that the mouth of a righteous person is like a "source of life", and the mouth of deceivers is essentially "dried up sources."
The Prophet Jeremiah compared with the "source of living water" of the Creator Himself, which is confirmed by John the Theologian.
Source of spirit
Which of us did not consider snowflakes and was not amazed at the ingenuity of nature: not one is repeated. The English scientist Henry Coanda, observing the crystal lattice of snowflakes, noticed that they react differently to environmental conditions. Drawing an analogy with "holy water", the researcher revealed a pattern between the form of a crystal of water and a prayer uttered with a strong energetic and emotional message.
Altai scientist Pavel Guskov confirmed the conclusions of his English colleague, adding some additional facts. According to his observations, "holy water", mixed with ordinary tap water, changes the structure of the lattice of the latter, giving it a "holy" shape. This is true for even a very weak concentration of "holy water."
Thus, water is a living source of life. She comes into contact with the subtle emotions of a person, changing properties depending on his spiritual mood.
In addition, water is one of the living sources of energy, along with the sun and wind. All of them have been used by man since ancient times to obtain food and heat, being renewable, since they were able to recover over time. Later, humanity began to use non-renewable resources, such as oil, gas, coal, thereby depleting natural resources.