Spring water … Probably, there are few people who would not agree that its taste is one of the best in the world. In legends, fairy tales and even church traditions, we find many references to the fact that streams of this underground nectar have more than once bestowed upon a person strength and healing from many diseases. For many years venerable scientists have been fighting over the mysteries of the springs, but for believers they have been and remain a reserved, holy place.
Living power of the earth
Probably, in every corner of the world there is a region or region where there are at least 2-3 springs with healing water. A variety of legends have been formed about their origin, and they are often associated with both Orthodox saints and pagan traditions.
One of them says that when only the first people appeared in the world, they had difficulty adapting to the nature around them. Hunger and disease haunted man, and he did not know how to cope with the adversity that besieged him. Seeing the ordeal of people, the wind that flew around the continents and oceans turned to the Earth and asked her to help the poor sufferers.
Taking pity on man, the Earth squeezed out life-giving streams from the body, into which she put part of her strength and wisdom. It was then that the first springs shone in the rays of the sun, and their transparent jets gave our ancestors energy and health.
I must say that the sacred books of various religions repeatedly mention the birth of springs, which then became known to the whole world. Thus, the pages of the Koran say that the sacred for Muslims source Zam-Zam, which is now in Mecca in the mosque al-Haram, arose from the impact of the foot of the archangel Jabrail and was called upon to save the newborn prophet Ibrahim and his mother Hajar from hunger and thirst. Now, a lot of pilgrims come to the waters of this sacred source to receive healing from the most terrible ailments.
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Heroic healing
However, the springs that were born in time immemorial, according to legends, acquired their healing power overnight, and before that their waters had not been seen in anything so “magical”. An example of this is a spring on the Murom land in the village of Karacharovo, from which the hero Ilya Muromets was healed. This key is located in a deep ravine that once upon a time was the old bed of the Oka. It is possible that the spring, like many of its “brothers”, fed the mighty river with its waters tens of thousands of years ago and was known to local residents long before the birth of the future knight.
This is how the Murom local historian and storyteller Klimov wrote down the first miracle of this Karacharov spring in the middle of the last century.
Once, on a hot summer day, three wanderers entered the village of Karacharovo - pedestrian kaliks. They walked from house to house, but nowhere did they find a living soul, since the villagers, from small to old, went to hay. It was only in the extreme hut that the "stranger" Ilya, the son of the peasants Gushchins, met the travelers. The Kaliki asked the cripple to go to the spring for water and give them a drink.
At first, Ilya took this request for a mockery, but suddenly, unexpectedly for himself, got to his feet. Bringing a bucket of water from the source, the future hero filled a wooden ladle with cold moisture and handed it to the wanderers. But those, glancing at each other, ordered the cripple to drink three sips himself, after which good health and considerable strength entered his body.
Since then, the sick and the suffering have reached out to the Karacharov spring in order to receive healing from its miraculous streams. After the adoption of Christianity by the Murom land, a wooden church of St. Elijah the Prophet was built over the spring, the foundation of which was oak trees, once torn out of the ground by the legendary hero.
And now people from all cities and villages come to the village of Karacharovo in order to collect wonderful healing water, plunge into the font and light a candle in the chapel of St. Ilya of Muromets. It is believed that the water of the spring helps with many ailments, but people who suffer from back pain and joint pain, as well as who want to acquire a stable immunity to colds, are more thoroughly stocked with it.
The apparition of the Virgin
There are many wonderful springs in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The oldest of them is the source of the Phenomenon of the Mother of God near the village of Kremenki, Diveevsky district.
Local legend says that the Mother of God herself, saving the villagers from drought, showed the poor widow a place where life-giving moisture was hidden under a thin layer of soil.
However, the first miracle happened here on September 9, 1670, shortly before the decisive battle between the insurgent Cossacks of Stepan Razin and the tsarist troops. Before the battle, the face of the Mother of God appeared in the streams of the spring to the local residents who came here for water, after which the spring turned blood red for a whole day. Apparently, the Mother of God warned people about the terrible harvest so that she would gather death during the battle.
After some time, the spring became famous for its healing power. People who were exhausted by nervous diseases, dropsy were cured here, and literally in front of the eyes of eyewitnesses, clear skin, previously covered with warts, became clear.
At the end of the 19th century, another miracle occurred at the source of the Phenomenon of the Mother of God. Women returning from the mowing, near the spring saw the holy priest Seraphim of Sarov, who told the villagers that it was in the local waters that the Mother of God washes her face every time she set out on the road along the Holy Canal.
In 1903 Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna came here to the spring. The couple drank a ladle of spring water and said that it was just a few sips of this moisture that contributed to the conception of Alexei's heir.
Local residents recall that the healing power of the spring water was so great that even in Soviet times, when violent persecutions against the church raged, many people, risking their position and career, came here to collect miraculous moisture and pray to the Most Holy Theotokos.
Kipun spring
Not far from Izborsk there is another unusual source, nicknamed by the locals Kipun. It got this name due to the fact that the water in it constantly "boils" - it seethes in the very center of the stream, raising whirlpools of grains of sand from the bottom. It is believed that this key helps with eye disease, and in order to receive healing, you need to lower your face for a while, opening your eyes, into healing streams.
This ceremony should be performed at sunrise for three consecutive days. However, unlike other miraculous springs of Russia, it is assumed that Kipun is "in charge" of some evil spirit, and in order to enlist their help, you need to throw a few coins into the key. The same rule applies to people who want to take several bottles of wonderful moisture to sick relatives.
The energy of faith
One can talk endlessly about the miracles of spring water. And even skeptical people will agree that it can be stored for years at home, and it will not lose its wonderful taste. But what about the healing properties? Of course, miracles can be explained by the peculiarities of the soil of the area and various salts and minerals dissolved in water, but …
The water from the source Zam-Zam has been repeatedly studied by scientists working in laboratories around the world. They found that in one place of the spring there was a slight increase in magnesium salts, and in another there were fluorides with bactericidal properties. Such water may well give strength to a weary pilgrim and kill pathogenic microbes in a tiny scratch, but its properties are clearly not enough to heal skin cancer or leukemia (such miracles have been repeatedly recorded by eyewitnesses).
In addition, in Soviet times, militant atheists covered the miraculous springs with manure and garbage, and the water, which had difficulty making its way through these "placers", still did not lose either its taste or healing qualities.
Convinced atheists will say that there is a placebo effect, they say, it is not water that heals, but faith. But how to explain the fact that even convinced skeptics who happened to be in a sacred place, after the first sip of water, disappeared headache and aching joints?
Be that as it may, the fame of the "living water" of the underground springs does not dry out for millennia, and the number of people who have received healing in their clean streams is growing day by day.