Church of St. Photina: Jacob's Well

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Introduction

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1. In John chapter 4, we learn that on His way back to Galilee from Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples stopped here at Jacob's Well to refresh themselves.

 

2. It was here that He and a woman both came to this well at the same time, and the two of them struck up a conversation.

 

3. This woman was from a race of people that the Jews despised - the Samaritans.

 

4. We learn from the Bible that she had five former husbands, and that she was currently living with a man to whom she was not married.

 

5. We don’t know her real name. However, history has given her a name: Photini, meaning "the enlightened one." Why? Because, according to the Gospel of John, she was the first person in the world to whom Jesus revealed that He was the Messiah.

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6. This church here, called "Church of St. Photina," was named after the Samaritan woman and marks the place of Jacob's Well, the place where she and Jesus met and talked.

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7. Jacob's Well was built by Jacob around 1906 BC, when Jacob settled here in Shechem after returning from Pan Haram with his family.

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8. The well was never destroyed over its 4,000-year history because everyone needs water, and this was an excellent source of fresh, cool water.

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9. We're going to explore this site and drink out of the same well Jesus did. We will literally be in the footsteps of Jesus at this site.

 

Location

 

1. Shechem had a significant role in the Bible and is mentioned 58 times.

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2. Jacob's Well is located in the Church of St. Photina, in Biblical Shechem. It is also known as Sychar in the New Testament, and as Tel Balata and Nablus today.

 

3. Shechem is located about 30 miles (48 km) north of Jerusalem and about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Tel Aviv.

 

4. It was in the Samaria region of Israel in the territory of Ephraim during Bible times.

 

5. It was on a main north-south travel route that linked the northern and southern parts of Israel.

 

6. It was also on a main east-west route that linked the coastal plain of Israel with the Jordan Valley. 

 

7. Shechem lies between the two famous mountains of Gerizim and Ebal.

 

Historical Background

 

1. God first appeared to Abraham in Shechem and gave him the promise that he would inherit the land.

 

2. Abraham and Jacob lived here.

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3. Jacob settled here after returning from Pan Haram with his family and built the well here around 1906 BC. This means this well is almost 4,000 years old.

 

4. Joseph’s bones are buried here.

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5. Later, after the Assyrian conquest of this area in 720 BC, it was also called the Samaria region.

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6. The Samaritans were a mixture of Assyrian and Israelite blood and were considered impure by the pureblooded Jews. As a result, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.

 

History of the Church of St. Photina

 

1. Shortly after the time of Christ, early Christians venerated this site.

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2. 384 AD: A Byzantine church was built over Jacob's Well. Jerome mentioned this church in his writings.

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3. The church was most likely destroyed during the Samaritan revolts of 484 or 529 AD.

 

4. 550 AD: The Roman Emperor, Justinian I, rebuilt the church.

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5. 1099 AD: The church was in ruins by the time the Crusaders occupied Nablus (also known as Shechem). Shortly afterward, the Crusaders rebuilt the church.

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6. 1187 AD: The church was destroyed by Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria, but the well survived.

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7. No church existed for centuries, but Christians continued to venerate the place.

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8. 1860 AD: The Greek Orthodox Church purchased the site, and a new church named after the Samaritan woman (St. Photini) was built in 1893.

 

Places of Interest In Shechem

 

1. Tel Balata

 

​2. Mount Gerizim

 

​3. Mount Ebal

 

​4. Jacob’s Well (120 feet, 40 m. deep)

 

5. Joseph’s Tomb

 

6. Modern Shechem (Nablus)

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7. Sychar

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Places of Interest at the Church

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Outside the Church

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1. Ruins of previous churches.

 

2. Mosaic ruins of the early Byzantine Church on each side, to the front.

• There is a drawing of this church from an early pilgrim depicting it as being in the shape of a cross. The well is directly under the intersection of the cross lines.

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3. Half Dome on the roof that is directly over Jacob's Well.

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4. Columns and pillars from the Byzantine and Crusader Churches.

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5. Mosaic entering the church depicting Joseph's Well.

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5. Image of St. Photina above the entry to the church.

 

Inside the Church

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1. Clay Jar

• On a platform at the top of one of these pillars is a glass case containing a jar. This jar is either presumed to be the one that Photini used to gather her water, or it simply represents the jar that she carried at that time.

 

​2. The Skullcap of Photini

• Near the front of the church, inside a glass case, is a fragment of a skullcap, which is believed to be part of the remains of Saint Photini herself.

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3. Icon in the Church – The Killing of Father Philoumenos

• On November 29, 1979, Father Philoumenos was killed by a disturbed man named Asher Raby. Raby threw a grenade inside the church, and while Father Philoumenos tried to escape, Raby attacked him with an ax and killed him. An icon in the central part of the church shows this tragic event.

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• Raby ran away and was not caught until three years later, when another priest, Father Justinos, became guardian of the church. Raby came back and tried to kill Father Justinos, too, but this time the priest managed to break Raby’s leg, and he was arrested.

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• Today, the sarcophagus of Saint Philoumenos is at the front of the church. After his death, Father Justinos worked to restore the church, and the restoration was completed in the early 2000s.

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4. Images of persecution and martyrs.

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5. Remains of columns of the Crusader Church.

 

6. Stairs in the front of the church leading down to the crypt where Jacob's Well is located.

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7. Crypt with Jacob's Well

• The well is around 140 feet deep (45 m).

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• The well has a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow a man's body to pass through with arms uplifted. This narrow neck, approximately 4 ft. (1.22 m) long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped and measures about 7 ft. 6 in. (2.29 m) in diameter.

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• If you were to look at the well from a side angle, it would be in the shape of a wine bottle. It's narrow at the neck, and then opens up wider the rest of the way.

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• The entrances to Old Testament wells were narrow, allowing a rock to be placed over them for protection.

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Example: Moses in Midian. Genesis 29:3: When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

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• It fits the Bible's description as being very deep.

 

Jacob's Well and the Samaritan Woman In the Bible

 

Shechem, called Sychar, is the place where Jesus met a woman at Jacob’s well and conversed with her. 
John 4:1–26: Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep [120 feet, 40 m.]. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain [Gerizim], but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

 

John 4:39–42: Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

 

Faith Lesson from Jacob's Well

 

1. Of all the events that happened at Shechem, Jesus summed up God’s desire for us when He told the woman at the well, “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 2:23–24). 

 

2. Do we worship God in spirit? 

 

3. Do we walk in the Spirit and stay in close fellowship with God (Gal. 5:16–26)?

 

4. Do we worship God in truth?

 

5. Do we know God’s Word well and the truth it contains (2 Tim. 2:15)?

 

6. We will only know God to the degree we know His Word. How well do you know God?

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