The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch/Volume 1/Part 1/Book 1/Section 12
Sect. XII.
Constantinople.—Seven Towers.
On Monday, the twenty-third of Teshrin the second, we rose to leave them at break of day; and, going out with them, came to Yedi Kulleh, or the Seven Towers. In all the walls of Constantinople and its forts, there is not a handsomer nor stronger building than these Towers, and the walls that inclose them, which are triple, one within the other. Then we went out by the Top Capi, or Canon-gate, to the Burial-ground of the Christians, where is an Ἁγίασμα, or Holy Well, called, in the Συναξάρια (Martyrology), Ζωοτοϰοπηγὴ, that is, the Fountain of Life, appropriated to the Mother of God, whose festival is kept on the Friday of the Διαϰινήσιμον. It is now called the Holy Fountain of the Balikli, or of the Church of Fishes[1]. We went down the steps to it, and drank of its blessed water, which cures diseases. Here the Christians keep the Monday of the Resurrection, with eating and drinking, and every kind of mirth. Then we passed through the Gate of Adrianople, and came to our lodgings in the Fanar. For myself, I went to see the Fountain of Velashirnas, which is now neglected and almost forgotten, situated in the district of Palati, opposite to Khass Keui, and higher up than the Fanar. I entered into an inclosed building inhabited by a tribe of Gipsies; which was the church, but few signs of which are apparent; and found the Well within, issuing from a cave, which was anciently in the treasury of the Tabernacle. Coming out thence, I visited the magnificent large Church of St. Demetrius, situated in the aforesaid district; and, afterwards, the Church of Our Lady. We took a blessing from her image, which was pierced with a spear; and the blood flows from it.
On the eve of Sunday, the second of the Fast of the Nativity, we attended the Ἀγρυπνία (Vigils), and the mass next morning, in the Church of the Patriarch of Constantinople: for our Patriarch wished to take leave of him, to proceed on his travels. After mass, the Constantinopolitan took him up to his palace; and they bade adieu to each other with tears; and each prayed over the head of the other: and the Constantinopolitan gave to our Patriarch large and handsome letters to the Sovereigns[2] and his own subordinates.
- ↑ "At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the walls, is Balukli, or the Church of Fishes. The church is so called from a legend that has rendered it very celebrated among the Greeks. There stood on this place a small Monastery of Greek Caloyers, when Mahomet laid siege to Constantinople; who, it seems, were not molested by his army. On the day of the decisive attack, a Monk was frying some fish, when news was suddenly brought to the convent, that the Turks had entered the town, through the breach in the walls. 'I would as soon believe,' said he, 'that these fried fish would spring from the pan, and become again alive.' To reprove the incredulous Monk, the fish did spring from the pan into a vessel of water which stood near, and swam about as if they never had been taken out of it. In commemoration of this miracle, a church was erected over the spot, containing a reservoir of water, into which the fish, which still continued alive, were placed. The twenty-ninth of April was appointed, in the Greek Calendar, as a festival to commemorate the circumstance; and a vast concourse of people used to assemble here on every anniversary-day, to see the miraculous and everlasting fishes swim about the reservoir."—Dr. Walsh.
- ↑ "To the Sovereigns and his own subordinates."] The Princes of Wallachia and Moldavia are meant by the first, and the Metropolitans of the different Dioceses by the latter.