Samaritan woman at the well

{{Short description|Figure in the Gospel of John}} {{Redirect|Christ and the Samaritan Woman}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} [[File:Angelika Kauffmann - Christus und die Samariterin am Brunnen -1796.jpeg|thumb|The ''[[Water of Life Discourse]]'' between Jesus and the ''Samaritan Woman at the Well'' by [[Angelika Kauffmann]], 17th–18th century]]

The '''Samaritan woman at the well''', also known as '''Photini of Samaria''', is a figure from the [[Gospel of John]]. [[John 4]]:4–42 relates her conversation with [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] at [[Jacob's Well]] near the city of [[Sychar]] or Shechem.

==Biblical account== [[File:Photina of Protat.JPG|thumb|Eastern Orthodox fresco of Saint Photine meeting Christ]] The [[World English Bible]]'s text reads: {{blockquote|He needed to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink', you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?" Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband', for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship".

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you."<ref name=j4>{{bibleverse|John|4:4-26|WEB}}: World English Bible {{PD-notice}}</ref>}}

This episode takes place before the [[return of Jesus to Galilee]].{{sfn|Lincoln|2005|pp=170–171}} Some Jews regarded the Samaritans as foreigners and their attitude was often hostile, although they shared most beliefs, while many other Jews accepted Samaritans as either fellow Jews or as Samaritan Israelites.{{sfn|Samkutty|2006|p=81}}{{sfn|Crown|Davey|Sixdenier|1995|p= 134}}{{sfn|Bourgel|2018}} The two communities seem to have drifted apart in the [[post-exilic]] period.{{sfn|Ferguson|2003|p=534}} Both communities share the [[Pentateuch]], although crucially the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] locates the holy mountain at [[Mount Gerizim]] rather than at [[Mount Zion]], as this incident acknowledges in verse 20, "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem".<ref name=j4 />

The Gospel of John, like the [[Gospel of Luke]], is favourable to the Samaritans throughout, and, while the [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthaean Gospel]] quotes Jesus at one early phase in his ministry telling his followers not at that time to evangelize any of the cities of the Samaritans,{{sfn|Samkutty|2006|p=85}} this restriction had clearly been reversed later by the time of [[Matthew 28:19]]. Scholars differ as to whether the Samaritan references in the New Testament are historical. One view is that the historical Jesus had no contact with Samaritans; another is that the accounts go back to Jesus himself. In [[Acts 1:8]], Jesus promises the apostles that they will be witnesses to the Samaritans.{{sfn|Samkutty|2006|pp=100–101}}

==Interpretations== [[File:Christ and the Samaritan woman drawing water, Catacomb of Callistus, 2nd century AD, from the from the book Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms, plate 29.jpg|thumb|220px|2nd century A.D., Rome. Christ and the Samaritan woman drawing water, Catacomb of Callistus. An early Christian painting illustrating the Biblical story.]]

Scholars have noted that this story appears to be modelled on a standard [[betrothal]] '[[type scene]]' from Hebrew scripture, particularly that of [[Jacob]] in Genesis 29.{{sfn|Quast|1991|p=29}} This convention, which would have been familiar to Jewish readers, following on from an earlier scene in which [[John the Baptist]] compares his relationship to Jesus with that of the friend of a bridegroom.{{sfn|Lincoln|2005|p=170-171}} Jo-Ann A. Brant, for example, concludes that there is "near consensus among literary critics that the scene at Jacob's well follows conventions of the betrothal type-scene found in Hebrew narrative."{{sfn|Brant|1996}} Other scholars note significant differences between John 4 and betrothal type-scenes in the Hebrew Bible.{{sfn|Okure|1988|pp=88–89}} For example, Dorothy A. Lee lists several discrepancies between Hebrew betrothal scenes and John 4: "the Samaritan woman is not a young Jewish virgin and no betrothal takes place; the well is not concerned with sexual fertility but is an image of salvation (see Isa. 12:3); Jesus is presented not as a bridegroom but as giver of living water."{{sfn|Lee|1994|p=67 |loc=n. 3}}

This [[Gospel]] episode is referred to as "a [[paradigm]] for our engagement with truth", in the [[Roman Curia]] book ''[[A Christian reflection on the New Age]]'', as the dialogue says: "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know" and offers an example of "Jesus Christ the bearer of the water of life".<ref name="NewAge" /> The passages that comprise [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#4:10|John 4:10–26]] are sometimes referred to as the [[Water of Life (Christianity)|Water of Life Discourse]], which forms a complement to the [[Bread of Life Discourse]].{{sfn|Barrett|1978|p=12}}

[[Roger Baxter]] comments in his ''Meditations'' on this passage, saying: <blockquote> Consider the excellence of this living water, which is Divine grace, and which Christ promises to His faithful servants. "He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst forever." It quenches, therefore, forever, the thirst of the soul, and satisfies it. The soul then no longer thirsts after earthly waters, that is, the pleasures of this world. It becomes a fountain of all good to the soul, ever flowing and giving merit to our actions." It springs up to everlasting life" (John iv. 14), elevating our thoughts to heaven and heavenly joys, of which it is a pledge. Say, therefore, with the Samaritan woman, " Give me this water, that I may not thirst."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Meditations For Every Day In The Year/Conversions and Cures#423|Conversions_and_Cures#423]]|title=Meditations For Every Day In The Year|year=1823|publisher=Benziger Brothers|first=Roger|last=Baxter|author-link=Roger Baxter|location=New York}}</ref> </blockquote>

== Veneration == {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = [[Saint]] | name = Photini of Samaria | honorific_suffix = | image = Samaritan Woman at the Well (Tzanes).png | imagesize =300px | alt = | caption = ''Samaritan Woman at the Well'' made in 1689 by [[Emmanuel Tzanes]] | titles =[[Christian martyr|Martyr]], [[Equal to the Apostles]] | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | home_town = | residence = | death_date = | death_place = | venerated_in = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] [[Eastern Catholicism|Eastern Catholic Churches]] [[Roman Catholic Church]] [[Episcopal Church (United States)]] | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | major_shrine = | feast_day = '''Eastern Orthodoxy''' Fourth Sunday after Pascha (Sunday of the Samaritan Woman) February 26 (Greek Tradition) March 20 (Slavic Tradition) '''Western Churches''' Fourth Friday of Lent (Oaxaca) February 26 (Episcopal Church) | attributes = | patronage = | issues = | suppressed_date = | suppressed_by = | influences = | influenced = | tradition = | major_works = | module = }}

In [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] tradition, the woman at the well is venerated as a saint with the name [[List of names for the biblical nameless#Samaritan woman at the well|Photini]] ({{lang|grc|Φωτεινή}}), meaning "enlightened [one]" or literally, "luminous [one]".{{efn|Pronounced ''Fotini'' in [[Modern Greek]], also ''Photinā'' in [[Doric Greek]] and some modern dialects,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Φωτίνα|encyclopedia= Lexicon of Greek Personal Names|volume=1 The Aegean Islands. Cyprus. Cyrenaica|editor1-last=Fraser|editor1-first=P. M.|editor2-last=Matthews|editor2-first=E.|year= 1987|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= |id=}}</ref> meaning "the luminous one" from {{lang|grc|φῶς}}, "light").<ref>{{LSJ|fwteinos/|φωτεινός|cite}}</ref> Diminutives in Modern Greek include Φωτούλα, Φωτεινούλα, Φώρη, Φώφη, Φώτο, Φαίη (Fotoula, Foteinoula, Fori, Fofi, Foto, Faye).}} In [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] tradition, older editions of the ''[[Roman Martyrology]]'' list a martyr named Photina of Samaria on March 20, whom commentators have identified with the woman at the well.<ref>{{cite book|translator=John, Marquess of Bute |translator-link=John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute |title=The Roman Breviary Translated Into English |location=Edinburgh and London |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |year=1908 |volume=2 |page=766 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVg7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA766 |access-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=St. Photina: the Woman at the Well |url=https://www.catholic.com/qa/st-photina-the-woman-at-the-well |website=catholic.com }}</ref>

In Eastern Christian tradition, the woman's name at the time of her meeting Jesus is unknown, though she was later baptized "Photini" by the Apostles, because she understood Jesus' identity as the Messiah. She is celebrated as a saint of renown. As further recounted in {{Bibleverse|John|4:28–30|NKJV}} and {{Bibleverse|John|4:39–42|NKJV}}, she was quick to spread the news of her meeting with Jesus, and through this many came to believe in him. Her continuing witness is said to have brought so many to the Christian faith that she is described as "[[equal-to-apostles|equal to the apostles]]". Eventually, having drawn the attention of [[Nero|Emperor Nero]], she was brought before him to answer for her faith, suffering many tortures and dying a martyr after being thrown down a dry well. She is remembered on the Sunday four weeks after [[Easter|Pascha]], which is known as "the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goarch.org/samaritan-woman|title=Sunday of the Samaritan Woman|publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America|access-date=February 3, 2020}}</ref>

In [[Oaxaca]], Mexico, a celebration of the Samaritan woman takes place on the fourth Friday of [[Lent]]. The custom of the day involves churches, schools, and businesses giving away fruit drinks to passers-by.<ref name="viveoaxaca.org" />

Photini, The Samaritan Woman is [[Calendar of saints|honored]] with a [[Lesser Feasts and Fasts|Lesser Feast]] on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|liturgical calendar]] of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church in the United States of America]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018|url=https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21034}}</ref> on February 26.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Photini|url=http://satucket.com/lectionary/photini.html|access-date=May 7, 2021|website=satucket.com}}</ref> In that tradition, her year of death is given as circa 67.

== Cultural references == === In visual art === <gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="5" caption="Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well"> File:Augustins - Jésus et la Samaritaine - Gervais Drouet - RA 516.jpg|''Samaritan woman at the well'' 1651 by Gervais Drouet File:Franceschini, Giacomo - Gesù e la Samaritana al pozzo.jpg|''Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well'', by [[Giacomo Franceschini]] File:Christ-and-the-Samaritan-woman-24042008.jpg|''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'', by [[Stefano Erardi]] File:Jan Joest von Kalkar - Christus und die Samariterin am Jakobsbrunnen.jpg|''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'', by [[Jan Joest van Kalkar]] File:Guercino - Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well - WGA10946.jpg|''Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well'', by [[Guercino]] File:Josef von Hempel - Christus und die Samariterin.jpg|''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'', by [[Josef von Hempel]] File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Christus und die Samariterin (Leipzig).jpg|''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'', by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] File:Carl Heinrich Bloch - Woman at the Well.jpg|''Woman at the Well'' by [[Carl Heinrich Bloch]] File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Christ and the Samaritan Woman - Google Art Project.jpg|''Christ and the Samaritan Woman'' by [[Duccio di Boninsegna]] File:Siemiradzki-Chrystus_i_Samarytanka.jpg|''Christ and Samaritan'' by [[Henryk Siemiradzki]] </gallery>

=== In music === * ''[[Jesus Met the Woman at the Well]]'', a [[Gospel music|gospel]] song dating from 1949 or before (earliest known recording by [[The Fairfield Four]]) *''[[Lift Him Up That's All]]'', a gospel song dating from 1927 or before (earliest known recording by [[Washington Phillips]]) * ''The Woman of Samaria'', a sacred [[cantata]] of 1867 by the English [[Classical music|classical]] composer [[William Sterndale Bennett]] * ''[[The Maid and the Palmer]]'' also known as ''The Well Below The Valley'' ([[Roud Folk Song Index|Roud]] 2335, [[Child ballad]] 21)<ref>Francis James Child, ''English and Scottish Popular Ballads'' [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch021.htm "The Maid and the Palmer"]</ref> * "Woman at the Well", by Olivia Lane * "Jesus gave me Water", 1951 by [[Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers]] * "Rivers Flow", 2007, by Marvin Sapp

=== In film and television === The Samaritan woman is played by Vanessa DeSilvio in the multi-season show on the life of Christ, [[The Chosen (TV series)|''The Chosen'']].<ref>{{Cite web|title="The Chosen" on IMDB|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9471404/?ref_=tt_ch|access-date=April 9, 2021|website=IMDB}}</ref> Her meeting with Jesus concludes the first season. In the beginning of season 2, she is seen again, eagerly telling everyone around her about Jesus.

The Samaritan woman is played by [[Nancy Palk]] in the 2003 film [[The Gospel of John (2003 film)|''The Gospel of John'']].

==See also==  * [[Asian feminist theology]] * [[Domnina (daughter of Nero)]] * [[Jesus' interactions with women]] * [[List of names for the biblical nameless]] * [[Living Water]] * [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]]

==References== ===Notes=== {{notelist}}

===Citations=== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="NewAge">{{cite book |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html |title=Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian reflection on the "New Age" |last1=Pontifical Council for Culture |author-link1=Pontifical Council for Culture |last2=Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue |author-link2=Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue |publisher=Internet Office of the Holy See |location=Vatican City |date=March 2, 2003}}</ref> <ref name="viveoaxaca.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.viveoaxaca.org/2011/04/la-samaritana-2011-en-oaxaca.html |title=La Samaritana 2011 en Oaxaca |language=es |publisher=Vive Oaxaca |access-date=June 3, 2013}}</ref> }}

===Sources=== {{refbegin|2|indent=yes}} *{{cite book|last=Barrett|first=C. K. |author-link=C. K. Barrett |title=The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWR8DJ6C8KsC&pg=PA12|edition=2nd|year=1978|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22180-5}} *{{cite journal|last1=Bourgel|first1=Jonathan|title=John 4:4–42: Defining A Modus Vivendi Between Jews And The Samaritans|journal=The Journal of Theological Studies|volume=69|issue=1|year=2018|pages=39–65|issn=0022-5185|doi=10.1093/jts/flx215|url=https://www.academia.edu/37029909}} *{{cite journal|last1=Brant|first1=Jo-Ann A.|title=Husband Hunting: Characterization and Narrative Art in the Gospel of John|journal=Biblical Interpretation|volume=4|issue=2|year=1996|pages=205–223|issn=0927-2569|doi=10.1163/156851596X00194}} *{{citation|editor1-last=Crown|editor1-first= Alan David|editor2-first= Lucy |editor2-last=Davey|editor3-first= Guy Dominique |editor3-last=Sixdenier|title= Essays in honour of GD Sexdenier: New Samaritan studies of the Société d'études samaritaines|work=Studies in Judaica 5|location= Sydney|publisher= Mandelbaum / University of Sydney|date= 1995}} *{{cite book|last=Ferguson|first=Everett |title=Backgrounds of Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuKkxU4-ncC&pg=PA534|year=2003|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0-8028-2221-5}} *{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Dorothy A. |title=The Symbolic Narratives of the Fourth Gospel: The Interplay of Form and Meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=juDUAwAAQBAJ|year=1994|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|location=Sheffield |isbn=978-1-85075-468-8}} *{{cite book|last=Lincoln|first=Andrew T. |title=The Gospel According to Saint John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_3RnkcJ3EgC&pg=PA171|year=2005|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|isbn=978-1-56563-401-5|oclc=61129929}} *{{cite book|last=Okure|first=Teresa |title=The Johannine approach to mission: a contextual study of John 4:1-42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYKI5Udz3_kC|year=1988|publisher=J. C. B. Mohr.|location=Tübingen|isbn=978-3-16-145049-5}} *{{cite book|last=Quast|first=Kevin |title=Reading the Gospel of John: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhjJ8DNhQFAC&pg=PA29|year=1991|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-3297-3}} *{{cite book|last=Samkutty|first=V. J. |title=The Samaritan Mission in Acts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_VSm2aOm4UC&pg=PA81|year=2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-04464-8}} {{refend}}

===Further reading=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|chapter=[[s:A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/XVI. Jesus at the Well of Jacob|Jesus at the Well of Jacob]]|title=A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture|year=1910|publisher=B. Herder|author=Friedrich Justus Knecht}} {{refend}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} {{Wikiquote}}

[[Category:1st-century Christian martyrs]] [[Category:Ancient Samaritan people]] [[Category:Anglican saints]] [[Category:Christian saints from the New Testament]] [[Category:Converts to Christianity]] [[Category:Followers of Jesus]] [[Category:Gospel episodes]] [[Category:John 4]] [[Category:Unnamed people of the Bible]] [[Category:Water and Christianity]] [[Category:Water wells in Israel]] [[Category:Women in the New Testament]]