Water Cult and Saint Tryphonos in the Zeytinliada Monastery

Abstract

The findings unearthed during archaeological excavations carried out between 2007-2016 in Zeytinliada, which is the closest island to Erdek, in the south of the Sea of Marmara indicate that the history of the Zeytinliada Monastery, which was recorded with the same name as the island, dates back to the IVth century and was used with additions and changes until the 14th century. The most remarkable units of the monastery, church and the baptistery, also form the focus of this study. In the baptistery with an octagonal plan of the church, there is a baptismal pool having a four-leaf clover shape from inside and out, which is thought to have been built for adults. It was stated that the water of the Great Ayazma on the island is good for blood, stomach, intestine, skin, nerve and infectious diseases, and the water of the Little Ayazma is good for the treatment of skin and eye diseases. There is an inscription “NIKAHTYX(H) TPYΦWNOΣ” meaning “Tryphon’s fate won”, on the right side of the “Marble Gate” in the south direction of the three-naved basilical planned church of the Zeytinliada Monastery located in the northeast of the island. Christians believe that Tryphonos healed the sick from an early age, warded off evil forces, and saved his people from famine by removing through the power of prayer the grasshoppers/locusts that attacked the crops in his village. The existence of the architectural works unearthed in Zeytinliada such as baptistery, baptismal pool, holy springs, healing water sources, as well as an inscription mentioning the name of St. Tryphonos and a graffito belonging to the same saint is the reflection on the island of the association of the water cult, whose roots in Christianity are traced back to ancient Rome, with the saints