45. A hand-coloured engraving depicting The Mother of God of the Life Giving Spring near Constantinople Europe, 17th/ 18th Century hand-coloured engraving on paper 245 x 325 mm. The Mother of God of the Life-Giving Spring is a title of the Virgin Mary in the Eastern Orthodox Church, associated with a miraculous spring of healing water located near Constantinople. The tradition of the Life-Giving Spring, as recorded by 14th-century historian Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, centers on a miracle involving Leo Marcellus, a soldier who would later become Byzantine Emperor Leo I. In 450, while passing through a grove near Constantinople, Leo encountered a blind man who had lost his way. After helping him to rest in the shade, Leo searched for water but found none. He then experienced a divine prompting that led him to a hidden spring. Using its water, he washed the man's eyes, resulting in the restoration of his sight. After Leo became emperor (reigned 457–474), he had a church built over the spring, which became a famous site of pilgrimage and healing.