However, there are conflicting hagiographical traditions; one tradition[3] makes Sophia herself a martyr under the Diocletian Persecution (303/4). This conflicts with the much more widespread hagiographical tradition (BHL 2966, also extant in Greek, Armenian and Georgian versions) placing Sophia, the mother of Faith, Hope, and Charity, in the time of Hadrian (second century) and reporting her dying not as a martyr but mourning for her martyred daughters.[4] Her relics are said to have been translated to the convent at Eschau, Alsace in 778,[5] and her cult spread to Germany from there. Acta Sanctorum reports that her feast day of 15 May is attested in German, Belgian, and English breviaries of the 16th century.[6]
Roman Catholic hagiography of the early modern period attempted to identify Saint Sophia venerated in Germany with various records of martyrs named Sophia recorded in the early medieval period, among them a record from the time of Pope Sergius II (9th century) reporting an inscription mentioning a virgin martyr named Sophia at the high altar of the church of San Martino ai Monti.[6] Saxer (2000) suggests that her veneration may indeed have originated in the later sixth century based on such inscriptions of the fourth to sixth centuries.[4]
Based on her feast day on 15 May, Sophia became one of the "Ice Saints", the saints whose feast days are traditionally associated with the last possibility of frost in Central Europe. She is known as kalte Sophie "cold Sophia" in Germany,[7] and in Slovenia as poscana Zofka "pissy Sophia"[8][9][10][11] or mokra Zofija "wet Sophia".[12][13]
Russian iconography of Sophia the Martyr with three daughters: Faith, Hope, and Charity, which dates back to the 16th century.
Modern scholarship has examined the role of motherhood in the story of Sophia and her daughters.[14][15] Researchers point out that the depiction of Sophia as the mother of three martyrs follows patterns commonly found in Byzantine hagiography, where maternal figures are often used to highlight themes of faith, endurance, and moral instruction.[15]
Studies of motherhood in martyrdom narratives also note that elements such as childbirth and parental grief frequently appear in symbolic forms.[15] Motherhood is presented as a prerequisite for holiness, as it is the very act of nurturing, enduring pain, and then ultimately being separated from one's children, which becomes part of the martyr's spiritual journey.[15] These features are understood as part of the literary conventions of the genre rather than as reliable historical details.[14]
In this context, scholars treat the maternal aspects of Sophia's story as one example within a broader tradition.[14][15] Their focus is generally on how her role functions within the narrative framework of Byzantine martyr literature, rather than on determining whether the accounts reflect historical events.[14]
Hagiographical traditions
The best-attested narrative is the Greek Martyrdom of Pistis, Elpis and Agape, usually dated to between the 7th and 8th centuries but set in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (117-138).[16][1] In this version, Sophia is presented as a pious widow in Rome who raises her three daughters, Pistis (Faith), Elpis (Hope) and Agape (Charity), in the Christian faith. Summoned before Hadrian, the girls are interrogated, tortured and eventually beheaded, while their mother is forced to watch their deaths. Sophia is not herself tortured or executed; instead, she takes the bodies of her daughters, buries them, and remains praying at their tomb until she dies three days later due to her grief. She is then buried in the same grave as her daughters.[16] This tradition emphasizes Sophia’s role as a mother whose mourning creates a kind of spiritual martyrdom, even though she does not die by judicial execution.
Another version of the story says that Sophia herself was also executed after her daughters. This is according to Roman Martyrology. There are multiple tombs dedicated to Sophia and her three daughters, and there are also similar accounts of martyred families in different locations.[2] Their story is commonly referred to as a myth or a legend that came to be due to the Christian belief that "Faith, Hope, and Charity are the fruit or offspring of Wisdom."[17]
Holy Wisdom
There is a long-standing tendency to conflate Saint Sophia with Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”), the divine Wisdom of God. Liturgical tradition sometimes link the virtues of faith, hope and charity with Wisdom, and the daughters’ names themselves derive from Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13).[18] Later writers and church dedications sometimes treat Sophia as an embodiment of divine Wisdom, while others distinguish the historical (or legendary) martyr from the abstract theological concept.[4][2] They are not the same thing, and many churches thought to be named after Saint Sophia are actually named after the concept of the Hagia Sophia instead.[2]
↑Baš, Angelos (2004). Slovenski etnološki leksikon. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. p.449.
↑Frančič, Franjo; Osti, Josip (2008). Kam se skrijejo metulji pred dežjem: izbrane kratke proze. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. p.78.
↑Bauer, Marjan (February 10, 2012). "Češnje zorijo pozimi". Finance. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
↑Fajfar, Tone (1996). Odločitev: Spomini in partizanski dnevnik. Ljubljana: Ljudska pravica. p.480.
↑Pavček, Tone (1997). Čas duše, čas telesa. Knjižna zadruga: Ljubljana. p.198.
↑Keber, Janez (1988). Leksikon imen. Celje: Mohorjeva družba. p.398.
1234Papavarnavas, Christodoulos (2021). Gefängnis als Schwellenraum in der byzantinischen Hagiographie: Eine Untersuchung früh- und mittelbyzantinischer Märtyrerakten (in German). De Gruyter. ISBN9783110725780.
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