On the 17th of September the Orthodox Church Commemorates the Holy Martyr SOPHIA and Her Three Daughters, FAITH, HOPE, AND AGAPE (LOVE).

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

On the 17 th of September the Orthodox Church Commemorates the Holy Martyr
SOPHIA AND Her Three Daughters, FAITH, HOPE, AND AGAPE (LOVE).

Kontakion Hymn of the Martyrs. First Tone

SINCE Faith and Hope and Love were in truth sacred branches of
Venerable Sophia, the namesake of wisdom, by grace they have
shown all men that Greek wisdom is foolishness, and in contest
they proved to be prizewinning victors; wherefore, they received
a crown that never shall perish from Christ God, the Lord of all.

The Holy Martyrs Saint Sophia (Gr. wisdom) and her Daughters Faith, Hope and Agape (Love) were born in Italy. Their mother was a pious Christian widow who named her daughters for the three Christian virtues. Faith (Gr. Pistis) was 12, Hope (Gr. Elpis) was 10 and Love (Gr. Agape) was 9. Saint Sophia raised them in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Sophia and her daughters did not hide their faith in Christ, but openly confessed it before everyone.

An official named Antiochus denounced them to the emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) who ordered that they be brought to Rome. Realizing that they would be taken before the pagan emperor, the holy virgins prayed fervently to the Lord Jesus Christ, asking that He ggive them the strength not to fear torture and death. When the holy virgins and their mother came before the emperor, everyone present was amazed at their composure. They looked as though they had been brought tosome happy festival, rather than torture. Summoning each of the sisters in turn, Hadrian urged them to offer sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. The young girls remained unyielding.

Then the emperor ordered them to be tortured. They burned the holy virgins over an iron grating, then threw them into a red-hot over, and finally into a cualdron with boiling tar, but the Lord preserved them.

The youngest child, Agape, was tied to a wheel and they beat her with rods until her little body was covered all over with bloody welts. After undergoing unspeakable torments, the holy virgins glorified their Heavenly Bridegroom and remained steadfast in the Faith.

They subjected Saint Sophia to another grievous torture: the mother was forced to witness the suffering of her beloved daughters. She displayed adamant courage, and urged her daughters to endure their torture for the sake of the Heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ. All Three maidens were beheaded, and joyfully bend their necks beneath the sword.

In order to intensify Saint Sophia’s inner suffering and torment, the emperor permitted her to take the sacred bodies of her three daughters,. She place their remains in coffins and loaded them on a wagon. She drove beyond the city limits and reverently and lovingly buried them on a high hill. Saint Sophia sat there by the graves of her saintly daughters for three days, and finally she gave up her soul to the Lord. Even though she did not suffer for Christ in the flesh, she was not deprived of a martyr’s crown. Instead, she suffered in her heart. Believers buried her body there beside her daughters.
In Russian: Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov.

The holy relics of the holy martyrs have rested at El’Zabar, in the church of Esho since the year 777. [Resources: Orthodox Church in America]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George