The story of Saint Sophia and Hagia Sophia

The story of Saint Sophia and Hagia Sophia

 

“Sweet heart Theodora I have forgot to sleep from the day I met you up to the day we got married. You were the only person in my mind and you were all that my mind could think of. When I first saw you face, I knew God made you just for me. Now I don’t remember how I could have ever existed before you. You love me like I’ve never been loved before. Oh my dear soul mate, you have become my dear partner for life eternity. I love to see your smile, to hear your giggle, to smell your hair, to feel your hug, to taste your lips and to know you are mine.  You are the one whom I adore and you know my sweet heart that I am not in my control whenever I am with you. Even now I don’t know whether I am in my right senses….. Am I ????? Is this the power of love?????”

“My Lord, you are in your senses….. You need not doubt about it. You are speaking the truth. This is the power of oneness which is a gift of God for those who love each other truly. This is the sign of true love. This is the sign of purity. This love should be built up on the strong basement of trust. This should further be made firm through faith. So for true love these three qualities, love, faith and trust are essential. Even if one of these aspects lacks, then that love will end up in failure and separation. This is what I found out in my experience.”

“Dear Theodora do you remember our first meeting? Can you tell me now?”

“Yes my dear. In the tide of time nothing lasts except memories, sweet memories….. It is in the heart that one locks his evergreen memories and so do I. these are some of the memories I treasure so dear to my heart. I will never forget the same and of course I should not forget them. No woman will forget the day she fell in love with the beloved of her heart. Nor can she forget the day she got married to her soul mate. She might as well forget her birthday or her birthplace….. But if at all she forgets valuable memories or times of the past, then she might have passed through tough times in her life which forces her to forget such memories. Even I had such bitter experiences in my life which I could not forget or erase them out of my mind.”

“No please. Let us not talk of the bitter past and all that happened when my mother came to see you. I was as well informed of those things which my mother came to know when she came to first meet you. Those were very bitter and horrible experiences, I don’t even want to talk about them. These bitter thoughts will spoil the pleasant life we enjoy right now. So let us not think of it.”

“No my sweet heart, we have to talk about it. Just now we said that love, faith and trust are very essential for a good and happy family life. So if our family life should be happy then it is essential that you should know everything about me. Tell me all that your mother told you about me.”

“My dear since you insist I say these. My mother told me that you are of a low caste. You father worked in a circus handling animals like bear. You and your sisters used to dance before the crowd in the circus tent for you day to day living. In a nut shell she said that you are not of a good family background.  Also she said that you were already married to someone and you had a girl child. Just because I fell in love with your beauty, she did not want me to get married to you. She wanted me to marry a good princess of a good and royal background. But nothing could move this heart of mind which loved you truly. I stood firm in my decision and won you as my wife.”

“My lord, even I would have felt happy if you had married a good princess. But it was you who were very stubborn in marrying me and came behind me. You were desperately in love with me even though I gave you enough and more of excuses. All this ended up in earning the hatred of your parents. You lost their love and their relationship.  This loss would have been a great pain for them and when I know all this is because of me, I am troubled deeply.”

“You are right Theodora. I was ready to lose anything to have you as my wife, even if it was to lose my parents or my kingdom. My father was very much worried that history would say that, the great king Justinian, was ready to lose the title of prince of Byzantine to win the hand of this low caste girl. With this worry he breathed his last. My mother followed him to the grave in a few days after his death. In order to marry you I had to change the entire rules of this great kingdom. It was only then, after overcoming all these hurdles I had you as my wife. I even had to oppose my very church. Why did I do all these things? It is all for you my dear beloved wife. For the love I have for you. Nothing could match the importance I have for you my dear, neither my life, or my religion nor this kingdom or this entire world as whole. I love you so much. There is no measure for my love dear. My body soul and mind belongs to you my sweet heart.”

“Oh you need not explain….. I know this very well. I know your heart…..i know you your love for me…. But what am I for you to love me so much? Am I so beautiful? What is it that is in me which made you love me so much? I know I am not worthy of this life and your love. I am of a low birth and do not have any good family background. I have never dreamt of this life. I am so great full to you.”`

“Please do not say so my dear darling. Love does not come by knowing what you have and what you don’t. It is a feeling, a rare feeling that looks deep into the heart and not just the face. Do you know what love is????? Do you know my love for you???? You asked me what made me love you so much, right? Now listen……. You make me laugh when I want to cry, make me live when I want to die. Make me smile when I want to frown, you turn my life upside down. I need you more than you can believe, love you more than you can conceive. Think about you every night and day, and hope my life can stay this way. You hold me and never let me go, kiss me on my lips sweet and slow. You show me your love that is true, and that is the reason I am so much in love with you. I first met you in a fabric shop and I fell in love with you at the first sight. When your father came to know this he made me pay the bill for all that was purchased that day. Thus he must have earned a huge profit that day… isn’t it? But this is not uncommon…. Most men lose their money for love of their beloved.”

“Oh dear please do not say so. This is a business tactics. Business is in a way just like politics. Both the parties will be with the intention to win. If you win in business then you earn profit and if you win in politics then it leads to conquering of the kingdom. But for both the basic essential factor to win depends on how well they understand the mindset or the thoughts of the opponent. Whether it is politics or business, victory depends on how far they are able to foresee the future events and assess the mindset of the opponent. If a person acts on this basis then he is sure to win. Since I was into business I can very easily assess the thoughts of others very accurately. A few of the bitter experiences of my past has thought me a lot of worldly experiences and lessons to be remembered for ever. Above all God has given me such a gift or power.”

“Is it so my lady? I once again request you to forget you past life, burry it once for all. Let us think of our future. You said that you can assess the thought of others which experience has taught you; now then can you tell me what is there in my mind? Go ahead and let us see how far you are able to assess me.”

“This is quite a tough question, still let me give it a try. Now look close into my eyes” said Theodora. The great king Justinian looked with anxiety into the large eyes of his wife. Their eyes met and Theodora’s eyes expanded further. She was able to see heaven. She saw the huge doors of heaven were open. A large hall appeared. There was a throne in the hall and Jesus Christ was seated on the throne. She also saw Mother Mary seated in one of the thrones with infant Jesus in her arms. She never saw such a beautiful grand church ever in her life. This was the vision she saw. “

“My dear Theodora did you find out what is there in my mind?” asked her husband. “Tell me what you saw?”

“I will tell you exactly all that I saw just now. I saw a grand mindboggling church. I heard people say that there is no such church anywhere in this world and no one has ever built it. It was a golden church. Nothing in this world could be compared to his church. Even the great temple which King Solomon built is not equal to his great church. You said to King Solomon, ‘Oh King Solomon, I have won you in building the great church for God. The church that I have built is very big compared to the one that you have built in your days.’ This church will last for more than 2000 years” said Theodora.

King Justinian could not believe his ears and shouted out in great excitement, “True, true all that you said is nothing but the truth. You have read my mind like an open book. You are indeed a great prophet and I bow down at this truth you revealed now. I have a great burning desire in my heart to build such a church. But now you have given the full shape of the church. You have given the frame for my dream. I thank Lord Jesus Christ for giving you as my dear beloved wife. I do not need my eyes anymore. Your eyes see my thoughts. You are my life Theodora.” So saying he hugged her in great love and excitement.

At that time an army general came in and bowed down before them. Theodora asked him, 

 “Phelisarius, you are an army general. How long are you serving in this post?” 

 Phelisarius replied with respect, “My honorable queen, please forgive me. What is the mistake I have done?” Theodora asked in a stern voice, “Phelisarius, right now I am not the queen and the king is not the prince… what is the post he is in right now?”

   Phelisarius said, “Lady you are the queen and Kind Justinian is the King.” “If it is so, is this the way you show your respect for the king and the queen?” asked Theodora. 

  “I beg your pardon lady, my queen. Since the prince and I were friends for a long time, I made this mistake. Once again pardon me” said the army general. “If it is so, then go ahead and salute in the way it should be done” said Theodora. 

  Immediately, the army general fell down flat at the feet of both of them and saluted them. Let this be a lesson for everyone in this kingdom, right from the senator in the palace up to the slave in this kingdom, should salute the king and the queen by falling at their feet in such a way that their forehead touches the ground. This is my order and makes this known to everyone.” 

 The order was enforced immediately. The people happily accepted Justinian as their king but they could not accept Theodora as their queen since she was not of a royal family background. This made them hate her. They could not accept her sudden luxurious life as a queen. Still they could not do anything for she was the queen.

This kind of an irritating thought arose in the mind of a young prince. This young prince was Hypatius. He is of the generation of the former byzantine king Anasthasius the first. He was jealous of king Justinian who took over the byzantine kingship from him. He was waiting for the right opportunity to get back his kingdom. And a right opportunity did come. There was one more reason for the citizens not to accept Theodora as the byzantine queen. There were two groups between the Christians of those days. 

  There was an unsettled issue between these two groups. One group was called as the monophysite Christians and the other group was called Chaledonian Christians. Monophysite Christians believed that after the resurrection Jesus Christ, he is only a heavenly being and is no longer any characteristics of an ordinary man. Chaledonian Christians believed that after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he has the characteristics of both heavenly being as well as mankind. They strongly believe in this fact. So the church at that time was divided into the single characteristics of Jesus and the dual characteristics of Jesus. This was an unsettled issue of dispute between them.

Unfortunately Theodora belonged to the Monophysite Christian group. This was because when she lived in Alexandria, she lived with a wealthy man of Syria by name Hezipolos. She bore him a girl child. He lived with her for four years and left her forever. Theodora who realized her mistake was met by the Christians in that place and she repented for her old sinful ways. So she put an end to all her old sinful ways and came back to her own home town Byzantine (which is not called as Turky). 

  She got engaged in fabric weaving business. That was the time prince Justinian met her and fell in love with her. At that time the church which Theodora belonged to was the Monophysite Christians. But king Justinian belonged to the Chaledonian Christians who believed in the dual personality of Jesus. But King Justinian was not much concerned about all these things but it was an area of great concern for the people of his kingdom. Hypatius clearly understood the pulse of the citizens.

In those days, games which proved the bravery of the people were very famous. In those games there will be two groups of players who would disguise themselves with rare hairstyles and by wearing blue and green uniform. They will attack each other under the name of game or sports. Hypatius who belonged the generation of Anasthasius, had arranged these sports players who were dressed in green and blue. He gave them secret weapons, to create a chaos. He wanted to use this as an opportunity to get back his lost kingdom. One evening all of a sudden a riot broke out. 

 It all just started in the play ground between two groups of players. But it slowly came out of the playground, into the city and it ended up in great terrorism of looting the city, ruthless murder of people and setting fire to the city.

In this chaos the church of the twelve apostles was burnt down. This church was also built by king Justinian after his father and a lot of money was put in towards building this church. The church bore the name as ‘the church of the twelve apostles’. Also the relics of the twelve apostles was carefully brought and kept here in this church under great care. This earned the church a great name. Also in those days this since Constantinople was called as eastern Rome, many of the relics of the great saints was brought to this church and preserved here with great care.

   But in this above mentioned chaos, many of the valuable treasures of this church were looted.  The golden dome of the church was melted and was looted. Since all that was in this church was looted, the church was greatly damaged and ruined. This is the state of this church even today. Still this church stands ruined with only pillars. In the Byzantine history this riot was called as Niha riot.

This was a great insult for Justinian and Theodora. The king himself had to accept that he was not capable of controlling the riot. But Queen Theodora did not accept their failure. Army general Phelisarius came and bowed down before the king and queen with his head touching the ground and said, “My Lord, please leave the capital city along with the queen. This is the only way to save your lives. Please listen to me. There is no time to waste. Please hurry and leave this place through the secret door. It is my duty to save your lives.”

   But Queen Theodora refused to accept their failure. She turned to the army general and said in a harsh voice, “Phelisarius you are not fit to be an army captain. You coward! Are you not ashamed to come and ask us to run away like cowards? A good king is one who bravely fights his enemies in all worst situation standing as one among his people. He has to find out the ways of winning in the battle. If he fails to win then he should die a heroic death in the battle. This is the sign of a good and brave king. I want my husband to one of those brave kings. So now listen to me. Go and gather all our brave soldiers and prepare them for the fight. Our uniform is pale red and no other color whether it is green or blue is going to stand before it. Go ahead, I am coming with you. Kill every person who stirs up the fight. Do not hesitate or feel sorry.”

This speech of the queen gave new strength to all the brave soldiers and they jumped to their feet ready for the battle. According to information it was estimated that the enemies were thirty thousand in number, but not one of them remained. Everyone was defeated. The chaos was brought to an end within a short span of time. Hypatius who was behind this chaos was cut down to pieces and killed. 

  After this great victory, all the people of the kingdom praised the great and brave queen Theodora. Few of the efforts which were taken by the queen helped in the betterment of Constantinople. Many palaces, forts, walls and bridges were built in the city as a measure of public welfare and safety.  These were built in a short period. Roadways and waterways were expanded which helped in the improvement of trade. The silk route which ran from Alexandria in Egypt up to China passed through Constantinople and this was an added advantage for the improvement of trade activities and this earned huge profits to the government. 

  Hence the byzantine kingdom which is now called as Turkey flourished greatly. All the rules which were implemented by Queen Theodora are still remarkable among the people of the country.

Theodora was keen to ensure that none of the bitter experiences of her life should happen to any other lady in the city. So, severe punishment was given for rape more than any other crime. If any of the father or husband pushed their own family women into prostitution, they received the worst punishment. Also she gave severe punishment for killing young babies. She extended welfare funds for orphan and desperate women and children. All this made the citizens of the city, especially the women to have great respect and love for their dear queen, Theodora. This made king Justinian leap with joy to see the love and respect his country people had for his dear queen.

One day he was having a chat with his wife in the garden. He asked, “Honey which is the greatest thing on earth?” Theodora replied, “Why do you ask this question to me? The world is beyond our reach and there are so many things scattered all over this world which are great. Like the mountains, forest, rivers, seas etc., you can keep going at it.” Justinian replied, “Dear, I am asking that which is greater than the whole world… and all that is in it… do you have the answer?” 

  Theodora said, “Oh my great king, I am not as wise as King Solomon. So I suggest that you give me the answer yourself.” With a smile on his face the king replied, “Oh you have indeed given me the right answer my dear. As you said wisdom is the greatest treasure in this whole world” Theodora replied, “Ok ok I do accept what you’re saying. Added to it I would say that not only of this world but wisdom is greater in heaven and earth. What are you trying to say?”

   “Theodora did you notice that the wisdom of God is beyond measure than the wisdom of men on this earth. Have you ever thought about this?” Theodora put her arms round her husband’s neck and said, “Sweet heart now I understand what is there in your heart right now. The country is peaceful and the wealth has reached beyond limits. Now the dream you treasured in your heart all these years of building a great church has gained new life. Am I right?” 

  Justinian exclaimed, “Oh that’s fantastic. I wonder how you assess my mind so precisely.”  “A good wife will always know the heart of her beloved husband. Moreover the mouth speaks what the heart thinks. I will be the first person to feel proud and happy to know that you are going to build a great church for our dear Lord. I will never be a hindrance for this. Instead I will support you in all possible ways” said Theodora.

“Yes Theodora. The church which I want to build for our God should be a manifestation of our Lords great wisdom. It should be extraordinary in its structure and all aspects. The very sight of it should make people feel the greatness of it. That is the reason I want to name the church as ‘The wisdom of God’” 

 Theodora smiled and said, “Hold on my dear king. You are yet to start the work of building the church but even before that you have named it. That is great. Do you have the blue print with you?” Justinian replied, “The blue print is in my heart. I have called the Greek architect Isidore of Miletus and the great mathematician Anthemius of Tralles to take care of the building activities. I believe that these two great people will bring the church which is in my heart to reality.” Theodora replied, “Dear I pray to our almighty God Jesus Christ to help you in bringing your dream to reality. But tell me how these two men will understand the church which is in your mind?” Justinian said, “I have tried my best to explain the church structure in my mind. The rest is in the grace of God.” 

  Theodora was excited and said, “Dear king, the church which you are going to build should be the rarest of its kind. The grandeur should be awesome. The church should have huge doors, halls and rooms. The ceiling should be designed with intricate geometric designs like circle inside circles. And don’t forget to have the images of Cherubim angels. Would this church have all these things dear?” Justinian exclaimed, “Oh my sweet Theodora! You look into my heart and read my thoughts just like a moving picture in front of your eyes. Often I have wondered how you are able to read my feelings so clearly. I really appreciate your talent and I am gifted to have you as my wife. By the way when are those two delegates going to come to our palace?”

“Oh I am sorry dear. They have already come to our palace yesterday. I also have the blue print of the church which they gave me. Do you want to see that?” asked Theodora. Justinian chuckled and said, “Oh that was what made you to describe the church in my mind so clearly and vividly, is it? Bring the picture to me immediately. I could not wait to see it.” When King Justinian saw the blue print of the church in the picture, he was astonished to note that it was exactly the way he had it in his mind. 

  The next day the Greek architect Isidore and mathematician Anthemius met the king in his palace. Justinian showed good hospitality to them and praised them for this great design work of theirs. But the guests humbly said, “Dear Lord, we are not worthy of these praises. These praises belong to our honorable queen only. She was the one who explained how the whole structure of this church should be. All the design of the doors, the entrance, the ceiling and the dome were explained to us in a diagrammatic way as it was in the minds of you two. This structure is one that no one has ever built so far.

  This is not the architecture of the Greeks, nor that of the Romans. This is totally different. It is not even like that of the Byzantine architecture. This kind of architecture belongs to the people in heaven and only they can produce this pattern. Since this architecture is a combination of mathematics, science and geography there is no chance for this structure to pass away.  If the physical work of this church comes out as per this diagram then it is the pure grace of God. The cost involved in building this church will be enormous and this requires the efforts of combined manpower. We should select the right people and set them for this work.”

“Respected architect Isidore, please do not overburden me with such kind of work or responsibility. They are you work. You can choose the required men and goods as your wish. I suggest you and Anthemius to join together and complete the task. You decide, which are the rare materials you would require for this building and from where to purchase them. You purchase them. I will pay you the cost. I will extend any help you require in this. You can contact me any time and there will not be any objection. You also decide right place to build this great church. But I don’t want to go very far away from Constantinople (which is the present day Turkey and its former capital Istanbul) I would be happy if it is located near by the twelve apostles church which was built by my father” said Justinian.

The architect said, “Lord we too wish to build this church near by the twelve apostle church built by your father. This is because the location of Constantinople is typical in the geography of this world. This place separates the great continent Asia and Europe. Though Bosphorus strait separates these two continents, the foundation of these two continents is on strong rough rocks. So this place would be best suited to build this church. I assure you that this church will stand to the end of this world. And as long as this church stands it will announce your great name dear king” said the architect.

   “No don’t praise me so much. By the way how have you planned to build this church?” asked Justinian. The architect said, “My Lord, the basement of this church will be very strong. Since this church will have several storied floors and above them at the top most part we will have a semicircle dome, the basement should be able to withstand this huge weight of the whole building. For this we will have enough pillars at the required places. But we are not going to make these pillars rather they will be brought from the place where they are already in use. So that, the people there will know the way to build these pillars and this will in turn reduce our time.” Justinian said, “That is a good idea. From where are the pillars going to be brought?” The architect replied, “Lord as you know, there is a famous temple built by the Romans in Phonesia (called as Lebanon now) this temple  is also called as Baalbeck temple. This is the temple which the Romans built for their sun god. This temple  was built for the Greek gods namely the sun god, Venus and Baalbeck. This masterpiece of architecture and is called as the stone temple or the art temple. But after the expansion of the Christian religion in all the directions, this Balbek temple lost its importance.  Since no one visited this temple, the temple was ruined. Since this temple was not completed and had an abrupt finishing, there are a lot of single unused stone pillars which no one uses even today. Each of those stone pillars weighs 1000 tons.  Since no one used these pillars and the reason is unknown, we can use those pillars for our church. Also this temple in Poneshia is still within the boundary of your kingdom and hence a word from you will be sufficient to me to bring those pillars here.”

“That is ok. But will those pillars match the pillars we have designed for our church?” asked Justinian. “My Lord, I know each and every minute details of that church. Each of those stone pillars is 60 feet tall. I have prepared the blue print of our church in accordance with making use of those pillars. Or we can alter the basement design which will match with the usage of those stone pillars. It is not at all a problem” said the architect.

   “Ok now let us discuss about how the dome is going to be shaped and placed. If you are going to have wooden beams and then place the dome on the support of those wooden beams, then I will never accept it. This is because my father used that method in building the dome in the ‘Twelve apostle’s church’ which was destroyed by fire in the Niga riot. So think some other method to shape and place the dome. Also ensure that there is not much usage of wooden support beams anywhere in the construction of this church. In no way this church of mine should be prone to dangers of fire” said the king.

    “Your majesty I have already planned the same. I am not going to use any wooden beam for the support of those domes. Rather I am going to use strong iron wires and rods and along with them I will use hard bricks to construct and place the dome. So if we decide on the place where the church is to be built, lay the foundation and if the pillars are also brought, then the rest of the construction work will be completed very easily and quickly.” So saying the architect once again opened the blue print of the church and assembled every aspect in front of the king. The king was extremely astonished in the way the model of the church was dismantled and assembled again.

“Lord which is the place you choose to build this church?” asked Isidore. “I want to build my church beside the ruins of the twelve apostle’s church. Also I want to build my palace next to this church. Also build a special passage from the palace to the church so that my dear wife and I will go to the church every morning without any disturbance. I have one more wish. After my death and the death of my dear wife, and if in case we have children, all of us should be buried in this church ground after our death. I pray to the almighty god for this” said Justinian.  The architect said, “Your majesty, why are you so much worried of the future events? Think of the inauguration ceremony to start the work of building this church.” 

  Isidore further suggested, “My Lord, since this church is of great importance, we can bring sacred water from the Jum Jum spring. In the Old Testament, our Almighty God heard the cry of Hagar the second wife of our father Abraham, in the desert and gave her this Jum Jum spring. So we should bring water from this sacred spring and use it for the foundation of the church. My inner heart says the church which is going to be built on the basement which will be built by this sacred water, will be a church of miracles and wonders. So please do arrange for this my Lord.”

According to the request and suggestion of Isidore, 1000 camels brought water in skin bags from this Jum Jum spring and the basement of the church was built with this sacred water. Also many stone pillars were brought in ships from the Baalbeck temple in Lebanon. The magnificent church by the name of Hagia Sophia (which means the wisdom of God) rose into the air reaching the sky. 

  The church was covered on all sides to prevent anyone’s envy. But nature hindered the construction work of this church. A great tragedy came from China through the silk route. The merchants who travelled through the silk route brought in deadly infectious diseases called plague. Those who are infected with this virus will have boils all over their body. These boils will burst and in way the boils will spread all over the body. The infected person is sure to die within a short time. There was no medicine or cure for this disease in those days. Hundreds of people would die in a day. This disease will spread so rapidly that people will not have time to even bury the dead. This disease spread all over Europe and killed thousands of people. This disease spread all over Turkey and killed thousands of people. Thus the construction work of the church built by the great king Justinian had to be stopped. 

  King Justinian was also infected by this plague disease. In those days this disease was stopped by the prayer efforts taken by Saint Sebastine. Hence all over Egypt, Europe and Byzantine the same prayer efforts were taken. King Justinian also recovered because of the prayer efforts of Saint Sebastine. But he suffered the side effects of high fever caused by the plague disease. In the extreme point of fever, Justinian blabbered and the words Sancta Sophia…. Santa Sophia was clearly heard. He also uttered the words Agape, Pistis and Elpis. But Theodora could not understand anything from these words. But she carefully treasured each and every word that came from her husband’s mouth. After a few days the king was cured completely of his fever. But now he had a peculiar severe headache.

One day he took his wife to the church he was building, just to have a look at it. At the same time the architect Isidore came there.  He greeted the king and the queen. He said, “God has made everything good for his people. You have come back alive and thus the good times for this kingdom have once again gained life. I thank the God almighty for giving you back good life and health. We should start the construction work of this church as early as possible.” By this time all the three of them, Justinian, his wife Theodora and Isidore had come to the northern part of the church where a semi-finished huge pillar. They saw a sadhu leaning on the pillar. All the three of them saw him. But to their surprise, as they saw, he disappeared. They were shocked at this.  At that time Theodora spoke up stating, “My Lord I know who that sadhu is. He is the saint George who died long ago. He was a great saint and a bible scholar in his days. He also had the gift of performing sings and wonders and miracles. It is believed that he is still doing those miracles even after his death. So come on and let us go and see the place where he was standing.”

They soon reached the spot where the saint was standing. They saw water drops like sweat on the pillar. Isidore exclaimed, “How did these water drops appear on this pillar? I have never seen or could not see any other pillar sweating.”  Something more surprising followed. Whey they stated to wipe away the sweat on the pillar, it kept appearing again and again only on that pillar. King Justinian tried and wiped the sweat drops on the pillar and immediately his headache vanished. King Justinian could not believe the miracle and started to jump up and down exclaiming, “it’s a wonder…. A great wonder….. Saint George has done a great miracle in my life….. “So saying he danced about in great joy. Theodora wanted to confirm this and she went up to the water drops on the pillar and wiped them. As she wiped them she prayed in her heart asking, who are the people who belonged to the names Sancta Sophia, Agape, Pistis and Elpis which her husband uttered when he was down with fever. Immediately she had a vision in which she saw Saint Sophia and her three daughters Agape, Pistis and Elpis for a moment. Immediately Theodora exclaimed with joy stating, “My Lord, this pillar is indeed made sacred by Saint George. Even I had a miracle right now.” The architect was greatly surprised at this and he made a small hole in the pillar where the water drops were seen and immediately the water stopped. But anyone who put their finger inside the small hole would be able to feel the chillness of the water inside. Also everyone who touched the water receive a special benefit which they are in need of. (This miracle takes place even today. all the visitors who come to this church never fail to put their finger through this hole. In order to protect this place, the spot is covered with a bronze plate.) Once again the construction work of the church began.

One night as Theodora was leaning on her husband’s chest she started to speak. She said, “Sweet heart I need to discuss certain things with you.” Justinian replied, “Go ahead and speak my dear. I am always eager to listen to your sweet voice.” 

  Theodora spoke further asking him, “Dear the day when you were down with fever you uttered few names like Sancta Sophia, Agape, Pistis and Elpis. Who are they? Are they some people whom you met in your dream?” Justinian said, “Oh you wanted to know about them? I know them very well. I was neither sleeping nor dreaming. I was very much awake and in my senses and they were talking to me.” Theodora became more curious to know who they were. She asked her husband, “Please tell me who they are, but I will not compel you. Tell me if you wish” 

  “No my sweet heart. I should have told you about these people much earlier. But somehow I forgot. But now I got a chance and I will tell you.” Theodora was very excited and her eyes widened which added to her beauty. 

  Justinian drifted from that romantic mood to a much more fascinating world and he stared into the open air. He started to speak, “My dear Theodora…. The lady who spoke to me on that day was a widow. In 150 BC she was born and brought up in a rich family. Her name was Sophia. She had three girl children. The meaning of their names are, in Greek her name was Sophia which means the wisdom of God, the name of her elder daughter was Pistis which means faith, the name of her second daughter was Elpis which means hope and the third daughters name was Agape which means love. The elder daughter was 12 years and the second daughter was 10 years and the last one was 8 years old. Sophia did not remarry after the death of her husband. She spent her time to raise her three children according to their names in deep faith love and hope in God.

Everyone in the city of Rome was enchanted by the great beauty of the mother and the three daughters. But Sophia was not interested in this earthly pleasures and she brought up her daughters in the same way. She had offered her three daughters to Jesus Christ. But they had to face the tough face of fate. The ruler of Rome in those days was Adrian. He hated the very sight of Christians. During his rule, Christianity was banned all over Rome.

   The people were commanded to worship the king and the Greek and Roman gods only. Only these people were given the Roman citizenship. If not they were put to death or severely tortured or banished from the city and all their property was taken off by the government. The governor Antioch, of the city where Sophia lived came to know about the great beauty of these four women, Sophia and her three daughters and also he knew of their great wealth. So he commanded the four women to come before him and show their loyalty for their roman empire by worshiping the Roman and Greek gods. But Sophia and her daughters accepted to show due respect for the king but will never worship any other God. This aroused the anger of the governor and he sent them to King Adrian.

So Sophia and her daughters were brought before the king for trial. The king who saw these women of extraordinary beauty could not believe his eyes. Still he adjourned the case for four days. He commanded them to be kept on under the custody of Paladiya who was a lady of high rank. In these four days Sophia gave enough and more of advice to her three daughters. She imparted as much of Christian faith as possible. She made them get deep rooted in their faith. She fasted and prayed fervently in those four days. She did not waste a minute and used it to sit at the feet of the Lord asking him to give them strength and grace to undergo and face all the trial which could come their way during the trial. She also put the sign of the cross on her daughters as well as on her forehead. She kept encouraging her daughters to be prepared to meet the torments which they would have to undergo. She gave them the clear picture of the possible ways they could be tormented and how the grace of the Lord will support them.

   Paldiya who saw this accepted Jesus in her heart and so she did not give any trouble to Sophia and her daughters as long as they were there in her house.

On the fifth day the trial started in front of King Adrian. Since they knew what awaits them on that day and moreover since they knew how mighty is the hand of the Lord which protects them, they went with joy to meet the king as if they had been called for a banquet with the king. This surprised the onlookers including the king. The king started his conversation stating, 

  “Sophia, lady of high rank, I hope you are aware that Christianity and practicing the same is prohibited in our country. Still you and your three daughters are practicing the same which is an offence of high order. Are you aware of this? Still I would like to give you a chance considering that you are women and that too you are of high rank. According to the government rules, accept the king as your God and worship the Roman gods here immediately. If you do so, I will forgive you and give you back the roman citizenship. What do you say lady?” 

  Sophia replied, “Sorry my lord. My daughters and I have great respect for you, since you are our king. But we can never accept you as almighty God. You are just a creation of his hand. He created you just like how he has created each and every one of us. It is a sin to worship the creation instead of the creator. So we will never accept you as our god. We will not worship any other god other the true living God Jesus Christ. This is my final statement.” 

  These words of Sophia brought great insult for the King and he got furious at her reply. In his rage he said, “How dare you speak against the king’s word in public? I will show you what will happen if you speak like this in front of the king. What did you say my lady? I am just one of the human beings created by God, is it? But l will show you that though I am a human being, I am far better than any one of you gathered here. I am the king and I have the authority to do anything I wish to. Let me see if you’re God, Jesus Christ can come and save you from my torments. Since you spoke so boldly in public, I am going to give you a different kind of punishment. You are just going to see with your own eyes, the worst tortures your three daughters are going to undergo, and you are going to repent all your life for having done this great mistake of accepting Jesus and speaking against me. Guards call those three daughters of this lady. I am going to enquire them individually” said king Adrian.

The first daughter, faith was called. The conversation began.

“Young lady what is your name?”

“My name is Faith my Lord.”

“Rare name indeed. I have never heard people keep such names.”

“Yes my Lord. I live my life according to my name. I have all my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Oh is it? Then it means you do not have faith in you king, am I right?”

“It is not like that my Lord. I do have faith and great respect for you as a king who rules us”

“If you do have faith in me then go ahead and accept me as your God. Why do you hesitate to do that and worship some foreign god whom you can’t even see with your eyes? Am I not your king? Am I not powerful and mighty? I provide your need, take care of you and indeed protect you. Then what prevents you from accepting me as you God?”

“Lord Almighty God is the creator of this whole world and all that is in it. The very breath we have in our body which is the source of our life is what Jesus Christ has given us. He provides our needs. We are in fact using all that he has created. With all your power and might, you can never give life for a person. You can only try to protect. You cannot control birth or death. You can’t control nature. Above all you too are a creation of God. Your life too is in the hands of the creator. So I can only accept you as my king and never accept you as my God.”

“You too have insulted me as your mother did. Let me see now who can save you? Who can protect you from my anger? Call out to your almighty to come to your rescue. I will prove to you now that it is only me and no one else, even your God Jesus can save you from my anger. You are a young maid with extraordinary beauty. But since you insulted me now you will lose all this. Think once again and do not take foolish decision. Your mother is old and has lived her life. But you are just at the first step of your beautiful life. Do not spoil it listening to your mother. Come on and accept me as your god and worship the Roman gods and I will forgive you. If you refuse then you will have to face very bad consequences. What do you say?” asked King Adrian very angrily.

Faith looked at her mother. Her mother stood there as a pillar of courage and said, “My dear daughter Faith, I am proud of your faith in Jesus. But it is now very important to stand in that faith even if it is to taste death. You are the bride of Jesus Christ. As you have read in the Holy Scriptures, all that you lose on this earth for the sake of Christ, you will receive it in double in heaven. We do not belong to this earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. Jesus Christ will protect you and save you. If you stand in faith for Christ, he will glorify you in heaven and that is everlasting. Do not forget the words of Christ, you will have sufferings on this earth, but do not fear for I have won over them. So Jesus will give you the strength to win over these sufferings as He did. You will receive the crown of life from the hand of Jesus in heaven. Only think of that. Aspire for eternal life and not this uncertain earthly life. Once you undergo these sufferings and go to Jesus Christ, do remember me and your sisters and pray to Him to give us also the strength to stand for Him up to death. So go ahead my child and we will soon meet in heaven.”

Faith now prepared to face any kind of punishment that was kept for her. Before she could be take off by the guards, she spat at the face of the goddess Artemis for whom the king wanted her to offer sacrifice and worship. As per the kings orders the soldiers took her and made her to stand naked and whipped her so that her body was covered all over with bloody welts. After this the king looked at her mother and said, “Now you saw what happened to her beauty and you will now see what worse punishment awaits her. So saying he ordered the soldiers to cut off her breasts.” It was done as per the king’s orders.  But Sophia did not step out of her faith. She stood firm and was determined not to cry of shed tears to see this torture of her daughter. She said, “My daughter is now adorning herself with heavenly beauty and this will be renounced in heaven. I am indeed proud of my daughter for she has lived as per her name.” at that moment a miracle happened. A white liquid, instead of blood, flowed out from the breast of Faith which was cut off by the soldiers. All the viewers who were gathered there could not tolerate this punishment given for a young virgin. They said, “What is wrong with King Adrian? This white liquid which flows from this young virgin proves that she belongs to heaven. So now she is in the hands of Almighty God and let God take care of her.”

A huge burning stove was brought, which was red hot. Faith was made to lie down on it as if she was made to lie down on a burning cot. She was made to lie down on that for nearly two hours but nothing happened to her. The king was greatly surprised at this. Still his heart was hard as stone. He ordered a burning cauldron filled with oil and tar to be brought and be heated on fire. When the same was boiling Faith was put into it. But nothing caused any harm to her. 

  When the king understood nothing could hurt her and it was no use to further torture her, he ordered her to be beheaded. Before she could he beheaded, she turned to her mother and sisters and said, “Mother I have won this battle! My dear sisters I have won this battle! Now follow me and come behind me soon. My dear sister hope and love, do not fear. The mighty hand of our Lord Jesus Christ will protect you and help you walk through this path of suffering. He will be with you as he was with me. You have witnessed how the Lord was with me all this time. He will be with you too and we will soon be with Jesus Christ in heaven. I take leave now.” So saying, she hugged her mother and her sisters and took leave. A soldier then raised his sword high above and cut off her head. This head of Faith was brought and handed over to her mother Sophia.

King Adrian said aloud, “See the price of your foolish decision. The girl of awesome beauty, whom you loved so much, is now dead. I hope this is sufficient for you to change your mind and accept me as your God. If you still refuse to change your mind then you will have to lose your second daughter also. So give a good counsel to your second daughter Hope and send her to me. I hope that you will now take a good decision.”

Sophia got the head of her first daughter which was handed over to her by soldier. She listened to all that King Adrian spoke. She turned to her second daughter Hope and hugged her and kissed her. 

 Then she blessed her and said, “My dear daughter Hope, do not lose your hope in your God Jesus Christ. Here is the live testimony of your elder sister Faith. Now she is there with Jesus Christ in heaven. As we read in the Holy Scriptures, ‘the  present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us’, be prepared to take up these sufferings. Our Lord Jesus Christ will be with you to strengthen you and help you stand strong in your faith. Be cautious and careful of what you say. I had pain when I brought you into this world, but now I am so happy that I am giving you all for the glory of God. Go ahead my dear daughter. Go and join your elder sister in heaven and wait for me and your younger sister too. We will join you soon. Do not fear or tremble. God will do the rest for you.” So saying she blessed her and sent her to stand before the king.

King Adrian looked at her and said, “So you are Hope, am I right? As your mother named you, even I hope that she must have told you a good advice and sent you here. Here are our Roman Gods. Go ahead and offer sacrifice and worship them.” 

  Hope spoke up boldly and said, “Yes your majesty, my mother has given me a good counsel. I will never accept your fake pagan gods as my god and will never worship them. For Jesus Christ is the only god worthy of glory and honour and power: for He has created all things, and for His pleasure they are and were created. Your fake gods are waiting to drink my blood. But my bridegroom is waiting for me in heaven with the crown of eternal life which he has promised for me. I know that my elder sister who died in front of you is now there in heaven waiting for me. So you will never be able to change my mind. So do whatever you want.”   

King Adrian could not bear this insult that he has failed to a ten year old girl. So he turned to her mother Sophia and said, “You are not worthy to be a mother. For a silly issue you are sacrificing your beloved daughters just like that. Even animals won’t do this lady. Are you such an arrogant lady?” 

  Before Sophia could speak up, Hope spoke, “Stop those harsh words my Lord. My mother is not the one to be blamed. You are the arrogant tyrant. You are not worthy to be called as a human being. You are so cheap that you call yourself God. Don’t you know that this is the greatest sin against God? The pot which is made by the potter could be beautiful, strong and very much useful. But it can never be greater than the potter who made it. Similarly you can be wise, powerful and have a great kingdom but that will never make you greater than God. To stand up for the Lord who shed his blood to wash away our sins may be a take it easy thing for you. But that is the greatest thing in our life. As our God has said, “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall not have strange gods before me.”  We obey his commandments and so I will never accept any other god in my life. Don’t waste your time any more. Go ahead and do whatever you want with me. My Lord Jesus Christ gave his life for me on the cross and now I have the chance to give up my life for him.”

   Seeing the strong will power of this small girl, King Adrian was ashamed of himself. Still he commanded the soldiers to torture her like the way they tortured her sister. So Hope was also tortured in the most horrible ways. Her body was torn to pieces with sharp nails and iron combs. Blood gushed out of her body but it had a very sweet fragrance. This showed that she was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

  With the strength of the Holy Spirit she said, “Tear my body as much as possible, but you can never tear my soul from the feet of my Lord Jesus Christ. You can never shake my faith I have in my true living God.” King Adrian laughed aloud and said, “How sad to see this pitiable condition of yours young girl. Do you still hope that your Lord Jesus Christ will come to save you? As your name indicates you have so much of hope of your God is it? You will soon know that you are as foolish as your elder sister and your mother. No one except me will be able to save you. Be ready to face the boiling pot dear…..” so saying King Adrian commanded the soldiers to immerse her in the boiling pot of oil and tar. The command was executed. 

  But the pot was overheated and so it burst. King Adrian ran to save himself from the fire and hot oil of the pot. The oil and fire which was scattered due to the bursting of the pot caused serious injury to all the soldiers standing around and many died. Hope laughed heartily at this sight. She called out to the king and said, “Oh what a pity dear king. Was the oil too hot that you ran so fast? Do come back, there is nothing to fear. You can spoil this body of mine which is prone to decay. But you can never do anything to my soul. Come on and execute your plans to torture me. Here is stand before you without any fear.”

King Adrian could not tolerate the fact that he ran in fear for his life in front of this small ten year old girl. Knowing that the faith of this ten year old girl is beyond words could tell, King Adrian commanded the soldiers to behead her.

   At this time Hope ran to her mother and sister and hugged them and kissed them and said, “My dear sister Love, the grace of our Lord Jesus which protected me so far will be with you too and protect you. He will give you sufficient grace to undergo these sufferings. Do not fear and look up to our God who is the source of our strength. We will soon meet in heaven. My dear mother and my dear sister I take leave now. Soon we will meet again and liver for eternity in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. Bye” 

  She bowed down her head and the soldier cut it off in one swing. She reached heaven to be with Jesus Christ for all her life.

The next in line to stand before the king was Love. She was just eight years old and this created a soft corner for her in the heart of King Adrian. He said, “Dear child is your name Love? Am I right?” But the eight year old girl was wise and very bold too. 

  She replied, “Yes your majesty my name is Love but I am certainly not your daughter and you could never be my father.” Still the king was soft to her and said, “Why should I not treat you as my daughter or even call you as my child?” Love gave an immediate reply, “You can never be my father. You should never call me as your child. If I am your child then my sisters too must be your children. Will any father kill his own daughters? But you have killed my sisters in a very arrogant way. In which case how can you be my father? I will never accept you as my father. So don’t ever call me as your child.”

  The king smiled at her and said, “It is all because of the false teachings your mother has given to all the three of you. Otherwise I am a very good, kind and loving person. I will do no harm to you and you can trust me dear.” 

  Love spoke clearly stating, “My Lord the person whom I trust in this world next to my mother is my dear Lord Jesus Christ. All other human beings are not trust worthy.” The king got a little upset with these words of Love and said, “dear child your speech is not as that of a young girl of your age. Our Roman gods are very much trustworthy and powerful. You just have to offer sacrifice to them. That too it is an easy task, just sprinkle a little salt to the goddess Artemis and the next moment I will set you free.”

Love laughed at the King and said, “Well done my Lord. I really appreciate your efforts to deceive me with those honey coated lies. You thought that I am a small girl and that you could easily win me with your false promises. But let me remind you that I am not a fool to listen to all that you say. My mother’s name is Sophia which means the wisdom of God. I am her daughter and I have the enormous wisdom of God too. I believe that my Lord Jesus Christ has given me two earthly sisters and along with them I have one more sister Wisdom. Since you failed in front of my sisters, now you are trying to play the same game with me thinking that I am of a small age and that I would easily yield to your words. You can never win me. Though you may call me as your daughter, I will not be deceived by that false love of yours. I wish to joint my sisters and so please do send me to them as early as possible.”

“Oh! My dainty darling, you thought that I will gift you with death so easily? Never….. I considered your age and was kind to you but you have taken me for granted. I will prove to you that I am a tyrant more than you ever know or seen.  You have insulted me more than your sisters have done. So I will punish you in the worst way that it will be a lesson to everyone who wishes to oppose the king. 

  Soldiers tie this girl to that wheel and torture her as much as possible. Let every second be so painful for her that she will soon realize her mistake and fall down at my feet” said King Adrian. According to the kings orders an iron rod was planted in the ground. Love’s feet were tied to the iron rod. Her body was tied to the outer rim of a wheel. Then the wheel was rotated as fast as possible. 

  Since her legs were fastened to the iron rod which was deep routed to the ground, as the wheel rotated all her joints were broken. Her stomach and all the tendons and ligaments in her body were torn. The pain was beyond words could explain. This caused bleeding all over her body and it was a horrible sight. 

  Seeing this king shouted saying, “Oh what a bloody sight….. Stop this… she is too young to undergo this kind of a punishment…… Oh my dear daughter Love why are you still so adamant. It is not too late…. Accept the goddess Artemis and praise her and deny Jesus Christ and I will immediately relieve you from all this torture…..” But the courage of Love was too great.

  She replied in a bold voice, “I don’t need your pity or sympathy my king….. You and your goddess Artemis will meet your downfall very soon. That Artemis is from hell and she will definitely take you to her place hell very soon. As it is written in the Holy Scripture, ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ I know that I am not wrestling with you as well as with that ruler of darkness Artemis. But I have the armour of God and will not be defeated. Just think for yourself, you have tortured, made us naked, insulted and killed the sisters who are named as Faith, Hope and Love. You have already killed two of my sisters and now you are torturing me. All of us are the bride of Jesus Christ. No husband will allow his wife to be just like that treated badly by anyone. Surely he will punish you for this act of yours. So I warn you, better repent now and escape from His punishment.”

This brought great insult and disgrace for the king. But before he could think about the words of Love, the evil spirits which ruled his heart controlled his mind and aroused his anger even more. 

  So he commanded an even worse punishment for her. Huge nails were pierced on her legs, the joints of her thigh and the joints of her shoulders and they carried her by holding the nails. They took her round the fort in this manner. This caused great pain and the insult she suffered was high. Then they threw her down on the ground. The king went up to Sophia and said, “Did you see the plight of your dear daughter? What a pity to undergo such worst tortures at this young age? I really pity her. As you all said I am the worst tyrant but even I pity this state of your daughter. But you are the loving mother of this girl and are you still adamant to stick to your belief? If so I will not hesitate to torture even more. What have you decided, come on and speak lady.” 

  But nothing could move the strong faith of this mother Sophia. She looked up at the king and said, “Why have you come to me to ask this question. I think that you are scared to ask my daughter any further question, for if you dare to as her then she will insult you very badly. Am I right? Go on you tyrant, she is still alive and you can ask all your questions to her.” 

  The king as greatly surprised at this statement of Sophia and said, “I wonder what kind of a mother you are. I have read and heard people say that ‘blood is thicker than water’ but in your case you are not at all moved even after seeing this bloody sight of your daughters. I wonder whether you are the true mother of these children. Tell me the truth; don’t you feel any pain in your heart to see this plight of your daughters?” Sophia gave an immediate reply without any hesitation, “No my king. I don’t feel any pain in my heart. I am indeed happy that all my daughters are brave and have embraced death bravely. Though they are girls they are not cowards. I am happy that the name of my Lord Jesus Christ is glorified by this death of my daughters. This will surely please my God.”

Now Adrian turned back to Love for he knew that he could no longer convince Sophia to make her deny Jesus Christ. He looked at Love and said, “Love now I am going to throw you into the fires of hell.” He pointed to a pit of burning fire. Love looked at it and said, “you need not take any efforts my Lord, I will go into it myself.” So saying she rolled on the ground and fell into the pit of fire.

   Immediately the fire rose up to the sky. For the next few minutes no one could find out what was happening inside the pit of fire. But after some time, the fire became transparent and people could see that Love was standing amidst the fire singing praises to God. This went on for the next few hours. When the king saw that fire could not harm her, he ordered the fire to be put out and brought her out of the pit. 

  When she was brought out her face was emitting the glory of heaven. This sight caused a great fear in the heart of all gathered there including King Adrian. Still he did not want to give up and commanded the soldiers to behead her and kill her. Love now turned to her mother and her mother hugged her in great joy. She kissed her daughter and said, “My dear daughter Love, you have won the battle. Just a few more to experience and then you will be there in heaven with Jesus Christ and your sisters. He will give you the crown of eternal life and accept you as his bride. Do not forget me dear.” So saying she blessed her and put the sign of the cross on her forehead. Then Love was forcefully taken and her head was cut off.

The king did not know what to do. Still he looked up at Sophia and said, “I have never seen such a hard hearted mother like you. You are not worthy to be called as a mother. The day when I killed and plundered the people of Jerusalem, so many mothers gave up their lives to save their children. They are worthy to be called as mothers. But you stood here smiling to see your daughters suffer and undergo such worst torture. You are not a mother, you are a devil. You did this just for your belief in Jesus Christ. Are you not ashamed? Here take the lifeless bodies of your daughters. Take this as a greatest prize for your belief in Christ.” So saying he handed over the dead bodies of the three daughters to their mother Sophia. He gave a disgusting look at her and spat on her face and left the place.

   But Sophia considered all this as a test for her faith in Jesus Christ and did not murmur or feel bad about it.

“What happened next?” asked Theodora with great curiosity? “The things that followed were even worse than all that happened so far” said king Justinian. He continued saying, “Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters to her house. She made a grand coffin box and kept the dead bodies of all her three daughters in it. She placed it on a bullock cart and took it to a mountain in Rome and buried them there. She sat down there at the grave. Her relatives called her and tried to console her but she refused to come back from there. Three days passed and on the third day Sophia died. Her relatives buried her along with her daughters.” “Such a sad story, tell me further….” said Theodora.

   “The Roman Catholic Church gave the title of martyrs and saints to the three girls Faith, Hope and Love. Their mother Sophia was also given the title of martyr and saint. Though their mother Sophia did not die as a martyr, still she witnessed with her own eyes all the sufferings of her daughters and stood firm in her faith. So for this reason she was awarded the title of martyr.”

   “That is hundred percent right dear. No mother will be able to bear their children undergo such worse sufferings. So it is just that they had given Sophia also the title of martyr. Still I wonder how this mother was able to bear to see the sufferings of her own daughters and still stand firm in her faith. Truly she is a brave mother…. Holy Mother… we can give her any number of titles” said Theodora. 

  “Yes Theodora, this was the worst punishment King Adrian could give this mother……” said King Justinian.

   “By the way how do you know so much history of this mother and her three daughters?” asked Theodora. “When I was down with fever, you said, that I blabbered the name of Sancta Sophia….. Do you remember? I will tell you what happened at that time. This brave mother Sophia came along with her three daughters Faith, Hope and Love and told me their history. They also blessed me to build this church successfully. They also told me to name this church as Sophia which means ‘The Wisdom of God’. Also they asked me to build three separate altars for the three daughters and name it after them. That is why you heard the Greek names Pistis which means faith, Elpis which means Hope and Agape which means Love.” “What did you say for this request of these saints?” asked Theodora.

King Justinian replied, “I said, your name Sophia in Greek which means the wisdom of God was the name I thought of as naming this church when I started to build it. I think even that was the will of God. Moreover since now you have asked me to give the same name to this church, I will call this church as Hagia Sophia. I have reserved the place next to the main church entrance for the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The next three altars, I will now reserve for your three daughters Faith, Hope and Love. I built this church for the second person in the trinity namely Jesus Christ.

  I am proud to allot separate altars for the three brides of Jesus Christ namely Faith, Hope and Love.” Theodora said, “Well said my Lord. It would be of great use if all the people who come to visit this church know about these saints. But I have a small unfulfilled wish in my heart.” 

 “What is it my love. Tell me and I will surely fulfill it” said King Justinian. “No my dear, you can’t fulfill this wish of mine. I would have been very happy if I saint Sophia and her three daughters would have come in my dream. But I am happy that I saw them in a flash of a second when I touched the stone pillar which was sweating” said Theodora.

As per the blessing of Saint Sophia, the magnificent church, Hagia Sophia was built and reached the sky. This church which was started in 532 BC was completed in 537 BC and was further inaugurated on December 25^th of the same year. If you want a one word description of this beautiful church you can say, ‘it’s magnificent’. Here are a few historical facts about this beautiful piece of architecture which stands proudly amidst all the dangers of nature, which is worth to be noted:

This church belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church members from 537 BC to 1240 BC

From 1240 BC to 1261 BC it belonged to Roman Catholic Church members

From 1261 BC to 1453 BC again it belonged to Eastern Orthodox Church members.

From 1453 BC to 1931 BC it belonged to the Muslim Government and from 1935 BC up to the present day it is under the control of the Muslim Government as a Museum. Turkey which was known as Constantinople fell into the hands of Ottoman Turkey and after that this Church Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque. During his time he built minarets on the four sides of the mosque to give it the look of a mosque. Also the inner walls were adorned with Holy Quran verses. Many of the relics of Christians and their graves were removed from the church. One of the important memorials which were brought from Jerusalem was the part of stone pillar on which Jesus Christ was tied to and whipped. At present this part of the stone pillar is kept in St. George church in Istanbul. 

  This Hagia Sophia church model was the base for many churches and mosques in the future days. Of them the most important one is the blue mosque. If you consider the architecture, there is not much of a difference between Hagia Sophia and the blue mosque. But the inner structure and the mosaic finishing depicts a lot of difference. This blue mosque is situated at a few distances opposite to Hagia Sophia church. The patron saint of this church Hagia Sophia is the patron saint of Bulgaria. The relics of Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Love are kept in a church at Rome.

Dear Saint Sophia pray for us. Amen!