Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love, and Their Mother Sophia

Life

They lived and suffered in Rome in the time of Emperor Hadrian. Sophia the wise, as her name signifies (sophia meaning wisdom), had remained a widow, and as a Christian had firmly established both herself and her daughters in the faith of Christ. When the persecuting hand of Hadrian reached even the virtuous household of Sophia, Faith was twelve, Hope ten, and Love nine years old. All four of them were brought before the emperor, and holding one another by the hand "as a woven garland," they humbly but resolutely confessed their faith in Christ the Lord and refused to offer sacrifice to the idol goddess Artemis. Before their suffering, the mother strengthened her daughters with her counsel, that they might endure to the end. "Your heavenly Lover Jesus Christ is eternal health, beauty indescribable, and immortal life. And when your bodies are slain by torment, He will clothe you in incorruption, and the wounds on your bodies will shine in heaven like stars." One by one the torturer subjected each to cruel torments, first Faith, then Hope, then Love. They were beaten, cut, cast into fire and into boiling pitch, and finally one after another beheaded by the sword. Sophia took the dead bodies of her daughters, carried them outside the city, and there honorably buried them. And she remained at their grave three days and three nights, praying to God, and in so doing surrendered her spirit to God, hastening to the heavenly dwellings where the blessed souls of her glorious daughters awaited her.

From the Hymn of Praise

Sophia the most wise glorified the Lord,Three most beautiful daughters she offered as sacrifice to Him:Then spoke to her daughters: fear not, my children,Strengthen yourselves in Christ, endure in the faith.