Faith, Hope and Love are not just three female names, but also three Christian virtues mentioned in the First Epistle to the Corinthians of the Apostle Paul. They are of great importance to Christianity. Saint Sophia named her three daughters by the names of these biblical virtues, who together with them suffered for the Christian faith.
Every year on September 30, a holiday is celebrated in honor of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia, who suffered in the II century for the Christian faith. On this day, a prayer service is held in the church in honor of the holy martyrs, and believers ask for help and intercession from their icons. Prayers to these saints help them find family happiness and build a strong marriage. They are often prayed for the birth of a child and the health of children, and also prayers to the holy family help to get rid of joint pains and female diseases, return joy and peace to the house, protect loved ones from temptation, and direct them on the true path.
During the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138), the widow Sophia arrived in Rome from Milan with her three daughters, who were named after the main Christian virtues - Faith, Hope, Love. And although in those years believers in Christ were cruelly persecuted, the mother raised her children in Christian piety.
The girls grew up, and their virtues grew. Gradually, a rumor about their beauty and wisdom spread throughout Rome. A rumor reached the emperor, who ordered the mother and daughters to be brought to him.
After talking with the girls, Adrian was amazed at the firmness of the young virgins' faith (at that time Vera was 12, Nadezhda was 10, and Lyubov was 9). He ordered them to be brought separately, hoping that he could convince them to deny Christ.
Vera was the first to appear before the tyrant. She confidently responded to the emperor's flattering speeches, condemned his evil and impious plans against Christians. In anger, Adrian ordered to undress the girl and scourge her mercilessly. Then her nipples were cut off, but milk flowed from the wounds instead of blood. Faith could not be broken by other torments that befell her, because she was protected by the power of God. Then the governor gave orders to behead the martyr.
Then the emperor ordered Nadezhda to be brought in. She, too, was firm in her religion, like her sister. She was scourged and then sent into a burning furnace, but the fire went out. After long torment, she also accepted death by the sword.
Then, an angry Adrian summoned nine-year-old Love, who showed the same resilience as her older sisters. She was hung up on her hind legs and stretched so much that the joints on her arms and legs began to break. The girl was also thrown into a blazing furnace, but she was saved by an angel. Then the martyr was beheaded with a sword.
The emperor did not torture Sophia, realizing that no amount of torture would shake the faith of the woman who so steadfastly watched the suffering and death of her children. He allowed her to take the bodies of her daughters. Sophia put their remains in the ark and took them out of the city in a chariot, where she buried them on a high place. For three days the mother sat at their grave, and then peacefully gave her soul to the Lord.
The believers buried Sofia's body in the same place where she buried her children. She, like her daughters, was numbered among the holy martyrs, although she accepted the suffering for Christ not with her body, but with her heart.
The relics of the martyrs in the 8th century were transferred from the crypt of the cemetery of St. Pancratius in Rome to the built church of St. Sylvester on the Champ de Mars. Part of the relics of the martyrs was presented as a gift to the monastery of St. Julia (Italy). In May 777, at the request of Bishop Remigius, the relics of the martyrs were transferred to the convent of Saint Trofim in Esho near Strasbourg.
Church of St. Trofim in Esho The shrine attracted many pilgrims and a large hotel was built for the visitors. During the French Revolution, the monastery was plundered and the relics stolen. According to one version, the nuns, in order to hide the relics of the martyrs from desecration, buried them in the monastery cemetery in an unknown place where they are today.
In 1898, the monastery church of St. Trofim was declared a historical monument and gradually began to be restored. In April 1938, the Catholic Bishop Charles Rusch from Rome brought two new pieces of Saint Sophia to Esho. Currently, there is a shrine with a particle of relics in the temple.
The relics of the holy Martyr Sophia, mother of Sts. mzz. Faith, Hope and Love, suffered for Christ during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (117-138) In Russia, on this day, a girl's (woman's) holiday was celebrated, which was also called the godfather or the all-world woman's howl. It only began not with fun, but with crying, which is why it got its name. Everyone cried: both those who had something to cry about, and those for whom everything in life worked out well. Women cried about the fate of loved ones and relatives, because "a woman's fate does not exist alone." The tradition of crying on this day is associated with Saint Sophia, who had to watch how her daughters were tortured for their adherence to Christianity. The woman suffered and cried for her daughters, but was unshakable in her courage and persuaded the girls to endure in the name of Christ.
In the understanding of our ancestors, tears and crying on this day served as a kind of amulet. They believed that if a woman cries well, then within a year no troubles, illnesses and troubles will be terrible for her family. In general, in the folk tradition, tears are not only an expression of grief or sadness, but also a form of ritual behavior. For example, the bride always cried before the wedding, saying goodbye to her home.
The fair sex was congratulated on this day. Celebrated women's name day usually three days in honor of female Virtues and maternal Wisdom. We did it extensively and generously. Especially honored were girls and women, who were called Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sofia: special pretzels were baked for them. Women were freed from any kind of work, even housework.
The folk wisdom of the word captured these female names in proverbs and jokes:
Although Love, but not love.
Lyuba to the guy, the girl Lyubasha - to the crown, and not love - to her father.
Hope Hope for good, but wait for the worst.
Grandma Nadezhda, hope for someone else's, but feed your own.
And I won't believe Vera if I don't see it myself.
According to the tradition that has survived from pre-Christian times, “village calendar” was arranged in the villages on this day: in the evening, young people gathered together to show themselves and see others. The girls in love read special conspiracies so that the guy they liked would reciprocate, so that love “would not burn on fire, would not sink in water and would not freeze in cold winter”. They believed that everything would come true for them.
Married women, in order to protect their families from everything bad, went to church in the morning, where they bought three candles. One was placed in front of the face of the Mother of God, the second - in front of the icon of the holy martyrs, and the third was taken home. During the day, bake a loaf, and at midnight they put the last candle in its center, lit it and read a prayer to Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sofia about love:
Girls who wanted to get married as soon as possible also baked ceremonial pastries on this day, over which they read a prayer to the holy martyrs for marriage:
Then they treated the guy they liked with this pastry.
The last day of September received another name - Kumovnik. It bears rather long roots and is celebrated by the people not only as the name day of Vera, Nadezhda, Love and Sophia. In the old days, Slavic goddesses were revered on this day, however, no reliable information about this has survived, therefore the name Love was associated with the goddess Lada, Vera - with the goddess Lelya, Sophia - with the goddess Zarya, Nadezhda - with Makosh.
At this time, the higher powers were honored. The importance of the Kumovnik holiday lies in the fact that even in thoughts one cannot wish anyone harm and harm, so as not to anger the goddesses worshiped on this day. And yet, this is the best time when you can get rid of the evil eye and damage even without special cleansing rituals. The main thing is not to wish bad things to anyone and to be in a positive mood.
Signs of the day:
On this day, do not forget to pray to the holy martyrs. If the prayer comes from the very heart, then it will certainly be heard.
In a small medieval church not far from the capital of the European Union, Strasbourg, Russian speech has not ceased for almost 15 years. In the French town of Esho, the relics of saints Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia have been kept since the 8th century, but it is thanks to Russian pilgrims that the whole world now knows about it. And all because the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs, celebrated on September 30, paradoxically took root in our culture. About what traditions are associated with the popular holiday and why in Russia it was called "universal name days" - in the material of RIA Novosti.
Unfortunately, the authentic acts of martyrdom of these saints have not survived, and the life is strongly "literary". The story of the martyrs, captured in Christian tradition, is replete with cruel scenes. But it is not at all because of this that it has firmly established itself in world culture.
According to her life, Sofia lived in the 2nd century AD and was an aristocrat from Milan. In the Roman Empire, noble women, despite the almost complete absence of any political rights, still enjoyed tremendous influence in society. And they were in plain sight, which played a fatal role in the fate of Sofia.
Her daughters, named after the Christian virtues - Pistis, Elpis and Agape (Greek version) - she raised in the spirit of faith in Christ. Under Emperor Hadrian, Christians were not specifically sought out. They could be found guilty of refusing to worship the gods and could only be punished by court. And for the first time they had defenders - apologists, such as Aristide and Kondrat. But Christians were still executed - not for "crimes" committed before the trial, but for disrespect for the Roman courts and refusal to comply with their orders.
But unfortunately, having arrived in Rome, the family came to the attention of the emperor, and, according to legend, he sorted out their case himself and tried in vain to convince Sophia not to sacrifice her daughters for the sake of honoring some crucified. Sofia spent three days in prayer and admonishing her children to be ready to give her life in the name of faith. Then the girls, who were 12, 10 and 9 years old, were tortured and eventually beheaded. The latter, contrary to the popular phrase, was not executed by Nadezhda, but by Love.
"The mother, having accepted her body, put it in an expensive coffin along with the bodies of the saints Faith and Hope and, having decorated their bodies as it should, put the coffin on the funeral chariot, took them out of the city some distance and buried her daughters with honor on a high hill, crying Being at their grave for three days, she fervently prayed to God and herself rested in the Lord. , then with her heart and she suffered for Christ, "- the life ends.
The earliest surviving lives of Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sofia date back to the 7th-8th centuries. And in the 9th century, when the liturgical books were translated into Church Slavonic, the Greek names of the sisters - Pistis, Elpis and Agape - were replaced by Slavic semantic counterparts, and only the name of their mother Sophia (Wisdom) retained its original sound. In the Russian tradition, this is an exceptional case.
True, they rarely called children in Russia by these names - they were too distracted from the established ecclesiastical system of names, in which the official, baptismal names had no other meanings, except for the name of this or that saint.
Only after the accession to the throne of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, which passed under the sign of the struggle against the dominance of foreigners in Russia, it was these names, the only ones in all saints that sounded clearly in Russian, became very popular, especially in noble families.
But a real boom in their popularity began in the 20th century, when people began to miss more and more everything that these names personified, and the day of memory of the martyrs became truly "universal woman's name days."
However, according to the statistics of the last 25 years, preferences have changed slightly. Faith, Hope and Love are no longer the most common female names. Unlike Sophia / Sophia. If in 1991 it was not even included in the thirty most common names for newborns, then in the last ten years it has become the most popular. It is interesting that exactly the same picture is in Italy and the United States, and in the States, the surge in popularity of the name Sofia has occurred only in the last five years.
And recently, scientists even stated that this is the most popular name in the world. True, the count was carried out only in 49 countries.
Once the day of Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sofia did not begin at all festively - folk traditions say that women need to "cry well in the morning", in memory of the grief-stricken Sofia, in order to drive away all sorrows from relatives and friends for a whole year. The success of the ceremony, according to popular rumor, depends on the volume of the sobbing.
Scientists believe that this custom goes deep into antiquity. It is known that even in the 6th-7th centuries, during the funeral, special mourners bypassed the coffin with the body of the deceased, driving away evil spirits with their sobs. Ritual crying can be found in Japan and Central Asia. However, for some reason this ritual is most firmly rooted in Russian culture.
"Russian culture is polarized in its essence, it combines the opposite value-semantic spheres of paganism and Orthodoxy. The paradigm of the Christian worldview determines the existence of crying and lamentable forms in Russian culture," says culturologist Irina Konyreva.
And in the old days, the time of the onset of winter was determined on this day. If the cranes fly south on September 30, then the first frosts will hit Pokrov on October 14. If not, winter will come late.
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On September 30, 2017, the Orthodox Church will remember the martyrs who suffered for the Christian faith - Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia. The people call this holiday a girl's holiday, a woman's name day, a woman's scream. Where did such unusual names come from and what folk traditions of this day are you will learn from our material.
The story that formed the basis of the holiday took place many centuries ago - in the 2nd century after the Nativity of Christ, when the ruler Hadrian ruled in Rome. In the capital of the Roman Empire lived the pious widow Sophia (the name Sophia means wisdom). She had three daughters who bore the names of the main Christian virtues: Faith, Hope and Love. Being a deeply religious Christian, Sophia raised her daughters in love for God, teaching them not to become attached to earthly goods.
It must be said that the Christian faith was not welcomed in Rome and rumors about a Christian family reached the ruler. At first, by persuasion, and later by dangers, he tried to force Sophia and her daughters to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. But the Christian faith in the girls and their mothers was unshakable.
The ruler, who was not used to the commoners disobeying his orders, commanded to give the kids fierce torture. But the power of faith in the Lord was such that neither fire nor boiling pitch could harm the holy family. Then Adrian, in anger, condemned the girls to death.
Their mother, Sophia, was obliged to watch over the suffering of her daughters. She buried, according to Christian tradition, the conscientious remains of Faith, Hope and Love. On the third day after the burial, the Lord sent Sophia a quiet death and took her long-suffering soul to heavenly abodes.
Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia are canonized by the Christian Church. Mom and her daughters did a feat in the name of faith, which showed that for people with true faith in Jesus Christ, the lack of bodily strength does not in the least serve as an obstacle to the manifestation of strength of spirit and courage.
In folk traditions, the day of September 30 is also called the "universal woman's name-day" or "woman's holiday". Only according to tradition, it began with crying - beliefs say that all ladies should start the morning of this day with a sonorous cry, which serves as a typical amulet. Indeed, according to custom, it was supposed to weep, even to those who had a sin to complain about their fate. They sobbed, if not about their own fate, so about the fate of relatives and friends, because "a woman's fate is never one."
The tradition of such crying did not arise by accident, therefore, that on September 30, they remembered not only Vera, Hope and Love, but also their mother Sophia, who suffered and cried for her own daughters. Absolutely tears in the folk tradition are not only an expression of natural grief or sadness, but also a form of ritual behavior. So, for example, the wife constantly “sobbed” before marriage, saying goodbye to her home.
It is popularly believed that if on September 30 you mourn all your own loved ones and your lot, then nothing disgusting will happen during the year. In other words, on the one hand, crying reminded of the suffering of Sophia, who had lost three daughters, but on the other hand, this rite also had its own narrow calculation. In Russia, Christian customs are often intertwined with pagan ones, therefore, even from the act of commemorating the holy martyrs, an original rite was born.
According to traditions that survived from pre-Christian times, on September 30, “village saints” were arranged in the villages. Young people gathered for the "party", cherishing the hope "to show themselves and look, who will fall on the brain, on the soul." And those girls, in whose hearts the fire of love was already burning, lamented that the reciprocal feeling of the betrothed "there was no end to the century", so that love "would not burn in fire, not drown in water, so that its cold winter would not be feverish." And they kept the faith for themselves that everything would come true.
On this day, married ladies, in order to provide a measured atmosphere in the house, took three candles in the church, of which they put two candles there, in the temple, in front of the face of Christ, and saved one for the house. At midnight, it had to be installed in the middle of a loaf of bread, specially put on the table for this, to light it and say as many as 40 times in succession the sacred words that all evil should disappear, and peace in the family would come. In the morning, feed the household members with that bread (only them and none of the outsiders, not even guests) and in no case throw out any crumbs.
Also, on September 30, all the ladies with the names Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia celebrate their name days. On this day, it was customary to treat the birthday girls with pies. The birthday girls celebrated Angel's Day for three whole days, glorifying maternal wisdom and ladies' virtues. It was believed that a girl born on this day possesses great wisdom, is able to make comfort in the house and bring prosperity.
On this day, it was customary for birthday girls to give amulets and icons depicting Faith, Hope, Lyubov or Sophia, sweets. They, in turn, were presented with pies. Solemn feasts, of course, were not arranged, and they did not refuse to treat those who congratulated the ladies with the names Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia.
On September 30, on the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs, go to church and buy twelve candles there. Place four candles at the icon of Faith, Hope, Lyubov and their mother Sophia. Three candles - at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, light three candles at the icon of the Virgin, and bring two home. After sunset, light the candles and read over them twelve times in succession this complot:
"Have mercy, Lord,
Have mercy, Mother of God,
Tell the servant of God (name) to get married.
How these two candles burn
So that a man's heart
According to God's servant (name) caught fire,
He would like to marry her.
He would have walked to her porch,
He would have brought her to the crown of God.
Key, lock, tongue.
Amen. Amen. Amen".
On the day of memory of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia, you can protect your family from damage to quarrels and scandals. This protective complot is read once in the afternoon and once in the evening, standing at the home icon "Faith, Hope, Love". The words of the set are as follows:
"In the sea, in the ocean
There is a white fish-flesh.
How disgusting that fish is without water on a dry shore,
So let my opponent be disgusting.
So that my family is strong, strong,
Whole, whole.
Who will eat that white fish,
That hour will not sleep, the day will not live.
By the naming of God Christ,
No one will break my family.
How scales adhere to fish
From head to tail
So my family, too, be strong and whole.
Amen".
On September 30, you can protect a soldier from death in war with a powerful complot. So that nothing disgusting happens to the soldier in the army, on the day of Faith, Hope and Love, he must read a guard complot over the water:
"Lord, support,
Lord bless!
Granite lies white on the mountain,
That a stallion doesn’t go into granite.
And so it would be in me,
Servant of God (name),
And in my companions, and in my stallion
An arrow and a bullet did not go.
Like a hammer bounces off a sledgehammer,
So the bullet would fly off me.
How the millstones turn
An arrow would never come to me
She would spin.
The sun and the moon are bright,
So would I, the servant of God (name).
The castle fortified behind the mountain is closed,
That lock and keys in the blue sea.
The Mother of God keeps track of these keys,
It protects me from vain death.
In the name of the Father and the Offspring and the Holy Spirit.
Now and forever and forever.
Amen".
Later, he must drink half of the charmed water, and wash his face and hands with the other half.
Also read:
On September 30, the last day of September, Orthodox Ukrainians honor the memory of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia.
The martyrs lived in the 2nd century in Rome during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. At that time, almost everyone was pagans, but Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia were faithful Christians. Sofia even named her daughters after three Christian virtues.
Upon learning of this, the emperor tried to force the women to worship the goddess Artemis, but they remained adamant. Then he subjected the daughters of Sofia to cruel torture, but the girls in a strange way remained unharmed, and then they were executed in front of their mother.
On the day of her death, Vera was 12 years old, Nadezhda - 10, and Lyubov - 9. The girls were buried in a high place outside the city. For three days Saint Sophia, without leaving, sat at the grave of her daughters and died there. The believers buried the body of the saint in the same place. For this, the Christian Church canonized them. Their relics have been resting since 777 in Alsace, in the church of the city of Esho, near Strasbourg (France).
The monastery in Esho (France) has since become known as the Abbey of Saint Sophia. And the very village of Esho near the abbey became an overgrown "hotel" for pilgrims who in great numbers came to these places in the Middle Ages.
On the day of honoring the sisters, all girls, girls and women with the name Vera, Love, Nadezhda and Sofia celebrate their name days. It is customary to congratulate them on the day of their Angel, to dedicate poems to them, and to give gifts. They are also presented with icons, amulets, various sweets. And the birthday girls treat relatives and friends to pies that they themselves baked.
The birthday girls also visit the church, pray at the icon of the three great martyrs, ask for health, love, strong faith and prosperity.
In addition, it is believed that a girl who is born on this day will be wise and fair.
At the very end of September, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Day of Remembrance of the Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mothers Sofia... The holiday also has Slavic roots and has a popular name. Ecumenical woman's name day - Vera- Hope- Love.
Memory of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mothers Sofia Russian Orthodox Church honors September 30th(September 17, old style).
The history of these holy martyrs dates back to the second century, when a cruel emperor ruled in Rome. Adrian... At the same time, a deeply believing Christian widow lived in the city. Sofia (Sofia), she had three daughters whom she raised in Christian rules and virtue. The girls were called Pistis, Elpis and Agape, which translated from Greek means - Faith, Hope and Love. The name Sophia means "wisdom"
When Vera was 12 years old, Nadezhda - ten, and Lyubov - only nine, the emperor Hadrian, who, being a pagan, fiercely hated Christians, found out about them, to the misfortune of a pious family.
Adrian decided at all costs to turn Sophia and her daughters away from Christianity and demanded that they sacrifice to the Greek goddess Artemis(in the Roman version - Diana). But Sofia and her daughters refused.
Then Adrian ordered the girls to be tortured and then hacked with swords. Then the cruel ruler ordered the tormented bodies of their mother's daughters to be thrown.
Sofia mourned her daughters and buried them according to Christian rules, and three days later she died of grief. Both Sophia, who endured unbearable mental anguish, and her three daughters were numbered among the saints. It is believed that after six centuries their relics were discovered, the recovered shrine was taken to Alsace and buried in the Esho church.
In Christianity, Faith, Hope, Love and Sophia are revered for the fact that even without physical strength, thanks to their firmness and strength of mind, they were able to set an example of Christian exploit.
Faith, Hope and Love (kindness, mercy, compassion) are considered the main female Christian virtues. Wisdom, especially maternal wisdom, is also considered a feminine Christian virtue.
In literature and in culture in general, the combination of the words Faith - Hope - Love is a common artistic image.
The names Vera, Nadezhda, Love and Sophia in Russia have always been widespread, therefore many women celebrated the name day on the day of remembrance of these saints. Thus, the holiday Faith - Hope - Love began to be called the Ecumenical Woman's name day. On this day, it is customary to congratulate not only women, girls and girls with the names Vera, Nadya, Lyuba and Sonya, but also all Orthodox women in general, glorifying the main female virtues - wisdom, faith, hope and Christian love.
It is believed that if the weather is clear and warm on September 30, it means that autumn will also be warm, without a lot of rain, and Indian summer (the border of which, in fact, is considered to be celebrated on September 27) will hold out for some time.
There is also a sign - if the cranes fly south to Vera - Hope - Love, it means that on Pokrov (October 14) the weather will be frosty, and even the first snow may fall.
