This simple church, situated in Areopagitou pedestrian street right under the Acropolis and the Herodeon, belongs to Meropeion Old People's Home, but is open to the public. The church celebrates on September 17th.
Agia Sophia, on Areopagitou pedestrian street, Athens.
In the theology of the Orthodox Church, Holy Wisdom is understood as the Divine Logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ. In Eastern Orthodoxy humility is the highest wisdom and is to be sought more than any other virtue. Not only does humility cultivate the Holy Wisdom, but it (in contrast to knowledge) is the defining quality that grants people salvation and entrance into Heaven. The Agia Sophia or Holy Wisdom church in Constantinople was the religious center of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly a thousand years.
In the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the exclamation Sophia! or in English Wisdom! will be proclaimed by the deacon or priest at certain moments, especially before the reading of scripture, to draw the congregation's attention to sacred teaching.
Saint Sophia, the Martyr, (died AD 137) is venerated in the Orthodox Church on September 17th. Born in Italy, Sophia had three daughters: Faith, Hope and Charity, who were named after the virtues mentioned by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. The daughters are said to have been martyred during the reign of emperor Hadrian (117–138). The guards took Sophia's daughters one by one, from the oldest to the youngest and beat and tortured them to death in an attempt to force their mother, Sophia, to renounce her faith in Christ. Afterwards, Sophia buried her daughters' bodies and stayed by their graves for three days until she, herself, died.