I just realized I never did get this posted the other day, so, time to make up for lost time. The basilica may well be the oldest church in what is now Sofia, in that the original church was built pretty much when Christianity became legal.
Then, Sofia was a Roman town known as Serdika (Serdica according to some), and it was a town without a founding mythos: it simply was regarded as having always been there. The Romans made it their hub in the region because of the hot springs that were used for the baths. If I haven’t already posted such, I will post a picture or three of some of the many Roman ruins here. In the heart of the old city, I don’t think you can dig down more than ten feet without hitting Roman ruins.
The original “basilica” was a simple, small, church built over the site of the necropolis (city of the dead, aka the town cemetery). Later, a larger church was built on the same site, and finally the current basilica was built. You can still see portions of the walls of the original church and the second under the current church.
And, yes, I said under. Extensive archeological excavations and preservation were carried out starting in the early 1900s and today you can go into the basement, pay a fee, and tour the tombs and other things unearthed in the process. Being a history geek, I found it well worth doing and probably spent an hour (or more) happily going along the walkways and paths. The signage is quite good, and the English portion is very well done.
You can see down into parts of the excavations from the floor of the current basilica. It was also quite neat to look up from down below and watch what was going on upstairs as well. For anyone interested, I paid the fee to be able to take photos, worth it.
The current basilica was only reconsecrated and made a working church again fairly recently. At least in archeological terms. Sadly, pretty much all the original decoration is long gone but what is left is beautiful in it’s own way. To me at least.
For those not familiar with Saint Sophia, it really is the Basilica of Saints Sophia, Faith (12), Hope (10), and Love (9) as the latter three were the young daughters of Saint Sophia, who was a widow. During the reign of Hadrian, they all openly lived and professed their faith during a time of grave persecution. They were denounced directly to the emperor by a (minor) official, and the emperor had them brought to Rome to stand before him.
He tried individually to get each girl to renounce their faith (no go), then brought them together as a family to try. Again, they refused. So, Hadrian did the worst thing he could think of to try and get them to renounce Christ: he had the girls tortured in front of their mother, who was made to watch their sufferings as they were burned on grates, hit or dunked into boiling tar, etc. The youngest girl, Love, was bound to a wheel and beaten. I don’t recommend looking up what those tortures, especially the wheel, actually entailed unless you have a strong stomach. Eventually, all three girls were beheaded in front of their mother.
During all of it, none of them renounced their faith. It’s one of the reasons they beheaded the girls, and tradition says they willingly bent their necks to the swords. Again, Hadrian thought the worst thing he could do would be to send Sophia out with the bodies of her girls, so she got a cart and caskets, and took them out beyond the walls of the city and buried them on a hillside with honor. Then, she sat down beside their graves and three days later died. Local Christians then buried her beside her children. Their relics are currently housed in a Roman Catholic church.
There is a huge statue of “Sophia” here in Sofia, and while I have a photo of it I choose not to share it. Frankly, the statue is pagan at best, and poorly done on several levels in my opinion. It looks more like a witch-queen with her in black (white is the gown of a martyr), and an owl on her arm to help emphasize that Sophia is supposed to have great wisdom. The local Christian community raised a stink about the statue, but nothing was done. The reason why is why I might should be more careful with my words here, as it turns out the mayor’s wife was apparently the model for the face of the statue, and the mayor is the one who said that even though most don’t like it, it stays as is. Smile. Some aspects of politics are universal.
If you would like to help me with this trip, seminary courses, and more, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. I’ve added Cash App ($CliffPow7) and Venmo (@Clifford-Powers-5). There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. Getting hit by lightning is not fun! It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.