Holy Wisdom (Ancient Greek:Ἁγία Σοφία,romanized: Hagia Sophia,Latin:Sancta Sapientia) is a concept inChristian theology.
Christian theology received the Old Testament personification of Wisdom (HebrewChokmah) as well as the concept ofWisdom (Sophia) fromGreek philosophy, especiallyPlatonism. InChristology,Christ the Logos asGod the Son was identified with Divine Wisdom from earliest times.
There has also been a minority position which identified Wisdom with theHoly Spirit instead. Furthermore, inmystical interpretations forwarded inRussian Orthodoxy, known asSophiology, Holy Wisdom as a feminine principle came to be identified with theTheotokos (Mother of God) rather than with Christ himself. Similar interpretations were proposed infeminist theology as part of the "God and Gender" debate in the 1990s.
In theSeptuagint, the Greek nounsophia is the translation ofHebrewחכמותḥoḵma "wisdom". Wisdom is a central topic in the "sapiential" books, i.e.Proverbs,Psalms,Song of Songs,Ecclesiastes,Book of Wisdom,Wisdom of Sirach, and to some extentBaruch (the last three areDeuterocanonical books of theOld Testament).[citation needed]
The expressionἉγία Σοφία itself is not found in theNew Testament, even though passages in thePauline epistles equate Christ with the "wisdom of God" (θεοῦ σοφία).[1]
Wisdom (Sophia) is mentioned in the gospels ofLuke andMatthew a number of times in reference to Jesus.His wisdom is recognized by the people ofNazareth, his hometown, when he was teaching in the synagogue, "insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" (Matthew 13:54, cf.Mark 6:2)Acts names wisdom as a quality given to the apostles, alongside theHoly Spirit (Acts 6:3, 6:10).St. Paul refers to wisdom, notably in1 Corinthians,"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1 Corinthians 1:20), setting worldly wisdom against a higher wisdom of God: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7)TheEpistle of James (James 3:13–18; cf.James 1:5) distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom. One is a false wisdom, which is characterized as "earthly, sensual, devilish" and is associated with strife and contention. The other is the 'wisdom that comes from above':"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." (James 3:17)Revelation 5:10 lists wisdom as a property ofthe Lamb: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."
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The identification ofChrist with God's Wisdom is ancient, and was explicitly stated by the earlyChurch Fathers, includingJustin Martyr andOrigen. The clearest form of the identification of Divine Wisdom with Christ comes in1 Corinthians 1:17–2:13. There is a minor position among the Church Fathers which held that Wisdom is identical not to Christ but to theHoly Spirit. This was advanced byTheophilus of Antioch (d. 180) and byIrenaeus of Lyons (d. 202/3).[2][3]
Emperor Constantine set a pattern for Eastern Christians by dedicating a church to Christ as the personification of Divine Wisdom.[4] InConstantinople, underEmperor Justinian,Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") was rebuilt, consecrated in 538, and became a model for many otherByzantine churches. In theLatin Church, however, "the Word" orLogos came through more clearly than "the Wisdom" of God as a central,high title of Christ.[citation needed]
In the theology of the Western Latin Church, note Hugh of Saint Victor's allusion to Jesus as Wisdom in Book One of hisDidascalicon. In theEastern Orthodox Church, Holy Wisdom is understood as theDivine Logos who becameincarnate asJesusChrist;[5] this belief being sometimes also expressed in some Eastern Orthodox icons.[6] In theDivine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the exclamationSophia! or in EnglishWisdom! will be proclaimed by thedeacon orpriest at certain moments, especially before the reading of scripture, to draw the congregation's attention to sacred teaching.[citation needed]
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There are numerous churches dedicated to Holy Wisdom throughout the Eastern Orthodox world.Their archetype is the main basilica ofConstantinople (now a mosque), built in the 6th century, in English simply known asthe Hagia Sophia.The extant building of the Hagia Sophia dates to the 6th century. It is not entirely clear when the first church at the site had been dedicated toHagia Sophia. The first church on the site, consecrated in 360 (during the reign ofConstantius II), was simply known as theΜεγάλη Ἐκκλησία (Megálē Ekklēsíā, "Great Church", or inLatinMagna Ecclesia)[7] A tradition which ascribes the church toConstantine the Great does not predate the 7th century.[8]
The dedication of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople underJustin II served as a template for the dedication of other Byzantine churches as well as early medieval churches in Italy prior to theGreat Schism.Saint Sofia Church, Sofia is claimed as near-contemporary to the basilica in Constantinople.Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki was built in the 8th century.Santa Sofia, Benevento was built in the 8th century,Santa Sofia, Venice in the 9th century andSanta Sofia, Padua in the 10th century.Saint Sophia Cathedral, Nicosia may or may not date from Late Antiquity, being first recorded in the 11th century (made a mosque in 1570).
Holy Wisdom became an important concept inSlavic Orthodoxy.Hagia Sophia Church, Nesebar, and possiblyChurch of St. Sophia, Ohrid, Bulgaria were built still in the 9th century.Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod,Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv andSaint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk date to the 11th century.Saint Sophia Cathedral in Vologda was built in the 16th century.Saint Sophia Church, Moscow was built in the 17th century on the template of Novgorod cathedral.Saint Sophia Cathedral, Harbin, China, was built in 1907 under the Russian Empire after the completion of theTrans-Siberian Railway.
Churches dedicated to Holy Wisdom are to be distinguished from churches dedicated to the martyrSophia of Rome (or one of the other early saints with this name, partly conflated with one another in hagiographical tradition). Such churches are much rarer and generally younger. An example isChiesa di Santa Sofia, Capri, dedicated to Saints Sophia and Anthony (16th century). The church ofSortino is dedicated to the martyrSophia of Sicily.Sophienkirche in Dresden was dedicated to Saint Sophia in honour ofSophie of Brandenburg who restored it in 1610.
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There is a hagiographical tradition, dating to the late 6th century,[9]of a Saint Sophia and her three daughters,Saints Faith, Hope and Charity.This has been taken as the veneration of allegorical figures from an early time, and the group of saints has become popular in Russian Orthodox iconography as such (the names of the daughters rendered asВѣра, Надежда, Любовь). Saxer (2000) notes that early Christians from the 4th century indeed often took in baptism mystical names indicative of Christian virtues, and Sophia, Sapientia, Fides are attested as names of Christian women in Catacomb inscriptions. The veneration of the three saints named for the threetheological virtues probably arose in the 6th century based on such inscriptions.[10]
InRussian Orthodox tradition, Holy Wisdom (Russian:Святая София Премудрость БожияSvatya Sofiya Premudrost' Bozhya "Holy Sophia, Divine Wisdom") is a conventional topos oficonography. In the "Novgorod type", named for the icon of Holy Wisdom inSaint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (16th century), but represented by the older icon in theCathedral of the Annunciation, Moscow, dated to the early 15th century, Holy Wisdom is shown as a fiery angel with wings, seated on a throne and flankedby the Theotokos and by SaintCosmas of Maiuma.[11] A second type, known as "Wisdom hath builded her Home" (Премудрость созда Себе домshows a complex theological allegory; this type becomes highly divergent from the 18th century onward reflecting the development of "sophiological" mysticism in Russia.[12]
The Christological identification of Christ the Logos with Divine Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) is strongly represented in the iconographic tradition of theRussian Orthodox Church.A type of icon of theTheotokos is "Wisdom hath builded Her house" (Премудрость созда Себе дом), a quote from Proverbs 9:1 ("Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars") interpreted as prefiguring the incarnation, with the Theotokos being the "house" chosen by the "hypostatic Wisdom" (i.e. "Wisdom" as a person of theTrinity).[citation needed]
In Russian Orthodox mysticism,Sophia became increasingly indistinguishable from the person of the Theotokos (rather than Christ), to the point of the implication of the Theotokos as a "fourth person of the Trinity".Such interpretations became popular in the late 19th to early 20th century, forwarded by authors such asVladimir Solovyov,Pavel Florensky,Nikolai Berdyaev, andSergei Bulgakov.Bulgakov's theology, known as "Sophianism", presented Divine Wisdom as co-existent with the Trinity, operating as the feminine aspect of God in concert with the three masculine principles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It was the topic of a highly political controversy in the early 1930s and was condemned as heretical in 1935.[5]
John Maximovitch inThe Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God, discusses at length why the sophianism of Sergius Bulgakov is heresy, attempting the deification of theTheotokos.
Vladimir Lossky likewise rejects the teachings of Solovyev and Bulgakov.Lossky presents Divine Wisdom as anenergy (and not an essence) of God, just asFaith, Hope and Charity are energies of God.[13]
Thomas Merton studied the Russian Sophiologists and praised Sophia in his poem titled "Hagia Sophia" (1963).[14]
The "sophological" approach of introducing Wisdom as a female principle in the Holy Trinity is closely paralleled by certain proposals made infeminist theology in the west. Thus,Elizabeth Johnson (1993) proposed the "application of Sophiological terminology to the Persons of the Holy Trinity" as a way of "normalizing feminine imagery for God".[15] The parallels between the (apparently independent) currents of Russian mysticism and Western feminist theology was pointed out by Meehan (1996).[16]
Within theProtestant tradition inEngland,Jane Leade, 17th-centuryChristian mystic,Universalist, and founder of thePhiladelphian Society, wrote copious descriptions of her visions and dialogues with the "Virgin Sophia" who, she said, revealed to her the spiritual workings of the Universe.[17]
Leade was hugely influenced by thetheosophical writings of 16th centuryGerman Christian mysticJakob Böhme, who also speaks of the Sophia in works such asThe Way to Christ (1624).[18] Jakob Böhme was very influential to a number ofChristian mystics and religious leaders, includingGeorge Rapp and theHarmony Society.[19]
