Saint Sophia of Egypt

Sophia of Egypt, or Saint Sophia of Egypt (died 200), was a Christian who suffered martyrdom alongside Irene, also an Egyptian, who is likewise venerated as a saint. Her feast day is celebrated on September 18. Byzantine synaxaria and menologia commemorate Sophia and Irene on September 17 or 18, though they do not specify the time or place in which they lived. Their memory is directly linked to the preceding martyrdom of Heraclides and Myron, bishops of Tamassos (Cyprus), who are cited in a menological distich from which it is inferred that the two women existed, as the text alludes to their beheading. In the West, Cesare Baronio was the first to introduce Sophia and Irene into the Roman Martyrology; he regarded them as martyrs and set their feast day for September 18. In their commentary on the Roman Martyrology, the Bollandists noted that in Constantinople, the Church of Saint Irene existed as a dependency of the Hagia Sophia. According to one version, after she was beheaded, a Christian woman collected her relics and kept them in her home, where many miracles were performed. Upon learning of this, Emperor Constantine had the relics transferred to Constantinople and built a great church in her honor.