Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem
The patriarch who shepherded Jerusalem in the year of its fall and spared the city bloodshed. To him we owe the written life of Saint Mary of Egypt.
- Commemoration
- March 11
- Repose
- † 638
Life
He lived in the seventh century and was first a monk and a great lover of wisdom, traveling through the monasteries of Egypt and Palestine to gather the teaching of the desert fathers. To him we owe the fact that we know today the life of Saint Mary of Egypt: he was the one who put it down in writing, after hearing it from the elder Zosimas, so that such a powerful example of repentance would not be lost.
In his old age he was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem, right in the hardest years. He defended the true faith against an error that troubled the Church at the time, and pastored the holy city with much sorrow, because exactly in his days Jerusalem was conquered by the Arabs, in 638.
It is said that, to spare the city and the Christians from bloodshed, the old patriarch went out himself to talk with the conquerors and secured that the holy places and the believers be spared. Shortly after that he fell asleep, overwhelmed by grief for the lost city, but with unwavering faith.
Saint Sophronius, who preserved for us the example of repentance and shepherded with faith in times of trial, pray for me, that I may remain firm in faith no matter how hard it gets around me. Amen.
Prayer (in simple words)
Saint Sophronius, you lived through times when everything was shaking, and yet you didn't back down. I am afraid of trials and changes. Pray for me, so that when hard days come I don't lose my head, but keep my faith and peace. And thank you, through you, for leaving us the story of Mary of Egypt, which teaches me that there is no fall from which God cannot lift me up. Pray to God for me. Amen.
Akathist
Troparion of Saint Hierarch Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
Tone 4
A rule of faith and an image of gentleness, a teacher of self-control you were shown to be, to your flock, the truth of things. Therefore, through humility you obtained the lofty, and through poverty the riches; Father Hierarch Sophronius, entreat Christ God to save our souls.
Ode 1
Tone 4
Heirmos
I will open my mouth and it will be filled with the Spirit, and I will utter a word to the Queen Mother; and I will appear radiantly keeping festival, and I will joyfully sing her wonders.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With wisdom you traversed the sea of purity, steering yourself by the Breathings of the Spirit, and with the grace of wisdom, you gathered great riches, Father Sophronius.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
As an angel of the Resurrection of Christ you were, and a divine Proestos of the Holy Tomb, which enriched us with the Fountain of immortality, with Christ, Who raised up the fall of our race.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With the brilliance of your words and the sharpness of your mind, you enlightened the world, clearly theologizing the Essence of the Godhead in Three Hypostases, the Thrice-Reckoned Unity, Father Sophronius.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
The sound of your discourses and the well-announcing lyre of your teachings traversed the ends of the earth, teaching the Mystery of the economy of the Word, O divinely inspired father.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
He Who is by nature Uncreated and co-Eternal with the Father, beyond times and before the ages, from you, O Lady, as a created Man is made and under time, that He might save man.
Ode 3
Heirmos
Not in wisdom, nor in power, or riches do we boast, but in You, the Hypostatic Wisdom of the Father, O Christ. For there is none holy besides You, O Lover of mankind.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
The Church of Christ, leaning on the staff of your words, O Venerable One, drives away the assaults of pagan and God-fighting heresies.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
For the honorable preaching, fighting you, O God-bearer, you appeared victorious with the help of the Spirit, being wisely strengthened, Holy Father Sophronius.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Having put to death all the delight of the corruptible body, you made alive, through right faith, the incorruptible soul and showed it as a deified organ.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Your divinely-speaking tongue, full of delight and flowing with honey, pours forth rivers of words, spreading to all the divine teachings, O divinely inspired one.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
We magnify you, O you who gave birth to God, forming for yourself a name and calling befitting Him born of you, Mother of God, All-Pure Lady.
Heirmos
Not in wisdom, nor in power, or riches do we boast, but in You, the Hypostatic Wisdom of the Father, O Christ. For there is none holy besides You, O Lover of mankind.
Ode 4
Heirmos
He Who sits in glory, on the throne of the Godhead, on a light cloud came Jesus, the Most High above all, and saved with a pure palm those who cry: Glory to Your power, O Christ!
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With wisdom you taught, O father, one unoriginate Essence, in three perfect self-subsistent Hypostases, one Essence divided indivisibly and united unconfusedly, with one will and one Godhead.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Having wise understanding and an even wiser mind, O father, you considered neither combination, nor change, nor mixture, the two natures united without change, which shine forth in Christ the Only-Begotten.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Being divinely illumined by the light of the Spirit, you scattered the terrible madness of Nestorius, who taught a union of two natures in Christ with one willing and one thought.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
With the fire of your teachings, O God-thinker, you burned Pyrrhus, who denied that there are two wills of Christ, according to the two distinct natures, and both also the operations, O venerable father.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
You are adorned beyond all seemliness of the angels, as the Only One Who gave birth to the Creator and Lord, incarnate from your most pure blood, O Virgin, Who delivers all who glorify Him.
Ode 5
Heirmos
The faithless will not see Your glory, O Christ; but we, You the Only-Begotten, the Radiance of the Glory of the Godhead of the Father, rising early from night, we praise You, O Lover of mankind.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With unshaken desire, looking upon the honorable Resurrection and the Tomb of Life, you brought forth from there secret thoughts and imparted, O hierarch, to the faithful also from their radiance.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
You were wholly seized by desire for the highest good, being inflamed by the intelligible light and you loved the Fountain of incorruption, stretching towards Him with your sights, O all-wise one.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Being dead to all earthly things, you became a living and animate church of God, obtaining a place at the abundant table of the Word and the lampstand of faith.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of the unoriginate God, Who is understood in two natures, becoming Flesh, you gave birth to supernaturally, O Mother of God, O unwedded one.
Ode 6
Heirmos
I will sacrifice to You with a voice of praise, O Lord, the Church cries unto You, purified from the blood of demons by the Blood which flowed through compassion from Your side.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
The grace of the All-Holy Spirit was poured out abundantly upon your lips, O God-thinker. Therefore, the sound of your words is like the flowing of a river.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Like a palm tree you flourished in the House of the Lord, with the good fruitfulness of the word and with your pure life you sweetened the hearts of those who honor you with faith, Holy Hierarch Sophronius.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
With the fiery sword of your living tongue, the company of heretics is slain and the bold multitude of God's adversaries dies, stabbed by the sword of your teachings.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
We praise your all-pure birth, O Mother of God, through which we are all delivered both from the bonds of death and from terrible sin, and we escape the depths of hell.
Heirmos
I will sacrifice to You with a voice of praise, O Lord, the Church cries unto You, purified from the blood of demons by the Blood which flowed through compassion from Your side.
Kontakion
Tone 8
Model Melody: To You, the Champion Leader...
Being moved by divine zeal and opening wide the mouth of the true commandments, you established the foundations of the Church according to the Law; and giving all-wise words to the monks who were there, you appeared to the world as the most wise among the patriarchs of Jerusalem, Holy Hierarch Sophronius. Through which, being guided aright, we cry to you: Rejoice, O radiant boast of the faithful!
Ode 7
Heirmos
You Who saved in the fire the youths of Abraham and slew the Chaldeans who unjustly hunted the righteous, O most praised Lord, blessed are You, O God of our fathers!
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With help from on high, resisting the heretical slanders, O wise one, and proving victorious, you sang: Most praised Lord, blessed are You, O God of our fathers.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Dedicating your whole life to God and closely examining the gardens of the hermits, O wise one, you planted your own garden with the labor of good deeds, dedicating it to God, Him Who is on high.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Bowing to the law of Christ, O God-thinker, you imparted the riches of your teaching, with piety, to those who had need of it, singing: Most praised Lord, blessed are You, O God of our fathers!
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
Being sanctified in soul and previously purified in body, through the coming upon you of the Holy Spirit, you conceived in your womb the Power of the Most High and without seed you gave birth, O All-Pure One.
Ode 8
Heirmos
The pious youths in the furnace, the birth of the Mother of God saved; then being prefigured, but now realized; it raises up all the world to sing to you: Praise the Lord, O works, and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
With the myrrh of the grace of the sacred hieratic work you were consecrated there where the saving high priesthood appeared to the world, All-Wise Father Sophronius, crying: Praise the Lord and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Honoring wisdom in a special way, with a crown of gifts you were crowned, O most glorious Hierarch Sophronius, receiving the unfading glory and the everlasting riches, the gift of wisdom and crying: Praise the Lord and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
As a perfect priest, clothing yourself with divine righteousness, O secret knower of holy things, you governed, O blessed father, with valor the flock of the Master, by words and by deeds, crying: Praise the Lord and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
We bless the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Lord.
The Word, co-unoriginate with the Father, bestowed upon you, in a manner majestic and beyond understanding, a word which surpasses words and scatters the slanders of heresies and which cries: Praise the Lord and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
You appeared as a Sanctified Church of the Word, Who sanctifies all creation, a Holy Mountain, a Rich Mountain, a Most Radiant Mountain, O Blessed Lady, Only All-Praised One. Therefore, we honor you and exalt you supremely unto all ages.
Heirmos
Let us praise, bless and worship the Lord, singing and exalting Him supremely unto all ages.
The pious youths in the furnace, the birth of the Mother of God saved; then being prefigured, but now realized; it raises up all the world to sing to you: Praise the Lord, O works, and exalt Him supremely unto all ages!
Ode 9
Heirmos
Christ, the Stone cut without hands, the Cornerstone, from you, O Virgin, the Uncut Mountain, was cut, gathering the separated natures. Therefore, rejoicing, we magnify you, O Mother of God.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
The speech that issues from your divine lips, O God-speaker, sweetens the minds of the faithful, through grace, like a honeycomb that drips the seemliness of understandings.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Within the unfathomable depths of the heavens you dwell, O God-speaker, around the Master and King of all, where the angelic radiances and the hosts of saints dance.
Verse: Holy Venerable Father Sophronius, pray to God for us.
Living on earth the life of angels, O father, you were deemed worthy in heaven of the blessedness of angels. And there entreat Christ to save all who praise you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Like flasks of good fragrances are your teachings, O God-thinker; for you appeared as an alabaster jar full of the precious nard of faithful wisdom, embalming with your teachings the Honored Body of Christ.
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Of the Mother of God)
Isaiah saw you as a light cloud, O Virgin; for the Lord, coming upon you, overthrew all things made by hand and showed His knowledge to those who praise you.
Heirmos
Christ, the Stone cut without hands, the Cornerstone, from you, O Virgin, the Uncut Mountain, was cut, gathering the separated natures. Therefore, rejoicing, we magnify you, O Mother of God.
Kathisma
Tone 4
Model Melody: Quickly go before...
With words you adorned the Church of Christ, with deeds you preserved the image of God in yourself, O all-Venerable Father Sophronius. For the purity within you shone in the world, flashing to all the graces of teachings, to those who with faith keep festival, O father, of your memory.
Kathisma of the Most Holy Mother of God
Tone 4
Model Melody: Quickly go before...
You renewed, O All-Pure One, by your divine birth, the mortal nature, corrupted by passions, of earthborn men, and raised all from death to the Incorruptible Life. Therefore, as is our duty, we all call you blessed, O most glorious Virgin, as you foretold.
Kathisma of the Holy Cross and of the Most Holy Mother of God
Tone 4
Model Melody: Quickly go before...
When she saw You lifted up on the Cross, Your All-Pure Mother, on You, O Word of God, as a mother, weeping, spoke: what new and strange wonder is this, my Son? How do You partake of death, Who are the Life of all, willing to raise the dead, as a Merciful One?
Source: Doxologia.ro. Prayer text taken from public Orthodox sources; rights remain with their authors and translators. Devotional, non-commercial use. May be removed on request.