Saint Sophia is the mother of Saint Sabas
Saint Sabas loved Christ and lived a life of asceticism from a young age, placing all his hope in God. When he was a baby, he would not take his mother’s milk on Wednesdays and Fridays. Below is an Icon of Saint Sabas with his Blessed parents John and Sophia. They left Saint Sabas in the care of his uncle when he was five years old. However his aunty treated him very badly so he fled to his other uncle to live. The two uncles began to quarrel over the care of Saint Sabas and his family’s property, so Saint Sabas, at the age of eight, entered a nearby Monastery to live there. Later on, when he had established many Monasteries, his mother came to him upon the repose of her husband, and Saint Sabas tonsured her a Nun.
When Saint Sabas was a young boy, he was in a garden and took an apple from a tree, wanting to eat it. However, he refrained and said “Beautiful in sight and good for food, but this killed us.” Saint Sabas then stepped on the apple, and decided to never eat an apple for the rest of his life. To this day, the Monks at the Monasteries of Saint Sabas continue his tradition in honour of the Saint.
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When Saint Sabas was seventeen years old his two uncles overcame their differences and asked for him to return to his home and be married, however he went to Jerusalem to continue to dedicate his life to God and was ordained a Monk.
“Having once enlisted in the service of God the King of all, I cannot cancel this service, and those who try to draw me from it I cannot bear to call my parents. For I shall abide by my commitment to God till my last breath, hoping to die in the Holy life of Asceticism.”
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“He that loveth God disdaineth things corruptible and prefereth the Knowledge of Him.”
