The name Nadezhda is not one of the most common, but it does not go out of active use either. This is not surprising - after all, the name is both beautiful and symbolic, and it can be given at baptism.
Hope is a paradox name: it comes from the Russian word, but appeared in Russia already in the Christian era. Unlike many other Russian-language names, it is present in Orthodox saints, it can be received at baptism, and then celebrate the name day.
Martyr Hope of Rome
Memorial Day of Saint Nadezhda, her sisters Vera and Lyubov and their mother Sophia is celebrated on September 30.
These saints lived in Rome in the 2nd century. The widow Sophia was a pious woman, and even named her daughters in honor of the main Christian virtues - Faith, Hope and Love. More precisely, the girls' names were Pistis, Elpis and Agape, but later in Russia these difficult-to-pronounce Greek names were translated into Russian and took root in this form.
It was not easy to be Christians in those days - the Roman emperor Hadrian was uncompromising in his attitude to the new faith. Upon learning about this Christian family, Adrian ordered a woman and children to be brought to him and demanded that they renounce their faith and offer sacrifice to the pagan goddess Artemis. Sofia and her daughters - 12-year-old Vera, 10-year-old Nadezhda and 9-year-old Lyubov - did not comply. The girls were tortured in front of their mothers, then executed and the tortured bodies were given to Sofia. The unfortunate woman buried her daughters and soon died at their grave.
Other saints
Until recently, Nadezhda Roman was the only saint with this name, but at the beginning of the 21st century. three more Hopes were canonized. All of them accepted martyrdom for their faith in the era of Stalinist repression.
March 14 is the day of commemoration of St. Nadezhda Abbakumova (1880-1938). She lived in the village of Martynovskoye (Moscow region) and from 1928 she was the church headman. On March 2, 1938, Nadezhda was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet propaganda, and on March 14, she was shot.
No less sad was the fate of Nadezhda Kruglova (1887-1938). From 1907 she was a novice at the Trinity Monastery, located in the Ryazan province. In 1919 the monastery was closed, and Nadezhda became a servant in the church, but then it was also closed. The woman worked in a factory, but kept in touch with the former abbess and other nuns. This was the reason for the accusation of anti-Soviet agitation, and in March 1928 Nadezhda was shot. Memorial Day for this saint is March 20.
Nadezhda Azhgerevich (1877-1937) was also preparing to become a nun, but did not have time - the new government closed the monasteries. In Moscow, where she came from the Minsk province, she did not have her own housing, and she lived with one or another nun from a closed monastery. In October 1937, the woman was arrested. The accusation was stereotypical for that time: "anti-Soviet agitation and participation in a counter-revolutionary group." The death sentence and execution soon followed. Memorial Day of this holy martyr is celebrated on October 21.
