learly, for a
time in early Christian worship, the Holy Spirit was imaged in feminine terms
(symbolized, as it would be later as well, by a dove), and was sometimes
referred to as the divine Mother; which mirrors the cultural and biological role
of women is seen in the use of bird imagery in the Scriptures. Here God's
concern for humanity is expressed in imagery that possibly is drawn from the
representation of female goddesses with sheltering wings. The people of
Palestine associated El with the title Ia-hu; hence, "Jehovah". Ia-hu ,
translated "Exalted Dove", seems to have been associated with the Cyprus Dove
Goddess; and is the preform of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. However,
over time, the Holy Spirit was conceived rather in more general and impersonal
terms as a mysterious and numinous power, whose intensity seemed to have
radically diminished as time grew more distant from the generation of the first
apostles, and whose continuing presence, activity, and authority were lodged
chiefly in the institutional Church. Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom is the mother church of all Eastern Christians of the Byzantine liturgical tradition both Orthodox and Greek Catholic. Early accounts suggest that the site of this, the grandest church in Christendom, in the first millennium had been the site of a pagan temple appropriated for the service of the new religion. Hagia Sophia underwent two phases of construction before attaining its present state. Documents indicate that the first Hagia Sophia was built by Emperor Constantius, son of Emperor Constantinos I, and was opened for services in 360 AD. Although very little is known about this church, it is assumed that it was a basilica-type structure with a rectangular floor plan, circular apse and timbered roof. It was similar to St.Studios, a basilica in Istanbul, the ruins of which still exist. Ancient sources emphasize that the eastern wall was circular. Constantius donated gold and silver as well as religious objects to his church, but these were vandalized by Arians during the Council of 381 AD.
Hagia Sophia was first named "Megale Ekklesia" (The Great Church) as it was the largest church in Constantinople. The historian Socrates indicated that the church was named Sophia during the reign of Emperor Constantius. The name given to the church symbolized the second divine attribute of the Holy Trinity. Originally, Sophia, which means "Holy Wisdom", was a name given to Christ by 4th century theologians. Both names, Megale Ekklesia and Hagia Sophia are used today.