According to a legend, a humble bee unknowingly helped in the construction of the greatest church of Byzantium.
When Emperor Justinian began building Hagia Sophia in 532 AD, every day workers carried materials, clay, and lime to complete the massive church on time. It was a monumental task, and everything had to be perfect. The craftsmen mixed the materials with great precision, as if preparing a sacred ritual.
One day, says the legend, a young apprentice left a mold with lime and water at the side to help with the walls. When he returned, it had disappeared. No one knew what had happened. Then someone noticed a bee flying away, carrying tiny pieces of the mixture. They followed it.
The bee entered a crack in the foundations and vanished. The next day, they found that it had created a beehive out of clay and lime inside a niche, in the perfect shape of a hexagon. The workers stopped their tasks and stared in silence. They saw it as a divine sign.
The bee's geometry, they said, surpassed that of even the most experienced craftsman. And then the master builder shouted, “We will build the temple as the bee builds its hive: with harmony, wisdom, and humility.”
This legend was passed down through word of mouth, from the city of Constantinople to Pontus and the depths of Asia Minor. In some versions, it’s said that the bee guarded a sacred object of the Divine Liturgy when the Turks entered the city, and it will return it when Hagia Sophia is again a church. In other versions, the bee is a guardian of the dome, like a small angel with wings of wax.
The bee, a humble creature, became a symbol of divine wisdom. It works quietly, unseen, yet it creates miracles. Just like Hagia Sophia, which was built not only with stone and marble but with faith, patience, and... a little honey.
