It is impossible to imagine the history of Orthodoxy without the presence of saints in it. Men and women, elders and still children are great sufferers for the Faith and the Lord. Someone's names are always heard, believers offer their prayers to someone, hoping for help and protection, and few people know about some of them. One such little-known saint will be discussed today. This is the Great Martyr Barbara. A young beauty who loved God more than herself and suffered torment for her faith.
The life of this saint is an example of the firmness of the Faith and Love of the Lord. The icon of the Great Martyr Barbara, her face is practically a living confirmation of this.
The Life of Saint Barbara
Once upon a time, in a rich and noble family of the pagan Dioscorus, a girl was born. The future Great Martyr Barbara was born in the ancient city of Iliopol, which at that time was located on the territory of present-day Syria. When the girl's mother died, the father took over all the responsibilities for raising his only child. Dioscorus was madly in love with his daughter and did his best to protect her from everything alien and, as he believed, superfluous, including from the growing strength of Christianity. In the end, this all-encompassing love led the jealous parent to build a big beautiful house in which he tried to hide his beautiful daughter from the outside world.
Searching for Barbara
But, locking the physical shell of the girl in the castle, Dioscorus could not deprive her of all those thoughts and reflections that overwhelmed the suffering, seeking peace of mind. How often, probably, Barbara - the Holy Great Martyr of Christianity - sitting at the window of her room, pondered the beauty of the space surrounding her, experiencing a burning desire to know the true creator of all this splendor.
Numerous nannies assigned to watch over and educate her tried to explain to the girl that the world was created by the gods worshiped by her father, but Barbara did not believe these speeches. Her thoughts flowed smoothly, she thought that the gods, revered by her father, were created by human hands, which means they could not create a deep blue sky with curly white clouds, a dense forest with all its inhabitants, rivers, mountains and everything else. No, the young girl thought, not these man-made idols, but only the One God, having his own being, could give rise to the majestic beauty of the Universe. In these reflections, Varvara gradually came to understand that the creation of the real world is impossible.without knowing the One God, the Creator of all things.
Growing up Barbara
The girl grew up and more and more matchmakers from we althy families that had suitors began to appear in her and her father's house. Dioscorus, dreaming of a profitable match for his beautiful daughter, more than once started a conversation with her about marriage, but each such conversation ended in a decisive refusal to fulfill his will.
On reflection, the father decided that Varvara shied away from potential husbands because his daughter's reclusive life played a cruel joke on her, not teaching her how to communicate with people around her. Having come to such conclusions, Dioscorus decided to give Barbara some indulgences, allowing her to leave her father's house in the hope that she would get friends, in conversations with whom she would learn and understand all the delights of marriage.
Ah, if a rich pagan knew how it would all end, he would probably lock his daughter forever and ever within the walls of the house.
Baptism of the Great Martyr
One day on a walk, the future Great Martyr Barbara met several Christian women on her way, who told her about the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, his Suffering for the human race and the Resurrection from the dead. The girl was struck by these stories, because it was what she thought about in long lonely evenings, not understanding how to sort out her thoughts, put them together. Fortunately, at that time a priest was passing by in Iliopolis, who agreed to talk with Varvara and try to help her sort out her thoughts. In a private conversation, the presbyter toldyoung girl the essence of the Christian faith, and after the conversation baptized her. The Holy Spirit descended on Varvara, this time she turned to God with great love, vowing to devote her whole life to serving in His glory.
Feat of Great Martyr Barbara
Dioscorus, who returned home from a trip, was furious when he heard from his daughter "seditious" speeches glorifying the One God and the Trinity. In a rage, he rushed at the girl, revealing a sharp blade, but she managed to slip out of the house, run away to the mountains and hide in a crevice there.
Only in the evening, at the behest of a poor shepherd, my father managed to find the girl. Not sparing, severely beating his daughter, Dioscorus forced her to leave the shelter in which she was hiding, and dragged her home. All night he scolded and beat the girl, and in the morning, realizing that he had not achieved anything, and that she stubbornly stood her ground, he took her to the mayor.
Merciless and cruel were his words addressed to the ruler: “I, Dioscorus, renounce my daughter, because she rejects the deities I worship. I give you my daughter to be torn to pieces, do as you and the gods please.”
The mayor tried to persuade the girl to depart from the Faith of Christ, not to go against her father's will and not to anger him and the gods. But Barbara the Holy Great Martyr was firm in her faith. Directly and honestly looking into the eyes of the tormentor, she confessed the Good News. Enraged by such firmness, the head ordered that the newly converted Christian be subjected to cruel torture. Until evening, the tormentors forced the girl to renounce Christ. At sunset, half-dead, she was taken to the dungeon.
Left alone, Barbara offered up a fervent prayer, the Lord heard her lamentations and appeared to her with the words: “Do not be afraid of anything, for I am with you, I look at your courage and heal wounds. Be with Me to the end and you will enter My Kingdom.” Miraculously, the wounds on the girl's body healed, and the Great Martyr Barbara fell asleep with a benevolent smile on her lips.
Execution of Barbara
In the morning, the torturers were amazed to see the girl without any traces of torture on her body. This angered the fanatics even more. By the will of fate, a Christian girl Juliana became a witness of a miracle. Even more believing after what she saw, she openly proclaimed her faith, for which she was captured by the soldiers.
Both girls were subjected to cruel tortures that even the most persistent man could not endure. But both martyrs were firm in their Faith, with a prayer on their lips and a bright look, they accepted bodily torments. With the name of Jesus Christ, they laid down their lovely heads on the chopping block and were beheaded. The cruel Dioscorus himself executed his daughter. The Lord, seeing such iniquity, soon punished the murderer by striking him with lightning.
Burial of Vavrara
After the martyrdom of the girls, their remains were buried near the settlement of Gelassia. Subsequently, the temple of the Great Martyr Barbara was erected there. During the reign of Emperor Justin, the relics were sent to Constantinople, the capital of the empire. Several centuries later, some of the remains of the Great Martyr arrivedto Kyiv, together with the bride of Prince Svyatopolk, Princess Barbara, where they found peace in the territory of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. At the beginning of the 20th century, the relics were again moved, this time to the Kiev-Pechersk Reserve. Today, the cancer with incorruptible remains resides in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv.
As mentioned above, only a part of the Saint's relics was brought to Ukrainian soil. Barbara's head and hands are, one might say, scattered all over the world. The left hand, originally left in Ancient Greece, later ended up on the territory of Poland, and then in Western Ukraine, from where it was stolen by the Jews and burned. Miraculously, they managed to save the ashes and the ring from the hand, which are currently on Canadian soil in the town of Edmonton. Some parts of the incorruptible relics found shelter in the monasteries of Thessaly (the church of Agia Episkepsi), as well as on Mount Athos, a holy mountain for the Orthodox. The remains of the Great Martyr are also kept in Moscow. The Church of St. John the Warrior and the Church of the Resurrection keep sacred miraculous relics.
The first church in the name of the Holy
The first, but by no means the only church of Barbara the Great Martyr on Russian soil was erected in 1781 on the territory of the Grushevsky camp. This wooden temple, rebuilt with donations from the Cossacks, stood for almost a hundred years. In 1876, after the church burned down, the inhabitants of the camp, with the blessing of Archbishop Platon, began the construction of a stone church.
During the Great Patriotic War, the altar part of St. Barbara's parish was partiallydamaged by a fascist shell. At present, all the damage has been repaired, the faithful offer their prayers with gratitude and read the Akathist to the Great Martyr Barbara within its walls. Several times they tried to close the parish, but the villagers, relying on God's help with all their strength, defended their church. To this day, services are held here glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ.
Icon and prayer to Saint Barbara
The Icon of the Great Martyr Barbara, as well as her imperishable relics, is undoubtedly the strongest Creed of Orthodox Christians. True believing Christians received many inexplicable miraculous healings. The Saint's Day falls on December 17th. Prayer to the Great Martyr Barbara has tremendous power, giving strengthening in faith, healing from severe ailments and, of course, peace of mind.
