Orthodox calendar. Icon of the Barbarian Great Martyr
There are many Christian holidays in December. There are three of them, which come one after the other and are especially revered by the people - Barbara, Savva, . Saint Barbara suffered for her faith, endured many tortures and accepted martyrdom. It is this martyr that many believers choose as their intercessor and pray to her with requests for healing. People are often interested in her deeds, asking who Saint Barbara the Great Martyr protects. She became the only one who was allowed to hold a chalice (vessel for worship) in the icons. According to the canons of the church, none of the laity could touch this cup. You need to know her tragic fate to understand why Saint Barbara was awarded such a great honor.
As a child, Varvara spent most of her time in the tower, surrounded by pagan servants. She lost her mother early, and her father raised her alone. He tried to do everything to hide his daughter from prying eyes. But the girl met Christians and love for the Lord burned in her heart. She learned the basics of true faith and accepted the rite of baptism. The father, hearing that Varvara no longer worshiped the old gods, severely beat his daughter. But torture did not force her to renounce the Creator. Then Dioscorus handed it over to Martian, an ardent persecutor of all Christians.
No amount of torture could force the poor woman to change her beliefs. At night, her prison was illuminated by Light, and Jesus appeared to the martyr. He healed her terrible wounds and consoled the girl. In the morning, the tormentors were amazed at the miracle and subjected Varvara to even greater torture. Realizing that the woman would not succumb to persuasion, she was sentenced to execution. The father personally killed his disobedient daughter with a sword. The torturers did not feast for long; they were soon struck down by the wrath of the Lord. Martian and Dioscorus died from a lightning strike that incinerated the sinners.
Since the 6th century, the relics of the martyr were kept in Constantinople. It so happened that Princess Varvara, the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexy I, married the Russian prince Svyatopolk. The father allowed the relics of Saint Barbara to be taken to Rus'. Time and evil people could not destroy them. Most of them are kept in the Vladimir Cathedral, and the left foot was taken out of Ukraine in 1943. Now it is in Canada in St. Barbara's Cathedral (Edmonton).
What do they pray to Saint Barbara for?
On the eve of her execution, the martyr asked the Lord to help all the faithful Christians who prayed to her for help. Those who will ask for protection from unexpected misfortune, sudden death, who are afraid to die without repentance, they will all find help from Saint Barbara. The healing power of holy relics has been known among the people for a long time. A destructive plague struck Rus' many times, but it always bypassed the holy temple where they rested.
Orthodox Christians celebrate Saint Barbara's Day of Remembrance on December 17th. Many believers turn their gaze to her face. How does Saint Barbara help? At all times, her protection was sought by those who most often risk dying without repentance from sudden death. These were travelers, merchants, people of dangerous professions (miners, military men). The martyr is approached during a thunderstorm to protect Christians from lightning strikes. Saint Barbara is also considered the patroness of artisans.
The relics of St. Barbara have long been attributed miraculous properties. It was believed that they were able to charge other things with their divine energy. At the reliquary with the relics, believers kept their crosses and rings for a while, and then wore them on themselves like powerful talismans. 
It is known that Empresses Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna took off their expensive rings, replacing them with modest rings from the patron saint martyr Barbara.
For women in Rus' it was considered a great sin to wash, bleach or knead clay on the day of St. Barbara. You could only do handicrafts, but this was allowed only after a special prayer. On this day, housewives prepared dumplings with poppy seeds and cottage cheese, and young girls tried to tell fortunes. It was necessary to break out a twig of a cherry tree in the garden and put it in water. If it blooms at Christmas, then a successful marriage is possible this year. Also, according to folk superstitions, it was believed that whatever the weather was like on Varvara, it would be the same outside on bright days.
In the photo: Icon Holy Great Martyr Barbara work (end of the 15th century).
Great Martyr Barbara Iliopolskaya resides in the pantheon of both Orthodox and Catholic saints. Her face adorns the coats of arms of many cities and towns. The Great Martyr Barbara is depicted to the right of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the famous painting by Raphael in the Sistine Chapel.
Day of the Great Martyr Barbara
Varvara Iliopolskaya accepted death for the Christian faith. Orthodox Christians remember Saint Barbara every year on December 17th. The date of birth of the great martyr is lost in the abyss of years; only the estimated year of her death is known - 306.
Life of the Great Martyr Barbara
Born Great Martyr Barbara in the city of Iliopolis, now located in Syria, under the cruel persecutor of Christians, the Roman Emperor Maximin II, who ruled at the beginning of the 4th century, in the family of a wealthy nobleman and aristocrat Dioscorus.
At the age of 16, the girl blossomed, becoming a beauty, while showing amazing clarity and firmness of judgment. Many suitors, contenders for her hand and the wealth of Dioscorus, were rejected by her, because she did not see selflessness and spiritual purity in them. She was more worried about the mysteries of existence, because she could only see the world around her from a small tower window.
The time came, and suitors began to frequent Dioscorus with marriage proposals, to which Varvara responded with a decisive refusal. Then Dioscorus allowed Barbara to leave her involuntary refuge in the tower, judiciously deciding that, talking with her friends, she would sooner or later want to start a family. He made a mistake.
During his long absence from the city, Varvara met local Christians and was baptized, promising God to devote her life only to Him.
Varvara believed in the One Creator and rejected sinful polytheism, to which she was in every possible way inclined. The day inevitably had to come when the truth would be revealed to her. The grace of God touched her heart, Varvara felt the invisible presence of the Lord.
She decided to devote her life to him and informed her father that she was refusing marriage.
The Torment of Saint Barbara
The annoyed Dioscorus went to great lengths to turn his daughter away from the true faith, even allowing her to communicate with other girls. But this only led to the further collapse of his plans: virgins immediately appeared among Varvara’s friends and told her about Jesus Christ.
A great event for Varvara was the Sacrament of Baptism, which she received secretly from her father. The ceremony was performed by an Alexandrian priest who came to Iliopolis under the guise of a merchant. He also outlined to the girl the main tenets of Christian doctrine.
The enraged Dioscorus renounced his daughter and took her to the city ruler, inviting him to betray Saint Barbara to painful torture and death if she did not renounce Christ. Meanwhile, Barbara loudly confessed her faith in the Lord and denounced the pagans.
The father demanded the most severe punishment for his daughter, which greatly surprised the ruler, who had never before seen such perfect female beauty. But he also failed to turn Varvara away from the true faith she accepted, and then it was decided to achieve her renunciation through cruel torture.
The Great Martyr Varvara steadfastly endured the painful torture, her body was covered with bleeding wounds, but she stood her ground. After the cruel beatings inflicted on her, the martyr was thrown into prison, where that same night the Lord appeared to her with the words:
“Be bold, My bride, and do not be afraid, for I am with you. I look at your feat and alleviate your illnesses. Endure to the end so that you will soon enjoy eternal blessings in My Kingdom.”
He healed her wounds; after this, the traces of torture on the body of the Great Martyr Varvara instantly disappeared, and the next morning the executioners and the amazed crowd of onlookers saw the girl in perfect health. Inspired by her example, another Christian woman named Iulania publicly confessed her faith and was also tortured.
The next day, Varvara and Juliania were taken to the city and tortured, at some point the clothes of both Christian women were torn off, but through Varvara’s prayer they were immediately dressed in luminous covers, given by the Angel who appeared at the place of execution, then, hanging on a tree branch, they betrayed torture: they burned the skin with fire, tore it with hooks. Eyewitnesses of Varvara's passion were convinced that the Lord himself supported the mental and physical strength of the martyrs, strengthening their spirit and fortitude.
In the end, both martyrs were beheaded, and Varvara was personally executed by her father, Dioscorus.
However, he did not get away with the crimes of Dioscorus: the murderer of his own daughter was literally incinerated by lightning that struck him, which even hardened pagans perceived as God's punishment.
Relics of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara
The relics of the Great Martyr Barbara remained in Constantinople from the 6th century, and in the 12th century, according to the domestic version (the Western Church has a different opinion on this matter), they were brought to Kyiv by the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who married the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk II (Michael) Izyaslavich. From then until the Bolshevik pogrom, they were kept in St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. Nowadays the relics are found in the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral.
In 1651, the Lithuanian hetman Janusz Radziwill, who captured Kyiv, took two particles from the relics of the Great Martyr Barbara. Radziwill gave one of them, from her persea, to his wife Maria; upon her death, this particle, with the blessing of Metropolitan Joseph (Tukalsky) of Kyiv, came to Kanev, and from there it was transferred to the Baturinsky treasury chamber.
In 1691, at the request of St. Demetrius of Rostov, who was then the abbot of the Baturinsky Nikolaevsky Monastery, he ordered this particle to be transferred to the Nikolaevsky monastery.
In 1764, another particle was separated from this particle, which, through the efforts of Nerekhta residents who went to Kyiv on pilgrimage, was transferred to Nerekhta, to the Resurrection Church, in which the Varvara Church was consecrated on the ground floor. A particle of the relics of the Great Martyr Barbara did not survive the atheistic era, disappearing in the whirlpool of those terrible years.
The only reminder of the deep veneration of the Great Martyr Barbara here is the fresco with the image of St. Barbara depicted surrounded by angels, discovered in the 1990s by restorers on the vault of the refectory of the upper church.
Saint Barbara of Iliopolis (died in 306) was a Christian great martyr. She is considered the patroness against sudden death, which in Christianity is considered in most cases a punishment, like death without repentance and communion. In the Catholic Church, Saint Barbara is one of the 14 patron saints. People turned to them in the most difficult moments: for example, during plague epidemics. In the Catholic liturgical calendar, St. Barbara's Day is celebrated on December 4, in the Orthodox Church the memory of the holy virgin martyr is celebrated on December 17 (December 4, old style). The attributes of the saint are a tower with three windows, a mountain, a chalice and Hostia. There are cities of Santa Barbara named after the saint in the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Spain, Cape Verdi, Costa Rica, Mexico, Portugal, El Salvador, USA, Chile. peace.
Brief Life
Saint Barbara lived in the 3rd century in the Phoenician city of Iliopolis. Her father, Dioscurus (Dioscorus), was a pagan and a representative of the aristocracy in Asia Minor under the emperor Maximian. She was particularly beautiful and was locked by her father in a tower to hide her from prying eyes. During the period of imprisonment, Saint Barbara, studying the world around her, which was visible to her from the windows, came to the idea of the presence of a single Creator. When her father allowed her to leave the tower for the purpose of her marriage, Varvara met the Christians of Iliopolis and was baptized.
When the father found out about his daughter’s religion, Varvara was brutally tortured: she was scourged with ox sinews, and her wounds were rubbed with hair shirt. The ruler of the city, Martian, gave the father the right to carry out a trial over his daughter, who beheaded Saint Barbara. Dioscurus and Martian suffered retribution; they were both burned by lightning. Together with Saint Barbara, Saint Juliana was executed, having openly declared herself a Christian during the torture of Saint Barbara.
History of the relics of Saint Barbara
In the 6th century, the relics of the holy great martyr were transferred to Constantinople. As Orthodox legend says, in 1108, Princess Varvara Komnena, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos, before leaving for Kievan Rus, asked her father for healing relics as a gift. Her husband, Grand Duke Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (baptized Michael), who had built a stone church a year earlier in Kyiv, placed the healing relics of the great martyr there with honor and founded the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. During the invasion of Batu, the relics were hidden and then returned to their original place (historians dispute some facts: Alexei Komnenos did not have a daughter named Varvara, and Svyatopolk’s wife, whose name is unknown, was most likely the daughter of a Czech prince).
In 1644, under the Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mogila, part of the finger of the great martyr was given to the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Poland Georgy Osolinsky. At the same time, the left hand, which had been in Greece for a long time, was transferred to the Polish city of Lutsk, where it was placed in the monastery church in honor of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In 1650, the great Lithuanian hetman Janusz Radziwill, having taken Kyiv by storm, received two parts of the relics from the fingers and from the rib. Part of the fingers went to his wife, and then to the Kyiv Metropolitan Joseph of Tukalsky, and after his death it ended up in the city of Baturin, in the monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, where the relics were reverently revered as exuding miraculous healings.
In 1656, Metropolitan Sylvester of Kiev transferred part of the relics to Patriarch Macarius of Antioch.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Metropolitan Joasaph (Krokovsky) of Kyiv composed an akathist to the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, which is still sung before her relics.
During the destruction of the Golden-Domed St. Michael's Monastery in the 1930s, the relics of St. Barbara were taken to the museum. Now they are kept in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv, which belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
The saint’s left foot is located in the St. Barbara’s Cathedral in Edmonton (Canada) - it was taken from Kyiv in 1943 by Bishop Panteleimon (Rudyk), who had served in Canada since 1952.
The role of Saint Barbara in Catholicism
(The material is taken from a website dedicated to the Czech Republic, and therefore primarily refers to the Czech Republic)
Not so long ago, on December 4th in the Czech Republic they traditionally celebrated the feast of St. Barbara (Svátek svaté Barbory), which was an omen of the approaching Giving Day (Christmas Eve). Since this day was celebrated just two days before St. Nicholas, in many areas of the Czech Republic these two holidays merged into one, and the more famous Nicholas won. In both cases, on these days, people wearing saint masks distributed gifts to children.
Personality of St. The barbarians have not been historically documented. Therefore, in 1969 she was removed from the list of Catholic saints. The story of the virgin martyr most likely took place in the 7th century. It was at this time that the wounded girl became one of the most revered saints.
Note: the earliest lives of St. The barbarians date back to the 7th century (more details in the article in the Orthodox Encyclopedia), which gave the Pope, who excluded her from the list of Catholic saints who have general church veneration, Paul VI reason to doubt the reality of her existence. However, among Catholics, the exclusion of one or another holiday in honor of a saint from the list of general church holidays does not prevent individual communities from honoring this saint as locally revered. Therefore, to this day, in many Catholic countries (and Protestant ones too, by the way), Barbara is revered as the heavenly patroness of artillery and miners.
St. Barbara is the patroness of crafts and many professions, including miners, who dedicated many churches, chapels and altars to her. The most famous church in the Czech Republic is St. Varvara is located in Kutna Hora, the city of silver ores.
In Poland, Saint Barbara is mainly associated with miners. Her images and statues can be found not only in mine chapels, but also in miners' houses and churches. For all mining industry workers, December 4 is a day off.
In addition, St. Varvara became the intercessor of everyone who deals with weapons. Therefore, her image can often be seen on flags. The saint is also considered a protector against death from lightning, hurricanes and fires, and the patroness of the dying.
Patron saint of artillerymen
The saint became the patroness of artillery, weapons and other things related to fire thanks to the miracle described in her Life - her tormentors, including her own father, were incinerated by lightning that fell from heaven. The miners chose her as their patroness because of another miracle from the Life - when the saint was fleeing from her distraught father, the mountain she met on the way parted and hid the martyr in its depths. Saint's Day Barbarians, December 4, is celebrated as artillery day in the armies of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Norway, and the USA.
Customs for St. Barbara's Day
In the 19th century, on this day in villages, “Barbarians” - women and girls wrapped in white sheets - went from house to house. They could cover their face with a veil or veil to instill fear. The white color symbolized the purity and innocence of Varvara. In some areas, women sprinkled flour on their faces and let their hair down.
Two or three girls walked together. One of them carried in her hand a basket with apples, nuts and sweets: these were gifts for the kids. Another carried a broom to punish bad children. In front of the house they rang the doorbell or knocked on the window, quietly entered and sang a song about St. Varvara, treated the children and moved on. Sometimes children had to pray, sing or recite poems to receive a gift.
Later on St. The Barbarians began to perform another custom: The Barbarians stopped wearing masks and going from house to house, but the tradition of giving gifts to children remained. The child left a plate outside the window in the evening, and in the morning of December 4th, gifts from St. appeared on it. Barbarians.
Now St. Barbara was finally supplanted by St. Mikulas, even the Czechs themselves know little about the old customs.
Interesting Facts
Many geographical locations (Santa Barbara) are named in honor of St. Barbara, as well as the asteroid (234) Barbara, discovered in 1883.
Saint Barbara is depicted in Raphael's painting The Sistine Madonna.
Saint Barbara is the patron saint of the German city of Forst, depicted on the coat of arms of this city
Saint Barbara is depicted on the coat of arms of the city of Strumen in Poland.
Saint Barbara is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of the village of Vlasikha in the Moscow region.
In Spain there is a proverb Nadie se acuerda de santa Bárbara hasta que truena (“No one will remember Saint Barbara until thunder strikes,” the Russian equivalent is “Until thunder strikes, a man will not cross himself”).
Today, December 4/17, the Russian Orthodox Church solemnly honors the memory of the holy ancient Christian martyr Barbara. Barbara is a unique saint, the only saint whom the Church has adopted to hold a holy chalice on an icon (according to the canons of the Church, none of the laity can touch it - only the priest). In Orthodox iconography, only Saint John of Kronstadt is depicted with a chalice in his hand. Communion is administered to clergy and laity from the chalice.
The Lord gave the Great Martyr Barbara a special gift - prayers and intercessions for a person’s last communion. In her dying prayer, the Holy Great Martyr Barbara asked the Lord to save everyone who resorted to her help from unexpected troubles, from sudden death without repentance, and to pour out His grace on them. In response, she heard a voice from Heaven, promising to fulfill what she asked. Therefore, they pray to Saint Barbara not to die without confession and Holy Communion, and ask to protect them from serious illnesses and sudden and sudden death. The saint also prays for help and intercession for children, for deliverance from serious illnesses and diseases, for help in despondency and sadness, and consolation in sadness.
In the modern world, the holy martyr Barbara has new areas of patronage. On December 17, 1959, the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) were formed, so this day became a professional holiday for missile warriors. The coincidence of the day of remembrance of St. Barbara with the day of the formation of the missile forces made St. Barbara the heavenly patron of the missile forces. In any missile division there is an icon of the Great Martyr at the command post.
It is widely known that the holy martyr Barbara is responsible for the miners before God. In the new Russia, the resumption of official veneration by miners of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara is associated with the name of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, who blessed to venerate St. Barbara as the heavenly patroness of all mining industries and their universities. The blessing of His Holiness Alexy II was announced at the Second Congress of Russian Mining Industry in 2002. And today, miners, like all Orthodox Christians, pray to the Holy Great Martyr Barbara for deliverance from sudden death and other unexpected troubles and troubles.
From the Life of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara
Saint Barbara lived in the 4th century during the reign of Maximian Galerius, a cruel persecutor of Christians. Having lost her mother early, Saint Barbara lived with her father in the Phoenician city of Iliopolis (present-day Syria). The girl's father, a noble man, the pagan Dioscorus, having lost his wife, concentrated all his attention on raising his only daughter. Noticing his daughter’s rare beauty and abilities early on, Dioscorus settled Saint Barbara in a tower, hiding her from prying eyes.
Surrounded only by maids and pagan teachers, Saint Barbara often observed the life of nature. Indeed, the most beautiful views opened up from the height of the tower. Varvara had a lot of time to think, and she began to think about who created such beauty, the contemplation of which brought her inexplicable comfort. Pagan teachers told her about their gods, but Saint Barbara could not believe that the stone idols that the teachers and her father worshiped could create such beauty and fill her with life.
Rumors about the extraordinary beauty and chastity of Saint Barbara attracted many noble suitors, and the father invited Varvara to choose her future husband. Not expecting such a decisive refusal from his daughter, which he received in response to his proposal, Dioscorus decided to leave his daughter for a while and allowed her to walk freely where she wanted, hoping that separation from him and communication with other people could influence her consent to marry.
The heart of Saint Barbara, which had long been searching for the word of truth, led her to Christian girls who told her about the Creator of the world, about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, about the general resurrection. Saint Barbara immediately believed in the One, Life-Giving God, the Creator of the Universe, and burned with love for the Lord Jesus Christ. A presbyter from Alexandria, who was in Iliopolis at that time, taught Saint Barbara the basics of Christianity. After some time, she received Holy Baptism.
According to Tradition, before his departure “... the father of Saint Barbara ordered the construction of a bathhouse with two windows in honor of the sun and moon. Varvara asked the workers to make three windows in the image of the Trinity Light. Next to the bathhouse there was a font surrounded by a marble fence. On the eastern side of the fence, Varvara drew a cross with her finger, which was imprinted on the stone, as if it had been knocked out with iron. The saint’s footprint was imprinted on the stone step, and a source of healing water flowed from it.”
When Dioscorus learned about his daughter’s orders, he began to get angry, but when, during the explanation, he realized that his daughter was a Christian, he became completely furious, pulled out a sword and wanted to hit Varvara with it, but she ran away. Varvara ran until she ran into a mountain, which blocked her further escape. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, she turned to the Lord with a prayer for help. Through her prayer, the mountain parted, forming a chasm through which the girl came to the top of the mountain. There, in the cave, she took refuge from her father’s wrath.
The shepherds who saw Varvara on the mountainside told the father where his daughter was hiding. Dioscorus could not allow his daughter to be a Christian; he severely beat Varvara and put her in prison, leaving her without food and water, hoping that she would come to her senses and renounce the Christian faith. When Dioscorus realized that he would achieve nothing, he handed his daughter into the hands of the ruler Martian, a persecutor of Christians.
Neither persuasion, nor promises of wealth and all other earthly blessings could shake Varvara’s newly acquired faith, then Martian gave the order for torture. According to Tradition, at “midnight the prison was illuminated by an unspeakable Light, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to the suffering great martyr, healed her wounds, sent down joy to her soul, and consoled her with the hope of bliss in the Heavenly Kingdom.” The next day, when Varvara appeared healed before Martian's court, he tried to convince her that it was the idols that healed her, persuading Varvara to make a sacrifice to them. But Saint Barbara glorified the Lord Jesus Christ as a true healer of souls and bodies. She was subjected to even greater torture.
Unable to bear what she was witnessing, the Christian Juliana, standing in the crowd, indignantly began to denounce Martian’s cruelty and announced to everyone that she was also a Christian. The torture continued for several more days. When it became clear that the girls would not renounce, Martian sentenced both martyrs to beheading with a sword. The execution of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara was carried out by her father. According to legend, Martian and Dioscorus immediately after their execution received retribution from God: they died from a lightning strike.
The relics of Saint Barbara were transferred to Constantinople in the 6th century, and in the 12th century, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei Komnenos, Princess Varvara, marrying the Russian prince Mikhail Izyaslavich, brought them with her to Kyiv, where they are now located - in the Cathedral of the Holy Prince Vladimir.
Immediately after the Baptism of Rus', the Great Martyr Varvara became one of the most revered saints of the Russian people. And today in all Orthodox churches the words are heard:
Blessed Lamb Varvaro,
Divinely illuminated by the Trisolar light of the Holy Trinity
and in the font, having become confident in defeating the flattery of my father,
You confessed your faith in Christ.
Therefore, O all-honorable one, God has given you grace from above,
heal all ailments and illnesses.
Pray to Him, Great Martyr, to save our souls.
The meaning of the name Varvara:
Barbara is an ancient Greek name.
Translated as “foreigner”.
Saint Barbara
Holy Great Martyr Barbara (III century)
C to I This great martyr Barbara was born into a noble pagan family in the city of Iliopolis in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon). Her father Dioscorus was a representative of the aristocracy in Asia Minor under the emperor Maximian (reign 285–306). Having lost his wife early, the parent focused all his attention and care on his daughter. Seeing her extraordinary beauty, Dioscorus decided to hide her from prying eyes for the time being, building a tower where he settled Varvara along with servants and teachers.
The life of the saint tells that a young girl, looking out of the windows of her home, admiring the amazing beauty of nature, wondered: Who could arrange everything in this world so beautifully and wisely? She asked the teachers assigned to her about this, and they answered that this was done by the gods whom her father revered, to which Varvara replied: “The gods whom my father reveres were made by human hands. How could these gods create such a bright sky and such earthly beauty? There must be one God, Whom was not created by human hand, but by He Himself, having His own being.” Thus, the future martyr, contemplating this world, gradually approached the comprehension of its true Creator.
When the time came for Varvara to get married, many noble suitors came to Dioscorus to ask for her hand in marriage, but the daughter responded to her father’s affectionate proposals with a firm refusal, saying that she wanted to remain a virgin all her life. Frightened by such an unusual desire, the parent allowed Varvara to leave the tower and communicate with whomever she wanted. He hoped that by communicating with people, his daughter would gradually change her mind. But the saint, having received freedom, immediately met local Christians, from whom she finally learned about the one God. After some time, she received Baptism from a priest who was passing through her city under the guise of a merchant (even then a new wave of persecution of Christians began). The saint hid what happened from Dioscorus.
During the long absence of Dioscorus, construction was underway at his house; Varvara ordered a third window to be installed in the new building - in honor of the Holy Trinity. When Dioscorus returned and began asking the builders why they had made an extra window, they referred to his daughter. “Three are better than two,” Varvara answered her parent, “for the impregnable, ineffable Light of the Trinity has Three Windows (Hypostases or Faces).” The father was furious when he learned that his daughter had become a Christian. The next morning, he took her to the city ruler Martian, before whom he renounced her and asked to be judged for neglecting pagan traditions. The martyr remained adamant after much persuasion from Martian to be obedient to her father’s will. The torture began. The saint was beaten with ox sinews, and the deep wounds were rubbed with hair shirt (coarse fabric made of goat hair). Varvara spent the night in prison, praying to God that He would strengthen her before new suffering. In the morning, not a single wound was found on the martyr’s body. One Christian woman, Juliana, seeing this miracle, began to openly confess her faith and wanted to suffer for Christ in the same way. Both martyrs were subjected to severe torture and then beheaded. Varvara's own father volunteered to execute her. In the 4th century, the relics of Saint Barbara were transferred to Constantinople, and later to Kyiv.
Interesting facts about Saint Barbara:
The Martyr Barbara is depicted in Raphael’s famous painting “The Sistine Madonna” (to the right of the Virgin and Child).
In Spain there is a well-known saying “No one will remember Saint Barbara until thunder strikes”, similar to the Russian version “Until thunder strikes, a man will not cross himself.”
The left foot of the martyr is located in the St. Barbara’s Cathedral in the city of Edmonton (Canada), where she was taken in 1943 from Kyiv.
Varvarka Street, one of the oldest in Moscow, is named after the church in the name of the Great Martyr Varvara. It runs from Red Square to Varvarskie Gate.
Other famous saints named Barbara:
Martyr Barbara(Derevyagina) (1912–1942)
Born in the Ryazan province into a peasant family. When persecution began in the 1930s, the temple she went to with her family was closed, and then believers began to gather in each other’s homes to pray. In June 1940, Varvara Dmitrievna and her father were arrested. The court sentenced both to camps. A year later, in the Karaganda camp, the martyr was arrested for refusing to go to work. On January 11, 1942, Varvara was shot. In 2000, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, she was canonized.
Venerable Martyr Barbara (Konkina)(1868–1938)
Born into a peasant family in the Ryazan province. At the age of 19, she became a novice of the Spaso-Blachernae Monastery. Here she labored until the monastery was closed in 1923. In 1937, the saint was arrested for “participation in a counter-revolutionary church group.” She was sentenced to ten years in a forced labor camp. The most difficult conditions of imprisonment, constant beatings and torture brought the martyr to the point of being “unfit for work.” On April 5, 1938, she was shot at the Butovo training ground. On December 26, 2006, nun Varvara (Konkina) was canonized by the Holy Synod.
Venerable Martyr Varvara (Yakovleva)(c. 1850–1918)
She became one of the first sisters of mercy, which was founded by the Grand Duchess. She became the abbess's cell attendant.
And when the Grand Duchess was arrested, Varvara followed her into exile and, together with her, was thrown into a mine near Alapaevsk. 4 November 1 992 nun Varvara was canonized.
