Day of Saint Barbara (04/12)

On December 4, the Catholic liturgical calendar celebrates St. Barbara's Day (St. Barbara's Day), whose name is associated with a beautiful legend.

The Holy Great Martyr Barbara was the daughter of the noble pagan Dioscorus, she lived with her father in the city of Iliopolis of Phoenicia, during the reign of Maximian Galerius (305—311). She lost her mother early and was surrounded by servants, among whom there were many Christians.

When Dioscorus learned that his beloved daughter had secretly become a Christian from her father, his father's anger knew no bounds. The girl was locked in a tower attached to his house. All attempts to force Barbara to renounce the Christian faith by worshiping the pagan gods again were rejected.

One day Dioscorus drew his sword in rage and wanted to hit Varvara with it, but she started to run. Dioscorus began to catch up with her, but Varvara’s road was blocked by a mountain. Then the girl turned to God for help. The mountain parted, and she entered the crevice, along which she reached the top of the mountain. There, Barbara took refuge in a cave (Saint Barbara has since been considered the patroness of miners).

However, the rock could not hide the girl for long. Dioscorus found the daughter with the help of a shepherd and severely beat her. Having locked Varvara in a small dark room, he began to starve and thirst her in order to force her to renounce the Christian faith. Having failed to achieve this, he delivered his daughter into the hands of the ruler Martianus, the persecutor of Christians.

Martianus tried for a long time to persuade Saint Barbara to bow to the idols. He promised her all sorts of earthly blessings, and then, seeing her inflexibility, he gave her for torture. God punished Barbara's tormentors: Dioscorus and Martian died from a lightning strike.

In the 6th century, the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara were transferred to Constantinople. In the Middle Ages, the Great Martyr Barbara was revered as one of the 14 holy helpers of the Lord and as the heavenly mediator of the «happy» death hour.

A considerable number of magnificent images of this great martyr can be seen among the collection of the National Gallery of Medieval Art in the Anezh Monastery. A distinctive sign of the image of St. Barbara — is the indispensable presence of a turret and a mountain in the images.

If we recall ancient Russian history, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexy I Komnenos (1081-1118), Princess Barbara, marrying the Russian prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich (in Holy Baptism Michael), brought with her to Kiev in 1108 the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, where they still rest in the Vladimir Cathedral.

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