The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara: through martyrdom to eternal life

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara: through martyrdom to eternal life. Pray to Saint Barbara? The preaching of Saint Barbara.

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara

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The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara: the life of
- Sermon Archimandrite Cyril Pavlov in day of memory of Saint Barbara
Knowing God through the contemplation of nature
- And as I know through the nature of God Saint Barbara, through consideration of the creation of God can know God and each of us.
The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara
- When we honor the saints and martyrs, each of us needs not only to mentally travel back in those ancient times, but everyone needs to think about myself that way any Christian is the way of the Martyr, or explicit or secret.
We pray Saint great Martyr Varvara?
The icon of St. Martyr Varvara

St. Barbara is our intercessor in Heaven. Her life is an example of true faith for all Christians, a just and an honourable death. Orthodox believers venerate saints as intercessors in Heaven, prayer before God and an example of life in Christ, we appeal to the saints in their prayers. Many as the Holy GreatMartyress Barbara, endured suffering and martyrdom for their faith. You can often find articles about what Saint Barbara pray for deliverance from sudden death, from unexpected disasters, depression, and the healing of children. To Saint Barbara often appeal to those whose loved ones are in danger, especially if this danger depends on someone’s ill will.

In fact, the Church believes the obryadoverie communion of saints for any particular occasions and to pray to Saint Barbara, it is possible that she helped them to a life of Holiness and love to God. Read our article the life of Saint Barbara, which were famous for their wisdom and beauty, has accepted suffering and death for Christ at the hands of idolaters.

The Holy great Martyr Barbara lived and suffered under the Emperor Maximian (305-311). Details about the life, icons and prayers to the Holy see the article!

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara: the life of

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara

Barbara’s father, the pagan Dioscorus, was a rich and illustrious man in the Phoenician city of Heliopolis. Widowed at a young age, he focused the full force of emotional attachment to his only daughter.

Seeing Barbara’s extraordinary beauty, Dioscorus decided to raise her, hiding from prying eyes. For this he built a tower, where, besides Barbara, there was only her pagan teachers. The tower had a view of heavenly and earthly peace of God. In the afternoon you can look out on the wooded mountains, swift-flowing rivers, plains covered with colorful carpet of flowers; by night a consonant and the stately choir of the stars was a sight of ineffable beauty.

Soon she began to ask herself questions about the primal Cause and Creator of so harmonious and splendid a world. Gradually it strengthened the idea that soulless idols – the work of human hands worshiped her father and teachers could not so wisely and perfectly to arrange the world around us. The desire to know the true God so captured the soul of Barbara, that she decided to dedicate your life to it and spend it in virginity.

And the fame of her beauty spread throughout the city, and many wooed her, but she, in spite of the gentle entreaties of his father, refused marriage. Barbara cautioned her father that his persistence might end tragically and separate them forever. Dioscorus decided that the character of the daughter has changed from a closed life. He allowed her to leave the tower and gave complete freedom in choosing friends and acquaintances. The girl met the city’s young Confessors of faith in Christ, and they revealed to her the doctrine of the Creator of the world, about the Trinity, about the Divine Logos. After some time, the Providence of God in Iliopolis came from Alexandria disguised as a merchant priest. He made over Barbara the sacrament of Baptism.

While at the house of Dioscorus built a luxurious bath. By his orders the workers prepared to put into it two Windows on the South side. But Barbara, taking advantage of her father’s absence, persuaded them to make a third window, in the image of the Trinity of Light. Above the entrance to the bath-house Barbara inscribed cross, which is firmly etched in stone. On the stone steps of the bathhouse was a trace of her legs, which scored a source, granting later great healing power that Simeon Metaphrast, describing the sufferings of the Holy Martyr, compares with the life-giving force of the streams of the Jordan and the source of Siloam.

When Dioscorus returned and expressed dissatisfaction with the violation of the construction plan, the daughter told him about her Poznan Triune God, about the saving power of the son of God and about the futility of worshiping idols. Dioscorus became enraged, drew his sword and wanted to impress her. The girl ran from the father, and he rushed after her in pursuit. The path was blocked by a mountain, which opened and concealed the Saint in a crevice. On the other side of the crevice was an entrance to the top. Saint Barbara managed to hide in a cave on the opposite slope of the mountain. After a long and fruitless search for his daughter, Dioscorus saw two shepherds on the hill. One of them showed him the cave where the Saint had hidden. Dioscorus brutally beat his daughter and then have her in custody for a long time and starved. Finally he handed her the ruler of the city, named Martianus. Saint Barbara fiercely: it was flogged with ox thongs, and the wounds rubbed with a haircloth. Night in the prison of the Holy virgin, praying fervently to her Heavenly Bridegroom, the Saviour Himself appeared and healed her wounds. Then they subjected the Saint to new, and even more severe torture.

Amidst the crowd standing near the place of torture of the Martyr, was a resident Iliopol, Christian Juliana. Her heart was filled with sympathy for the voluntary martyrdom of the beautiful and illustrious maiden. Juliana wished to suffer for Christ. She began loudly to accuse the torturers. Grabbed her. The Holy martyrs were tortured for a very long time: they lacerated and tore at their bodies with hooks, cut off Breasts, naked drove around the city with harassment and beatings. Through the prayers of Saint Barbara the Lord sent an angel, which is luminous garments covered the nakedness of the Holy martyrs. The steadfast Confessors of faith in Christ, saints Barbara and Juliana were beheaded. Saint Barbara was executed himself Dioscorus. The wrath of God was not slow to comprehend both torturers, Martianus became and Dioscorus: they were burned by lightning.

In VI century the relics of the Holy Martyr was transferred to Constantinople. In XII century the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios Comnenus (1081-1118), the Princess Barbara, having entered into marriage with the Russian Prince Mikhail Izyaslavich, transferred them to Kiev. In Kiev Vladimir Cathedral they rest now.

Source: Official website of the Moscow Patriarchate

Sermon Archimandrite Cyril Pavlov in day of memory of Saint Barbara
Knowing God through the contemplation of nature

Read also – the Icon of the mother of God “the Unfading blossom”

The heavens declare the glory of God and the work of His hands broadcasting firmament (PS. 18:2). O Lord our God! how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Your glory extends above the heavens! When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that You visit him? (PS. 8:2, 4-5) – so, contemplating the beauty of the universe, glorified God the Holy Psalmist David. In the same way, by looking at the beauty created by nature, came to the knowledge of God, all-praised and Holy great Martyr Varvara, the suffering, the memory of which, beloved in Christ brothers and sisters celebrating today the Holy Church.

Saint Barbara suffered in the fourth century, during the reign of the wicked Emperor Maximian. She was born and raised in a family of rich and noble parents, in the faith of the Gentiles, in the Phoenician city of Heliopolis. Even as a baby, she lost her mother, and her entire education was in the hands of her father, Dioscorus, zealous idolater. The same faith in pagan gods, he tried to instill in his daughter. Saint Barbara has extraordinary physical beauty, which led many to wonder. Therefore, to protect his daughter from bad influence and evil community, Dioscorus built for her a tower with all amenities and various chambers and put her in there to live, lest she saw no temptation and temptation. Being secluded and away from any entertainment, Barbara carefully looked at the surrounding its nature and loved to meditate on the wondrous effects. From the height of their homes Saint Barbara looked by night on innumerable glittering stars, burning in the firmament of the heaven, and to the distant blue mountains, the dark deep forests, green meadows, fast flowing rivers and streams, – she looked at it and thought.

I was especially captivated by her eyes in the spring when she saw how the trees and gardens were covered with a beautiful green cover, meadows dressed with greenery and flowers, the air was filled with birds singing heavenly. “Can’t be, – she thought, – to beautiful this world happened by itself or by chance, without reason. Can not be that has created his gods that we worship: they are made by human hands out of gold and silver”. So musing, she came to the belief that there is some Omnipotent sentient Being That created this beautiful and sensible world that there is an Invisible God.

And one day when she was meditating on the creation of the universe, the grace of God touched her pure heart and God shined His light on her inquisitive mind, and understand it of the Living True God, and since that time nothing it no longer, but thought about It. Meanwhile, the beauty of it was heard many wealthy suitors and began vying to propose to her, and her father, Dioscorus, was glad that his daughter will soon marry. However, when he announced to her, St. Barbara flatly refused to marry, saying that she wants her entire life to hold the girl. Father from such a response to my daughter was puzzled. He decided that the blame for this himself, having concluded in her secluded castle, which she wants to continue to live in seclusion. So he allowed the daughter to freely go where she wants, and to communicate freely with all the young men in the hope that it will change your thoughts. But this freedom was only to the mental benefits that come with it: the Providence of God, all made for the benefit and her eternal salvation. At that time she met a lot of girls, the secret Christians who told her about Christ the Savior, about how suffering His whole world was saved. And her immaculate heart rejoices with an indescribable joy at hearing the gospel about the one true God.

She expressed a desire to be Baptized, that God’s grace in a short time and settled. Father went away into a far country, and arrived in Iliopolis from Alexandria disguised as a merchant, the priest gave the Holy virgin the mysteries of the Christian faith and baptized her. Having received a special grace, and Saint Barbara is celebrated more love for the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else did not think once about It. When it came to her father and found that his daughter worships the Crucified and believe in Him, he was incredibly furious and personally wanted to kill her with a sword, but the flight and the help of God saved at the time, Saint Barbara. Then my father betrayed her to the judge, accusing him of worshiping Christ, while Christians were erected terrible persecution, for the mere name of Christian was subjected to inhuman tortures and torments.

The judge, following the diverse admonitions and threats, seeing that the Saint professed unwavering Christian faith, subjected her to a severe punishment. Naked, of her mercilessly scourged, so the ground is stained a maiden’s blood. Then the executioners began to RUB the fresh wound hair cells, which cause the sufferer immense pain. Then it plunged in a dungeon where she is, exhausted and wounded, began to ask the Lord for comfort and assistance. And there, in prison, Barbara was the Lord Jesus Christ, healed from all her wounds and strengthened in patience for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Then the Holy took on the suffering and torture were hung from a tree and struck at her body with iron hooks, and beaten on the head with iron hammers, and then cut off the Breasts and after that Nagoya took around town. The last torture was for the Holy and chaste damsel is the most difficult. She asked the Lord to protect her from the gaze of curious onlookers, and the Lord sent His angel, who immediately covered her nakedness immaterial, luminous clothes. After all these tortures the Holy condemned to death through beheading by the sword, and the sentence executed her own father-a murderer who personally compartment his daughter’s head. So he finished his act of suffering for Christ the Holy GreatMartyress Barbara.

Beloved in Christ brothers and sisters, from the biography of this great Saint for us particularly edifying one phenomenon in the spiritual life, namely, that she came to know God through looking at nature. She was raised in the pagan faith, no one has taught her since childhood the faith in the true God, but through the observation of nature she had known Him.

And as I know through the nature of God Saint Barbara, through consideration of the creation of God can know God and each of us.

All around us otpechatky traces of the omnipotence of God and pricesuse His strength. As for snow clearly imprinted trace of a man, and all creation is clearly imprinted a trail of. Every wildflower, every blade of grass speaks of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God. Look, dearest, at any blade of grass and you will see that all is the wisdom of God. Herb blade of grass attached to the ground and can not move, but she finds all the right in the soil, where they feed on roots; leaves her she breathes fresh air and thus he lives and exists. Who created her, who watered its fertile rain who has clean breath of air, who gives the flower its fragrance and color? How can a rose to extract from the black earth its bright pink paint, and the Lily its shining white? No artist, no scientist, no matter how he was skillful, could not produce the like of fragrant flower. All this is the handiwork of Almighty God.

Next, look at the animals. They are born small and weak, not able to exist, but God inspired mothers to care for their children so that the mother does not know of peace until you raise your calves. So in all traces care of God’s creation.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we often look around us in a beautiful world, and through him to know God and all that is good. Nature is the book of God, not written, but created, which can read every person, literate and illiterate, and always stand in awe before the Creator of the Universe. The sun will rise, if dot the sky bright stars, kick if the thunder, will be shed if the rain – bow before the greatness of God and praise the Almighty. Do the same when looking at the beauty of the world around you.

Beloved in Christ brothers and sisters, the Holy GreatMartyress Barbara when it came to death, asked for himself the Lord the gift to save you from sickness and sudden death all who will remember her and her suffering. Let us pray to her today with all my heart, that she, Prizren all gathered in this temple on the day of her memory, saved from sudden death and we are, in order, marching through repentance and correction, worthy to us a future eternal life. Amen.

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara

Read also – the Icon of the Holy virgin

Sermon

Beloved in the Lord brothers and sisters, most honorable fathers! We congratulate you on our feast day, the Day of St. Barbara, in whose honor in our Church there is a chapel, and part of her fair body rests the Grace of God in our Holy temple.

The Holy great Martyr Barbara lived during the IV century, was born and raised in a noble pagan family and knew nothing about the true God, about the spiritual life and the immortality of the soul, faith in Christ. In God’s Providence mother Barbara died when the child was 4 years old. And widowed father all your love focused on her daughter. When Barbara grew up and became a wonderful father shut her in the high castle. Often looking from the tower to the sky, watching the beauty of the stars, the moon and the sun, she was thinking, where did this wonderful world, arranged according to certain laws. She thought, “If it were not for the Creator, who would be directed at reasonable way of existence of this world?” And so Barbara studied at the creature to know the Creator. Once disguised as a merchant in their city there has arrived a priest who showed her the mysteries of the Holy faith and put her on the path of salvation.

Faith of the Holy virgin Barbara was not accepted by the closest person, her family father, Dioscorus. And turned the words of Scripture: “a man’s Foes – his own household.” Because where the truth comes, there she exposes the lies, denounces a wrong, denounces sin. And then people choosing the path of life, unwittingly comes into a certain contradiction with the world of the living, as said the Apostle Paul, in sin. So no amount of persuasion barbarians did not bring the father back to the faith, on the contrary, the father himself was betrayed by her cruel torment. And we know that she very much has undergone: the incredible torture of suffering for Christ. Therefore our Holy Orthodox Church she is called the great Martyr. Fair the remains of the Holy Martyr after suffering her suffering was transferred to the city of Constantinople, and in the XI century – the Holy Rus, in Kiev, where this day rest in the Cathedral of the Holy Prince Vladimir.

Photo: tatmitropolia.ru

The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara before his suffering prayed to the Lord, to every man that will call her name in their prayers, would be spared from sudden death. What grace was sought by the great Martyr Barbara! As we all need it. In our life everything is transient, weakly, unsteadily. So our only hope only in God and His saints. The Lord said, “In whatsoever I find you, in that will I judge you”. And most importantly, the Lord found us in a pure conscience, reconciled with all. That is why in the monasteries there is a pious custom every evening to ask the brethren, each other to forgive them, because nobody knows what’s in store for the upcoming night: fell asleep today, and tomorrow, maybe never woke up. We and the Psalmist David says: “Yes, the Sun will not go down on your wrath,” that is, you must try to come to terms with all this day, he has not yet gone, and our life would have looked through the net, without burdening from anything sinful in our hearts and in our conscience. The Holy GreatMartyress Barbara seeks people who are far from faith, that they may come to the knowledge of truth and to the sudden death did not catch them without repentance, without Holy Communion of Christ’s Holy Sacraments.

When we honor the saints and martyrs, each of us needs not only to mentally travel back in those ancient times, but everyone needs to think about myself that way any Christian is the way of the Martyr, or explicit or secret.

What will be our destiny – no one knows. But his Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy at the meeting of the clergy of Moscow and the Moscow region said the following sentence: “We do not know in our troubled and difficult time, as they will continue to unfold events of our life, what forces will be at the head of the state, but the Church in any environment must be one: to bring light where the darkness; to bring the truth where a lie; to bring love where division”.

And at the same time, we must always be prepared for what is said in the Apocalypse: three and a half years to rule the earth, the Antichrist. It is unknown whether we’ll live until that time, maybe someone and he will stand in the ranks of the martyrs, so now we must remember that “wrong in the least is unjust also in much”. If not the Power and Grace of the Holy spirit, no man will be able to transfer the torment, if you ever have to suffer for Christ. Therefore, our Holy mother the Church, knowing that it’s all done from small, prepares us for it our whole lives. What is the post? In order to enable them to dominate their intentions, that the soul was above the body, so that man could control himself, and not the body ruled by man. Given by the Holy Mother our Church morning and evening prayers, to which we must give at least 10-15 minutes daily. Can’t we give for God, for eternity, for the soul of 10-15 minutes! As one of the saints “to Pray is to shed blood”. And in fact, we tell ourselves a thousand different things and excuses, only not to stand up for the prayer. And this is standing in faith, and it starts with the path of martyrdom. For the New year each of us will be proven that he is faithful to Christ or not. Also will be a dilemma – as all, or as God commands. Only then do not say, “where is God’s help”, “get it together”. Yes, because we don’t live God’s way, so you want: ours and yours. But it does not happen, and so God leads us to ensure that everyone was constantly transcend selfishness, self-will, through pride, through pride, through their desire is sinful. And so improving not by any great deeds, and from day to day, in detail, we need to confirm who we are in Christ or not.

Holy prep. The Barsanuphius of Optina said that the Colosseum is a stadium in which dozens, hundreds of early Christian martyrs were tortured and killed, was devastated, but not destroyed. “Maybe – he said – you live to those times when it is renewed and renewed, and will flow rivers of blood of Christian martyrs. God grant that the power and strength you had to endure all that falls to your lot”. So fidelity to Christ need to prove every day by their deeds, not only words.

Many people think: “why am I the only one carry this cross?” And we know that robotlist never attached forces in our everyday martyrdom (illnesses, sorrows and family turmoil). But faith and gratitude to God for everything, always gave strength to carry the cross in a dignified manner. As said, Theophan the recluse: “the Cross will still have to carry – believers and unbelievers – but it’s better to carry it in the Christian with gratitude and devotion to the Will of God.” And we should remember the words of the Apocalypse of John the theologian. When he saw thousands of people, the martyrs, clothed in white robes, he asked the angel: “Tell me who they are and where they came from?” And he said, “These people came here (that is, in the Kingdom of God) of the great tribulation, but they got assured of his clothes in the blood of the lamb, and for this God leads them to living fountains of waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There would be no disease, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life and joy infinite.”

Amen.

Source: Sermons. Optina

We pray Saint great Martyr Varvara?

The Holy Martyr Barbara pray about how to not to die without confession and Holy communion, please protect from serious disease and sudden and sudden death.

The icon of St. Martyr Varvara