St. Barbara

St. Barbara was born to the toparch Dioscoros, an ungodly man, during the reign of the Emperor Maximian. Her parents, seeing her beauty, desired to keep her hidden from men and would only allow certain sets of suitors to come. She was stored away in a tower and would turn down each and every one, desiring ultimately to preserve her virginity. Dioscoros, thinking this was out of naïve peevishiness on his daughter's part, had a bathing house built alongside the tower. The tower was filled with idols and Dioscoros ordered his men to construct the bathing house with two windows. But the maiden would have an encounter with Christ as the bathing house was being built and realized that it would be much more beautiful with three windows rather than the two her father desired to have constructed. Once, when basking in the waters of the bathing house, the virgin traced her fingers to form the image of the cross. It was at this point that the maiden realized that the idols were worthless.

When her father returned, he saw that there were three windows, as opposed to the two he had ordered, and questioned why. The maiden explained that the three windows were far more beautiful than the two he had intended to construct in the bathing house for, "Three windows shine upon every person who comes into the world." The maiden expressed a very vivid and detailed understanding of the nature of the Triune God by this statement which baffled her father. Realizing that his daughter no longer adhered to his idolatry, the man became furious and forgot his blood-relations with his daughter. He chased her out of the tower and as she fled down the mountainside, she was preserved from his anger as St. Thekla was once preserved from her pursuers.

In pursuit of his daughter, Dioscoros came across two shepherds. One did not have the heart to give up the persecuted virgin to her pursuer so he denied having seen her. The other was malicious in character and pointed the father in her direction. As a Divine punishment upon the shepherd, his sheep were turned to acanthus plants and he was deprived of his herd. Her father found her and took her before the Governor Markianos who encouraged her to embrace the idols of the Roman religion and preserve her life. He desired not to kill such a young and beautiful woman. But St. Barbara refused and gave her worship to Christ. She was subjected to different tortures and thrashed about, being deprived of her beauty but healed by Christ. The Governor claimed it was the gods who had healed her but she knew better and resisted his malicious deceits.

St. Barbara, rebuking the Governor, was sentenced to a second round of beatings. During these beatings, a witness, St. Juliane, wept for the saint and was spotted by the Governor Markianos. Revealing herself to be a Christian, Juliane was suspended on high and her flesh was lacerated and burned with lit torches. Their breasts were torn out, Juliane was imprisoned, and Barbara was led out naked through the streets, in mockery. St. Barbara, not wishing herself to be defiled, called out to God to have her clothed. Angels descended upon the Holy Virgin clothing her in a splendid array of glory, once again foiling the plight of the Pagans who attempted to defile her.

Seeing that Juliane and Barbara would not be swayed toward the demonic cult of heathenism anymore, the Governor ordered his executioner to behead the two Holy Women. But St. Barbara's father, forgetting his own blood relation with his daughter, desired himself to be the one to execute her. He went up with the executioner to the mountain where the two would be beheaded and as the executioner fell upon Juliane with his blade, so too did Dioscoros fall upon his own daughter with his blade. The saints executed, the vengeance of God would not go unsatiated. As Dioscoros descended from the mountain, a lightning bolt from the sky struck him down, reducing his flesh to nothingness and sentencing him to the fiery torment for his gruesome actions. Witnessing the flash of lightning fall upon the Toparch, the Governor Markianos went insane and died in his own madness. A man named Valentinos would preserve the relics of the two Holy Martyrs in a nearby village.

St. Barbara, mostly from the way her father died, is a patron saint of artillery, lightning, fire, gunpowder, gunners, and sudden death. She is called upon during thunderstorms and to preserve against sudden death. She is also revered as a military patroness for her patronage over gunners and artillery units. St. Barbara, pray for us!