Memorial Day of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara. The Holy Great Martyr Barbara: through martyrdom to eternal life Sermon on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara
Hieromartyr Daniil Sysoev (1974-2009):
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
I congratulate you all on the day of remembrance of the great holy martyr Barbara! The life of Saint Barbara is an absolutely stunning life, showing us one of the sides of the doctrine of Christian life. When we read the lines of the life of the Great Martyr Barbara, we see that Christianity is some completely different reality, which is infinitely more important than anything else. Moreover, reading the life of Barbara, we see that sometimes there is a conflict between what seems to be the highest in this earthly life and between the Christian life. Many people in our country, accepting Christianity in the late 80s and early 90s, thought that Christianity was simply morality. But reading the life of Barbara, we see that Christianity is a completely new life that is shared by all humanity, regardless of even family ties. Saint Barbara was the daughter of the furious pagan Diascorus, who, having received a prediction that his daughter would become a Christian, imprisoned her in a high tower so that she would be isolated and no one would come to her.
While in this high tower, she began to look at the sun, moon, stars, sea and ask herself, who did all this? Who created such beauty? Who dug the bottom of the seas? Who launched the stars? Who commands the sunrise and sunset? And the maids told her that the gods did all this. She asked them: “What gods?” Here we see the Christian inquisitive mind that will never settle for anything other than wisdom. The Christian potentially hates stupidity because stupidity is a sin.
The maids answered Varvara that these were the gods that her father worshiped: gold, silver, copper, stone, wood. She answered them: it’s somehow strange, they can’t talk, breathe, or walk, how can they create anything? She decided that there was another, great God who created everything. As they say in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, having learned from the beauty of creations the highest beauty of their culprit, Barbara began to turn to Him. This is real wisdom.
The Lord sent one presbyter to Varvara, who disguised himself as a merchant, taught her the basics of Christianity and baptized her. At this time, Diascor left, ordering the construction of a bathhouse with two windows, one window in honor of the gods of the sea, and the other in honor of the gods of the land, but Saint Barbara demanded that the builders make three windows (in honor of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ). Roman baths are the same Turkish baths, the Turks adopted them from the Romans, this is a huge structure with a pool in which Varvara inscribed a Cross on marble, the marble miraculously softened, and the Cross remained. When Diaskor arrived, he began to ask Varvara why there were three windows in the bathhouse and a cross sign in the pool? She, like a good daughter, wanted her father to convert to Christianity.
If we have love for anyone, we should strive for that person to become a Christian. If a wife says that she will not say anything to her husband about Christianity, then she hates him; if a guy says that he loves his girlfriend so much that he will take her as his wife, even if she is not baptized, then he does not love her at all. Because after death they are doomed to eternal separation, since all the unbaptized go after death to hell, where a meeting is impossible not only between the baptized and the unbaptized, but even between the unbaptized. Varvara tried to convert her father to Christianity, but in a rage he rushed at her like a beast to kill her because she had become a Christian.
We see the words of the Lord come true: “Do not think that I came to bring peace to earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, for I came to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies are his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”(Matthew 10:34-37).
Christ, according to the words of Simeon the God-Receiver, became the Sign of Scandal, which separated Barbara from her father. Now very often people move away from God because they do not want to make a choice. They want to combine both, but it is good to combine both when they go towards the same goal, and when family relationships are in conflict, then you need to choose God. And Varvara chose God, she fled from her father, who grabbed a sword to kill her. Saint Barbara was miraculously hidden by the mountain, but later the shepherds gave her away. The father dragged his daughter to the judge, where she was tortured, and then the father cut off her head with his own hands. And this is no coincidence. A person who has rejected God very quickly slides into hatred of Him, because he knows what evil he has done, and in order to justify himself, he tries to erase from the face of the earth all traces of God. Before her death, Varvara asked God that everyone who turned to her in prayer would be spared from sudden death. And her father received reward from the Lord and was burned by lightning immediately after the execution.
We must understand this terrible moment for ourselves. The Lord clearly predicted that there would be division between people, which is what is happening, and it cannot be avoided, because now there is a judgment, which is that the Light has come into the world.
“This is the judgment, that light has come into the world; But people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”(John 3:19). “There was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him.”(John 1, 9-10).
We must accept this division, understand that it exists and it is inevitable. God created us with freedom of choice, and people make those choices. We can push people to make the right choice while they are alive, push them with prayer, unmitigated testimony of truth, advice, but the final choice is made only by the person himself. We must certainly remain in Divine love for all people, but we must remember that all people will be divided into unimaginably beautiful and unimaginably terrible - there is no third option.
This is the will of God, who, even before the beginning of the universe, decided to create a society of people and angels who have free will and will freely love Him (for His own sake, and not for the sake of His gifts). And He, having given this freedom, took the risk that some people and angels would just as freely reject Him, hating Him, contrary to common sense, contrary to logic. God planned this before the beginning of time, and He knew it would happen, and we must accept it. This is the deep meaning of a person - he can choose. We need to look after ourselves so as not to fall away from God, and to love Him as Varvara loved.
With the instrument of the Cross we can break free from the snares of this world that the devil has scattered. We can achieve freedom only when we love God for His own sake. The Lord expects us to strive for Him. Without choice, love is impossible. How can you love by force? And for our neighbors who have not yet fully completed their choice, we will pray, we will call on the love of the Heavenly Father, so that it breaks the proud stubbornness.
Then we will pass through the gates of death and resurrection, then we will see a burning world, the strongest, unshakable Kingdom of God, which will stand on the ruins of this Universe - the Kingdom of God's Love, into which will enter those who have loved not something from God, but God Himself. May God help us in this through the prayers of Saint Barbara!
God bless you!
On December 17, 2011, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, the Primate of the Russian Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. At the end of the service, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed those gathered with a Primate’s word.
Your Eminences and Graces! Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!
I cordially congratulate you all on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara. Today you heard the story of her life - a touching and amazing story. The strength of the Church lies in the fact that the Church brings these stories, these stories into living contact with modern times, because for us the life of a saint is not just a story about the life of a man who reposed in the Lord long, long ago. In the Church, the lives of the saints are a constantly living example to which every believer orients himself.
The power of these hagiographical stories is that they force us to apply events in the life of a particular saint to ourselves. Sometimes we are painfully faced with the question: Could we do it? What would we do? Would we have enough patience and courage, like those martyrs and martyrs, saints, saints, whose names the Church preserves - all those who adorned the church horizon with the brightest light of the stars, under which each of these saints dwells?
The Holy Great Martyr Barbara, a young girl, turned out to be capable of suffering and death for the sake of truth, for the sake of truth, which was the highest value for her, and accepting them at the hands of her own father, for whom her truth was not the truth. But the Church testifies to us, through the feat of Saint Barbara, that it was her truth that was God’s truth, and not human truth with a small letter. After all, her father also went through some kind of suffering - it was no joy for him to oppress his own daughter, whom he loved! So to what degree of madness did you have to go in the name of your little human truth in order to raise your hand against your daughter, your beloved daughter! And Varvara, remaining faithful to the truth of God, courageously accepted torment in the name of the highest value - to keep the faith, to have hope of salvation.
All human history is filled with the struggle for truth. In modern times, there are exactly as many of these truths as there are human heads. Everyone has their own truth, and this fragmentation of the truth, this atomization of society today is also enshrined in the political system, which encourages the division of people into different political parties, encourages different points of view: everyone has their own truth, their own human, with a small T, truth.
But we know what a bloodbath, what a bloody mess the life of our ancestors was turned into in the 20th century, when, in the struggle for these small human truths, the father rebelled against the children and the children against the father; when friendship and love were destroyed; when blood flowed like a river, and people, maddened by this blood, tried with all their might, in spite of everything, to affirm their small, human, let’s face it, insignificant truth! Yes, maybe there was no truth, but only pride and the desire for power! And millions of human lives were ruined, and a great country fell apart, and if we list all our sorrows suffered in the 20th century in the name of those very human truths, there will not be enough time.
The example of the holy martyr Barbara teaches us that life can and should be given only for the truth of God. And this truth of God is refracted in categories that are close and understandable to us. This is the life of our family and friends. When a mother gives her life for her children, this is God’s truth. When adult children share their last in order to support the life of their parents, this is God’s truth. When an unarmed and even weak person rises in a subway car to protect a girl from the attacks of nasty and nasty people, and then ends up in intensive care, this is God’s truth. And you don’t need to have any political programs to feel this God’s truth in your heart where your conscience reproaches you: if you don’t do it, then you are going against God’s truth.
Today, the mass mood of people is determined not by God’s truth, but by information technology. They are used by everyone who defends their human truth. We know what it is getting to in some countries where blood is being shed again. How important it is that we, the heirs of great Russia, who have gone through the terrible trials of the 20th century, are today able to absorb the lessons of the past and not repeat the mistakes of our fathers that they made on the eve of 1917, not to repeat the mistakes of those who radically changed their lives in the 90s our people, do not repeat other mistakes! What else needs to be done and how loudly should we say it in order to stop our people from actions that can destroy people’s lives, and with them God’s truth?
How can we, modern people, behave in conditions when so many forces are acting to tilt us in one direction or another? We are offered various kinds of evidence that one side or the other is right. We are told: “if you go this way, you will be happy, and if you go this way, you will be unhappy.” But wasn’t that what they told us on the eve of the bloody revolution of 1917? Wasn't that what they said throughout the 20th century? And after all, they gave in, and millions of people went somewhere against their will - only because someone associated their happiness with this choice.
Evil thoughts come from the human heart(see Matt. 15:19) - the same as good thoughts. And until we raise a person who is able to resist temptations, we will never gain political stability, peace, tranquility, or human solidarity. That is why today the example of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, who boldly gave her life for the truth of God, is so important for us. Such examples teach us that we need to give ourselves only for those goals and values that reflect God’s truth, and love for neighbors, and solidarity, and care for the Fatherland, and the preservation of peace, and the creation of life on the basis of justice. All this is not directly God’s commandment, but is covered by God’s law, which calls us to love one another.
We will never get out of crises until we change people. The Church has been talking about this for the past 25 years so loudly that it is impossible to speak louder. And there is no need to ooh and ahh when suddenly our society is erupting into new conflicts - not only peaceful ones, but, as we know, also bloody ones. There is no need to complain about the incorrect conduct of affairs in the state, when it is from the human heart that evil thoughts come, which are realized in corruption, in crime, in the callous attitude of officials, in the highest degree of conflict and competition in relations between people. And everyone is involved in this whirlwind of untruth - the great and the weak, the strong and the weak. There cannot be a just order of life without the order of the human soul. Let's remember this as the greatest axiom.
And when, even in moments that are difficult for the life of the Fatherland, we hear attacks on the Church, which is the only one speaking about this today, then, therefore, we are dealing with enemies who want to destroy the life of the people and finally destroy us all. And today I appeal to the shepherds: boldly testify to the truth of God, go even where they do not listen to you, find the right words, turn to people, ring the alarm bell. Otherwise, we will destroy our country again, and not only our country.
Any indifference, especially among young people, to the truth of God is a terrible sign of suicide. Where there is no God's truth, there is jungle, there is unconsciousness, there is manipulation, there is loss of life orientation, and, ultimately, there is death. But we already went through all this in the bloody 20th century.
It is probably no coincidence - nothing happens by chance with God - that on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces were created. These troops are called upon to protect the highest value - the value of our life together as one people. Not bureaucratic values, not political structures, but the life of the people, the life of the Fatherland. We believe that the holy great martyr, who herself gave her life for the highest values, prays today for those who stand in defense of our Fatherland, preserving the ability of our people to have an independent existence within the framework of the historical Fatherland.
Both in foreign countries and in Russia, the Holy Great Martyr Barbara is also the patroness of miners and the mining industry. Probably, mining work is one of the hardest and most risky, but the well-being of people depends on it. Of course, everyone receives money for their work, but with what money can one measure the enormous risks when a miner descends into a mine, especially knowing that many of his loved ones, relatives, and acquaintances have died! Probably, he is driven not only by the desire to earn money, but also by an irresistible desire to do what he is called to do, to fulfill his duty. And the Holy Great Martyr Barbara is the patroness of all miners, all those who work in the mining industry, on the success of which, as we know, the well-being of each of us largely depends.
I would like to warmly welcome the representatives of the Strategic Missile Forces present here, teaching and studying at the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces named after Peter the Great, as well as representatives of the mining institutes of Yekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and all those who work in this area. Let your work become an example for many in our country - how to risk your life to carry out your calling, if this calling helps others to live and enjoy life.
May God's blessing through the prayers of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara remain over our strategic rocket scientists, over our mining industrialists and miners, over our entire country. Let her example help us to always fight for eternal, unchanging truths and in this struggle to grow to such a state of freedom that no petty personality will be able to manipulate our consciousness and radically change the course of the history of our Fatherland. May the Lord show mercy to Russia and to all of historical Rus'. Amen.
Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'
Saint Barbara is our intercessor in Heaven. Her life is an example of the true faith for all Christians, a righteous and shameless death. Orthodox believers honor the saints as intercessors in Heaven, prayer books before God and an example of life in Christ; we turn to the saints in our prayers. Many, like the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, endured suffering and martyrdom for their faith. You can often find articles about people praying to Saint Barbara for salvation from sudden death, from unexpected disasters, despondency, and for the healing of children. Saint Barbara is often invoked by those whose loved ones are in danger, especially if this danger depends on someone’s evil will.
In fact, the Church considers it a ritual to pray to saints on certain occasions, and you can pray to Saint Barbara to help you get closer to a life of holiness and love for God. Read in our material the life of Saint Barbara, who was famous for her wisdom and beauty, accepted suffering and death for Christ at the hands of idolaters.
The Holy Great Martyr Barbara lived and suffered under Emperor Maximian (305-311). Read the article for details about the life, icons and prayers to the saint!
Holy Great Martyr Barbara: Life
Holy Great Martyr Barbara
Barbara's father, the pagan Dioscorus, was a rich and noble man in the city of Iliopolis in Phoenicia. Having become a widower at an early age, he concentrated all the strength of his spiritual affection on his only daughter.
Seeing the extraordinary beauty of Barbara, Dioscorus decided to raise her, hiding her from prying eyes. For this, he built a tower, where, besides Varvara, only her pagan teachers stayed. From the tower there was a view of the world of God above and below. During the day one could look at wooded mountains, at fast-flowing rivers, at plains covered with a colorful carpet of flowers; at night, the consonant and majestic chorus of luminaries presented a spectacle of inexpressible beauty.
Soon the girl began to ask herself the question about the Reason and Creator of such a harmonious and beautiful world. Gradually, she became stronger in the idea that the soulless idols - the creation of human hands, which her father and teachers worship, could not so wisely and magnificently arrange the world around her. The desire to know the true God so captured Varvara’s soul that she decided to devote her life to this and spend it in virginity.
And the fame of her beauty spread in the city, and many sought her hand in marriage, but she, despite her father’s gentle entreaties, refused the marriage. Varvara warned her father that his persistence could end tragically and separate them forever. Dioscorus decided that his daughter’s character had changed from her secluded life. He allowed her to leave the tower and gave her complete freedom in choosing friends and acquaintances. The girl met young confessors of the faith of Christ in the city, and they revealed to her the teachings about the Creator of the world, about the Trinity, about the Divine Logos. After some time, by the Providence of God, a priest came to Iliopol from Alexandria under the guise of a merchant. He performed the sacrament of Baptism over Varvara.
At that time, a luxurious bathhouse was being built at the house of Dioscorus. By order of the owner, the workers were preparing to make two windows on the south side. But Varvara, taking advantage of her father’s absence, begged them to make a third window, in the image of the Trinity Light. Above the entrance to the bath, Varvara drew a cross, which was firmly imprinted on the stone. On the stone steps of the bathhouse there was a trace of her foot, from which a spring gushed out, which later revealed great healing power, which Simeon Metaphrastus, describing the suffering of the holy martyr, compares with the life-giving power of the streams of the Jordan and the spring of Siloam.
When Dioscorus returned and expressed dissatisfaction with the violation of the construction plan, the daughter told him about the Triune God she had known, 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 strike her. The girl ran from her father, and he rushed after her. Their path was blocked by a mountain, which parted and hid the saint in a chasm. On the other side of the chasm there was an exit to the top. Saint Barbara managed to hide in a cave on the opposite slope of the mountain. After a long and unsuccessful search for his daughter, Dioscorus saw two shepherds on the mountain. One of them showed him the cave where the saint was hiding. Dioscorus severely beat his daughter, and then took her into custody and starved her for a long time. Finally, he betrayed her to the ruler of the city, Martian. Saint Barbara was cruelly tortured: she was scourged with ox sinews, and her wounds were rubbed with hair shirt. At night in prison, the Savior Himself appeared to the holy virgin, fervently praying to her Heavenly Bridegroom, and healed her wounds. Then the saint was subjected to new, even more cruel tortures.
Among the crowd standing near the place of torture of the martyr was a resident of Iliopolis, Christian Juliana. Her heart was filled with sympathy for the voluntary martyrdom of a beautiful and noble girl. Juliana also wished to suffer for Christ. She began to loudly accuse her tormentors. She was grabbed. The holy martyrs were tortured for a very long time: they tormented their bodies with hooks, cut off their nipples, and led them naked around the city with mockery and beatings. Through the prayers of Saint Barbara, the Lord sent an Angel who covered the nakedness of the holy martyrs with luminous clothing. Saints Barbara and Juliana, strong confessors of the faith of Christ, were beheaded. Saint Barbara was executed by Dioscorus himself. God's retribution was not slow to befall both tormentors, Martian and Dioscorus: they were burned by lightning.
In the VI century. the relics of the holy great martyr were transferred to Constantinople. In the 12th century. the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnenos (1081-1118), Princess Varvara, marrying the Russian prince Mikhail Izyaslavich, transported them to Kyiv. They still rest in the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral.
Sermon by Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara
On knowing God through looking at nature
The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands.(Ps. 18:2). Lord our God! how majestic is Your name throughout the whole earth! Your glory extends above the heavens! When I look at Your heavens - the work of Your fingers, at the moon and the stars that You have set, what is man that You remember him, and the son of man that You visit him?(Ps. 8:2, 4-5) - thus, contemplating the beauty of the universe, the holy psalmist David glorified God. In the same way, through considering the beauty of created nature, the holy, all-praised, long-suffering Great Martyr Barbara came to the knowledge of God, whose memory, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, is celebrated today by the Holy Church.
Saint Barbara suffered in the 4th century, during the reign of the wicked emperor Maximian. She was born and raised in a family of noble and wealthy parents, according to the pagan faith, in the city of Iliopolis, Phoenician. While still a baby, she lost her mother, and her upbringing was entirely in the hands of her father, Dioscorus, a zealous idolater. He tried to instill the same faith in the pagan gods in his daughter. Saint Barbara had extraordinary physical beauty, which amazed many. Therefore, in order to protect his daughter from bad influences and bad company, Dioscorus built for her a separate tower with all the amenities and various chambers and placed her there to live, so that she would not see any temptation and temptation. Being in solitude and away from all entertainment, Varvara carefully looked at the nature around her and fell in love with reflecting on its wondrous phenomena. From the height of her dwelling, Saint Barbara looked at the countless sparkling stars burning in the vault of heaven at night, and during the day - at the distant blue mountains, at the dark dense forests, at the green meadows, at the fast flowing rivers and streams - she looked at this and thought.
Her gaze was especially captivated in the spring, when she saw how the trees and gardens were covered with a beautiful green cover, the meadows were dressed with greenery and flowers, the air was filled with the singing of heavenly birds. “It cannot be,” she thought, “that this beautiful world could happen by itself or by chance, without the participation of reason. It cannot be that the gods whom we worship created it: they themselves were made by human hands from gold and silver.” Thinking like this, she came to believe that there is some kind of Almighty Intelligent Being who created this beautiful intelligent world, that there is an Invisible God.
And one day, when she was immersed in thoughts about the creation of the universe, the grace of God touched her pure heart and the Lord illuminated her inquisitive mind with His light - and she understood the Living True God, and from that time nothing occupied her anymore except the thought of Him . Meanwhile, many rich suitors heard about her beauty and began vying to woo her, and her father, Dioscorus, rejoiced that his daughter would soon get married. However, when he announced this to her, Saint Barbara categorically refused marriage, saying that she wanted to spend her whole life as a maiden. The father was perplexed by this answer to his daughter. He decided that he was to blame for this, imprisoning her in a secluded castle, which is why she wants to continue to live in solitude. Therefore, he allowed his daughter to go freely wherever she wanted and to communicate freely with all young men in the hope that she would change her thoughts. But this freedom served only for her spiritual benefit: God’s Providence arranged everything for her good and eternal salvation. At that time, she met many girls, secret Christians, who told her about Christ the Savior, about how through His suffering the whole world was saved. And her immaculate heart rejoiced with inexpressible joy upon hearing the gospel of the true God.
She expressed a desire to receive Baptism, which, by God’s grace, soon took place. The father left somewhere in a distant country, and a priest who arrived in Iliopolis from Alexandria under the guise of a merchant taught the holy maiden the secrets of the Christian faith and baptized her. Having received greater grace, Saint Barbara was filled with even greater love for the Lord Jesus Christ and thought of nothing else but Him. When her father arrived and found that his daughter worshiped the Crucified One and believed in Him, he was filled with unspeakable rage and wanted to kill her with his own sword, but flight and the help of God saved Saint Barbara from his hands that time. Then her father handed her over to the judge, accusing her of worshiping Christ: at that time a terrible persecution was instituted against Christians, and for the mere name of a Christian they were subjected to inhuman torment and torture.
The judge, after various admonitions and threats, seeing that the saint unshakably professed the Christian faith, subjected her to severe torture. Naked, she was mercilessly scourged, so that the ground was stained with the girl’s blood. After this, the executioners began to rub the fresh wounds with hair tissue, which caused incredible pain to the sufferer. Then she was thrown into prison, where she, exhausted and wounded, began to ask the Lord for consolation and help. And there, in prison, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Barbara, healed her of all her wounds and strengthened her in patience for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
After this, the saint was taken to torture again: they hung her on a tree and whittled her body with iron hooks, beat her on the head with iron hammers, and then cut off her breasts and then led her naked throughout the city. The last torture was the most difficult for the holy and chaste girl. She asked the Lord to protect her from the gaze of curious spectators, and the Lord sent His Angel, who immediately covered her nakedness with light-like clothing. After all this torment, the saint was condemned to be beheading with a sword, and this sentence was carried out by her own murderer father, who personally cut off his daughter’s head. This is how the holy Great Martyr Barbara ended her suffering feat for Christ.
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, from the biography of this great saint, one phenomenon in her spiritual life is especially edifying for us, namely, that she came to know God through viewing nature. She was raised in a pagan faith, no one taught her from childhood to believe in the true God, but through observation of nature she herself came to know Him.
And just as Saint Barbara came to know God through nature, so through looking at God’s creation each of us can come to know God.
Traces of God’s omnipotence and His ever-present power are imprinted on everything around us. Just as the footprint of man is clearly imprinted on the snow, so the imprint of God is clearly imprinted on all creation. Every wildflower, every blade of grass speaks of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God. Look, dear ones, at any blade of grass - and you will see that the wisdom of God is in everything. The blade of grass is attached to the ground and cannot move, but it finds everything it needs in the soil itself, where its roots are nourished; With its leaves it breathes clean air and thus lives and exists. Who created it, who waters it with blessed rain, who nourishes it with the pure breath of air, who gives the flower its fragrance and color? How can a rose extract from the black earth its bright pink color, or a lily its brilliant whiteness? No artist, no scientist, no matter how skilled, can create such a fragrant flower. This is all the work of almighty God.
Next, let's look at the animals. They are born small and weak, unable to exist independently, but the Lord inspired mothers to take care of their children, so that the mother does not know peace until she raises her baby. Thus, traces of God’s care for His creation are visible in everything.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us look more often at the beautiful world around us and through it come to know God and all that is good. Nature is the book of God, not written, but created, which every person, both literate and illiterate, can read, and always revere the Creator of the Universe. Whether the sun rises, whether the sky is dotted with bright stars, whether thunder rumbles, whether rain falls - bow before the greatness of God and give praise to the Almighty. Do the same when you look at the beauty of the world around you.
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, the holy Great Martyr Barbara, when she was going to her death, she asked the Lord for the gift of saving from illness and sudden death all who would remember her and her suffering. Let us pray to her today with all our hearts, that she, having looked upon all those gathered in this temple on the day of her memory, will save us from sudden death, so that, walking the path of repentance and correction, we may be worthy of future eternal life. Amen.
Holy Great Martyr Barbara
Sermon
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, honorable fathers! We cordially congratulate you on our Patronal Feast, the Day of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, in whose honor there is a chapel in our church, and a particle of her venerable relics rests by the Grace of God in our holy church.
The Holy Great Martyr Barbara lived in the 4th century, was born and raised in a noble pagan family and knew nothing about the true God, about spiritual life and the immortality of the soul, about faith in Christ. By God's Providence, Varvara's mother died when the child was 4 years old. And the widowed father concentrated all his love on his daughter. When Varvara grew up and became beautiful, her father locked her up in a high castle. Often looking from the height of the tower at the sky, observing the beauty of the stars, the moon and the sun, she thought about where this beautiful world, organized according to certain laws, came from. She thought: “If there were no Creator, then who would direct this world along a reasonable path of existence?” And so Varvara learned from creation to know the Creator. One day, disguised as a merchant, a priest arrived in their city, who revealed to her the secrets of the holy faith and guided her on the path of salvation.
The faith of the holy virgin Barbara was not accepted by her closest person, her own father Dioscorus. And the words of the Holy Scripture were fulfilled: “A man’s enemies are his own household.” Because where the truth comes, there it exposes lies, exposes injustice, exposes sin. And then a person, choosing the path of life, unwittingly comes into some kind of contradiction with the world, living, as the Apostle Paul said, in sin. So no amount of persuasion from Varvara led her father to faith; on the contrary, her father himself betrayed her to cruel torture. And we know that she endured a lot: incredible torture, severe suffering for Christ. Therefore, our Holy Orthodox Church named her a great martyr. The honorable remains of the holy great martyr, after she suffered torment, were transferred to the city of Constantinople, and in the 11th century - to Holy Rus', to the city of Kyiv, where they rest to this day in the Cathedral of St. Prince Vladimir.
The Holy Great Martyr Barbara, before her suffering, prayed to the Lord that every person who would call on her name in his prayers would be delivered from sudden death. What grace was requested by the Great Martyr Barbara! How we all need this. In our life everything is fleeting, unsteady, unsteady. Therefore, our only hope is in God and His saints. The Lord said: “What I find you in, that is what I judge.” And the most important thing is that the Lord finds us in a clear conscience, reconciled with everyone. That is why in monasteries there is a pious custom every evening to ask the brethren and each other for forgiveness, because no one knows what the coming night has in store: today they fell asleep, but tomorrow, perhaps, they will not wake up. And the psalmist David says to us: “Let not the sun go down on your anger,” that is, we must try to make peace with everyone on this very day, before he is gone, and the page of our life turns over clean, without any burden from anything sinful in our soul and in our conscience. The Holy Great Martyr Barbara intercedes for people who are still far from the faith, so that they come to the knowledge of the truth and so that sudden death does not find them without repentance, without Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
When you and I honor the holy martyrs, each of us should not only be transported mentally to those ancient times, but each person should think to himself that the path of any Christian is the path of a martyr, either open or secret.
Nobody knows what our fate will be. But His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' said the following phrase at a meeting of the clergy of Moscow and the Moscow region: “We do not know in our troubled and difficult times how the events of our lives will unfold further, what forces will become the head of the state, but the Church under any conditions, it must stand on one thing: to bring light where there is darkness; bring truth where lies are; to bring love where there is division.”
And at the same time, we must always be prepared for what is said in the Apocalypse: the Antichrist will rule on earth for three and a half years. It is unknown whether we will live to see this time, maybe someone will join the ranks of martyrs, so we must remember now that “he who is unfaithful in a little is unfaithful in much.” If not for the Power and Grace of the Holy Spirit, no man will be able to endure torment if he ever has to suffer for Christ. Therefore, our Holy Mother Church, knowing that everything is accomplished from small things, prepares us for this throughout our entire lives. What is fasting for? So that a person can control his impulses, so that the soul is higher than the body, so that a person can control himself, and not the body controls a person. Morning and evening prayers are given by the Holy Mother of our Church, to which we must devote at least 10-15 minutes daily. Can’t we really devote some 10-15 minutes for God, for eternity, for the soul! As one of the saints said: “Praying is shedding blood.” And in fact, we find a thousand different things and excuses for ourselves just to avoid getting up to pray. And this is standing in faith, and this is where the martyrdom begins. On the New Year, each of us will also be tested as to whether he is faithful to Christ or not. There will also be a dilemma - as everyone else or as God commands. Only then there is no need to say, “where is God’s help,” “everything is falling out of hand.” Yes, because we don’t live according to God, we want it this way: both ours and yours. But this does not happen, and therefore God leads us to ensure that everyone constantly steps over selfishness, self-will, self-love, pride, and sinful desires. And so, improving not by some great deeds, but day by day, by little things, we must confirm who we are: Christ’s or not.
Holy Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina said that the Colosseum, the stadium where dozens, hundreds of early Christian martyrs were tortured and killed, was devastated, but not destroyed. “Perhaps,” he said, “you will live to see the time when it will be renewed and renewed, and rivers of the blood of Christian martyrs will flow. God grant that you have the strength and strength to endure everything that befalls you.” So loyalty to Christ must be proven every day by your actions, and not just by words.
Many people think: “Why am I the only one bearing this cross?” And it is known that grumbling has never given strength in our everyday martyrdom (illnesses, sorrows, family troubles). But faith and gratitude to God for everything always gave me strength to bear the cross in a worthy manner. As Theophan the Recluse said: “Everyone will still have to bear the cross - both believers and non-believers - but it is better to carry it in a Christian way - with gratitude and devotion to the Will of God.” And we must remember the words from the Apocalypse of John the Theologian. When he saw thousands of people, martyrs, dressed in white robes, he asked the Angel: “Tell me, who are they and where did they come from?” And he answered: “These people came here (that is, to the Kingdom of God) out of great tribulation, but they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, and for this God leads them to living springs of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more illness, no crying, no sighing, but life and endless joy.”
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Dear beloved fathers, brothers and sisters. We cordially congratulate you all on our patronal holiday, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, whose limit is in our holy church, and whose relics, by the grace of God, we also have as a consolation, as a special mercy of God and her special intercession for our church . From these shrines: from the Throne, from the relics, from the icons, flows a special, invisible Divine grace, strengthening each of us on our path in life.
May the deep prayer of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara be with you, who, according to the tradition of our holy Church, protects the holy Christian Orthodox family from sudden death. And today’s prayer expressed the faith of our holy Church: “And grant us a Christian death, painless and shameless, peaceful, to participate in the Mysteries of Christ.” Each of us will have to be born into Eternity, since there are no eternal people. And the Lord says: “What I find you in, that’s what I judge.” God did not deliver anyone from this temporary death, but He delivered us from eternal death. And it depends on us: who we will be there, in Eternity. And therefore the Church, the Holy Sacraments, confession are all the path to Eternity. Therefore, we pray to the Holy Great Martyr Barbara that our death would not be without the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. He who lives by the Church will ascend to Heaven with the Church. And what will happen to a person living in this world is unknown. Elder Ambrose of Optina said: “This world promises gold, but gives blato (i.e. swamp).” And Saint Basil the Great says: “Let us immediately, right now, do what will follow us into Eternity.” This is what all the strength of our souls should be directed towards. The great saint of God, holy righteous John of Kronstadt, worked such miracles. One servant of God, who read his life in detail, told me that one day he came to some city on the Volga and in one place, perhaps at the source of the Volga, where it is not very deep, such an incident occurred. A ship got stuck at one shallow place and could not go further because it was a dry summer. And o. John came to a patronal feast in one church. The peasants and numerous people who were near this place asked him: “Father, pray that it will rain, and the water in the Volga will rise, and ships will be able to pass along it.” Previously, since there were few railways and there were no highways yet, the main means of transportation were rivers. St. John begins to pray, and, gradually, in front of everyone, the river slowly begins to rise, and an hour later the ships that were standing in shallow water began to pass along this river. The people are horrified and with gratitude begin to glorify God and the great saint of God. And then, after some time, Fr. They ask John: “Father, how did you receive such great grace from God, thanks to what and how?” And he discovered this secret, which turns out to be very simple. He said: “I lived in the Church!” That's the whole answer. He lived by God, breathed God, served the Divine Liturgy, if he was not sick, every day. And he said that he considered the day when he did not pray at the Divine Liturgy as lost for his life. This is where great gifts come from: neither at the TV, nor at the newspaper, nor at the news, nor in the store, nor at the computer, nor while working, the grace of the Holy Spirit is acquired. These are all just means to survive. And in the Church it is life itself.
And therefore we will not exchange gold for trinkets. We will breathe the air of eternity, which is only in the temple. And through this, if not to gain such gifts, but at least to partake of this grace of God, this ever-rejoicing life, which the Lord abundantly bestows on each of us during any church prayer. He is ready to pour out His heavenly, divine, transcendent grace on us, if only the vessel of our souls would be ready to receive it.
What does it mean to be ready to accept this divine grace? Recently, by the grace of God, I spoke with the confessor of the entire Moscow Diocese, Father Valerian Krechetov. And he said about those people who partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ: “It is very difficult to make any gradation: who is worthy and who is unworthy. We are all worthy of this great grace, because all together and each individually we are unworthy of it. And, repeating the words of St. Theophan the Recluse, one can say: he who, in the depths of his soul, considers himself unworthy of the Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, does not even have hope of anything to rely on in his life, on some imaginary virtues, all-night vigils, confession, or a read-out rule. And all the same, the only thing that makes us worthy of receiving the Holy Sacraments of Christ is a complete awareness of our unworthiness. And therefore everyone is worthy - because everyone is unworthy.”
And if with such a feeling, from each Communion to Communion a Christian goes through and fulfills his life, then the Lord, for this humility, about which He said: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” likens us to God and the saints. And for the prayers of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, grant us, merciful Lord, to love the Church of Christ as the saints loved her, to be zealous for prayer and for spiritual life as the saints were zealous for it, to love and live the Gospel as it was loved and as the saints lived by it. and the now glorified holy great martyr Barbara. Through her holy prayers, may the Lord preserve our holy Orthodox Church in unshakable faith, may he support old age, may he make the young wise, may he make his family wise, may he grant the shepherds zeal for God, and may he lead us all through repentance and total love for God Almighty to an ever-rejoicing Eternity, where there will be no more crying, no sickness, no sighing, but life and endless joy. Amen.
And the Martyr Juliana (c. 306), Metropolitan Theophan of Kazan and Tatarstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Varvarinskaya Church in the city of Kazan. After reading the Gospel, the head of the Tatarstan Metropolis addressed the parishioners with a sermon.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Today we have gathered with you to honor the memory of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara.
We have just heard the Gospel (Mark 5:24-34), how a certain woman, who had been ill for many years, who had spent a lot of money on doctors, who had lost hope of healing, learned that there is Christ, who is a miracle worker, heals the sick, blind, lame. Having believed, she did not dare to directly turn to Him, to ask for healing, but she decided in her heart to at least touch the hem of His robe.
And so it happened. Obviously, there were a lot of people, but in trepidation she nevertheless touched the hem of the Savior’s robe and felt that the flow of blood had stopped. And another miracle happens: Christ suddenly turns around and asks the disciples and people: “Who touched Me?” The students are perplexed: “What are you talking about, Teacher? So many people, and You ask who touched You. It is impossible for someone not to touch Your clothes.” But Christ says: “No, I felt the power coming from Me from a certain touch.”
The woman realized that this applied to her. She falls on her face before the Savior and says, “It is I,” and receives an even greater blessing.
This Gospel is read on the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr Barbara. Let's think: why? Just because it mentions a certain woman? But what does this have to do with the great martyr?
Who was the Great Martyr Barbara? The daughter of a noble pagan, a beauty. Her father is rich and does everything to isolate her from the world. But even being locked up, having no contact with the outside world, Varvara sees the harmony of nature - mountains, forests, plains, rivers. The sky especially strikes her imagination. Seasons, days, hours, sun and moon change, stars change like lamps of the Universe. And she involuntarily comes to the idea that there is a Creator of all this. And longing settles in her heart.
The father sees that his daughter is sad, but thinks that this is only because she is young, beautiful and is attracted to the outside world. He allows her this communication in the hope that a groom worthy of her beauty and wealth will be found and she will begin to enjoy external well-being.
But this is not what the girl’s soul was looking for. God so commanded that she met Christians who told her about God, about the Holy Trinity, about Christ. The young maiden's heart burned with love. Do you remember how a certain woman, having heard about Christ, put it in her heart to touch the Savior’s clothes and was healed? It was the same here. The heart of young Varvara was kindled with love for Christ. She doesn’t need any suitors - she needs Christ, and she decided to devote her life to Him.
In those days, Christians were persecuted, and Varvara’s father was an ardent pagan, a hater of Christians. Having learned that his beloved daughter believes in Christ, convinced from her answers that everything is exactly so, the father severely beats her and throws her into prison for torture and shame. Beaten and abused, he strips her naked and leads her to be ridiculed in the village where they lived.
What is this if not purely demonic hatred? What father's heart could allow this? But Varvara, young and fragile, says: “Christ is my strength, I believe in Him, I will follow Him even to death.” And she walked, and the angels, at the command of God, who did not want the girl’s nakedness to be desecrated, invisibly covered Varvara with blessed clothing. And then - the most severe torment and, at the will of the father, death.
In our time this is especially difficult to imagine. But some 100 years ago, even less, Russia ascended to this Golgotha. New Martyrs of Kazan - how many were there? Shepherds, archpastors, and ordinary people followed Christ without fear of death, camps, or torture. They died, but did not betray Christ.
The question before us is and will always be, especially when we honor the memory of the saints: does this apply to us? how do we live? What do we show in our lives—loyalty to God or lukewarm faith? Let us ask ourselves a direct and honest question: are we, standing here, ready to go to death for Christ, for the faith? This difficult question must always be before us.
There is no such challenge for us yet, but there is another challenge - the challenge of living [in accordance with how] God, the Gospel, the commandments commands. How do we live? Are we faithful sons of God? Or, on the contrary, a little to God, and more to your will, your feelings, your vices?
Now is the time of preparation for the Nativity of Christ, but here is the New Year. How will we behave? Half-drunk, breaking the fast, sitting in front of a crazy TV? Or, remembering that fasting is underway, let’s go to church, pray, and communicate with loved ones? We will have the holiday of the Nativity of Christ, New Year according to the old style. Yes, in the old way, but Who do we want to be with, Who are we loyal to? Do we want to be “like everyone else” or a small flock, but with God? I repeat that, unfortunately, we often “give a little to God, and everything else to the demands of the world.” It doesn't happen that way. “Give me, son, your heart” (Prov. 23:26),” the fullness of the life of the heart - this is the only way to be with God.
We must read the life of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara and tell our children about her feat. There is a temple in her honor - go and pray to her, so that she will intercede for us, so that through her prayers the Lord will strengthen the faith in us with which we are ready to go to the end, not paying attention to the threats of this world.
