Barbara and Juliana

The Holy Martyrs Barbara and Juliana suffered for Christ at Heliopolis in Syria, in the time of the emperor Maximian (305-311). They are commemorated on 4 December, and the Great Martyr Barbara is one of the most venerated saints of the Church.

Barbara's calling

Barbara was the only daughter of the pagan Dioscorus, a rich and renowned man who, amazed at her beauty, kept her in a tower. Watching the world from there, she began to ask who was its Maker and became convinced that idols are the work of human hands. She resolved to remain a virgin and to seek the true God. Allowed out later, she met young Christian women and a priest from Alexandria, disguised as a merchant, who baptized her.

The bathhouse and her father's wrath

While a bathhouse was being built at Dioscorus's house, Barbara, in her father's absence, asked for a third window, to make a threefold light. On one wall she traced a cross with her finger, which was imprinted in the marble, and her footprints remained on the steps. The water of the bath healed. Dioscorus, angry that his plan had been changed, took a sword to strike her. Barbara fled, a hill opened and hid her, but two shepherds showed her father the cave. He beat her mercilessly and handed her to the prefect Martianus.

The martyrdom

Beaten with rawhide, Barbara was healed at night by the Saviour. In the watching crowd was Juliana, a Christian, who began to denounce the torturers aloud and was seized. Their bodies were torn with hooks, they were led naked through the city, but an angel covered them with a shining robe. They were beheaded, Barbara by her own father. Dioscorus and Martianus were struck by lightning.

Veneration

In the sixth century Barbara's relics came to Constantinople, and six hundred years later were taken to Kiev by Barbara, daughter of the emperor Alexios Komnenos and wife of Prince Michael Izyaslavich (11 July). They rest in Saint Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev, where her Akathist is read each Tuesday. It is told that the Saviour promised her that those who remember her will be preserved from sudden death and will not depart without the Holy Mysteries.