Great Martyr Barbara of Heliopolis

The Great Martyr Barbara was the daughter of the noble pagan Dioscorus of the city of Heliopolis. Her father, wishing to shield his beautiful daughter from outside eyes, confined her in a high tower, where in solitude she meditated on the beauty and wisdom of creation, coming through this to knowledge of the One God. Learning of a marriage being arranged for her, she was secretly baptized by a presbyter. Having ordered a bathhouse with two windows built in her house, she instructed the workmen to add a third — in honor of the Most Holy Trinity. Her enraged father, learning of her faith, tried to compel her to recant, then himself handed her over for torture to the governor Martianus. After enduring the most brutal torments together with the maiden Juliana, who was converted upon witnessing her sufferings, St. Barbara was beheaded by her own father. Tradition holds that Dioscorus was struck by lightning shortly after the execution. The Great Martyr Barbara is one of the most venerated saints both in the Orthodox East and the Catholic West; she is venerated as patroness of miners and artillerymen and a protector against sudden, unprepared death.

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