During the reign of the impious Roman Emperor Maximian, there lived in the East, near Heliopolis, a wealthy, renowned nobleman named Dioscorus, by ancestry and faith a Hellene. He had a daughter named Barbara, his only child, over whom he kept watch as the apple of his eye. The maiden was exceedingly beautiful, and no girl or woman in the country could compare with her. Thinking baseborn, common folk unworthy to behold his daughter’s fair countenance, Dioscorus built a lofty tower in which were lovely rooms. There Barbara remained, with well-bred governesses and maidservants. By that time her mother was already dead. While living in the tower, the maiden found consolation in looking out over the hills and valleys created by God, at the splendor of the heavens, and the majesty of the earth. One day, while gazing into the sky, she began to reflect on the brilliance of the sun, the moon in its course, and the luster of the stars. Suddenly she asked the governesses and servants living with her, “Who made these things?” Then, regarding the beauty of the earth, its green fields, gardens, and vineyards, the hills and streams, she asked again, “Whose hand created all this?”
“All things were made by the gods,” the women replied.
“Which gods?” asked the maiden.
The servants answered, “The gold, silver, and wooden gods that your father keeps in his palace and worships. These are the gods that made everything you see.”
Doubting the truth of this, Barbara said to herself, “The gods my father reveres were made by the hands of men: those of gold and silver by smiths, those of stone by sculptors, and the ones of wood by carvers. How can gods which have themselves been fashioned, that can neither walk nor move their hands, have created the luminous expanse of the sky and this beautiful earth?”
As she pondered on this, she gazed up into the sky by day and night, hoping to come to know the Creator through His creation. Then one night, after staring into the heavens for a long time, her soul filled with longing to know who created its wondrous beauty, expanse, and splendor, the divine light of grace suddenly shone within her, opening the eyes of her mind to know the one invisible, unfathomable God, Who made heaven and earth in His wisdom. She said to herself, “He alone is God Who was not formed by the hands of man, but is self-existent, and made all things by His hand. He alone is God Who stretched out the expanse of the heavens and sends down from on high the rays of the sun, the light of the moon, and the glow of the stars to illumine the whole world; while below He adorns the earth with various trees and flowers, and waters it with streams and springs. He alone is God Who upholds, orders, and gives life to all things, caring for everything that exists!”
In this way Barbara came to know the Creator by His creation, and in her the words of David were fulfilled: “I meditated on all Thy works, I pondered on the creations of Thy hands.” Such meditations kindled the fire of divine love in her heart, and the flame of desire for God burned fiercely in her soul by day and night. Her one thought, her one desire was to come to know as fully as possible the Creator of all things. She had no human teacher to reveal to her the mysteries of the holy faith and guide her to the path of salvation, for her father Dioscorus kept close watch to ensure that only the servants had access to her; but she had as a wise teacher and guide the Holy Spirit Himself, Who invisibly instructed her by the secret inspiration of His grace, communicating to her mind the knowledge of the truth. Like a sparrow sitting alone upon a house-top, the maiden remained in her tower, her thoughts ever turned toward heaven. Her heart was attached to nothing earthly: neither gold, nor costly pearls or jewels, nor fine apparel, nor any other sort of feminine adornment. She never considered marriage, since her mind was fixed upon the one God and she was held fast by love for Him.
~Saint Dimitri of Rostov, “The Life of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara,” in Mystagogy: The Weblog of John Sanidopoulos, (http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/12/life-of-holy-great-martyr-barbara.html).
