Orthodox church marks St. Barbara’s Day

The Orthodox Church marks St. Barbara’s Day (Barbaroba) today, commemorating the life and martyrdom of St. Great Martyr Barbara, who lived in the 3rd-4th centuries.

According to church tradition, Barbara was the daughter of Dioscorus, a wealthy pagan nobleman who raised her in isolation in a specially built tower to keep her away from outside influence. Despite this, Barbara encountered Christian peers and secretly converted to Christianity, receiving baptism without her father’s knowledge.

When Dioscorus learned of his daughter’s conversion, he sought her execution and handed her over to the city governor. Barbara was subjected to severe torture, and the governor ordered that she be publicly paraded through the city in humiliation. At that moment a miracle occurred- a heavenly light covered her body, shielding her from shame.

Enraged and blinded by fury, Dioscorus personally beheaded his only daughter. Church tradition holds that both Dioscorus and the city governor were punished on the same day, struck by lightning and reduced to ashes.

Before her death, St. Barbara prayed to God that all those who commemorate her martyrdom would be protected from dying without receiving Holy Communion.

In Orthodox belief, St. Barbara is especially revered as a protector of children, and Barbaroba remains one of the significant religious observances in the Georgian Orthodox calendar.