Saint Barbara the Great Martyr
Great Martyr of Heliopolis
- Feast day
- December 4
- Lived
- d. c. 306
- Patronage
- Protection from sudden death; miners, artillerymen, the dying
Locked in a tower by her pagan father, Saint Barbara had a third window cut into it in honour of the Holy Trinity — and was denounced and beheaded by that same father.
Life
Barbara was the daughter of the wealthy pagan Dioscorus of Heliopolis, who shut her away to keep her from the world and from Christianity. Reasoning from the beauty of creation to a single Creator, she was secretly baptised, and while her father was away had a third window opened in the bathhouse he was building for her.
When he learned why, he dragged her before the prefect Martian, who had her tortured over days; her wounds healed each night. Dioscorus himself carried out the beheading, and was struck dead by lightning on the way home — which is why she is invoked against sudden and unprepared death.
Veneration
Because of the lightning, she became patroness of anyone working with explosives and fire — miners, gunners, engineers. Her relics are venerated in Kyiv at Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, and she is commemorated with Saint John of Damascus on December 4.
When Saint Barbara the Great Martyr is commemorated
The feast falls on December 4 on the Revised Julian (New) calendar used by most Greek, Antiochian and Romanian parishes. Parishes that keep the Julian (Old) calendar — much of the Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, and Mount Athos — celebrate it on the civil date December 17, thirteen days later. You can switch between both reckonings anywhere on this site.
See the full liturgical day for December 4, 2026
That page gives the fasting rule in force, the Epistle and Gospel appointed for the day, and every other saint commemorated alongside Saint Barbara the Great Martyr. To keep the feast, look for a parish in the USA, Canada or Australia directory, and read the Akathist hymns appointed for private prayer.
Other saints commemorated in December
- Herman of AlaskaDecember 13
- John of KronstadtDecember 20
- Lucia of SyracuseDecember 13
- Nicholas of MyraDecember 6
- Porphyrios the KafsokalyviteDecember 2
- Spyridon of TrimythousDecember 12