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[[Image:BarbaraHeliopolisClassic.jpg|right|thumbnail|Saint Barbara of Heliopolis]][[Image:St Barbara of Heliopolis.jpg|right|thumbnail|Saint Barbara of Heliopolis]]The holy and glorious Great-martyr '''Barbara of Heliopolis'''<ref>Heliopolis is today known as ''Baalbek''. It was a well known Syrian city located between Lebanon and the mountain ranges of anti-Lebanon. In 1924, it became part of Lebanon and was named Baalbek.</ref> lived during the reign of the impious tyrant Mazimian Maximian (286-305). Her [[feast]] day is commemorated by the church [[December 4]].
==History==
Seeing Barbara's extraordinary beauty, Dioscorus decided to hide her from the eyes of strangers. Therefore, he built a tower for Barbara, where only her pagan teachers were allowed to see her. From the tower there was a view of hills stretching into the distance. By day she was able to gaze upon the wooded hills, the swiftly flowing rivers, and the meadows covered with a mottled blanket of flowers; by night the harmonious and majestic vault of the heavens twinkled and provided a spectacle of inexpressible beauty. Soon the virgin began to ask herself questions about the First Cause and Creator of so harmonious and splendid a world.
Gradually, she became convinced that the souless soulless idols were merely the work of human hands. Although her father and teachers offered them worship, she realized that the idols could not have made the surrounding world. The desire to know the true God so consumed her soul that Barbara decided to devote all her life to this goal, and to spend her life in virginity.
The fame of her beauty spread throughout the city, and many sought her hand in marriage. But despite the entreaties of her father, she refused all of them. Barbara warned her father that his persistence might end tragically and separate them forever. Dioscorus decided that the temperament of his daughter had been affected by her life of seclusion. He therefore permitted her to leave the tower and gave her full freedom in her choice of friends and acquaintances. Thus Barbara met young Christian maidens in the city, and they taught her about the Creator of the world, about the Trinity, and about the Divine Logos. Through the Providence of God, a [[priest]] arrived in Heliopolis from Alexandria disguised as a merchant. After instructing her in the mysteries of the Christian Faith, he [[baptism|baptized]] Barbara, then returned to his own country.
[[el:Βαρβάρα, Αγία]]
[[pt:Bárbara de Heliópolis]]
[[ro:Varvara din Heliopolis]]