December: Day 4: Teaching 3: Holy Great Martyr Barbara

 

December: Day 4: Teaching 3:
Holy Great Martyr Barbara
 
(The Universe Teaches Us the Knowledge of God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Great Martyr Barbara, now being celebrated, was born in the Greek country of the rich and famous dignitary Dioscorus, a resident of the city of Heliopolis, at a time when Christians suffered cruel persecution from idolaters. Wishing to protect his daughter from bad company, her father settled her in a secluded tower of his house. Here her gaze was presented with a beautiful view of the surrounding places; the sunrise and sunset, the appearance of the moon and stars in the sky were visible from here in all their grandeur. Removed from all amusements, young Barbara began to look closely at nature; soon she loved to think about all the phenomena of nature. Her inquisitive mind asked: who created everything that we see in the world? Even in her youth she was told that all this was produced by the gods of her fatherland, lifeless idols. But how can they create anything when they themselves are the creation of human hands? – this is how Barbara thought and by herself came to the thought that the Creator of the universe could only be a being of the highest order, different in everything from man. Thus learning, she came to know the Lord, the Creator and Almighty, the only all-wise, all-powerful and all-good Provider of the world.

Soon the heart of the young girl was inflamed with such love for the Lord that Barbara thought only of God. When her father (Dioscorus) proposed marriage to her, she resolutely refused. Dioscorus thought that his daughter spoke thus out of her habit of solitude, and therefore decided to give her a freer way of life, surrounding her with friends for entertainment. But it turned out that Barbara had become so entrenched in thoughts about the divine that in her conversations with her friends she always spoke of the greatness of the Creator and the vanity of the pagan gods. From some of her friends – secret Christians – she heard for the first time about the Savior and His teaching. Her pure heart accepted the news of the salvation of people through the sufferings of Christ with complete faith and devotion.

Soon her father left for a distant land, and Barbara had the opportunity to learn the teachings of Christ in detail from a priest. The minister of the Church of Christ explained all her perplexities, taught her all the necessary truths of the Christian faith and performed Holy Baptism over her. Her father Dioscorus returned from a distant journey and found his daughter changed in all her words and deeds. Barbara no longer shared her father's superstitions and rejected idols: she believed in and glorified the crucified Jesus Christ, unknown to Dioscorus. When Barbara refused to return to her former errors, Dioscorus handed her over to the court, where she was subjected to excruciating torture. But suffering for the name of Christ did not shake the faith of the soul devoted to God, but only shamed the fanaticism of the torturers. Beheaded by the sword of her father, Saint Barbara ascended to the heavenly abodes to meet her heavenly Bridegroom – Christ.

II. Thus the contemplation of the beauties of the visible world led Saint Barbara to the knowledge of the Creator of the world. Thus does the contemplation of nature and every man lead to the same.

God has clearly imprinted the trace of His being, His divine properties and His eternal power on all His creation. Only do not close the eyes of the mind, and do not squint them, and you will see. As a trace left in the snow clearly shows who passed by, a man or an animal: so clearly is God's trace imprinted on creation, whether you make a general survey of it, or delve into each creature separately.

a) First, beloved brethren, make a general survey of the universe. Move away in thought from our solar system, and see how these enormous bodies rush around the sun, sometimes singly, sometimes with satellites running around them; see further how the sun itself has its own movement - is it not around its own sun? and is it not in community with many suns similar to itself? - See: does not this sun of theirs itself have its own sun, around which it moves in a host of suns similar to itself? and so on - until finally you look, if you look, to the one central sun common to all. Then stand and survey all this at once, running mentally from east to west, from north to south, from the highest point to the lowest, and you will see in this immense space, the boundaries of which even thought cannot determine, although they exist, countless in number, bodies, which, forming choirs, move in various directions, one around the other, intersecting their paths, now vertically, now at an angle, going now next to, now across, now opposite one another, and yet not interfering with each other and not disturbing each other's paths, but moving in harmonious combinations and relationships. Having seen all this, can you refrain from crying out with the prophet: "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well" (Ps. 138:14). And the angels could not refrain from exclamations of praise to the Creator of all things, when for the first time this enormous, complex, wisely constructed, motionless and lively moving machine was set in motion, as God Himself testified about them, saying to Job: "When the stars were created, all My angels praised Me with a loud voice" (Job 38:7). The Holy Prophet David also drew an overwhelming impression from such contemplation, confessing: "O Lord, our Lord! how wonderful is Your name in all the earth, for Your glory is above the heavens. When I look at the heavens, the works of your hands, the moon and the stars, which you have founded; what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?” (Ps. 8:2-4).

After this feeble outline, everyone can understand how the mind, thinking about creation, cannot help but see the essential power of God as clearly as someone clearly sees with his bodily eyes a thing before him. The first impression from contemplating the world is an irresistible consciousness and confession of the boundless omnipotence of God, by which He created such an immense world with a single word, and holds it by His single will, and by a single nod of His will leads it to its predestined end.

b) Look into creation piece by piece, and you will see clearly imprinted everywhere the incomprehensible wisdom of God and boundless goodness: wisdom in the arrangement of every creature, goodness in surrounding it with everything necessary for well-being. And there is no man who would not see and confess this. Take a snowflake, take a flower, take an insect's wing, take an eye - and begin to understand how it is all arranged, and you will be amazed at the wisdom of this arrangement. Look further: a blade of grass is attached to the ground and cannot move, but it finds everything it needs with its roots in the earth and leaves in the air and lives. A small insect is born on a leaf, and dies on a leaf, but right there it finds everything it needs for its life. Animals are born as weak young, but their mothers are instilled with an irresistible care for them, which does not give them peace until they have raised their children. Who surrounded the creatures with such care? And what can we say about man, how much care he encounters for himself, coming from somewhere invisibly? Is not all this and the like a clear proof of the boundless goodness of God?

Thus, everywhere are visible the “invisible things of God,” i.e., His creativity, providence, truthful judgment about each thing, and dispensation of every kind. Therefore, “those who have such strict teachers and have not drawn any benefit from so many lessons are unworthy of an excuse. For the Apostle added this: 'so that they may be without excuse!' For the very deeds almost cry out that such have no justification for liberation from the evils that threaten them.”

God surrounded people with such a multitude of testimonies about Himself so that they could not fail to know Him and understand Him. If after this there are people who do not understand Him, who is to blame? No one but themselves, God did everything for this; they did not understand through their own fault, and they cannot present anything in justification of themselves.

III. Christian brethren! Reflect more often on the greatness of God, strive more to establish in yourself reverence for the Ruler of the universe. Whether the sun rises, whether the sky is strewn with bright stars, whether thunder rumbles, whether rain pours down, bow down before the greatness of God and give praise to the Almighty. Looking at the greatness and beauty of creation, raise your thoughts to the great, all-wise and all-good Creator of them, fall down before Him in reverent tenderness and glorify Him. Thinking about the greatness of the Lord, be afraid to offend Him with unworthy deeds.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.