Martyr Barbarus the Former Robber

The holy Martyr Barbarus, a former robber, lived in Greece and for many years was a brigand. The good Lord, who desires not the death of a sinner, filled his soul with repentance. Once, when Barbarus was sitting in a cave looking over his plunder, the grace of God shook his heart. He thought of inevitable death and of the dread judgement. Barbarus remembered all the evil he had done and fell into repentance. “The prayer of the robber crucified beside Him was pleasing to the Lord; He will save me too because of His unspeakable mercy.” He left all his treasure in the cave and went to the nearest church, told the priest everything, and begged him to hear his confession. The priest gave Barbarus a place to live in his house. In the priest’s house the former robber settled in the pigsty, ate the animals’ food, and considered himself worse than a beast. After receiving forgiveness of his sins from the priest, Saint Barbarus went into the forest and spent twelve years in unceasing prayer and weeping. At last the saint received a sign from heaven that his sins had been blotted out by the Lord. Once some merchants passed through those parts. They noticed something moving in the thick grass, thought it was a wild animal, and shot an arrow at it. When they came near, they were horrified. Before them lay a dying man. The saint begged the merchants not to grieve, but only to tell the priest what had happened. The priest who had heard Saint Barbarus’s confession and given him Holy Communion did not reach the dying man in time this time. He reverently approached the saint’s body, illumined with divine light. He buried him on the spot where he had died. Later a holy healing myrrh began to flow from the holy martyr’s tomb. The relics of Saint Barbarus rest in the monastery of Kelia in Thessaly, near the city of Larissa.