Healing Relics of the Great Martyr Barbara

The reliquary with the miraculous and healing relics of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr is kept in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Almaty.

The honorable relics of the Great Martyr are a gift to St. Nicholas Cathedral from Bishop Dmitry (Abashidze) of Turkestan and Tashkent, who is venerated as a saint in the schema of Anthony. He was glorified at the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on June 14, 2011. At the request of the Orthodox believers of the Turkestan Diocese, Bishop Dmitry (Abashidze) of Turkestan and Tashkent sent a request to Metropolitan Flavian (Gorodetsky) of Kyiv and Galicia (1903-1915) to transfer a relic of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr as a blessing to the Orthodox believers of Semirechye.

The honorable and healing relics of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr had been in the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery of Kyiv since 1108. The holy relics were brought to Rus by the Greek princess Barbara Komnina, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios Komnenos, who was the wife of Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich, baptized as Michael. By the blessing of Metropolitan Flavian of Kyiv, a part of the relics of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr was given to the believers of the Turkestan Diocese.

The place of residence of the holy relics became the Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Verny. Along with the relics of Saint Barbara the Great Martyr, relics of the saints of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra were also transferred.