Every Orthodox Christian bears the name of a saint who keeps watch over them, and keeps that saint’s feast as a name day. Type a first name to find the saint, the name day on both calendars, and the icon to give.
Your name’s saint. St Anna, mother of the Mother of God, name day 25 July (7 August on the Old Calendar). Christ & Vladimir Mother of God, $69.
Your name’s saint
St Anna, mother of the Mother of God
Αγία Άννα · Праведная Анна
Name day 25 July (7 August on the Old Calendar)
The wife of Joachim, who conceived the Mother of God in her old age after long prayer, the hope of every childless couple.
The faithful ask St Anna for
the gift of a child for childless spouses
a happy conception and a safe birth
love and faithfulness in marriage
patience and trust in God in long waiting
the raising of children in faith
We don’t have an icon of St Anna, mother of the Mother of God yet.
Sts Joachim and Anna: 9 September (22 September on the Old Calendar)
In the Russian custom a person keeps the day of the saint of their name whose feast comes first after their birthday; in the Greek custom each name has one day.
Today, 16 October, the Church remembers St Longinus the Centurion; on the Old Calendar, St Dionysius the Areopagite.
The gift for a name day
Each folding icon pairs the patron saint with the Guardian Angel, printed under glass in velvet covers. The Name-Day Gift Set adds a crucifix and a prayer rope, in a gift box with a card giving the saint’s life and feast day.
Add Consecration, $49, if you wish: our priest consecrated each folding icon before it left the workshop, one by one, with holy water and the prayers of the Church.
St Nicholas, St Matthew, St Mark, St Patrick, St Edward, St Olaf and the Holy Foremother Eve, each beside the Guardian Angel, and the St John the Warrior and Guardian Angel diptych for those who serve.
The Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian Churches and the Orthodox Church in America keep the feasts on the New Calendar. The Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos keep the Old Calendar, thirteen days later. We give both dates.
One day, or the nearest saint
Greek custom keeps one name day for each name. In the Russian custom a person keeps the day of the saint of their name whose feast comes first after their birthday, so a name can have several days.
A name with no saint
A name that no saint bore keeps its name day, by Greek custom, on All Saints’ Sunday. By an old custom a patron can also be chosen among the saints of the birthday or the baptism day, and every Orthodox Christian has a Guardian Angel from baptism. Many take a saint’s name at baptism or chrismation: if they have one, type that name.
Name days and saints from the Greek name-day calendar (eortologio.net), the Russian Church’s calendar of saints (azbyka.ru) and the Orthodox Church in America’s Lives of the Saints.
Christ (Zvenigorod Saviour) & Vladimir Mother of God Folding DiptychAlso prayed to for mothers
Royal Passion-Bearers (Romanov family) & Feodorovskaya Mother of God Folding DiptychAlso prayed to for childbirth and expectant mothers
