Patron saints by name
Find your patron saint by name
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 Mark the Apostle, name day 25 April, or after Pascha when it falls before it (8 May on the Old Calendar). St Mark the Apostle & Guardian Angel, $69 (normal price $99).
Your name’s saint
St Mark the Apostle
Άγιος Μάρκος ο Απόστολος και Ευαγγελιστής · Апостол и евангелист Марк
Name day 25 April, or after Pascha when it falls before it (8 May on the Old Calendar)
St Mark, also called John Mark, was born in Jerusalem. His mother Mary's house near Gethsemane became a gathering place for the apostles. He was a nephew of Barnabas and a close companion of Peter and Paul. He traveled with them to Cyprus and Rome, and St Peter called him "my son."
The faithful ask St Mark for
- forgiveness of sins
- help and strength in our weaknesses
- deliverance from every sorrow, sin and trouble
- his strong intercession and protection
- remembrance of our heavenly calling and a Christian end of life
Other saints named Mark
- St Mark: 19 January (1 February on the Old Calendar)
- Apostle Mark of the Seventy: 27 September (10 October on the Old Calendar)
- Apostle Mark of the Seventy: 30 October (12 November 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.
Among the saints we carry
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.
Or give the saint’s folding icon on its own, $69: every saint we carry.
How name days are kept
Two calendars
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.
