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 Matthew the Apostle, name day 16 November (29 November on the Old Calendar). St Matthew the Apostle & Guardian Angel, $69 (normal price $99).
Your name’s saint
St Matthew the Apostle
Άγιος Ματθαίος ο Απόστολος και Ευαγγελιστής · Апостол и евангелист Матфей
Name day 16 November (29 November on the Old Calendar)
St Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector for Rome in Capernaum, a trade his countrymen despised. When Jesus said to him, "Follow Me," he left everything at once. He welcomed the Lord to his table with his fellow publicans, repaid fourfold anyone he had cheated, and gave the rest to the poor.
The faithful ask St Matthew for
- forgiveness of sins
- true repentance from the whole heart
- a change of life and a wholehearted following of Christ
- his strong intercession and protection
- the salvation of our souls
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.
