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 Nicholas the Wonderworker, name day 6 December (19 December on the Old Calendar). St Nicholas the Wonderworker & Guardian Angel, $69.
Your name’s saint
St Nicholas the Wonderworker
Άγιος Νικόλαος ο Θαυματουργός · Святитель Николай Чудотворец
Name day 6 December (19 December on the Old Calendar)
Nikolai is another spelling of Nicholas.
St Nicholas was born in Patara in Lycia, the only son of the pious Theophanes and Nonna, who dedicated him to God. He gave away his whole inheritance to the poor, always in secret. Most famously, he threw gold through a poor man's window by night so that his three daughters could marry honorably.
The faithful ask St Nicholas for
- safe journeys and a safe return home
- the protection and well-being of children
- a good marriage for one's daughters
- a good and holy family life
- deliverance from misfortunes and illness
Also in our shop for Nicholas
Other saints named Nicholas
- St Nicholas II the Passion-Bearer: 17 July on both calendars
- the Royal Passion-Bearers: 17 July on both calendars
- St Nicholas of Japan: 3 February (16 February 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.
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.
