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.
Another form of your name. Ola is another spelling of Olaf. St Olaf of Norway, name day 29 July (11 August on the Old Calendar). St Olaf, King of Norway & Guardian Angel, $69 (normal price $99).
Another form of your name
St Olaf of Norway
Άγιος Όλαφ · Страстотерпец Олаф (Олав) II
Name day 29 July (11 August on the Old Calendar)
Ola is another spelling of Olaf.
St Olaf Haraldsson was born around 995 and was baptized as a young man. Returning to Norway, he became king in 1015 and spent his reign planting the Christian faith among a fiercely pagan people. He built churches, brought bishops and clergy, and gave the Church its first order in Norway.
The faithful ask St Olaf for
- the strengthening of Christian faith in one's people and homeland
- healing of the sick
- courage to stand for Christ against opposition
- a Christian end in the face of death
- the conversion and enlightenment of the North
Today, 17 October, the Church remembers St Lazarus of the Four Days; on the Old Calendar, Martyr Domnina with her daughters of Syria.
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.
