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 Paraskeva

Αγία Παρασκευή — η Μεγαλομάρτυς Παρασκευή η Ικονιεύς · Αγία Παρασκευή η Ρωμαία · Οσία Παρασκευή η Επιβατινή (η Νέα) · Великомученица Параскева Пятница (Иконийская)

Name day 28 October (10 November on the Old Calendar)

Petka is the Bulgarian and Serbian form of Paraskevi.

Greek custom keeps the name day on 26 July (8 August on the Old Calendar).

The faithful ask St Paraskeva for

a happy marriage and a good choice of husband
a good bridegroom for a young woman
peace, harmony and well-being in the home
the conception of a child and an easy birth
the health of children

We don’t have an icon of St Paraskeva yet.

Closest in our shop

Other saints named Paraskevi

St Paraskeva of Iași: 14 October (27 October 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.