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 Barbara, name day 4 December (17 December on the Old Calendar). St Matthew the Apostle & Guardian Angel, $69 (normal price $99).
Name day 4 December (17 December on the Old Calendar)
Varvara is another spelling of Barbara.
St Barbara was the only daughter of Dioscorus, a wealthy pagan of Heliopolis in Syria, who shut her away in a tower to guard her beauty. Gazing on the heavens, she came to know the one Creator, and was secretly baptized by a priest who came disguised as a merchant.
The faithful ask St Barbara for
a Christian end to our life, painless, unashamed and peaceful
to receive the Holy Mysteries (Communion) before death
strength at the hour of death through the Body and Blood of Christ
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.
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.
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.
St Matthew the Apostle & Guardian Angel Folding DiptychAlso prayed to for the dying and a good death
St Nicholas the Wonderworker & Guardian Angel Folding DiptychAlso prayed to for firefighters and first responders
Christ (Zvenigorod Saviour) & Vladimir Mother of God Folding DiptychChrist and the Mother of God keep every Christian home
