How to choose the church names of boys for the Holy Gifts

Before the 1917 revolution, it was customary in Russia to refer to newborn children as the name given on the day of their birth in a special church book - The Svyattsy. The priests are published by the Orthodox Church and are a list of names of saints, canonized for the entire history of the church. The final edition of the Saints does not exist, but only the names of the canonized saints can be included in this book. Nowadays, the Saints can be purchased in the church, they can also be found on many sites on the Internet.

What are the Chapters

The names of the boys according to the Saints are selected according to the birthday of the child. For each day there is usually one or (more often) several church names. As a rule, these are names that are firmly included in Russian everyday life. At one time, through the church, many names of Greek origin, such as Alexander, Andrey, Makar, Hilarion, entered the society. Perhaps, at a certain time, they even formed the bulk of the names, along with "biblical" names of Jewish origin (Isaiah, Daniel, Mary, David, Moses, Solomon, etc.). Thanks to all the same church traditions, the names of Roman (Latin) origin, such as Adrian, Vitaliy, Valeriy, Concordia, Matrona, Julius and others, entered the Russian language. In the Svyattsy you can find the church names of boys of primordial Slavic origin. These are names with two roots (ending with "Slav"): Yaroslav, Vyacheslav, Stanislav. In addition, such names as Vsevolod, Bogdan, Lyudmila, Nadezhda, Vladimir are also ancient Slavic names. In a word, the Saints offer a wide enough choice of names for your baby.

If on this date very rare names have fallen out

But what if you do not like church names of boys recorded in the Holy Fathers for your child's birthday? For example, the baby was born on April 7, and the three proposed names - Gabriel, Jacob, Ivan, and you want to give your child a more modern name. Well, according to the church tradition, you can also use the names of boys, according to the church calendar, on the 8th and 40th day of the baby's birthday. Those. In our example, more names are added: Makar (April 14) and Arseniy and Pimen (May 21). According to church laws, on the 8th day, the rank of the name is performed, and on the 40th child are baptized, which is why these days are chosen as alternative.

At baptism a person gets a new name

However, many people in modern Russian society at one time received no church names. Boys were often called names that are not in the Svyattsy, such as Velizar, Robert, Andron, Stanislav, Anton (in the church books there is no name, there is only Antony). If these people were not baptized as children and they want to be baptized, the Orthodox priest will choose a name for them, which is similar in meaning, sounding or close to the date of birth of a person. So, Yuri, most likely, will be given the name George (from which the name Yuri came ); Anton, probably, will be called Antony. A new name given at baptism can be used when visiting the church in confession and in communion, the church name is also indicated in the notes on health and repose.

An ancient tradition

The church names of the boys testify to their celestial defenders, the guardian angels. It is believed that the saint, whose name his child named his parents at birth, will accompany and protect this child throughout his life. Therefore, perhaps it is not just a tribute to fashion, but a long tradition, having ancient roots and deep significance.