Is the name of the given name or day of the guardian angel?

Birthday and Name Day are different holidays in the life of one person. For believers, the day of the angel is more important, and not the calendar birthday.

Name: what is it?

In Orthodoxy this is the day in which the memory of a saint is honored, whose name was received by a person at baptism. On each day of the Orthodox calendar, Orthodox figures and martyrs are commemorated, quite often in one day they may be several. When an infant is baptized, he usually receives the name of a saint whose memory is celebrated on the day of the rite. Receiving a name at baptism, a person receives the protection of his heavenly namesake.

Sometimes the name-day is called "the day of the angel," but this is not entirely true. St. Theodore of Edessa claimed that to every man the Lord gives two angels. The guardian angel protects the ward from evil and misfortunes, helps to do good deeds and deeds. People receive a second patron after baptism - this is the holy God's servant. He intercedes before the throne of God, he prays for everyone who bears his name. St Theodore believed, as, indeed, all Orthodox Christians, that the prayers of saints will be heard more quickly than the prayers of earthly sinners.

How to identify the name of the saint

When choosing a name for baptism, the priest is guided not by the preferences of his parents or his sympathies, but by the church orthodox calendar, also called saints.

In modern saints contains more than two thousand names of saints, which the church at different times canonized. Many of them have the same names, and the days of celebration are always different, but there still are difficulties. For example, the saints John in the saints mention more than a hundred, but the patron can only be one. Therefore, the day of the name day is also one. The name-day is the only day of the year when the memory of a particular saint is commemorated.

If at the christening the child was given a name in honor of the martyr Dmitry Solunsky (celebrated on November 22 (9 according to the old style)), then only on this day will be the day of the name-day (name-day, the day of the angel).

Today, there are many names that are not indicated in the saints, in this case, when baptism is chosen the closest in sounding name. For example, Angelica - Angelina, Alice - Alexandra, Dina - Evdokia, etc. Sometimes names are chosen according to the principle of meaning. So, Svetlana at baptism can get the name Fotinia (photos (Greek.) - light).

How to find out the date of your name day

In the saints, an uninitiated person is easily confused, but it is still necessary to decide which saint is the patron. For this, it is necessary to find in the church calendar the nearest date of memory with the name of that saint, after whom he was called at baptism. A strict rule: the date of the namesday follows after the birthday.

With the holy patron is to get acquainted, read his life. If you wish to honor the saint, you need to read the appropriate prayers, the akathist, the kontakion. There is a certain ritual and rules of reverence. Sometimes priests give names in baptism, in accordance with internal church rules, and then the name in the saints and given during the rite may not coincide.

Old Russian rules of celebration

Tradition to celebrate the name day began in Russia in the XVII century. According to the old rules, namesday is a special day in a person's life, and they prepared for him with care. Baked pies, loafs on a special recipe. On the day of the celebration, the birthday boy, along with the whole family, went to the temple, where a prayer service was ordered for health before the icon of the saint, in honor of which the birthday was named, candles were put, and an icon applied.

In the evening guests gathered at a gala dinner, where the honorable place was given to the godparents. The main treat was the birthday cake, later instead of it the cake was the cake. Candles in it are not put. At the end of the holiday each guest received a gift - a pie, a roll. The birthday party himself presented his guests. If the name day was on the days of fasting, the celebration was postponed to any day after its termination.

Gifts for Name Day

The name-day is a spiritual holiday. On this day, gifts are also made, but they are different from those traditionally given for a birthday. On the name day, it is customary to present gifts that help a person turn to the non-material filling of life. The most appropriate in this approach are personal icons, Orthodox literature, accessories (vessels for holy water, beautiful candles, incense, etc.).

Now the custom of giving a "dimensional" icon is reviving. At the birth of the child, the indications of his height are taken, and then the master is ordered an icon of the same size as the height of the baby. At the same time, the future name of the god is first identified, and the icon is dedicated to that saint, after whom the baby will be named.

Servants of the church and namesday

For each priest the day when his name-day is celebrated, this is the day of his spiritual birth. Sanctification is accompanied by a certain procedure, according to which the future minister is given a new name, different from that given at the time of baptism in infancy. Therefore, a birthday for a man who has become a way of serving the Lord, and not marked. The higher the priest stands in the church hierarchy, the more strict the rules of celebration. The abbots of the temples in the day of the namesake serve the Divine Liturgy, a festive service in honor of their patron saint.

Greetings with the names of the priest can be accompanied by gifts, prayers and heartfelt wishes of long life. As a gift for the minister of the church, you can present something that will not be burdensome for the giver. It can be a piece of cloth for vestments, church utensils, icons and more meaningful gifts.

The namesake of the Patriarch is a holiday of the whole Orthodox world. On this day the head of the Orthodox Church personally serves the liturgy in the main cathedral of the country, the day of his namesake with solemn services is celebrated in all Orthodox churches. This is a great holiday for all laity and priesthood.