Greek Name Days

Greek name days honour the saints whose names people carry, and the dates fall all through the year. Outings with a host run across Greece, from mainland towns to the islands. The saints here include George, Constantine and Helena, Marina, the Archangel Michael, Catherine and Stephen. Related reading covers Greek traditions, Greek festivals and Public holidays in Greece. Day trips and longer journeys sit under Greece tours.

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What are Greek name days?

Greek name days mark the date linked with a person’s baptismal name, the name given at baptism. Baptism is the Christian rite of washing with water that welcomes a person into the church. The custom grew from the Christian calendar of saints.

Catholic and Eastern Orthodox lands have kept name days as a tradition since the Middle Ages. That era ran from the fall of Rome in the west to the fifteenth century. The church promoted feast days of saints over birthdays. Birthdays were seen as a pagan custom, one rooted in the old religions before Christianity.

Among Greek name days, María and Mários celebrate either on the Dormition or on the Presentation of Mary. The Dormition is the feast of the falling asleep, meaning the death, of the Virgin Mary. The Presentation is the feast of Mary’s entry into the Temple in Jerusalem as a young child.

Parties for Greek name days can take place at home, at a restaurant, a bar or a club. Hosts can also shift the party to the following Friday or to a weekend. When a birthday falls close to the name day, the two celebrations are best merged into one.

• Bereavement: A family can skip the party after a recent bereavement, meaning the death of someone close.
• Growing up: As a person grows up, the weight between birthday and name day can shift decisively.
• Word root: The Italian word for name day, onomastico, comes from Ancient Greek onomastikos, relating to naming.

In Greece and Cyprus, Greek name days are kept much like birthdays, with one expected difference. No birthday cake appears at a name-day party. A birthday cake is the sweet, candle-topped cake made for the yearly date of a person’s birth.

Which saint do Greek name days honour on 7 January?

Greek name days on 7 January honour John the Baptist. Eastern Orthodoxy knows him as Saint John the Forerunner. A forerunner is someone who goes ahead to prepare the way. That date is his main feast day in the Orthodox year.

Greek name days on this date honour an itinerant Jewish preacher. Itinerant describes someone who moves from town to town. John worked around the Jordan River early in the 1st century AD. A preacher is a person who gives religious talks to the public. AD counts years from the traditional birth year of Jesus Christ.

The Orthodox Church remembers John on six separate feast days through the church year. Greek name days use the January feast, which comes straight after Theophany on 6 January. Theophany marks the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. The Greek word itself means an appearing of God.

A synaxis is a liturgical assembly, or gathering for worship, in Eastern Christianity. In Constantinople, Theophany services were held in Hagia Sophia, the city’s great church. On the next day, a synaxis honoured John at a church dedicated to him. For Greek name days, the feast’s full title names him Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist.

• Right hand: The same date recalls his right-hand relic, a holy remain, moving from Antioch to Constantinople in 956.
• 29 August: The Beheading feast on 29 August is a day of strict fasting from meat and dairy.
• Icons: Orthodox icons, or painted holy images, give him angel’s wings, as Mark’s Gospel calls him a messenger.

Over time, synaxes like the one for John came into general use. Today they are celebrated in every church of the Orthodox world. His Conception on 23 September opens his round of feasts, as the church year starts on 1 September.

How did Anthony the Great earn his place among Greek name days?

Greek name days on 17 January honour Anthony the Great, an Egyptian Christian monk. A monk is a man who leaves everyday life behind and lives under religious vows. Both the Orthodox and the Catholic churches keep his feast on that date.

Anthony was born in Koma, in Lower Egypt, to wealthy parents who owned land. Lower Egypt is the northern part of the country, around the Nile delta. He was among the first known Christians to go out into the wilderness, about AD 270. A wilderness is wild land with no towns or farms.

The saint behind these Greek name days ate only bread, salt and water, never meat or wine. For about 20 years he lived shut inside an old Roman fort on a mountain by the Nile. The mountain was called Pispir. Food was passed to him by being thrown over the wall.

Greek name days for Anthony honour a speaker of Coptic, the late form of Egyptian. His sayings spread through a Greek translation. The Life of Anthony, the book telling his story, was written in Greek around 360. Its author was the church leader and writer Athanasius of Alexandria.

• Title: For his weight in later Christian monastic life, people name him the Father of All Monks.
• Healing: Christians call on him against infectious diseases, and skin diseases in particular.
• Monastery: Deir Mar Antonios, the monastery bearing his name, still stands on Mount Colzim.

When Anthony was about 20, his parents died. The man of these Greek name days then gave the family wealth away. He handed part of the land to his neighbours. He sold the remaining property and gave the money to the poor.

What links Athanasius of Alexandria to Greek name days in January?

Greek name days on 18 January honour Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria. A patriarch is the senior bishop of a great church centre. Athanasius was an Egyptian Christian theologian, a scholar of faith, and the 20th holder of that post.

In 325, Athanasius served as secretary to Bishop Alexander at the First Council of Nicaea. A council is a meeting of church leaders that settles questions of belief. Three years later he took over from Alexander as patriarch. His time in that office, broken by gaps, stretched across 45 years.

Clashes with Roman emperors and with the Arians sent Athanasius into exile five times. The Arians followed the teaching of the priest Arius about Christ. Exile means forced life away from home. In all, those exiles lasted 17 years. Greek name days for Athanasius honour a man born to a Christian family in Alexandria.

Greek name days for him honour a scholar who knew Greek but admitted he did not know Hebrew. His Old Testament quotations frequently come from the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. His writings include On the Incarnation, about God taking human form, and a life of Anthony the Great.

• Shared date: Saint Cyril, a later Patriarch of Alexandria, shares the 18 January commemoration.
• Title: His long stand against Arian teaching won him the title Father of Orthodoxy.
• Resting place: His remains were later moved to the church of San Zaccaria in Venice.

The saint of these Greek name days ranks among the four Great Greek Church Fathers. The others are John Chrysostom, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. A Church Father is an early Christian writer whose teaching shaped the faith.

Which spring customs give Saint George his place in Greek name days?

Greek name days on 23 April honour Saint George. Orthodox calendars list him that day as Great-martyr, Victory-bearer and Wonderworker. A martyr is a person killed for refusing to give up a faith. Greeks also see him as a folk hero.

Holy tradition, the church’s handed-down teaching, makes George a soldier in the Roman army. He came of Cappadocian Greek stock. Cappadocia is a region of central Anatolia, the land of modern Turkey. He joined the Praetorian Guard of Emperor Diocletian. The Praetorian Guard was the elite unit that personally protected the Roman emperors.

Among Greek name days, his feast falls in spring and ties in with farming rituals and festivals. George is patron saint to farmers and shepherds. A patron saint is a saint chosen to protect a group or place. In Thrace, his day brings processions with flowers and green wreaths.

In the Dodecanese and Crete, the saint is known as Saint George the Drunken. On Greek name days for George there, new wines are blessed before the villagers drink them. The Dodecanese is a chain of islands in the far south-eastern Aegean Sea. Island legends also cast George as a liberator, freeing captives from pirates.

• 27 January: The Greek Orthodox Church marks his miracle that freed Zakynthos from the plague.
• His mother: Polychronia of Cappadocia, honoured as a martyr, shares the 23 April date with her son.
• Old echoes: Likenesses have been drawn between his dragon story and Apollo slaying the serpent Python.

Orthodox icons of the saint of these Greek name days can show him on a white horse. Early icons, mosaics and frescoes show him in armour, painted in gold and silver tones. That armour marks him out as a soldier of the Roman army.

Who are Constantine and Helena in the calendar of Greek name days?

Greek name days in the fifth month, on its 21st day, honour Helena together with her son. He was Emperor Constantine the Great, ruler of Rome. The Eastern Orthodox Church keeps the feast of mother and son together on that single date.

The feast’s full title calls mother and son Holy Great Sovereigns, Equal to the Apostles. Apostles were the first followers sent out to spread the Christian message. Helena, a saint of these Greek name days, was born by tradition in Drepanon. That town in Bithynia, north-west Asia Minor, was later renamed Helenopolis after her.

Constantine raised his mother to the rank of Augusta in 324. Augusta was a title of honour for the women of the Roman imperial house. In her last years, Helena made a religious journey through Palestine to Jerusalem. Ancient tradition says she found the True Cross, the cross on which Jesus died.

Helena, honoured on these Greek name days, spent time on Cyprus. Stavrovouni Monastery there is said to have been founded by her. In a monastery, monks share a life of prayer under fixed religious rules. Local tradition says she brought hundreds of cats from Egypt or Palestine to rid a monastery of snakes.

• Relics: Smaller relics of Helena rest in Orthodox monasteries and churches across Greece, Cyprus and Romania.
• Western date: In the Roman Catholic Church, her feast falls instead on 18 August.
• Humble roots: Bishop Ambrose of Milan first called her a stabularia, meaning a stable-maid or inn-keeper.

At the place of the find, the son honoured on these Greek name days ordered a church built. It is Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A sepulchre is a tomb cut from rock or built from stone blocks.

How do Greek name days mark the joint feast of Peter and Paul?

Greek name days on 29 June honour the apostles Peter and Paul together. Their joint feast recalls the martyrdom of both men in Rome. The day is a great feast in the Eastern Orthodox year, one of five such added feasts.

For Orthodox Christians, the feast of these Greek name days ends the Apostles’ Fast. Fasting here means leaving out set foods as an act of religious faith. The Apostles’ Fast begins on the Monday after All Saints’ Sunday. Its length is variable, so it differs from year to year.

The feast behind these Greek name days can open with an all-night vigil the evening before. A vigil is a church service of prayer that lasts through the night. In the old Julian calendar, 29 June falls on 12 July of the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the one in everyday civil use today.

Peter, the first saint of these Greek name days, was born Simon bar Jonah. He was a Jewish fisherman from Bethsaida. His brother Andrew also fished for a living. Jesus later gave him the name Cephas, from the Aramaic word Kepha. Kepha means rock or stone. Aramaic is an ancient language of the Near East.

• Chosen date: The date marks either the death of the two apostles or the moving of their relics.
• Old record: The feast first appears in the Roman calendar of 354.
• Next day: On 30 June, the Orthodox Church holds the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles.

Tradition holds that Peter, one of the two saints of these Greek name days, was crucified upside down. His death took place in the city of Rome under Emperor Nero. Crucifixion was a Roman form of execution, carried out on a wooden cross.

What story stands behind Saint Marina in Greek name days?

Greek name days on 17 July honour Saint Marina, known in the East as the Great Martyr. The Eastern Orthodox Church keeps her feast on that summer date. The Western churches know the same saint as Margaret of Antioch.

Marina’s home city was Antioch in Pisidia, in ancient Asia Minor. Her father Aedesius was a pagan priest, serving the old gods. After she turned to the Christian faith, he disowned her. She then lived in the countryside, keeping sheep with her foster mother. A foster mother raises a child born to someone else.

Olybrius, a Roman governor in the East, wished to marry her. His demand was that she give up Christianity. When she refused, she was tortured. Greek name days for Marina honour a martyr who died around 304. The Diocletianic Persecution, a harsh Roman drive against Christians, was raging at that time.

One legend says a dragon swallowed Marina whole. She escaped alive when the cross she carried hurt the beast’s insides. Byzantine icons, from the eastern Roman world, show the saint of these Greek name days in her cell. She grips a demon by the hair and swings a copper hammer at his face.

• Old calendar: Churches on the Julian calendar mark her day on 30 July instead.
• Patronage: She is a patroness of pregnant women, servant maids and people with kidney illness.
• Westward spread: Honour for her spread from the east to England, France and Germany in the 11th century.

Doubts about the story behind these Greek name days are not new. Jacobus de Voragine, author of the Golden Legend, called her martyrology too fantastic. He treated the dragon episode as a legend. A martyrology is a written account of martyrs’ lives.

Why do Greek name days honour Panteleimon the healer?

Greek name days on 27 July honour Panteleimon, listed that day as Holy Great-martyr and Healer. His Greek name means all-compassionate, full of pity for everyone. The same date also honours the blind man he healed, later beheaded for his faith.

Greek name days for Panteleimon honour a man from Nicomedia in Bithynia, an old Roman city. He studied medicine and became physician to the emperor Maximian. A physician is a trained doctor of medicine who treats the sick. He was put to death in 305, under the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians.

His Christian mother, Eubula, first taught him the faith. After her death, he fell away from the church. Hermolaus of Nicomedia, a priest of the city, later won him back to Christianity. The saint of these Greek name days then freed his slaves and gave his wealth to the poor.

In Eastern Christianity he is one of the Holy Unmercenary Healers. Unmercenary means working without payment. Physicians and midwives look to him as their patron saint. A midwife is a woman trained to help mothers give birth. Icons show him young and beardless, holding a book that bears a cross.

• Monasteries: Monasteries consecrated to him include ones on Mount Athos and in Crete.
• Relics: His relics, once honoured at Nicomedia, were later moved to Constantinople.
• His name: He gained the name Panteleimon after praying for his executioners to be forgiven.

In the West the saint of these Greek name days goes by Pantaleon. The East names its churches for him as Panteleimon. Venice knew him by the local name San Pantalon. The comic stage figure Pantalone, a foolish old Venetian, possibly takes his name from the saint.

Which mother and three daughters share one date among Greek name days?

Greek name days on 17 September honour Sophia and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Love. Orthodox calendars place the four martyrs at Rome. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom. Faith, hope and love are virtues, meaning good qualities of character.

In Ancient Greek, the daughters’ names are Pistis, Elpis and Agape. Pistis means faith, Elpis means hope and Agape means love. The names are drawn from the First Letter to the Corinthians by Saint Paul. A Christian belief holds that faith, hope and love are the offspring of wisdom.

Tradition sets the story under Hadrian, a Roman emperor of the second century. In the main version of the story, Faith was twelve, Hope ten and Love nine. All three died as martyrs. Sophia buried them and prayed at their grave. Greek name days for Sophia honour a mother who died there three days later.

From the 4th century, early Christians took mystical names showing virtues at baptism. Sophia, Sapientia and Fides appear as names of Christian women in catacomb inscriptions. A catacomb is an underground burial place; inscriptions are lettering cut in stone. Honour for the three saints behind these Greek name days arose around the 6th century, scholars think.

• Holy Wisdom: Churches thought to honour Saint Sophia are at times named for Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom.
• Widows: Sophia of Milan, later merged with Sophia of Rome, is the patroness of widows.
• Relics: Relics of Sophia were taken to the women’s convent at Eschau, Alsace, in 778.

The tomb of the saints of these Greek name days lay in a crypt. A church to Saint Pancratius was later built above it. Pilgrims, or travellers on holy journeys, long came to that tomb. A crypt is a vaulted chamber below the floor of a church.

What do Greek name days celebrate with the Archangel Michael?

Greek name days on 8 November honour the Archangel Michael. An archangel is a chief angel, ranked above the others. The feast is a synaxis, a shared service, for Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers. Bodiless Powers is an Orthodox name for angels.

Churches still using the Julian calendar keep it on what is now 21 November. Eastern Orthodox believers have always felt a strong devotion to angels. In prayer they turn to their guardian angels, and first of all to Michael and Gabriel. A guardian angel is believed to watch over one person through life.

Among Greek name days, the archangel Gabriel also has his own synaxis, on 26 March and 13 July. The earliest surviving mentions of Michael’s name come from Jewish works of the third and second centuries BC. BC marks the years before the birth of Christ by the usual count. The Book of Enoch lists him as one of seven archangels.

Byzantine tradition credits Constantine with two shrines of Michael on the Bosporus shore. The Bosporus is the narrow strait that splits Istanbul in two. The Michaelion, one such church, became a model for hundreds of other Eastern churches. Those churches spread devotion to the archangel of these Greek name days.

• Protector: Police officers, paramedics and soldiers count Michael as their patron saint.
• In icons: Orthodox icons of Christ with angels show Michael as a leading figure among them.
• Warrior image: At the Michaelion, a painting of the archangel killing a serpent shaped his warrior image.

Beyond Greek name days, Michael holds a place in three faiths. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all know him as the warrior of God. In Islam he is Mikail, one of four archangels with Gabriel, Israfil and Azrael. Israfil is the trumpeter angel.

How does Catherine of Alexandria fit into Greek name days?

Greek name days on 25 November honour Catherine of Alexandria. The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a great martyr. Her Orthodox feast falls on the 24th or 25th, by regional custom. By tradition she was a Greco-Egyptian, of Greek culture living in Egypt.

Her story makes her both a princess and a noted scholar. She became a Christian at about the age of 14. The emperor summoned 50 leading pagan philosophers and speakers to argue with her. Catherine won the debate. Philosophers are thinkers who reason about truth, knowledge and how to live well.

The emperor condemned her to death on a spiked breaking wheel. In her legend, the wheel shattered at her touch. The saint of these Greek name days was then beheaded on the emperor’s orders. The spiked wheel became her chief symbol, known as the Catherine wheel. A breaking wheel was a large wheel used for executions.

In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian founded what is now Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt. Its walls first enclosed the burning bush that Moses is said to have seen. Her body was said to be found at Mount Sinai around 800. The earliest surviving account of Catherine, saint of these Greek name days, dates from 976.

• Greek name: In Greek her name appears as Aikaterine or as Ekaterine, with a debated root.
• Pure: Early Christians linked the name with the Greek word katharos, meaning pure.
• Katerini: The Greek town of Katerini counts her as its patron saint.

Devotion to the saint of these Greek name days stays strong among Eastern Orthodox Christians. With easier travel today, pilgrimages to her monastery on Mount Sinai have grown. A pilgrimage is a trip of faith to a sacred site.

Where does Saint Eleftherios come from in Greek name days?

Greek name days on 15 December honour Eleftherios, also written Eleutherius, and his mother Antia. Both are honoured as saints and martyrs in Greece, Cyprus, Albania and Italy. Tradition says the two were condemned to death on that winter date.

Among Greek name days, Eleftherios is a name that means liberator, one who sets others free. In Latin the name became Liberator. Eleutherius was born in Rome, and his father died when he was a young child. His mother then brought him to Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, for teaching in the scriptures.

A Greek source from before the 5th century calls Antia the widow of a consul named Eugenius. A consul was one of the two yearly chief officials of Rome. Tradition says her son became bishop of Messana and Illyricum at the age of twenty. He seems to have settled in Aulon, today called Vlorë.

A comes named Felix had first put Eleutherius in prison. A comes, or count, was an official in the service of the emperor. The emperor Hadrian later had mother and son brought to Rome for judgement. Tradition says Eleftherios, saint of these Greek name days, was clubbed to death and Antia beheaded.

• Old calendars: His name already appears in ancient Greek calendars of the saints.
• Rieti: Around the 5th century, the church of Sant’Eleuterio rose outside the walls of Rieti, in Italy.
• Other dates: Italian towns such as Nepi and Vasto honoured him on 18 April instead.

Parts of his story possibly arose from confusion with Pope Eleutherius. Despite this, honour for the saint of these Greek name days is ancient and widespread. A pope is the bishop of Rome and the head of the Catholic Church.

Why do Greek name days for Stephen fall just after Christmas?

Greek name days on 27 December honour Saint Stephen, two days after Christmas. The Eastern Orthodox Church keeps his feast then because 26 December holds the Synaxis of the Theotokos. Theotokos means God-bearer, a Greek title given to Mary.

Greek name days for Stephen honour a name that means wreath or crown in Greek. Stephanos was a Koine Greek name. Koine was the shared everyday Greek spoken across the eastern Roman world. Church tradition honours Stephen as the protomartyr, meaning the very first martyr of the Christian faith.

Stephen appears among the Seven Deacons in the Acts of the Apostles, part of the New Testament. The apostles chose these men to hand out food and aid to poorer believers. A deacon is a church helper ranked below a priest. Orthodox belief holds that Stephen was the eldest, so he bears the title archdeacon.

Among Greek name days, his date is also called the Third Day of the Nativity. The Nativity is the feast of the birth of Jesus. The name marks the date as the third day of the Christmas season. Churches still on the original Julian calendar keep the feast on 9 January.

• 4 January: He is also remembered on 4 January as one of the Seventy Apostles.
• In art: Artists show him with a crown for martyrdom, three stones and a palm frond.
• His death: Accused of blasphemy, meaning speech against God, at his trial, Stephen was stoned to death.

In 415 a priest named Lucian was said to have dreamed of Stephen’s lost remains. The dream placed them at Beit Jimal. In 428 the relics of Stephen, saint of these Greek name days, reached Constantinople. A church built for Stephen in that city later held them.

What do travellers ask about Greek name days, and what are the answers?

Greek name days lead to questions about church dates and the feast of all saints. Travellers also ask about a protector of children and two healer brothers. The Orthodox calendar ties saints and events to every single date of the year.

How do Greek name days fit the Orthodox church calendar?

The Orthodox calendar holds two types of feasts, fixed and movable. Fixed feasts fall on one date every year. Movable feasts depend on Pascha, the Greek word for Easter, and form the Paschal cycle. Commemoration means honouring the memory of someone. Simpler wall calendars show the main commemoration of each day, with its Bible readings.

When do Greek name days honour all the saints together?

The Orthodox Church honours all saints together on All Saints’ Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost is the feast held fifty days after Easter. All Saints’ Sunday closes the Paschal season. By tradition, Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise widened the feast from all martyrs to every saint.

Which saint among Greek name days protects children?

Saint Stylianos, also spelled Stylian, is remembered on 26 November. He is honoured as a protector of children, and of orphans above all. An orphan is a child whose parents have died. Icons show a swaddled infant held in his arms. Swaddled means wrapped tightly in cloth.

Who are the healer saints of Greek name days on 1 November?

Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor are honoured on 1 November. They were twin brothers who practised medicine and surgery without charging a fee. That gave them the name anargyroi, meaning the silverless or the unmercenaries. Surgery is treatment by cutting into the body in order to heal it.