For the Universe the greatest feast day is
Pascha — the resurrection of Christ. But for each Christian there exists their own personal, little Pascha. This is the day of
the saint with whom they share their name. The church calls this small Pascha
namesake, or Angel’s day. The people call it name’s day.
A person used to receive their name from the
Church, at their Baptism. It was not chosen randomly, but according to one of
several rules. Most often the child was named after the saint that was honored
on the day that it was born, the day the name was given, or the day of the
baptism. Girls were permitted a hiatus of several days, if no woman saint was
remembered then. In this way the birthday and name’s day most often coincided
and were thus remembered together. To this day those who celebrate birthdays
are referred to as name’s day celebrants in Russia
(imenniniky — from the word imia, or name), but Christians celebrate the name’s
day in honor of the saint.
In other cases the child is named according to
promise, in honor of a specific saint, whose name had been chosen earlier and
to whom the parents prayed even before the arrival of the child. Then that
saint’s day was honored, and if the memory of the saint was celebrated more
than once, then it was the day that was closest to the birthday. These days
many are baptized as adults. How do people know the day of their saint? Using
the Church calendar, one must find the saint with the same name that is nearest
to their birthday. For example, a person, born in the beginning of July and who
is called Peter, will celebrate their day on July 12, but a Peter born in the
end of December will celebrate January 3. If there is some difficulty in
deciding this question, ask any priest for advice.
One must celebrate a name’s day like any of the
twelve great feast days. Before the Russian Revolution even less strict
Christians tried to confess and partake of the Eucharist on this day (one must
remember, if the name’s day falls on a fast day, then the celebration feast
should consist of lenten foods).
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