Before the 1917 revolution in Russia, it was customary to call newborn children by the name indicated on their birthday in a special church book - Saints. Saints are published by the Orthodox Church and are a list of the names of saints canonized throughout the history of the church. The final edition of the Saints does not exist, but only the names of canonized saints can be included in this book. Today, the Saints can be purchased at the church, they can also be found on many sites on the Internet.
What are Saints
The names of the boys according to the Saints are selected according to the child's birthday. There is usually one or (more often) several church names for each day. As a rule, these are names that have become firmly established in Russian everyday life. At one time, through the church, many names of Greek origin entered society, such asAlexander, Andrey, Makar, Illarion. Perhaps, at a certain time they even made up most of the names, along with the "biblical" names of Jewish origin (Isaiah, Daniel, Mary, David, Moses, Solomon, etc.). Thanks to all the same church traditions, names of Romance (Latin) origin, such as Adrian, Vitaly, Valery, Concordia, Matrona, Julius and others, also entered the Russian language. In the Saints you can also find the church names of boys of native Slavic origin. These are names with two roots (ending in "glory"): Yaroslav, Vyacheslav, Stanislav. In addition, names such as Vsevolod, Bogdan, Lyudmila, Nadezhda, Vladimir are also ancient Slavic names. In a word, the Saints offer a fairly wide selection of names for your baby.
If very rare names fell on this date
But what if you don't like the church names of the boys recorded in the Saints for your child's birthday? For example, the baby was born on April 7, and the three proposed names are Gabriel, Yakov, Ivan, and you want to give the child a more modern name. Well, according to church tradition, you can also use the names of boys, according to the church calendar, falling on the 8th and 40th day from 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 rite of naming is performed, and on the 40th the child is baptized, which is why these days are chosen as alternative.
At baptism a person receives a new name
However, many people in modern Russian society at one time received completely non-church names. Boys were often called names that are not in the Saints, such as Belizar, Robert, Andron, Stanislav, Anton (there is no this name in church books, there is only Anthony). If these people were not baptized in childhood and they want to be baptized, an Orthodox priest will select for them a name that is similar in meaning, sound or close to the date of birth of the person. So, Yuri, most likely, will be given the name George (from which the name Yuri came from); Anton will probably be called Antony. The new name given at baptism can be used when attending church for confession and communion, the church name is also indicated in notes on he alth and repose.
Ancient tradition
Church names of boys testify to their heavenly protectors, guardian angels. It is believed that the saint whose name the parents named their child at birth will accompany and protect this child throughout his life. Therefore, perhaps this is not just a tribute to fashion, but a long tradition that has ancient roots and deep meaning.
