Name day is a holiday that is also called Angel Day. In essence, it is dedicated to the saint, whose name a person is named. Such a saint of God is considered a heavenly patron and intercessor before God for all who are named after him. Accordingly, the name day is a purely Christian tradition. So it does not make sense to mark it for those who hold different views. Below we will look at what days George's name day falls on.
About name days
Name days are determined solely by the name with which the person was baptized. Anyone who has not gone through this rite of initiation into the tradition of Christianity, in principle, cannot celebrate a name day. The name at baptism is given in honor of a saint, who later becomes the heavenly patron of the newly baptized. This special spiritual connection remains for life. Name day is the day on which the church honors the memory of this saint.
It often happens that several saints have the same name. But the patron will still be only one of them. If it is not known for certain in honor of which saint from the list of the Lord’s saints with the same name a person was baptized, then the patron is chosen by date of birth: that namesake saint, whose memory in the church calendar is closest to the person’s birthday, is his intercessor. However, if you feel a special connection with any other of the saints of the same name, you can choose it.
George's name day
Most often, boys named George are baptized in honor of the holy martyr George the Victorious, whose image adorns the state emblem and Russian coins of small denomination. The rider piercing the dragon with a spear, this is he - George the serpent fighter, bringing victory. However, this is far from the only saint in the Orthodox calendar with such a noble Greek name, which Zeus himself was once called. Let's consider what other days the name day of George can fall on the church calendar.
June
In June, the 19th, the memory of St. George is celebrated. This is a kind of ghost saint, in the sense that the memory of him has been preserved in the church, but there is no information about his life.
July
July 4 is the name day of George, baptized in memory of the holy confessor of the same name, archimandrite, who died in Nizhny Novgorod in 1932, and during his lifetime he repeatedly suffered from the repressions of the Soviet authorities.
The definition of "ghost" applies to anotherSaint George, who is listed in the holy calendar on July 16. However, there are many such saints.
August
3 and 13 August the two holy martyrs George are honored by the church. Nothing is known about either of them.
September
September 21 - Holy Confessor Yuri (Mkheidze), archimandrite. He died in the 60s in Georgia.
October
October 2 commemorates St. George Olgovich, Grand Duke of Kyiv and Chernigov. In the world, he bore the name of Igor, and the name with which he entered the holy calendar was given to him during forced tonsure into monasticism, after the prince was overthrown from the throne as a result of a conspiracy. Subsequently, the enemies of his family did not spare the monk of princely blood. He was taken away for reprisal right from the liturgy and the corpse was thrown to be trampled in the middle of the city square.
November
November 20 is the birthday of George, named after the martyr George (Yurenev). During his lifetime, he worked as a judge in the city of Vitebsk, until he was expelled from the city in the 1920s. In the 30s, he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced first to the camps, and then, on November 20, 1937, for belonging to one of the branches of the Catacomb Orthodox Church, to death.
December
On December 16, the church remembers the holy confessor Georgy Sedov. During his lifetime, he was a layman who suffered at the hands of the Soviet authorities in the 30s and 40s. He served as a headman in various churches, until a staircase collapsed on him in the Resurrection Tutaevsky Cathedral. From his injuries a year later, hepassed away.
December 31 is the day of memory of St. George the Stylite. Where this saint labored is unknown.
January
January 30 is the name day of Yuri, named after the holy martyr of the same name, who suffered in 1838 at the hands of Muslims who accused the young man of betraying Islam. Being forced to accept the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, he refused to renounce Christ, for which he was hanged on the city gates in the city of Paramitya, Turkey.
February
February 10 honors the memory of the unknown St. George. Only the name survived.
February 17 - the memory of Yuri, the holy noble prince of Vladimir. One of the Russian holy princes.
March
March 23 - St. George. The place of the feat is unknown.
March 18 - Martyr Yuri. Tradition did not save the date of death.
April
April 17 - Reverend from the Peloponnese. Lived and died in one of the local monasteries.
April 26 is the name day of George, another unknown saint. Again, only the name survived.
May
May 6 - three holy namesakes at once: Shenkur the holy fool, the Ptolemaidian wonderworker, and also George the Victorious himself. The last of them is the great martyr, beheaded in 303 or 304. During his lifetime, he was a military commander and one of the favorites of Emperor Diocletian, until he openly admitted to him that he professed Christianity. They tortured the martyr for eight days, trying to get him to renounce, but, not having succeeded, they betrayed him to death.
May 10 is the day of memory of George, brother of the holy stylite SimeonCilician. Other than that, there is no more information about him.
Conclusion
This is the main list of saints named George. Orthodox name days can also be timed to the memory of other saints - little-known or not included in the general church edition of the saints. So in choosing your patron, you can be flexible and refer, for example, to the list of Arab Orthodox saints who are practically unknown in Russia.
George's name day according to the church calendar is considered a holiday for a person, similar to a birthday. However, on this day it is supposed not only to have fun, but first of all to show respect and honor the memory of your patron by praying in the church at the liturgy and partaking of the holy mysteries.
