How to choose an icon of the patron saint by date of birth and what to ask for

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Patron saints appeared in the life of the Orthodox people in the 4th century. Many parents, hoping for the grace and protection of the saint, often named their children by the same name. Absolutely every person has a guardian angel, because every Orthodox Christian has a specific name and has a birthday.

The patron saint appears in a person with the first heartbeat at birth and protects us until the moment of death. The main calling of a guardian angel is to protect a person from troubles, diseases, and evil spirits. In this article we will answer the question of how to recognize your patron saint by date of birth and name.

What is a personal icon?

A personalized icon is an icon with the image of your patron saint.
There are many saints in Orthodoxy, they all have names. Since ancient times, there has been a tradition to consider, among many saints, as your patron the one with whom the names coincide, i.e. your name and the name of the patron saint must be the same. Such a patron is called “namesake”.

In ancient times, in Rus', there was a tradition of choosing and naming a newborn according to the calendar. Saints are a church calendar that indicates the days of remembrance of saints. The child's name was given in honor of one of the saints, whose memorial days are celebrated on the birthday of this baby. Those. a person received a name in honor of a certain saint, who became his patron for life.

Currently, the name at birth rarely agrees with the calendar. But despite this, the patron saint is still identified by name and date of birth.

Explanations for the definition of heavenly patron

Photo: Iconorthodox.ru

When identifying your saint, it is important to consider several nuances:

• The Council of Bishops in 2000 canonized (glorified) the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. Their names were included in the church calendar, but if you were baptized before the Council, then when determining name days, do not take these saints into account. For example, Olga, baptized before 2000, will have S. Equal to Princess Olga degli Apostoli, and after 2000, you can choose St. Olga, whose commemoration date is closest to your birthday.
• At the meeting on December 26, 2022, Baptism can choose any of the names of saints venerated in local Orthodox Churches, and not just in the Russian Orthodox Church.

What is a patron saint for?

From the moment of baptism, a person acquires an inextricable connection with his patron saint. The patron saint becomes for the believer a spiritual mentor, assistant and protector throughout his life, a messenger of the Will of God, one who helps bring his prayers and petitions to God.

The patron saint, as a teacher and elder brother (“sister”), constantly cares for you before our Father, lifting up prayers to Him for you and your petitions. Therefore, it is believed that by turning prayers to your patron saint, there is a greater chance of being heard faster.

Our heavenly intercessor protects us from troubles, leprosy and temptations of the evil one, protects us from bad deeds, helps us in illness and difficult life circumstances. People often turn to Him for blessings before starting long and difficult tasks and making important decisions.

Sow a name, reap a destiny

It is advisable, before being baptized or baptizing a child, to find out the origin of a given baptismal name, to become familiar with the life of the corresponding saint, since it is he who will now protect the newly baptized, being his heavenly patron.

It also wouldn’t hurt to learn about the meaning of a name and how it can affect a person’s fate and character. There is now plenty of literature on this topic. Remember that a secular name can be changed, but an Orthodox name will remain with you until the end of your life, so it is very important not to make a mistake in your choice.

The only case when you can take a different baptismal name is if you have forgotten it or don’t know it.

Is the Guardian Angel a patron saint?

The Guardian Angel and the patron saint are different beings.

Every person has a Guardian Angel from birth. Patron saint - begins to patronize a person from the moment of baptism.

Guardian Angels are disembodied beings, disembodied forces, inhabitants of the Kingdom of Heaven, Messengers of God. They only sometimes, if necessary, appear in reality in our visible world, although they constantly help us.

Patron saints are beings to whom, as a result of spiritual deeds and deeds, the door to the Kingdom of Heaven was opened. Those. these are people in the history of the Earth who had their own names and their own lives. After repose (resignation to the Lord), their souls continue to live forever in the Kingdom of Heaven, continuing to serve Him and helping us - other creatures who have chosen the path of returning to God.

Composition of the icon of All Saints

Above all is depicted God the Father, God the Son, and above them in the form of a dove is the Holy Spirit. Just below are the faces of the Most Holy Theotokos and John the Baptist, the Baptist of the Lord. The rest of the space is occupied by various kinds of saints:

• Prophets. The Old Testament prophets predicted the future by the Holy Spirit, mainly about Jesus Christ. Many of them died from the corrupted Jews.
• Below are the supreme apostles Peter and Paul, behind them are the rest of the apostles, as well as saints equal to the apostles, educators and teachers of Christ's teaching.
• The great saints - teachers of Christians - must be depicted. They explained to Christians parts of the Gospel that were incomprehensible to them, and wrote theological works. Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom were named ecumenical teachers; they compiled the main church services.
• The icon also depicts martyrs, of course not in their entirety, since there are a great many of them, but they personify everyone who suffered for their faith in Christ. We call those who suffered especially cruelly great martyrs.
• Priests who suffered for their faith in Christ are called hieromartyrs.
• The venerables are also represented schematically. The venerables are people of the monastic order; throughout their lives they were in the firmness of their faith, like Christ. They retired from public life and did not marry. Saints who suffered for Christ are called venerable martyrs.
• The icon of All Saints also represents the blessed ones (fools for Christ's sake), who for the sake of Christ appear strange to the world and, most often, enduring ridicule and humiliation, could openly denounce the highest-ranking officials, since in fact they are filled with true wisdom.

How does a personalized icon differ from a dimensional icon?

A measured icon is a kind of separate type of nominal icons. Both depict a named patron saint. The differences lie in the size and scale of the image of the saint. Thus, a personal icon of a saint can be of any size - from pocket and travel to lectern. A measured icon, according to the tradition of the old times of Rus', is always made in height to the height of the child at birth. In very ancient times, our ancestors often made a measured icon not only in height, but also in width of the baby (over the shoulders). This attitude towards measures came from a worldview - measures were not an absolute value, but a relative one and were correlated with the proportions of the person himself and his body parts (palm, span, inch, elbow, etc.).

On dimensional icons, the patron saint is depicted only in full length (from head to toe); nominal icons suggest a different scale of depiction of the saint: full-length, waist-length, shoulder-length, head-length.

How to choose a personalized icon by name and date of birth?

How can you recognize your patron saint? - It’s not uncommon for even an Orthodox person who has lived a long life to ask such a question. People also face this question when they purchase a personalized icon for themselves or their loved ones.

It's not as difficult as you think. Although, of course, there are special cases and exceptions.

The patron saint will be the saint who bears the same name.

However, most often, if you take the name of a saint, it turns out that in Orthodoxy there are several saints with that name. So, for example, the widespread name Oleg - there are two saints Oleg: the Venerable Oleg of Bryansk and the holy Prince Oleg of Ryazan. There are even more “confusing” cases - the name John (“Ivan”). There are 69 saints with this name. How then to choose your saint?

There is a rule for determining a personalized icon by date of birth (and not just by name). The date of birth is compared according to the calendar with the days of remembrance of the saints of the same name, and the saint whose memorial day will follow the person’s birthday will be the patron saint.

Example:

Name Oleg, day and month of birth - April 5.

Among the Orthodox there are 2 saints with the name Oleg: the Venerable Oleg of Bryansk (memorial day October 3) and the holy Prince Oleg Ryazansky (memory day July 18).

In this case, Oleg Ryazansky will be considered the patron saint, since his memorial day comes after his birthday (after April 5).

What features are there when determining the patron saint?

• It is necessary to take into account that the date of memory of a saint can be indicated in two (or one of 2) forms - according to the new style and according to the old (Julian calendar). Often in Orthodox sources the date exactly corresponds to the old style (church calendar).
• The spelling of names has changed over the centuries, but the names of the saints have remained in the old spelling. For example: Tatyana is old. Tatiana, Ivan – old. John, Yana - old. Joanna, Julia - Julia, etc.
• Some names, although they have “derivatives,” but church names are pronounced only in one way, for example: Yuri-Georgiy, Sofia - Sophia, etc.
• There are people with names that are not in the calendar, for example Yaroslav, Timur, etc. In these cases, the patron saint will most likely be considered one of the saints who bears a different name, but whose feast day falls on the person’s birthday or baptism.

There are also a few other features. So, for example, if Vladimir is baptized on July 28, then regardless of when the birthday was, the patron saint will most likely be Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, since baptism takes place on the day of remembrance of this saint.

In any case, if you have doubts about how to identify your saint and how to choose a personal icon by name, then it is best to contact a priest in the church who will help you understand all the details and features.

What should I do if my name is not in the monthly word?

Photo: Sofrino.ru

A person who wants to be baptized and was not named by his parents according to the calendar can choose a name for himself (priests recommend choosing names that are consonant, for example, Alena - Elena, Ilona - Ilaria, Lilia - Leah). The choice is made taking into account the date of birth or baptism, family traditions or personal sympathies. According to established tradition, Alice is baptized with the name Alexandra, in honor of S. Carrying the Passion of Queen Alexandra (Romanova), who before accepting the Orthodox faith bore the name Alix (Alice).

Some names in the calendar differ from the sound we are accustomed to. For example, Ulyana - Juliana, Ivan - John, Victoria - Nika, Svetlana - Fotina or Fotinia, Denis - Dionysius, Julia - Julia.

The name Maria in the Russian Orthodox Church is given only in honor of saints and never in honor of the Mother of God.

I know my patron saint, but I can’t find his icon. What to do?

Considering that there are thousands of saints in Orthodoxy, this situation occurs often.

It happens that a saint has been revered for many centuries, but it is not possible to find at least any description of his life, there is only a date of memory and nothing more, not even iconography.

In addition to such “little-known” saints, over the last century many new martyrs have appeared who, for example, lived and died for the Faith during the persecution of the Soviet regime. Moreover, such people are most often revered saints, i.e. are venerated, for example, in the Cathedral of the New Martyrs of some Smolensk diocese.

There is little information about such saints; it is even more difficult to find descriptions of what such a saint looked like or a photo of a personalized icon of this saint.

In any case, if you have difficulty finding the icon of your patron saint, please contact us. We have a large accumulated archive of photographs of personalized icons, and most likely we will be able to find what you have been looking for.

What can you ask your patron or patroness for?

In church canons there are no strict frameworks that limit the requests of those praying in front of a personal icon. The only thing to consider in such situations is:

1. The patron, like any other icon, cannot be asked to harm another intelligent being. Such requests are not pleasing to God, and punishment can overtake the one asking.
2. In difficult situations, the image is asked for any available help, regardless of its area of ​​​​responsibility.
3. Your patron, like other saints who bring the light of the Christian faith to the people, may have strong abilities in some specific matter. Accordingly, if you ask for help in this area, the final effect can be noticeably more powerful. However, this does not mean that they do not protect against other misfortunes and you cannot ask for the health of your family or loved ones if the image is responsible for some other area of ​​human life.

Important! The most important thing is to pray with faith and pure thoughts. If this is so, help will come regardless of age, gender and the guardian angel appointed by God.

What size of personalized icon should I choose?

When choosing, consider the following:

• The price of a personalized icon depends greatly on the size.
• Future location in the house (or other room) - are you going to put it on a shelf, chest of drawers, bedside table, or hang it on the wall, how much space do you have free to place the icon.
• The subject of the icon itself - if a personalized icon with a half-length image requires a small size - from 9x10 cm, then icons with a full-length image or a plot (landscape) or complex design require a larger size, otherwise the details will be very small and invisible. For handwritten icons, there are also limitations, because it is not always possible to clearly write down the details on the small size of the icon board.
• Will the icon be “clothed” in an icon case - depending on the complexity and shape of the icon case, its size can be much larger than the icon itself, and then the size of the entire “structure” (the icon in the icon case) can take up much more space and space.

How to design a personalized icon.

When ordering a personalized icon, you can provide different designs for the icon. So, when painting an icon, you can gild the entire background with gold leaf, add characters, carve on gesso, paint the fields of the icon with a pattern, etc. This creates uniqueness; such an icon looks more festive and beautiful.

Among the external decoration of icons, we offer icon cases. They not only preserve the icon for centuries from external environmental influences, but are also an element of icon decoration. Thus, a correctly selected icon case can emphasize the plot of the icon, making it brighter and more elegant

View our full catalog of personalized icons.