Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Baptism Day

Answer:

Dr. Alexander Roman (e-mail)

In fact, Eastern Christians and many Western Catholics as well, celebrate the Feast of their Patronal Namesday Saint that they received when they were Baptised.  Boys are traditionally baptized within a forty-day period after birth and girls within an eighty-day period.

Formerly, one took the name of the Saint of the day on which one received Baptism.  The same held true for new Churches and the Saint commemorated on the day that a new Church was consecrated became its patronal Saint for all time.

Today, however, one will choose a preferred patron Saint.  My grandfather, for example, was named “John” after St John the Baptist.  He always celebrated St John the Baptist’s day on July 7 (according to the Old Calendar which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, at present). 

And every July 7th we celebrated both his Namesday and his birthday.  It was only when he died that I found out that he was actually born on July 4th. 

Owing to the often great discrepancy between birthdays and one’s patronal Namesday, people will celebrate both – although in Eastern Europe it is still most traditional and popular to celebrate the Namesday Saint only.  This feast is often very close to one’s actual birthday and so one’s progression in biological years is marked this way as well.

I was named “Alex” for St Alexius the Man of God (celebrated in my Church on March 30th – one day after my actual birthday). My father was a beekeeper and where he came from, St Alexius was and is a patron of the bees.  On that day, beekeepers put out icons of St Alexius with those of John the Baptist (who ate wild honey) and Saints Zosimas and Savvatius of the Solovetsky islands (who brought bees to the north) in special shrines among bee-hives.  I have a shrine at home with these icons in a small “skep” bee-hive to remind me of this tradition and also that God calls me and all of us to be like the bees, to gather good spiritual nectar that is His Grace throughout our lives with the same hard-working diligence as the bees!

One’s patronal Saint becomes a second “Guardian Angel.”  In the “old days,” one would measure the length of a newly-born baby and then cut a piece of wood to that length – on which would be painted the icon of the patron saint of the baby.  The Namesday itself is popularly called the “Day of the Angel.” 

One practices a special veneration for one’s patron Namesake throughout one’s life, keeps his or her icon nearby, and it is often traditional to take one’s Namesday off from work to attend Church and have a party with family and friends.  There is sometimes a special chair in the prayer corner of one’s home where the icons are hung on both walls leading into it and this is the most honoured place in the home.  This is where a person would sit during a Namesday celebration as family and friends sing “Many Years” in their honour and present them with gifts and good wishes!

The celebration of the patronal Namesake reminds us of our Baptism which is when we were given that special Name which we are to emulate in our lives as much as possible and with God’s help.  It reminds us of our higher spiritual birth and calling that overshadows our biological beginning and the special vocation we are called to live of faith, hope and love in union with the Most Holy Trinity in Christ through the Holy Spirit and with the assistance of the nurturing prayers of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Body of Christ that is the Church, our patron saint and all the saints.

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