When and how to celebrate your Angel day?

Name day, Angel day, the day of the memory of your saint - all these are the names of the same Orthodox holiday. Everyone has his own, and pays tribute to the memory of the saint, after whom the man was named.

Our name is a part of ourselves. It sounds to us from birth, has a certain meaning and even magic. When baptized, an Orthodox person is given a name in honor of a saint. Later, he will be your patron and protector throughout his life. To this Guardian Angel you can address in difficult periods of life with a request, a prayer. When everything is right, you need not forget to thank for the help.

The name is chosen in accordance with the Orthodox church calendar. If you open it, you will see that every day is dedicated to a certain saint, and sometimes there are several. In this case, a person can choose the patron himself who is closest to him, because this is your Angel day! In the Saints there is only one recommendation in this regard: the name of the honored saint should be written on the nearest page of the calendar on the day of your birth, and go after it (not earlier). For example, Natalia celebrates her Angel Day on September 8.

Your Angels

The Church teaches that every Christian has two angels. One, the Guardian, guides us to the true path, protects us from ill-considered actions, gives patience to survive temporary difficulties. And the second one is God's servant, it's his name that we carry. He tirelessly prays for us, intercedes with God. Despite all the sinful deeds that we all commit in life, both of these angels love us more than anyone else in the world.

Baptism and the name of your saint

If a man grew up in an Orthodox family, he was baptized in his early childhood, then he knew his Angel day for a long time. However, it happens that even baptized people who never attended church live conscious lives without knowing, in honor of which holy martyr they were called. It even happens that the name is known, but that's the problem: on the pages of the calendar, different saints can wear the same names. John, for example, meets about eighty, and Saint Alexander - more than thirty times. Or the opposite situation - the same patron can be honored several times. How then to correctly determine the day of the Angel?

It's simple: if there are more than one days of memory in the year, then several, then choose the nearest one, but only after your birthday. This will be the feast of the Saint-Sainted Saint, or the day of your Angel, or your name-day. All other days by the prevailing church tradition are considered to be small name-days.

True, these recommendations are very variable. The church allows the Orthodox to choose at his own choice any surnamed saint, regardless of the calendar location. And, accordingly, on this day then and celebrate their name-days.

Congratulations on the Angel Day are also optional. But what is recommended to do is to remember your saint, turn to him with a prayer, and thank him for his invisible presence. Celebrate the name day the Church advises necessarily with the sacrament and confession. If this day is lean, then it is better to transfer the feast and congratulations of relatives to them.