The saint, whose name the child received at baptism, will protect him throughout his life. The question is how to choose the right name of the saint, if not all modern names are reflected in the calendar.
Instructions
Step 1
With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, children began to be named after the saint, whose day turned out to be the closest to the date of the child's birth. The list of saints was small, at first it did not exceed 80 names, hence a huge number of Ivanov, Mari, Ann. To avoid confusion, pagan names remained as household names for a long time, and the Christian name was used in divine services, as a result, the child had a double name. An example is a fairy-tale character - everyone's favorite Ivan the Fool, the name “Fool”, according to tradition, was given to the youngest son in the family and did not carry the slightest negative meaning. Over time, the month expanded, presenting a much larger selection of Christian names. Until the beginning of the 20th century, children were named according to the calendar, and there were no problems with the baptized name.
Step 2
Problems arose with the integration of Western and Eastern cultures, with an increase in the share of educated people in society and, of course, with revolutionary transformations. There was a fashion for names, children began to be called by the names of literary characters, the practice of artificial formation of names took place. For a long time, complaints about the calendar were irrelevant. They returned to the calendar at the end of the last century and faced a rather serious problem.
Step 3
Many names have appeared that are phonetically attractive, but do not have a reflection in the calendar, so the problem of giving a Christian name arises quite often. Even such primordially Russian names as Yaroslav, Svetlana, Milana, Bogdan are absent in the calendar. What should parents do, who want to give their child a sonorous non-trivial name, and at the same time give the child a patron saint in heaven?
Step 4
At baptism, the priest offers the parents a choice of several names that match the sound. The name Alina is not on the list of Christian saints, but there is a fashion for it, it is understandable - the name is beautiful and unusual. As a rule, secular Alins, Alis are named after Alevtina, Angelina, Alexandra, Anna. There are no Slavic names Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, Rostislav in the Orthodox saints, they can be baptized with the names Mstislav, Vyacheslav, Svyatoslav, which are close in sound. There are 15 ancient Russian names listed in Orthodox saints - Boris, Boyan, Vadim, Vladimir, Vladislav, Vsevolod, Vyacheslav, Zlata, Kuksha, Mstislav, Razumnik, Svyatoslav, Lyudina, Lyudmila, Yaropolk.
Step 5
One of the options, to name the child according to the calendar, is to choose the Christian name of the saint, whose memory falls on the date closest to his birthday, the way it will not be in tune with the secular name. Some Christians believe that no one should know the baptized name at all except the closest people and the priest - this is just the case to give a child a middle name. As a result, you get a version of early Christian Russia, when a person had two names - one for use in the world, the second - the name of the guardian angel.
