Baptism is a sacrament during which a person receives the protection of one of the angels. This angel becomes the guardian of a person and accompanies him throughout his life, protecting him from mistakes and saving him from trouble.
During pagan times, the list of personal names was not limited by canons. The visual characteristics of the child, the attitude of family members to the baby, even the serial number of birth could be used as a name. So the name "Nine" could surprise few people, and a fair-haired girl named Svetlana (Svetlyana) met in every Slavic village.
With the adoption of Christianity, children began to be named after the holy great martyrs, whose number at first was insignificant. Therefore, numerous Ivans, Marya, Anna appeared.
For almost the entire 20th century, the saints were not remembered, and the names were given in accordance with fashion, in honor of relatives or famous people.
But in recent decades, there has been a growing interest in traditions and, in particular, in the criticism of children according to the calendar.
What are saints
The calendar of saints is a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints. There are several names for each day. It is believed that on the child's birthday one of these saints descends to him and prepares to become his guardian angel. Therefore, it is important that the name of the child corresponds to one of the names of the holy great martyrs of this day.
Throughout the history of Christianity, the saints were replenished with new names, but mainly of Greek, Latin, Jewish origin. There were no saints in Russia, since the pagans could not become Christian great martyrs. But Old Slavonic names, nevertheless, are found, for example, Lyudmila is even mentioned twice.
How to choose a baptismal name?
The problem is not the simplest one, considering that many modern secular names are either not in the calendar, or they are given in their original sound, that is, without translation.
It turns out a paradoxical situation when girls named after the most famous great martyrs - Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov, cannot receive this name at baptism, since in Orthodoxy there are only their not quite euphonious Greek originals - Pistis, Elpis and Agape. And only the original name of the mother from Sophia (Wisdom) turned out to be more acceptable as a name.
There is no consensus among the clergy on this matter. Some willingly name the child his secular name, others give the name of the closest saint at baptism, while others offer parents a choice of several options that are most suitable for consonance.
And how can you call Svetlana now?
Svetlana is an Old Church Slavonic name, which according to the meaning of "light" in the calendar corresponds to Fotinia (February 26) or Fotina (April 2).
