How to find out what kind of guardian angel you have. How to recognize your Guardian Angel by date of birth, when and how to pray to him

Each person has his own guardian angels who guard him throughout his life. Knowing them, you will be able to contact them in difficult times with any request or question. Patron saints will help you become bolder and more confident in your actions.

Angels are always there. To turn to them, you just need to open your soul and heart towards the Higher Forces. The site experts also recommend using appeals to angels for every day of the week to change your life for the better and get around difficulties.

Guardian angels by date of birth

December 22 - January 20. The powerful saints Sylvester and Seraphim of Sarov are your angels. Also, the icon of the Mother of God "Reigning" acts as the intercessor in vital matters. You can safely address your patrons by name, and they will definitely answer your prayers. In front of the icon, you can ask for sincere love and understanding with your spouse, the search for true love if you are alone.

January 21 - February 20. Those born during this period can safely turn to the icon of the Mother of God "Vladimirskaya" and the patron angels Athanasius and Cyril. These saints will tirelessly be with you and will certainly come to your aid in difficult times. Site experts advise people born on these dates to pay attention to the icon "Burning Bush". Before these icons, you can pray for gaining health and ask for protection from ill-wishers.

February 21 - March 20. Your intercessor in worldly affairs is the icon of the Iberian Mother of God, before which prayers are offered to protect themselves and those close to you from all sorts of misfortunes. You can ask Saints Alexy and Milentius of Antioch for patronage and advice in emotional distress.

March 21 - April 20. Those born in the spring are guarded by Saints Sophrony and Innocent of Irkutsk, as well as the Hodegetria icon. This face is a guiding star for you and is able to heal all ailments and diseases, being miraculous and endowed with Higher powers. The site's experts recommend that people born during this period contact the saints with requests to improve the health of their own and their relatives.

April 21 - May 20. People born at this time are protected by Saints Stephen and Tamara, who are invisibly close by and guard from negativity and evil. Each of those born in April-May time can resort to the help of the icon "The Guarantor of Sinners". This shrine is able to cleanse the soul of negativity, put thoughts in order and show the right path to light and truth.

May 21 - June 21. The patron saints of those who were born in these numbers are Alexei and Constantine. These saints are strong defenders, able to drive away any evil from life. The icon in front of which it is necessary to offer prayers is the “Vladimirskaya” Mother of God, who protects and guides on the true path all who need support and heavenly blessing.

June 22 - July 22. The Holy Angel Cyril and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God are the patrons of people born from June 22 to July 22. The icon and the prayers in front of it are able to banish any sorrows and grievances from life, and the guardian angel invisibly protects his wards from adversity and ill-wishers on the path to well-being.

July 23 - August 23. Those born from mid to late summer are protected by Ilya the Prophet and Nicholas the Pleasure. Their presence in people's lives helps to cope with difficulties and gain self-confidence. The icon "The Protection of the Holy Mother of God" also protects peace, giving help and protection to everyone who asks for it, quenching troubles and sorrows.

August 24 - September 23. Strong heavenly patrons John, Paul and Alexander help people born between late summer and mid-September. The “Passionate” icon of the Mother of God is the protector image. Before her, every believer can ask for patronage and protection from adversity and negativity that create obstacles on the path of life.

September 24 - October 23. St Sergius of Radonezh, the mentor and patron of every Christian, bears tireless protection over people born on these dates. The icon-protector is the Pochaev icon of the Mother of God. Her strength helps everyone to find true faith, strength and justice in relation to ill-wishers, confidence and calmness in decision-making.

October 24 - November 22. The guardian of people born at this time, Saint Paul, helps everyone to fight the evil within themselves and achieve enlightenment by finding harmony with themselves and the outside world. The icon-protector for them is the "Quick to Hearken", who heals bodily and mental illnesses, gives peace and tranquility in the family, guides them on the right path.

November 23 - December 21. The patron angels of these people are Saint Barbara and Nicholas the Pleasure. It is first of all necessary to pray to those born on these dates before the face of the Mother of God "The Sign". This icon gets rid of bad influence, helps to find true friends, and also helps to heal deep spiritual wounds.

True faith allows each person to gain self-confidence, to start a path filled with deep meaning and satisfaction, contributes to the acquisition of wisdom and spiritual kindness. The site experts recommend everyone to contact their heavenly patrons at any time when their soul and heart require it. We wish you sincere happiness and prosperity, and do not forget to press the buttons and

Name days- a day of remembrance, whose was given to a person at. Every day is dedicated to the memory of a saint (most often more than one). The list of days of remembrance of the saints is in.
Most often, the day of remembrance of a saint is the day of his earthly death, i.e. transition into eternity, meeting with God, to whom the ascetic was striving to join.

How to determine the day of the name day

In the church calendar, there are several days of commemoration of the same saint, and many saints also bear the same name. Therefore, it is necessary to find in the church calendar the day of remembrance of the saint you are named after, the closest after your birthday. This will be your name day, and the saint, whose memory is remembered on this day, will be your heavenly patron. If he has other days of remembrance, then these dates will become "small name days" for you.

If we want to give a name to a child strictly according to church tradition, then it will be the name of the saint, whose memory is celebrated on the 8th day after the birth of the child. Cm.

When determining the name day, the date of the canonization of the saint does not matter, because it only fixes a fait accompli. In addition, as a rule, it takes place tens of years after the transition of the saint to the heavenly abodes.

The name received by a person at baptism not only remains unchanged throughout his life (the only exception is the case of accepting monasticism), but also remains after death, passes with him into eternity. In prayers for the departed, he also remembers their names given in baptism.

Birthday and Angel Day

Name days are sometimes referred to as Angel Day. This name day recalls that in the old days the heavenly patrons were sometimes called the Angels of their earthly namesakes; it is incorrect, however, to confuse saints with angels. Name day is the day of remembrance of the saint, after whom the person is named, and the Day of the Angel is the day of baptism, when a person is appointed by God. Each baptized person has his own Guardian Angel, but his name is unknown to us.

Honoring and imitating your patron saint

The monk wrote about the prayerful help of the saints: “The saints, in the Holy Spirit see our life and our deeds. They know our sorrows and hear our fervent prayers ... The Saints do not forget us and pray for us ... They also see the suffering of people on earth. The Lord gave them such great grace that they embrace the whole world with love. They see and know how we faint from sorrow, how our souls have dried up, how despondency has fettered them, and, without ceasing, they intercede for us before God. "

Veneration of the saint consists not only in prayer to him, but also in imitation of his feat, his faith. “By name and your life, let it be,” said the monk. After all, the saint whose name a person bears is not just his patron and prayer book, he is also a role model.

But how can we imitate our saint, how at least in some way follow his example? For this you need:

• First, to know about his life and exploits. Without this, we cannot truly love our saint.
• Secondly, we need to more often turn to them with prayer, know the troparion to him and always remember that we have a protector and helper in heaven.
• Thirdly, of course, we must always think about how we could follow the example of our saint in this or that case.

According to the nature of Christian exploits, the saints are traditionally divided into faces (categories): prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, confessors, reverends, righteous, holy fools, faithful, etc. (see).
The person bearing the name confessor or martyr, may well fearlessly profess his faith, act like a Christian always and in everything, without looking back at the dangers or inconveniences, in everything, please, first of all, God, and not people, regardless of ridicule, threats and even oppression.
Those named after saints, can try to imitate them, exposing errors and vices, spreading the light of Orthodoxy, helping others to find the way to salvation both by word and by example.
Reverend(i.e. monks) can be imitated in detachment, independence from worldly pleasures, keeping the purity of thoughts, feelings and actions.
Imitate the holy fool- means, first of all, to humble ourselves, to cultivate selflessness in oneself, not to get carried away with the acquisition of earthly riches. The continuation should be the education of will and patience, the ability to endure the hardships of life, the fight against pride and vanity. You also need the habit of meekly enduring all grievances, but at the same time not being ashamed to expose obvious vices, to tell the truth to everyone who needs to be disciplined.

Names after Angels

Also, a person can be named after (Michael, Gabriel, etc.). Christians, named after the archangels, celebrate the name day (November 8, O.S. style), on the day of the Celebration of the Cathedral of the Archangel of God Michael and other disembodied Heavenly Forces.

If the name is not in the calendar

If the name by which you were named is not in the calendar, then at baptism, the name that is closest in sound is chosen. For example, Dina - Evdokia, Lilia - Leah, Angelica - Angelina, Jeanne - John, Milana - Militsa. According to tradition, Alice receives the name Alexandra in baptism, in honor of St. passion-bearer Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova, who before the adoption of Orthodoxy was named Alice. Some names in the church tradition have a different sound, for example, Svetlana is Fotinia (from the Greek photos - light), and Victoria is Nika, both names in Latin and Greek mean "victory".
Only the names given in baptism are written in.

How to celebrate a name day

Orthodox Christians on their name days visit the temple and, having prepared in advance, and the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
The days of "small name days" are not so solemn for the birthday person, but it is advisable to visit the temple on this day.
After communion, you need to keep yourself from all fuss so as not to lose your holiday joy. In the evening, you can invite loved ones for a meal. It should be remembered that if the name day falls on a fast day, then the festive treat should be fast. In Great Lent, name days that happened on a weekday are postponed to the next Saturday or Sunday.
Cm. Natalia Sukhinina

What to give for a name day

In celebration of the memory of the patron saint, the best gift for the birthday person will be something that can contribute to his spiritual growth: an icon; vessel for, container for and; beads; quality wax candles or a lamp for home prayer; books, audio and video recordings of spiritual content; a scarf and kerchief (this is the headdress of married women); a ticket to a pilgrimage trip.

Prayer to your saint

About the saint, in whose honor we receive the name, we must remember not only on the day of the name day. In the daily morning and evening there is a prayer to the saint, we can also turn to him at any time and in any need. The simplest prayer to a saint:
Pray to God for me, holy servant of God (name), as I zealously run to you, an ambulance and prayer book for my soul.
You also need to know your saint.

In addition to the icons of the Savior - the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Mother of God, it is desirable to have your own saint. It may happen that you bear some rare name, and the icon of your heavenly patron will be difficult to find. In this case, you can buy an icon of All Saints, which symbolically depicts all the saints glorified by the Orthodox Church.

Patristic sayings about name days

“We began to choose names not in God's way. In God's way, that's how it should be. Choose a name according to the calendar: either on what day the child will be born, or on what day it is baptized, or in the interval and three days after baptism. Here the matter will be without any human considerations, but as God wills, for the birthdays are in the hands of God.
saint

History and symbols of the celebration of the name day

Like many other religious traditions, the celebration of name days in Soviet times was forgotten, moreover, in the 1920s and 1930s, it was officially persecuted. True, it turned out to be difficult to eradicate age-old folk habits: they still congratulate the birthday man on his birthday, and if the hero of the occasion is very young, they sing a song: "how on ... we baked a loaf on the name day." Meanwhile, the name day is a special holiday, which could be called the day of spiritual birth, since it is associated primarily with the sacrament of Baptism and with the names worn by our co-named heavenly patrons.

The tradition of celebrating name days has been known in Russia since the 17th century. Usually, on the eve of the holiday, the birthday boy's family brewed beer, baked birthday rolls, pies and loaves. On the day of the holiday itself, the birthday man with his family went to church for mass, ordered a prayer service for health, lit candles and applied to the icon with the face of his heavenly patron. In the afternoon, birthday pies were served to friends and relatives, and often the filling and size of the pie had a special meaning, determined by the nature of the relationship between the birthday man and his loved ones. In the evening, a festive dinner was held.

The tsar's name days (the day of the namesake), which were considered a public holiday, were especially magnificently celebrated. On this day, boyars and courtiers came to the royal court in order to present gifts and take part in a festive feast, at which they sang for many years. Sometimes the king personally handed out pies. Huge birthday rolls were spreading to the people. Later, other traditions appeared: military parades, fireworks, illuminations, shields with imperial monograms.

After the revolution, a serious and systematic ideological struggle began with the name day: the baptism rite was recognized as counter-revolutionary, and they tried to replace it with "Octobrins" and "stars". A ritual was developed in detail, in which the newborn was congratulated in a strict sequence by an Octobrist, pioneer, Komsomol member, communist, "honorable parents", sometimes the baby was symbolically enrolled in the trade union, and so on. The fight against "vestiges" reached anecdotal extremes: for example, in the 1920s, censorship banned K. Chukovsky's "Mukhu-Tsokotukha" for "propaganda of name days."

Traditionally, the name day is attributed to that day of remembrance of the saint of the same name (the same name), who immediately follows the birthday, although there is also a tradition of celebrating the name day on the day of memory of the most famous saint of the same name, for example, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Apostle Peter, St. Alexander Nevsky, etc. In the past, name days were considered a more important holiday than the day of “bodily” birth, in addition, in many cases these holidays practically coincided, since traditionally the child was baptized on the eighth day after birth: the eighth day is a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven , to which the baptized person participates, while the number seven is an ancient symbolic number denoting the created earthly world. Baptismal names were chosen according to the church calendar (saints). According to the old custom, the choice of name was limited to the names of the saints, whose memory was celebrated on the day of baptism. Later (especially in urban society) they moved away from this strict custom and began to choose names, guided by personal taste and other considerations - in honor of relatives, for example.
Name days turn us to one of our hypostases - to a personal name.

Perhaps the ancient motto "Know thyself" should be added: "Know thy name." Of course, the name primarily serves to distinguish people. In the past, a name could be a social sign, indicate a place in society - now, perhaps, only monastic (monastic) names stand out sharply from the Russian name-book. But there is also an almost forgotten now, mystical meaning of the name.
In ancient times, people attached much more importance to the name than they do now. The name was considered a significant part of a person. The content of the name correlated with the inner meaning of a person, it seemed to be embedded in him. The name ruled fate ("a good name is a good sign"). A well-chosen name became a source of strength and prosperity. Naming was considered a high act of creation, guessing the human essence, invoking grace.
In primitive society, the name was treated as a part of the body, like eyes, teeth, etc. to kill the enemy, it was supposed to find out his name in order to use it in his native tribe. Often the names were hidden in order not to give weapons to the enemy. Bad treatment of the name was expected to cause harm, trouble. In some tribes it was strictly forbidden to pronounce (taboo) the name of the leader. In others, the custom was practiced to give the elders new names, which gave them new strength. It was believed that a sick child was given strength by the name of the father, which was shouted in the ear or even called by the name of the father (mother), believing that part of the vital energy of the parents would help overcome the disease. If the child cried especially a lot, then the name was chosen incorrectly. Different nationalities have long preserved the tradition of naming "deceitful", false names: the true name was not pronounced in the hope that death and evil spirits, perhaps, would not find the baby. There was another variant of protective names - unattractive, ugly, frightening names (for example, Nekras, Nelyuba and even Dead), averting hardships and misfortunes.

In ancient Egypt, the personal name was carefully guarded. The Egyptians had a "small" name, known to everyone, and a "big" name, which was considered true: it was kept secret and was pronounced only during important ceremonies. The names of the pharaohs were especially respected - in the texts they were distinguished with a special cartouche. The Egyptians treated the names of the dead with great respect - mishandling them caused irreparable harm to the otherworldly being. The name and its bearer constituted one whole: the Egyptian myth, according to which the god Ra hid his name, is characteristic, but the goddess Isis managed to find out him, opening his chest - the name literally turned out to be inside the body!

Since ancient times, a change in name has been consistent with a change in human nature. New names were given to adolescents at initiation, that is, when joining adult members of the community. In China, there are still children's "milk" names, which are rejected with maturity. In ancient Greece, the newly minted priests, renouncing the old names, carved them on metal plates and drowned them in the sea. Echoes of these ideas can be seen in the Christian tradition of naming monastic names, when the one who has taken monastic vows leaves the world and his worldly name.

Many peoples taboo the names of pagan gods and spirits. It was especially dangerous to call evil spirits ("swear"): in this way it was possible to call on "unkind power." The ancient Jews did not dare to call the Name of God: Yahweh (in the Old Testament it is the “ineffable Name,” a sacred tetragram that can be translated as “I am that I am.” According to the Bible, the act of naming often becomes God's work: the Lord gave names to Abraham, Sarah , Isaac, Ishmael, Solomon, renamed Jacob to Israel.The special religious gift of the Jewish people manifested itself in a multitude of names, which are called theophoric - they contain God's "ineffable Name": so through his personal name a person was associated with God.

Christianity, as the highest religious experience of mankind, takes personal names very seriously. The name of a person reflects the mystery of a unique, precious person, it presupposes personal communication with God. During the sacrament of Baptism, the Christian Church, accepting a new soul into her bosom, connects it through her personal name with the name of God. As Fr. Sergiy Bulgakov, “human naming and naming exists in the image and likeness of divine incarnation and naming ... every person is an incarnate word, a realized name, for the Lord Himself is an incarnate Name and Word”.

Holiness is considered the Christian destiny. Naming the baby with the name of a canonized saint, the Church tries to direct him on the true path: after all, this name has already been “realized” in life as a saint. He who bears the holy name always keeps within himself the uplifting image of his heavenly patron, "helper", "prayer book." On the other hand, the community of names unites Christians into one body of the Church, into one "chosen people."

Reverence for the names of the Savior and the Mother of God has long been expressed in the fact that in the Orthodox tradition it is not customary to give names in memory of the Mother of God and Christ. Previously, the name of the Mother of God was even distinguished by a different stress - Mary, while other holy wives had the name Mary (Mary). The rare monastic (schematic) name Jesus was assigned in memory not of Jesus Christ, but of the righteous Joshua.

The Russian Christian namebook has evolved over the centuries. The first extensive layer of Russian names arose in the pre-Christian era. The reasons for the emergence of this or that name could be very different: in addition to religious motives, circumstances of birth, appearance, character, etc. played a role. Later, after the Baptism of Rus, these names, sometimes difficult to distinguish from nicknames, coexisted with Christian calendar names ( up to the 17th century). Even priests sometimes bore nicknames. It happened that one person could have as many as three personal names: a "nickname" name and two baptismal names (one is explicit, the other is secret, known only to the confessor). When the Christian namebook completely supplanted the pre-Christian "nickname" names, they did not leave us for good, moving to another class of names - in the surname (for example, Nekrasov, Zhdanov, Naydenov). Some pre-Christian names of canonized Russian saints later became calendar names (for example, Yaroslav, Vyacheslav, Vladimir).
With the adoption of Christianity, Russia was enriched with the names of the entire human civilization: with the Byzantine calendar, Greek, Jewish, Roman and other names came to us. Sometimes images of more ancient religions and cultures were hidden under a Christian name. Over time, these names became Russified, so much so that the Hebrew names themselves became Russian - Ivan da Marya. At the same time, one should bear in mind the lofty thought of Fr. Pavel Florensky: "there are no names, neither Jewish, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor Russian - there are only names common to all mankind, the common heritage of mankind."

The post-revolutionary history of Russian names developed dramatically: a massive campaign of "de-Christianization" of the name-book was carried out. The revolutionary obscurantism of certain strata of society, combined with a tough state policy, was aimed at rebuilding, and hence at renaming the world. Together with the renaming of the country, its cities and streets, people were renamed. "Red saints" were compiled, new, "revolutionary" names were invented, many of which now sound just like curiosities (for example Malentro, i.e. Marx, Lenin, Trotsky; Dazdraperma, i.e. Long live May Day, etc. .). The process of revolutionary imyatonstvo, characteristic of ideological revolutions in general (it was known in France at the end of the 18th century, and in republican Spain, and in the countries of the former "socialist camp") did not last long in Soviet Russia, about a decade (20-30s ). Soon these names became part of history - here it is appropriate to recall another thought about. Pavel Florensky: "you can't think of names" in the sense that they are "the most stable fact of culture and the most important of its foundations."

The change in the Russian name also went along the line of borrowing from other cultures - Western European (e.g. Albert, Victoria, Jeanne) and common Slavic Christian names (e.g. Stanislav, Bronislav), names from Greek and Roman mythology and history (e.g. Aurelius, Aphrodite , Venus), etc. Over time, Russian society again returned to calendar names, but "de-Christianization" and a break in tradition led to an extraordinary impoverishment of the modern namebook, which now consists of only a few dozen names (the common property of "mass cultures" - the desire to average, standardize ).

Hieromonk Macarius (Markish):
Since ancient times, the custom has been established to give a newly admitted member of the Church the name of a saint. Thus, a special, new connection arises between the earth and Heaven, between a person living in this world, and one of those who have walked their life with dignity, whose holiness the Church has borne witness and glorified with her conciliar reason. Therefore, every Orthodox Christian must keep in memory the saint in whose honor he is named, know the basic facts of his life, and, if possible, remember at least some elements of the service in his honor.
But the same name, especially among the common ones (Peter, Nikolai, Maria, Elena), was worn by many saints of different times and peoples; therefore, we have to find out in honor of which saint, who bore this name, the baby will be named. This can be done using a detailed church calendar, which contains an alphabetical list of the saints venerated by our Church with the dates of their commemoration. The choice is made taking into account the date of birth or baptism of the child, the circumstances of the life of the saints, family traditions, your personal sympathies.
In addition, many famous saints have several days of remembrance during the year: this can be the day of death, the day of the acquisition or transfer of relics, the day of glorification - canonization. You have to choose which of these days will become a holiday (name day, name day) for your child. It is often called Angel's Day. In fact, we ask the Lord to give the newly baptized his Guardian Angel; but this Angel should never be confused with the saint after whom the child is named.
Sometimes, when giving a name, there are some difficulties. There are many Orthodox saints known in history, but not included in our calendars. Among them are the saints of Western Europe, who lived and glorified even before the fall of Rome from Orthodoxy (until 1054 the Roman Church was not torn away from Orthodoxy, and we also recognize the saints venerated in it by that time as saints), whose names we acquired from us popularity in recent decades (Victoria, Edward, etc.), but sometimes they are listed as “non-Orthodox”. There are also reverse situations when the familiar Slavic name does not belong to any of the Orthodox saints (for example, Stanislav). Finally, there are frequent formal misunderstandings associated with the spelling of the name (Elena - Alena, Ksenia - Oksana, John - Ivan) or its sound in different languages ​​(in Slavic - Svetlana and Zlata, in Greek - Fotinia and Chris).
In the Russian Church, unlike some other Orthodox Churches, the beloved name of Mary is never given in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, but only in honor of other saints who bore this name. You should also know that since 2000 our Church has ranked among the saints many of our fellow countrymen and fellow citizens - new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century - and calls on believers to name their children in their honor and memory.