Name days of Ilya: when and how to celebrate?

The fashion for names begins and passes just like everything else, only more slowly. Earlier, when names in Russia were still given at baptism, they were very diverse. Often the name was given by the date of birth: on the day of the memory of a saint, a child was born, so he was called. It was then that the most common were such names as Mary for the girl and Ivan for the boy.

What name is traditionally Russian?

Many even consider them traditionally Russian names. But in fact the Russian name should be immediately understandable to the native speaker, it should be speaking. Such examples are, for example, the name Vladimir perfectly deciphers - "own the world", Bogdan - "the child whom the Lord gave." There are a lot of such examples in the Russian language even now.

But neither Mary, nor Ivan, nor Ilya, nor Evdokia, nor many other Russian names, considered traditional, are deciphered. This is because, in fact, all this is foreign, or rather, Jewish, Greek, Roman names.

These names came to us along with Christianity and have since taken root.

And many Russian names became gradually Christian, when the people who worn them were glorified as saints.

How the name extends

Ilya's name was well known in ancient Israel. That's the name of the greatest Jewish prophet, taken to heaven alive. The Orthodox Church honors all true prophets who served God, therefore the name day of Elijah is celebrated on the day of the memory of the ancient prophet - August 2. But later Christian children began to be called in honor of the holy prophet. Some of them simply lived their lives and died, while others became holy. For example, among the Egyptian elders was the Reverend Elijah, glorified in the face of saints.

His memory is laid on January 21 (according to the new style), so that the name day of Ilya is now twice a year. Earlier, some Orthodox who bore the name of Ilya heroically professed Christianity before the torturers and became martyrs. So the name day of the name of Ilya began to be celebrated several times a year. Among the saints with this name, now not only the Israelis, but also the Romans and the Greeks.

Naturally, the more celebrated the name day of Ilya, the more children are called exactly in accordance with tradition. This means that the number of the righteous who bear this name increases. Gradually, Ilya was also called Russian children.

Russian Saint

For example, after glancing at the saints on January 1, we will be surprised to find Reverend Ilya of Murom there.

What is it? Russian fairy tale became a myth and fell into the Lives of the saints, or, conversely, Lives of the saints became a fairy tale?

According to legend, St. Ilya of Murom really existed and was really born in this ancient city on the Oka River. The boy was named Ilya, the name-day (the day of the angel, in other words) he had, apparently, on January 1. He was paralyzed for a long time, and then he was healed by some wanderers. Ilya Muromets was a warrior, hero for a while, but then he went to the monastery, to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and there he finished his days. Russian fairy tales and legends preserved the heroic part of his biography, although they embellished her, of course, but lost the notion of him as a saint. So from the moment of the glorification of the Monk Elijah of Murom, one can also be named a newborn boy after him.

How to determine which saint is your heavenly patron?

If a newborn child is named after a certain saint, whom parents love, it's all clear with the name-day people. For example, a child named after the prophet will celebrate his name-day in August, and the name day of Ilya, named after Ilya Muromets, in January. But how to identify the patron saint, if the parents were not religious people and named the child after the artist?

The rule is this: the first saint, whose memory is celebrated after the birthday, is the heavenly patron of man.

The same saint is the person who seems to us closer from all those saved by God. Therefore, it is to him that people pray in the first place in difficult situations.

How to celebrate the day of the angel Ilya?

Name days are sometimes called the day of the angel. This is a very poetic, but not quite correct name, because the patron saint and the guardian angel are two different entities.

On the day of the name-day, the Orthodox usually receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ. For this it is necessary to fast for several days and confess on the eve or on the very day of the sacrament. The Holy Mysteries are consecrated in the Liturgy, which must be defended from beginning to end. After the sacrament, thanksgiving prayers are read , they return home and gather guests. The party on this day is unlikely to be noisy: this is a spiritual, chamber holiday. Usually relatives or close friends are invited.

At the table, rarely drink strong alcoholic beverages, more often it's just wine. Themes for conversation are better to choose carefully so as not to cause quarrels or not to offend someone.

The tradition of celebrating their name day is gradually restored.