Saints information, please.

[OrthoCanuck]

Hello all,

I'm looking into saints, especially a patron. I'm not certain that St. Herman is the one for me. I figure it'd kinda like being in love...no one can tell you when you are in love, you just know it.

Anyhoo, I'll give you some info about me and maybe you could point me in the direction of some saints that I could look into:

I'm married
I have kids
I'm interested in philosophy, history and theology
I have French and English heritage
I was a Muslim at one time
I am Canadian (no, really;) )
My birthday is May 1st
I admire the monastic life (but will likely never be a monk)
I've had leanings towards the priesthood (yet ordination is not in my future)
I have issues with anxiety, depression and doubts
I'm a huge bookworm (especially in issues of theology)
I'm almost finished a BA
I'll be entering the Church on Pascha this year
It was the idea of God as Love that brought me back to Christ


........that's probably too much information, but perhaps something will come to you. I've been attracted to St. Herman and St. Gregory of Nyssa, yet I've made no final decision and I'm praying that the Lord will grant me an intercessor (and that I'll know who it is).


Help please,

Peace.

[eoe]

These saints are on my list for patrons:
Saint Theophan The Recluse (Running leader)
Saint Symeon The New Theologian
Saint Ephraim the Syrian
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
Saint Moses the Ethiopian
( you might enjoy reading about them....)

For you I would suggest - Justin Martyr and (Call me crazy) Saint Augustine.

Augustine was:

A bookworm (although he loved latin and hated greek)
A Parent
A "player" (wink wink nudge nudge)
Interested in philosophy
Was a Manichaen originally
Faught against Manichism after conversion
Was educated
Was a bishop

But then I have said some crazy stuff in the past....

[gzt]

Is it out of line to ask what your first or middle name are?

[Tsarina]

What your going through is what many go through. Dont worry, dont try too hard to find a patron Saint, you will know in your heart soon to who it will be. Trying to choose 'one' out of all the wonderful Saints will be very difficult.

Furthermore, interesting info about yourself. You were Muslim at one point in your life? Wow, me too. On the other hand, i'm praying for your anxiety, depression and doubts that you have previously mentioned.

May God Bless you and keep you Healthy. Amen. :crosseo:

[OrthoCanuck]

Is it out of line to ask what your first or middle name are?


My middle name is Robert. As for my first name, there are definitely no saints with that name. I've looked into it.


Peace.

[OrthoCanuck]

Actually I double checked and there is a saint with the same name as mine in England, but there is no information about him or when he was 'made' a saint. All I know is I found churches in the UK with the name St. _______.

Peace.

[choirfiend]

Email those churches and see if they know!

Ask all the saints to be your intercessors. It's really not some huge huge deal that you need to worry about. Most tend to go with their namesakes if they have them. If you need some help, ask your priest to choose. I know who I was named after, but I feel closer to another saint of the same name. I ask for both of their intercessions, for they are both made holy, in different ways, by the same Christ.

[gzt]

If the name is suitably Anglo-Saxon, he is most likely pre-schism. If there are churchs with that name, there will be some information if you dig the right resources.

I don't know of any pre-schism Roberts, unfortunately.

[RobNJ]

I don't know of any pre-schism Roberts, unfortunately.

Tell me about it! :doh:

[The Virginian]

Hello all,

I'm looking into saints, especially a patron. I'm not certain that St. Herman is the one for me. I figure it'd kinda like being in love...no one can tell you when you are in love, you just know it.

Anyhoo, I'll give you some info about me and maybe you could point me in the direction of some saints that I could look into:

........that's probably too much information, but perhaps something will come to you. I've been attracted to St. Herman and St. Gregory of Nyssa, yet I've made no final decision and I'm praying that the Lord will grant me an intercessor (and that I'll know who it is).




Help please,

Peace.

Hmmm! You almost sound like me, except my heritage is American Indian, African, and English.

From the list of saints in the NT, a Christian could not go wrong in picking a saints name. However; I believe that ones ancestry has nothing to do with it! There's the apostle St. John -called the Theologian, Symeon The New Theologian, the apostles, St. Peter and St. Thomas -or Didymus.

Two points to ponder: A saint choses us, rather than we chosing a saints name to bear! And second; The mantle of the saints name we bear, we must be willing to bear!


" He who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back, is not fit for the Kingdom."

[OrthoCanuck]

The only info I've found so far is that he (the saint whose name I coincidentally have) is a 6th century bishop in Brittany. The issue is partly tied to choosing a saint name at Chrismation and I've started morning and evening prayers and during the morning prayer there is a part where I pray for the saint whose name I bear to pray for me. So I'm not agonizing over it, but I would like directions to look in.


Peace.


PS. With regards to St. Augustine, I studied him quite a bit during my university courses (I'm a Medival Studies major). So I've read Confessions and City of God. He has an interesting life, but some of his theology has contributed badly to Christianity (ie. Original Sin and Predestination).

[Greg the byzantine]

Two points to ponder: A saint choses us, rather than we chosing a saints name to bear!

Not true. Everybody who says this, is completely ignoring the fact that cradles have their name chosen for them. So neither does the saint chose us nor does the person chose their saint. Besides you can only pick one name but that does not limit you to what saints you can pray to.

[OrthoCanuck]

I haven't worried about it too much with regards to my kids who will be entering the church at the same time I do. All of their middle names are saints' names (Nathaniel, David, and Marie). It turns out I do share the name of two pre-schism saints. Next to nothing is known about them, so if I cannot find a patron (or if a patron doesn't find me), then I can fall back on those saints. I just wouldn't have a 'name day' or icons for them.


Peace.

[HandmaidenOfGod]

Not true. Everybody who says this, is completely ignoring the fact that cradles have their name chosen for them. So neither does the saint chose us nor does the person chose their saint. Besides you can only pick one name but that does not limit you to what saints you can pray to.

Excellent point! :thumbsup:

[HandmaidenOfGod]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Greg the byzantine again.

:mad:

[choirfiend]

:mad:
Taken care of, HoG.

[choirfiend]

And yay, those are beautiful middle names! I'm sure their first names are just as nice!

Nathaniel, there's one that's on my "list of future children's names." However, if I have as many kids as names on the list, I better be having septuplets every single time, or else there's no way I could ever use them all;)

[gzt]

You could just give each one a pile of names like Hapsburg royalty or something.

[choirfiend]

This is true. It's so hard to find names that have the proper flow and balance between them....

For example, longer names seem to want a shorter name following and vice versus. Names with the same amount of syllables seem to balance, too. And, given my proclivity to names with vowels and girls names that end in "a"or "ia," staying away from ridiculous sounding rhyming is a challenge...

Ian Owen
Sophia Anastasia
Zoe Chloe

and so on

but,

Nathaniel Owen
Gregary Ethan
Emilia Gabrielle
and
Ksenia Sophia

all sound pretty to me!!!

[HandmaidenOfGod]

The other alternative is once you stop having kids to use whatever names are "left over" on your list, get an aquarium full of fish, and just name your fish!

Not to mention, fish are less messy and require less commitment than children! :P

[Fotios]

Saint Rodion..seems to be close to Robert.

[Happy Orthodox]

I was taught about choosing a Saint (and I start to understand this more as I am entering the "Saint-appreciacion" stage of my Orthodoxianization), that you read the lives of Saints, and whoever feels closer to you, or whoever's life affects you the most, then choose that Saint. Or whoever you want to be like when you finally grow up :D Sometime the Siant that wants to be your partron lets you know about that through some circumstances, coincedences. It's that "experience" thing again. We use the brain in Orthodoxy only to guard the heart from evil thoughts pretty much :D Just kidding. The mind is no lesser part of our person, but sometimes it is given too much of an honor especially in the West. So, you might consider that. :)

[Theophorus]

Since you have a some french and canadian, maybe consider St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers. Monica posted this about him not too long ago.

http://www.christianforums.com/t2513516-st-hilary-bishop-of-poitiers.html