A sermon on using your Christian Baptismal name always

[尼古拉前执事]

One fine girl who lived in a Judean city then called Joppa (today's Jaffa), a harbor of the Hebrew nation, had the name Dorcas or Tabitha in Hebrew which means gazelle. Dorcas, the young girl of Joppa, was a much loved person in her community. She was not the daughter of some rich or prominent family; no, she was a poor girl, a seamstress who lived by her needle. But this poor girl was a noble human being who held a spiritual treasure in her heart. That spiritual treasure, which has nothing to do with worldly treasures, was her virtues. From the moment she believed in Christ, was baptized and become a Christian, Dorcas proved that she didn't simply want to be called a Christian but wanted to live according to the commandments of the Bible. The most important commandment the Christ brought to the world is the commandment of love: "Love one another." In her life, Dorcas applied this commandment to an absolute degree. Dorcas wasn't rich; she didn't have money enough to give alms to the poor. Many think that only the rich can give alms. "What can we give?" they say. "We need to be helped, not help others." However, Dorcas, this fine girl from Joppa, teaches us all that those who have love in their hearts can do a lot for others, even if they don't have money. Dorcas, as today's Epistle reading tells us, offered her professional abilities as a seamstress to the poor. She sewed clothes for orphans and widows for nothing. She performed many other kindnesses as well, which the Acts of the Apostles does not specifically mention but only says: "This woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did." Dorcas wasn't, as they say, an empty glass but a glass full of the refreshing water of love. With it she watered and refreshed people who were thirsty for love, for help, and for benevolence. Dorcas was full of works of love and charity. What a blessed girl! While rich women and girls who lived in Joppa spent their time in vain amusement, paying absolutely no attention to the poor, the orphans, and the widows, Dorcas became a fountain of love - a fountain that flowed and gave charity to the world in spite of her poverty. When she became sick and died, all the poor, all the orphans, and all the widows who had found consolation and protection near her mourned. She had been an affectionate mother to this suffering world.

The Christians of Joppa, the orphans and widows that Dorcas cared for, believed that whatever God does is done for the best. They were only expressing with tears the pain they felt at her death. They didn't want Dorcas to die but to live many more years and to be with them. That is why, as soon as Dorcas fell sick and they saw that day by day the illness was becoming worse and she was in danger of dying, they sent for the Apostle Peter, who was at a nearby city. But by the time Peter arrived, Dorcas had died. Seeing the sorrow Dorcas's death brought on, Peter kneeled, prayed, and then said to the dead girl, "Tabitha, arise," and the miracle happened. The dead girl opened her eyes, sat up, and started speaking! The miracle became known throughout the whole district immediately, and the people believed in Christ.

Dorcas, this exemplary girl from Joppa, teaches us a lot. But pay close attention to a detail - the name of this fine girl. She was called Dorcas, and she proved herself to be a Dorcas. That is to say, just as the gazelle is an agile animal that runs everywhere and traverses great distances until it finds pure water, in the same way this daughter of Joppa ran and did not rest until she drank the water and was refreshed, or, to put it another way, until she could do good to other people. Doing good to others was like being refreshed herself. And just as the gazelle looks to the left and to the right so as not to fall into the trap of the hunters, this daughter of Joppa did the same thing. She was a very careful disciple of Christ. Spreading good works both to the left and to the right, she was careful not to fall into the traps of the Devil; she kept her body clean and freed from the sins of pride and vanity. Thus she lived up to the name that had been given to her. She was Dorcas not only in name, but also in deed.

We, beloved, have names greater than the name that this noble young woman of Joppa had. We have Christian names, names that the saints had, these great heros of our Orthodox faith. These names were given to us at the time we were baptized to remind us always that we must live as the saints did. What a shame to live contrary to the lives of those saints whose names we have. IT is like insulting them and dishonoring their sacred memories. Even worse is to blaspheme and dishonor another name, which is above all other names - the name Christian. Our names call to us: O Orthodox Christians, either change your name or change your behavior.

May all of us who have Christian names realize our responsibility and live a perfect Christian life in accordance with the Bible so that there may be harmony between our names and our lives.

Sermon on the epistle for the Sunday of the Paralytic from Sparks from the Apostles by Bishop Augoustinos of Florina (Greece)

[尼古拉前执事]

You are quite welcome. I just edited it to reformat it for easier reading.

[Jean-Serge]

I higly disagree with with idea of using the Christian baptismal name because giving a baptismal name is not necessary at all. I often here Russian orthodox saying :

1° you cannot have a compoud name (like mine Jean-Serge i.e John Sergius)

2° you must have the name of a Saint

Entirely wrong, this is a Russian tradition but not an Orthodox one. Let's see in Serbia. Many names come from the pagan period because when people were masively converted they did dot received systematically Greek or jewish names. For instance, Milan is not an Orthodox saint etc. The same in Georgia, which adopted Christianism before Russia (by the way). Many names refer to no saints...

If we take the example of Russia, following this Russian tradition, Saint Wladimir should be called Saint Basil which was his baptismal name...

We cannot forget that the Saints we venerate where probably the first Saint to carry this particular name too... If they had had to change their name for their baptism, they would have had very few choices.

In my own case, I kept my former name but simply chose two saints : Saint John of the Ladder (and Saint John of Shangai by the way) and Saints Sergius and Bacchus (since they were companions). Of course this create little problemas everytime I go in a Russian church. What is your name? Jean-Serge... Well Jean or Serge...etc

[joasia]

Jean-Serge wrote:

I higly disagree with with idea of using the Christian baptismal name because giving a baptismal name is not necessary at all.

Do you mean that you don't think it's necessary to change your name at baptism? With that, I agree. My name was and is Joanna. I didn't have to change it.

But, I do believe that a Christian name should be given for a baby or an adult who doesn't have a Christian name. I believe that we should all have the name of a saint, so that we can ask for their intercession. I always ask St. Joanna, the Myrr-bearing woman, for her intercession. God honors them with sainthood and we should honor them for reaching that unity with God.

1° you cannot have a compoud name (like mine Jean-Serge i.e John Sergius)

That's because one person cannot have two names. But, I think in the tradition of the French, the name Jean and Marie are a constant and the second name is the specified name. Marie is obviously for the Theotokos and Jean, no doubt for John the Theologian(who took care of her after the Resurrection). I think the French had a deep root in the Church tradition, but the reasons for their traditions have become lost.

I will ask my god-father, who's name is Michel-Antoine, but in the Orthodox baptism, he was given the name Timothy. He still uses his legal name, but I call him Timothy. He's Basque and very knowledgable about Church and Orthodox traditions.

2° you must have the name of a Saint

Entirely wrong, this is a Russian tradition but not an Orthodox one.

This, I don't understand. Why is it not an Orthodox tradition??

Let's see in Serbia. Many names come from the pagan period because when people were masively converted they did dot received systematically Greek or jewish names. For instance, Milan is not an Orthodox saint etc. The same in Georgia, which adopted Christianism before Russia (by the way). Many names refer to no saints...

Perhaps they are names of saints that we've never heard of? Have you done excessive research on this? Perhaps these are names that have been in the family for a long time.

If we take the example of Russia, following this Russian tradition, Saint Wladimir should be called Saint Basil which was his baptismal name...

This one stumps me. Perhaps the Russians had a reason to refer to him with his former name. But, they have referred to other saints whose names were changed when they became monastics.

We cannot forget that the Saints we venerate where probably the first Saint to carry this particular name too... If they had had to change their name for their baptism, they would have had very few choices.

Well, in the year 2005, we don't have that excuse to fall on anymore, do we? There are plenty of names to choose from.

In my own case, I kept my former name but simply chose two saints : Saint John of the Ladder (and Saint John of Shangai by the way) and Saints Sergius and Bacchus (since they were companions). Of course this create little problemas everytime I go in a Russian church. What is your name? Jean-Serge... Well Jean or Serge...etc

So, basically, you get four names days? Four names days for one soul...?? Is this your own choice, because it doesn't sound like an Orthodox tradition and I'm not talking about Russian tradition, I'm talking about the Greek tradition.

[尼古拉前执事]

I think the Serbians are the only ones to not have a individual name's day, being named after a saint at Baptism, but of course they replace it with the Slava, which is a family's name day. All other Orthodox cultures, as far as I know, have the naming at Baptism to be a name of a saint.

[Jean-Serge]

I think the Serbians are the only ones to not have a individual name's day, being named after a saint at Baptism, but of course they replace it with the Slava, which is a family's name day. All other Orthodox cultures, as far as I know, have the naming at Baptism to be a name of a saint.

No the Georgian have many names referring to no Saints at all : for example the female name Lela refers to no saints. There are also names that come from a Persian influence and that refer to no saint. And Georgia was christrianized long ago before Russia (4th century).

As I showed, this is also the case in Serbia. That is why I said having the name of a saint was not systematical. Hence my sentence : it is a Russian tradition and not an Orthodox one, since Georgian and Serbians do not have this tradition.

For the Serbians, I have checked that there is no Saint Milan, there is no Saint Ratsko, even if Ratrsko was the name of Saint Sava before he became a monk. This would mean that the future Saint Sava was baptized with a name that is not the name of a saint but a traditionnal Serbian name. At least, I was taught that Milan was a name inherited from the Pagan period.

I think having the name of a Saint does not create a special relationship. I can ask the intercession of a saint without having the same name...

No I have 2 name days Saint John of the Ladder and Saint Sergius and Bacchus (the same day). Saint John of Shangaï is a saint I have a great veneration too. I spoke wrongly...

By the way, I do not understand why we should not form compound names made up with two or more names. This is not typîcally French. You can also find this in Italy (Giancarlo, Gianmarco etc), in Spain (Juan Carlos, Jose Maria etc). I think some people of the Gospel had many names. For instance the evangelist Mark had also the name of John (I think). You can also see that sometimes the evangelist say, X (a name) who was called Y (another name). This would suggest they had many names...

At least, I am sure that in the Serbian and Georgian traditions it is not mandatory to give the name of a Saint. It seems to be mandatory in Russia... I will come later with further information as I am going to ask for more precisions.

[Jean-Serge]

I have spoken to my Georgian priest's wife. She has confirmed me that most Georgian names were Traditionnal georgian names that come back to the pagan period. For instance : teona or tea and I think Lela too. She told me that it was not mandatory in Georgia to adopt a "Christian" name...

According to her, Saint Abo of Tbilissi, who was a converted from Islam kept his muslim name (he was baptized). So Abo would be his name.

The more I look in this issue, the more I think this idea of giving the name of a Saint is typically Russian (since at least Georgian and Serbian do not do the same).

I would be interested to know what is happening on this subject in Romania, Bulgaria etc... in the past and nowadays...