Celebrating a Namesday
Jun 11th, 2008 by michelle
Today is my husband’s namesday, and I was wondering: how does your family celebrates Namesdays?
Leave your answers in the comments section and I’ll share them in later post.
Bartholomew/Nathaniel
Nathaniel Bar Tolmai was a native of Cana chosen to be among the 12 Apostles and praised for his sincerity. The synoptic gospels and the Acts of the Apostles list Bartholomew among the Twelve, and the gospel according to St. John lists Nathaniel, who is elsewhere associated with Philip. Other gospels note an association of Philip with Bartholomew, and people have inferred that the writers of the synoptic books call Nathaniel by his patronymic, while St. John calls him by his first name.
Details of his subsequent career are unknown. He is said to have preached in India (or Ethiopia), Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, and Armenia. Eusebius reports that St. Pantænus of Alexandria found in India (by which Eusebius may have meant Ethiopia) a copy of the Hebrew text of the gospel of Matthew that Bartholomew had left there. A gospel attributed to Bartholomew is apocryphal.
Nathaniel is thought to have been martyred by King Astyages of Babylon, who ordered him flayed and beheaded. The place of Nathaniel’s death is uncertain. Some say it was Derbend on the Caspian Sea, but Armenian sources assert he died at Arbanoupolis in Armenia. St. Bartholomew in Rome claims his relics. From The Ecole Glossary (this site is pretty neat!)
Happy Namesday, Honey!
A fun fact is that my husband’s name is Nathaniel Philip- how fitting is that?
It’s my youngest son’s Namesday as well, and I forgot to buy his present, gah!
Many Years to your dear hubby!
Thanks! I love you!
Many years to your hubby! We usually have friends and family over and we do the akathist to the saint and read his life. For the kids we make little icons or frames out of flowers. We usually go to Vespers the night before too.
I’m better about remembering my godchildren’s namedays than mine or my husband’s! I usually send them a card and read their saints’ lives. If I’m able, I go to Liturgy on the day, but that doesn’t work out very often.