Orthodox saints and name days on December 17

Name days on December 17

Daniel, Daniil, Dani, Dionysios, Dionysis, Dionisios, Dennis, Denis, Dionysius, Dionysia, Dionisia

Saints and feasts of December 17

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  Daniel the Prophet

  Prophet, Δανιήλ ο Προφήτης

  The holy prophet Daniel was carried as a youth into the Babylonian captivity, where he served in the courts of kings without ever compromising his faith. God gave him understanding of dreams and visions of the kingdoms of the world and of the Son of Man; cast into the den of lions for praying to his God, he was preserved unharmed. With him the Church honors the Three Holy Youths, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, who walked unburned in the fiery furnace rather than worship the golden idol.

  Name days: Daniel, Daniil, Dani

• Dionysios of Zakynthos

  Hierarch, Διονύσιος ο Ζακυνθινός

  Dionysios was born on Zakynthos in 1547 to a noble family and became a monk on the Strofades islands. Made Archbishop of Aegina, he soon resigned his see and returned to his island, where he lived in humility at the monastery of the Theotokos at Anafonitria.

  Name days: Dionysios, Dionysis, Dionisios, Dennis, Denis, Dionysius, Dionysia, Dionisia

• Patermuthius, Copres and Alexander

  Martyr, Πατερμούθιος, Κόπρις και Αλέξανδρος

  The venerable Patermuthius and Copres were monks of Egypt who confessed Christ before Julian the Apostate. Tradition relates that Copres wavered for a moment and was restored by the prayers of Patermuthius, and that the soldier Alexander, seeing their steadfastness, believed. All three were put to death.

• Stephen the Confessor

  Venerable, Στέφανος ο Ομολογητής

  Venerable Stephen, whose name before his tonsure was Dunale, was a nobleman of the West who left all and became a monk. Tradition relates that he travelled to the holy places and to Egypt, where he confessed Christ before the Muslim ruler and endured suffering for the faith before his repose.