When is Bessarion’s name day?

Bessarion can be celebrated on 3 feasts in the Orthodox calendar. People keep the feast of the saint they were named for, or the one their family has always kept.

Every feast on which Bessarion is celebrated

The saints behind the name

• Bessarion the Great

  February 20, Venerable, Βησσαρίων

  St. Bessarion was an Egyptian who became a disciple of St. Anthony the Great and St. Makarios and lived as a wanderer in the desert, owning nothing and sleeping in the open. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers preserve his words and record that he stood forty days and nights in prayer without sleep.

  Name days: Bessarion, Vissarion

• Bessarion the Wonderworker

  June 6, Venerable, Βησσαρίων

  Saint Bessarion was an Egyptian ascetic of the fourth and fifth centuries, a disciple of Saint Anthony and Saint Macarius. He lived as a wanderer without shelter, and the desert fathers preserved accounts of his great endurance and of the miracles God worked through him, including turning salt water sweet.

  Name days: Vissarion, Bessarion, Vesarion

• Bessarion of Larissa

  September 15, Hierarch, Βησσαρίων Λαρίσης

  St. Bessarion was born near Trikala in Thessaly in the fifteenth century and became Metropolitan of Larissa, a shepherd known for his charity, for ransoming captives, and for building bridges and roads for the poor of his region. He founded the monastery of Dousikou near Pyli, which still bears his name.

  Name days: Vissarion, Bessarion, Vissarionas

Also celebrating with Bessarion

These names share the feast, many of them other forms of the same name:

Vissarion, Vesarion, Vissarionas

What to say on a name day

The Greek wish is Χρόνια Πολλά (Chronia Polla), “many years.” A call or a short message on the day is what people remember. See name day wishes you can send and what a name day is.