When is Efraim’s name day?

Efraim 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 Efraim is celebrated

The saints behind the name

• 

  Ephrem the Syrian

  January 28, Venerable, Εφραίμ

  St. Ephrem the Syrian was born in Nisibis in Mesopotamia early in the fourth century and later settled in Edessa. A deacon who out of humility refused higher office, he became the greatest hymnographer of the Syriac church, called the Harp of the Holy Spirit, and his hymns and homilies taught the faith to generations.

  Name days: Efraim, Ephraim

• 

  Ephraim, Bishop of Cherson

  March 7, Hierarch, Εφραίμ

  St. Ephraim was one of the holy bishops sent in the early fourth century to preach the Gospel in Cherson on the Black Sea, a region still in the grip of paganism. Together with his fellow hieromartyr bishops of Cherson, he labored to plant the faith among a hostile people, and sealed his preaching with his blood.

  Name days: Ephraim, Efraim

• Ephraim of Nea Makri

  May 5, Martyr, Εφραίμ ο Μεγαλομάρτυς

  Ephraim was born in Trikala in the late fourteenth century and became a monk at the Monastery of the Annunciation on Mount Amomon near Nea Makri in Attica. When Turkish raiders attacked the monastery, tradition relates that he was tortured for months and finally killed, nailed to a mulberry tree, in 1426.

  Name days: Efraim, Ephraim, Efrem, Ephrem

Also celebrating with Efraim

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

Ephraim, Efrem, Ephrem

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.