When is Ignatius’s name day?

Ignatius can be celebrated on 4 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 Ignatius is celebrated

The saints behind the name

• 

  Ignatios the God-Bearer

  January 29, Hierarch, Ιγνάτιος

  St. Ignatios the God-Bearer was Bishop of Antioch and one of the apostolic fathers, a disciple of the apostles themselves. Condemned under the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the second century, he was taken in bonds to Rome and given to the wild beasts in the arena, going to his death with joy, longing, as he wrote, to be ground as the wheat of God.

  Name days: Ignatios, Ignacio, Ignacy, Ignatius

• Akakios, Euthymios and Ignatios the New Martyrs of Athos

  May 1, Martyr, Ακάκιος, Ευθύμιος και Ιγνάτιος

  Euthymios of the Peloponnese, Ignatios of Stara Zagora and Akakios of Neochori near Thessaloniki were three young men who had denied Christ under pressure and later repented. Each prepared for confession under the guidance of the elders of the Skete of the Forerunner (Iviron) on Mount Athos.

  Name days: Akakios, Acacius, Efthymios, Efthimios, Euthymius, Ignatios, Ignatius

• 

  Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople

  October 23, Hierarch, Ιγνάτιος

  St. Ignatius was Patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century. The son of an emperor, he was tonsured a monk in his youth after his father's fall from power, and rose by his virtue to the patriarchal throne, which he occupied twice amid the turbulence of imperial politics, suffering deposition and exile for his firmness.

  Name days: Ignatios, Ignatius

The other feasts are listed in the table above, each with a link to the saint’s life.

Also celebrating with Ignatius

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

Ignatios, Ignacio, Ignacy, Akakios, Acacius, Efthymios, Efthimios, Euthymius

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.