Daniel the Prophet

Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths Ananias, Azarias, Misael.

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.

Their deliverance is sung in the Church as a figure of the Resurrection and of the Virgin Birth. They are commemorated on December 17.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Daniel the Prophet is commemorated on December 17. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on December 30 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Daniel, Daniil, Dani

Also commemorated on December 17

• Dionysios of Zakynthos

  Hierarch, Διονύσιος ο Ζακυνθινός

  Dionysios the New, Archbishop of Aegina, patron of Zakynthos.

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

• Patermuthius, Copres and Alexander

  Martyr, Πατερμούθιος, Κόπρις και Αλέξανδρος

  Venerable Martyrs Patermuthius and Copres, and the Martyr Alexander, in Egypt.

• Stephen the Confessor

  Venerable, Στέφανος ο Ομολογητής

  Venerable Stephen the Confessor, formerly called Dunale.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.