St. Emily Orthodox Saint History and Name Day Information
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It’s true that the lives of the saints are an important part of the Orthodox Christian Church. When naming their children, parents often go the extra step to name their children after one of the saints. Those who are named after a saint will celebrate their name day on the feast day of the individual.
Saint Emily is one of those saints. When looking at her history, it is clear that being a member of the Christian Church was not only important to her, but also to her whole family. Her name day is celebrated on May 8th with her husband, Saint Basil the Elder and his mother, Saint Macrina the Elder, and also on May 30th. Here’s more information about her:
About Saint Emily
As mentioned above, it is clear from examining Saint Emily’s life that serving the Lord was a family tradition. One of her parents was a martyr. He also is the author of several early church writings. Her husband was Saint Basil the Elder and her mother-in-law was Saint Macrina the Elder. Five of her children became saints. These include Saint Peter of Sabaste, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and Theosebia, who was an early church deaconess. Another of her sons was Saint Basil the Great, the individual who penned one of the Divine Liturgy services that we still use today and also authored several early church works that we still read today. As a result of her legacy, she is often referred to as the “Mother of the Saints.”
Saint Emily’s Legacy
However, besides parenting several of the major saints of the early church, Saint Emily did important works all on her own. Saint Macrina did a lot to encourage her, and when all of her children left home, Macrina encouraged her to completely focus on serving God. In fact, they ended up doing some things together. For example, they founded a monastery for women where they worked with other female Christians, encouraging them to serve God.
Before starting the monastery, she gave her property to her children and divided it evenly amongst them. After that, she also freed all of her female slaves. In the convent, Macrina and Emily turned it into a communal environment where they prayed, ate, and served the Lord together. The female slaves whom she freed also joined them at the convent. Emily lived her days here with the rest of the convent members well into her old age.
Before she passed away, she said, “”To you, O Lord, I give the first fruits and the tithe of the fruit of my womb. The first fruit is my first-born daughter, and the tithe is this, my youngest son. Let these be for you a rightly acceptable sacrifice, and let your holiness descend upon them!”
Saint Emily’s feast day is on May 8th with her husband, Saint Basil the Elder and also on May 30th. Those who celebrate her name day can celebrate at this time. Check the Name Day page for more information about other Orthodox Christian name days.
Source:
OrthodoxWiki – Saint Emily (Also Source for Photo Credit for Image Above)
Categorized in: Greek Orthodox Religious Information
This post was written by Greek Boston
