Patron saints of professions: from sailors to beekeepers

Saints are not only patrons of places. OrthodoxWiki describes a patron saint as one who intercedes and pleads in heaven for a nation or a place, a craft or an activity, a class of people or a single person. The patrons of cities and islands have a guide of their own, patron saints of Greek cities; this one gathers the patrons of professions and groups.

We list only patronages that a source we read states explicitly: the Orthodox Synaxarion on saint.gr, or OrthodoxWiki, which keeps a long list of saints called upon for particular needs. That list is not limited to Greece and includes many Russian saints, so we point out where a patronage is specifically Greek. Some often-heard patronages are missing because these sources do not state them.

How a saint becomes the patron of a trade

The lives of the saints show three routes:

• The saint did the work himself. Philaret was a farmer who kept bees, Florus and Laurus were stonemasons, the Unmercenaries were physicians.
• An episode from the life, or an icon. Christopher is painted carrying Christ on his shoulder and is held to be the protector of drivers, while Spyridon, according to OrthodoxWiki, is the patron of potters because of a miracle with a potsherd.
• Official adoption. Saint Barbara was established as the patron of the Greek artillery in 1828.

At sea and on the road

Saint Nicholas

OrthodoxWiki calls Saint Nicholas the patron of many occupational groups, above all of seafarers, a role it traces to a story of sailors he saved in the Aegean while he was still alive. saint.gr tells of another miracle: a man in danger at sea in violent winds called on the saint and found himself safe and sound in his own house, and when the news reached Constantinople the people held a procession and an all-night vigil. Nicholas and Nikoleta celebrate on 6 December.

Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher was first called Reprobus. According to the tradition recorded on saint.gr, while still a catechumen he carried people across a dangerous river crossing on his shoulders, without payment. One day he carried a child who grew heavier and heavier, and on the far bank the child revealed himself as Christ. Icons show him bearing Christ, and this is perhaps why, saint.gr says, he is held to be the protector of drivers; in the Small Euchologion, the service for the blessing of a new vehicle opens with his apolytikion. Christopher celebrates on 9 May.

For travel by car and bus OrthodoxWiki also names Saint John the Russian, a soldier of Peter the Great who, saint.gr says, was taken prisoner in 1711 and sold to an Ottoman officer from Prokopion in Cappadocia. Some people named John celebrate on his feast, 27 May.

The army and the police

In OrthodoxWiki's list the patrons of soldiers are the Archangel Michael, Saint Barbara and Saint George. Two of their feasts are among the year's biggest name days: 8 November, when Michael and many other names celebrate (see the feast of the Archangels), and 23 April, the day of George.

For Saint Barbara saint.gr gives a date: she is regarded as the patron of the artillery in Greece and in other countries, and in Greece the patronage was established in 1828, with the first ceremony on record, a thanksgiving service followed by a meal for officers and gunners. Icons often show her holding a chalice, as protector against sudden death, so that the dying should not be left without Holy Communion. Barbara celebrates on 4 December.

According to OrthodoxWiki, in Greece the great martyr Irene is the patron of policemen. saint.gr writes that she was first called Penelope and that her father, Licinius, shut her in a tower when she was six. Irene celebrates on 5 May.

Doctors and hospitals

An unmercenary, anargyros in Greek, is in OrthodoxWiki's definition a saint who would take no payment for healing, especially when serving the poor. Its list names Saint Panteleimon and the Holy Unmercenaries as patrons of physicians, and the Unmercenaries again for people who work in hospitals.

• Kosmas and Damianos. Of the Unmercenaries from Asia saint.gr writes that they studied medicine and practised it as charity, treating above all the poor without payment, which is why they were called Anargyroi. They are commemorated on 1 November, and the Unmercenaries of Rome on 1 July; the names are Kosmas, Damianos and Anargyros. On the two dates, see names with more than one name day.
• Cyrus and John. Cyrus came from Alexandria and John from Edessa; their miracles were written down by Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, because, saint.gr says, they had healed his eyes. Cyrus celebrates with Saints Cyrus and John on 31 January.
• Panteleimon. Born in Nicomedia and first named Pantaleon, he studied medicine under Euphrosynus. Pantelis celebrates on 27 July.
• Blaise. He studied medicine and, saint.gr says, treated the sick for nothing, gave them their medicines and paid for their care, before he became bishop of Sebaste. OrthodoxWiki's list gives him for the throat. Vlasis celebrates with Saint Blaise on 11 February.

The same list pairs saints with particular ailments: Saint Antipas with the teeth (11 April, the name day of Antipas), Saint Spyridon with the ears and Saint Artemius with hernias and stomach complaints.

Arts and crafts

• Icon painters. Among the patrons of iconographers OrthodoxWiki names Luke the Evangelist, whom it calls the founder of Christian iconography. saint.gr says he was a physician by profession but knew the art of painting well, and the first icons of the Virgin holding the infant Christ are attributed to him, one of them at the Monastery of Mega Spilaio. Luke celebrates on 18 October.
• The same list includes Saint John of Damascus, who, according to saint.gr, wrote in defence of the honour paid to icons during Iconoclasm; by tradition, when the caliph had his right hand cut off, it was healed as he prayed before an icon of the Virgin, and OrthodoxWiki gives him for the hands too. The list also names the empress Theodora and the patriarch Germanos.
• Church chanters. For church singing OrthodoxWiki names, among others, Saint Romanos the Melodist. From Emesa in Syria, he was a deacon in Beirut before moving to Constantinople. According to the tradition recorded on saint.gr, at a Christmas vigil he dreamed that the Virgin handed him a book to eat, after which he composed the hymn “The Virgin today”. He wrote about a thousand hymns, of which a tenth survive. Romanos celebrates on 1 October.
• Stonemasons. Florus and Laurus, whom OrthodoxWiki gives for stone-workers, were twin brothers from Byzantium. saint.gr says they learnt both the Christian faith and the stonemason's craft from Saints Proclus and Maximus and worked at Ulpiana in Illyria, spreading the Gospel as they worked. Floros and Flora celebrate with Saints Florus and Laurus on 18 August.
• Potters. OrthodoxWiki calls Saint Spyridon the patron of potters, after the miracle of the potsherd. saint.gr adds that he was born into a family of shepherds at Assia in Cyprus and that, educated as he was, he did not change his trade but remained a shepherd. Spyros and Spyridoula celebrate on 12 December.

Bees, fields and animals

Saint Philaret the Merciful is, in saint.gr's words, the patron of beekeeping. He was an 8th-century farmer from Amnia in Paphlagonia who gave his income generously to the poor. According to his life, when his neighbours seized his land he was left with nothing but 250 beehives; for every poor man who came to him he harvested a hive and gave him the honey, until there were none left. Filaretos and Areti celebrate on 1 December.

• Gardens, crops and hunting. OrthodoxWiki gives Saint Tryphon for protecting gardens and crops from pests and for hunters, and among the patrons of animals it names him for geese. According to saint.gr, Tryphon came from Lampsacus, a poor boy who herded geese for a living, and was martyred at Nicaea in 250, in the persecution of Decius. Tryfon celebrates on 1 February.
• Animals and herds. Among the patrons of animals and livestock the same list has Saint Mamas, and Saint George for cattle and herds. saint.gr writes that Mamas was born in 260 in the prison of Gangra, where his Christian parents died, and that he got his name from calling his adoptive mother, Ammia, “mama”. Mamas celebrates on 2 September.

Children, mothers and students

• For children OrthodoxWiki names Saint Nicholas, and for the care and protection of infants Saint Stylianos. saint.gr says parents used to bring their children to him and that God gave him the power to heal sick children and to grant children to childless women. Stelios and Styliani celebrate on 26 November.
• For a safe childbirth the list names Saint Eleftherios (15 December: Lefteris, Eleftheria), and for young people Saint Demetrios (26 October: Dimitris, Dimitra).
• For help with studies it names the Three Hierarchs, honoured together on 30 January, and Saint Justin the Philosopher, with whom Justin celebrates on 1 June.