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Titles of Saints

What’s in a title?

Since the first of the year, there seems to have been a very important saint celebrated at least once a week. Today is no exception; it is the Feast of St. Photios the Great, the Patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century. Many of these saints have titles attached to their name, like “the Great.” For example in the last 30 days we’ve celebrated, St. Anthony the Great, St. Maximos the Confessor, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. John the Chrysostom, St. Isaac and St. Ephraim the Syrian, and St. Nina the Equal to the Apostles.

The titles usually point to some important aspect of the saint’s life that is worth remembering and helps identify the saint from others with the same name. Take for example, St. Gregory the Theologian. He is also called St. Gregory of Nazianzus. Nazianzus refers to his home town. But his father, also named Gregory, and from Nazianzus, is also a saint. So the title “the theologian” helps identify him from apart from his father but more importantly points to his importance as a thinker of the Church. Gregory’s writings and homilies were critical to the teaching of the Church about the Holy Spirit - that the Spirit proceeds from the Father. Under his leadership, the Second Ecumenical Council was organized, which authored the clause we recite in the Creed about the Holy Spirit. Gregory is only one of three saints with the title “theologian” in the Orthodox Church. The other two are St. John the Theologian, the Evangelist, and St. Symeon the New Theologian from the 11 th century.

There are many saints with “the Great” in their title. In January we remembered Saints Basil, Anthony and Athanasios. This is telling us that the saint did something very important in the life of the Church, making him or her greater or more important than other saints. But in each case, what the saint did in life was different, so you will need to investigate each.

St. Maximos is called “the confessor.” Confessor doesn’t refer to anything he wrote or taught, although they are important. Confessor refers to the fact that he suffered under torture – having his tongue and hand cut off to prevent him from writing or teaching.

Titles like “the Syrian” “of Constantinople,” or the “Aitolian” (St. Kosmas Aitolos) tell us where someone was born. Titles like “Equal to the Apostles” tell us that this saint’s actions led to the creation of the Church, spread the Gospel in new places.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Godbearer (Theophoros) tells us both where he was from and this important fact of his life. Tradition says that he was the child held and blessed by Christ in the Gospels. In this instance, God held him. This title is unique to St. Ignatius.

St. John Chrysostom – the Golden Mouth – refers to his preaching. His message was considered to be so beautiful the words flowing from his mouth were “like gold”.

The Church adds these titles to the names of saints to help identify them but also to help us remember important details about them. While all saints are important and worthy of imitation, some saints have been given extra significance in the Church and these details, often in their titles, helps us remember. An interesting question to explore in a lesson!