Saturday 7 November 2026 is a quieter day in the Greek name-day calendar. None of today’s names is among the most common in Greece, but several less common names celebrate.
Who celebrates today
Kathimerini’s name-day calendar lists Athinodoros, Theagenis, Themelis and Thessaloniki for today. Broader popular name-day lists add the variants below. These are all less common names, and several also celebrate on other dates.
- Athinodoros (Αθηνόδωρος) and the variants Athinodoras, Athinodoris, Doris and the female Athinodora
- Theagenis (Θεαγένης), with Theagenios, Theageneia and Theagenia
- Themelis (Θέμελης), with Themelios, Themeli and Themelina (variants from popular name-day lists)
Thessaloniki (and, in some lists, Salonikos and Saloniki) celebrates after the martyr Thessaloniki, commemorated today. Some popular lists also include Ernestos and Ernestina, but they are not tied to a saint of the day in the church calendar, so check with family custom.
Michael, Gabriel and their variants celebrate tomorrow, 8 November, the Synaxis of the Archangels.
The saints of 7 November
The 33 Martyrs of Melitene were led by Hieron, a strong farmer from Tyana in Cappadocia who cared for his blind mother, Stratoniki. During the persecutions under Diocletian and Maximian, he refused to be forced into the Roman army or to sacrifice to idols. Imprisoned at Melitene with 32 other Christians, he encouraged them to stand firm, and they were beheaded on 7 November, singing Psalm 118 on the way.
St Lazarus of Galesion, the Wonderworker, was an 11th-century Byzantine monk and stylite. Born Leon in Magnesia on the Maeander in Asia Minor, he became a monk at the Lavra of St Sabbas near Jerusalem and later founded an important monastic community on Mount Galesion near Ephesus.
The Church also remembers the martyrs Auctus, Taurion and Thessaloniki, and St Athinodoros.
Χρόνια πολλά to everyone celebrating today.
Read more: the saints of 5 November.
Sources: Ekklisia Online.
