Boston’s Patron Saint Few people are aware perhaps that the city of Boston derives its name from that of an Orthodox saint. St. Botolph, an early saint from Orthodoxy’s Western heritage, preached the gospel in England in the seventh century. There is a street in the city that still bears his name. Appropriately, an icon of the Saint was painted for the Holy Epiphany parish in Roslindale, a suburb of Boston, and was blessed on its patronal feast this year, when the parish also celebrated its fortieth anniversary. The icon, executed by Zoya Shcheglov, a parishioner, depicts the Saint in full stature. It has been placed on the south wall, so that the Saint is facing the city and blessing it.

The icon reproduced here was painted by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, another Boston suburb, and is available as a print. On the back of the print appers the following brief Life:

Saint Botolph was born in England around 610. In his youth he became a monk in Gaul. By 654 he had returned to England and founded the monastery of Ikanhoe in East Anglia-thereafter, the place came to be called “Botolphston” (from either “Botolph’s stone” or “Botolph’s town”), which was later contracted to “Boston”. Having led many in the way of salvation, and renowned for his sanctity and miracles, Saint Botolph reposed around the year 680. He was greatly revered by his Christian countrymen in antiquity, and is commemorated to this day in the name of two cities, both the original Boston in the Lincolnshire fens (about 100 miles north of London), and likewise its namesake in the New World, in Massachusetts. The feast of St. Botolph is celebrated June 17.