ANISIM

Anisim m

Russian: from the Greek name Onesimos ‘useful’ or ‘profitable’. This was a fairly common slave name during the classical and post-classical periods, and was borne by a runaway slave who was converted to Christianity by St Paul. Paul says of him in the Epistle to his master Philemon that ‘in time past he was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me’ (Philemon II). This early Christian use made it a very acceptable name in the Orthodox Church, quite apart from the connotations that it acquired of ‘usefulness to Christ’.

Variant: Onisim.