Why aren’t they used anymore?
I think the quality of our literature has decreased, overall. Also, the form has largely changed, regardless of any degregation in quality.
Maybe it’s because we now have patronymics and no longer need to be identified by epithets.
Yeah but even thats not really true.
At least in this country people pick name becaus they like the way they sound… rather than if the word has any significant meaning.
Does that mean people in this country choose their patronymics? I thought that was done generations ago.
If I were to choose an epithet that distinguished me from all of the other Elizabeths of the world, how would I do it other than by using a patronymic? At least, by using a last name, I’ve narrowed the identity field down to a few hundreds rather than a few millions. 
But wouldn’t it be more interesting to do both?