Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus (2nd Century) — August 18 / August 31 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 18 according to the Julian Calendar (August 31 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus.

The holy martyrs Florus and Laurus were brothers by birth. They lived in the second century, first in Byzantium and afterwards in Illyria. The brothers followed the craft of stonemasonry, which they learned from the Christians Proclus and Maximus, and from these same men they learned also a life pleasing to God. Lycaon, the ruler of Illyria, sent Florus and Laurus into a neighbouring district to work upon the building of a pagan temple. The saints gave the greater part of the wages earned by their labour to the poor, while they themselves were content with only what was necessary, keeping a strict fast and giving themselves to prayer.

One day the son of Mamertinus, the local pagan priest, came to the building site. Through carelessness a chip of stone struck him in the eye and injured it grievously. Florus and Laurus calmed the enraged father and gave him hope; then they took the young man to themselves and instructed him in the truths of the Christian teaching. When the sufferer had come to believe in Christ, the holy brothers prayed, and the injured eye of the youth was made whole. Beholding this miracle, the priest also, together with his whole household, believed in the true God, and others followed their example.

The number of believers increased day by day, and when the building of the temple was finished, as many as three hundred Christians had gathered within it. Those who hoped in the Saviour shattered the idols, and in the eastern part of the building they raised up the Holy Cross. Then, illumined with heavenly light, they prayed through the whole night.

When the governor of the district learned what had happened, he condemned to death Mamertinus, the former pagan priest, together with his son and the other three hundred Christians. Florus and Laurus were sent to Lycaon himself, who cast the martyrs into a dry well and buried them there alive. Many years afterwards the bodies of the martyrs were brought up incorrupt, and were translated with honour to Constantinople.