Martyrs
Martyrs Florus and Laurus
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Twin brothers, stonecutters and martyrs who dedicated their craft and their lives to Christ.
Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — Martyrs Florus and Laurus, Orthodox Church in America — Martyrs Florus and Laurus, The Prologue from Ohrid — August 18. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
Christian Brothers and Stonecutters
Florus and Laurus were twin brothers trained as stonecutters. They learned both their craft and the Christian faith from the holy martyrs Proclus and Maximus.
Sent to Illyria to construct a pagan temple, they gave their wages to the poor and worked while preserving prayer and fidelity to Christ.
Healing and the Temple
A fragment of stone injured the eye of a pagan priest's son. Through the brothers' prayer the young man was healed, and he and his father came to believe in Christ.
After the building was completed, Christians placed a cross within it and dedicated the space to the true God. The authorities arrested the brothers and those who worshipped with them.
Martyrdom, Relics and Horses
Florus and Laurus were thrown into a deep well and buried alive. Their relics were later uncovered incorrupt and translated to Constantinople.
Orthodox tradition associates their intercession with the protection of horses and domestic animals. August 18 — Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus.
From the Orthodox Synaxarion
The Prologue from Ohrid remembers Florus and Laurus as brothers trained in the craft of stonecutting by Christian teachers. They used both their labor and its proceeds in service of the faith, finally sealing that witness through martyrdom.
Historical Record and Ecclesiastical Tradition
The brothers' trade as stonecutters, the conversion associated with the pagan temple and their death in a well form the received Orthodox narrative. Their widespread association with horses belongs to later Slavic devotion and is kept distinct from the earliest martyrdom account.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Church in America — Martyrs Florus and LaurusOrthodox Church in America — Martyrs Florus and LaurusThe Prologue from Ohrid — August 18The Prologue from Ohrid — August 18