St. Silas

St. Silas, also called Silvanus, was a leading member of the church at Jerusalem and a prophet, chosen with Paul and Barnabas to carry the decree of the Council of Jerusalem to the Gentile churches. When Paul and Barnabas parted, Silas became Paul's chosen companion on the second missionary journey through Asia Minor and into Greece.

It was at Philippi that he shared Paul's most famous ordeal: beaten and imprisoned for the Gospel, the two prayed and sang hymns at midnight until an earthquake shook the prison, an event that led to the conversion of the jailer and his household. He is remembered too in the letters of Paul and Peter, where the name Silvanus appears as a fellow worker and, likely, a scribe. Tradition honors him as an early bishop and martyr, and he is celebrated in the West on 13 July.