The holy apostles Silas, Silas, Criscentus and others with them

The memory of the 30th of July of the Holy Apostle Silas, who was chosen by the senior Apostles to minister to the work of preaching the Word of God, carried great labors in the evangelization of the teachings of Christ, first together with the holy supreme Apostle Paul, and then alone, without him.

When the council of Jerusalem had written to the church of Antioch that Gentiles should not be circumcised who accepted the holy faith of Christ, the holy Silas was sent here along with other worthy men, as St. Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles:

(Acts 15:22) When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the congregation together and delivered the letter, which they read and rejoiced over the encouragement received.

They traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

They traveled through Derbe and Lystra, and when they found him, they went to Philippi. There was a servant girl who was leading her masters to great advantage by fortune - telling. When they realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

The magistrates ordered them to be beaten and put in prison. After they had been severely flogged, they threw them in the middle of the prison.

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul stepped in and stopped him.

But the Jews were jealous and joined Paul and Silas, as did a number of prominent Greek men and women. They stirred up some bad characters among the people and wanted to kill them. The brothers sent Paul and Silas away at night to Berea.

(Acts, chapters 16-18) There, Silas became a bishop. After laboring for a long time in preaching the word of God, he turned to the Lord and performed some signs and wonders during his lifetime.

The Apostle Silvanus worked with the chief Apostles Peter and Paul in the preaching of the word of God, and both mentions him in their writings.

<unk> "The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas". (2 Cor. 1:19) It is clear that St. Silas worked hard with each of the chief apostles in preaching the word of Christ, sharing in their labors and sicknesses.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul mentions the Apostle Criscentes, saying: "Criscentes went to Galatia" (2 Tim. 40:10), i.e. he was sent to preach. In Galatia, he was a bishop: then he preached about Christ in Galilee and in the city of Vienna he made his disciple Zacharias bishop, returned again to Galatia, and here died a martyr in the reign of Trajan [Emperor 98-117].

The apostle Paul also mentions the holy apostle Epenetus in his letter to the Romans: "Give my greetings to Epenetus my beloved, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ". (Romans 16:5) Epenetus was a bishop of Carthage.

In the same letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul also mentions the Apostle Andronicus: "Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are prominent among the apostles and who were in Christ before me".

This is evidenced by the fact that Silas is not mentioned at all in the epistles, whereas he was one of the most zealous collaborators of the holy Apostles, and Silas is mentioned by the Apostles in such cases as are worthy of Silas.

Criscent, preaching in Gaul according to the 6th song of the canon in the Greek minia and former archpastor of Carchidon, was bishop of New Carchidon in Spain, neighbouring Gaul.

The grapevine of Christ, the grapevine of wisdom in virtue, the wine of salvation flowing to us: every pleasant cheer we fill, celebrating your honorable memory, in need pray for the remission of our sins, apostles of the Lord.