Description
Saint Silas was one of the Seventy Holy Apostles appointed by Christ to spread His Gospel. When the first Council of the Apostles was convened at Jerusalem by Saint James in a.d. 51 to determine whether the newly converting Gentiles needed to follow the full Judaic Law, Saint Silas and Saint Jude accompanied Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas back to Antioch to explain their unanimous decision. It was decided that the new Gentile converts only had to “abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood” (Acts 15:20).
Saint Silas went with the other Apostles to Antioch, and after some time Saint Jude returned to Jerusalem, but Saint Silas helped Saint Paul, going with him on his missionary journeys to Syria, Cilicia, and Macedonia. In Philippi they were arrested, beaten, and thrown into prison, where they converted the warden and his family after they prayed and an earthquake happened. At Corinth, Saint Silas was made as its first bishop by Saint Paul, and he lived out his life peacefully there until his repose after a life full of virtue, love, service, and evangelic zeal. God is truly wondrous in His Saints!
