Martyr
Martyr Laurus of Illyricum
† II век
Martyr Laurus — together with his twin brother Florus, stonemasons by trade, natives of Byzantium who resettled in Illyricum, taught their craft and the Christian faith by the teachers Proclus and Maximus; while building a pagan temple by order of the ruler Lycaon, the brothers secretly erected a church of Christ, smashed the idols, and for this were thrown into an empty well and buried with earth; venerated in Russia as patrons of horses.
Martyrs Florus and Laurus were twin brothers, stonemasons by trade, natives of Byzantium who resettled in the region of Illyricum. They learned the craft of stonecutting while being instructed in the Christian faith by the teachers Proclus and Maximus — pious lay craftsmen who themselves later also suffered martyrdom for Christ.
The ruler of the region, Lycaon, commissioned the brothers to build a pagan temple. While working, the brothers gave their earnings to the poor and preached Christ. The son of a local pagan priest, named Mamertinus, was accidentally struck in the eye by a stone splinter; the brothers healed him after baptizing him, which led to the conversion of both the youth and his priest father. Upon completing the building, instead of consecrating the temple to the pagan gods, the brothers smashed the idols standing within and erected a cross, turning the building into a Christian church.
In reprisal, Mamertinus, his son, and about 300 other new Christians were burned alive; Florus and Laurus themselves were thrown into an empty well and buried with earth.
The brothers' relics were later translated to Constantinople, to the Pantocrator Monastery, where they were seen by Russian pilgrims — Anthony of Novgorod (1200) and Stephen of Novgorod (mid-14th c.).
In Russia, Florus and Laurus became extremely popular patrons of horses and livestock — their feast day became known in folk tradition as the "horse festival," when horses were released from work, decorated, and brought to church for blessing; in 2011 Patriarch Kirill designated this day as the Church's commemoration of the Day of the Veterinary Worker.
His feast is kept on August 18/31, together with his brother Florus.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION ON THE IMAGES: the brothers' teachers, Proclus and Maximus, were lay craftsmen, not bishops — the original stub erroneously assumed a "connection to Bishop Maximus." Upon inspection, image 1 turned out to actually be an entirely different votive icon, "Selected Saints: Florus, James, and Laurus" (State Russian Museum, early 15th c.), where the central vested figure is not Maximus but the Apostle James, Brother of the Lord, first Bishop of Jerusalem, depicted alongside by coincidence of the icon-commissioner's name day, not a narrative connection; image 3 is the well-known separate composition "The Miracle of Archangel Michael concerning Florus and Laurus," where the winged central figure is Archangel Michael, not Maximus.