Florus and Laurus of Illyria

Martyrs Florus and Laurus of Illyria were twin brothers and stone sculptors by profession. They learned their art from Proclos and Maximos. When their teachers suffered martyrdom, they left Byzantium and went to take up their abode in the city of Ulpiana in Dardania of Illycricum. They were forced by a prince to build a pagan temple. During the construction a splinter of stone flew into the eye of the son of a pagan priest. Floros and Lauros prayed for the boy, made the sign of the cross over his eye, and he was immediately healed. The governor had them arrested and buried alive in a dry well. The date of their repose is during the 2nd Century. A century later horses were noted to be drinking from the spot of the well and their incorrupt relics were discovered. They were then translated to Constantinople.

They are commemorated August 18th.