ON THE HOLY MARTYRS SILVESTER AND SOPHRONIUS.
CommentarySilvester, Martyr (Saint)
Sophronius, Martyr (Saint)
These two athletes, and the following two likewise, are recorded together in the Synaxarion of the Collège de Clermont at Paris: "The Contest of the Holy Martyrs Marcellus, Antoninus, Silvester and Sophronius." We shall follow the Menaea, which distinguish them by the manner of their death. And indeed no other Martyrologies, at least none that we remember having read, present Saints Silvester and Sophronius as Martyrs together, nor even each one separately; although there were certain Confessors of that name, yet not together on one day. Where, however, and when these men shed their blood for Christ is not established. The Menaea give the manner of their death thus, followed, as usual, by Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, in the Lives of the Saints composed in the vulgar Greek tongue of this age: ὁι ἅγιοι μάρτυρες Σίλβεςος καὶ Σωφρόνιος ξίφει τελειοῦνται. The Holy Martyrs Silvester and Sophronius are ended by the sword. The Menaea add this distich: