Saint Silvanus

Silas or Silvanus was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who according to the New Testament accompanied Paul the Apostle on his second missionary journey. Silas is traditionally assumed to be the same as the Silvanus mentioned in four epistles. Some translations, including the New International Version, call him "Silas" in the epistles. Paul, Silas, and Timothy are listed as co-authors of the two New Testament letters to the Thessalonians, though the authorship is disputed. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians mentions Silas as having preached with Paul and Timothy to the church in Corinth (1:19), and the First Epistle of Peter describes Silas as a "faithful brother" (5:12). There is some disagreement over the original or "proper" form of his name: "Silas", "Silvanus", "Seila", and "Saul" seem to be treated at the time as equivalent versions of the same name in different languages, and it is not clear which is the original name of "Silas", and which is a translation or equivalent nickname, or whether some references are to different persons with equivalent names. He is consistently called "Silas" in the Acts of the Apostles, but the Roman name Silvanus (which means "of the forest") is always used by Paul and in the First Epistle of Peter (5:12); it may be that "Silvanus" is the Romanized version of the original "Silas", or that "Silas" is the Greek nickname for "Silvanus". Silas is thus often identified with Silvanus of the Seventy. Catholic theologian Joseph Fitzmyer further points out that Silas is the Greek rendition of the Aramaic Seila (שְׁאִילָא), a version of the Hebrew Saul , which is attested in Palmyrene inscriptions. Silas is first mentioned in Acts 15:22, where he and Judas Barsabbas (known often as 'Judas') were selected by the church elders to return with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch following the Jerusalem Council. Silas and Judas are mentioned as being leaders among the brothers, prophets and encouraging speakers.