Socrates of Tiberiopolis

Holy Venerable Martyr Socrates of Tiberiopolis was a monk of a brotherhood in Tiberiopolis (now Strumica) and received the crown of martyrdom in the year 361, in the persecution of Julian the Apostate, with fifteen brethren.

In the second half of the fourth century a monastic brotherhood flourished at Tiberiopolis. In the persecution of Julian the Apostate, in 361, sixteen of its members died for Christ: the bishops Theodore and Timothy, the priests Theodore, John, Nicephorus, Peter and Sergius, the deacons Basil and Thomas, the monks Daniel, Eusebius, Hierotheus, Comasius, Socrates, Chariton and Etimasius. The inhabitants kept their memory. After the First Balkan War, when Strumica passed to Bulgaria, the Greeks of the town moved in 1913 to Kilkis and other places in Macedonia and took with them a part of the holy relics: the hand of the priest Peter, one of the sixteen, which has since been in the church of Kilkis bearing his name. A service in their honour was printed three times, in 1741, 1830 and 1930, and in 1967 the sixteen martyrs of Tiberiopolis were proclaimed patrons of the city of Kilkis.

Socrates is commemorated on 11 December, according to the Greek calendar, in the new style; he is not included in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.