Socrates was born in Constantinople around AD 380/390. He died somewhere between AD 439 (the last events recorded in his oeuvre) and 450 AD (the death of Theodosius II; Socrates always writes about him as about a living person). His work – The Ecclesiastical History – was most probably published in AD 439/440. Frequently Socrates is given the nickname "Scholasticus," which is provided by the one of Greek manuscripts. There is some uncertainty about its meaning; traditionally scholars translated it as "advocate", but the opponents of ascribing Socrates the legal profession (Urbainczyk 1997, Wallraff 1997) were of the opinion that it has a more literal sense and means "a person who frequented the schools, and is well-educated". Socrates was an adherent of Novatianism.

Socrates wrote his History as a continuation of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea, to whom he alludes in the first sentence of his work. The work of Socrates has seven books. The characteristic feature of the historiographical method of Socrates is the inclusion of the original documents in extenso. (Maraval 2004: 9-35)