St. Telemachus (St. Almachius)
was a saintly ascetic of Asia Minor in present day Turkey. Once, during his
prayer, he received a divine inspiration to travel to Rome and preach. When he
reached Rome, the citizens of Rome were celebrating the victory of Rome over
the Goths. Moving along with the marching crowd, he reached the Colosseum in
Rome on 1st January, 404 A.D. He remembered the countless Christian
martyrs who were killed and eaten by hungry lions in the Colosseum during the
period of religious persecution in Rome. The Colosseum remained as a place for
the public exhibition of cruel duels. Gladiatorial fights were common in the Roman
amphitheatre.
The
gladiators’ fight to amuse the crowd was about to begin. Two armed gladiators
bowed before Emperor Honorius. They vowed to fight till one of them died. They
approached each other for the fierce combat. Seeing the gruesome scene,
Telemachus stood up from his seat in the gallery and cried aloud, “In the name
of Christ, stop this killing.” The people laughed at him and said he was mad. But
he jumped over the wall and sprang down into the arena. He stood between the
combatant gladiators and repeated his request at the top of his voice. The
audience became violent and threw stones at Telemachus, cursing him for
interrupting their savage entertainment. The stones rained upon the saint from
the furious spectators. He was stabbed to death by one of the gladiators.
There was a solemn silence as the
audience witnessed the tragic death. The scene opened the eyes of the
spectators and turned their hearts. They realised the cruelty of their conduct
and left the gallery silently, one by one. The last words of Telemachus echoed
in the Collosseum. The emperor, Honorius was greatly moved and left his seat in
silence. The gladiators saw the empty gallery and stopped the fight.
Influenced by the Saint’s sacrifice, the
Emperor soon issued a proclamation banning all gladiatorial fights and cruel entertainments
involving murder of men. That was the end of killing in the Roman Colosseum.
But Telemachus had to sacrifice his life to achieve this great victory.
Telemachus was canonised as a Saint for his
heroic stance and sacrifice for protecting the dignity of life.
Jesus Christ
taught, “My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. The
greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.” …………………………………………………………………
©
By: Prof. Dr. Babu Philip, Former Professor, Cochin
University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala,
India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St.
Dominic's College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St.
Antony's Public School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Alfeen Public
School, Kanjirappally, Kerala, India.
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