ON SS. THALASSIUS AND LIMNAEUS, ANCHORITES NEAR CYRUS IN SYRIA
FIFTH CENTURY.
Preliminary Commentary.
Thalassius, anchorite near Cyrus in Syria (S.) Limnaeus, anchorite near Cyrus in Syria (S.)
G. H.
[1] Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, a city of the province of Euphratesia in Syria, received the pastoral care of eight hundred churches in that diocese; and after governing it for twenty-six years, The region of Cyrus having been purged of the heresy of Marcion, he asserts that no tares of heresy were left, but that the entire flock was rescued from all errors, more than a thousand souls freed from the disease of Marcion, and many others brought from the parties of Arius and Eunomius to Christ the Lord. He provides a distinguished testimony of this in his epistle to St. Leo, Pontiff of Rome, which is number 113 among his letters. In the Philotheus, or Religious History, Chapter 21, he also says that the accursed Marcion had sown many thorns of impiety in the region of the city of Cyrus, and that while he himself strove to uproot them, he undertook every labor SS. Thalassius and Limnaeus dwell in the village of Tillima. and continually employed every stratagem. Theodoret's labor was happily received by the village of Tillima, in Greek kome Tillima -- called Tillina by Longus and Helimna by Rosweydus -- famous for the religious practices of SS. Thalassius and Limnaeus. But St. Limnaeus afterward had another master, St. Maron, whose Life we illustrated on the fourteenth of February. At that time his fellow-disciple was St. James, surnamed Hypaethrius by Rosweydus, and called Nisibenus by Nicephorus Callistus and in the Council of Chalcedon, as will presently be stated in the Life of St. Baradatus, and more fully on the twenty-sixth of November, on which the Greeks venerate him.
[2] Another place inhabited by St. Limnaeus is in the village of Targala or Targalla, St. Limnaeus dwells in the village of Targala. and the Menaea for the following day, the twenty-third of February, relate that his disciple was St. John, whom they celebrate on that day with SS. Moses, Antiochus, and Antoninus or Antonius, in these words: Ho men hosios Ioannes gnorimos kai phoitetes gegone Limnaiou, tou en orei to te kome Targala pelazonti askesantos. "St. John was personally known to and a student of Limnaeus, who practiced the ascetic life on the mountain overlooking the village of Targala." Maximus Cytheraeus has the same. Hence it must be attributed to a typographical error that on this day that village is called not Targala but Galgala, in Greek Galgala -- an error which Cytheraeus also reproduced.
[3] The Greeks therefore have this in the Menaea on the twenty-second of February: "On the same day, the commemoration of our holy Fathers Thalassius and Limnaeus," they are venerated on 22 February to whose names they allude in the attached distich:
Limen Limnaion kai Thalassion pherei Hosper thalassan ekphygontas ton bion.
"The harbor receives Limnaeus and Thalassius, Who, as it were from a sea, have escaped from this life."
Then the following epitome of their Life is appended:
[4] Of these, Thalassius built a monastic dwelling on a certain mountain, An epitome of their Lives from the Menaea. and he excelled all others in candor of character and humility of spirit. Limnaeus, for his part, also held the ascetic life in particular esteem, and came to the same great Thalassius while still quite young, and having been trained by him in the religious life, he betook himself to that most celebrated man Maron, whose virtue he emulated, and began to lead a life under the open sky. Having therefore occupied the summit of a mountain which overlooks a village called Galgala, he led a solitary life and remained there; and he erected no hut, nor tent, nor cottage, but fashioned an enclosure of dry stones within which he confined himself, using the sky as his roof. Hence he was so adorned by God with the grace of working miracles that, imitating the Apostles, he both expelled demons and cured diseases. When the Saint was once on a journey, he was bitten by a serpent, but by prayers alone he was seen to overcome death. On another occasion he suffered from colic, a grave and most troublesome disease indeed, but by calling upon God he recovered his health. He gathered the blind who were compelled to beg for alms, and having built cells for them, he ordered them to dwell there, and begged from those who came to visit him the food necessary for them, according to the number and need of the wretched. After he had lived thus for a full thirty-eight years under the open sky, he gave up his spirit to God.
[5] Such are the Menaea, and from them Maximus Cytheraeus en biois hagion. A fuller Life from Theodoret. These are excerpted from the Religious History or Philotheus of Theodoret, who visited St. Limnaeus on many occasions. His narrative is as follows.
LIFE
From the Philotheus of Theodoret, Chapter XXII
Thalassius, anchorite near Cyrus in Syria (S.) Limnaeus, anchorite near Cyrus in Syria (S.)
from the Philotheus of Theodoret
[1] Tillima is a certain village among us, which formerly received the seeds of the impiety of Marcion, but now enjoys the cultivation of the Gospel. To the south of it is a certain hill, neither very rugged nor excessively steep. On it the admirable Thalassius built a monastic dwelling, Thalassius shines in simplicity of character and gentleness. a man adorned with many other goods as well, but who surpassed all men of his time in simplicity, gentleness, and moderation of character. This I say not as one who trusts hearsay alone, but as one who also tested it by experience. For I often visited the man and often enjoyed his pleasant company.
[2] In this place was initiated by him the one who is now celebrated by all -- Limnaeus -- Limnaeus, a disciple of Thalassius, and having come to that training ground while still quite young, he was beautifully instructed in this highest form of philosophy. And first, knowing that the tongue is prone to slip, while still an adolescent he imposed silence upon himself, and for a very long time he spoke with no one about anything. he imposes silence upon himself: But after he had sufficiently partaken of the teaching of that divine old man and had shown himself to be an expressed image of his virtue, he went to the great Maron, whom we have also mentioned before. He went at the same time as the divine James also. And after he had derived great benefit from him as well, instructed by Maron, he lives under the open sky: and had emulated the life led under the open sky, he occupied another summit of a mountain which overlooks a certain village called Targala. There he lives to this day, having no cottage, no tent, no hut, but contained only by an enclosure built of stones not even cemented with mud. He has a certain small door constantly blocked with mud, which he never opens to others who come, but to me alone when I approach he permits this to be done. For this reason very many gather from all sides when they sense my coming, desiring to share in my entrance. With those who sometimes come to him, however, speaking through a certain small window, he imparts his blessing to them, he cures the sick and those possessed by demons: through it bestowing health upon very many. For using the name of our Savior, he both causes diseases to cease and expels demons, and imitates apostolic miracles.
[3] Not only does he furnish a cure to those who come to him, but he has also often provided the same to his own body. For the disease of colic had long since attacked him. How sharp the pains and torments that arise from it are, those who have experienced it know very well; but those too who have been its spectators know. For they writhe about just like those who are driven by madness, turning themselves this way and that, and frequently extending and contracting their feet; sometimes, however, they sit and stand and walk, seeking some path to relief; and therefore they sit beside baths, often receiving some consolation from them. And what need is there to use a longer discourse in enumerating those things that by prayer and the sign of the Cross he drives away the disease of colic: are plain and manifest to all? Wrestling with this disease, and with so many and so great agonies of torment, he did not accept the aid of medicine, nor did he allow himself to enter a bed, nor was he refreshed by remedies or foods, but sitting on a board lying on the ground, he was cured by prayer and the sign of the Cross, and stilled his torments by the song of the divine invocation.
[4] Moreover, when he too was once walking at night, he stepped upon a sleeping viper. The serpent, seizing the sole of his foot, sank its fangs into it. When he tried to bring aid to his foot, he bent down and put his hand to it; but the beast turned its mouth upon the hand. When he then used his left hand to help, he also drew the fury of the beast upon that. After its rage was sated (for it inflicted more than ten bites upon him), it then withdrew and sought its hole. He meanwhile was racked with the greatest pains from every direction. he drives off the venom of a viper: But not even then did he allow the art of medicine to be used; rather, he applied to his wounds only the remedies of faith, the sign of the Cross, prayer, and the invocation of God. I think God, the Lord of all things, allowed that beast to rage against that sacred body so that he might show to all the endurance of that divine soul. For we see that the same was the design in the case of the noble and courageous Job. For He allowed him to be tossed by the greatest waves of every kind, when He wished to show to all the wisdom of the helmsman. For from where else would we have known either the fortitude of the one or the endurance of the other, unless the enemy of piety had been given the opportunity to hurl every weapon against them?
[5] And these things are sufficient to demonstrate the endurance of the man, but his clemency and kindness we shall show from another source. For having gathered many who were deprived of sight kind to the blind and the poor: and who were compelled to beg, and having built dwellings for them on both sides, to the east and to the west, he ordered them to dwell in them and to praise God, directing that the food necessary for them be supplied by those who came to visit him. He himself, enclosed in the middle between them, urges both groups to hymnody; and one may hear them continually praising God. Such is his perpetual benevolence toward those who are of the same human race. He lived 38 years under the open sky. As for the struggles endured under the open sky, he shares the same duration with the great James. For they have now completed their thirty-eighth year.