Martyrs

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

THALELÆUS THE PHYSICIAN, ALEXANDER AND ASTERIUS THE EXECUTIONERS,

AT ÆGÆ IN CILICIA.

THE YEAR CCLXXXIIII

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

On the time and place of the Passion, the cult through the West, the Relics at Verona, the double Acts from the Greek MSS.

Thalalæus, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Asterius, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Alexander, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

Although, the Emperor Carus, before a whole year of his Reign was completed, being extinguished at Ctesiphon after the victory over the Parthians, the Caesars his sons Carinus and Numerian had even a brief reign, After the death of Carus, edicts being promulgated by Numerian begun from November of the year CCLXXXIII (since Numerian was slain by his father-in-law Aper at the beginning of the next September thereafter, but Carinus did not reach to the end of March of the year CCLXXXV, himself cut down by his own soldiers) yet by no means did that pass uncruel for the Christians: of whom some illustrious martyrdoms, both in the East and the West, Baronius enumerates from the sacred Calendars. Why these should be inscribed under the name of Numerian alone, no other more convenient reason can be given, than that he first stirred it; and brought edicts which also at Rome his brother Carinus ordered to be observed. He who could believe, that it is not the Sanction of Theodosius the Christian Emperor, which is ascribed to him in the Theodosian Code under the title On the Annona and tributes with this exordium, the Martyrs slain, are imputed to him even until the death of Carinus: Let the most sacred Thessalonian church know; but of the Gentile Carus, as the reading of the Justinian Code prefers; could suspect that there was injected into Numerian by superstition a dread, lest for that cause his father perished, because he favored the Christians. But to me this is not likely: nay rather I judge that father and son, puffed up by the victory I mentioned, and persuaded that it was a benefit of the Gods, establishing the Kingdom for them to this end, that they themselves in turn should vindicate their worship, entered into a counsel of persecuting the Christians: of which Carus soon gave the penalties, struck by a thunderbolt; nor yet the son the more amended thereby, finally ordered the edicts to be promulgated, as the sole means of placating the gods: at whose publication although he himself did not long survive, yet all those who according to them underwent the capital sentence, even after his own death, under Numerian the Emperor are said to have suffered.

[2] Among these the Calendars of the Greeks, which the Roman Martyrology at length followed, suggest St. Thalelæus the Great-Martyr, and indeed as slain on May XX, among these St. Thalelæus suffered after August 23. although yet Acts of a better stamp thus begin, Under the Consulate of Numerian on the ninth day before the Kalends of September… Theodore presiding over the city of the Ægæans, the Proconsul sitting for judgment &c. This year is doubtless marked CCLXXXIV, in which the Emperors both held the Consulate; and the day August XXIII, from which day until the death of the Saint there must have intervened some days or even weeks, yet not so many months as is needed even unto May of the following year, although May 20 is chiefly venerated, in which not only Numerian, but not even Carinus indeed were any longer among the living. Therefore I would say the day May XX, before the day of death, probably unknown, more solemnly venerated, to have been the day of the elevation of the body, and of its placing in its own church under Constantine the Great. Which has befallen many others, of whom only interpolated Acts are had: and namely St. George the Great-Martyr, related on

April XXIII, just as on April 23 St. George suffered in February. who if he was the first Martyr of the tenth persecution, on account of the edicts which had then been set forth against the Christians being torn down, was tortured to death at Nicomedia, and by Eusebius related without a name, as even now I believe can be maintained; he suffered at the end of February: inasmuch as from the book of Lactantius Firmianus on the deaths of the persecutors, already twice praised by us on May XVIII and XIX, it is most certainly established that those edicts were set forth at Nicomedia on the day after the seventh Kalends of March: granted that in Palestine, where Eusebius was writing, they were only published in the month of April about Easter.

[3] Further, that the cult of St. Thalelæus was in the East and among the Greeks most celebrated, is proved first by their Typicon and metrical Ephemeris, The chief celebrity of Thalelæus among the Greeks in which the name of this one Saint alone is placed on the day May XX; likewise the Great Menæa, which not only have his Elogium alone on that day, but also the whole Office of him alone, with a Canon composed by St. Joseph the Hymnographer, under this Acrostic:

Τὸν Θαλλέλαιον εὐφημεῖν θέμις, Ἰωσήφ.

It is fitting to praise thee, O Thalelæus, Joseph.

Also the MS. Synaxaria, the Basilian, the Clermont, and of his two companions, the Chifflet and others which we have seen, although they commemorate several Saints on the same day, yet give the first place to Thalelæus: and to him in the very Elogium as well as in the Acts are joined his companions Asterius and Alexander the Executioners, by a miracle seen in his passion converted and beheaded: to whom the Chifflet one also sings this distich:

Ἐπῆρξε τμηθεὶς Ἀστέριος τὴν κάραν, Ἀστὴρ ὁδήγων Ἀλέξανδρον πρὸς ξίφος.

Asterius began to reign, his head cut off, A Star, showing Alexander the way to the sword.

Not of these only, not of more. but also of other Companions indefinitely and unnamed the present Roman Martyrology makes mention; but the Menologium of Sirletus, which it alleges, makes no mention of more. The more recent Acts add Macarius: the teacher of Thalelæus in the medical art, Asteron, Philagrius, Timothy, Theodula and Macaria, but from their sole, and not great, faith, we do not dare to augment the class of Martyrs of this day with their names.

[4] The same Roman Martyrology also sets at Edessa in Syria the arena of these Martyrs: The arena, not Edessa in Syria but not even this in the Menologium of Sirletus does it find, but Edessa the city of Ægæ, which badly rendered from the Greek, worse did Baronius explain by conjecturing. In the Greek was read, ἐν Ἐδέσῃ τῆς Αἰγαὶων πόλεως, in the Edessa of the city of the Ægæans. But there is Ægæ, whose citizens are Ægæans, both elsewhere by the testimony of Stephanus on Cities, and the most celebrated in Cilicia by the sea, between Mallus and Issus, under the metropolis of Cilicia Anazarbus, near which the Saint was taken even in the Menologium of Sirletus it was read: and that he was led to Ægæ is also read elsewhere, but chiefly and most clearly in the Acts: which add, that the Saint, the capital sentence received, was led out to a place of the city of the Ægæans famous, by name Edessa. Perhaps also that which of Ægæ, the royal city of Macedonia, Justin the historian writes book 7 chapter 1, to have been formerly called Ædessa, but Ægæ in Cilicia: was said of this city of Cilicia, or (which is more likely, and could have held good in both places) those which by the common dialect of the Greeks are called Αἶγες, goats, by the proper archaism of the Macedonians and Cilicians anciently were called Αἶδες, by a slight difference of one letter: which name afterwards remained to the old city, or to the citadel of the city.

[5] It is also credible enough, the persecutions ceasing, that a temple was erected to the holy Martyr in this city, and that he was held there as Patron; a monastery dedicated to him at Jerusalem, whence the cult was diffused, not only through Cilicia, but also through Syria even into Palestine, on account of the frequent miracles, which procured him the name of Wonder-worker, as we shall see below: and so we have his Contest inscribed in the Arabic Egyptian Martyrology, which Gratia Symonius, now the Maronite Archbishop of Tripoli, made Latin for us. Procopius of Caesarea on the Buildings of the Emperor Justinian book 5 chapter last, among the Monasteries, which that Prince restored at Jerusalem, first names that of St. Thalelæus: and the Clermont Synaxarium, which to have been written for the use of some Constantinopolitan church we have already elsewhere often insinuated, an Oratory at Constantinople inasmuch as in it the places of the city, celebrated by the feasts of individual Saints, are more carefully noted, thus concludes the Elogium of Thalelæus: His festival is celebrated in his Martyrium, which is within the church of the holy Martyr Agathonicus. But this church, as learnedly teaches in his Christian Constantinople Cangius book 4 chapter 6 number 5, first built by Constantine the Great, then restored in a more august form by Justinian, at length in the Great Palace, with Relics to which it was very near, was enclosed under Tiberius the father-in-law of Maurice. But the occasion of building there a Martyrium to St. Thalelæus must have been given by the Relics, conveyed to Constantinople at some time: if indeed the first among the similar little Verses in the Office of the day, is this: Ὄμβροις τῶν αἱμάτων σου, Μεγαλομάρτυς Θαλλὲλαιε, ἀθεΐας τὴν κάμινον ἐνθέως κατέσβησας, νῦν δὲ τῶν θαυμάτων ῥείθροις ἀπελαύνεις πάθη ποικίλα· καὶ πιστοῖς ρὧσιν παρέχεις τῇ θείᾳ χάριτι. Διὸ τὴν θείαν μνήμὴν σου περιχαρῶς ἑορτάζομεν, καὶ τὴν κόνιν τοῦ σώματος ἱερῶς προσπτυσσόμεθα.

With the shower of thy blood, O Great-Martyr Thalelæus, divinely aided thou didst extinguish the furnace of atheism: but now with the streams of miracles thou drivest away diverse infirmities, and to the faithful through God's grace thou affordest strength: wherefore thy divine memory we joyfully celebrate, and before the ashes of thy body we reverently prostrate ourselves. In the life of St. Auxentius too, illustrated on February XIV, number 31, the Saint to be led from his monastery to Chalcedon, another near Chalcedon. is said to have approached the Martyrium of St. Thalelæus, certainly different from the aforesaid urban one: since this must have been across the Pontus yet in the very sight of the city. As to that St. Thalelæus, whose memory is noted on March XXVIII in the aforesaid Arabo-Egyptian Martyrology, whether he be the same or different we do not define.

[6] Augustinus Valerius, in the book on the Bishops and Saints of Verona folio 30 thus speaks: The bones of St. Thalelæus the Martyr rest in the church of St. Nicholas, found there in the year of the Lord, At Verona in the church of St. Nicholas the Relics found in the year 1519, MDXVIIII on the day XXVIIII of April, with other Relics of the saints, as from a Chirograph, at the said church by the hand of Nazarius Beduccus, Rector of the said church, it is established. After the finding of the said Relics, there was had by the Greeks dwelling at Venice a Life written in Greek, as also from certain Greek fragments at the said church we have seen: which Life was thereafter translated into the Latin tongue, and is at the said church. That Life he then produces folio 70, with the preface of an unknown Interpreter, testifying that he was chiefly induced to confer in that work in the history of the Saint, because his Relics, lately found in St. Nicholas's, he saw attested by a scanty and indeed worm-eaten writing. Would that we had even that itself transcribed! Meanwhile we have as witnesses of the finding and translation these verses, depicted on the base of the altar of St. Mary Magdalene, which the same Valerius folio 85 and Ughellus in the Bishops of Verona column 992 exhibit to be read, of this tenor:

[7] Bend thine eyes, and a suppliant beat thy prayers here, O Wayfarer: For a small stone covers great divinities. Of the half of Andronicus, of Symeon, and of Thalelæus, And of St. Atturgus here lie the dust and bones; And a heart without a title, kerchiefs dyed with gore, And a Greek chart noting the kind of Martyrdom. with many others Blood, odor, hair are kept in glass urns: These were the offerings of pious Magdalene. There are fragments of the tomb of Christ's beloved Disciple: And ashes, whose Holy names lie hidden. Nazarius the Presbyter raised this altar to the Saints: And restored to the light, the things that long lay hidden. Of those here named the first, Andronicus, could be believed the Veronese Bishop, who is venerated on December XIV; unless you prefer to presume Andronicus the Monk celebrated in Palestine, brought from the East, of whom and of his wife and children we shall treat on October IX, so that his Relics together with the rest may have been conveyed from the East; so also of Symeon it is permitted to presume, that that is of St. Symeon the second, Bishop of Jerusalem, or of another Saint of the same name and of the same parts. Atturius, the name wrongly transcribed, seems to be Asterius, the companion of St. Thalelæus: but who the Asseclas here is, him I would willingly make Asclas the Egyptian, related on this day among those passed over, because with the Latins we treated of him on January XXIII. Which things all together receive some light from Valerius the Bishop, who subjoins this animadversion to the aforesaid verses: To us in the year MDLXXV on the day XXIII of June, there were shown only the Relics of St. Mary Magdalene, a glass vessel broken, much red ash, bones for the most part dissolved into dust and wrapped in most ancient cloths, many veils; two bones, one without a name, the other with the chirograph of St. Asterius Martyr Companion of St. Thalelæus: likewise one broad bone, and with the title of Wonder-worker. which is held for the hip of St. Thalelæus, in which there is a cross of brass fixed with these Greek letters, Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΘΑΛΕΛΑΙΟΣ Ο ΘΑΥΜΑΤΟΥΡΓΟΣ The holy Thalelæus the Wonder-worker. But this chief ornament of this bone makes it likely to me, that all things together were brought from some place celebrated by the cult of St. Thalelæus, and perhaps from the abovementioned Jerusalem Monastery, in the time of the holy war, before the holy city was utterly lost.

[8] The shorter and more ancient Acts we found at Florence in Codex XIIII of Shelf VIIII of the Laurentian Library, embracing a certain collection for the latter part of May, The more ancient Acts from the Florentine MS., written for the use as it seems of some Eastern church in the Patriarchate of Antioch, like to which would that similar parts might happen to be found elsewhere! inasmuch as most diverse from those collections, which generally from the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate are had, and equally, but wrongly, imputed to Metaphrastes. But they are in a simple style, without long circumlocution of words, deduced through brief questions and answers, so that from the very Proconsular Acts they seem in great part to be taken. And from these alone are received all the Elogia, which either in Greek in the Synaxaria, or in Latin are found in Sirletus and Valerius, of which one we have already given from the Menologium of the Emperor Basil after the I Tome of May; the other, because longer, we shall give from the Clermont one after the more prolix Acts. The argument also of the Canon, composed by St. Joseph the Hymnographer, to be taken from the same will appear by the Annotations to be subjoined. the less approved one from the Vatican. Not content with this brevity and simplicity, some more recent one dilated the Conversation and Martyrdom of St. Thalelæus, with as great a compass of words as he could; in the former part comprehending out of each kind of miraculous cure one example, in the latter far other and more torments; in which, so that the reader may himself estimate the most diverse weight of authority and faith, we shall give that too, from the interpretation of Daniel Cardonus of pious memory, found in the Vatican Codex 866 folio 327, of which, written near Rome in the Monastery of Grottaferrata, the judgment of our Henschenius, not greatly favoring,

you will find, reader, in the Commentary on St. Irene and her sisters, April III §. 2; but I fear lest of the same Author also this composition be.

THE MORE ANCIENT ACTS.

From the MS. of the Laurentian Library at Florence, the Interpreter D. P.

Thalalæus, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Asterius, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Alexander, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

FROM THE FLORENTINE MS.

ἘΝ ὑπατείᾳ τοῦ Νουμεριανοῦ τοῦ Βασιλέως, ἡγεμονεύοντος Θεοδώρου τῆς Αἰγαιῶν πόλεως, τῇ πρὸ ἐννέα καλανδῶν Σεπτεμβρίου, μηνὸς Ὑπερβερεταίου εἰκάδι τρίτῃ, προκαθίσας ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ἐν τῷ Ἀδριανοῦ ναῷ, τῷ ἐν Αἰγαίαις τῇ πόλει, καὶ πολλοὺς κατήρξας διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν, μάστιξι δὲ πολυπλόκοις ἀφανίσας ἄνδρας πλείονας, τοὺς μὲν βυθῷ, τοὺς δὲ ξίφει παραδιδοὺς, τοὺς δὲ πρίσας, ἐπήγαγεν τὴν ἄνομον κρίσιν. Σφετεριζόμενος δὲ τῇ πλάνῃ, ἐκέλευσεν καὶ ἔτερον κρατηθέντα τότε διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν ὁ ἀσεβὴς παρίστασθαι, καὶ ἔφη πρὸς τὴν τάξιν· Καλεῖτε μοι τὸν τῆς ἀσεβεστάτης θρησκείας τῶν Χριστιανῶν συνήγορον. Ἡ τάξις εἶπεν· Δεόμεθά σου, Κύριε, ἔστηκε πρὸ τοῦ βῆματός σου. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὼν τεασάμενος τὸν ἄνδρα, χάριτι φαιδρὸν, ξανθὸν τὴν τρίχα, ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς· Ποῦ τοῦτον ἐκρατήσατε, τὸν ἀρχιγένειον καὶ καλὸν τῷ εἴδει. Ἡ τάξις εἶπεν· Δεόμεθά σου Κύριε,ἐπορεύθημεν ἐν τῇ Ἀναζαρβῳ. πόλει, ἠ ἀπέχει ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγαίων πόλεως σταδίαυς φ᾽ καὶ ἴδωμεν αὐτὸν δρόμῳ ἐρχόμενον ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν· ὃς ἰδὼν ἡμᾶς ἐκρύβη ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ὕλης, καὶ ἐποήσαμεν ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς ἀναζητοῦντες αὐτὸν, καὶ μόλις κυκλώσαντες αὐτὸν εὕρομεν εἰς ἐλαιῶνα κρυπτόμενον· ὡς δὲ κατέσχομεν αὐτον, παρεστήσαμεν τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ. Ὁ Ἡγεμών εἶπεν· Εἰπὲ σὺ, ἄνθρωπε, ποίας θρησκείας εἶ ἢ ποίας πόλεως, ἢ ποίας τύχης, καὶ τί τὸ ὄνομά σου; Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Ἐγὼ Χριστιανός εἰμι, εἰ δὲ τὸ κοινὸν ὄνομά μου μαθεῖν θέλεις, Θαλέλαιος λέγομαι· εἰμὶ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Λιβάνου, οἱ δὲ γονεῖς μου, ὁ μὲν πατὴρ Βερεκκόκιος ἐλέγετο, ἦν δὲ καὶ στρατηλάτης, ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ Χριστιανὸς, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ μου Ῥομβυλιανὴ λέγεται, καὶ ὁ ἀδελφός μου Ἰωάννης· ἔστι δὲ αὐτὸς Υποδιάκονος, κᾀγὼ τὴν ἰατρικὴν ἔμαθον τέχνην, παραδοθεὶς Μακαρίῳ τῷ ἀρχιἳητρῷ. Διωγμοῦ δὲ γενομένου καὶ πάντων φυγόντων, ἐκρατίθην ἐγὼ καὶ παρεδόθην Τιβερίῳ τῷ Ἐγεμόνι ἐν Ἐδέσσῃ τῇ πόλει, και δεινῶς μοι ἐχρήσατο. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπεκαλεσάμην Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἀληθηνὸν, τὸν ἀπλανῆ, τὸν διμιουργὸν, τὸν ἀγαθὸν, καὶ έῤῥύσατό με ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ· νῦν δὲ πάλιν παρεδόθην τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ· ποίει ὃ θέλεις, δίκαιον γὰρ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀποθανεῖν, ὃν ἔχω βοηθοῦντά μοι τὸν οὐράνιον Θεόν. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Ἀπὸ Τιβερίου τοῦ Ἡγεμόνος ἀποδράσας, νομίζεις καὶ τὰς ἐμὰς χεῖρας ἐκφυγεῖν κακὴ κεφαλή; Θελέλαιος εἶπεν· Ἐπίστευσα, εἰς ὃν ἤλπισα, Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ὅτι οὐ μὲ καταισχύνῃ με, ἀλλὰ βοηθήσει μοι μέχρι τέλους. Ὁ Ἠγεμὸν εἶπεν· Κάλει μοι Ἀστέριον τὸν τέκτονα. Ἡ τάξις εἶπεν· Ἔστηκεν πρὸ τοῦ βήματός σου, Κύριε. Θεόδωρος Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Ἀστέριε, τρῆσον ἐν τρυπάνῃ τοὺς άστραγάλους αὐτοῦ. Ὥρας δὲ πολλῆς διαγενομένης, ἡ τάξις εἶπεν· Δεόμεθά σου Κύριε, ἀπὸ ὥρας τρίτης ἔως ὥρας ἕκτης ἡτονήσαμεν τρυπῶντες τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐδὲν ἠνύσαμεν. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Ἐπιδευτερώσατε καὶ τρήσατε τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ. Ἀστέριος εἶπεν· Καθώς μοι ἐκέλευσας, κύριέ μου, ἐτρήσαμεν τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Βαλόντες σχοινία κρεμάσετε αὐτὸν κατὰ κέφαλα. Οἱ δὲ μή νοήσαντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἀορασίᾳ πληγέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ξύλον ἐκρέμασαν, νομίσαντες Θαλέλαιον κρημνᾶν. Ὁ δὲ μαθητὴς Θαλελαίου, ὀνόματι Θεότιμος, ἑστὼς διένευεν τοͅ μακαρίῳ Θαλελαίῳ λέγων· Βλέπεις τί ποιοῦσιν; Ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Σιώπα, ἄδελφε Θεότιμε, ὁ γὰρ Χριστὸς παρέστηκεν ἐν δυναμῶν με. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Τί τοῦτο ἐποιήσατε; Ἐγὼ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἶπον ὑμῖν κρεμᾶσαι, και ὑμεῖς ξύλον ἐκρεμάσατε; τείναντες οὖν Ἀστέριον καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον τοὺς σπεκουλάτορας εὐτόνως βασανίσατε, ἵνα μὴ τοιαῦτα τολμῶσι ποιεῖν εἰς καταφρόνησιν τοῦ δικαστηρίου. Ἀστέριος εἶπεν· Ζῇ Κύριος, κἀγώ Χριστιανός εἰμι. Καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν σφόδρα ὀργισθεὶς εἶπεν· Ἀγάγετε αὐτοὺς πρός με. Ὡς δὲ ἕμελλον αὐτοὺς παριστάνειν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, εὔξατο περὶ αὐτῶν ὁ μακάριος Θαλέλαιος, καὶ ἐξέφυγον τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ. Κατέδραμεν δὲ αὐτοὺς μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων πολλῶν Μήδιός τις ὀνόματι τῆς τάξεως, καὶ κατέλαβεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ ὄρους, ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίων πεντήκοντα τῆς πόλεως, ἔνθα ἐκράτησαν τὸν ἅγιον Θαλέλαιον, καὶ ἀνεῖλεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ, καὶ ἐλθόντες ἀπήγγειλεν τῷ Ἡγεμόνι. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὼν προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν ἅγιον Θαλέλαιον, εἵπεν πρὸς αὐτον· Σὺ τί λέγεις Θαλέλαιε; θῦσον τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ ζῆσον καὶ ἀπόλαυσον τοῦ φωτὸς τούτου. Ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Οὑ μὴ πείσεις τὸν δοῦλον τοῦ Θεοῦ δαιμονίοις ἀκαθάρτοις θῦσαι, Καὶ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Θήστε μοι σέλλαν, καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐγὼ τρυπήσω τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ. Ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Ἀνάστηθι Ἡγεμὼν, καὶ ἐλθὼν τρύπησόν μου τοὺς ἀστραγάλους· παρίσταται γὰρ ὁ Κύριός μου Ἰησοὺς Χριστὸς ἐνδυναμῶν με, καὶ οὐ δέδοικα τὰς ἀπειλάς σου. Ὡς δὲ ἀνέστη ὁ Ἡγεμὼν τρῆσαι τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ, ὁ θρόνος, ἔνθα ἐκαθέζετο, ἐκολλήθη ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ, πάντες δὲ οἱ καθεζόμενοι εἰς τὸν Ἀδριανοῦ ναὸν θεασάμενοι, ἀνεβόησεν μετὰ φωνῆς μεγάλης, λέγοντες· Μέγας ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὁ τοσαῦτα μυστήρια ποιῶν. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὼν μὴ φέρων τὴν αἰσχύνην, παρεκάλει τὸν μακάριον Θαλέλαιον, λέγων· Εὔξαι τῷ Θεῷ σου Θαλέλαιε, ἵνα ἐκπέσῃ ὁ θρόνος ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ, τάχα γὰρ ὁ Θεός σου μέγας ἐστίν. Εὐξαμένου δὲ τοῦ μακαρίου Θαλελαίου, ἔπεσεν ὁ θρόνος ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ· καὶ οὐ δὲ οὕτως γνῶσιν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως ἔλαβεν ὁ παράνομος Ἡγεμὼν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔβρυχεν πάλιν τοὺς ὀδόντας κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ὡς ἀνήμερον θυρίον, καὶ λαβὼν τὸν τρυπανίσκον, ἔτρησεν τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ. Παραχρῆμα δὲ ἐξηράνθησαν αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνακέκραγεν, λέγων· Ἔτι παρακαλῶ σε Θαλέλαιε, εὔξαι ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ, ἵνα ἀποκατασταθῶσιν αἱ χεῖρές μου. Εὐξαμένου δὲ τοῦ μακαρίου Θαλελαίου, ἐγένοντο αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ ἦσαν ὑγιεῖς. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὸν εἶπεν· Ἄρατε αὐτὸν ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ κύμασι ῥίψατε πρὸς πελάγεσιν, ὡπῶς ἐκεῖ ἀποθάνῃ, καὶ μὴ εἰς τὰς χεῖράς μου. Ὁ ἄγιος Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Αὐτὸς ἤρξω τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἐξετάσεώς μου ποιεῖσθαι, αὐτός με καὶ τελειῶσαι ὁφείλεις. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Ἀλλαχοῦ ἄπελθε, ἀπόθανε, ἄνθρωπε. Οὔπω οὐδέν σοι ἐποίησα κακὸν, καὶ τοσαῦτά μοι ἐνεδείξω. Ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος εἶπεν· Μὴ νομίσῃς τύραννε, ὅτι διὰ τὸν φόβον σου τὸν Θεὸν ἀπαρνήσομαι· τοῦτο οὖν γίνωσκε ὅτι οὔτε τοῖς θεοῖς σου ἐπιθύσω, καὶ τοῖς δαίμοσιν, οἷς αὐτὸς λατρεύεις, προσκυνήσω. Ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ εἰπόντος, λαβόντες αὐτὸν οἱ δήμιοι, ἔβαλον εἰς τὴν σκάφην, καὶ ἀπήγαγον, ἔνθα προσέταξεν ὁ Ἡγεμὸν ῥιφῆναι αὐτόν. Ὡς δὲ ἔφθασαν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, καὶ ἔμελλον αὐτὸν ῥίπτειν, προσηύξατο λέγων· Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, μὴ συγχωρήσῃς με νῦν ἀποθανεῖν, ἵνα τελείως ἀγωνισάμενος ἀπολάβω τὸν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας στέφανον. Καὶ εἰπόντος αὐτοῦ ταῦτα, ἔῤῥιψαν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος, καὶ παραγενόμενοι ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Ἡγεμόνι, λέγοντες; ὅτι, καθὼς ἐκέλευσεν τὸ ὑμέτερον μέγεθος, ἐῤῥίψαμεν Θαλέλαιον ἐν τῷ πελάγει, καὶ τέθνηκεν παραχρῆμα ὁρώντων ἡμῶν. Λεγόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ταῦτα τῷ Ἡγεμόνι, ὁ μακάριος Θαλέλαιος παραγίνεται ἐστολισμένος, φέρων στόλην λευκήν. Οἱ δὲ τῆς τάξεως ἐγνώρισαν τῷ Ἡγεμόνι περὶ αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ Ἡγεμὼν ἀκούσας ἐθαύμασεν σφόδρα καὶ ἐξίστατο, καὶ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἀχθῆναι ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ. Ὡς δὲ εἰστήνεκαν αὐτὸν, ἔφη αὐτῷ· Ἰδού αἱ γοητεῖαί σου καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης περιγένοντο. Ὁ δὲ μακάριος εἶπεν· Καὶ ποῦ ἡ δύναμις τῶν θεῶν ὑμῶν, ἡ τὸ καύχημα ὑμῶν, ἠ τὸ θράσος εἰς αὐτους. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ Κύριός μου Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς κατέλυσεν τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὑμῶν, καὶ οὖ συνεχώρησέν με ἀποθανεῖν ἵνα νικήσωσε καὶ τὸν πατέρα σου διάβολον. Καὶ θυμωθεὶς ὁ Ἡγεμὼν εἶπεν· Ὁρᾶτε πῶς καὶ τὰ πελάγη ἐμάγευσεν καὶ ἡμᾶς λοιδορεῖ· τοῦτον ἐὰν ἀφῶμεν οὕτως, ἀποκτενεῖ ἡμᾶς πάντας ταῖς φαρμακείαις αὐτοῦ· ἀγάγατέ μοι μάγους ἐνταῦθα, ὅπως πειράσω τὴν μαγείαν αὐτοῦ. Ἡ τάξις εἶπεν Ἐστήκασι κύριε. Καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ἔφη πρὸς τοὺς μάγους· Τί δεῖ ποιῆσαι τῷ κακίστῳ ἀνθρώπῳ τούτῳ, ὅτι καὶ τὰ πελάγη ταῖς μαγείαις αὐτοῦ ἐνίκησεν, καὶ ἡμῶν πάντων περιεγένετο. Οὐρβίκιος ὁ μάγος εἶπεν· Κελεύσει ἡ σὴ ἀρετὴ ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ ἀπελθόντα αὐτὸν, ἐκεῖ θυρίων βρῶσιν γενέσθαι. Καὶ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν καλεῖ τὸν βοηθὸν αὐτῶν, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ποίησον γενέσθαι ἀρήναν παγμεγέθη, καὶ ἀνεχθῆναι θυρία παντοδαπὰ, καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν αὐτὸν, ἵνα θυριομαχεῖ. Καὶ ὡς προσέταξιν ὁ Ἡγεμὼν γενέσθαι, οὕτως ἐγένετο. Τότε λέγει ὁ Ἡγεμὼν τῷ ἁγίῳ Θαλελαίω·ͅ Θύεις λοιπὸν Θαλέλαιε, ἢ τὰς σάρκας σου τοῖς θηρίοις δώσω. Τότε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος· Ἀκμὴν ἀγνοεῖς τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν χάριν τοῦ δεσπότου μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ λέγοντος διὰ στόματος Δαβὶδ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀποθανοῦμαι ἀλλὰ ζήσομαι καὶ διηγήσομαι τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου. Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· Παιδεύων ἐπαίδευσέ με ὁ Κύριος, καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ οὐ παρέδωκέ με· δεξιὰ Κυρίου ἐποίησεν δύναμιν, δεξιὰ Κυρίου ὕψωσέ με. Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Ἡγεμόνος ἐβλήθη ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ, καὶ ἀπολύουσιν αὐτῷ ἄρκτον δεινοτάτην· ἥδε δραμοῦσα ἀνεκλίθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ, καὶ περιέλειχεν τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, βρύξας ὡς λέων τοὺς ὁδόντας αὐτοῦ, ἐκέλευσεν ἀπολυθῆναι αὐτῷ λέοντα παμμεγέθη καὶ λέαιναν· καὶ δραμόντες ὁ λέων καὶ ἡ λέαινα προσέπεσον τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Θαλελαίου καὶ περιέλειχον τὰ πέλματα τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ θεασάμενος ὁ Ἡγεμὼν τὸ γεγονὸς περιέσχισεν τὴν χλαμίδα αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ὄχλος ἐβόων λέγοντες· Μέγας ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ ἁγίου Θαλελαίου βοήθησον ἡμῖν, ὥστε ἀπὸ τῆς κραυγῆς σειχθῆναι τὸν θέατρον· τὸν δὲ Οὐρβίκιον τὸν μάγον ἐποίησαν οἱ δημῶται βληθῆναι ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ, καὶ βληθέντος αὐτοῦ κατέφαγον αὐτὸν τὰ θυρία. Καὶ εὐθέως ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ἀνέστη ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ, δεδωκὼς τῷ ἁγίῳ Θαλελαίῳ τὴν ἀπόφασιν. Ἐξελθὼν δὲ εἰς τόπον ἐπίσημον ὀνόματι Ἔδεσσαν, ἥ τις ἐστὶ τῆς Αἰγαίων πόλεως, προσηύξατο ἐκεῖ ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος· καὶ προσευξαμένου αὐτοῦ, ὁ τόπος εἰς ὃν ἦσαν συνημένοι ἐσαλεύθη, καὶ φόβος ἔλαβεν πάντας, ὥστε προσπεσεῖν τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Θαλελαίου, καὶ εἶπεν τὸ Ἐλέηνον ἡμᾶς, καὶ δὸς τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ σφραγίδα.

Καὶ οὕτως ἐτελειώθῃ ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος καὶ μετὰ καλοῦ ὕπνου ἐκοιμήθη. Ταῖς αὐτοῦ πρεσβείαις Σοτὴρ ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς. Ἐθελειώθη ὁ ἅγιος Θαλέλαιος μηνὶ Μαΐῳ εἰκάδι ἡμέρᾳ, τοῦ βασιλευοντος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[1] Under the Consulate of Numerian the Emperor, Theodore presiding over the city of the Ægæans, on the day before the Ninth of the Kalends of September, on the twenty-third day of the month of Hyperberetæus, the Proconsul sitting for judgment in the temple of Hadrian, Led to Theodore the President, when he had apprehended many on account of Christ, he destroyed several men in various ways, drowning these in the sea, delivering those to the sword, consuming some by fire, and so he carried on that iniquitous judgment. Further, as he was the more vehemently busy in asserting the error, the impious one ordered another also, then taken on account of his piety, to be set before him, and he said to the Officers: Call to me the patron of the most impious sect of the Christians. The Officers answered, We beseech thee, Lord, behold he stands at thy tribunal. But the President, seeing the man comely with grace, and golden-haired, said to them: Where did you apprehend him, We beseech thee, Lord, setting out into the city of Anazarbus, which is distant from the city of the Ægæans five hundred b stadia, we saw him going swiftly toward the East; who when he had espied us, hid himself in the midst of a wood: and we, having sought him for several days, with difficulty at last found him hidden under an olive tree. But as soon as we apprehended him, we brought him to thy Power.

[2] The President said, Speak, O man, of what religion and city thou art, of what condition also and name. Thalelæus answered, I am a Christian: but if thou desirest also to know my common name, I am called Thalelæus. But I am from Lebanon, c having gotten my father Bereccocius d, who also was a Captain of soldiers, but a Christian; my mother Romuliana, and constantly professing the faith, my brother John. And he indeed is a Subdeacon, but I learned Medicine under the discipline of Macarius the chief physician: and when all fled by reason of the persecution, I being apprehended was delivered to Tiberius the President of Edessa. By him ill-treated, I invoked the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the true and certain God, both good and creator of all things, he is ordered to have his ankles bored through who delivered me from his hands. But now again I have come into thy power, do what thou wilt: because it is just that I should die for Christ, whom I have as my heavenly God my helper. The President says: Or just as thou didst escape Tiberius the President, dost thou also hope to escape my hands, wicked head? Thalelæus answered: I trust in him in whom I hope, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he will not suffer me to be confounded, but will aid me even unto the end. The President says: Call to me Asterius the workman: The Officers answered: He stands at thy tribunal, Lord. Theodore the President said: Asterius, with the auger bore through his ankles. But when they had spent much time on this matter, the Officers said: We beseech thee, Lord, from the third hour e even to the sixth we labored boring through his ankles, and we accomplished nothing.

[3] The President answered: Try it again, and altogether bore through his ankles. Asterius says: As thou commandedst, my Lord f, we have bored through his ankles. The President said: Cast on cords, and to be hung up, but in vain: and hang him up by the head. But they thinking they did so, but in reality being struck with blindness by our Lord Jesus Christ, hung up a piece of wood, supposing they were hanging up Thalelæus. Seeing this the Disciple of Thalelæus by name Timothy, standing there; made a sign to Bl. Thalelæus, and said, Seest thou what they do? To whom Thalelæus; Be silent, brother, Christ is with me, strengthening me. The President said: What have you done? I ordered you to hang up the man, and you have fixed up a piece of wood: extend therefore Asterius and Alexander the executioners, and diligently torture them, that they may not henceforth dare any such thing in contempt of my tribunal. Asterius says: The Lord lives: for I too g am a Christian. Then the President being vehemently angered said: at which seen Asterius and Alexander converted Lead them to me. But when they were about to lead them before him, Bl. Thalelæus prayed for them, and they escaped his hands: but some ran after them, and among the rest a certain one of the Officers, by name Medius; and they apprehended them on the summit of the mountain, from the city about h fifty stadia, where also they had apprehended S. Thalelæus, and there they slew them, are slain, and returning announced it to the President. But the President calling S. Thalelæus, said to him; What sayest thou, Thalelæus? Sacrifice to the gods, and live, and enjoy the use of this light. S. Thalelæus answered: Thou wilt not persuade the servant of Christ to sacrifice to impure demons.

[4] And the President being angry said: Place for me a seat: I myself will rise and bore through his ankles. the President wishing to do the same himself, S. Thalelæus said: Rise, President, and coming bore through my ankles: for the Lord Jesus Christ is present strengthening me, nor do I fear thy threats. But as the President rose to bore through his ankles, the throne in which he had sat clung to his hinder parts, and all who sat in the temple of Hadrian with a loud voice cried out, Great is the God of the Christians, who does such wonders. But the President not bearing the shame, called Bl. Thalelæus saying, Pray to thy God, Thalelæus, that the throne may fall away from me: for truly thy God is great. But Bl. Thalelæus praying, the throne fell away from him; twice he is punished and healed by the Saint. but not even thus did the unjust President acknowledge the power of God, nay rather again gnashing his teeth against the Saint, like a fierce beast, the auger being snatched up he began to bore through his ankles: but at once his hands withered i, and he cried out saying, Again I beseech thee, Thalelæus, pray for me that my hands may be restored. Bl. Thalelæus praying again, his hands were made whole as they were.

[5] But the President said: Take him from my sight, and plunge him in the sea-waves, that he may perish there, nor return into my hands. S. Thalelæus says: plunged into the sea, Thou didst begin to hold the inquiry concerning me: thou also for me oughtest to consummate it. The President, says: Go elsewhere and die, O man: I have not yet inflicted any evil on thee, and thou hast practiced such things against me. S. Thalelæus said: Do not suppose, tyrant, that for fear of thee I will deny God: but know this, that I will by no means sacrifice to thy gods, nor adore the demons whom thou servest. Him saying these things the lictors apprehended, and cast him into a skiff, and carried him away thither, where the President had commanded him to be cast into the sea. But when they had come to the place, and were about to make the throw; he prayed saying, Lord my God, suffer me not now to die, that finishing the perfect contest I may receive the crown of immortality. Him having spoken these things they cast into the sea, and returning announced to the President and said, as thy Greatness commanded, we have cast Thalelæus into the sea, and in our sight he is dead.

[6] Still they were thus speaking to the President, when there was present Bl. Thalelæus, clothed in a white robe: he presents himself safe: but those who were of the Officers indicated his coming to the President: but the President hearing, was vehemently astonished and stupefied, and ordered him to be led before him. But when he had been led, he said to him: Behold even the sea thy incantations have conquered k. And the Blessed one said: Where now is the power of your Gods? where the boasting and bragging of you? Behold my Lord Jesus Christ has dissolved your counsels, nor did he permit me to die, that I might still conquer the devil thy father. And the President being angered said: See how he has both enchanted the seas and curses us: if we dismiss him thus he will slay us all by his sorceries, the conqueror of us all. Urbicius the magician said: Let thy Power command him, led off into the arena, to be cast to the beasts for food. But the President called the keeper of them, and said: Have a most spacious arena prepared, and beasts of every kind brought: cast to the beasts and let us bring him in, that with them he may contend. And it was done as the President had commanded; who said to S. Thalelæus, Dost thou at last sacrifice, Thalelæus, or is it needful that I give thy flesh to the beasts? But Thalelæus answered him: Dost thou still not know the grace and glory of my Lord Jesus Christ? who says through the mouth of David, I shall not die, but live, and shall declare the works of the Lord: and again, Chastising the Lord has chastised me, and has not delivered me unto death: the right hand of the Lord has done valiantly, the right hand of the Lord has exalted me. Ps. 117, 17 & 18

[7] When S. Thalelæus had said these things before the President, he was cast into the arena, by them he is not harmed and they sent in upon him a most ferocious she-bear: which running up bowed itself before him, and licked his feet. This seen, gnashing his teeth like a lion the President commanded a most huge lion with a lioness to be loosed against him; which likewise running forward fell at the feet of S. Thalelæus, and licked the soles of their feet. l Then the President perceiving what had been done, rent his cloak, and all the crowd began to cry out; Great is the God of the Christians, the God of Thalelæus help us; so that by the clamor the theater was shaken: but Urbicius the magician the people ordered to be cast into the arena, and being cast in the beasts devoured him. And at once the President rose from his throne, and gave sentence against Thalelæus: who having gone out to a famous place, by name Edessa, of the city m of the Ægæans, about to die he converts many. prayed there: and as he prayed the place trembled where they were gathered, and fear seized all, so that falling at the feet of S. Thalelæus they said, Have mercy on us, and sign us with the seal of Christ. And so S. Thalelæus consummated his contest, Savior have mercy. o [But S. Thalelæus was consummated on the twentieth day of the month of May, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning] to whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

a Petavius book 1 on the Doctrine of times chapter 29, treating of lunar Months (which, taken up under the Empire of the Greeks, the Syrians and neighboring nations continued to use, even under the Empire of the Romans) teaches that there was a double use of them, one fixed, the other movable up and down through the Julian year. But the Greeks having their year defined by three hundred and fifty-four days, so that the months were alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days, every eighth year intercalated ninety days, that is three whole months, thinking it troublesome to intercalate each year as many days as were needful to equalize the annual revolution of the sun. Petavius brings an example from Epiphanius, Heresy 51, of the month Appellæus (which otherwise would correspond to December), of Appellæus, I say, putting day XVI together with day V of November. So therefore it could happen that Hyperberetæus, otherwise about to take its beginning toward the end of our September, and corresponding nearly to October, in the year CCLXXXIV began on July XXV.

measurement. In the Menæa and Sirletus Azarbus is corruptly read: the Veronese interpreter more corruptly wrote Arzum, which is a city of Thrace far from Cilicia; it is added in the Menæa and the Clermont one, that the city is τῆς δευτέρας τῶν Κιλίκων ἐπαρχίας of the second Province of the Cilicians: but all the Epitomes are to be corrected, when there they say the Saint was apprehended; since below it is set down that the place in which he was taken was distant only 50 stadia, that is six and a half Italian miles or two hours.

this is a Mountain and region in Phoenicia, which now the Maronites inhabit, of whose origin, name and religion a notable dissertation in the year 1679 Faustus Naironus the Maronite published at Rome.

πολλῆς ὥρας for a long while, and that with the preposition for a space of time which is commonly wont to be expended on some action. For thus I often see the Greeks speak, and thus they are to be explained, otherwise they are repeatedly to be accused of enormous hyperbole: yet because the inquiries were not carried on so near the tribunal, but that the President could meanwhile attend to other actions of his function; it may easily happen, that those about to report how vainly they had attempted to do the things commanded, were not at once heard.

f So indeed he believed, in this, as also presently in the Saint to be hung up, divinely deluded. In the Clermont one it is expressly said, that a piece of wood in place of the Martyr was bored through.

ζωῆς καὶ ἔργων ἐπιδείξει Ἀλέξανδρον ἐζώγρησας καὶ τὸν Ἀστέριον, Ἀθλητά· καὶ Θεῷ τῷ εὐεργέτῃ πανευκλεεῖς παρέστησας, Θαλλέλαιε, Μάρτυρας. By the word of life and the demonstration of works thou didst gain Alexander and Asterius, O Champion, whom thou didst exhibit to God the benefactor as glorious Martyrs, O Thalelæus. Sirletus defers their conversion until after another miracle, by which the Saint plunged in the sea emerged unharmed. In the Chifflet one they are called οἱ ἀπὸ δημίων of the executioners: in the Clermont one several ministers of justice are supposed, whom the angry President ordered to be beaten with stripes, and of whom two were converted.

ἐξαίσια, Παμμάκαρ, καίρῷ τῷ τῆς ἀθλήσεως· τοῦ γὰρ τυράννου, ἀνηλεῶς σε κολάζειν προθεμένου, αἱ τούτου χεῖρες ὤφθησαν ξηραὶ καὶ ἀνενέργητοι. Wondrous things didst thou work, O most Blessed, in the time of thy contest: for the hands of the tyrant, attempting to torture thee mercilessly, thou madest appear dry and powerless.

θαλάσσῃ ἀποῤῥιφθεὶς δυνάμει Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐβυθίσθης, Cast into the sea, by the power of God thou wast not submerged: but what is added, Ἀσεβεῖς δὲ κατεπόντισας τῷ βύθῳ, but the impious thou didst sink into the deep, is to be understood figuratively not literally.

of the irrational creatures, recognizing thee a Martyr of the Word, restrained its irrational impulse, and honored thee with a certain pious reason, contending in the midst of the arena, O Glorious one. Ἡ φύσις τῶν ἀλόγων ἐπιγνοῦσα τοῦ Λόγου σε Μάρτυρα, ὁρμὴν τὴν ἄλογον φεύγει καὶ τιμᾷ σε ἐν λόγῳ εύσεβεῖ, ἐν μέσῳ τῷ σταδίῳ ἀγωνισάμενον, Ἔνδοξε.

ὥσπερ ἄμωμον τῷ τυθέντι Ἀμνῷ ἅγιόν σε προσενέχθης, τῇ τοῦ ξίφους ἐκτομῇ. As an immaculate victim holy thou wast offered to the immolated Lamb, by the cutting of the sword.

o This parenthesis we have therefore separated from the context, because we do not doubt that it is he had written at the beginning.

THE MORE RECENT ACTS,

Rather freely interpolated and of slight faith.

From the MS. Vatican 866 folio 327, the Interpreter Daniel Cardonus S.J.

Thalalæus, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Asterius, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Alexander, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

FROM THE VATICAN MS.

CHAPTER I.

The miraculous cures, bestowed by S. Thallelæus on those who entreated.

Κατὰ τοὺς καιροὺς Νουμεριανοῦ τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος τῆς Ῥωμαἳκῆς πολιτείας, οἰκουμενικὸς διωγμὸς κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν γέγονεν· Βδελυρὰ γάρ τις καὶ ἀλλόκοτος θεομανία τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πωρώσασα, τάς τε κυνοκτόνους φαγὰς, εὐχαριστηρίους θυσίας τοῖς εἰδώλοις προσέφερον. Παυσαμένης γὰρ τῆς δωδεκάδος τῶν Ἀποστόλων, καὶ τῆς ἑλληνικὴς κρατούσης ἀχλύος, ἡ πίστις ἐσαλεύετο· φιλείδωλός τε γὰρ ὢν ὁ Βασιλεὺς καὶ μισόχριστος, ἰδίους Ἡγεμόνας πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν κατέπεμψε κλίμασιν, ἄρδην πάντας τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς ἀναλώσοντας. Σύγχυσις δέ τις θεομάχος τῇ κτίσει ἐφήπλωτο, καὶ φιλαίματος ἄρας τῷ κόσμῳ ἐνεσκήρτησε δαίμων, καὶ ἕκαστος περί τινος μείζονος δυσιδαιμονίας ἤρικεν φιλονικῶν· εἰ δέ τις, πλάνην τὴν πολυθεΐαν ἐτόλμησεν φθέγξασθαι, κακοδαίμονί τινι ἐνεργεῖσθαι καὶ λαλεῖν ὑποπτεύετο· εἰ δὲ παῤῥησιαστικώτερος ἔμενεν, ἀσυγγνώστῳ κατακρινόμενος ψήφῳ, κατά τὴν βασιλικὴν αὖθις κατῃκίζετο πρόσταξιν, καὶ μύσος τῆς οἰκουμένης μετὰ τέλος νενόμιστο. Πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἕτεροι, ἔριδι καὶ ἔχθραις πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διακείμενοι, τὴν Χριστιανικὴν κατηγορούμενοι πίστιν, καὶ τοῖς ἀληθῶς εὐσεβέσι συμπαρασυρόμενοι, εἰς κατάκριτον ἐξόκειλαν θάνατον. Οὕτως οὐκ ἀναπνευούσης τῆς φύσεως τῆς εἰδωλικῆς πλάνης, ἄλλως ὑγείαν τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν ἑορταζούσης, ἀπέση τις ἰατρὸς, καὶ τὴν θεΐλατον λοίμην ἐκείνην τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξεδίωκεν γένους. Εὐσεβές γὰρ τὸ παιδάριον, εὔμηκες τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀκμάζον, εὐθαλῶς ἀνθοῦν τὸ πρόσωπον, νεανικῶς χλοάζον τὸ γένειον, τὴν ἰατρικὴν μετιὼν ἐπιστήμην, γένους εὐλαβοῦς, Θαλλέλαιος τ᾽ οὔνομα, υἱὸς ἀνδρὸς προστάτου Χριστιανῶν, τὸ πολύφημον ἄλσος τῆς Φοινίκης κατῴκει, τὸ λεγόμενον Λίβανον, πρὸς τοῖς κλίμασιν Ἱερουσαλημίταις προσιών. Οὗτος ἐλπίσι χρησταῖς ταῖς πρὸς Θεὸν συμβιῶν, καὶ σεμνοῖς καλλοπιζόμενος ἔργοις, καὶ ἀγαθοῖς συνειδήσεσι, καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀπηλλαγμένος θεσμῶν, τιμιωτέραν τὴν εὐσέβειαν κρίνας, κατετόλμα τῆς πλάνης· καὶ ἀνιστάμενος νύκτωρ ἐξέκοπτε τὰ ὑψιλὰ μετέωρα τοῦ Λιβάνου καὶ κατάκομα δένδρα, ἔνθα χρισμοδῶν ὁ ἐχθρὸς διὰ τῆς φιλοπόρνου θέας ἐξεπολίτευε τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ θήλυ μάλιστα χοροστατοῦν κατεχόρευε γένος, ἐν κυννύραις καὶ ναύλαις, καὶ πυκτίσι, καὶ τυμπάνοις, καὶ αὐλοῖς, καὶ βαχείαις. Οὕτως ὁ παῖς εὐσεβῶν ἐθεράπευεν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ οἴκῳ, φιλοτίμως ὑποδεχόμενος πάντας ξένους τὲ καὶ πολίτας, καὶ τῆς ἀνεχούσης ἀξιῶν θεραπείας, πάνδημος ἴστατο πλουτούντων τε καὶ πτωχῶν συμπαθὴς ξενοδόχος, ὄτι ζῆλος ἦν αὐτῷ πρὸς φιλόξενον ἦθος, καὶ εὐφροσύνη ἦν τούτῳ των σωζομένων ἡ ῥῶσις· μονιμώτερος δὲ ὢν τῆς ἐπὶ πτωχοῖς συμπαθείας, ἀνενδώτοις περὶ αὐτῶν φροντίσι συνείχετο, ἴδιόν τι σπλάγχνον ὑποπτεύων τὸ μέλος τοῦ πάσχοντος, καὶ ἀφερούμενος τὸν κόπον τῆς πολυσκλήρου ζωῆς. Ἔστιν δὲ ὄτε τούτους καὶ ἐπ᾽ ὤμων ἐβάσταζεν, καὶ πάλιν αὐτοῖς ὡς ἱκετης παρίστατο, τῆς αὐτῶν κηδεμονίας πάντα τιθέμενος δεύτερα. Νοῦς ἦν περὶ αὐτοὺς πολυόμματος, καὶ παντοδαποῖς ἱδρῶσιν τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἤσκει πολυάσχολον μέριμναν, εὐκλεὲς ἐφόδιον τὴν ὑγιεῖαν παρέχων. Οὐκ ἔμενεν δὲ ταῖς τῶν χρειζώντων ἀναζητεῖσθαι σπουδαῖς, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς πρὸς βοήθειαν ἔτρεχεν, καὶ τὰ ἄχθη τῶν καμνόντων ἰατρεύων ἐκούφιζεν. Τῇ γὰρ τῆς χάριτος ἐνεργούμενος ῥώμῃ, αὐτὴν εἶχεν τὴν φωνὴν τῆς ἀσθενείας φυγήν· ἅμα τε γὰρ τὴν ῥῶσιν ἐφθέγγετο, καὶ παραχρῆμα τὸ ἔργον ἐκάλει τοῦ λόγου συνήγορον. Οὐκ ἦν πλουσίου καὶ πτωχοῦ παρ᾽ αὐτῷ τὸ διάφοπον μέσον, ἀλλὰ πιστῶν καὶ ἀπίστων ὑπῆρχεν κοινὸν εὐεργέτημα. Τοῖς γὰρ τῶν εὐσεβῶν ὅλος κατασχολούμενος μώλωψι, καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίδα τῶν κατορθωμάτων κατέχων εὐσέβειαν, διένεμε πᾶσι τοῖς προσιοῦσι τὴν ἴασιν· ἅπας ἁπλῶς ἀσθενὴς, ἔμπλαστρον τὸν Μάρτυρα ἐκέκτητο, καὶ οὐκ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἀριθμεῖν τὴν τῆς θεραπείας ποσότητα· ᾧ γὰρ ἐὰν παρέστη, ἐξ αὐτοῦ ῥαπιζόμενον ἀπέδρα τὸ νόσημα, καὶ ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐσκορπίζετο δύναμις· καὶ τοσοῦτον φιλοικτῆρμων ὑπῆρχεν, ὡς καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησί ποτε θεραπείαν προσάγειν, καὶ ἐπεύχεσθαι αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀνάληψιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς μὴ συναλγοῦσιν ὀργίζετο. Ἴδεν γοῦν ποτε Χριστιανὸν μεμηνότα καθ᾽ Ἕλληνος, καὶ τῷ τούτου θανάτῳ χορεύοντα, καὶ δηχθεὶς τὸ σκληρὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, κατεμέμψατο εἰπὼν, Μὴ ἐπίχαιρε τοῖς κακοῖς τοῦ ἐχθροῦ σου, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰ μεταστήσεις αὐτὸν πρὸς θεόφιλον βίον· κοινὰ γὰρ τὰ πάθη, καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα ἄδηλα. Ὁ δέ φησιν, Ταχύτερον ἐδει τούτῳ εἰσπροσταχθῆναι τὸν θάνατον, ποῖα γὰρ ὤνησις διασώζεσθαι τούτους ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς κακοῖς ἐγγηράσαντας. Ὁ δέ φησιν, Προσεύχεσθαι, ἀδελφοὶ, τοῖς ἐχθροῖς προσετάχθημεν, οὐ μὴν ἐπευφραίνεσθαι· οὕτως γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸ δυσπειθὲς μαλαχθήσεται. Καὶ μετήγαγεν αὐτὸν πρὸς συμπάθειαν. Οὕτω προείη ὁ β ίος τοῦ Μάρτυρος. Πάθος ποτέ τινα μεσημβρινὸν θηριόδηκτον κατὰ σπλάγχνων εἰλήφει, καὶ χαλεπῶς ὁ ἰοβόλος χυμὸς διασήψας τπν ἐγκάτων τὰ στέρνα καὶ τὰ πλευρὰ ἐρευνήσας ἐπενέμετο καὶ τήν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ σὺν ταῖς ἰατρικοῖς φαρμάκοις καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ τῇ τούτων καὶ τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παρανάλωτο, καὶ ἐστένωτο πάντοθεν τῷ καὶ χρημάτων ἡττᾶσθαι καὶ τέχνης ἰατρικῆς ἀναγνῶναι. Αλλ᾽ ὅμως ἐν ἀνελπίστῳ ἀσθενείᾳ τοιαύτῃ παρέστη ὁ Μάρτυς θεραπευτὴς, καὶ πίστιν αὐτῷ ζητήσας. καὶ εὑρὼν τὸ τῆς διαθέσεως αὐτῷ πρὸς Χριστὸν ἀποβλέπον, ὑγίας αὐτὸν ταχείας πεπλήρωκεν· τὴν δεξιὰν γὰρ προτείνας, ἐσφράγγισεν τοῦτον σταυρῷ, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εὐθὺς. ἀπελήλατο πάθος. Τοῦ δὲ ευχαρίστως βαδίσαντος ἰδού τις ἴατρίσκος νοσιευόμενον ἦγαν, λοιμαντικὴν, ἀποδυρόμενον συνοχὴν, καὶ δεσμῷ λαρυγγικῷ περιεχόμενον· καὶ προσρίψας ἑαυτὸν τοῖς τούτου βαδίσμασιν, ἕφη, Δέομαι, κύριε, πολλὰς τούτῳ καταναλώσας μόχθους, πολλὰ τούτῳ δεδαπάνηκα σώστρα, πολλὰς τούτῳ μεμηχάνημαι τέχνας, πολλαῖς ἐποδαῖς περιβέβληκα· ἀπηγρύπνησα νύκτας εἰς πλυμάτων προσθέματα, ἡμέρας ὁμοίως εἰς βοτανῶν ἐφευρήματα, φαρμάκοις ἐχρισάμην παντοίοις, κολακευτικὰς ἐλπίδας ματαίως παρέσυρα, καὶ τούτῳ πλησιάσαι ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἴσχυσα ῥώσεως, ἀλλὰ μένη τὸ πάθος φιλονικῶν, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν φάρμακον θεραπείας προσάξω, τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολῆς ἀνεπίδεκτον· πάντα γὰρ τῆς τοῦ πάθους θεραπείας ἐλάττω. Ἐν τοιαύτῃ τοίνυν συμφορῶν ἀπογνώσει, πρόσεισιν ὁ συμπαθὴς ἰατρὸς, καὶ τῆς ψυχοραγούσης καρδίας λαβόμενος, τὴν τοῦ πάθους ἀπόγνωσιν ἔλυσεν, εἰπὼν, Λέγω σοι, πίστιν εἰ προσήγαγες μόνον, καὶ ἀλύεσι τοῦτο κατεδεσμεῖτο τὸ πάθος, ὡς ἀχαλίνωτος ἐδραπέτευε ἵππος· ἐὰν οὖν οὕτως ὑπαγορεύσῃ τὴν πίστιν, γράψας ἐγὼ τὰς δεήσεις πρὸς Χριστὸν ἀνατείνω, καὶ αὐτὸς εὐθὺς καθυπογαράφει τὴν ἴασιν. Τότε ὁ ἀσθενῶν, τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ Ἅγιου λαβόμενος, καὶ δάκρυσιν αὐτὸν ἐλεεινολογούμενος, τὴν σύνταξιν τῆς πίστεως ἐπένευε ταῖς χερσὶν, ἐπειδὴ μὴ τῇ γλώσσῃ δεδύνητο· καὶ τῆς θείας χάριτος

συνελθούσης, πάραυτα ὁ τοῦ πάθους δεσμὸς ἐκτετίνακται, καὶ τὰ τοῦ τθαχείλου διελύετο κλεῖθρα. Οὕτως ἰαθέντος καὶ τούτου, κατ᾽ ἀγορᾶς περιείη ὁ Μάρτυς ἀναπατῶν, μήπου τίς χρήζων ἐπισκέψεως ἄῤῥωστος, ἣ λιμώττων πτωχὸς, ἣ πλανωμένη ψυχὴ, ἵνα οὕτως τῆς εἰδωλικῆς ἀνασφήλῃ τὰς ἀῤῥωστίας. Ἴδεν γάρ ποτε γυμνὸν παρείμενον, καὶ συναλγήσας αὐτῷ, ἐφήπλωσε τούτῳ πλουσίαν τὴν πρόνοιαν. Ὃς προσειδὼν αὐτῷ, πρόσεισι παρὰ πορευομένῳ τῷ ἰατρῷ λέγων, Ἐλέησόν με, ἰατρὲ ἀγαθὲ, ὅτι πάντων ἐγὼ ἀθλιώτερος, χρῆσόν μοι μικραν τῷ ἀσθενοῦντι διάλεξιν, ἰατροῦ γὰρ ἐυφήμου τῶν ἰχώρων ἀνέχεσθαι. Ὀλισθηρὰν ἐγὼ ὁδεύων ὁδὸν καὶ ῥεμβόμενος ἄφνω κατηνέχθην εἰς γῆν, καὶ ἔξαρθρον τὸ γόνυ γενόμενον ἐξέδυ τοῦ καλύπτοντος σώματα, διακλασθείσης δέ μοι τῆς βάσεως, καὶ τοῦ σφυροῦ σεσηπόντος, γέγονα τραυματία ἑλκόμενος· διχόθεν ταῖς φαρμακίαις κωλακευόμενον ἀγριοῦται τὸ πάθος, ταῖς καταντλήσεσιν ἐπανίσταται μᾶλλον, ἰατρῶν συμμορίαις ἀνθίσταται· διό μοι πᾶσα προσδοκία θεραπείας ἐξόριστο, ἀναβιῶσαι γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πάθους οὐδέποτε ἤλπισα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔγερσις τῶν πιπτώντων καὶ ἵλης πρόκεισαι, τοὺς πεπληγμένους μοι σώους χάρισαι πόδας, τὰς γὰρ νόσους ἡμῶν ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνέχῃ μὴ φέρειν· καὶ ὡς ἔχων σπλάγχνα πατρὸς συμπαθέστερα αὐτόθεν σεαυτὸν καθηκέτευσον, καὶ γενοῦ μοι τῷ πεπτωκότι χειραγωγὸς βακτειρία. Ἀλλ᾽ εὐθὺ λόγον τοῦ Μάρτυρος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπόκρισις· Αὐτὸς ἐγώ σοι πάρειμι τῆς ἐγέρσεως κέρδος, καταπλάττω σε γὰρ πίστιν, τὸ τοῦ πάθους σου ἐγκάρδιον ἔμπλαστρον· εἰ γὰρ μόνον πιστεύσεις, εὐθὺς ἡ τῆς ἰάσεως προσελεύσεται χάρις· ἔχω γὰρ τὴν πρὸς ἕκαστον πάθος θεόθεν κατεσκεύασαν ἔμπλαστρον· οἷαν δὲ πίστιν τῷ Χριστῷ προσκομίσεις, τοιαύτην παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑγίαν παρήσῃ· ἐὰν γὰρ ὅλον σου τὸν νοῦν πρὸς Θεὸν ἀκοντίσῃς, τὰ διαβήματά σου ἐσίως κατευθυνθήσεται. Ταῦτα ἔφη, εἶτα τῶν ἄρθρων ἁψάμενος, καὶ τὰς ἁρμονίας τῶν ταρσῶν ψηλαφήσας, ἥρμοσε τὴν τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ λύσιν, καὶ τῶν νεύρων συνῆψε τὴν σύνθεσιν, καὶ τὰ σαθρὰ τούτου ἐκίνησε μέλη, καὶ τὰς ἐσφαλμένας ἐπανόρθωσε βάσεις. Τῇ ἀφῇ δὲ τοῦ Μάρτυρος, εὐθὺς τὸ χολὸν περιέτρεχε βῆμα, καὶ ὁ ἀτονίσας τῇ φύσει ἐστερεώθη παρευθὺς, καὶ ἐξήλουτο ὑγιαίνων. Παραγγείλαντος δὲ τοῦ Μάρτυρος σιγῇ τὴν τιμὴν ἀποδοῦναι (οὐ γὰρ τὸν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων θηρόμενος ἔπαινον ἐπεδείκνυεν τοῦτο) ἐκεῖνος τοὐναντίον· τὰς γαρ πλατείας περιἳὼν, πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπαντῶσι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐφώνη ἀνάστασιν, κράζων καὶ λέγων· Δεῦτε, ἴδετε, ξένον γὰρ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθὸν ἐπαιδήμησεν· δεῦτε, ἴδετε θησαυρὸν ἰάσεως κρυπτόμενον ἔμφυχον· δεῦτε, ἴδετε ἀπόῤῥητον χορηγὸν σωτηρίας. Ἤδη τάχα οὗτος οὐρανόθεν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀφίηται; ἀπέδωκεν γάρ μοι τοῦ νοσήματος λύτρον. Τούτων λεγομένων, ὀ Μάρτυς ὑπεχώρησε πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον. Νεάνις δέ τις ῥιζῷ a παλαιοῦσα δαίμονος, καὶ ἐφόδῳ πνεύματος, τηκομένη, τοῦ ἰαθέντος τοὺς λόγους ἀκούσασα, προσέδραμεν αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ πάθους φορὰν ἐσοφίσατο. Καὶ τὴν παῤῥησίαν λαβοῦσα ἡ δαιμονῶσα, τῷ Μάρτυρι πρόσεισι, καὶ στενάζουσα τὸ συμβὰν ἐξηγεῖται, δακρυοβολοῦσα πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ βοῶσα· Ἰατρὲ, κορυφαῖε, ἐκδίκησόν με ἀπὸ τοῦ πολεμοῦντός με, ἀποδίωξον ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὰν ἀόρατον ληστὴν σῶσον ψυχὴν ἐκκρεμαμένην εἴς σε, καὶ πᾶν ὃτι λυποῦν ἀποσόβησον, θηρευτὴς τῶν παθῶν περιέρχῃ, φυγἄδευσον τὸν ἀσώματον εὐεργέτα τοῦ σώματος· ὅτι προσαντίδικον ἔχω, καὶ πρὸς ἐμὲ ἀσυμπαθῆ, καὶ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀναιδῆ. Ἴασαί με τὸν κρύφιον πόλεμον, ὄτι ἀπαράβλητόν μοι τὸ κακὸν καὶ πικρότατον· ἐὰν μόνον μοι νεύσῃς εὐθὺς ἰαθήσομαι· πρός σε τὸν ἰατρὸν τῶν παθῶν καταφεύγω, καί σε μόνον τοῦ χειμῶνσς ἀναμένω γαλήνην· μή με b … τῆς ψυχῆς ζημιώσης, ἁρπᾶσαι γάρ μου ταύτην ὁ δαίμων ἐπίγεται, μηδ᾽ ἁμαρτῶ τῆς αἰτήσεως· δέομαι μῆπως θυμωδέστερον τὸ μισάνθρωπον ἐργάσομαι δαίμονα, ἀγανακτοῦντα κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ τῇ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ προσελεύσει, καὶ μεῖξον ἐκθολώσω τὸ πάθος τοῦ πνεῦματος· ἀλλ᾽ ἐλέησόν με τὴν σὴν ἰκέτην, καὶ γενοῦ μοι τῆς θρινῳδίας μεταβολή. Ταῦτα αὐτῆς καταβοώσης, ἔφοδον κατ᾽ αὐτῆς ὁ δαίμων τετόλμηκεν, καὶ ληστεύσας τὴν φρένα τοῦ θήλεως, εἰσέδυ αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐσπάραττεν· καὶ ἔνδοθεν έγκατασκήψας ὁ πλάνος, κατὰ γῆς ῥίπτει τὸ γύναιον, καὶ διατήνων τὸ σῶμα βιαίως ἠλάλαξεν καὶ διέσπα τὴν ἄνθρωπον· ἄγρυπνος γὰρ ἦν κατ᾽ αὐτῆς ὁ δόλιος, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῆς εἰσπηδείσας κατῆχεν δουλεύτριαν. Οὕτως τοίνυν αὐτῆς κατακρύτως ἐχούσης τοῖς ἰδίοις ὁ Μάρτυς ὀθούμενος οἰκτιρμοῖς, ἐπὶ τὸν πολεμούντα στρατεύεται, καὶ προμετωπίδιον αὐτῇ τυπώσας τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν σφραγίδα, τὸν Χριστὸν προσκαλούμενος ἐχειροῦτο τὸν, ἐχθρὸν, καὶ ἤνηγχεν c … ὁ δαίμων παραχρῆμα ἀφῆκεν, καὶ διελύθη ἡ γυνὴ,ὡς νεκροῦ διαλάττειν οὐδέν. Μικροῦ δὲ διαστήματος προσελθὼν ἤγειρεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς τὸ κοράσιον καὶ εἶπεν· Περίσφιγξόν σου γύναι τὸν νοῦν ἐλπίσιν, τῆς γὰρ ναυαγούσης σου ψυχῆς γαλήνη γέγονεν, τοῦ ἐπουρανίου Βασιλέως τὸ σίγνον d μετωποφοροῦσα πορεύου, καὶ τὸν ἀόρατον ὡς ὁρατὸν συμπατήσεις· ἐὰν γὰρ πιστεύσῃς εἰλικρινῶς τῷ Θεῷ, τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον χαρίσεταί σοι δύναμιν, ἵνα πάντα τόπον ὁ ἐχθρὸς περιφεύγει σε, μήπως αὐτῷ ἐστιφημίσῃς σταυρόν. Οὕτως παραδόξως τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας ῥυσθῆσα ἡ νεανίς, βοῶσα ἐβάδιζεν τὰ μεγαλεῖα Κυρίου· παράγουσα δὲ, προσαίτην ἴδεν τυφλὸν γνωστὸν ἑαυτῇ, καί φησιν πρὸς αὐτὸν, Τί κάθησαι ἐνθάδε, οὐδὲν ποριούμενος; ἦλθεν ἰδοῦ τίς ἰατρὸς, καὶ τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς ὑγιεῖς ἀπεργάζεται, ἔμπλαστρός ἐστιν δαιμονικὰς καταπλάττων ὀδύνας, σωτηρίας διαδότης ὑπάρχει, δεσμὸς λελυμένων σωμάτων, ὡς ἁμαρτίαν τὴν δωροδοκίαν ἀποστρεφόμενος· πᾶν ὅτι οὖν καλὸν αὐτὸς ὑποτίθεται, καὶ ἰδοὺ πάντα τὰ πάθη πρὸς ἐκεῖνον συντρέχει. Ἐνέχυρον κρατῶ τῆς ἐκβάσεως βέβαιον· λογίζομαι δὲ ὡς ἄρα θεῖός τις εἵη πρὸς τὸν νέον χρηματισμός. Καὶ πρόσεισι μὲν αὐτῷ ἅπας ἀσθενὴς, ὁ δὲ ποικίλαις αὐτοὺς κλίναις ὐποδέχεται, ἔχει γὰρ κοινὴν ψυχαγωγὸν ἀληθῆ· εἰσῆλθεν εἰς οἷκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἰδού τις ἐκάκωτο κάκωσιν κεφαλῆς, ἄλλος εἱλίσσετο στροφάλιγγι τῆς γαστρὸς, ἕτερος ἔνδοθεν ἐπύρεττεν πυρετὸν, ἄλλος κυρτώματος πεφόρτιστο μαρασμῷ, ἕτερος τοῦ ποδὸς ἐθρήνει τὴν ἄλγησιν, ἄλλος ἕλκεσι σεσηπὼς ὁλοφύρετο, ἕτερος ὀφθαλμῶν ὀδύρετο στέρησιν, ἄλλος ἄλλο ἔφερεν πάθος· ἄλλ᾽ ὁ συμπαθὴς νοσοκόμος πρόσφορον τοῖς πάθεσιν ἐμέριζεν ἴασιν· ἓν αὐτοῦ ῥῆμα θεραπείας προσφέρων, οὐκ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἔκδοτα γὰρ τούτῳ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ παρεδόθη τὰ πάθη.Δεῦρο οὖν, καὶ τούτῳ προάξω σε· ἰδοὺ γὰρ πρὸ τῶν ἰδίων θυρῶν παρακάθηται, μένων τοὺς θεραπευομένους ἐλθεῖν. Ταῦτα αὐτῷ προσειποῦσα, ἀπήγαγεν αὐτόν· καί γε τούτῳ καὶ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμίᾳ ἐβαρύνετο [ὥς μὴ βλέπειν] e καὶ τὸν ὁρόμενον καὶ τὸν νοούμενον ἥλιον, τοῖς γὰρ εἰδώλοις προσήλωτο. Καὶ προσπεσὼν τῷ Μάρτυρι εἶπεν· Ἕως τοῦ νῦν καὶ μόνως ὑπάρχω ἐλεεινὸς, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ νῦν μακάριστος, ἐκ τῆς σῆς δεξιᾶς δεχόμενος ἴασιν· διάνοιξον τὰ φθαρέντα μοι φῶτα, καὶ ἴδω σου τῆς χειρὸς τὴν ἐκτῖνα, ὅπως ὀξυωπίαν δι᾽ αὐτῆς ἀναλάβοιμοι. Τίνες οὖν καὶ τοῦ Μάρτυρος πρὸς τοῦτον φωναί; Ἀκοίμητος ὀφθαλμὸς, ἄνθρωπε, θεατὴς ἀθεάτων, τὰ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐποπτεύει· δέξαι οὖν τῆς ἰάσεως πείραν, καὶ τὸν φυσιουργὸν Χριστὸν κατανόησον· ἐὰν γαρ γνωρίσεις αὐτὸν, σωμάτων τε καὶ ψυχῶν κηδεμόνα, κίχρημι τῇ προνοίᾳ τὴν χεῖρα, θεραπεύει δὲ αὐτὸς τῷ γαληνῷ ὀφθαλμῷ. Ταῦτα τοῦ Μάρτυρος λέγοντος, οὐ πρότερον ὁ τυφλὸς ὑπεξῆλθεν, πρὶν τὴν ἴασιν εἵλκυσεν· λαβόμενος γὰρ τῶν τρισμακαρίων χειρῶν Θαλλελαίου, τοῖς ἰδίοις ἐπέθηκεν ὄμμασιν, καὶ εὐθέως αἱ κοιλανθῆσαι τούτου διηυγάσθησαν κόραι, καὶ ἀναβλέψας συμπαρέμεινεν αὐτῷ.

At the time when Numerian held the Roman Empire, through the whole world the persecution of the Christians prevailed. Persecution being stirred under Numerian, For when an insane and impure zeal for the worship of the Gods had invaded men, they offered everywhere to the idols deadly feasts and eucharistic sacrifices. The Twelve Apostles being taken away from this life and the errors of the Gentiles everywhere prevailing, the Christian faith not a little wavered. The Emperor himself, as he was most zealous of idols and a bitter hater of Christ, sent into all the regions subject to him Presidents chosen for this, by whom all the Christians might be utterly destroyed. Then accordingly, the creature fighting against God, and the Prince of the world, thirsting for blood, was seized with incredible gladness: because one strove to surpass another in abounding savagery. But if anyone had dared to reprehend the worship of the many gods, they suspected that the man was driven by an evil demon, and impelled to speak; if he bore himself even more constantly, the cause not having been heard he was condemned, according to the Imperial edicts anew he was tortured, and even after death he was reckoned execrable to the whole world; so much so that while not a few were at variance among themselves through contentions and enmities, certain of these accused of the Christian faith, together with those of pious mind were hurried off to indiscriminate slaughter. Since therefore from the idolatrous madness human nature not only did not breathe again, but loved the very sickness in place of health; I have said most grievous was in great part driven from the human race. For a most pious youth, of tall body, of flourishing age, of countenance wholly comely, with the beard golden on his chin, not unskilled in the medical art, noble of birth, by name Thallelæus, the son of a man chief among the Christians, inhabited a grove most known by fame, which situated in Phoenicia takes its name from Lebanon, and inclines toward A the parts of the Jerusalem region.

[2] and fervent in religion, He therefore, having wisely placed all his hopes in God alone, and illustrious for many excellent deeds, spirited by the testimony of a good conscience, and wholly alien from bodily pleasures, because he reckoned piety more precious than all things, dared a notable deed against the idols. For by night rising from his bed, he undertook to cut down the high places of Lebanon; and to cast down the trees, where Satan pouring forth his oracles, was wont with obscene visions to seduce the souls of men; and women especially, addicted to dancing, he occupied with the sounds of cymbals, nablia, drums, pipes and Bacchic orgies. Thus affected toward Religion, he cures any sick freely, he practiced medicine in his own house, gathering as it were strangers into his hospitality; and restoring all to health by the art in which he was strong, he was reputed the receiver alike of rich and poor. But although he was borne with the highest zeal toward hospitality, and placed all his joy in the strengthening of the weak; yet wont to be moved by a certain especial compassion toward the poor, he used also a singular care concerning them; reckoning the members of those whom he had undertaken to cure to be his own, and mitigating for them the toil and trouble of a harder life. There was a time when he carried them lifted upon his shoulder like a vilest servant, esteeming nothing more glorious than that care which he had of the wretched. He seemed to watch with many eyes over their advantages, and bestowed all solicitude on this, that he might furnish health to those departing as it were for a viaticum

even by word alone: It did not suffice him if, only being asked, he should bestow his work on the needy, but of his own accord and unbidden he hastened to their aid: and applying remedies to the suffering, he relieved their pains. Equipped namely with the strength of divine grace, by a mere command he put to flight diseases and languors; for as soon as he prayed health for anyone, it being suddenly restored to the man took up his word.

[3] Between poor and rich with him there was no distinction: the unfaithful as the faithful with common benefits he embraced. For spending himself wholly on healing the wounds of pious men, and using piety alone as his guide to all things rightly done, he imparted healing to all who came to him: but whoever was sick recurred to the Martyr, nor was it easy to enter the number of those restored to health: but if he came upon anyone himself, from him the disease swiftly fled and any other penalty of sin. Nay even he was borne with so great an affection of commiseration toward all the wretched, that even to the Gentiles he did not deny the benefits of conferred health, but for their convalescence took up prayers and vows, and was angry at one who did not have compassion. nor less merciful toward the Gentiles, At a certain time he beheld a certain one of the Christians raging against a Gentile, and exulting at his slaying. The holy man did not bear the cruel hardness of the man, but openly rebuked him with these words; Do not, O man, exult in the evils of thy enemy; but then rejoice, when thou hast moved him to order his life holily; for common calamities press all mortals, but what is thereafter to befall us we know not. To whom the other; Death, he says, ought to have been brought upon this one most quickly: for what does it profit that those should outlive who in their sins grow old? Then the Saint; he forbids injuries to be done them. So we have been taught, Brethren, that even for our enemies we ought to pray, and in no way to rejoice at their misfortunes: for in this way we shall the more easily soften their hard minds. By which saying he led that fierce man to compassion.

[4] And in that manner the Martyr ran through the stadium of his life for Christ, when it happened at the midday hours, man was tortured. He heals one laboring with a plague, And now the pestiferous humor pervading all the inner parts with a most troublesome putrefaction, was preying in a wretched manner on his breast and sides and his very heart, nor, the drugs of many physicians resisting, and every art applied by them to no purpose and his money consumed, was the man's health ever in a worse state; so that both money failed him, and he had no hope of his health being recovered through physicians. But after the Martyr of Christ came to cure the incurable evil, and explored the man's faith; perceiving the disposition of his mind, turned to Christ, he suddenly restored the wretched man to health. For his hand being stretched out, he fortified him with the sign of the Cross, and at once all the evil was driven from him. This therefore departing with thanksgiving, behold someone of the number of physicians brought a sick man, lamenting himself to be held by a certain pestiferous contagion, and by the straits of the throat. He rolling himself at the feet of the holy man; I beseech thee, my Lord, he says, and the throat closed up by a quinsy: I have spent very many labors in vain on this man, no small expenses did he make for recovering health, but all mine on him I have lost, on every side I have tried him: I have passed sleepless nights intent on various lotions, days likewise I have wholly spent in the exploration of herbs, I have used all the helps of the medical art, all the hopes by which I flattered myself I have lost, and when I approached him, I found no beginning of restored health; but the evil most pertinaciously clung to the man, and whatever remedy I attempted to apply to him, yet no change for the better could I hitherto perceive; for all the helps of physicians that evil far surpasses. Seeing him in such desperation the most pious physician took up the man failing in mind, and gave him a better hope, speaking thus; I tell thee, if thou hast only faith, although the evil were bound to thee with chains, it will yet seize flight like an unbridled horse. Assuredly if thou promise me that faith, I will bear my supplications to Christ for thee, and He at once will write the chirograph of thy health. Then the sick man, the feet of the holy man being grasped, and tears poured forth to move his mercy toward himself, pledged him the faith, such as he had required; using signs of his hands, since his tongue was impeded, to indicate this. And behold, divine grace inspiring, the bond of infirmity was loosed, and the bars of the neck were unbolted.

[5] Health being thus restored to the man, the Martyr proceeded to walk to the forum, looking about whether anyone there was either sick needing cure, or a needy one hungering, or a soul wandering, that he might thus lead them back from the error and infirmity of idols. But it happened that he saw a man wholly naked, touched by commiseration of whom, he cures a foot most badly affected, he unfolded his mind desirous of helping him. But he, beholding him, said to the one passing by, O best of physicians, since I am the most unhappy of all mortals, hear me speaking the harder cures. Walking on a slippery way, nor standing with a firm enough footing, I suddenly fell to the ground, and my knee was moved from its place; whence my shin being rendered useless and the ankle of my foot suppurated, made it that I carry about many sores. But remedies being applied to the evil, it seemed more and more to grow strong, the pertinacity of the evil overcame all fomentations, nor did the often-gathered counsels of many physicians help anything; wherefore seeing no hope of obtaining health left to me, I do not believe I shall outlive the evil. Thou therefore, since thou art the raiser of the fallen and the propitiator, restore my ulcerated feet to me whole. For thou canst not but take away from us our diseases: and because thou hast the most tender bowels of paternal commiseration, move thyself, that thou mayest become to me, fallen, a staff. Scarcely had he ceased to speak these things, when such an answer he received from the holy Martyr: Lo I myself am present to confer on thee the gift of health, and faith to thee as the best plaster of the mind I apply: if namely thou only believe, the grace of curing will be at hand: for this I have, against every kind of disease, Christ as thou hast, so much know is to be taken from thy evils and infirmities. If thou fix thy whole mind on God, thy steps shall be plainly directed. Saying these things, he took the man's affected members in his hand, and all the joints of his feet gently handling, he readjusted the binding of the feet: and reforming the composition of the nerves, and moving the members before withered, he restored to him an upright gait. But he at the Martyr's touch leaped up whole, the bases that before naturally failed being consolidated. And when the Saint commanded that he should wrap in silence the grace conferred on him (for not affecting praise from men did he work such things) he on the contrary running through all the ways of the city, showed himself upright to all he met, crying and saying, Come and see the great good which has come to men, see the living treasure of cures, see the wonderful author of health. Has he not been divinely sent to the human race from heaven, who has freed me from infirmity? But while these things were being said, the Martyr returned to his own house.

[6] A certain girl, struggling with a demon besieging her, and wasting away from his incursion, after she perceived the discourse of the man already healed, to Thallelæus's house with a run hastened, he frees a woman possessed, presuming to be freed by him. And when, the remedy of the evil being promised her, she had so confidently approached the Martyr; she narrates what had befallen her, groaning, not without clamor thus addressing the Saint; Most excellent of all physicians, avenge me of him who attacks me, put to flight from me the invisible robber, save my soul hanging from thee, and remove all trouble far. Thou goest about, seeking the wretched to whom thou mayest confer health. Put to flight, O Curator of bodies, the incorporeal enemy, whom I feel so hostile to me, whom nothing recalls from vexing me, who shamelessly provokes God Himself. Free me from this intestine war, because inevitable to me and most bitter is the evil. If only thou assent, forthwith I shall be healed. To thee the physician of all evils I flee, from thee alone the end of my distress I await. Suffer not that I make shipwreck of my soul, which the evil demon strives with so great zeal to snatch: let not my prayers be in vain. I fear indeed lest I have made the enemy fiercer against me, by this my obsecration against him provoked, and so he will assail me with greater violence. But thou pity thy suppliant, and turn my grief into joy. As the girl thus cried out, the demon dared at once to invade her: who snatched away the mind of the wretched one at once, and settled in her, and tore her; then within ranging about the old trickster prostrated the woman on the ground, and twisting her body with great force and uttering inarticulate howls, he tore the unhappy one apart. For most importunate and impatient of quiet was that spirit, and pervading all the faculties of the soul he subjected them to himself. When therefore the woman was thus afflicted, the Martyr of Christ, impelled by the affection of commiseration innate to him, took up the fight against the demon; and signing the brow of the possessed woman with the Cross, and calling Christ to aid, he easily vanquished the adversary. Then the demon was compelled to depart from the woman, who, though now freed, yet lay like one dead. But only a slight delay being interposed, Thallelæus raised the girl from the earth and said: Confirm thy mind with the hope of better things, O woman; for to thy soul, hitherto tossed by a great tempest, tranquillity has come. Go on further bearing the sign of the heavenly Emperor on thy brow, and know that the invisible enemy is to be vanquished by thee as a visible one. For if perfectly thou believe in God, His Spirit will suffice thee with virtue, by which the evil demon being repulsed will look about only for flight, not fight, lest against him thou raise the Cross.

[7] When in this manner she had been wonderfully freed from the diabolical vexation, the girl betook herself home, he enlightens a blind woman, proclaiming the Lord's great deeds: but passing by she saw she says, dost thou sit, without hope of obtaining health? There has come, behold, a certain physician who restores any sick to health: abhorring the giving of gifts as an enormous sin. Since therefore he meditates and does nothing but what is beautiful, all who are ill flow together to him. Of the thing I have said I have a pledge, the certainty of my deliverance. Indeed I think that by that youth a certain divine traffic is carried on: for everyone indeed, as I said, sick flees to him, but he receives them on various beds, acting as the common curator of bodies and souls. I have entered into his house: and behold one there was afflicted with pain of the head, another with gripings of the belly: there was one whom internal fevers burned; another was defiled by breaking sanies; another lamented the pain of his feet, there was not lacking one who deplored the tortures of putrefying ulcers, brought to her by the woman she had cured. who the deprivation of eyes, who some other evil of his own: but that merciful receiver of the sick applied to all the fitting medicine,

nor was any word of his which could do anything for the salvation of the wretched uttered in vain: into his arbitrament namely all diseases and their remedies God had delivered. Come therefore, and I will lead thee to him: for behold, before the doors of his house he himself sits, awaiting those who, about to ask the cure of their sicknesses, will come. These things said, the man from the place he had occupied she herself leads away, burdened not with blindness of the eyes only, but also of the mind, as one who could behold with his eyes neither that corporeal, nor the intellectual sun, and converts him to the faith. addicted to the cult of idols. Yet falling suppliant at the Martyr's feet, he thus spoke. Up to this time I have seemed worthy to be deemed of all men by commiseration; but from this very moment I shall come forth the most happy of all mortals, if through thee I deserve today to be restored to health. Open, I pray, the withered orbs of my eyes, and I shall behold the ray of thy hand, by which I may receive sharpness of seeing. What to these the most holy Martyr? He who, he says, O man, never fails to watch over our affairs, the eye of divine providence, penetrates with sight the very invisible things, beholds also all human things. Receive therefore the use of thy eyes, and understand with thy mind Christ the author of nature: for if thou rightly acknowledge Him the best curator of our bodies and souls, I indeed accommodate my hand to divine providence, but He it is who with His serene eye cures thee. When the holy Martyr of Christ had pronounced these things, the blind man did not depart from the place sooner than he had received sight. For grasping the most blessed hands of Thallelæus, he placed them on his eyes; and at once his empty orbs were illuminated, and looking up he thereafter retained the use of sight.

ANNOTATIONS.

A notable hallucination. That the Saint came from Lebanon, which is a mountain of Phoenicia far from the Jerusalem region, was read in the old Acts: but on occasion of this name, the Forest of Lebanon, in which the House built by Solomon is said to be 1 Kings 7, the Author believed pertained to that mountain. The same error incurred William of Tyre book 18 of the holy War. But the Interpreters of Scripture agree in this, that the House of the forest of Lebanon was in a wooded place of Mount Zion itself: but why the surname of Lebanon was given to this forest, see in Cornelius a Lapide, alleging five reasons. Therefore when below at number 9 of March he says, that his Country is Judæa, his native city Jerusalem, it is a mere figment of this Author: who with a like license perhaps invented this whole chapter on the miracles: which nevertheless, as we found, I have so given. Hereafter the things to be noted pertain to the Greek text.

γὰρ ἐβαρύνετο.

CHAPTER II

The Martyrdom endured at Ægæ, after various torments.

Οὕτως τῶν πειθῶν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐλαυνομένων ψυχῶν φήμη λοιπὸν πανταχοῦ περὶ αὐτοῦ διεδίδοτο, καὶ πάς τις τοῦ Μάρτυρος εὐφήμει τὰ θαύματα. Βασκαίνων δὲ ὁ τῶν καλῶν καθαιρέτης εἰσέδυ τινὰ συλλαβεῖν αὐτὸν, καὶ ταῖς ἀρχικαῖς παραδοῦναι δυνάμεσιν, καὶ διεκδέδωκαν αὐτὸν Τιβεριανῷ τῷ Ἡγεμόνι τῆς Ἐδεσσηνῶν· ὃς μαστιγώσας αὐτὸν φραγέλλοις χαλκευτικοῖς, φρενοβλάβειαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κατασοφισάμενος, ἔξω τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπαρχείας ὁδεύειν προέταττεν. Ὁ δὲ πνευματικοῦ σπυνθῆρος λαβόμενος, ἔξεισι τῆς χώρας, καὶ πρὸς Κίλικας ἔτρεχεν, κᾀκείνους ἴσα περιοδεύων, τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς ἱδίας τέχνης οὐδαμῶς ἀφιστάμενος. Τότε τινὲς τῶν ἑλληνιστῶν ἀνήγαγον Θεοδώρῳ τῷ Ἡγεμόνι τῆς παραθαλασσίου Αἰγῶν, τῆς πρὸς δευτέρους Κίλικας πόλεως, λέγοντες, Προσήλασέν τις παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἐξ ἀνατολῶν Γαληλαῖος, ἐπίπλαστον ἰατρίαν προσφέρων, καὶ ἐπιπολαίῳ σχήματι τοὺς πολλοὺς δελεάζων, καὶ Ἰησοῦ τινι προσάπτοντα τῆς ἰατρίας αὐχήματα, καὶ ἐλευθεροποιοῦντος προσωνυμίαν περιτίθησιν αὐτῷ, ἀνδρὶ ἐκ δουλικῆς ῥαπισθέντος χειρὸς, καὶ καθύβρισεν τῶν θεῶν τὰ πολύτιμα , ἐλαφύρισεν τὰ τῆς ἱερουργίας λαμπρὰ, ἐμίανεν τοὺς ἀμωμήτους ναοὺς, ἕως καὶ ναῦ ἐκκοπτων τὰ θεσπέσια ἄλση οὐ παύεται. Οὕτως ἀκούσας ὁ Ἡγεμὼν, κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνου πρόοδον δούλους ἀπέστειλεν, τὰς τρίβους διατηρεῖν, τοῖς ὁδοφύλαξι προθέμενος κίνδυνον, μήπου ταύτην ἢ ταύτην διαδράσας τῶν ὁδῶν διαλάθοι. Ἀγρύπνως οὖν οἱ πυλωροὶ τὰς τούτου προόδους ἐφύλαττον, οὐκ ἀνειμένης χολῆς. Τῆς οὖν πλάνης τῶν εἰδώλων πανταχῆ κεχυμένης, καὶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐπιζητουμένων, περιέτυχον τῷ Μάρτυρι πλησίον τοῦ Ἀναζαρβοῦ ἄστεως, ὑπὸ ἐλαιοφόρων ἐκεῖ σκιαζομένῳ φυτείαν, καὶ δήσαντες καὶ μαστιγώσαντες αὐτὸν, ἤγαγον πρὸς τὴν πόλιν τῶν Αἰγῶν, καὶ τῷ Ἡγεμόνι παρέστησαν. Ὃς μεμηνὼς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ, εὐθὺς τῇ ἐπιούσῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδριανοῦ προκαθήσας ναοῦ, τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ συνεκρώτησεν κρίσιν, καὶ γυμνόσαντες αὐτὸν εἰσῆγον οἱ δήμιοι, καταβοῶντες αὐτῷ ἀπείτη, ῥημάτων ἀκοῦσαι τυραννικῶν. Καί φησιν ὁ Ἡγεμών· Χώραν λέγε μοι, καὶ τύχην, πόλιν, κλῆσιν, ὁμοῦ τε καὶ πράξιν. Ὁ δέ· Γῆς μὲν εἰμὶ Ἰουδαίας Ἱεροσολυμήτης, ἐλευθέρων δὲ γονέων, Θαλλέλαιος, ἰατρὸς, Χριστιανός. Ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ἔφη. Τί σοι καὶ τῇ πολυφόρῳ τῶν Κιλικῶν πατρίδι; Ὁ Μάρτυς ἔφη, Τὴν εἰδωλικὴν πλάνην περιἳὼν, καὶ ἑτέρωθι δικασθεὶς, ἥκω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, τῷ Χριστῷ συμμαχήσων· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὅτω θεραπεύει τὸ θεῖον, ὡς κατὰ τῆς εἰδωλικῆς ἐξοπλήζεσθαι πλάνης· καὶ εἰ ἤθελον, ἔσχον ἂν τὴν παρά σου συνδρομὴν ἀκατάσχετον· ἀλλὰ ταράχους ἐκώλυον, βλασφημούμενος καὶ τῆς ἰατρίας εὐθυνόμενος δίκας. Ταῦτα λέγοντος, πυρπνοήσας ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ὠμοῖς νεύροις παρεκελεύετο τούτου τὰ νώτα μαστίζεσθαι, πληγαῖς αὐτὸν περισφίγγων βασάνων, ἵν᾽ εἰς κατάπτωσιν τινάξῃ τὸν Μάρτυρα. Ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἄρα Θαλλελαίῳ ὁ πόλεμος εἰρήνη, καὶ ἡ μάχη γαλήνη. Τέτατο γοῦν πρηνῆς προηπλωμένος ἐν γῇ, θρόνου ὑπατικοῦ ἀντιπροσώπου δικάζοντος, καὶ κατέστιξεν μὲν ταῖς πληγαῖς τὰ νώτα τοῦ Μάρτυρος, οὐκ ἦν δὲ εὔληπτος ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἡ λαβὴ, d … ἐχάνωσεν μὲν τὴν τῶν μελῶν αὐτοῦ σύνθεσιν, τὸ δὲ τῆς πίστεως στερὸν οὐκ ἐσάλευσεν, τῷ γὰρ τῆς θεοφιλίας ὅλος κατεχόμενος φίλτρῳ, τῶν πληγῶν οὐδ᾽ ὅλως ἠσθάνετο … e Ὡς δὲ τὸ εὔτονον ὁ τύραννος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀπεθαύμασεν, ταθέντα τοῦτον ἐν ξύλῳ, τῆς τῶν νόμων ἀξιοῦσθαι f περώνης προσέταξεν· καὶ ὡς ἀπέκαμνον οἱ δήμιοι τιτρώσκοντες τοῦτον, καὶ μηδὲν ὀφελοῦντες, πρὸς ὠμὸν καὶ παράνομον λόγον ἐξακονήσας τὴν γλῶτταν, διάλεξιν αὐτῷ προσῆγεν ὁ τύραννος, καὶ τὰς μαρτυρικὰς ἐθηρολόγει λαβάς· καί φησιν, Ποίαις ἑτεροφθαλμίαις g τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας ἐθεράπευσε νόσους, ὑψώμενος ἀπόκρινε τ᾽ ἀληθῆ, ἵνα ἔχεις με τὸν δικαστὴν ἐραστήν. Εἰ ταῖς χρησιμοδοσίαις h τῶν θεῶν ἐνεργούμενος, εἰσπισθήσομαί σοι κᾀγὼ καὶ συνθήσομαι· εἰ φωνῶν ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ μαντικαὶς τερατοσκοπίαις ὡς ἐγγαστρὶ μυθολόγοις, ἔτερον ἂν εἴη, καὶ μή μοι νεκρὸν Θεὸν προβάλλου, Θαλλέλαιε, τὸν μηδὲν χρήσιμον τοῖς, ἀνθρώποις προστάξαντα. Τί παρακαθέζεσθε πόθῳ, τῷ ἰχθυπόλας μαθητὰς κεκτημένῳ, τί δὲ σταυρῷ προσκεχήνατε, τῷ κενῷ αὐτοῦ i ῥηναγωγούμενοι τάφῳ; Ἀγρικικῇ οὕτως ἀπαιδευσίᾳ συνέζη, τερπνὸν ἢ χρηστὸν οὐδὲν καθυπέσχετο, ὡς ζημίαν προσέταττεν, ἐκρύπτεσθαι τὸν πλοῦτον πρὸς αἴτησιν μὴ εὐπορῶν, κερματίου ἑνὸς καὶ οὐρανῶν ἐπηγγείλλετο βασιλείαν· σταυρωθεὶς κατεσφάζετο λόγχῃ, καὶ ἀθάνατον ἐπισχνεῖτο ζωὴν μετὰ θάνατον. Ἀναλόγισε τοιγαροῦν ἐν ἑαυτῷ σὺν τούτῳ καὶ σύγκρινον. Ἄρα οὐ λογίζῃ τὴν ἀπάτην τῆς χλεύης; Εἰ δυνατὸς ἦν, διατὶ τοῖς ζῶσι μᾶλλον τὰς τιμὰς μὴ διεδίδου, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκήρυττεν μὲν τοῖς ζῶσι θλίψεις καὶ κινδύνους καὶ θανάτους ὑπομένειν, μετὰ δὲ τέλος ἐπηγγέλλετο δῶρα, ἃ καὶ λαμβάνων νεκρὸς οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. Παρὰ δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις θεοῖς τρυφῆς προτροπὴ καὶ παιγνίων, αὐλοὶ περὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ κύμβαλα, καὶ χωρίαι, καὶ γέλος. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν οὕτως ὠμὸς περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς πεφυκὼς, ἀνήμερος ἐκνόμης γεγένησαι, κᾂν ἐξ ἀνάγκης τῆς νῦν ἡμερώθητι. Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῦτον ὁ Μάρτυς ἀσυλλόγιστος ῥήτωρ (τῶν γὰρ μαστίγων χαλαιπώτερον τῇ τόλμῃ τῆς ὕβρεως τῇ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον πληγεὶς) φησὶν πρὸς τὸν τύραννον· Ἐπαγωγότερα, ὧν ἔφησας, ἄκουσον· Ἰδὼν ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ἰδίους χαρακτῆρας κατὰ γῆς ἐῤῥημμένους, ἤγγισεν ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν ὡς βασιλεὺς ἰδίαν εἰκόνα κατενεχθεῖσαν ὁρῶν, καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐλεήσας τὸ γένος, τὸν μονογενῆ αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐκενούργησεν, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσατο δῶρον· οὐ πρέσβυς, οὐκ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς· οὗτος τῇ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει ἔμυξεν τὸν ῥυπώδη ἀέρα, ταῖς εἰδωλικαῖς μολυόμενον κνίσαις, κατέῤῥαξεν τοὺς ναοὺς, ἀνέπαυσεν τοὺς βωμοὺς, ἐχώρησεν τοὺς θεοὺς, τὰ ἄλση ἐξέκοψεν, ἐθεράπευσεν πάθη, ἐπεστόμησεν μάντεις, πάντα τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐχαρίσατο. Τί οὖν οὕτως προδήλως ὑλακτεῖς κατὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ Θεοῦ; δέον σε τοῖς αὐτοῦ πεισθῆναι προστάγμασιν, καὶ ἐλευθερωθῆναι τῶν ματαίων τούτων, καὶ τυχεῖν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς. Ὑπάκουσον, Ὑπατικὲ, ἐὰν τὴν τάξιν τοῦ δικαστοῦ καθυφεῖς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀναλάβοις, αἰσθήσῃ τοῦ ἰατροῦ τὰ ψυχικὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν θεραπεύοντος πάθη, πάντας γὰρ θέλει σωθῆναι ὡς Θεός. Ἐπιπολὺ δὲ τοῦ Μάρτυρος καταλέγοντος ταῦτα, καὶ χειρουμένου τὰς ἀκοὰς τοῦ λαοῦ, ὁ τυρανικὸς θυμὸς ἐμμανὲστερος … l καί φησιν Καλῶς ἡμῖν ἐνεφύης, ἔκδικος Χριστοῦ ὁ κατάδικος, ἐγώ σε δείξω ἐλπίζειν τὰ μάταια. Καὶ τοῖς δορυφόροις φησὶν, Εἰ τὸ πῦρ παρεσκεύασται, καὶ ἠκόνηται σίδηρος, παντὸς αὐτὸν εἴδους κυκλώσατε. Ὁ δὲ χαλκεύσας τὴν ψυχὴν τοῖς ἀνδραγαθήμασιν ἵστατο. Εὐθὺς οὖν ὄνυχες, καὶ ξίφη, καὶ πῦρ, καὶ στρεβλώσεις ἐπολιόρκουν τὸν Μάρτυρα· Ἀλλὰ συμπαρῆν αὐτῷ μαστιγουμένῳ Χριστὸς, ταῖς τυραννικαῖς ἐπιτεχνώμενος τέχναις. Μυρίαις οὖν πληγαῖς τὸ σῶμα περιῤῥαγεὶς, καὶ τῷ σιδήρῳ καταξανθεὶς, καὶ πυρὶ προσπελάσας, αὐτοκράτορα γνώμην προβέβλητο, τὰ πάθη μαραίνουσαν, καὶ τὰς πολυτρόπους τιμωρίας γελῶσαν. Ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ ἡ τῆς τρεβλώσεως μηχανὴ ἀκατάπληκτος, καὶ ὁ θυμώδης ἀμαγγάνευτος m φόβος· περιχαρὴς δὲ ἐγεγόνη τοῖς τῶν ξιφῶν αἱμασσόμενος τραύμασιν, καὶ πάσαις ταῖς κολάσεσι μίαν ἥτταν ἐδίδου τὸν Χριστὸν ἐννοούμενος· ὅλον ἐξεκένωσεν ὁ τύραννος τῶν βασάνων τὸν ὄχλον, καὶ τὸ στεῤῥὸν τοῦ Μάρτυρος οὐκ ἠλλοίωσε φρόνημα· ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάνδρως προσφερομένη τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ βία εὑρίσκετο, τῇ δυναστείᾳ σβεσθήσα τῆς πίστεως, τῷ πυρὶ χωνευθεῖσα τῆς φρονήσεως· μάστιξι, καὶ πυρὶ, καὶ σιδήρῳ κατανάλωτο ὅλος, καὶ ὡς εὐφραινόμενος ἦν καὶ τιμωρούμενος, καὶ πάντα ταῦτα κατεπάτη τὰ πάθη, καί φησιν πρὸς τὸν τύραννον· Οὐ δραπετεύω, μὴ νομίσεις, ἀπειλούμενον θάνατον, ἀλλ᾽ εὐτόλμως τῇ πίστει πρὸς τοῦτον μαχήσομαι, τὴν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ προτιθεὶς ἀριστείαν· ἡδὺ γάρ μοι τὸ

γενέσθαι χειρὸς τυραννικῆς παρανάλωμα τῆς σῆς, ἵνα μὴ ἀρνηθείην ἔμπροσθεν τῶν Ἀγγέλων τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ κρεῖττόν μοι μᾶλλον ἀποθανεῖν εὐσεβῶς· εἰ γάρ μου καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς διαθρίψεις τὸ ὄστρακον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ συλήσεις τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς θησαυρόν· εἰ καὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς σκηνῆς ἐξαγάγεις με, ἀλλὰ τῆς νοητῆς μονῆς οὐ στερήσεις με. Οὐ γὰρ οἶδεν εὐσεβὴς ἐν συμφοραῖς λειποτάξιον· ἐν εἰρήνῃ θαυμάσας εὐτόλμων ἑτέρων τὰ τρόπαια, οὐ ῥίψω ἐν πολέμῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν ἀσπίδα· οὐ γὰρ χαρίζεται δωρεὰς τοῖς ῥαθύμοις ἡ χάρις, οὐ μισθοῦται ἐκλελυμένους ἐργάτας, οὐ στεφανεῖ τοὺς καθεύδοντας. Διὸ μαστιζόμενος, πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀτενίζων, τελευτῶν αὐτῷ τὴν ψυχὴν παρατίθημι· παίζω τοῦ πυρός σου τὴν φλόγωσιν, τῇ γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος περιβλύζομαι δρόσῳ· φύλλον ἅπαν σου ξίφος λογίζομαι, πεπέτρωται γαρ ὁ λογισμὸς τῆς ψυχῆς μου· ἐῶ τὰ μέλη μου πρὸς θάνατον, ἑτοιμάζω ποιμένι τὸ πρόβατον, χρεωστῶ γὰρ τὴν θυσίαν. Ὁ δὲ δικαστὴς ὡς λέων εὑρὼν θυριάλωτον κάθιστο ἐκπολεμῶν, καὶ τοιαύτας ἐπεβρύχατο φωνάς· Τοιάντε τῆς ἀνεξικακίας τὰ ἐπίχειρα; ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ἔτος οὗτος πεπλήρωκεν οὄπω, καὶ ἀμείνω ῥητόρων ἡμᾶς συλλογίζεται· εὔληπτον ἐνόμιζον γεγενῆσθαί μοι θήραμα, οὗτος δὲ στρεβλοῦται ταῖς βασάνοις καὶ οὐ καταπλήττεται, κυκλοῦται τοῖς κινδύνοις καὶ καταθρασύνεται, ἀπειλαῖς προσβάλλεται, ἐπιστομίζεται πρὸς σιγὴν καὶ μᾶλλον στομίζεται, τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν σιδήρων τὴν βίαν κεκυφότι τραχήλῳ συνέθλασεν, πᾶσαν περιῆλθεν τῶν βασάνων τὴν πλάνην, καὶ τούτου δυνατώτερος ὁ τόνος. Ἄρα τῷ ἀγκίστρῳ τοῦ χρυσοῦ δελεάσω; ἀλλ᾽ ἀπερίγραφος οὗτος χρυσίῳ· μαγγανείαις ἐπ᾽ ὠδῶν καθέζω; ἀλλ᾽ ἀκολάκευτος οὗτος ταύταις. Ἑτέρας λαβὰς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ πρυτανεύσω, ἐν θαλάσσῃ ζυγωστατήσω τούτῳ τὴν τοῦ ζὴν προθεσμίαν· ναῦς τοίνυν ὑποδεχέσθω τοῦτον, καὶ μέσον πελάγους μόνη πρὸς μόνον περιφερέσθω· εἰς βυθὸν ἐκρυπτέσθω ἐπὶ τὰ Κύπρια μέρη, κἀκεῖ βρῶμα γένηται ἰχθύων, βοῤῥὰ θηρίων. Εἰ εὐσεβής ἐστιν, σωσάτω αὐτὸν πάντως τῆς προνοίας παντέφορον κράτος· εἰ δέ τις κάκιστος, ὑπὸ τῆς δίκης αὐτῆς βαπτισθήσεται, καὶ οὐκ εἰς χεῖρας ἐμᾶς φονευθήσεται. Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνήσιος δοῦλος Θαλλέλαιος ἐμβληθεὶς ἐν τῷ σκάφει, θαλαττεύων ἐφέρετο, καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ ἀφοβεία παντὸς ὁδοιπόρου θαῥῤαλαιοτέρα. Τότε ἐπάρας τὰς χεῖρας εἶπεν· Πρός σε ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου τὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· ἔβλεψα πολλάκις εἴς σε, καὶ τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ μοι ἐπιδέδωκας ἔλεον· γενοῦ μοι τῆς καταπαύσεως ἠνίοχος, πλησίον τοῦ χειμῶνος στῆσόν μοι τὸν λιμένα· ἱερουργήσω μου τὴν σάρκα σοι τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ μὴ καταπιέτω με βυθὸς, μὴ ζημιώσῃς με τοῦ μαρτυρίου τοῦ σοῦ, ἀλλὰ πλήρωσόν μου τὸ ἐπιθύμιον· παράσχου μοι διὰ τῆς καρτερίας ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ καταξιωθῆναι παραστῆναι ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ κριτηρίου σου τοῦ φρικτοῦ, ὅτι οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς ψυχῆς μου εἴς σε ἐλπίζουσι Κύριε. Τότε ἡ θάλασσα, φιλομάρτυς διὰ Χριστὸν γεγονυῖα, ταῖς τυραννικαῖς ἀντέστι βουλαῖς, καὶ τῷ Μάρτυρι μᾶλλον ἐφύλαττεν ἔννοιαν. Καί βλέπε μοι τὴν εὔτεχνον τῆς προνοίας εἰκόνα· τοῦ γὰρ τυράννου δισπαθεστέρα δειχθεῖσα ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ ὑπὸ θείου πνεύματος κατευνασθεῖσα, καὶ δορυφορήσασα ἐν τῷ σκάφει τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἔμπορον, προέπεμπεν αὐτὸν ἀπλανῶς μέχρι τῶν αἰγιαλῶν, ἕως ἦλθεν οὐκ ἐκ πολλοῦ τῆς Αἰγῶν διαστήματος. Ὅτε δὲ τῇ ξηρᾷ παρεδόθη, εἰσήγαγον Θεοδώρῳ τῷ Ἡγεμόνι· ὃς ἐκπλαγεὶς τὸ γεγονὸς, καὶ ὡς ἐκ βελῶν τοξευθεὶς, καὶ τοὺς ἐλέγχους οὐκ ἔχων ἀποδείσασθαι, εἰς ἕτερον πόλεμον τοῦ Μάρτυρος ὅπληστο. Καὶ ἦν πάλιν Θαλλέλαιος εἰς κρίσιν ἀνάρπαστος, στρατιωτῶν πολυχειρίᾳ δονούμενος, ὡς πρόβατον μεριζόμενον λύκοις. Καὶ οἱ τῶν ἑλλήνων συνκεκήνυντο δῆμοι, καὶ μάλιστα οἱ τὴν ἰατρικὴν μετερχόμενοι τέχνην βασκαίνοντες αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐν τῷ νενομισμένῳ συνδραμόντες σταδίῳ, κατεβόον τοῦτον ὑπὸ τῆς ἡγεμονικῆς ἐκκηρυχθῆναι βουλῆς. Πάντων δὲ τὴν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ προχεόντων ὀμώτητα, ὁ Μάρτυς τὴν ἑλληνικὴν οὕτως ἐσοφίσατο στᾶσιν· τοῦ γὰρ τυράννου εἰρηκότος τί λέγειν πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ κατάδικος ἔχει, ὁ Ἅγιός φησιν· Μόνος μου κηδέσθω Θεὸς, καὶ πᾶς ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκπολεμήτω με κόσμος· οἶδα γὰρ ὡς καὶ μετὰ τάφον ζωοποιὸς ὁ Θεὸς, διὸ μεδεῖ τὴν εὐκλεᾶ ταλαιπωρίαν παιδευθέντα, καὶ περιδόντα τὴν σωματικὴν πολυπάθειαν, τὴν ἀκριβῆ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνεγκάμενον πλήρωσιν, τῶν σαρκικῶν πράξεων ἐκδῦναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Τότε ὁ Ὑπατικὸς, πανούργους ἀπειλὰς προσενεγκὼν, αὐτῷ θυμομαχῶν, τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ δικαίου ὤδινεν, καί φησιν· Εἰ καὶ οὐδεὶς τὸ σκάφος πειρατὴς κακοδαίμων ἐβάπτισεν, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν εὐθέως δώσω τῆς ζωῆς σου τὸ πέρας. Τέταρσι τοίνυν ἤλοις καθηλούσθω σανίσιν, καὶ τέτρασιν αἱμοβόροις παραδιδόσθω θηρσὶν, εἶθ᾽ οὕτως κοχλάζουσα πίσσα τούτῳ καταχεθείη, καὶ νέφεσι λίθων καταχωσθείη, καὶ κάμινον οἰκήτω πυρὸς, κᾀκεῖ περιμενέτω τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν ἅρπαγα θάνατον. Τούτων ἐπακούσας ὁ Μάρτυς, ἐνυδρώσας τῷ προσώπῳ ὡς παλαιστὴς κεκμηκὼς, κατενύχθη πρὸς δάκρυα. Δειλανδρίσαι δὲ τοῦτον νομίσας ὁ τύραννος, ἔφη· Οἱ δαίμονες αὐτὸν ἰδόντες ἠλάθησαν, πάθη δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῦ μεθίσταντο ῥήμασιν … ὅτι τὰς βακχείας δειλιᾷ τῶν βασάνων· ἀλλά γε τῷ συμπάθει μοι, δόξαν καὶ πλοῦτον ἐπαγγέλλομαί σοι, ἔτι τε τὴν παρὰ τῶν θεῶν εὐμένειαν εἰ εὐσεβήσειας τούτοις· εἰ δὲ οὐχ ὑπείκεις τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἐαλὸς διχόθεν τῆς ἄμφω διαμαρτὼν τιμῆς. Ἀλλ᾽ ἑτέρας σοφωτέρας συλλαβὰς ἀντέλεξεν ὁ Μάρτυς λέγων· Γελῶ σου τὴν εἴρωνα προσηγορίαν· τί με δωρεὰς καὶ προσχέσεις ὑποκλέπτεις πρὸς πτῶμα, δυσσεβῆσαί με, οὐκ εὐσεβῆσαι ζητῶν; Τοῖς σοῖς χαρίσμασιν οὐ ζημιοῦμαι ψυχὴν, ὡς πηλὸν τὸν χρυσὸν λογιοῦμαι τῶν τιμίων σου λίθων, καταγέλαστόν μοι τὸ πολύπλουτον κάλλος· ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν κερδαλαιότερον ἀμωμύτου θυσίας, πάντων γὰρ ὑπερορῶ καὶ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀφορῶ. Ὅτε μοι τὰ τῶν ἀγώνων ἱστήκει προοίμια, ἀκληνῆ λογισμὸν καὶ στεῤῥὸν προεβεβλήμην· ὅτε δέ μοι πρὸς τέλος καὶ νίκην ἡ κρίσις ἐκφέρεται, καμφθῆναί με κελεύεις παράνομε; Ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ εὐφροσύνην τὰς κολάσεις ἡγοῦμαι, ἐπαίνους δέχεσθαι νομίζω τὰς μάστιγας, οὐ δειλιῶ ἠγριωμένα κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ τῶν δορυφόρων τὰ ὄμματα, ὡς στεφάνοις τοῖς κινδύνοις χορεύω, τὰς πληγὰς ὡς τιμὰς ἀποδέχομαι· ἔστιν γάρ μου τῆς σαρκὸς ἡ ἀπόθεσις ὡς ἐσθῆτος ἀπόδυσις, ἡ γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσέβεια θνηταῖς διαδοχαῖς οὐχ ὑπόκειται· φυλάττομαι δὲ τῇ χειρὶ τῆς προνοίας, καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστικῶς περισφύγγομαι· ὁ γὰρ τὸν Ἀδὰμ μεριμνήσας, καὶ ἐπιθήσας αὐτοῦ τὸ τραῦμα τὸ ἔμπλαστρον, ἐκκρεμαμένης πρὸς αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀμνημονήσει ψυχῆς. Ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ὁ τύραννος, οὐ δὲ τί πειθοῖ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς μαλάξαι ἀνένδοτον, τὸν ὀργίλον ἀνελάμβανεν φόβον, καί φησιν, Περιττὸν λόγους εἰ κωφὸν ἀναλίσκειν, είς φλυαρίαν καταλήγει τούτῳ τῶν φωνῶν ἡ κατάντλησις, καὶ βασάνων δύναμιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιδέδειγμαι, καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν δαψιλεστέραν πελάγους, καὶ ἐξ οὐδετέρου γέγονα πειθανὸς τῷ ἀγνώμονι, δραστηρίῳ ἰσχύἳ οὐ μετέπεισα, κολακευτικαῖς ἐπωδαῖς οὐκ ἔκλινα, ἀλλὰ μάτην εἰς αὐτὸν μαστίγων ἐξανάλωται πλῆθος, εἰς ἀνόνητα ὁ τῶν δημίων ἐκνενεύρισται τόνος· τούτῳ σφαγὴ ποθινὴ, ἐπέραστος ἡ τελευτή· τί οὖν νεκραῖς ἀκοαῖς ὁμιλῶ; ἐφαπλώσω λοιπὸν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανάτου τὸ δίκτυον. Τότε παρὰ πόδας τὰς νομικὰς ἀναλαβόμενος δέλτους, καὶ τὴν ψῆφον ὁρίσας, καὶ τῷ σταδιῳ προσρίψας, ἀνέστη τοῦ βήματος. Οὕτως οὖν πολυαιμάτῳ μαρτυρίῳ ἀγωνισάμενος, καὶ ἐκουσίοις πόνοις στεφανωθεὶς, ἐτελειώθη τὸ τίμιον σῶμα Θαλλελαίου τοῦ Μάρτυρος· ἡ δὲ θεοπρεπὴς τούτου ψυχὴ, ὡς νικητὴς ἀθλητὴς τοῖς τῶν ἀγώνων ἀφορώσασα στεφάνοις, διέστη τοῦ σώματος, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀγωνοθέτην Σωτῆρα κατέδραμεν. Πολλοὶ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου θεασάμενοι τὴν τοῦ Μάρτυρος ἔνστασίν τε καὶ κρίσιν, καὶ πιστεύσαντες εἰς Χριστὸν, σὺν αὐτῷ τοῦ θανάτου ἐγεύσαντο· ἐν οἷς καὶ Μακάριός τις, ἀνὴρ δικαιοπράγος ἐναρίθμιος Θεῷ, καθηγητὴς ἰατρικῆς ἐπιστήμης τοῦ Μάρτυρος, καὶ Ἀστέριός τις ξυλεργάτης, καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος στρατιώτης, καὶ Ἁστερὼν, καὶ Φιλάγριος, καὶ Τιμόθεος, καὶ Θεοδούλη, καὶ Μακαρία, καὶ ἕτεροι σὺν αὐτοῖς, ὧν τῶν ἀγόνων ἡ μνήμη θεοφιλίας ὑπόμνησις, μεθ᾽ ὧν γένοιτο καὶ ἡμᾶς τῆς μερίδος καταξιωθῆναι τοῦ πανευφήμου Μάρτυρος Θαλλελαίου, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[8] This so prodigious curing of men, laboring most grievously in body and soul, carried the fame of Thallelæus through the ears of all, and there was no one who did not follow the wonderful works of the holy Martyr with the highest praise. Driven out of Syria, Meanwhile the hater and enemy of every virtue, the demon, injected a thought into some man, that he should deliver Thallelæus, apprehended, to the power of the Prefects. To the President of the people of Edessa, Tiberian, he was led, who, the same one beaten with servile scourges, ordered to depart beyond the bounds of that Province, suspecting his mind to be unsound. But Thallelæus, kindled with the fire of the divine spirit, departed from that region; and setting out into Cilicia, went about it likewise in the name of Christ, and nowhere desisting from the exercise of his art. Then some of the Gentiles to Theodore, and delated to Theodore President of Ægæ, Prefect of Ægæ, a maritime city and chief in the second Cilicia, delated him, saying: A certain Galilean I know not who has come hither to us from the East, and professing referring the glory of his cures to a certain Jesus, and attributing to Him the name of liberator, whom it is established was beaten by a servile hand; he injuriously assails the honor of the gods, plunders the priestly ornaments, pollutes venerable temples, nor hitherto ceases to cut down the sacred groves. These things heard the Prefect sent out servants, who should intercept his progress by watching the roads: and to the keepers of the ways, lest he slip away here or there: wherefore sentinels placed at the gates keep watch over all his egress, he is captured, their fury not intermitted. When therefore the whole heathendom was stirred, and shook out by searching whatever there was of Christians, not far from the city of Anazarbus they came upon Thallelæus, resting under the shade of certain olive trees; and bound with chains and affected with stripes they led him away to Ægæ, and set him before the Prefect. He kindled with great fury against him, the next day at once sitting at the tribunal, in the temple of Hadrian instituted judgment against Thallelæus. Who soon stripped of his garments by the lictors, was led to the President, they crying out to him, to obey the tyrannical edicts.

[9] Then the Prefect; Thy country, he says, and condition, city and appellation, he is interrogated, and also what kind of life thou professest, declare. To whom Thallelæus; My country, he said, is Judæa, b my native city Jerusalem: of free parents was I born, my name Thallelæus, the Prefect asks, is thy business in this fertile region of the Cilicians? The nations, the Martyr replies, deceived by idolatrous error I am surveying, and from other lands ordered to depart by the sentence of the Judges, into this province at last

I have come, about to fight for Christ: for nothing can be done more acceptable to God, than if anyone gird himself for the contest against idolatrous madness. But if I had wished, I could have stirred up a concourse of men intolerable to thee: but I restrained the throngs, suffering calumny and mulcted for the sake of medical cures. When he had said these things, he is beaten with bull-hide whips: the Prefect breathing fire ordered his back to be scourged with raw c thongs, that the Martyr surrounded with the strokes of torments he might move to defection. But war was peace to Thallelæus, and battle tranquillity. He was therefore stretched prone on the ground before the tribunal, in sight of the Judge: and his back indeed was scored with scourges, but no harm was received in his soul; the compacture of his members was loosed, but the strength of his faith was in no way shaken: inasmuch as wholly kindled with the fire of divine love, the strokes inflicted on him he did not even feel…

[10] The tyrant marveling at so great a constancy of the man, ordered, just as he was stretched on the wood, that he should enjoy the indulgence prescribed by the laws: and because the executioners were wearied, by the tyrant blaspheming Christ profiting nothing in mangling him, his cruel and impious tongue he turned to these words, craftily catching at the answers to be given him by the Martyr: and, Tell me, he says, by what tricks wast thou wont to cure human infirmities? Lifted on high, what is true answer, that thou mayest deserve to find me a kindly Judge toward thee. If by the beneficence of the gods working in thee thou doest these things, I myself will go over to thy parts and feel with thee: but if from the earth or by magic divination, as happens to ventriloquists, that indeed will be another matter; only do not, Thallelæus, object to me some dead God I know not what, who is convicted of having prescribed nothing that could be useful to men. Why are you held by the desire of him, who chose to himself for disciples none but the vilest fishermen? Why do you so attend to the cross, and are you assiduous at his empty k sepulchre? He was accustomed to rustic rudeness, he promised nothing pleasant or useful, but by way of punishment ordered riches to be laid up for the use of the poor seeking them, and for a pittance he promised the kingdom of heaven: lifted on the cross he was slain with a lance, solicited to defection, and he pledged immortal life after death. These things therefore ponder a little more diligently and bring forth judgment. Or perhaps thou dost not perceive the fallacy of that deception? If he was powerful, wherefore did he not rather confer honors on the living, but on the contrary to these indeed he proclaimed that tribulations and dangers were to be sustained and deaths to be tolerated, but after the course of this life he promised rewards and honors, of which forsooth no sense any longer remains to the dead? But to us our gods supply pleasures, to us they supply delights. With them are pipes, cymbals, dances, laughter. Since therefore so fiercely hitherto against our gods, as though compelled by a certain law, thou hast borne thyself, now even necessity persuading return into favor with them.

[11] Then the holy Martyr of Christ, not using many arguments, who because he had dared to assail the gods with reproaches had suffered most bitter stripes, he defends Christ's divinity. had these words to the Tyrant: Thy speech fitted for persuading I have indeed perceived. When God saw His own image, impressed on the minds of men, prostrate on the ground; not otherwise than as some King, who should behold his own statue plainly fallen; He deigned to become nearer to us, and having pity on the human race, He sent His only-begotten Son into the world from heaven, and emptied the old Adam, restoring to us the gift of most beautiful liberty. Not any other conciliator, nor even an Angel, but the Lord Himself conferred salvation on us. He by His own virtue purged that air, polluted with idolatrous incense, of its filth, leveled temples with the ground, abolished the sacrifices of idols, drove away the gods, cut down the groves and forests, cured diseases and languors, extinguished the oracles of demons, and finally conferred all good things on us. Why therefore so manifestly dost thou rise against the only-begotten Son of God? Thou oughtest to obey His laws, and to be emancipated from vanities of this kind, and so to attain blessed immortality. Hear, I pray, O Proconsul, if holding the rank of judge thou conceive the desire of Christ, thou shalt feel the physician, who cures the spiritual infirmities of sinners: for He wills all, as God, to be saved.

[12] When the Martyr inculcated these things with many words and long, and occupied the ears and minds of the people, the Tyrant kindled with greater fury, Finely, he says, thou assailest us, unjust defender of Christ: I will show thee what it is to hope in vanities. he is variously tortured, Then turned to his attendants; If, he says, the fire is ready and the iron sharpened, in all ways torture him. But Thallelæus, arming his mind with the memory of glorious deeds, undaunted stood by. Soon with claws, knives, fire, and other torments it was begun to fight against the holy Martyr. But to him contending and enduring most dire stripes Christ was present, opposing His help to the machinations of the tyrant. With a thousand wounds therefore broken in his whole body and lacerated with iron, and brought to the fire, he showed a mind plainly its own mistress, which the passions being subdued mocked also any torments: for the torturing engine seemed not formidable to him, and the angry judge an empty bugbear: he rejoiced to be cut by swords to blood, and of all torments he came forth victor, recollecting Christ. The whole series of penalties the tyrant unfolded, nor yet could he overcome the generous constancy of the Martyr: unconquered against all. the vehemence of fire appeared applied in vain, which the virtue of faith extinguished, and the fiery ardor of mind blew away: with stripes, fire, iron he was consumed; but even amid torments he was borne up with joy, and treading underfoot all tortures, in this manner addressed the Tyrant; The death thou threatenest I by no means shrink from, do not be deceived, but undaunted even unto it for my faith I will contend, and for Christ's cause ever greater courage I will bring. For it falls out pleasant to me to be spent, consumed by thy ferocity, that I may not before the Angels deny Christ: and it is better for me to die piously. For if thou break the vessel of this flesh, yet thou shalt not plunder the treasures of my soul; if from this sensible tabernacle thou drive me out, yet thou shalt not deprive me of that dwelling which is known by the understanding. The religious mind knows not to depart from its station in adversities: in peace wont to admire the trophies of generous champions, in war I will not cast away the shield of Christ: for grace bestows not rewards on the slothful, rewards not slack labors, nor crowns the somnolent: intent on Christ while I receive stripes, my soul to Him I transcribe: the burnings of thy fires I laugh at, by the dew of my Savior refreshed: as a leaf so I despise the sword, because I have a mind hardened like a rock: my members I deliver to death, I prepare for the shepherd his sheep; because I owe to God a sacrifice.

[13] Then the Judge, who like a lion had rushed upon the prey offered to him, raged with these voices: Is this the fruit of our long-suffering? his eighteenth year of age he has not yet completed, the judge despairing of him, and more strongly than any rhetorician he pleads his cause against us. I thought an adversary easy to be conquered was set before me, but lo, he is subjected to all torments, nor yet is he terrified: huge dangers stand around him on every side, and he takes greater courage: by all threats he is assailed, and more and more refractory he shows himself: the force of fire and iron with neck stretched out he received, all kinds of tortures he has experienced, and ever stronger persevered: if with the bait of gold and silver I strive to vanquish him, against all my assaults he remains immovable; if with blandishments I press, by no blandishments is the pertinacious one bent. By another method I must act against him: what term of life is fixed for him, from the sea I will take the proof. Let a ship therefore receive him, which into the midst of the sea may convey him alone alone. Let him descend into the deep not far from the island n of Cyprus, and there let him become food for fishes, and for sea beasts. If he is good, let the providence of God which cares for all preserve him: but if impious, let him be drowned under his own guilt, nor be slain by my hands. The most faithful servant of God therefore, Thallelæus, placed in a skiff, into the midst of the sea was borne, plunged into the sea thus free of all fear and more confident than ever any of travelers. Then his hands lifted to heaven; To thee, he says, I have raised my eyes who dwellest in heaven: oftener I have looked to thee, and from heaven thou hast shown me mercy: be to me the author of peace, and place me near the tempest in port. My body I consecrate to thee, O Christ, let not the deep absorb me. Give me as a reward of endurance, that I may be found worthy to appear before thy terrible tribunal with confidence, because my eyes hope in thee, O Lord.

[14] Then the sea favoring the Martyr for Christ's sake, and overturning the counsels of the tyrant, was seen to have taken up the care of him. he is restored to the shore; But behold a notable image of providence governing all things. For the sea, more violent than the tyrant himself, calmed by the divine spirit, the ship laden with the merchandise of faith as it were guarding led without error to the shore, until it put in near the city of Ægæ. When therefore Thallelæus made his disembarkation, to Theodore the Prefect he was at once led: who marveling exceedingly at the event of the matter, and as if by a sudden arrow struck, nor finding what to answer, girded himself to attack the Martyr anew. To the tribunal therefore Thallelæus was dragged again, hauled by a great band of soldiers, just as if a mild little sheep had yielded as prey to wolves. Then also the whole multitude of the Gentiles was moved against him, and led back to the President, especially of those who likewise professed the medical art; for stung with envy, running together to the place appointed for judgment, they cried out, that the man was worthy to be proscribed by Praetorian edict. All therefore breathing wrath and cruelty, thus the Martyr quelled the sedition of those tumultuating; from that which the tyrant had brought forward, having gotten occasion to say what he would. Thus therefore he said: let God alone have care of me, and let the hands of all fight against me: for I know that even after burial God gives life: therefore me it behooves, instructed by glorious afflictions, despising the tortures to be inflicted in divers ways on the body, to attain to the perfect fullness of Christ, and the man of carnal acts to be put off.

[15] Then the Proconsul brought forth threats of every kind to assail the Martyr, whose death he grieved did not proceed for him, and said; though no piratic demon has sunk the little ship, yet of thy life I will quickly impose the end. With four beams' nails therefore let him be fixed on high, and to four most cruel beasts let him be delivered to be torn in pieces; then let melted pitch be poured on him, and overwhelmed with a cloud of stones, let him be cast into a burning furnace, and in it let him await the death that devastates all men. Which things heard the Martyr, sweating over his whole face, like a wearied wrestler, was pricked to tears. But the tyrant thinking him shaken with fear and failing, The demons, again in vain he is solicited: he says, seeing him were overcome, and the instruments of torments subverted by his words; but now he dreads the immensity of the tortures…: yet for my clemency I promise thee glory and wealth, and the goodwill of our gods I pledge, if these thou worship, but if by my words thou be not persuaded,

of both goods thou shalt be twice wretchedly deprived. But a far wiser discourse the Martyr returned to him, saying: That cavilling address of thine I laugh at. Why dost thou tempt me with gifts and promises, to draw me into a fall, wishing me not pious, but impious? With thy gifts I do not defile my soul, as mire I despise the treasure of thy precious stones, ridiculous to me is all the splendor of riches, nothing is more precious to me than an immaculate sacrifice: for all human things I count as nothing, intent on God alone. When He defined for me the preludes of the contests, I brought a mind and a spirit unmoved; but when toward the end and victory the contest inclines for me, dost thou bid me grow weary, impious one? But I hold supplices for delights, I believe myself praised when I am beaten: the fierce faces of thy attendants against me terrify me not, in dangers as in crowns I exult, wounds I admit no otherwise than honors; for the laying down of the body is the same to me as the laying down of garments, because Christian piety is not subject to human vicissitude. Indeed by the right hand of Providence I am defended, and by the hope which I have laid up in Christ I am fortified about by a certain mystical reason: for He who deigned with His care to tend Adam and bore medicine to his wound, the soul that hopes in Him will never forget.

[16] The tyrant perceiving that nothing was effected by him, nor that the strong mind of the Martyr was softened by any persuasions, to inflicting terrors angrily turned again, and said: and at length he dies Superfluous and nothing but ridiculous are words to a deaf man, let those blandishments of speech now have an end; the bitterness of penalties to him I have set forth, as great humanity as one can I have shown, nor yet in this or that way could I vanquish his mind: torments actually applied, I persuaded nothing; blandishments brought forward I moved him not; stripes in vain against him I multiplied, nothing could the arms of the lictors effect: death to the man is in desire, and departure from this life pleasant. Why therefore do I go on to speak to deaf ears? The net of death against him I will unfold. And without delay, the writing-tablets being received at once according to the laws, he wrote the sentence of death, which cast forth in public, he hurried himself from the tribunal. So therefore exercised with many and those bloody contests, and crowned with labors willingly undertaken for Christ, the body of the Martyr Thallelæus received the end of living; but his soul accepted by God like a triumphal champion, beholding the prize at last gained, from the body departed, and to the Savior the dispenser of the contest swiftly came. But of the multitude of those standing by not a few, the notable constancy and end of the Martyr being beheld, him with several companions. embracing the faith of Christ, met death with him. In whose number a certain Macarius, zealous of good works and transcribed to heaven, who had been to the holy Martyr the teacher of the medical p art, Asterius a worker in wood, Alexander a soldier, Asteron, Philagrius, q Timothy, Theodula, Macaria, r and others with them: whose contests commemorated renew for us the memory of loving God, with whom, together with themselves and the most glorious Martyr Thallelæus, would that some day it might befall us to obtain a part in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

c Nothing of this and the other torments do the more sincere Acts say: and those greatly multiplied for the most part increase the suspicion of fiction, not the opinion of virtue.

γὰρ αληθινὸν ἀρετὴ πολιτεία ἐστίν: and what followed, ἀλλὰ ταράχως ἠκολούθουν I corrected by conjecture.

γὰρ τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ τὴν ὀσφήν.

f Likewise these, ἀλλ᾽ ἐτυράννη τὴν αἴσθησιν.

further do I divine, yet I suspect that in tortures a number of strokes was prescribed, after which respite was given for speaking, both to him who carried on the inquiry, and to him who was subjected to it.

l A word is wanting.

p By Macarius indeed the Martyr in the other Acts professes himself instructed: but it is not likely he was at Ægæ: perhaps too he was neither a Christian, nor then living.

q Timothy the Saint's disciple, and so already before a Christian, the Acts acknowledge; who seems to have followed his master, hearing of his capture: of his Martyrdom nothing is read elsewhere.

r Whence the rest of the names were taken, and with what faith, I do not investigate.

EPITOME OF THE ACTS

From the MS. Synaxarion of the Ludovician College S.J. at Paris.

Thalalæus, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Asterius, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

Alexander, M. at Ægæ in Cilicia (St.)

ΑΘΛ. ΤΟΥ ΑΓ. ΜΑΡΤ. ΘΑΛΛΕΛΑΙΟΥ.

Οὗτος ἦν ἐπὶ Νουμεριανοῦ τοῦ Βασιλέως, ὁρμώμενος ἑκ τοῦ Λιβάνου, πατρὸς Βεροκκίου καὶ Ῥωμυλίας μητρός· ἐν μελέτῃ δὲ γενόμενος τῆς ἰατρικῆς τέχνης συνεσχέθη ἐν Ἀναζαρβῷ τῆς δευτέρας τῶν Κιλίκων ἐπαρχίας ἐν ἐλαιῶνι κρυπτόμενος· καὶ προσάγεται Θεοδώρῳ τῷ Ἄρχοντι. Ὅς, μὴ πειθομένου αὐτοῦ θῦσαι τοῖς εἰδώλοις, προσέταξε τρυπηθῆναι τοὺς ἀστραγάλους αὐτοῦ, καὶ σχοινίοις κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἀναρτεθῦναι αὐτόν. Τοῦτο οὖν δόξαντες οἱ ὑπερέται ποιεῖν, ἔκ τινος θείας δυνάμεος τὰς φρένας ἀλλοιωθέντες, ξύλον ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου τρυπήσαντες ἀπηώρησαν. Τύπτονται οὖν ὡς κατὰ τοῦ Ἄρχοντος παίξαντες· δύο δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν, Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ Ἀστέριος, τὸ παράδοξον ἰδόντες ἐπίστευσαν τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτέμνονται, Ἀπορηθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἡγεμὼν ἐπεχείρησε δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἀστραγάλους τρυπῆσαι τοῦ Ἁγίου· καὶ ἐν ὧ ἔμελλε τοῦ θρόνου ἐξαναστῆναι, ἐκολλήθη ὁ θρόνος τοῖς ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἐδύνατο ἐξαναστῆναι· ὃν κατοιρκτειρήσας ὁ Ἅγιος, καὶ προσευξάμενος διαστῆναι ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸν θρόνον ἐποίησε. Ἐπεὶ δὲ, τῷ τοιαυτῷ θαύματι πολλῶν τῷ Χριστῷ πιστευσάντων, ἔμεινεν ὁ τύραννος πεπωρομένος τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ, καὶ πάλιν ἐπεχείρησε τοῦ διατρυπῆσαι τοὺς ἀστραγάλους τοῦ Ἁγίου, καὶ εὐθέως αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἐξῃράνθησαν· εἶτα τυχὼν διὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου αὖθις ἰάσεως, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ῥιφῆναι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· ἐξ ἧς ἐξῆλθεν ἀβλαβὴς, λευκὴν ἑστῆτα φορῶν. Μετὰ ταῦτα θηρίοις ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ ἀφίεται, καὶ ἀλώβητος διαμείνας, ἐν Ἐδέσῃ τῶν Λἰγαίων πόλεως ξίφει τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτέμνεται. Τελεἶται δὲ ἡ αὐτοῦ σύναξις ἐν τῷ μαρτυρείῳ αὐτοῦ, τῷ ὄντι ἔνδον τοῦ ἁγίου Μάρτυρος Ἀγαθονίκου.

THE CONTEST OF ST. THALLELÆUS THE MARTYR.

He was under the Emperor Numerian, from Lebanon, his father Beroccius, his mother Romulia; but giving his work to medicine he was apprehended at Anazarbus, and led to Theodore the President. He when he could not persuade him to immolate to the idols, ordered the same one's ankles to be bored, and bound by ropes to the head to be hung up. While the ministers believe themselves to do this, by a certain divine virtue alienated from their mind, boring a piece of wood in place of the Saint they hung it up. They are beaten therefore, as if mocking the President: but two of them, Alexander and Asterius, the miracle being seen, believed in Christ, and were beheaded. But the President destitute of counsel, undertook himself to bore the ankles of the Saint: but when he wished to rise from his seat, it clung to his hinder parts, so that he could not rise. But the Saint pitying him brought it about by his prayer, that the seat was separated from him. When therefore on account of and the tyrant hardened clung to his unbelief, and again attempted to bore the ankles of the Saint; at once his hands withered. Then again having obtained health from the Saint, he ordered him to be cast into the sea: but even hence he came out, clad in a white garment. After these things he is exposed to the beasts in the stadium; and neither hurt by these, at Edessa of the city of the Ægæans his head is cut off with the sword. But his synaxis is held in his martyrium, which is within the church of the holy Martyr Agathonicus.