Categories
Every Day Bible

Telemachus

telemachusTelemachus was a monk who lived in a small monastic community near the end of the fourth century. He had a peaceful life of Bible study, prayer, and gardening for the cloister. His peaceful life was interrupted by the sense that God wanted him to move from the country to the distant city of Rome. Telemachus didn’t want to move. He loved his simple life, but he believed it was what God wanted, and so he left.

When he arrived at Rome, he found everything he feared. Political corruption, pleasure gone amuck, wild and godless living abounded. He followed the crowds into the Coliseum.

He was shocked when he saw the gladiators stand and salute the emperor, saying, “We who are about to die salute you!”  It turned his stomach to see crowds watching men slaughter each other for pleasure.

Telemachus had enough. He climbed a wall and shouted out, “In the name of Christ stop this! Stop this now!” but nobody listened. The gore continued.

Finally he jumped down into the arena and approached the gladiators, yelling, “In the name of Christ, stop this! Stop it!” Generally, they ignored him, pushing him out of the way, but the crowd grew agitated that this little monk dared to interfere with the sport. Someone in the crowd shouted “Run him through! Kill him!” and the rest of the crowd joined in.

A gladiator listened to the crowds and struck Telemachus with a mortal wound. Telemachus fell to his knees, and with his last breaths, gasped, “In the name of Christ…stop this!”

Then something strange happened. The soldiers and spectators stopped, watching this monk die. His death wasn’t like the deaths that entertained them moments ago. It was different. There was no roar for the victor. Silence overtook the arena. Then one onlooker walked away. Then another. And another, until the spectators deserted the Coliseum, never to return. Tradition says that the death of the little country monk brought an end to the spectacle of organized murder for entertainment.

There is much to admire and learn from the life and death of Telemachus. What principles of scripture does he remind you of?