Saint Telemachus
Telemachus | |
|---|---|
The Martyrdom of Saint Telemachus | |
| Hermit and Martyr | |
| Born | Asia Minor, Eastern Roman Empire |
| Died | 1 January 404 (or 391) Rome, Western Roman Empire |
| Cause of death | Capital punishment (via stoning) |
| Venerated in | Anglicanism Orthodox Church Catholic Church |
| Feast | 1 January |
Saint Telemachus (also Almachus or Almachius; Greek: Τηλέμαχος) was a monk who, according to the Church historian Theodoret, tried to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and was stoned to death by the crowd. The Christian Emperor Honorius, however, was impressed by the monk's martyrdom and it spurred him to issue a historic ban on gladiatorial fights. Frederick George Holweck gives the year of his death as 391.