(ABOUT A.D. 460.)
[Greek Menæa. No commemoration in Western Church.
Authority:--Theodoret, Philothaeus, c. xxviii.]
"Not only have I heard of this man from others," says Theodoret, "but
I saw him myself." Thalelæus erected for his habitation a small hut
against an idol shrine, near Gabala, to which many people resorted,
and where they offered sacrifice to devils. The evil spirits, enraged
at his thus assaulting them in their sanctuary, endeavoured by hideous
clamours and frightful apparitions, to scare the Christian hermit
away; but every effort of demons and idolaters to drive him from this
shrine proved ineffectual. Thalelæus succeeded in converting many who
came as votaries to the temple, and persuaded them to bend their necks
to the sweet yoke of Christ's law. With many of these converts
Theodoret conversed. After that Thalelæus had lived thus a while, he
devised for himself a strange and horrible penance. He made two
wheels, and then joined them by pieces of wood into a species of
barrel, but open between the bars. He enclosed himself within this
case, which was so low that his chin rested on his knees, and remained
therein for many years. He had been ten years in it when Theodoret saw
him. This frightful self-immolation is by no means to be regarded as
deserving of imitation. But it was called forth by peculiar
circumstances, and for a special purpose. The rude people of Syria
could be impressed no other way. To win these souls from heathenism
this phase of the ascetic life was evoked, it served its purpose, and
passed away.