Telemachus was a fourth CenturyChristian monk named after mythological Greek hero. Little is known of his life, but it appears he was a monk in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. He made is way to Rome in 391. He followed the crowds in the street as they made their way into a coliseum. There he saw gladiatorial fights and was appalled by what he witnessed.
There are differing versions of what happened next. One version says he jumped down into the arena and placed himself before two gladiators to stop them from fighting. He was promptly slain by one of the gladiators. The crowd responded with stunned silence as Telemachus had laid bare the ugliness of this violence form of entertainment.
Another version is that he spoke to the crowds urging them to stop worshipping idols and sacrificing to the Roman gods. The leading official present ordered him killed, which one of the gladiators did on the spot. Yet another version has the crowd responding to his attempted intervention by stoning him to death. Some say his last words were, “In the name of Christ, forebear!”
However it happened, Telemachus’ martyrdom and witness prompted the Christian Emperor Honorius to immediately suspend the gladiatorial games. A few years later the games ended with the last fight in Rome taking place on January 1, 404 C.E. Telemachus’ action is credited as being the spark to end the brutality of these games. January 1st has become the day for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches to remember Telemachus.
The first written account of this story was from Theodoret, a 5th Century Syrian bishop who wrote a church history a few years after Telemachus’ martyrdom.