Saint Thalelæus (or Thalilaeus Epiklautos, ; died ) was a 5th-century Syrian hermit known for continuous weeping. His feast day is 27 February.
Life Saint Thalelæus was born in Cilicia in Asia Minor. He was ordained as a presbyter in the monastery of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified. He later moved to a graveyard beside a run-down pagan temple in Syria near Gabala, where he lived in a tent. Travellers passing by were afraid of the unclean spirits that haunted the place. The monk lived alone, praying day and night, and eventually drove away the demons. He built himself a tiny cramped hut where he lived for another ten years. Through his example and miracles he made many converts, who built a church in place of the pagan temple. He died about 460.
Sources The sources used by modern scholars are the Ecclesiastical History by Theodoret and the Spiritual Meadow by John Moschus. Here passages from a few 18th- to 20th-century vitae collections, alphabetically by author.
Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) in his The Lives Of The Saints wrote under February 27,
Butler The hagiographer Alban Butler (1710–1773) wrote in his Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints under February 27,
Hone William Hone in his Every Day Book, Or, A Guide to the Year wrote, under February 27,
Monks of Ramsgate The monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate wrote in their Book of Saints (1921),
See also Thalelaeus the Unmercenary Thalelaeus, antecessor (law professor) of the Justinianic era, who cited the Codex Gregorianus in his commentary on Codex Justinianus
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