ON S. THADDÆUS THE MARTYR, VENERATED AMONG THE ABYSSINIANS.
Notice from their Metrical Hagiology.
CommentaryThaddæus, Martyr among the Abyssinians (S.)
D. P.
The often-already-cited Hagiology of the Abyssinian people in Ethiopia, communicated to us by the distinguished illustrator of Ethiopian History, He died strangled, Job Ludolf of Frankfurt, bids us greet this holy Martyr thus, on the second of the month Hamle, called in Coptic Abib, which corresponds to our 26th day of June. I say greeting to Thaddæus, who endured the torment of strangulation. Where, or when, is not added. Yet by a probable conjecture I am led to suppose that he suffered in Egypt, before the reign of Constantine the Great, after a rich man was converted. Unless perhaps a more distinct notice of the memorable conversions wrought by him while he was yet living—by which, mighty in word and deed, he became renowned—makes him seem less ancient. A specimen of these the Poet sets forth thus: The fame of his miracles shall be written unto the latest generation: for, rebuking the pride of a certain wealthy man, he forced a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, according to what is written in Matthew XIX, 24, that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, and a harlot, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Nor is this deed less to be esteemed than that other, if indeed it be understood spiritually, in that he raised up a woman, accustomed to fornication, as if by a wind on high, that is into heaven, out of that miry abyss of pleasures, in which she lay sunk. Would that more might sometime be granted us to learn from the Acts!