About St. Paul Story of Paul and Thecla
The Story of St. Paul and St. Thecla
If it may be summarized very briefly, for St. Paul celibacy was an
ideal Christian condition because it did not prescribe any worldly
obligation which might prevent one from devotion to the Lord. This
message and the absurdity of marriage in the light of the expected
kingdom of God was taken further in the course of time and became a
source of popularity of legends of virgins in Anatolia.
The legend of Thecia begins with St. Paul's departure from Antioch
to Iconium and his preaching there. His praise of the virgin life
and resurrection attracted a certain girl named Thecla, who sat and
eavesdropped on St. Paul at the open window of her house, because
her mother did not let her go and listen to the apostle. Thecla's
mother, alarmed about the devotion of her daughter to the preaching
of St. Paul, took the news to her fiance Thamyris; 'for three days
and three nights Thecla did not arise from the window, neither to
eat nor to drink...this man upset the whole city of the Iconians...for
all the women and the young men go in to him'. When Thamyris'
efforts to prevent the young girl from listening to the apostle gave
no result, the men of Iconium caught St. Paul and brought him to the
office of the governor where he was accused of corrupting young
girls, teaching them to stay virgins and not to marry, thus
disregarding the traditional customs. The governor ordered St. Paul
to be thrown into prison so that he could listen to him later at
leisure.
When Thecla learned what had happened, she left her home in secret
and bribing the doorman and the jailer entered the prison and 'went
in to St. Paul and sat by his feet and heard the wonderful works of
God...as she kissed his chains'. The following morning, however,
when she was found in the prison, the governor ordered St. Paul to
be scourged and thrown out of the city. Thecla was also brought to
trial and condemned to be burned in the theatre so that this might
teach a lesson to all the women who had listened to and believed in
the apostle. When the pile of wood and straw on which she was placed
bound to the stake was lighted, a sudden rain shower put out the
pyre and Thecla was saved. Changing into male attire she searched
for St. Paul and found him in a new tomb outside the city where he
was hiding with Onesiphorus and his family. Thecla vowed to cut her
hair short and follow the apostle wherever he went. St. Paul saying
'The time is ill-favoured and thou art comely' refused her wish.
Thecla, nevertheless, followed him to Antioch.
In Antioch a Syrian nobleman named Alexander saw Thecla and falling
in love with her on the spot tried to buy her from St. Paul with
money and gifts. When the man tried to take her physically she
resisted, tearing the man's cloak and taking his crown with the
figure of Caesar (the priestly crown of the imperial cult) from his
head. Thecla was taken before the governor and charged with
sacrilege and condemned to wild beasts. Another text adds that it
was Alexander who gave the spectacle. Epigraphic material from the
region dating from the last quarter of the first century CE mentions
the existence of a wooden amphitheatre for animal fights and
gladiatorial combats in Pisidian Antioch, and the games held here
may have inspired the writer of the story of Thecla at this point.
Several attempts to carry out the verdict failed. She was thrown to
lions and bears but saved by a lioness which 'licked her feet' and
was slain after saving her from the other animals.
Then saying 'In the name of Jesus Christ do I baptize myself on the
last day' she jumped into the great pit of water full of seals and
the wild beasts were struck dead by a flash of lightning that did
not harm her. Thus Thecla was also baptized and whether married or
not was now bound to live a celibate life, the act symbolizing her
decision to stay celibate and her covenant with Christ that ruled
out sexual intercourse forever. Her naked body was shielded by a
curtain of fire. When the last beast let into the theatre did not
touch her she was bound by the feet between the bulls and hot irons
were put under the animals' bellies, but the flame burned the ropes
and she was saved. Meanwhile one of the spectators, Queen Tryphaena
('lady magnificence') who had lost her daughter a short while
earlier and who had given Thecla shelter in her house, fainted and
Alexander thought that she had died. Worrying that the Emperor might
punish the city and that her death would be bad for his city, Thecla
was forgiven. Queen Tryphaena is a historical personage. She is
thought to have already been a very old age during the time of
journeys of St. Paul. At the time of St. Paul's travels, from 41 CE
a part of Rough Cilicia was given to her son Polemo II by Claudius
and this may have been the reason why her name is associated with
the episode.
At the end of the episode Thecla dressed as a boy searches for St.
Paul and finds him at Myra in Lycia. Thecla told the apostle her
sufferings for Christ's sake and received her baptism: '1 have
received the washing [the vow of lifelong celibacy], 0 St. Paul; for
he that has worked together with thee in the Gospel has worked with
me also unto my baptizing'. St. Paul offered her the commission of
teaching the Gospel. Later, Thecla returned to Iconium but did not
stay there. She went to Seleucia on Calycadnus (Silifke) where she
retired to a cave on Mount Calamon and lived to the age of ninety.
When she was threatened by men, who were jealous of her healing
powers, for she was by then running a nunnery which threatened the
business of local healers, she was saved by the rock of her cave
opening to receive her. Although she died peacefully in her cave she
was regarded as the first Christian woman martyr. Her sanctuary
became a popular place of pilgrimage. A tradition adds that she went
underground to Rome which accounts for the presence of her body
there.
Christian tradition regards a cave at Silifke's Meryemlik ('place of
Mary') district as the place where Thecla disappeared into the rock.
In the fourth century the cave was probably enlarged and given the
shape of an underground basilica. The reused building material shows
that there was a Roman building here probably belonging to a pagan
shrine. During the second half of the fifth century a church, one of
the largest in Cilicia, was built over the cave. Only a section of
its apse has survived to the present. Pilgrimage to this cave church
was revered throughout Byzantine history and at one time its walls
were probably decorated with mosaics. The story of Thecla, the most
famous virgin martyr of early Christianity, is narrated in the
apocryphal Acts of St. Paul which is thought to have been recorded
by a presbyter in Anatolia toward the end of the second century.
According to Tertullian its author was deposed from the church for
writing this document which created a false view of Paul and the
role of women in the church, such that in the Pastoral Letters St.
Paul permits 'no woman to teach (1 Tm 2.12)' and condemns those who
'forbid marriage' (1 Tm 4.3). In the story Thecla is discouraged
from matrimony and encouraged to become a teacher, tendencies best
manifested in the Montanist movement which was then growing in
Anatolia. Its popularity has led some scholars to believe that the
story may have been based on a real Christian martyr of the same
name.
Journeys of St. Paul
About St. Paul
Traveling in St. Pauls Time
City of St. Paul
Antioch on the Orontes
Seleucia Pieria
First Journey
Ministry in Antioch - Orontes
Second Journey
Third Journey
Arrest and Imprisonment
Journey to Rome
Story of Paul and Thecla
St. Paul's Letters