Thecla

(Turkey, 1st century)

She was soon to be married, but as she sat by the window sewing, she heard a voice coming from the house next door: “Blessed are those who have kept the flesh chaste, for they will become a temple of God. . . Blessed are those who are self-controlled, for God will speak to them. . . Blessed are those who have wives as if they did not have them. . .” It was Paul, who had come to her city. She could not see him, but she sat for days listening, transfixed by his preaching.

Her mother and her fiancé could not get her to move from the window. Next door, a mob of men formed, angry that their wives and daughters were entranced by this message of chastity. Paul was arrested. She escaped from her house, bribed a guard to let her into the prison, and spent the night in his cell, listening to his words and kissing his chains.

They were discovered and taken before the governor. Her mother denounced her: “Burn the one who will not be a bride! Then all the wives who have been taught by this one will fear!” Paul was beaten and sent out of the city, but she was taken to the arena, stripped naked, and placed on a pyre. The flames rose, then were doused by a sudden cloudburst of rain and hail. The people scattered; she was unharmed.

She left the city, found Paul on the road, and asked to be baptized; he told her to be patient. They traveled together to Antioch. A nobleman, taken with her beauty, tried to buy her from Paul; when this was refused, he assaulted her. She resisted, tore his mantle and knocked off his crown. For this humiliation of an important man, she was led to another governor, and condemned to the arena to be eaten by wild animals.

A lioness ran up to her but lay at her feet. A bear tried to attack her, but was killed by the lioness. A lion charged, and both lion and lioness died in the struggle. There was a large pool of hungry seals, and she threw herself into it, declaring that, if no man would do it, she would baptize herself. Lightning struck and killed the seals. The women in the arena threw nard and cassia and cardamom into the ring and all the remaining animals fell asleep.

She was released and went looking for Paul. When she finally found him, he sent her off to preach. She was eighteen and went to live in a cave, performing miracles: storms were quelled, brigands met divine justice, temples of the Greek gods were destroyed, and many were cured of incurable afflictions.

The local doctors, nearly driven out of business by her miraculous cures, decided that the source of her power was her virginity. By now she was ninety and had lived in the cave for seventy-two years. They hired some drunken thugs to rape her. A passage opened in the rock. She walked in, the rock closed behind her, and she was never seen again.

Her shrine attracted crowds of pilgrims. In the fifth century, an author whose name is unknown was writing a book that recounted her life and the many miracles she had performed while alive and after her death. She came to him almost every night to supply him with the details. When his finger became infected and he couldn’t write, she healed it. He tells how he had become neglectful, lazy, unable to continue. She appeared, picked up his notes and read them, smiling with approval, and told him to finish the book.