Acts of Paul and Thecla

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The Acts of Paul and Thecla (Acta Pauli et Theclae) is an apocryphal story of St Paul's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Testament Apocrypha.

It was probably written in the second century. The discovery of a Coptic text of the Acts of Paul containing the Thecla narrative suggests that it may have been part of that larger work. If so, it is attested as early as Tertullian (Bapt. 17:5), who states that the Acts were written in honor of St Paul, by a presbyter of Asia, whose fraud was identified, and he was degraded from his office, at a date about AD 160. Many surviving versions of the Acts of Paul and Thecla in Greek, and some in Coptic, as well as references to the work among Church fathers show that it was widely disseminated.

Contents

[edit] The story of Thecla

The author sets this story about Paul into the framework of the Book of Acts, but this text is ideologically different from the New Testament portrayal of Paul. The extravagant praise of virginity, however, was a running thread in mainstream Early Christianity.

Here, Paul is travelling to Iconium, proclaiming ‘the word of God about abstinence and the resurrection’. Paul gives his sermons in the house of Onesiphorus, by which Thecla, a young noble virgin, listens to his ‘discourse on virginity’ from her window in an adjacent house. Her mother, Theoclia, warns her fiancée, Thamyris, that Thecla is devoted to Paul, and his disruptive ‘teaching that one must fear only one God and live in chastity’. Thamyris and a mob drag Paul to the governor, who imprisons the apostle.

However, Thecla gains entrance to the prison and sits at Paul’s feet. When her family find her, both she and Paul are again brought before the governor. At her mother’s request, Paul is sentenced to scourging and expulsion, and Thecla to be burnt: that, ‘all the women who have been taught by this man may be afraid.’ Stripped naked, Thecla is put on the fire, but she is unharmed, for God sends miraculous hail, rain and an earthquake to put out the flames.

Reunited, Paul and Thecla then travel to Pisidian Antioch, where a nobleman, named Alexander, takes a romantic interest in Thecla. When she humiliatingly rejects him, he drags her before the governor and, despite the protests of the city’s women, she is sentenced to be thrown to wild beasts. To ensure that her virtue is intact at her death, a Queen Tryphaena, takes her into protective custody overnight.

Thecla is tied to a fierce lioness, and paraded through the city. Then, she is stripped and thrown to beasts, which have been helpfully provided by Alexander. The women of the city again protest against the injustice. But, Thecla is protected: first by the lioness, and then by a series of miracles (during which she appears to baptise herself), until finally the women of the city and Queen Tryphaena intervene. Thecla returns to Paul.

One ending has Thecla dwelling in a cave for the next 72 years, then, at age 90, some men come to corrupt her, but Thecla escapes for Rome and is buried with Paul.

[edit] Significance

Although probably consciously unhistorical, and certainly overstated, the tale reflects ascetic tendencies, and the experience of persecution in early Christianity. However, many have noted that it is also almost erotic, even mildly pornographic in places.

[edit] Feminist?

Tertullian (160-230) complains that some Christians in Alexandria were using the example of Thecla to legitimize women's roles of teaching and baptizing in the church (Bapt. 17). This in itself is interesting for reconstruction the 2nd-century struggles against women in positions of authority, notably among Gnostic and Montanist Christians. Some modern scholars even suggest the Acts of Paul and Thecla as a proto-feminist text. In their reading, Thecla is abused by men and their world, and yet refuses to conform to its expectations, marriage patterns, and dress code. She boldly asserts her independence, receiving support from many women. However, many contemporary male-centred assumptions are also evident in the text: women are portrayed as driven by lust— a common stereotype— and Thecla’s mentor is a man, Paul.

[edit] Portrayal of Paul

Paul is also an ambiguous figure in this work. He is seen a preacher of asceticism, but one with whom women are besotted. His teachings lead Thecla into trouble, and yet he is never there when the trouble comes.

This presentation of Paul as ascetic preacher, discouraging marriage, appears to be very different from that of the (possibly pseudonymous) Pastoral Epistles. For instance, 1st Timothy 4:1-3 has Paul explicitly condemning anyone who forbids marriage.

However, 1st Corinthians 7 (universally regarded as authentically Pauline), appears to share more ambivalence about marriage, with the statement "it is well for a man not to touch a woman" (7:1). This text has been interpreted as ideologically closer to Paul and Thecla.

In any event, Paul and Thecla indicates one possible understanding of Paul's legacy in the second century.

The text also gives the earliest supposed description of Paul, ‘A man small in size, bald headed, bandy legged, of noble mien, with eye brows meeting, and a rather hooked nose. But full of grace, sometimes he seemed like a man, and sometimes he had the face of an angel he was supposedly very handsome.’

[edit] Cult of Saint Thecla of Iconium

In the Eastern Church, the wide circulation of the Acts of Paul and Thecla is evidence of her veneration. She was called "Apostle and protomartyr among women" and even "equal to the apostles". She was widely cited as an ascetic role model for women. Her cult flourished particularly at Seleucia (where she was said to be buried), Iconium, and Nicomedia. The cult also appeared, at least as early as the fourth century, in Western Europe. In Bede's martyrology, Thecla is celebrated on the 23 September, which is still her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox churches commemorate her on 24 September.

A local martyr legend, of Tecla, may have inspired this episode, in which she was connected to Paul of Tarsus. "It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thecla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs," wrote M.R. James, the editor of this Acta, (James 1924).

In Maalula, Syria, there is a monastery of St. Thecla, built near what is said to be her cave. Santa Tecla is the patron saint of Tarragona, Spain, where her feast day is the major fiesta of the city and the cathedral is dedicated to her. In Spain, she is sometimes facetiously referred to as the patron saint of computers (teclado means "keyboard").

[edit] See Also

[edit] Bibliography

  • Eliott, J.K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation 1993 Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • MacDonald, D.R. 1983 The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon Philadelphia: Westminster Press

[edit] External links

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