Holy Protomartyr Thekla, Equal to the Apostles

Life

Born in Iconium to notable but pagan parents. As an eighteen-year-old maiden she was betrothed to a certain young man at the time when the Apostle Paul came with Barnabas to Iconium to preach the Gospel. Listening to Paul for three days and three nights, Thekla was wholly converted to the faith of Christ and vowed to live in virginity. Seeing that her daughter would neither look upon her betrothed nor think of marriage, her mother first tried counsel, then beating, then starving her. Finally she handed her over to the judge and demanded — wicked mother — that she be burned by fire. The judge cast her into the fire, but God preserved her unharmed. Then Thekla followed the Apostle Paul and came with him to Antioch. Attracted by the outward beauty of Thekla, a certain city official tried to take her by force, but Thekla tore herself from his hands. This official denounced her to the governor as a Christian who shuns marriage. The governor condemned her to death and cast her before wild beasts, but the beasts did not touch the body of the holy virgin. Astonished by this, the governor asked her: "Who are you, and what is this power in you, that nothing can harm you?" Thekla answered: "I am a handmaid of the living God." Then the governor set her free, and she went forth preaching the Gospel, and succeeded in converting many to the true faith, among them a certain notable and honorable widow, Tryphena. After this, Saint Thekla, by the blessing of the Apostle Paul, withdrew to a desolate place near Seleucia. There she practiced asceticism for a long time and, by healing the sick with her wonderworking power, converted many to Christianity. The physicians and sorcerers of Seleucia envied her, and they sent certain young men to defile her, hoping that when she lost her virginity she would also lose her wonderworking power. Thekla fled from those insolent young men, and when she saw that they would catch her, she prayed to God for help before a certain rock, and the rock opened and concealed this holy virgin and bride of Christ. And that rock was both her hiding place and her tomb. Of this wondrous Christian heroine and saint, Saint John Chrysostom says: "It seems to me that I see this blessed virgin offering to the Lord with one hand virginity and with the other hand martyrdom."

From the Hymn of Praise

Holy Thekla, equal to the Apostles,Protomartyr among the virgins,Had subdued the body to the spirit,And spirit and body to Christ Almighty.