Life
Saint Thecla the First Martyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles lived in the first century of Christianity and is one of the most celebrated women in the world of the Orthodox Church. Her story, preserved in the ancient apocryphal text known as the “Acts of Paul and Thecla” (Acta Pauli et Theclae), which is dated to the second half of the second century and preserves an early oral tradition, is a story of the freedom of faith, the courage of a woman, and the power of God’s protection over those who serve Him with devotion.
Thecla was a young woman from a noble family in Iconium (present-day Konya, Turkey), betrothed to a well-born young man named Thamyris. According to tradition, hearing the Apostle Paul preaching in a neighboring courtyard, she sat at her window for three days and three nights listening to his words about virginity, resurrection, and the Kingdom of God, unable to tear herself away. Paul’s words about the purity of body and soul as a condition for participation in God’s Kingdom kindled in her a flame of faith and enthusiasm that could no longer be extinguished.
She broke off her betrothal, refused marriage, and publicly confessed her faith in Christ. This act provoked the fury of both her fiancé and her own mother, who in the blindness of rage demanded that the authorities punish Thecla. The Apostle Paul was arrested and flogged, while Thecla was condemned to be burned. Tradition tells that the flames retreated before her by a miraculous means — rain fell, or a cloud descended to shield her — and she emerged from the fire unharmed.
Joining the Apostle Paul in his travels, Thecla became his close companion and witness to Christ, conducting herself like a male traveler in the world of that time, capable of enduring all the hardships of a missionary journey. In Pisidian Antioch she was brought before the court a second time and thrown to wild beasts in the arena — lions, bears, bulls — but each time the divine protection of God turned the animals away from her. Tradition also describes how she cast herself into a pool filled with snakes in order to baptize herself, since Paul had not yet baptized her, crying out: “In the name of Jesus Christ I baptize myself for the last day!”
After her release Thecla continued her missionary work and went to Seleucia Isaurica (in present-day Turkey), where she lived and preached in caves in the surrounding mountains. It is said she spent many decades there in spiritual struggle, healing the sick and bringing people to faith. Tradition about her passing varies — according to some accounts, enemies pursued her and she was miraculously drawn into the rock and thus protected and taken to God.
The Church has granted Thecla the title of First Martyr — for she is, by tradition, the first woman to have suffered for Christ — and Equal-to-the-Apostles, for like the apostles she proclaimed the Gospel. Her veneration was exceptionally strong in the early Church: churches dedicated to Thecla are found from Constantinople to Egypt, and Saint John Chrysostom praised her faith and courage. She remains to this day one of the most beloved saints in all Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Oriental Christian traditions. The Orthodox Church celebrates her memory annually on September 24 by the Julian calendar.
Tropar (Tone 2)
The Church, having crowned thee as a virgin and martyr, an Equal-to-the-Apostles witness of Christ, O Thecla, First Martyr, for thou didst quench the consuming flame by faith and didst overcome the wild beasts by prayer — intercede with Christ God to save our souls.
Kontakion (Tone 6)
Having left the bridal crown and torn the holy bonds, O First Martyr Thecla, thou didst go in the apostolic path after Paul and didst preach Christ. The Church glorifies thee as Equal-to-the-Apostles and the first woman to shed blood for Christ; cease not to pray for us, thy servants.