Saint Thecla, By Matthew Dentice
The Church has always had a problem with powerful women. Whether it is the Virgin Mary, celebrated for simply assenting to God’s command that she bear His son, or saints like Paula or Claire, largely known for encouraging the work of the more famous men. Men such as St. Jerome and St. Francis, the Church provides the faithful with models of womanhood that send a clear message; woman’s lot is to play a supporting role to the important work of men and to be happy about it.
This is why it is so surprising and refreshing to find, buried deep within the Christian tradition, a very different kind of woman. St. Thecla is not like the other female saints you’ve heard about. Those women have been made safe for Church-sanctioned veneration; they have become obedient, subservient, and docile. Thecla was none of those things. She was certainly not safe, and, to the Church’s chagrin, nothing could ever make her so.
Like other saintly women, Thecla’s story is deeply intertwined with that of a famous male saint, in this case, no less a luminary than St. Paul. But if the title of the main source of her life, the second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla, gives the impression that she’ll be playing second-fiddle to her male counterpart, the truth is quite the opposite. Indeed, the Acts paints Paul in a rather negative light. While Paul is responsible for converting Thecla, this is unintentional on his part; she hears him from her window as he preaches at a neighbor’s house and makes the decision to convert on her own. When she abandons her life of wealth and privilege and seeks him out, Paul is dismissive of her and quick to doubt her sincerity. He even refuses to grant her baptism, suspecting her of being incapable of fulfilling the Christian ideals of faith and chastity. Most egregiously, he knowingly allows Thecla to be sexually assaulted and potentially martyred despite it being in his power to save her. Paul fully lives up to his Biblical proclivity for misogynistic messages such as, “it is a shame for women to speak in church (1 Cor 14:35), making him a terrible role-model for a headstrong young woman like Thecla.
Thecla is left to find her own way on her spiritual journey. It is she alone who chooses to defy her mother, the man she had been promised to, and ultimately the Roman state. It is she who chooses to risk death for her faith. But even so, it takes a while for Thecla to let go of her infatuation with Paul and desire for his acceptance. She must leave Paul behind if she is to come into her own spiritual power. And she does. When faced with near-certain death in the arena, Thecla finds a pool of water and leaps into it. She takes for herself what Paul would not give her and proclaims, “I am this last day baptized,” (APT 9:7). This is a radical act. Administering baptism was a sign of power and authority, and the Church early on decided that only men would have the right to baptize others. By baptizing herself, Thecla demonstrates that she does not need the approval of Paul or any other male church luminary. The only authority she needs to confirm her faith is her own.
As it turns out, God agrees, because Thecla is miraculously provided a means to escape her enemies not once, but many times. Thecla often must face the twin threats of death due to her faith and sexual assault due to her body; the Acts is nothing if not clear-eyed about how sexual violence is used to silence women who do not conform. But she triumphs, repeatedly and inevitably. Thecla becomes a popular evangelist in her own right and baptizes many others into the faith. She even gets the last word over her erstwhile hero, telling Paul, “I have been baptized, O Paul; for He who assists you in preaching, has assisted me to baptize” (APT 10:2); he is forced to accept her authority. Thecla enjoys a long and peaceful life, becoming a healer and respected elder in the town of Seleucia. At the age of ninety, she is assailed by enemies one last time only to miraculously disappear, supposedly into a rock. However, later traditions have her traveling to Rome and dying peacefully there.
Later, Church fathers were always a little wary of Thecla. The theologian Tertullian denounced her story for fear that it would encourage other women to follow their own spiritual path and, when the Bible was codified, the Acts of Paul and Thecla were conspicuously omitted. But while her popular devotion was still strong, the Church had to make room for her. And, for many centuries, it did. Thecla was revered as a saint and apostle, her shrine in Seleucia was a major pilgrimage destination, and even the great basilica of Milan was dedicated in her honor. But, over time, the Church pushed her devotion to the margins. Thecla was forgotten. The final indignity came in 1969 when Thecla was booted from the liturgical calendar, essentially revoking her saintly status.
But then, Thecla never needed the Church’s sanction. And that is what makes her story so potent today. This is a time of spiritual upheaval, and people are looking past the old forms of religion for a spirituality that is authentic, inclusive, and free. Women, in particular, are reclaiming their spiritual authority and power. It is a heady task, but if they happen to need a model, they can find one at Christianity’s dawn in a woman who defied all authorities, spiritual and secular and defined her own spiritual destiny.
Sources
The Acts of Paul and Thecla. The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden, 1926. LB Press, 1963.
Hayne, Léonie. “Thecla and the Church Fathers.” Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 48, no. 3, 1994, pp. 209—208. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1584094.
The Holy Bible. King James Version, Holman, 2000.
Hylen, Susan E. “The ‘Domestication’ of Saint Thecla: Characterization of Thecla in the Life and Miracles of St. Thecla.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, vol. 30, no. 2, 2014, pp. 5—21. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jfemistudreli.30.2.5.
Ng, Esther Yue L. “Acts of Paul and Thecla. Women’s Stories and Precedent.” The Journal of Theological Studies, vol. 55, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1—24. JSTOR www.jstor.org/stable/23970601.
Smit, Peter-Ben. “St. Thecla: Remembering Paul and Being Remembered Through Paul.” Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 68, no. 5, 2014, pp. 551—563. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24754405.