 |
| St Thekla Chapel, Silifke, SE Turkey |
St Thekla
is celebrated on 24 September. She is
reported to have become a Christian through the preaching of St Paul who
visited her home town on Iconium. Her story is told in the Acts of Paul and Thekla (click on the link to access the text) which was probably written in the 2nd Century.
The Apostle Paul visited Iconium in the course of each of his
missionary journeys recorded in the Acts of the Apostles,
and probably took place between the years 47/8 and 57.
Ramsey suggests that Thekla’s meeting with Paul took place on his first visit
to Iconium, at about 50
and that the Antioch where Thekla was accosted by Alexandra and then condemned
to die in the arena was Pisidian Antioch.
The first chapter of the Acts of Paul and Thekla gives an account
of Paul’s arrival in Iconium and of the sermon he preached. The sermon is summarised as the members of
the household hearing: ‘…Paul preach the
word of God concerning temperance and the resurrection,..’ The text gives eleven macrions which are not unlike the beatitudes in Matthews Gospel. These macrions
emphasise the chastity as a condition of entering into an enjoyment the
Resurrection of Christ. In the story of Thekla
that follows she desires to be unmarried and follow Paul and his teaching and
remain a virgin in order to give her whole life to God and find her fulfilment
in her relationship with Him. Her
virginity is threatened by Thamyris and Alexander the priestly figure in
Antioch and then finally when she is in old age and dies in her cave, swallowed
by a propitious rock which opens for her when her life and virginity is
threatened for one final time by drunken young men who have been set up to rape
her.
The
Greek Romance
In the period that Thekla would have lived and her story written
the people of Asia Minor and the Mediteranean were reading a genre of
literature called the Greek Romance. Haight in her discussion of the Greek Romance
says that the Acts of Paul and Thekla ‘..have
so many points in common with the pagan Greek Romances of the times that they
were probably influenced by them.’
The basic ingredients of the Greek romance were ‘love, religion and adventure’
which were all ingredients of the Acts of Paul and Thekla. Some of the characteristics of the Greek
romance seen in the Acts of Paul and Thekla are as follows:
·
Paul has a true friend
·
Paul also has false friends
·
Thekla falls in love with Saint
Paul
·
Thekla visits Paul in prison
·
Reunion in a cave
·
The miracle of salvation from
burning seems similar to Chariclea’s miraculous rescue in Heliodorus
·
Ordeals and tests of chastity are
common
·
Devices of developing character by
soliloquies and prayers, by speeches and sermons, by initiation into relgious
cults and the seal of baptism
Thus in summary it can be said that:
‘..in
the second and third centuries the Greek story-teller, whether pagan or Christian
used the same themes, episodes, and arifices, calculated to interest the
reading public of the period.’
Thekla’s story is not only about Thekla herself but also about the
women in her life and as such they represent women in society as a whole. One of the main roles is taken by Tryphaena
who as her patron protects Thekla when she is remanded in custody pending being
thrown to the beasts in the arena. De
Weg also makes the following points
about Thekla’s need for Tryphaena’s patronage
·
Tryphaena guarantees Thekla’s
‘honour’…
·
Imprisonment of women could and
often did mean rape. Rape meant an
irretrievable lost of honour.
·
Whereas the honour of men could be
injured but also restored, the boundaries of the honour of women coincided with
their sexuality. The honour of a woman
could not be gained, only lost.
·
The text accentuates ‘remaining
pure’ as a main theme.
·
Triyphaena enables Thekla to lead
an independent and autonomous life.
·
There is also a measure of
repciprocity in that Thekla prays for Tryphaena’s daughter.
·
Tryphaena’s patronage is not
adoption which was not possible for a woman until the third century AD.
De Weg in her essay on Tryphaena as a patron in her relationship
with Thekla concludes by saying: ‘Reading the Acts of Thekla against the
cultural background highlights some aspects of the Graeco-Roman roots of second
century Christianity.’ Thus implying that the text of the Acts
of Thekla has a second century date.
First
Century Society
Thekla was living in Iconium, in what is today the central
Anatolian city of Konya. She was living
in a home with servants and with her mother.
No mention Is made of a father or brother. When her mother wants to bring Thekla into
line she calls upon the help of Thamyris, Thekla’s fiance, not her brother or father. It could be that there are no other male
relatives such as a father or brother, who could exert authority over Thekla. It is not clear whether Thekla was Greek or
Roman, probably not Roman. Deborah
Sawyer states that as a result of Aristotle defining the female sex as defective and the male as normative, …such a
philosophy led to men, often slaves, being responsible for the early education
of boys rather than their mothers which had been the usual practice in early
Roman society.’…
In the upper echelon of Greek society women who were not slaves
and who were married to the head of a household, led lives of seclusion from
male company, spending most of their time in the gynaikonitis, the
women’s quarters.’
In contrast, ‘a Roman wife
would have had a high profile not only in household management where she had
the task of overseeing male servants and slave, but also in the education of
both her sons and her daughters.’
A woman of that time probably lived a very closed and closeted
existence. The Acts of Paul and Thekla
describe how Thekla listened to Paul preaching from the window of her house and
heard Paul’s words through a window in the house of Onesiphorus, where he was
staying. It was when she could not be prevailed upon
to leave the window that trouble brewed and Thamyris was called to intervene.
Sawyer in her discussion of the lives of women in Roman and Greek
society states that the norm for women in either society was for men and women
to be married and have children. There
were times when Roman law was changed to give women more authority over their
affairs but by and large women were expected to marry and be part of a
household, the head of which was a man.
Fiorenza
shows how oriental mystery religions and the early Christian Missionary
movement gave leadership opportunities to women and met in houses, some of the
cults and sects in that period of history also had an emphasis on remaining
virgins. In Pauls teaching about
marriage and the life of women he advocates that people stay unmarried, but if they
are married they should stay married unless their non-believing partner
releases them from marriage and also gives permission for married couples to
fast from sexual relationships by mutual agreement for a season. Women are allowed to minister in meetings, to
exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to exercise leadership. In the context of a discussion of women who
were cited as Apostles in the New Testament Fiorenza also talks about Thekla’s
life and ministry. Fiorenza’s opinion
is that the form of the Acts of Paul and Thekla ‘is the work of male
ecclesiastical writers, who could tolerate women as ascetics persevering in
contemplation and prayer but not as itinerant missionaries preaching the
gospel.’
Thekla then was one of these women who was liberated, seizing the
opportunity to embrace a different lifestyle by not being married and of
entering into a ministry to preach the gospel and baptise. In the Acts of Paul and Thekla, Paul
eventually commisions her,
she has according to the text already baptised herself in a pool in the
ampitheatre in Antioch.
In the chapter preceeding Thekla’s conversion, “Paul’s preaching consists of thirteen
beatitudes (or macarisms), beginning with a quotation of Matthew 5:8 and using
the word “pure” as a springboard to the related themes of chastity,
renunciation of the world, fear of God and of God’s word, receiving the wisdom
and understanding of Jesus Christ, keeping one’s baptism “secure” and being
merciful.” McGinn continues by saying that:
“..the
Acts of Thekla does emphasize sexual abstinence, but this emphasis should not
be taken to imply that continence was the sole requirement
for attaining the life of the resurrection.
Paul’s sermon ends with the following verse:
“Blessed
are the bodies of the virgins, for they shall be well pleasing to God, and
shall not lose the reward of their purity.
For the word of the Father shall be for them a work of salvation in the
day of his Son, and they shall have rest for ever and ever.”
McGinn states that “this
passage is pivotal to understanding the Acts of Thekla; it serves as a synopsis
of the theology of the entire Thekla story.”
The believer is being encouraged to renounce marriage, to embrace
chastity and to receive a foretaste of their heavenly reward as they receive
the word of God, exercise a prophetic minister and minister that word to others
and to see them saved. McGinn says that “the life of Thekla provides the key
illustration of this.”
In the course of her struggles Thekla adopts men’s clothes and
cuts her hair. McGinn takes this to mean
that “…a woman must become “manly” to be
allowed to refuse marriage and pursue a public career as did Thekla.” The writer of the Acts of Thekla “By presenting a Christian woman in the role
of apostle…opens possibilities for imagination and action among Christian
readers today”
and in the early centuries of the Christian Church when the tale was told
and this text was circulated.
Thekla
as a role model
Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff writes that:
‘The story of holy women in Christianity begins…with the images of
three women in the Gospels: Mary, the mother of Christ, Mary Magdalene, and
Martha, the sister of Lazarus. During
the time of persecution in the early centuries of Christianity, the images of
the holy martyrs were added: virgins walking gravely to their deaths in the
arena.’ She then goes on to say about
these Virgin Martyr Saints that they are ‘both mythical and historical
figures’ who were ‘said to have been
tortured and martyred in early adolescence.
The crime that brought them to the attention of the magistrates was a
dual one: refusal to marry a pagan prince and insistence on their identity as
Christians, which they felt permitted them to remain virgins.’
Thekla was engaged to marry and it is Thamyris her fiancé brings
charges against the apostle before the Roman authorities. The outcome of this is that ‘Paul is flogged and released, but Thekla,
at her mother’s insistence, is condemned to the pyre.’
In this account we see Thekla’s refusing to marry Thamyris, going against the
will of her mother and her fiancé which results in her being brought before the
judicial authorities.
The account continues as ‘She
and Paul then enter Antioch of Pisidia, where an officer of the Emperor cult
attempts to have his way with her. In
defending herself she violates the imperial symbols alexander wears and thus is
accused of the captial offense of sacrilege.
A Roman judge condemns her to the beasts.’ This incident illustrates Petroff’s statement that
the ‘commitment (of the virgin martyrs) entails virginity, and virginity
invites attack and elicites rape and violence’
Thekla’s experience does seem to be that her commitment to
virginity results in attack and elicites violence, although in Antioch she is
saved from rape by Queen Tryphaena taking her into her own home.
Petroff in her discussion about the life of Macrina written by her
brother, St Gregory says that:
“St
Gregory draws on an image of female heroism and evangelistic activity from the
past, St Thekla, the disciple of St Paul.”
She then goes on to state that:
“Recent
scholarship
holds that Gregory’s description of Macrina as virgin teacher is modeled on two
depictions of St Thekla, the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thekla (first
century AD) and the Symposium of Methodius of Olympus (Second half of
the third century AD). In the Acts
Thekla is “an evangelist, a confessor who faced martyrdom, and a model and
teacher in the virginal life…..In the Symposium, St Thekla is the intellectual leader of a
group of virgins. In this adaptation of
Plato’s Symposium, in which virginity rather than eros is the topic
under discussion, Thekla reveals herself to be a master of scriptural
interpretation and of rhetoric; she knows enough pagan philosophy to refute it
for the benefit of Christianity.
Virginity is here seen not as a rejection of the flesh as evil but as a
state of freedom that prepares one for the kingdom of God.”
The connection between Thekla and Macrina seems to have been there
from birth as Macrina’s mother is reported to have had a vision of Thekla as
she gave birth to Macrina. Petroff comments about Gregory writing about
his sister’s life that he does so ”..in
the context of this double perspective – the figural one of St Thekla and the
historical situation of the time – that Gregory gives us the facts about
Macrina’s education, her decision not to marry, and her creation of a new
community, first for women and then for men.”
These references to Thekla suggest that she was a by-word for
sexual continence which was one of the marks of early spirituality.
Tertullian writing about 200 CE says that:
“But
if we claim writings which are wrongly inscribed with Paul’s name – I mean the
example of Thekla – in support of women’s freedom to teach and baptize, let
them know that a presbyter in Asia, who put together that book, heaping up a
narrative as it were from his own materials under Paul’s name, when after
conviction he confessed that he had done it from love of Paul, resigned his
position.”
Hilhorst
in his essay on Tertullian’s comments has some discussion about what Tertullian
actually wrote but concludes that:
“…this
is the only case in which we have information on any author of apocryphal
writings;…The presbyter’s idea to compose a romanticized narrative of Paul’s
preaching activities was naïve and was not appreciated by more critical members
of his community, who forced him to resign…this is an indication that the Acts
of Paul and Thekla were ‘apocryphal’ from the very beginning and never had any
official states in the milieu in which they were written…. the Acts of Paul and
Thekla survived the degradation of the author and were read even in the West,
more specifically in Tertullian’s Carthage.
There they were used in a debate in which Christian women claimed their
right to administer baptism.”
Hilhorst also examines Jerome’s reference to the Acts of Paul and Thekla
and says that “Jerome..was able to date
the book between 68 and 98 AD.” As a
result of this he suggests that a more reasonable dating for the text would be
AD 140 – 200.
On the basis of these references to Thekla we can see that she ‘was popular in the imagination of early
Christians.’ In art she was widely
depicted as listening to Paul preach, half naked between two wild beasts, an
orant surrounded by flames.
Gregory of Nazianzus called Seleucia “the city of the holy and illustrious virgin Thekla”
Evagarius Scholasticus, the ecclesiastical historian, writing about
590 states that:
“after
the Emperor Zeno had abdicated his empire and Basilik had taken possession of
it, he had a vision of the holy and excellent martyr Thekla, who promised him
the restoration of his empire; for which, when it was brought about, he erected
and dedicated a most noble and sumptuous temple to this famous martyr Thekla,
at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, and bestowed upon it very noble endowments,
which (says the author) are preserved even till this day”
The Anchor Bible Dictionary states that in Seleucia “archaeologists found a richly decorated,
huge basilica – almost the length of a football field – as well as other
shrines, all in honour of St Thekla.”
The fourth to the sixth centuries were the zenith of her
popularity which was largely concentrated in Seleucia, Isauria as it was the
traditional location of her
ministry. One of the visitors to
Seleucia during that time the fourth century nun, Egeria. She visited Seleucia and recorded in her
diary – “The travels of Egeria”
(23, 1-6) Egeria describes how from
Tarsus she made a detour to Seleucia then went on to Thekla’s church.
“Holy
Thekla’s is on a small hill about a mile and a half
from the city, so, as I had to stay somewhere, it was best to go straight on
and spend the night there…Round the holy church
there is a tremendous number of cells for men and women…and in the middle a
great wall
round the martyrium
itself, which is very beautiful…I arrived at the martyrium, and we had a prayer
there, and read the whole of the Acts of holy Thekla; and I gave heartfelt
thanks to God for his mercy in letting me fulfil all my desires so completely,
despite all my unworthiness.”
What does the existence of a large
bascilica on this site tell us? Dr. Catherine Kroeger of Gordon Conwell
seminary writes:
“The site of her ministry (Aya Theckla) was
consistently occupied as a place of pilgrimage and monastic community until
invaded by the Turks in the fifteenth century. The ruins are still extant, with
part of the apse yet standing from the great sanctuary which was built over the
original cave. The little underground chapel attached to the cave bears
evidence of masonry dating to the first century. The French scholar A. J. Festugiere declared
to the Academie de belles lettres that Aya Theckla is one of the best attested
sites in Christian antiquity.
The continuous occupation from the first century until the Muslim Conquest
argues for the presence of a thriving ministry, and the consistent attachment
to the site of the same feminine name indicates the involvement of a strong
woman leader in the early christianization of Seleucia. The ancient ruins stand
as mute testimony to Paul's encouragement and empowerment for women in
ministry.”
Gillian Clokes describes Thekla as “..ending up as a contemplative in a mountain cave, teaching and
healing those who came to her” Similarly McNamara suggests she lived the “..the contemplative life of a hermit”.
I have come to believe that there was a Thekla who dared to
believe in Jesus Christ, to become a Christian as a result of hearing Paul
preach. She then embraced the
liberation of there being ‘no longer male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus’. In the process of living out that
understanding of Paul’s preaching she refused to remain in her household, to
marry and conform with the norm of society but sought to express her love for
Christ (and if the Hellenistic romance is correct for Paul) in the public arena
by wanting to be with Paul, to learn from him, to travel with him and to
exercise a ministry like his. The
conflict with her fiance, mother and the authorities comes because she is
wanting to be in the public arena, unmarried and adopting a different
lifestyle. Thekla’s behaviour was threatening the ‘the cultural values of honour and shame and
the importance of female chastity in maintaining thoe values in the ancient
Mediterranean context’. I would also suggest as does MacDonald that
these values are still extent. In her
work she quotes an anthropologists
observations about village life and the concern of villagers with honour and
shame. Seeing their more enclosed
village life as honourable and clean, whereas Turkish cities and the west in
general epititomises dishonourable living (namusuz),
dirt (pislik) and loss of reputation (namussuzluk).
Thekla, like her modern day Anatolian sisters is battling with
families and a society who protect their honour and expect men and women to
conform to certain norms. In first century
Anatolia the norms of that society were threatened when preachers such as the
Apostle Paul preached about Jesus, the resurrection, establishing house
churches where men and women worshipped together, where women were given an
option to adopt a different lifestyle, not to marry, to have equality with men,
to have a public ministry and so much more.
Society doesn’t change much.
Not only Thekla but others in Asia exercised a ministry “Cyprian of Carthage knew of a prophetic
woman in Cappadocia who claimed the power not only to baptize but also to
celebrate the Eucharist.”
To the west of Cappadocia and Seleucia Pulcheria siezed power and
organized the Council of Chalcedon.
Pulcheria had helped organize the victory of the Marian forces at the
Council of Ephesus in 449. McNamara
describes how at this council
“Mary
became the first consecrated virgin, never carnally subjected to human
intercourse. She thus conveniently displaced the more
aggressive figure of Thekla, whose exemplary role had disturbed even the
Montanist Tertullian.”
Thekla was a suitable role model for the early years of
Christianity when it was seen as a
temporary sect but when the church became more developed and the leadership was
more exclusively male role models such as Thekla were not as attractive to the
heirarchy. Women were more common in
leadership positions in the early years of Christianity because of the seeminly
transient nature of Christianity, the expectation that the end would come and
the church would cease to exist.
Sawyer states that:
“It is important to note that in early Christianity there was a
link between female leadership and imminent eschatology. It would seem that female authority could be
accepted and acclaimed for an interim period when history was about to come to
an end. When Christianity began looking
to the long term then conventional male leadership and hierarchy became
normative.”
The Acts of Paul and Thekla looks like a far-fetched legend that
it is tempting to reject as too incredible, but I don't think we should. First century Asia may have been filled with
many Theklas, some of who experienced the conflict and difficulties which are
recounted in the Acts of Paul and Thekla.
Other evidences such as a small column decorated with a crudely carved
woman's head bearing the name Thekla and a cross
lead us to believe that atleast one Thekla of that time was a Christian.
Thekla deserves the attention of the modern-day church as she
dared, because of her faith in the saving power of Christ, her belief in her
personal experience of Christ’s resurrection and her calling to be a minister
of the gospel to get up and go. Women in
modern day Turkey may well experience similar opposition as they turn their
backs on family, marriage and seek to incarnate the presence of God in their
own society. But it is good to be
reminded by MacDonald and others that it was because Thekla chose a lifestyle
that was against the cultural mores she was persecuted and threatened with
execution. Persecution because of the
content of the Christian faith came later in Asia Minor when Christians refused
to sacrifice to pagan deities.
You were enlightened by the words of Paul, O Bride of God, Thekla,
And your
faith was confirmed by Peter, O Chosen One of God.
You became
the first sufferer and martyr among women,
By entering
into the flames as into a place of gladness.
For when you
accepted the Cross of Christ,
The demonic
powers were frightened away.
O all-praised
One, intercede before Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion (Tone 8) -
O glorious Thekla, virginity was your splendor,
The crown of
martyrdom your adornment and the faith you trust!
You turned a
burning fire into refreshing dew,
And with your
prayers appeased pagan fury, O First Woman Martyr!
Ramsey, William The church in the Roman Empire.
P. 388
Haight,
Elizabeth Hazelton (1945) More Essays
on Greek Romances. Longmans,
Green & Co, New York.
Hist. Eccl. Lib. 3 cap 8. Quoted in
introduction to Acts of Paul and Thekla in Home, William (1820) The
Apocryphal New Testament.
William Home, Ludgate Hill, London.
P. 99.
Wilkinson, John (trans) (1981) Egeria’s travels to the Holy Land. Aris & Phillips, Warminster,
England. P.121-2.
Ernest E.Herzfeld and
Samuel Euyer, "Miriamlik und Korkyos, zwei christliche Ruinenstätten des
Ruhen Kilikiens, Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua II,
Taken from: http://ww1.antiochian.org/life_of_thekla
