Acts of Paul and Thecla

Contents

1. 0The title of the work.
2. 1Paul travels to Iconium with Demas and Hermogenes, two false companions, and teaches them about Christ.
3. 2Onesiphorus and his family go out to meet Paul, whom they know only by Titus's description.
4. 3Onesiphorus waits on the road and recognizes Paul, whose appearance is described.
5. 4Onesiphorus welcomes Paul, and Demas and Hermogenes resent not being greeted as warmly.
6. 5In Onesiphorus's house Paul breaks bread and begins a series of beatitudes in praise of chastity and self-control.
7. 6Paul's beatitudes continue, ending with a blessing on the bodies of virgins.
8. 7Thecla, a betrothed virgin, listens to Paul's preaching from a neighbouring window for days on end.
9. 8Theocleia calls Thamyris and tells him that Thecla has been captivated by a stranger's teaching.
10. 9Theocleia urges Thamyris to win back Thecla, who is held fast by Paul's teaching on chastity.
11. 10Thamyris and Theocleia plead with Thecla, and the household mourns, but she keeps listening to Paul.
12. 11Thamyris offers Demas and Hermogenes money to tell him about Paul.
13. 12Demas and Hermogenes report that Paul makes chastity a condition of the resurrection.
14. 13Thamyris entertains Demas and Hermogenes and asks them about Paul's teaching.
15. 14Demas and Hermogenes advise Thamyris to accuse Paul before the governor, and claim the resurrection has already happened in their children.
16. 15Thamyris and a mob seize Paul at Onesiphorus's house to take him before the governor.
17. 16Thamyris accuses Paul before the governor of forbidding virgins to marry.
18. 17Paul states his message before the governor, who has him imprisoned until a fuller hearing.
19. 18Thecla bribes her way into the prison and listens to Paul at his feet.
20. 19Thecla's family find her in the prison with Paul and report it to the governor.
21. 20Paul and Thecla are brought before the governor, and Thecla's mother demands that she be burned.
22. 21Paul is scourged and expelled, Thecla is condemned to burning, and in the theatre she sees the Lord in Paul's form.
23. 22Thecla is placed on the pyre, but a storm sent by God quenches the fire and she is saved.
24. 23Paul and Onesiphorus's family fast in a tomb outside Iconium, and Onesiphorus's son meets Thecla in the market.
25. 24Thecla finds Paul praying for her in the tomb, and both bless God for her rescue.
26. 25Thecla offers to cut her hair and follow Paul, and asks for baptism, which Paul tells her to wait for.
27. 26In Antioch the Syriarch Alexander assaults Thecla in the street, and she shames him publicly.
28. 27Thecla is condemned to the beasts, and Queen Tryphaena takes her into protective keeping.
29. 28In the procession of the beasts a lioness licks Thecla's feet, and Tryphaena's dead daughter asks in a dream for Thecla's prayers.
30. 29Thecla prays for Tryphaena's dead daughter Falconilla.
31. 30Tryphaena drives off Alexander when he comes to take Thecla to the arena.
32. 31Tryphaena escorts Thecla to the arena, and Thecla prays for a reward for her.
33. 32The crowd in the arena is divided, the men demanding Thecla and the women protesting.
34. 33In the stadium a lioness defends Thecla against a bear and a lion and dies.
35. 34Thecla baptizes herself in a pool of seals in the name of Jesus Christ, and the seals are killed by lightning.
36. 35The beasts are lulled by the women's perfumes, and when Thecla is tied between bulls the flame burns through her bonds.
37. 36Tryphaena faints, and Alexander, fearing Caesar, begs the governor to release Thecla.
38. 37Thecla tells the governor that she is a servant of the living God and that Christ protected her.
39. 38The governor releases Thecla, and the women of the city praise the one God who saved her.
40. 39Tryphaena welcomes Thecla, believes, and is instructed with her household.
41. 40Thecla, dressed as a man, finds Paul at Myra and tells him she has been baptized.
42. 41Paul hears Thecla's story and sends her to teach the word of God in Iconium.
43. 42Back in Onesiphorus's house in Iconium, Thecla praises Christ as her helper in every trial.
44. 43Thecla bears witness to her mother, then teaches at Seleucia, where she dies.