Acta Pauli et Theclae
Standard abbreviation: Acts Paul Thec.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 787; CANT 211.III
VIAF: 175404336
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Paul, Homily on Saint Thecla the Martyr by Severus of Antioch, Life and Miracles of Thecla, Martyrdom of Thecla by Symeon Metaphrastes, Panegyric to Thecla by Pseudo-John Chrysosotom, Virtuous Deeds of Thecla
Compiled by Jenna Whalley, Boston College ([email protected])
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Whalley, Jenna. “Acts of Paul and Thecla.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-paul-and-thecla/.
Created September 2021. Current as of May 2023.
1. SUMMARY
The Acts of Paul and Thecla (which is also sometimes called the Acts of Thecla after its eponymous heroine) is a second-century story which is part of the larger Acts of Paul. Whether it originated as part of the Acts of Paul or was later incorporated into the collection of apocryphal tales about the apostle is unclear, but the account circulated and was encountered independently by ancient audiences. The account has two episodes structured around two trials Thecla faces, the first in her hometown of Iconium and the second in Antioch (whether it is Anitoch of Syria or Pisidia is unclear).
The episode in Iconium opens with Paul on a missionary trip to the city. There he preaches a gospel emphasizing chastity and sexual renunciation. Thecla, who is engaged to be wed, overhears his message from the open window of her bedroom. Enamored with Paul, she decides to break off her marriage arrangements. Enraged at her decision, Thecla’s mother, Theocleia, and her fiancé, Thamyris, incite a mob which charges Paul with being a Christian and disrupting the public order before the governor. Paul is summoned to plead his case, but is imprisoned.
That night Thecla bribes her way out from under supervision at her home and goes to visit Paul in jail. What ensues is a romantically charged scene where Thecla kisses Paul’s bonds and is herself bound in a way by affection for him. When they are discovered in this manner, Paul is flogged and chased out of town and Thecla is sentenced to be burned at the stake after she again rebuffs pressure to marry.
In the public spectacle which follows, Thecla is stripped nude and placed atop a pyre. She has a vision of Paul as if he has come to look after her, but he fades off into the heavens as she tries to fix her eyes on him. The pyre is lit and a great blaze breaks out though, in a scene reminiscent of Daniel’s companions in the fiery furnace, the flames to do touch her. A cloud of rain and hail appears to extinguish the fire and Thecla is delivered from the clutches of death.
After the ordeal, she meets Paul on the road outside Iconium where he is praying for her wellbeing. She offers to cut her hair and adopt a masculine appearance in order to follow Paul, but the gesture is refused by the apostle. Even her requests to be baptized are dismissed with the explanation that there may be a future trial, worse than the first, and she may be unable to endure it but might instead be cowardly.
The second episode, which opens with Thecla accompanying Paul to Antioch, presents just such a trial. Once in Antioch, Thecla is accosted by a powerful citizen named Alexander. She defends her virtue from his advances, emasculates him in the process, and this time finds herself sentenced to death via beasts in the arena. The beginning of the episode emphasizes a gender disparity surrounding the assault and sentencing: Alexander accosts Thecla and later persuades the male governor to condemn her, while even Paul pretends not to know Thecla when Alexander enquires; a chorus of women, on the other hand, decry the sentencing as unjust and Thecla is temporarily placed in the protective custody of a wealthy woman named Tryphaena.
After an opening procession of the games in which Thecla is bound to a lioness, there is a tense standoff between Tryphaena and Alexander and the governor. When it was time to collect Thecla, Thecla is presented nude in the arena. In a scene again reminiscent of Daniel (this time Daniel in the lions’ den), a lioness proves friendly to Thecla. The lioness proceeds to defend Thecla from an onslaught of other beasts and dies in the process. At this point, Thecla sees a large pool of water filled with seals, and sees her opportunity for baptism. The highly unusual scene draws upon developing traditions of both water-baptism and baptism of blood: Thecla throws herself into the water during the public spectacle in the arena at the expected moment of her death and herself recites a baptismal formula. Though here again, she is miraculously delivered when the seals are struck by lightning and a cloud of fire protects her from any remaining beasts which are rendered unconscious by the crowd of women throwing perfumes.
Eventually the governor calls a halt to the games and orders the release of Thecla. At this point, she offers a public declaration of her faith. Following her baptism and demonstration of courage in the arena, Thecla clothes herself in masculine garments and rejoins Paul. When he learns that she has been baptized, he commissions her as an apostle in her own right, instructing her to go and teach the gospel.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Alexander (of Antioch), Castellius (governor), Demas (heretic), Falconilla, Hermias, Hermogenes, Jesus Christ, Lectra, Nero, Onesiphorus, Simmias (son of Onesiphorus), Thamyris, Thecla, Theocleia, Titus, Tryphaena, Zeno (son of Onesiphorus).
Geographical Locations: Antioch, Daphne (Asia Minor), Iconium, Myra, Seleucia, Syria.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Art and Iconography
Altarpiece and Chapel of Thecla, Tarragona Cathedral: images based on the Thecla traditions appear on a twelfth-century altar, a fifteenth-century altarpiece, and in reliefs decorating the eighteenth-century Chapel of Thecla.
Catacomb of Thecla (4th cent.): located near the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Ostian Road, this catacomb receives its name because it may be the location of a church and tomb of Thecla mentioned at the end of some Greek manuscripts of the text. The catacomb features a woman (perhaps Thecla) flanked by the apostles Peter and Paul and the images of four apostles, one of which is Paul (see the description of Paul in Acts Paul Thec. 3:3).
Cross with Prayer to Thecla: seventh-century bronze cross from Syria with bust of Thecla and a prayer, reading “Saint Thekla, Help Simionios and Sienesios and Mary and Thekla.”
Exodus Chapel, Bagawat Necropolis: named for the principle cycle of images in its dome, this funeral chapel features an image of a woman in flames beneath a thunder cloud labeled as “Thekla” (as depicted in Acts of Paul and Thecla 22).
Good Ship Thecla Sarcophagus Fragment: third/fourth-century marble fragment depicting Paul and two sailors aboard ship labeled as “Thekla.”
Ivory Plaques with Apostle Scenes: an ivory panel from a fifth-century casket or relic box depicts Thecla in a tower watching Paul, sitting, reading from a book (cf. Acts of Paul and Thecla 7).
Grotto of Saint Paul (5th/6th cent.): located on the northern slope of Bülbüldag (ancient Mount Koressos), Ephesus. A restored fresco on the western wall features Paul, standing with Theocleia, preaching while Thecla looks on from a window. All three figures are labelled in Greek.
Martyrdom of Thecla Limestone (Brooklyn Museum; 6th cent.): Thecla is depicted flanked by two beasts and surrounded by flames (combining chs. 22 and 33–34.
Peace Chapel, Bagawat Necropolis: named for the one of three allegorical personifications depicted on the building’s dome, this funeral chapel features an image Paul and Thecla (both labeled) sitting on gold-colored stools, with their legs crossed. Thecla holds a book and pen and Paul gestures to it with a pointing stick. There is a hint of the same scene in the damaged frescoes of chapel 25.
Thecla Flasks (ca. 480–560 CE): 16 documented examples of Menas flasks bearing an image of Thecla, bound, with a lion and bear at her feet. They were manufactured at the cult centre of St. Menas in Maerotis (modern Abu Mina).
Thecla Tomb Painting, Atripe Necropolis (undated): a woman (likely Thecla) is depicted between two lions (cf. Acts of Paul and Thecla 33), with one licking her feet.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic
3.1.1 Arabic script
Jerusalem, Holy Sepulchre, Arabic 200, fols. 76r–77v (19th cent. CE) ~ incomplete
Los Angeles, St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society, ML.MS. 21, fols. 151v–171r (1755 CE) ~ CATALOG
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 395, item 1 (10th cent.) (1329?) ~ Sinai; LOC
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 423, fols. 144r–151v (1626)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 457, item 7 (10th cent.) ~ Sinai; LOC
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 171, fols. 136r–146v (17th cent.)
Zūq Mīkhāʼīl (Lebanon), Dayr Sayyidat al-Bishārah, 33, fols. 317r–326v (17th cent.) ~ HMML
3.1.2 Garšūnī
Charfeh, Syriac 11/6, 15 (17th cent.)
Jerusalem, Monastery of St. Mark, 38 (199), fols. 708v–713v (1734)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 202, fols. 253v–259r (1672–1676)
Davis, Stephen J. “An Arabic Acts of Paul and Thecla: text and Translation, with Introduction and Critical Commentary.” Pages 106–51 in Thecla: Paul’s Disciple and Saint in the East and West. Edited by Jeremy W. Barrier, Jan N. Bremmer, Tobias Nicklas, and Armand Puig i Tàrrech. Studies in Early Christian Apocrypha. Leuven: Peeters: 2016 (Arabic text of ML.MS.21, pp. 113–36; English translation, pp. 137–51).
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Studi e testi 118, 133, 146–147, 172. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944–1953 (discussion of Arabic manuscripts, vol. 1, p. 514).
Proverbio, Delio Vania. “Apocrypha Arabica. Le recensioni arabe degli acta Pauli et Theclae.” Miscellanea Marciana 12 (1997): 172–75.
3.1.2 Armenian (BHO 1155)
Vitae et passiones Sanctorum selectae ex Eclogariis. vol. 1. Venice, 1874 (pp. 513–31).
T‘orrnean, T‘. Eclogariis e scriptoribus classicis. Vol. 2. Venice, 1909 (pp. 95–115).
Calzolari, Valentina. Apocrypha Armeniaca: Acta Pauli et Theclae, Prodigia Theclae, Martyrium Pauli. Vol. 1. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017 (27 manuscripts listed, pp. 179–81).
Conybeare, F. C. “Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 49–88 in The Armenian Apology and Acts of Apollonius and Other Monuments of Early Christianity. 2nd ed. London: Swan & Sonnenschein, 1896 (discussion, pp. 49–60; translation, pp. 61–88; based on 1874 edition).
3.1.3 Church Slavic
G Ghent, Universitätsbibliothek, Ms. 408, Bdinski sbornik, fols. 39–58 (1360) (=de Santos Otero 2)
F Lviv, Scientific Library of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, 203.III, pp. 180–198 (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 17)
S St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Pogodin 63, 2 fols. (11th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 1)
Z Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, Fragm. glagoliticum 4, fols. 1–2 (13th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 35)
Lviv, Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv, Oss. 38 fols. 301v–308v (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 41)
St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia (F. 351), Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery 47 (124), fols. 56–73 (15th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 42)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery 366 (559), fols. 457–461 (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 43)
Vilnius, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, F19-79, fols. 167r–173r (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 33)
Vilnius, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, F19-103, fols. 167r–172r (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 34)
Bdinski Zbornik: Ghent Slavonic Ms. 408, A.D. 1360. Facsimile edition. London: Variorum, 1972.
Berčić, Ivan. Čitanka staroslovenžskoga jezika. Prague: Haase, 1864 (edition of Z, pp. 38–39).
———. Chrestomathia linguae veteroslovenicae. Prague: Haase, 1859 (edition of Z, pp. 78–80).
Franko, Ivan. Apokrifi î legendy z ukraïnsǐkich rukopisiv. 5 vols. Lviv: Nakladom Naukovoho Tovaristva îmeni Ševčenka, 1896–1910 (edition of F, vol. 3, pp. 33–45).
Grabar, Biserka. “Apokrifna djela apostolska u hratskoglagoljskoj literaturi 3. Dkela Pavla i Tekle.” Radovi Staroslavenskog Instituta 7 (1972): 5–30 (edition of Z).
Gribble, Charles E. Medieval Slavic Texts. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Slavica, 1973 (edition of S, pp. 75–76).
Jagič, Vatroslav. “Zur berichtigung der altrussischen Texte.” Archiv für slavische Philologie 6 (1882): 236–38 (edition of S).
———. Primeri starohervatskoga jezika. 2 vols. Zagrev: Jakić 1864–1866 (edition of Z, vol. 2, pp. 70–72).
Momchilov, Ivan. Sbornik ot obraztsi za izuchavaneto na starobălgarski ezik po sichkoto mu zavitie. Vienna. L. Sommerov, 1865 (edition of S, p. 40).
Šafarík, Jozef P. Pamatky hlaholskeho pisemnictvi. Prague: Haase, 1853 (edition of Z pp. 58–61).
Scharpé, Jan L., and Frans Vyncke. Bdinski Zbornik: An Old-Slavonic Menologium of Women Saints. Bruges: De Tempel, 1973 (edition of G, pp. 72–87).
Sreznevskij, Izmail. Pamjatniki drevne-russkago pis’ma i jazyka. St. Petersburg, 1863. 2nd ed. 1882 (edition of S, pp. 170–72).
———. Svedanija i zametki o maloizvestnych . . . 74. St. Petersburg, 1876 (edition of Z, pp. 499–503).
Štefanić, Vjekoslav. Hrvatska knjizevnost srednjega vijeka. Zagrev: Matica Hrvatska, 1969 (edition of Z, pp. 130–32).
Otero, Aurelio de Santos. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1978–1981 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, pp. 43–51, vol. 2, p. 242).
Thomson, Francis J. Review of Aurelio de Santos Otero, Die handscriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen, vol. 1. Slavonic and East European Review 58 (1980): 256–68 at 257 (with corrections to de Santos Otero).
3.1.4 Coptic (BHO 882)
Heidelberg, Universität Heidelberg, inv. Kopt. 300+301 + London, British Library, Or. 6943(19) (6th cent.)
Schmidt, Carl. Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrus-handschrift Nr. 1. 1904. 2nd enlarged ed. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1905 (edition of Heid. inv. Kopt. 300+301).
3.1.5 Ethiopic (BHO 1156)
London, British Library, Or. 689, fols. 31r–34r (15th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 687–688, fols. 49r–51v– (18th cent.)
Wallo (Ethiopia), Ḥayq Esṭifanos Monastery, EMML 1766, fols. 57r–63v (14th/15th cent.)
Goğğām Province (Ethiopia), Dabra Abuna Ḥarā Monastery, EMML 8628, fols. 171v–178v (18th cent.) ~ HMML
Ānsabā Region (Eritrea), Ṣa’edā Embā Śellāsē Monastery, EMML 1479, fols. 55v–59v (15th cent.) ~ HMML
Goodspeed, Edgar J. “The Book of Thekla.” American Journal of Semitic Languages 17 (1901) 65–95. Also published separately in pamphlet form as The Book of Thekla (The University of Chicago Historical and Linguistic Studies in Literature Related to the New Testament 1; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1901) (edition based on BL Or. 689 and Or. 687–688).
3.1.6 Greek (BHG 1710)
3.1.6.1 Papyri
Cambridge, University Library, Add. 4028 (=P. Oxy. I 6) (5th cent.) ~ Wikipedia
Oxford, Sackler Library, Papyrology Rooms, P. Antinoopolis 13 (4th cent.)
Münster, Bibelmuseum, P. Schøyen MS 2634.1 (Fackelmann 3) (3rd cent.)
Grenfell, Bernard P., and Hunt, Arthur S. Oxyrhynchus Papyri I. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1898 (edition of P. Oxy. I 6, pp. 9–10).
Gronewald, Michael. “Einige Fackmann-Papyri.” ZPE 28 (1973): 271–77 (editio princeps of P. Schøyen MS 2634.1, pp. 274–76).
Roberts, C. H. The Antinoopolis Papyri I. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1950 (editio princeps of P. Antinoopolis 13, pp. 26–28).
———. “A Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel.” JTS 47 (1946): 56–57.
Wayment, Thomas A. The Text of the New Testament Apocrypha (100–400 CE). New York: T&T Clark, 2013 (new transcription and edition of P. Antinoopolis 13, pp. 20–21, pl. 225–26; and P. Schøyen MS 2634.1, pp. 33–34, pl. 240).
3.1.6.2 Medieval/Byzantine Manuscripts; a total of 45 manuscripts, with 28 of them containing additional endings (numbered by Kaestli and Rordorf as I to VIII)
I: reports her return to Iconium and her failed preaching to Theocleia. Then follows a visit to the tomb of Daphne where she had once met Paul and Onesiphorus and finally, her departure to Seleucia where she preaches to many people (BHG 1711).
II: after her falling asleep, there is another sentence about the fate of her body—it sank into the ground and her death is celebrated 24 September (BHG 1713e).
III: the story of a plot by the physicians of Seleucia to rid themselves of their competition. Thecla escapes by entering a split rock (BHG 1715).
IV: preamble for a letter on the creation and the transmission of the true image of Thecla (BHG 1718m).
V: the body of the letter, followed by story of the healing of a pralyzed child, the conversion of his family, and the founding of a church of Saint Irene (BHG 1718n).
VI: a different account of the plot of the physicians; includes also the healing of the daughter of Proclianos (BHG1716a; BHG 1718m; BHG 1718m).
Note: IV+V+VI are a separate text called the Virtuous Deeds of Thecla
VII: brief story of the plot of the physicians followed by Thecla entering the split rock and then journeying underground to Rome to rest near the tomb of Paul (BHG 1712, 1714).
VIII: rewritten version text I by Symeon Metaphrastes with text III (BHGna 1716K).
Group A
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1506, fols. 64r–75v (10th cent.) (V-VI) (=Lipsius-Bonnet I) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Mount Athos, Monē Koutloumousiou, 56 (Lambros 3125), fols. 156r–169r (13th cent.) (IV-V-VI, VIII)~ Pinakes
Dublin, Trinity College, 185 (olim E. 3.35), fols. 30r–39v (11th cent.) (VI)
Mount Athos, Monē Karakallou 8 (Lambros 1521), Mon. 48, fols. 26r–32v (10th/11th cent.) (VIII) ~ Pinakes; Athos
Edinburgh, University Library, 225 (Laing 123), pp. 1–16 (11th cent.) (IV-V-VI) ~ Pinakes
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Clarke 50, fols. 216r–227v (12th cent.) VII+IV-V-VI~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Trias 102, palimpsest; (palimpsest) fols. 196v+201r, 81v+86r, 81r+86v, 144v+145r, 154v+158r, 154r–158v, 157 (11th cent.) (V-VI) ~ Pinakes
Group B
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 866, fols. 27r–32r (11th/12th cent.) (V-VI) (=Lipsius-Bonnet F)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. E.5.12 (olim Misc. gr. 77), fols. 414r–423v (12th cent.) (I-II) (=Lipsius-Bonnet H) ~ Pinakes
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D 92 sup. (gr. 259), fols. 222r–228r (11th cent.) (VI) ~ Pinakes
Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, gr. 108 (B 2.2), fols. 22v–29v (11th/12th cent.) (VI)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chig. R. VI. 39 (gr. 31), fols. 50r–53r (12th cent.) (V-VI) ~ Pinakes; DVL
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 526, fols. 33v–39v (10th cent.) (V-VI) ~ Pinakes; LOC
Group C
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 520, pp. 39v–50v (10th/11th cent.) (VII) (=Lipsius-Bonnet A)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1454, fols. 72r–77v (10th cent.) (VII) (=Lipsius-Bonnet B)
Ohrid, Naroden Muzej, 4, pp. 17v–35v (10th cent.) (VII, IV-V-VI)
Mount Athos, Monē Pantokratos, 40 (Lambros 1074), fols. 13v–21v (11th cent.) (VIII)~ Pinakes
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1468, fols. 38v–44v (11th cent.) (VII) (=Lipsius C)
Jerusalem, Patriarchikē bibliothekē, Hagiou Saba 30, fols. 24r–29r (10th/11th cent.) (VII) ~ Pinakes; LOC
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1238 (palimpsest), fols. 141, 171, 181, 27, 186, 168, 176 (11th cent.) (VII) ~ Pinakes, DVL
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Clarke 43, fols. 16r–17v (12th cent.) VII~ Pinakes
Diverse Texts
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci 180, fols. 34r–42v (12th cent.) (III) (=Lipsius-Bonnet G)
St. Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka, Φ. No. 906 (Gr.) 213, fols. 75r–86r (12th cent.) (V-VI) ~ Pinakes
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1190, fols. 1215r–1228r (1542) (V-VI) (=Lipsius-Bonnet M)
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, F 144 sup. (Martini-Bassi 377), fols. 20r–25r (10th/11th cent.) (III)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1631, fols. 32r–39v (12th cent.) (XII) ~ Pinakes
St. Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka, Φ. No. 906 (Gr.) 94, fols. 75r–86r (12th cent.) (I-II) ~ Pinakes
Manuscripts not included by Kaestli and Rordorf:
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 1027, fols. 36v–43r (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Mouseio Benaki, T.A. 247, fols. 1r–3v (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Göteborg, Universitetsbibliotek, gr. 1 (palimpsest), fols. 71, 74, 141r–143v (10th/11th cent.) ~ Pinakes; IMAGES
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Trias 101, fols. 32v–38v (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Jerusalem, Patriarchikē bibliothēkē, Hagios Saba 259, fols. 247r–256v (11th cent.)
Krakow, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Biblioteka Jagiellońska Berlin, graec. 1°.43.I (279), fols. 9r–11v (11th/12th cent.) ~ Pinakes
London, British Library, Add. 28816, fol. 124v (12th cent.) ~ excerpt of description of Paul from Acts of Paul 3:2; Pinakes; BL
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, C 123 sup. (Martini-Bassi 213), fols. 30r–38v (11th/12th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Moscow, Gosudarstvennyj Istoričeskij Musej, Sinod. gr. 178 (Vlad 367), fols. 64r–75v (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, M. Megistes Lavras, Δ 50 (Eustratiades 0426), fols. 86v–93v (1039)
Mount Athos, Monē Philotheou, 91 (Lambros 1855) (13th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 497, fols. 80v–87v (10th/11th cent.)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 519, fols. 28v–33r (10th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 769, fols. 141v–153r (11th cent.) (=Lipsius K) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 2988 (palimpsest), fols. 21, 20 (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chig. R. VI. 39, fols. 42v–50r (12th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. gr. 68, fols. 81r–87v (13th cent.) (=Lipsius-Bonnet L) ~ Pinakes; DVL
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 544, fols. 97, 194, 1, 32, 39, 46, 43, 34 (11th cent.) ~ palimpsest
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 797, fols. 94v–105r (11th cent.) (=Lipsius-Bonnet E) ~ Pinakes
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1853, fols. 99 and 96v (10th cent.) ~ fragments only (palimpsest)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1876, fols. 9r–10v, 15r–16v (12th/13th cent.) ~ Pinakes; DVL
Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, hist. gr. 96, fol. 79 (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Zagora, Dēmosia Istorikē Bibliothēkē, 15, fols. 41v–54r (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Grabe (Grabius), Johannes Ernst. Spicilegium Ss. Patrum, ut et Hereticorum, Seculi post Christum Natum I. II. & III.. Oxford: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1698 (editio princeps based on Lipsius-Bonnet G with Latin translation, vol. 1, pp. 95–119).
Lipsius, Richard A., and Maximilien Bonnet, eds. Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha. 2 vols. in 3. Leipzig: H. Mendelssohn, 1891–1903. Repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1972 (Greek text based on A–M, vol. 1, pp. 104–17; introduction, pp. xciv–cvi).
Bovon, François, and Bertrand Bouvier. “Miracles additionnels de Thècle dans le manuscrit de Rome: Angelicus graecus 108.” Apocrypha 24 (2013): 91–110.
Dagron, Gilbert. Vie et miracles de Sainte Thècle: Texte grec, traduction et commentaire. Subsidia Hagiographica 62. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1978 (edition of BHG 1718m, based on Edinburgh 225 with readings from Achrid 96 [=Ohrid 4?] and Marciana, gr. Z 573, pp. 413–21).
Hearne, Thomas. Joannis Lelandi antiquarii de rebus Brittanicis collectanea. 6 vols. London: Gul. & Jo. Richardson, 1715 (reading from Lipsius-Bonnet H to fill in portion missing from Grabe’s edition of Lipsius-Bonnet G, vol. 6, pp. 65–69).
Kaestli, Jean-Daniel, and Willy Rordorf. “La fin de la vie de Thècle dans les manuscrits des Actes de Paul et Thècle: Édition des textes additionnels.” Apocrypha 25 (2014): 9–101.
Piñero, Antonio, and Gonzalo del Cerro. Hechos apócrifos de los Apóstoles. 3 vols. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 2011 (Greek edition based on Lipsius-Bonnet’s range of manuscripts with facing Spanish translation, vol. 2, pp. 732–73).
Tischendorf, Constantin. Acta apostolorum apocrypha. Leipzig: Avenarius et Mendelssohn, 1851 (edition based on ABCGH and Grabe’s edition of the Latin Digby 39, pp. 40–63; introduction, pp. xxi–xxvi).
Vouaux, Léon. Les Actes Paul et ses lettres apocryphes: Introduction, traduction et commentaire. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1913 (Greek edition based on Lipsius-Bonnet’s range of manuscripts with facing Frencg translation, pp. 146–228).
3.1.7 Latin (BHL 8020–8025)
Genève-Cologny, Bibliothèque Bodmer, MS Bodmer 127, fols. 252v–257r (12th cent.)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 39, fols. 1v–11v (12th cent.)
Gebhardt, Oskar von. Passio sanctae Theclae virginis: Die lateinischen Übersetzungen der Acta Pauli et Theclae. TU n.F. 7/2. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1902 (list of 47 manuscripts, pp. vii–xxxiv; editions of three recensions, pp. 1–184).
Grabe (Grabius), Johannes Ernst. Spicilegium Ss. Patrum, ut et Hereticorum, Seculi post Christum Natum I. II. & III.. Oxford: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1698 (edition of Digby 39, vol. 1, pp. 120–27).
Mombritius, Boninus. Sanctuarium seu Vitae Sanctorum. 2 vols. Milan: Tip. epónima, 1477–1478; repr. Paris: Fonetmoing et Socii, 1910 (Latin text based on ten manuscripts, vol. 2, pp. 559–64).
3.1.8 Syriac (BHO 1152–1154)
3.1.8.1 West Syriac (sigla assigned by Jacob Lollar)
A Wadi El Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), 6 (Murad Kamil, XXVIII) (6th cent.)
B London, British Library, Add. 14652, fols. 61v–83r (6th cent.) (=Wright A)
C Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, syr. 30, upper text fols. 1r–21r (upper writing dated 698; lower writing 5th/6th cent.)
D Wadi El Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), 9 (Murad Kamil, XXVII) (8th cent.)
E London, British Library, Add. 14447, fol. 32v (10th cent.) (=Wright B)
F London, British Library, Add. 14641, fols. 132r–139r (10th/11th cent.) (=Wright C)
G London, British Library, Add. 12174, fols. 445r–448v (1197) (=Wright D)
Unassigned:
Mardin, Church of the Forty Martyrs, 253 (olim Dayr al-Za‘farān 121/7), p. 170 (13th/14th cent.) ~ excerpt of the beatitudes
Baumstark, Anton. Die Petrus- und Paulusacten in der literarischen Überlieferung der syrischen Kirche. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1902 (discussion of manuscripts, pp. 30–32).
Smith Lewis, Agnes. Select Narratives of Holy Women from the Syro-Antiochene or Sinai Palimpsest as Written above the Old Syriac Gospels by John the Stylite, of Beth-Mari-Qanūn in A.D. 778. 2 vols. Studia Sinaitica 9–10. London: Cambridge University Press, 1900 (collation against Wright’s edition in vol. 1, pp. 290–305 [Syriac numbering]; see vol. 2, pp. ix–xiv for introduction and summary).
Wright, William, ed. Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Edited from Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum and Other Libraries. 2 vols. London, Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate, 1871 (Syriac text based on A–D, in vol. 1, pp. 127–69).
3.1.8.2 East Syriac (sigla assigned by Jacob Lollar)
H Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 597, fols. 203r–225v (17th cent.)
I Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Syr. 75 (Sachau 222), fols. 559v–570r (1881) ~ by same scribe as Erbil, OAOC 628
J Erbil, Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd (OAOC), 628 (olim Baghdad, Library of the Chaldean Monastery, 628; olim Alqoš, Notre-Dame des Semences, Scher 112/Vosté 214), fols. 321v–333r (1885)
K Erbil, Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd (OAOC), 621 (olim Urmia, Oroomia Mission Library, 212), fols. 63v–74r (19th cent.)
L Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana syr. 598, fols. 70v–81v (1932) ~ copy of Erbil, OAOC 621
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (pp. 364–74).
James, M. R. The Apocryphal New Testament. 1924. Repr., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953 (pp. 270–99; and translation of the Hamburg papyrus in “Appendix II” by J. W. B. Barns, pp. 570–78).
Pervo, Richard I. The Acts of Paul: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014.
Pick, Bernhard. The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew, and Thomas. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Co., 1909 (pp. 1–49).
Schneemelcher, Wilhelm. “The Acts of Paul.” Pages 322–90 in vol. 2 of New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Edgar Hennecke, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, and Robert McLachlan Wilson. Trans. by Robert McLachlan Wilson. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 1963–1966.
———. “The Acts of Paul,” Pages 213–70 in vol. 2 of New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Edgar Hennecke, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, and Robert McLachlan Wilson. Trans. by R. McL. Wilson. Rev. ed. James Clarke & Co.: Cambridge; Philadelphia: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.
Walker, Alexander. Apocryphal Gospels, Acts and Revelations. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1873. Repr. as vol. 16 of The Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. 24 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867–1883 (pp. 279–92).
Wright, William, ed. Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Edited from Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum and Other Libraries. 2 vols. London/Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate, 1871 (English translation of Syriac text, vol. 2, 116–45).
3.2.2 French
Rordorf, Willy, in collaboration with Pierre Cherix and Rudophe Kasser. “Actes de Paul.” Pages 1115–77 in vol. 1 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain with an Index by Sever J. Voicu. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Saint Herblain: Gallimard, 1997.
Vouaux, Léon. Les Actes Paul et ses lettres apocryphes: Introduction, traduction et commentaire. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1913 (Greek edition based on Lipsius-Bonnet’s range of manuscripts with facing Frencg translation, pp. 146–228).
3.2.3 German
Rolffs, Ernst. “Paulusakten.” Pages 358–95 in Handbuch zu den Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen in Verbindung mit Fachgelehrten. Edited by Edgar Hennecke. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1904.
———. “Paulusakten.” Pages 357–82 in Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in Verbindung mit Fachgelehrten in deutscher und mit Einleitungen. Edited by Edgar Hennecke.Tübingen and Leipzig: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1904.
Schneelmelcher, Wilhelm, and Rudolphe Kasser, trans. “Paulusacten.” Pages 221–70 in vol. 2 of Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in Verbindung mit Fachgelehrten in deutscher und mit Einleitungen. Edited by Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneelmelcher. 3rd ed. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1959–1964.
———. “Paulusacten,” Pages 193–243 in vol. 2 of Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in Verbindung mit Fachgelehrten in deutscher und mit Einleitungen.Edited by Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneelmelcher. 5th ed. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1987.
3.2.3 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 2, pp. 243–88).
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 2, pp. 1061–1130).
3.2.4 Spanish
Piñero, Antonio, and Gonzalo del Cerro. Hechos apócrifos de los Apóstoles. 3 vols. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 2011 (Greek edition based on Lipsius-Bonnet’s range of manuscripts with facing Spanish translation, vol. 2, pp. 732–73).
3.3 General Works
Aageson, James W. “The Pastoral Epistles and the Acts of Paul: A Multiplex Approach to Authority in Paul’s Legacy.” Lexington Theological Quarterly 40 (2005): 237–48.
Adamik, Tamás. “The Baptized Lion in the Acts of Paul.” Pages 64–74 in The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 2. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996.
Albrecht, Ruth. “Thekla.” Page 298 in Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopädie der Antike. Edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider. Alterum Vol 12/1, Tam-Vel. Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler, 2000.
Andrious, Rosie. Saint Thecla: Body Politics and Masculine Rhetoric. LNTS 617. London: T&T Clark, 2020.
Aspegren, Kerstin. “The Thecla Figure.” Pages 99–14 in The Male Woman: A Feminine Ideal in the Early Church. Edited by René Kieffer. Acta universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Women’s Studies, Women in Religion 4. Uppsala: Gotab, 1990.
Aubin, Melissa. “Reversing Romance? The Acts of Thecla and the Ancient Novel.” Pages 257–72 in Ancient Fiction and Early Christian Narrative. Edited by R.F. Hock. SBL Symposium Series 6. Atlanta: Scholars, 1998.
Aubineau, Michel. “Compléments au dossier de sainte Thécle.” AnBoll 93 (1975): 356–62.
Aymer, M. P. “Hailstorms and Fireballs: Redaction, World Creation, and Resistance in the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Semeia 79 (1997): 45–61.
Bain, Katherine. “Socioeconomic Status in Early Christianity and Thecla’s Rejection of Marriage.” JFSR 27.2 (2011): 51–69.
Barrier, Jeremy W. The Acts of Paul and Thecla: A Critical Introduction and Commentary. WUNT 2.270. Tübigen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009.
Barrier, Jeremy W., Jan N. Bremmer, T. Nicklas, and A. Puig i Tàrrech, eds. Thecla: Paul’s Disciple and Saint in the East and West. Leuven: Peeters, 2017.
Berardino, Angelo di. “The Historical Geography of Asia Minor at the Time of Paul and Thecla: The Roman Provinces and the Means of Communication.” Aug 57.2 (2017): 341–70.
Betz, Monika. “Die betörenden Worte des Fremden Mannes: Zur Funktion der Paulusbeschreibung in den Theklaakten.” NTS 53 (2007): 130–45.
———. “Thekla und die jüngerin Witwen der Pastoralbriefe. Ein Beispiel für die Situationsgebundenheit paulinischer Tradition.” Annali di Studi Religiosi 6 (2005): 335–56.
Bollók, J. “The Description of Paul in the Acta Pauli.” Pages 1–15 in The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 2. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996.
Boughton, Lynne C. “From Pious Legend to Feminist Fantasy: Distinguishing Hagiographical License from Apostolic Practice in the Acts of Paul/Acts of Thecla.” Journal of Religion 71 (1991): 362–83.
Boyarin, Daniel. “Thinking with Virgins.” Pages 67–92 in Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism. Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Bremmer, Jan N, ed. The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 2. Kampen: Pharos Publishing House, 1996.
Braun, Willi. “Physiotheraphy of Femininity in the Acts of Thecla.” Pages 209–30 in Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity. Edited by Stephen G. Wilson and Michel Desjardins. Waterloo: Canadian Corp. for Studies in Religion, 2000.
Bremmer, Jan N. Maidens, Magic, and Martyrs in Early Christianity. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.
———. “Magic, Martyrdom, and Women’s Liberation in the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 36–59 in The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 2. Kampen: Pharos Publishing House, 1996.
———. “The Portrait of the Apostle Paul in the Apocryphal Acts of Paul.” Pages 415–34 in Figurationen des Porträts. Edited by Thierry Grueb and Martin Roussel. Morphomata 35. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
———. “The Notion of Virginity in the Early Church.” Pages 427–43 in Christian Spirituality: Origins to the Twelfth Century. World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest 16. Edited by Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff. New York: Crossroad, 1985.
Büllesbach, Claudia. “‘Ich will mich rundherum scheren und dir folgen’: Begegnungen zwischen Paulus und Thekla in den Acta Paula et Theclae.” Pages 125–46 in Körper und Kommunikation: Beiträge aus der theologischen Genderforschung. Edited by K. Greschat and H. Omerzu. Leipzig: Teubner, 2003.
Burns, Dylan M. “Astrological Determinism, Free Will, and Desire According to Thecla (St. Methodius, Symposium 8.15-16).” Pages 206–20 in Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity. Edited By Ulla Tervahauta, et al. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 144. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Burris, Catherine. “The Reception of the Acts of Theclas in Syriac Christianity: Translation, Collection and Reception.” Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010.
Burris, Catherine, and Lucas Van Rompay. “Thecla in Syriac Christianity. Preliminary Observations.” Hugoye 5.2 (2002): 225–36.
———. “Some Further Notes on Thecla in Syriac Christianity.” Hugoye 6.2 (2003).
Burrus, Virginia. The Sex Lives of Saints: An Erotics of Ancient Historiography. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
———. “Word and Flesh: The Bodies and Sexuality of Ascetic Women in Christian Antiquity.” JFSR 10.1 (1994): 27–51.
———. Chastity as Autonomy. Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts. Queenston, ON: Mellen, 1987.
———. “Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of the Apocryphal Acts.” Pages 101-17 in Semeia 38: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.
Calef, Susan A. “Thecla ‘Tried and True’ and the Inversion of Romance,” Pages 163-85 in A Feminist Companion to the New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine with Maria Mayo Robbins. Feminist Companion to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, 11. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2006.
Calzolari, Valentina. “The Legend of St. Thecla in the Armenian Tradition: From Asia Minor to Terragona through Armenia.” Pages 285–305 in Thecla: Paul’s Disciple and Saint in the East and West. Edited by Jeremy W. Barrier, Jan N. Bremmer, Tobias Nicklas, and Armand Puig i Tàrrech. Studies in Early Christian Apocrypha. Leuven: Peeters: 2016. Updated and revised as pages 91–103 in The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Armenian. Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 18. Leuven: Peeters, 2022.
———. “Notes sur la traduction arménienne du texte syriaque des Actes de Thècle.” Pages 233–43 in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Armenian Linguistics. New York: Delmar, 1996.
Carlé, Birte. Thekla: en kvindeskikkelse i tidlig kristen fortællekunst. Copenhagen: Delta, 1980.
Cartlidge, David R. “Thecla: The Apostle Who Defied Women’s Destiny.” Bible Review 20.6 (2004): 24–33.
Cartlidge, David R., and J. Keith Elliott. “Thecla.” BR 20.6 (2004): 33.
———. “5 Paul, Thecla, and Peter.” Pages 134–71 in Art and the Christian Apocrypha. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.
Castelli, Elizabeth. “Layers of Verbal and Visual Memory: Commemorating Thecla the Protomartyr.” Pages 134–71 in Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making. Gender, Theory, and Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
———.“Virginity and Its Meaning for Women’s Sexuality in Early Christianity.” JFSR 2 (1986): 62–88.
Clark, Elizabeth A. Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
———. “Anti–Familial Tendencies in Ancient Christianity.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 3 (1995): 356–80.
Cobb, L. Stephanie. Dying to be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts. Gender, Theory, and Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
Cohick, Lynn H. “Mothers, Martyrs, and Manly Courage: The Female Martyr in 2 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, and the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 123–32 in A Most Reliable Witness: Essays in Honor of Ross Shepard Kraemer. Edited by Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Nathaniel DesRosiers, Shira L. Lander, Jacqueline Pastis, and Daniel Ullucci. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015.
Cohick, Lynn H. and Amy Brown Hughes. “Thecla: Christian Female Protomartyr and Virgin of the Church.” Pages 1–26 in Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2017.
Cooper, Kate. The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
———. “A Saint in Exile: The Early Medieval Thecla at Rome and Meriamlik.” Hagiographica 2 (1995): 1–24.
Dabiri, Ghazzal, and Flavia Ruani, eds. Thecla and Medieval Sainthood: The Acts of Paul and Thecla in Eastern and Western Hagiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Daniel-Huges, Carly. “The Apostle of Failure: Queer Refusal, the Corinthian Letters, and Paul’s Unflattering Characterization in the Acts of Thecla.” BibInt (2022): 1–23.
Davis, Stephen J. “From Women’s Piety to Male Devotion: Gender Studies, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the Evidence of an Arabic Manuscript.” HTR 108.4 (2015): 579–93.
———.The Cult of Saint Thecla: A Tradition of Women’s Piety in Late Antiquity. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
———.“Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men.” JECS 10.1 (2002): 1–36.
———. “A ‘Pauline’ Defense of a Women’s Right to Baptize? Intertextuality and Apostolic Authority in the Acts of Paul.” JECS 8.3 (2000): 453–59.
———.“Namesakes of Saint Thecla in Late Antique Egypt.” BASP 36 (1999): 71–81.
———.“Pilgrimage and the Cult of Saint Thecla in Late Antique Egypt.” Pages 303–39 in Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt. Edited by David Frankfurter. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
Davies, Stevan L. “The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction.” CBQ 71.3 (2009): 649–50.
———. “Women, Tertullian and the Acts of Paul.” Pages 139–43 in Semeia 38: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.
———. The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980.
———. “The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts.” Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1978.
Deeleman, C. F. M. “Acta Pauli et Theclae.” TS 26 (1908): 273–301.
Despotis, Sotirios. “Artemis and Thecla: The Meeting of the Ancient Goddess with the Christian Female Apostolic Saint in the First Four Centuries of Christianity (Historical and Comparative Reflections).” Elpis 24 (2022): 127–30.
Dolger, Franz Josef. “Der heidnische Glaube an die Kraft des Fürbittgebetes für die vorzeitig Gestorbenen nach den Theklaakten.” Antike und Christentum 2 (1930): 13–16.
Dulk, Matthijs den. “I Permit No Woman to Teach Except for Thecla: The Curious Case of the Pastoral Epistles and the ‘Acts of Paul’ Reconsidered.” NovT 54 (2012): 176–203.
Ebner, Martin. Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akten Thekla neu aufgerollt. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Biblelwerk, 2005.
———. “Gemeindestrukturen in Esempeln: Eine eindeutig frauenfreundliche Kompromisslössung.” Pages 180–86 in Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akte Thekla neu aufgerollt. Edited by Martin Ebner. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 206. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.
———. “Sein und Schein auf dem ‘Königsweg,’: Figurenaufstellung und ‘Einspurung’ des Lesers (ActThecl 1–4).” Pages 52–63 in Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akte Thekla neu aufgerollt. Edited by Martin Ebner. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 206. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.
———. “Paulinische Seligpreisungen à la Thekla: Narrative Relecture der Makarismenreihe in ActThecl 5.” Pages 64–79 in Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akte Thekla neu aufgerollt. Edited by Martin Ebner. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 206. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.
Edsall, Benjamin. “(Not) Baptizing Thecla: Early Interpretive Efforts on 1 Cor. 1:17.” VC 71.3 (2017): 235–60.
Elm, Susanna. “Virgins of God:” The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Esch(-Wermeling), Elisabeth. Thekla – Paulusschülerin wider Willen? Strategien der Leserlenkung in den Theklaakten. NTAbh 53. Münster: Aschendorff, 2008.
———. “Thekla und die Tiere, oder: Die Zähmung der Widerspenstigen.” Pages 159–79 in Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akte Thekla neu aufgerollt. Edited by Martin Ebner. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 206. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.
Esch(-Wermeling), Elisabeth, and Andreas Leinhüpl-Wilke. “Auf die Spur gekommen: Plädoyer für eine leserorientierte Literarkritik.” Pages 30–51 in Aus Liebe zu Paulus? Die Akte Thekla neu aufgerollt. Edited by Martin Ebner. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 206. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.
Eyl, Jennifer. “Why Thekla Does Not See Paul: Visual Perception and the Displacement of Erōs in the Acts of Paul and Thekla.” Pages 3–19 in The Ancient Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections. Edited by Marília P. Futre Pinheiro, Judith Perkins, and Richard Pervo. Netherlands: Barkhuis, 2013.
Fasola, Umberto Maria. “La Basilica sotterranea di S. Tecla e le regioni cimiteriali vicine.” Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 46 (1970): 193–280.
———. “Il complesso catacombale di S. Tecla.” Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 40 (1964): 19–50.
Gebhardt, Oscar von, ed. Passio S. Theclae virginis: Die lateinischen Übersetzungen der Acta Pauli et Theclae nebst Fragmenten, Auszügen und Beilagen. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 7 (Neuen Folge). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1902.
Gotter, Ulrich. “Thekla gegen Apoll: Überlegungen zur Transformation regionaler Sakraltopographie in der Spätantike.” Kilo 85 (2003): 189–211.
Grant, Robert M. “The Description of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” VC 36 (1982): 1–4.
Green, Robin J. “(Un)Happily Ever After: Literary and Religious Tensions in the Endings of the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 21–34 in The Ancient Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections. Edited by Marília P. Futre Pinheiro, Judith Perkins, and Richard Pervo. Netherlands: Barkhuis, 2013.
Gwynn, J. “Thecla.” Pages 882–96 in vol. 4 of Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: being a continuation of “The dictionary of the Bible”. Edited by William George Smith and Henry Wace. London: J. Murray, 1877–1887.
Hains-Eitzen, Kim. “Engendering Palimpsests: Reading the Textual Tradition of the Acts of Paul and Thecla,” Pages 117–93 in The Early Christian Book. Edited by William Klingshirn and Linda Safran. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2007.
Hayne, Léonie. “Thecla and the Church Fathers.” VC 48.3 (1994): 209–18.
Higgins, Sabrina C. “St. Thecla and the Art of Her Pilgrims: Towards an Autonomous Feminine Aesthetic Praxis.” Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 11 (2019): 65–80.
Hoek, Annewies van den, and John J. Herrmann. “Thecla the Beast Fighter: A Female Emblem of Deliverance in Early Christian Popular Art.” Studia Philonica Annual 13 (2001): 212–49.
Holzhey, Carl. Die Thekla-Akten: Ihre Verbreitung und Beurteilung in der Kirche. Veröffentlichungen aus dem kirchengeschichtlichen Seminar München 2/7. Munich: J.J. Lentner, 1905.
Horn, Cornelia B. “Suffering Children, Parental Authority and the Quest for Liberation?: A Tale of Three Girls in the Acts of Paul (and Thecla).” Pages 118-45 in A Feminist Companion to the New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine with Maria Mayo Robbins. Feminist Companion to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, 11. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2006.
Howe, E. Margaret. “Interpretations of Paul in The Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 33–39 in Pauline Studies. Essays Presented to Professor F. F. Bruce on His 70th Birthday. Edited by Donald A. Hagner and Murray J. Harris. Exeter and Devon: Paternoster, 1980.
Hylen, Susan. A Modest Apostle: Thecla and the History of Women in the Early Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
———. “The ‘Domestication’ of Saint Thecla: Characterization of Thecla in the Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla.” JFSR 30.2 (2014): 5–21.
Jackson-McCabe, Matthew. “Women and Eros in Greek Magic and the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 267–78 in Women and Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Edited by Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Paul A. Holloway, and James A. Kelhoffer. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.
Jensen, Anne. God’s Self-confident Daughters: Early Christianity and the Liberation of Women. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996.
———. “Thekla, Vergessene Verkündingerin.” Pages 173–79 in Zwischen Ohnmacht und Befreiung: Biblische Frauengestalten. Edited by Karin Walter. Freiburg, Basel, and Wien: Herder, 1988.
———. Thekla – die Apostelin: Ein apokrypher Text neu entdeckt: Übersetzt und kommentiert. Freiburg, Basel, and Wien: Herder, 1995.
Jensen, Robin M. Baptism Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.
Karaman, Elif Hilal. “A Woman Abandoned by her Apostle: Thecla’s Uniqueness among the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.” Dinbilimleri Akademik Araştırma Dergisi 21 (2021): 963-86.
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———. “Signature Pedagogies for Ancient Fiction? Thecla as a Test Case.” Pages 223–40 in Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, ang Greco-Roman Narratives. Edited by Sara R. Johnson, Rubén R. Dupertuis, and Christine Shea. WGRW 11. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018.
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———. “Magic, Miracle, and Miracle Workers in the Acts of Thecla.” Pages 29–52 in Women and Miracle Stories: A Multidisciplinary Exploration. Edited by Anne-Marie Korte. Studies in the History of Religion 88. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
———. “A Wealthy Woman Named Tryphaen : Patroness of Thecla of Iconium.” Pages 16–35 in The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 2. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996.
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———. “No Death of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla?” Pages 333–42 in The Last Years of Paul: Essays from the Tarragona Conference. Edited by Armand Puig i Tàrrech, John M. G. Barclay, Jörg Frey, and Orrey McFarland. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.
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———. “Tradition and Composition in the Acts of Thecla.” Pages 43-52 in Semeia 38: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.
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———. “Buying the Stairway to Heaven: Perpetua and Thecla as Early Christian Heroines.” Pages 186-205 in A Feminist Companion to the New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine with Maria Mayo Robbins. Feminist Companion to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings, 11. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2006.
———. “Of Martyrs and Men: Perpetua, Thecla, and the Ambiguity of Female Heroism in Early Christianity.” Pages 254–64 in The Subjective Eye: Essays in Culture, Religion, and Gender in Honor of Margaret R. Miles. Edited by Richard Valantasis. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2006.
———. “Authority and Authorship: The Acts of Paul and Thecla a Disputed Pauline Text.” Lexington Theological Quarterly 40 (2005): 265–76.
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———. “I am the Handmaid of the Living God! The Apostle Thecla and the Consequences of Transgression.” Pages 19–30 in Transgressors: Toward a Feminist Biblical Theology. Edited by Claudia Janssen, Ute Ochtendung, and Beate Wehn. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2002.
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———. “The Acts of Paul and Thecla: Ecclesial, Social, and Political Context.” ETL 92.3 (2016): 355–80.
———. “Shipwrecked, Enemies and Deserters? The Opponents and their Function in the Pastoral Epistles and the Acts of Paul and Thecla.” Pages 281–310 in Gegenspieler. Edited by Michael Tilly and Ulrich Mell. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019.