Laudatio Theclae, auctore Ps.-Iohanne Chrysostomo
Standard abbreviation: Pan. Thec.
Other titles: Panegyric on the Holy Protomartyr and Apostle Thecla (full title)
Clavis numbers: ECCA 475
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Paul and Thecla, Virtuous Deeds of Thecla; Life of Saint Auxentios
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Panegyric to Thecla by Pseudo-John Chrysostom.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/panegyric-to-thecla-by-pseudo-john-chrysostom/
Created July 2022. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The occasion for the sermon seems to be the annual feast for Thecla, which took place on September 24 in the East. A two-sided icon is set up for the gathering, one side depicting her virginity and the other her martyrdom. The congregation seems to be made up entirely of women as the homilist mentions only women’s experiences in his address on chastity. The author refers to few episodes from the Acts of Thecla and related traditions. Allusions are made to pressure to marry from her mother and other household members as well as advances from an unnamed suitor. Against these pressures, Thecla focuses on the teachings of Paul, but the only teachings noted are from his canonical letters. The author likens Thecla’s struggle to maintain her virginity “as a kind of martyrdom before martyrdom, for the pleasures are horrible executioners of the body.” But marrying brings much misery for women: “bearing up against a fornicating bridegroom, depriving herself of independence for securing personal advancements, preparing food,” etc. Rearing children also brings much unhappiness: “Should a female be born? Her husband fumes because she was not male. Should a male also be born? (Her husband fumes) because the child was not good looking . . . Next comes the agony of rearing them,” etc.
The only episode from the life of Thecla mentioned explicitly is quite different from other traditions about the saint. An unnamed suitor on horseback attacks Thecla in the desert and she cries out for help with a quotation of Psalm 7:2. In answer to her prayer she becomes invisible and escapes harm. The story recalls the attack on Thecla by Alexander in Antioch (Acts Paul Thec. 26) but with a very different outcome. It also recalls elements of Thecla’s departure from the world in the Virtuous Deeds of Thecla and related traditions (pursuit by a suitor on horseback, vanishing when attacked by would-be rapists).
The homilist concludes with some lessons from Thecla’s experiences, but he does not advocate celibacy for all. Married women should resist adultery and adulterous women married men; widows should remain unmarried; and virgins steadfast. “By preserving the purity appropriate to her own marital status,” he writes, “let each effect in her soul the vision of the Master Christ.”
Named Historical Figures and Characters: devil, Eve (matriarch), Jesus Christ, Paul (apostle), Thecla.
Geographical Locations: Gehenna.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Art and Iconography
Martyrdom of Thecla Limestone (Brooklyn Museum; 6th cent.): a companion piece to a carved image of Thecla attacked by beasts features a man on horseback stabbing a female figure with a lance. The scene may be related to the episode in the Panegyric in which Thecla is attacked by a rider.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 1720)
Mount Athos, Monē Hagiou (Lambros 5564), fols. 58v–60v (13th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 759, fols. 74r–75v (10th cent.) ~ incomplete at end
Migne, Jacques Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 50. Paris: Cerf, 1862 (reprint of du Duc’s text with Latin translation, cols. 745–48).
Aubineau, Michel. “Le panégyrique de Thècle, attribué à Jean Chrysostome (BHG 1720): la fin retrouvée d’un texte mutilé.” AnBoll 93 (1975): 349–62 (text and French translation of three concluding paragraphs from Panteleēmonos 58, pp. 351–52).
Fronton du Duc. S. Ioannis Chrysostomi . . . panegyrici tractatus XVII. Bordeaux: Simonem Millangium, 1601 (editio princeps based on Paris, BNF 759, pp. 171–79).
Montfaucon, Bernard de. Ioannis Chrysostomi opera. Paris: Gaume, 1835–1839 (reprint of du Duc’s text in vol. 2, pp. 749–51).
Savile, Henry. S. Ioannis Chrysostomi opera graece. 8 vols. Eton, 1613 (reprint of du Duc’s text in vol. 5, pp. 835–36).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
MacDonald, Dennis Ronald and A. D. Scrimgeour. “Pseudo-Chrysostom’s Panegyric to Thecla: The Heroine of the Acts of Paul in Homily and Art.” Pages 151–59 in Semeia 38: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986 (translation based on editions in PG and Aubineau, pp. 154–57).
3.2.2 French
Aubineau, Michel. “Le panéyrique de Thècle, attribué à Jean Chrysostome (BHG 1720): la fin retrouvée d’un texte motile.” AnBoll 93 (1975): 349–62 (translation of three concluding paragraphs, pp. 351–52).
Bareille, Jean-François. Oeuvres complètes de saint Jean Chrysostome. Nouvelle traduction française. 21 vols. Paris: Louis Vives, 1865–1878 (vol. 2, pp. 641–43).
3.3 General Works
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, 1877-87.
Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald. The Life and Miracles of Thekla, A Literary Study. Hellenic Studies 13. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006 (see pp. 231–34).
Kasser, Rodolphe. “Acta Pauli 1959.” Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses 40 (1959): 45–57 (see p. 49).
Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction. Translated by Brian McNeil. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008. English trans. of Apokryphe Apostelakten. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005 (see pp. 76–77).
Leclercq, Henri. “Thècle (sainte).” DACL 15.2. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1953 (cols. 2225–36).
Naureth, Claudia, and Warns, Rudiger. Thekla: Ihre Bilder in der frühchristlichen Kunst. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1981 (see pp. 72–81).
Pervo, Richard I. The Acts of Paul: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014 (pp. 140–41).
Pesthy, Monika. “Thecla among the Fathers of the Church.” Pages 164–78 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 (see pp. 171–73).
Reinach, Salomon. “Thekla.” Annales du Musee Guimet 35 (1910): 103–40.
———. Pages 229–51 in Cultes, Mythes et Religions IV. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1912.
Varalda, Paolo. “Sulla datazione dell’omelia pseudocrisostomica De sancta Thecla martyre (BHG 1720).” Medioevo Greco 16 (2016): 303–10.