Virtuous Deeds of Thecla

Virtutes Theclae

Standard abbreviation: Virt. Thec.

Other titles: Virtuous Deeds of the Holy Apostle and Protomartyr Thecla in the Myrtle Wood (the full title in manuscripts containing the entire text), Miracles of the Holy Protomartyr Thecla (title in some manuscripts that lack the epistolary opening), Prodigies that occurred after the events of martyrdom of the holy apostle Thecla in the country of the Isaurians (Armenian)

Clavis numbers: ECCA 146

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Related literature: Acts of Paul and Thecla, Life and Miracles of Thecla, Martyrdom of Thecla by Symeon Metaphrastes

Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Virtuous Deeds of Thecla.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/virtuous-deeds-of-thecla/.

Created July 2022. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Virt. Thecla appears, typically appended to the Acts of Paul and Thecla, in three forms. The full text includes a title and epistolary opening (part 1), then several accounts of Thecla’s activities in Seleucia (part 2), and then the story of her escape from would-be rapists (part 3). Some manuscripts include all three sections, some only parts 2 and 3 (occasionally with a title), and some with only part 3 (fully integrated into Acts Thecla).

In part 1 an anonymous author writes to the “Most Sacred Majesties” introducing the text that follows as an account of the origin of the “true image” of Thecla. Apparently a copy of this image accompanies the text, so the text functions as a guarantee of its authenticity. In the excerpt of the text by Nicephorus, the letter is attributed to Basil of Seleucia and it is written to the emperor Leo I.

Part 2 is set in Seleucia, the site of Thecla’s sanctuary, which contains a myrtlewood grove. Thecla lives in a grotto in the wood and emerges only on Sundays to collect plants to eat for the week. On one of these days, a pagan priest on horseback sees Thecla and comes toward her with “malicious intent.” Thecla sends out power and knocks him off his horse. He is struck mute for three days and nights. Thinking the gods were angry with him, the priest wishes to commemorate the episode and calls for a painter. Though he is given only a basic description of Thecla, the painter, guided by Thecla’s power, creates an accurate image. The image is passed on in the priest’s family until it reaches Achaios, “a learned sophist, a Christian man” and guardian of the martyrion of Thecla. Achaios, now deceased, is said to have provided copies of the image to whose who wanted it.

A second story is told of a child of one of the nobles who is troubled by an unclean spirit. His caregiver brings him to Thecla’s cave, where he is healed. The caregiver takes the child home and all the female relatives come to Thecla. She teaches them about the Gospel of God entrusted to her by Paul. The child’s father was in Antioch when Thecla was thrown to the beasts. He comes to Thecla and asks her how she escaped harm. After she preaches to the man, he wishes to be baptized, so Thecla writes to Peter in Antioch asking him to send a priest to Seleucia for the baptism. In gratitude, the man donates part of his estate for a church.

In part 3, Thecla moves from the myrtlewood grotto to a cave on a mountain called Calamon or Rhodion. Many well-born women renounce the world and join Thecla on the mountain. Many others come to Thecla to be healed, leading the doctors of Seleucia to become jealous and concerned about lost income. They begin to plan how to rid themselves of Thecla. But the narrative here is disrupted by another healing story in which Thecla heals Theonilla, the paralyzed daughter of Proklianos and Androklea. In this tale, Thecla says the girl must be baptized to be healed, but this time Thecla does the baptizing. The doctors learn about this healing and put their plan into operation. They believe Artemis is working through Thecla and suppose that if they remove her virginity, Thecla will no longer be able to heal. So they send some licentious men to the grotto to rape Thecla. When they arrive, Thecla prays to God for assistance and a voice tells her that the rock wall has opened for her. The men try to stop Thecla from entering the rock but manage only to grab her veil. The rock closes, leaving part of the veil behind. The text ends with a timeline of Thecla’s life: she was 18 when she heard Paul’s teaching, then lived 72 more years, dying at the age of 90 when she entered the rock.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Achaios, Androklea, Artemis, Jesus Christ, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Proklianos, Thamyris, Thecla, Theonilla.

Geographical Locations: Antioch, Calamon, Hagia Thekla, Rhodion, Seleucia.

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. One of the images on the altarpiece depicts Thecla’s arm extending from a cave, the site of her death in Virt. Thec.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Armenian (Prodigies of Thecla)

C Yerevan, Matenadaran, 3777, fols. 247^r–250^v(1185–1188)

D Yerevan, Matenadaran, 3787, fols. 420^r–421^r(14th cent.)

E Yerevan, Matenadaran, 1522, fols. 112^r–115^v(12th cent.)

H Yerevan, Matenadaran, 3779, fols. 232^v–235^v(1227)

I Yerevan, Matenadaran, 6196, fols. 315^r–318^r(13th cent.)

T Venice, Biblioteca dei Padri Mechitaristi San Lazzaro degli Armeni, 200 (olim 17), fols. 269^r–270^v(1224)

O Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arm. 117, fols. 257^v–259^v(1307)

Calzolari, Valentina. Apocrypha Armeniaca: Acta Pauli et Theclae, Prodigia Theclae, Martyrium Pauli. Vol. 1. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017 (discussion, pp. 109–63; introduction, pp. 411–25; text and Italian translation, pp. 427–85).

3.1.2 Greek

3.1.2.1 Parts 1, 2 and 3 (BHG 1718m)

Edinburgh, University Library, 225 (Laing 123), pp. 11^r–16^r (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Mount Athos, Monē Koutloumousiou, 56 (Lambros 3125), fols. 164^r–167^v– (13th cent.) ~ Pinakes; adds a portion of Martyrdom of Thecla by Symeon Metaphrastes at fols. 168^r–169^r

Ohrid, Naroden Muzej, 4, pp. 29^v–35^v(10th cent.)

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Clarke 50, fols. 224^r–227^v (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Dagron, Gilbert. Vie et miracles de Sainte Thècle: Texte grec, traduction et commentaire. Subsidia Hagiographica 62. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1978 (edition based on Edinburgh, University Library, 225 with readings from the florilegium manuscripts with facing French translation, pp. 413–21).

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 (edition with facing French translation, pp. 51–89).

3.1.2.2 Parts 2 and 3 (BHG 1718n)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1506, fols. 72^v–75^v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica

Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Trias 102, palimpsest; (palimpsest) fols. 154^v+158^r, 154^r+158^v, 157^r (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 866, fols. 30^v–32^r (11th/12th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chig. R. VI. 39 (gr. 31), fols. 50^r–53^r (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes; DVL

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 526, fols. 39^v–42^r (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; LOC

St. Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka, Φ. No. 906 (Gr.) 213, fols. 82^r–86^r (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1190, fols. 1223^v–1228^r (1542)

3.1.2.3 Part 3 only (BHG 1716a; a variant of this section [BHG 1712, 1714] appears also in other Acts of Paul and Thecla manuscripts)

Dublin, Trinity College, 185 (olim E. 3.35), fols. 38^r–39^v (11th cent.)

Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, D 92 sup. (gr. 259), fols. 227^r–228^r (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, gr. 108 (B 2.2), fols. 28^r–29^v (11th/12th cent.)

Bovon, François, and Bertrand Bouvier. “Miracles additionnels de Thècle dans le manuscrit de Rome: Angelicus graecus 108.” Apocrypha 24 (2013): 91–110.

3.1.2.4 A florilegium attributing the letter to Basil of Seleucis (contains only the story of the creation of the image of Thecla in part 2)

Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. Z 573 (coll. 415), fols. 14^r–15^v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1115, fols. 261^v–262^r (1215)

3.1.2.5 Nicephorus of Constantinople, Refutatio et Euersio Definitionis Synodalis Anni 815 ch. 113 (contains most of part 1 and terminates after the creation of the image of Thecla in part 2; Nicephorus provides a summary of this version in Adversus Epiphanidem 26)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Coislin gr. 93, fols. 96^r–97^v (10th/11th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1250, fols. 266^v–367^v (14th cent.)

Featherstone, Jeffrey M. Nicephori Patriarchae Constantinopoli tani Refutatio et Eversio Definitionis Synodalis Anni 815. CCSG 33. Turnhout: Brepols, 1997 (edition based on the two Paris manuscripts, pp. 198–200).

Pitra, Jean-Baptiste. Spicilegium Solesmense, IV. Paris: Didiot, 1858 (edition of the summary with Latin translation, p. 370).

3.1.2 Latin (BHL 8022b, 8022c)

Barcelona, Archivo Capitular de Catedral de Barcelona, 105, fols. 282–292 (1360)

The Latin text features a translation of the Armenian Acts of Thecla combined with the Prodigies of Thecla (BHL 8022b) and followed by an account of the translation of the arm of Thecla from Cilicia to Tarragona.

According to the story, an angel appears to the patriarch of Seleucia instructing him to go to the cave where Thecla was absorbed into the rock. After three days and nights, the rock splits and a perfumed odour comes out followed by Thecla’s arm up to the elbow. The arm is given to the Armenians, who brought it back to Cilicia. Later, King James II of Aragon requests a relic of Thecla and receives the arm, which is brought back to Tarragona and interred in the cathedral.

García Villada, Z. “La traslación del brazo de Santa Tecla desde Armenia a Tarragona (1319–1323): II. Actas desconocidas de Santa Tecla, traducidas del armenio al latín en 1320.” Estudios eclesiásticos: Revista de investigación e información teológica y canónica 1.3 (1922): 115–24, 215–28.

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Honey, Linda Ann. “Thekla: Text and Context with a First English Translation of the Miracles.” Ph.D. diss., University of Calgary, 2011 (English translation of edition by Dagron, pp. 440–46).

3.2.2 French

3.2.3 Italian

Calzolari, Valentina. Apocrypha Armeniaca: Acta Pauli et Theclae, Prodigia Theclae, Martyrium Pauli. Vol. 1. Turnhout: Brepols, 2017 (text and Italian translation, pp. 427–85).

3.3 General Works

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.

———. “The Reception of the Acts of Thecla in Armenia: Thecla as a Model of Representation for Holy Women in Ancient Armenian Literature.” Pages 110–41 in Thecla and Medieval Sainthood: The Acts of Paul and Thecla in Eastern and Western Hagiography. Edited by Ghazzal Dabiri and Flavia Ruani. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

———. “Une traduction latin médiévale de la légende arménienne de Thècle et la translation du bras de la sainte de l’Arméno-Cilicie à Tarragone en 1321.” AnBoll 123 (2005): 349–67.

Naureth, Claudia, and Warns, Rudiger. Thekla: Ihre Bilder in der frühchristlichen Kunst. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1981 (discussion of a fourth-/fifth-century Coptic tissue with an image of Thecla adorned with jewellery, as in the image mentioned in the text, pp. 60-62 and pl. 22).

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: Pharos Publishing House, 1996.