Thecla of Iconium

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Saint Thekla, fresco in the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv , Ukraine
Holy Thekla in the parish church in Judenburg
Heilige Thekla, painting by Franz Thöne in 1902 for the Franciscan monastery in Paderborn

According to the apocryphal records of the Acts of Paul , Thecla of Iconium was a holy virgin and a disciple of the Apostle Paul in the first century. She is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and in the Orthodox Churches as an apostolic equality and proto-martyr . Her feast days are September 23 (Catholic), September 24 (Orthodox) and July 26 ( Old Jerusalem Liturgy ). Her attributes are the lion , wild animals in general and the pyre .

Lore

Only the acts of Paul and Thekla from the 2nd century with legendary elements report about Thekla . The files tell of a distinguished virgin from Iconium who heard the apostle Paul and followed him. She gained entry to the prison. As a result of the vow of a virgin life for Christ's sake, she was cast out by her family and bridegroom and denounced as a Christian . When she was executed, she was miraculously saved from the wild animals. After the death of the apostle Paul, she lived as a hermit in a cave near Seleukia on the Kalykadnos until old age .

The historical core of this tradition is disputed. The Viennese coptologist Hans Förster considers it at least “not impossible” that there was a Thecla in Iconium, which was converted to Christianity by Paul. Carl Schmidt, on the other hand, believes that even the often claimed “historical core still belongs to the legend”.

Impact history

The Acts of Paul and Thekla have been translated into several languages ​​such as Coptic , Syrian , Armenian , Ethiopian , Arabic and Latin . Several surviving manuscripts testify to the widespread use of this text. The files are first mentioned in Tertullian . He criticizes the fact that a woman teaches and baptizes and evaluates the files as a forgery:

“If those [women] who (invoke) the falsely written acts of Paul to defend the permission for women to teach and baptize using [the example of Thekla], they may know that the presbyter is in Asia who produced this writing as if he could add something of his own to Paul's reputation, resigned from his office after being convicted and confessed that he did it out of love for Paul. "

- Tertullian, De baptismo 17.5.

Other church writers show a high degree of appreciation for the witness of the faith in their texts. From the second half of the 5th century comes the Vita et miracula S. Theclae , which is based on the files and reports on miracles at the tomb of the saints. These may have been written by the Orthodox Bishop of Seleukia, Basil . In Seleukia, at the place where Thekla is said to have taught and baptized, a well-known place of pilgrimage developed in late antiquity , today called Ayathekla . An equally important place of pilgrimage is a cave (Arabic Mağarat Mār Taqlā) in the Syrian mountain town of Maalula ( Monastery of Saint Thekla ). Paul Heyse published a verse novella in hexameters in 1858, which is based on the tradition of the Thekla of Iconium.

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Thekla  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charles Renoux: L'Hymnaire de Saint-Sabas (Ve-VIIIe siècle) , Vol 2 (Patrologia Orientalis 53, 1), Turnhout 2015 565 Note 1...
  2. ^ Hans Förster: Transitus Mariae . Contributions to the Coptic tradition, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter 2006, p. 201.
  3. ^ Carl Schmidt: Acta Pauli . From the Heidelberg Coptic papyrus manuscript No. 1, reprint: Hildesheim, Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung 1965, p. 206.
  4. ↑ Boerleffs, CChrSL, 1, 1954, p. 291f., Quoted from Schneemelcher p. 195, orthography adapted.
personal data
SURNAME Thecla of Iconium
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thecla; Tecla; Tekla; Thekla
BRIEF DESCRIPTION catholic saints; Protomartyr, virgin, hermit
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century or 2nd century