Women in the Early Church Issue 17 | 1988

ARTICLE TOOLS

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[The governor] commanded that Paul be bound and carried off to prison until he had the opportunity to hear him more attentively.

But at night Thecla removed her bracelets and gave them to the gatekeeper, and when the door was opened for her, she went into the prison. And giving the jailer a silver mirror, she went in to Paul. She sat by his feet and heard the great deeds of God. Paul did not fear at all, but lived freely in the perfect openness of God. And her faith was increased by kissing his bonds.

As Thecla was sought by her own people and by Thamyris, as she was searched for in the streets like a lost person, one of the fellow-servants of the gatekeeper revealed that she had gone out at night. And they inquired of the gatekeeper and he told them that she had gone to the stranger in prison. They went just as he had told them and found her, bound to him in a manner of affection. And having departed from there, they drew together the crowd and showed it to the governor.

And he commanded Paul to be brought to the platform. Thecla, however, rolled around on the place where Paul had taught when he sat in prison. And the governor commanded that she also be brought to the platform. She went, exultant with joy. And the crowd, when Paul was brought in again, shouted inordinately, “He is a wizard, away with him!” But the governor gladly heard Paul on the subject of the holy deeds of Christ. And taking counsel, he called Thecla and said, “Why will you not marry Thamyris, according to the law of the Iconians?” But she just stood, gazing intently at Paul. When she did not reply, Theocleia, her mother, cried out, saying, “Burn the lawless woman, burn her who is not a bride in the middle of the theater, so that all women who have been ...