View source for Thecla

{{short description|Early Christian saint}}
{{Other uses|Thecla (disambiguation)|Thekla (disambiguation){{!}}Thekla}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
|name         = Thecla of Iconium
|birth_date   = 30 AD
|birth_place  = Iconium (now [[Konya]], Turkey)
|death_date   = 1st century AD
|feast_day    = {{ubl|September 23 ([[Catholic Church]], [[Episcopal Church (United States)]])|September 24 ([[Eastern Orthodox Church]])|[[Thout]] 23 ([[Coptic Christianity]])<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/1_23.html#2 |title=Lives of Saints :: Tout 23}}</ref> |Tuesday after fourth Sunday of the [[Exaltation of the Cross]] ([[Armenian Apostolic Church]])<ref>''Domar: the calendrical and liturgical cycle of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church'', Armenian Orthodox Theological Research Institute, 2003, 514-15.</ref>}}
|venerated_in = [[Catholic Church]]<br/>[[Oriental Orthodox Church]]<br/>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br/>[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]
|image        = Saint_Thecla_(Menologion_of_Basil_II).jpg
|imagesize    = 200px
|caption      = Depiction of Saint Thecla from the 11th century [[Menologion of Basil II]].
|death_place=
|titles       = [[Virgin (title)|Virgin]], [[Martyr]], [[Equal to the Apostles]]
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'''Thecla''' ({{langx|grc|Θέκλα}}, {{transl|grc|Thékla}}) was a [[saint]] of the [[early Christian]] Church, and a reported follower of [[Paul the Apostle]]. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient [[New Testament apocrypha|apocrypha]]l ''[[Acts of Paul and Thecla]]''.
==Church tradition==
{{Main|Acts of Paul and Thecla|Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla}}
The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' is a 2nd-century text ({{circa|AD&nbsp;180}}) which forms part of the ''[[Acts of Paul]]'', but was also circulated separately. According to the text, Thecla was a young noble virgin from [[Konya|Iconium]] who chose to leave her fiance so she could convert to Christianity and follow Paul.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=J. K. (Trans.) |editor1-last=Ehrman |editor1-first=Bart D. |title=The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195154641 |pages=177 |chapter=The Acts of Paul and Thecla}}</ref>
In the text, it is said that Thecla spent three days sitting by her window, listening to Paul speak about the Christian God and the importance of living in chastity. Thecla's mother, Theoclia, and fiance, Thamyris, became concerned that Thecla was going to follow Paul's teachings. They turned to local authorities to punish Paul for being a Christian and "mak[ing] virgins averse to marriage". Paul was sent to prison, where Thecla visited him, kissed his bonds, and refused to leave him and return to her mother and fiance. Paul was made to leave the city and Thecla was condemned to be burned.<ref name=elliot177>Elliott 2003, pp. 177–180</ref>
However, Thecla was miraculously saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm. She then encountered Paul outside of [[Konya|Iconium]], where she told him, "I will cut my hair off and I shall follow you wherever you go".<ref>Elliott 2003, p. 180</ref> She then traveled with Paul to [[Antioch of Pisidia]]. There, a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to rape her. Thecla fought him off, tore his cloak, and knocked his coronet off his head, which caused her to be put on trial for assault. She was sentenced to be [[damnatio ad bestias|eaten by wild beasts]], but was again saved by a series of miracles. In one scene, female beasts, particularly lionesses, protected her against her male aggressors. While in the arena, she baptized herself by throwing herself into a nearby lake full of aggressive seals, who were all killed by lightning before they could devour her.<ref>Elliott, J. K., "Graphic Versions: Did non-biblical stories about Jesus and the saints originate more in art than text?", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 14 December 2018, pp. 15-16.</ref><ref>Snyder, G. E. (2010). ''Remembering the acts of Paul.'' ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.</ref>
Thecla rejoined Paul in [[Myra]], "wearing a mantle that she had altered so as to make a man's cloak".<ref name=elliot177/> As she traveled, she preached the word of God and encouraged women to imitate her by living a life of chastity.<ref>Osiek, Carolyn. 'The Cult Of Thecla: A Tradition Of Women's Piety In Late Antiquity (Review)'. Journal of Early Christian Studies 11.3 (2003): 422-424. Web.</ref> According to some versions of the ''Acts'', Thecla lived in a cave in [[Silifke|Seleucia Cilicia]] for 72 years, where she continued to spread Christianity.
It is also said that Thecla spent the rest of her life in [[Maaloula]], a village in Syria. There, she became a healer and performed many miracles, but remained constantly persecuted. In one instance, as her persecutors were about to get to her, she called out to God, a new passage was opened in the cave she was in, and the stones closed behind her. Before her death, she was able to go to Rome and lie down beside Paul's tomb.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-826182-7 |editor=James Keith Elliott |title=The Apocryphal New Testament: a collection of apocryphal Christian literature in an English translation |location=Oxford |date=1999 |pages=372–374}}</ref>
==Traditions and interpretations==
[[Tertullian]], in chapter 17 of his work ''On Baptism'', writes:
{{Blockquote
|text=But if the writings which wrongly go under Paul's name, claim Thecla's example as a license for women's teaching and baptizing, let them know that, in Asia, the presbyter who composed that writing, as if he were augmenting Paul's fame from his own store, after being convicted, and confessing that he had done it from love of Paul, was removed from his office.
<ref>{{cite web |title=On Baptism |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0321.htm |website=New Advent |access-date=22 November 2024}}</ref>}}
[[Johann Peter Kirsch]] says, "Notwithstanding the purely legendary character of the entire story, it is not impossible that it is connected with an historical person."<ref name=kirsch>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14564a.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Sts. Thecla." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912 {{PD-notice}}</ref>
The Church Fathers recount a number of traditions about Thecla. [[Gregory of Nyssa]] writes in the 4th century (Homily 14 ''in Cant'') that she undertook the sacrifice of herself, by giving death to the flesh,<ref>{{bibleverse|Galatians|5:24}}</ref> practicing great austerities, extinguishing in herself all earthly affections, so that nothing seemed to remain living in her but reason and spirit: the whole world seemed dead to her as she was to the world.<ref>{{bibleverse|Galatians|6:14}}</ref> [[Macarius Magnes]], shortly after AD 300, wrote how the message of Christianity was "the sword, [Matt 10:34] which cuts relations from each other [Matt:10:35], as it cut Thecla from Theocleia".<ref>''Apocriticus'' ii.7</ref> Around AD 280, Thecla features as one of the characters in [[Methodius of Olympus]]' ''Symposium'', in which she displays considerable knowledge of secular philosophy, various branches of literature, and eloquent yet modest discourse. Methodius states that she received her instruction in divine and evangelical knowledge from Paul, and was eminent for her skill in sacred science ("Logos 8").
The martyrdom of Thecla is frequently referred to in the earliest ''[[Acts of the Martyrs]]''. Eugenius, a martyr of Trebizond under [[Diocletian]] (284–305), couples Thecla with David and Daniel in his prayers. The exordium of the ''Acts of Polyeuctes'' (died 259) refers to Thecla and [[Perpetua]], and there were certainly many virgin martyrs who drew their first inspiration from the same source. [[Eugenia of Rome]] in the reign of [[Commodus]] (180–192) is reported in the Acts of her martyrdom to have taken Thecla as her model.
According to some scholars, Thecla's story inspired many later stories of women saints who dressed as men, including St. [[Anastasia the Patrician]], St. [[Matrona of Perge]], St. [[Euphrosyne of Alexandria]], St. [[Life of Saint Apolinaria|Apolinaria]], St. [[Eugenia of Rome]], St. [[Marina the Monk]], and St. [[Theodora of Alexandria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Constas |first1=Nicholas |editor1-last=Talbot |editor1-first=Alice-Mary |editor-link=Alice-Mary Talbot |title=Holy Women of Byzantium |date=1996 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-88402-241-2 |pages=3 |chapter=Life of St. Mary/Marinos: Introduction}}</ref> Written three or four centuries after the [[Acts of Paul and Thecla]], these stories reference Thecla's story through thematic connections, and in the case of ''The Life of Eugenia'', explicitly.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Stephen J. |title=Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men |journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies |date=2002 |volume=10:1 |issue=1–36 |pages=15–18}}</ref>
==Veneration==
[[File:StTheclaShrine-Latakia.png|thumb|St. Thecla Shrine. Latakia, Syria]]
In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the wide circulation of the ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' is evidence of her veneration. She was called "apostle and protomartyr among women"<ref name=kirsch/> and "[[equal-to-apostles]] in sanctity". She was widely cited as an [[asceticism|ascetic]] role model for women. During the fourth and fifth centuries, Thecla was lauded in literature as an exemplary virgin and martyr by ascetic writers and theologians such as [[Methodius of Olympus]], [[Gregory of Nyssa]], and [[Gregory of Nazianzus]]. The Eastern Rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorate her on 24 September in churches following the new Calendar and 7 October for those using the old or Julian Calendar.
Her veneration flourished particularly at [[Silifke|Seleucia Cilicia]] (where she was said to have lived to old age and be buried), Iconium (present day [[Konya]]), and [[Nicomedia]]. [[Chamalières]] in France was believed to hold relics. The obscure saints, Tecla of [[Aquileia]] and of [[Trieste]] are modeled after her.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0-8308-2943-9 |last1=Di Berardino |first1=Angelo |last2=Oden |first2=Thomas C |last3=Elowsky |first3=Joel C |last4=Hoover |first4=James |others=Istituto patristico Augustinianum (Rome) |title=[[Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity]] |date=2014 |publisher=IVP |page=731}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Church of the Virgins of Aquileia - Church |publisher=Arte.it |access-date=2015-08-24 |url=http://aquileia.arte.it/art-guide/aquileia/must-see/church/church-of-the-virgins-5277}}</ref> In [[Bede#Hagiography|Bede's martyrology]], Thecla is celebrated on 23 September, which was her [[feast day]] in the West,<ref name=kirsch/> though in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed Thecla's feast day from the Calendar of Saints for lack of historic evidence.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/saint-saint-kind-demoted/story?id=23477573 |title=ABC News, "Once a Saint, Always a Saint?" |website=ABCNEWS.go.com}}</ref> The Western Rite Parishes of the Orthodox Churches continue to celebrate her on 23 September (new Calendar Parishes) and 6 October (old Calendar Churches). The Western Rite Monastic [[Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit]] celebrates her feast day on 24 September.<ref>{{cite web |title=Saint Thecla |url=https://paulinefathers.org.au/liturgical-calendar/saint-thecla/ |website=The Australian Province of the Order Of Saint Paul The First Hermit |date=23 September 2022 |access-date=23 September 2022}}</ref>
A local [[martyr]] tradition of Thecla may have inspired an episode connected to [[Paul the Apostle]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Acts of Paul |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html |website=Early Christian Writtings |access-date=23 September 2022}}</ref> "It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thecla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs," wrote [[M.&nbsp;R. James]], the editor of this ''Acta'' (James 1924).
===Tomb of Saint Thecla, Silifke===
[[File:Aya Tekla yeraltı sığınağı görünümü.jpg|thumb|Aya Tekla in Seleucia]]
{{main|Aya Tekla Church}}
The cave-tomb in [[Silifke|Seleucia]] was one of the most celebrated in the Christian world. Gregory of Nazianzus withdrew to the shrine of "the highly praised young maid Thecla"<ref>''De vita sua'', 548–9.</ref> for three years. The site was described by [[Egeria (pilgrim)|Egeria]] in the mid-380s. It was restored several times, among others by the Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] in the 5th century, and today the ruins of the tomb and sanctuary are called [[Aya Tekla Church]] or ''Meriamlik''.<ref>(''Denkschriften der k. Akadem. der Wissenschaft. philos.-histor. Klasse'', Vienna, XLIV, 6, 105-08)</ref> A 5th-century anonymous work, ''The Life and Miracles of Thecla'', concentrates on the town.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 |last=Kazhdan |first=A. P |title=The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium |location=New York |date=1991 |pages=2033–2034}}</ref>
===Tomb of Saint Thecla, Maaloula===
[[File:Mar Takla monastery 01.jpg|thumb|The [[Convent of St. Thecla (Maaloula)|Convent of St. Thecla]] in [[Maaloula]]]]
In [[Maaloula]], Syria, a [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]] [[nunnery]], the [[Convent of Saint Thecla (Maaloula)|Convent of Saint Thecla]], was built near her cave tomb, reached by steps in the mountainside, a pilgrimage site with a holy well. The Church tradition is that the mountain opened miraculously to protect Thecla from her persecutors.
On Monday, December 2, 2013, during the [[Syrian civil war]], twelve nuns there were seized by [[Al-Qaeda]] radicals of [[Al-Nusra Front]] during the bombardment of her shrine;<ref>[https://www.hart-uk.org/blog/long-read-the-story-of-maaloula/  Humaniarian Aid Relief Trust website, ''Long Read: The Story of Maaloula'', article dated 14 August 2020]</ref> three months later the nuns were exchanged for relatives of terrorists and in April 2014, the town was liberated by Syrian governmental troops. On May 30, 2018, the rector of the Church, Ilias Ades, announced that the monastery would be entirely restored in a month by the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]] with help from the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pravmir.com/ancient-orthodox-monastery-of-st-thecla-to-be-restored-in-syrian-maaloula/ |title= Ancient Orthodox Monastery of St. Thecla to be Restored in Syrian Maaloula &#124; A Russian Orthodox Church Website}}</ref> The Monastery is a popular destination for Eastern Orthodox Christians from around the world, including Russia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/n/russian-worshipers-visit-ancient-orthodox-monastery-in-maaloula-syria-before-easter/vp-BBW40y4 |title= Russian worshipers visit ancient Orthodox monastery in Maaloula, Syria, before Easter|website= [[MSN]]}}</ref>
=== Monastery of Saint Tecla, Larnaca ===
According to tradition, the Roman empress [[Helena, mother of Constantine I|Helena]] founded the monastery of Saint Tecla that is located in Mosfiloti near [[Larnaca]]. After the [[Mamluk]]s had taken control of [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia]], part of the hallows of Saint Thecla were carried to Cyprus by [[Christians]]. The hallows are in this monastery now.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://troodos.ru/2638.php |title=Монастырь Святой Первомученицы Феклы близ Ларнаки, Святая Елена |website=troodos.ru}}</ref>
=== St. Menas in Cyprus ===
An inscription in remembrance "of the martyr Thecla" in the church of St. Menas in Cyprus, and dated to the second half of the 1st century, was interpreted in the early twentieth century as evidence for her historical existence.<ref>Ernst Sittig, Αρχ. Εφ. 1914, mentioned in ''American Journal of Archaeology'', 1915, p. 489</ref> At this pilgrimage site near the Church of St. Menas in Cyprus, women had the option to buy a flask which they could fill with holy water, oil, or even dirt from that stop which many women visited during their pilgrimage. These flasks depict the image of Menas on one side and Thecla on the other side.<ref>Davis, Stephen J. The Cult Of Saint Thecla. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.</ref>
===Catacomb of Saint Tecla, Rome===
{{main|Catacomb of Saint Thecla}}
In June 2010, on a wall of the ''Catacomba di Santa Tecla'' in [[Rome]], [[Roman Curia|Vatican]] archaeologists of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, using laser technology to remove layers of clay and lime rind, discovered a frescoed portrait of St [[Paul the Apostle]], "recognizable by his thin face and dark pointed beard... with small eyes and furrowed brow",<ref>Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2010, Vol 36 No 1, p. 18: Found in Vatican: Paul's Portrait</ref> which they believe is the oldest image in existence of Paul, dating from the late 4th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/8581822 |title=Pope: Scientific analysis done on St. Paul's bones |date=29 June 2009 |publisher=guardian.co.uk |access-date=30 June 2009}}</ref>
=== The Movement of St. Thecla ===
St. Thecla, with her dedication and image of a chosen saint, started a following of masses of women across Asia Minor and Egypt. St. Thecla was praised among these women as a sort of patron of [[women's empowerment|empowerment for women]]: in the ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'', St. Thecla preached to men, and baptized herself, all things that were normally supposed to have only been done by men.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dulk |first=Matthew D. |date=2012 |title=I permit no woman to teach except for Thecla: The curious case of the Pastoral Epistles and the "Acts of Paul" reconsidered |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=176–203 |doi=10.1163/156853612X628142|s2cid=161851719 }}</ref>
St. Thecla created a culture of imitation in these women. Several of them would live as virgins in households, in tombs (as she was rumored to do), and sometimes in monasteries. These women would travel together as bands of empowered virgins telling stories of Thecla and her grace. Other women in the Movement of St. Thecla would name their daughters after her and engrave her face on their tombs and on their oil lamps. All of these women were empowered by Thecla, a woman who did things that not many women would ever dare to do, and they built a strong community in which they empowered each other.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davis |first=Stephen J. |date=2002 |title=The Cult of St. Thecla: An Introduction into Women's Piety in Late Antiquity |journal=The Journal of Religion |volume=82 |issue=4 |via=The University of Chicago Press Journals}}</ref>
==Patronage==
Thecla is counted as the [[patron saint]] of [[Tarragona]] and Sitges in [[Catalonia]] ([[Spain]]), where the cathedral has a [[St Tecla's Chapel|chapel dedicated to her]]. Her [[Santa Tecla Festival|feast day]] remains the town's major local holiday.<ref>[https://www.tarragona.cat/cultura/festes-i-cultura-popular/santa-tecla/ "Santa Tecla", Ajuntament de Tarragona]</ref> In Spanish-speaking countries, she is also facetiously counted as the patron saint of [[computer]]s and [[Internet]], from the [[homophony]] with the Spanish and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] word ''tecla'' ("key").{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} The [[St Thecla's Cathedral|earliest cathedral]] in [[Milan]] was also dedicated to her; its baptistry and remnants of its structure are still accessible below the [[Milan Cathedral|present structure]]. The ''duomo'' of the town of [[Este, Veneto]], is dedicated to [[Santa Tecla, Este|Santa Tecla]]. [[Lebanon]] has 42 churches dedicated to St.&nbsp;Takla or Taqla. One of the oldest is the St.&nbsp;Taqla Church in [[Masqa]], [[Matn District]], built in 1695. The church boasts an 1870 painting of Thecla by the Italian artist [[Vincento Lampodico]].
In Syria, there is a Greek Orthodox church of St. Thecla in [[Darayya]]. In 1849, some people found a cave in [[Latakia]] which later became St. Taqla's Shrine.
In the United States there are three Roman Catholic parishes named for Saint Thecla: in [[Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan|Clinton, Michigan]]; in [[Pembroke, Massachusetts]]; and in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].
Several cities and towns are named for her:
* [[Santa Tecla, El Salvador|Santa Tecla]], formerly Nuevo San Salvador, in La Libertad, El Salvador
* [[Sainte-Thècle, Quebec|Sainte-Thècle]], [[Quebec]], [[Canada]]
* The hamlet of Sainte-Thècle in the commune of [[Peillon]], Alpes-Maritimes, France
* [[Santa Tecla (Acireale)|Santa Tecla]], a quarter (frazione) of [[Acireale]], Italy
* [[Santa Tecla de Basto]], a quarter (freguesia) of [[Celorico de Basto]], Portugal
* The neighbourhood of Leipzig Thekla in [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]]
* [[Deir Taqla]] (Monastery of Thecla), South [[Lebanon]]
==See also==
* [[Aya Tekla Church]], an ancient church in [[Mersin Province]], [[Turkey]].
* [[Leucius Charinus]]
* [[Santa Tecla, El Salvador]]
* [[Santa Tecla Festival]]
* [[Sainte-Thècle, Quebec]], in [[Canada]]
* [[List of Christian women of the patristic age]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Catholic|wstitle=Sts. Thecla}}
==Bibliography==
*Barrier, J. W., J. N. Bremmer, T. Niklas, A. Puig I Tàrrech. 2016. ''Thecla: Paul's disciple and saint in the East and the West.'' Bristol, CN: Peeters.
*Eliott, J. K., ''The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation,'' Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 1993.
*Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald, ''The Life and Miracles of Thekla: A Literary Study,'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
*MacDonald, D. R., ''The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon,'' Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983.
*Kirsch, J. P., [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14564a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: "Sts. Thecla"], Volume XIV, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
*Ehrman, Bart D., ''Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew,'' Oxford University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-19-518249-1}}.
*Davis, Stephen J. ''The Cult of Saint Thecla''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
*Osiek, Carolyn. 'The Cult of Thecla: a Tradition of Women's Piety in Late Antiquity (Review)'. ''Journal of Early Christian Studies''; 11.3 (2003): 422–424. Web.
==External links==
{{Commons category|Saint Thecla}}
* {{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=J. K. (Trans.) |editor1-last=Ehrman |editor1-first=Bart D. |title=The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195154641 |pages=177–182 |access-date=22 February 2023 |chapter=The Acts of Paul and Thecla |chapter-url=https://www.tonyburke.ca/wp-content/uploads/Acts-Paul-Thecla.pdf}}
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/thecla.html  ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'']: translated probably by [[Jeremiah Jones (tutor)|Jeremiah Jones]], (1693–1724)
*[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html  Early Christian Writings: ''Acts of Paul and Thecla''] (e-text) ed. M.R. James, 1924.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050324004658/http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/corinthians/theclabackground.stm  Nancy A. Carter, "The Acts of Thecla: a Pauline tradition linked to women"]
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Thecla, St|volume=26|pages=742–743|first=Hippolyte|last=Delehaye|author-link=Hippolyte Delehaye}}
*[http://www.saintthecla.org  St. Thecla Catholic Church & School, Chicago, IL]
*[https://vkcyprus.com/interesting/4321-ippo Паломничество в монастыри Ставровуни и Святой Феклы, посвященное 135-летию Императорского Православного Палестинского Общества]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thecla}}
[[Category:People from Konya]]
[[Category:1st-century births]]
[[Category:1st-century deaths]]
[[Category:1st-century Christian female saints]]
[[Category:1st-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:Virgin martyrs]]