Acts of Paul and Thecla 5

1At last Thecla was missed, and her family and Thamyris searched for her in every street, as though she had been lost. But one of the gatekeeper’s fellow servants told them that she had gone out during the night.

2Then they questioned the gatekeeper, and he told them that she had gone to the prison to see the stranger.

3So they followed his directions and found her there. When they came out, they gathered a mob and went and told the governor everything that had happened.

4At this, he ordered Paul to be brought before his judgment seat.

5Meanwhile, Thecla lay wallowing on the prison floor, in the very place where Paul had sat while teaching her. So the governor also ordered her to be brought before his judgment seat. She received the summons with joy and went.

6When Paul was brought there, the mob cried out even more fiercely, “He is a magician! Let him die!”

7Nevertheless, the governor listened with pleasure to Paul’s discourses about the holy works of Christ. After convening a council, he summoned Thecla and said to her, “Why do you not marry Thamyris, according to the law of the Iconians?”

8She stood silent, with her eyes fixed on Paul. When she gave no answer, her mother, Theoclia, cried out, “Let the unjust creature be burned! Let her be burned in the middle of the theater for refusing Thamyris, so that all women may learn from her to avoid such practices!”

9Then the governor became exceedingly distressed and ordered Paul to be whipped out of the city and Thecla to be burned.

10So the governor arose and went immediately into the theater, and all the people went out to see the dreadful sight.

11But just as a lamb in the wilderness looks all around for its shepherd, Thecla looked around for Paul.

12As she looked at the multitude, she saw the Lord Jesus in the likeness of Paul and said to herself, “Paul has come to see me in my distress.” She fixed her eyes on him, but as she watched, he immediately ascended into heaven.

13Then the young men and women brought wood and straw for Thecla’s burning. When she was brought naked to the stake, the governor gazed in amazement at the greatness of her beauty and was moved to tears.

14When they had arranged the wood, the people commanded her to step onto it. She did so, first making the sign of the cross.

15Then the people set fire to the pile. Although the flame was exceedingly large, it did not touch her, for God had compassion on her and caused a great eruption from the earth beneath, while a cloud above poured down great quantities of rain and hail.

16Because of the rupture of the earth, very many were in great danger, and some were killed. The fire was extinguished, and Thecla was preserved.