her last chance to baptize herself, Thecla jumped into a vat of water that contained ravenous seals (or sea-calves, in some versions of the story). A miracle occurred and all the seals were killed by lightning before they could eat her. Further miracles occurred during Thecla's trial when the perfumes of the women in the arena hypnotized the wild beasts so they wouldn't hurt Thecla, and when fire spared her from raging bulls. Thecla was freed when Queen Tryphaena fainted and Alexander begged the governor for mercy, believing that the queen was dead. The governor heard Thecla speak about the Christian God, ordered her clothed, and released her to the rejoicing women of the city. In Myra, Thecla returned to Paul unharmed and "wearing a mantle that she had altered so as to make a man's cloak." She later returned to Iconium to convert her mother. She went to live in Seleucia Cilicia. According to some versions of the Acts, she lived in a cave there for 72 years, becoming a healer. The Hellenistic physicians in the city lost their livelihood and solicited young men to rape Thecla at the age of 90. As they were about to take her, a new passage opened in the cave and the stones closed behind her. She was also able to go to Rome and lay beside Paul's tomb. See also Acts of Paul Acts of Peter and Paul Leucius Charinus Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 6 Notes Bibliography Translation, in Eliott, J.K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1993. Barrier, Jeremy W. The Acts of Paul and Thecla: A Critical Introduction and Commentary. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 2009. MacDonald, Dennis Ronald. The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 1983. McGinn, Sheila E. “Acts of Thecla.” In Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, ed., Searching the Scriptures, Vol. 2: A Feminist Commentary. New York: Crossroad. 1994. 800–828. Kirsch, J. P. Sts. Thecla. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1912. Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. . Streete, Gail C. Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early Christianity. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. . Thecla Coffey External links Acts of Paul and Thecla: translated probably by Jeremiah Jones, (1693–1724) Acts of Paul: