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. R. James, the editor of this Acta (James 1924). Tomb of Saint Thecla, Silifke The cave-tomb in 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" for three years. The site was described by Egeria in the mid-380s. It was restored several times, among others by the Emperor Zeno in the 5th century, and today the ruins of the tomb and sanctuary are called Aya Tekla Church or Meriamlik. A 5th-century anonymous work, The Life and Miracles of Thecla, concentrates on the town. Tomb of Saint Thecla, Maaloula In Maaloula, Syria, a Greek Orthodox nunnery, the 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. Three months later the nuns were exchanged for relatives of terrorists. 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. The Monastery is a popular destination for Eastern Orthodox Christians from around the world, including Russia. Monastery of Saint Tecla, Larnaca According to tradition, the Roman empress Helena founded the monastery of Saint Tecla that is located in Mosfiloti near Larnaca. After the Mamluks 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. 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. At this pilgrimage site near the Church of St. Menas in Cyprus, women had the option to buy