The Virgin-Martyr and the Emergence of the Early Christian Heroine: a Study of the Female Protagonist in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

The Virgin-Martyr and the Emergence of the Early Christian Heroine: A study of the female protagonist in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

Violina Yankova-Ingvarsson MA Religious Roots of Europe 120 credits

UiO Faculty of Theology 06.08.2020

ABSTRACT

The broader interest of this study is linked to the manifestations and perceptions of the ‘roles’ of women in the socio-cultural landscape of the Greco-Roman late antiquity. In particular, it attempts to understand how they can be situated in relation to the emergence of the identity constructing rhetoric of early Christian discourse in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. With the development of poststructuralist and feminist perspectives in the last decades of the 20th century, the scholarly interest and interpretative efforts - in the field of cultural studies in general and religious studies in particular - have been increasingly focusing on the ‘non-canonical’, ‘peripheral’, and the ‘grass-root level’ phenomena, and respectively, engaging with the study of the ‘history’ and ‘roles’ of women. These ongoing research efforts - while deconstructing the grand-narratives of the scholarly positivism of the previous centuries - had significantly widened the body of texts included in the scope of scholarly investigation, amongst which, the various texts usually gathered under the complex term of early Christian apocrypha. In the current study I concentrate on one of the probably most popular in antiquity - and in depth researched by today’s scholarship - examples of this ‘genre’: The Acts of Paul and Thecla. Reading through the captivating narrative of Thecla’s struggles I will try to detect the textual features of the female protagonist that can be meaningful in the larger perspective of the early Christian discourse and its paradigmatic notions of renunciation and soteriological suffering.

Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 7

1. Outline and referred scholarship ...... 11

2. Novum martyria genus. Setting the stage: female protagonists and metaphors ...... 21

Table 1. ‘Gendered performativity’ and ethos ...... 29

3. Thecla and the metaphor of the ever-enduring virgin body. This “male woman” of God ...... 30

4. The virgin and ‘protomartyr’ Thecla: Virgo or Virago? Building up a metaphor: appropriation, subversion or liberation? ...... 39

Table 2. Rhetorical strategies ...... 41

Table 3. Narrative layers ...... 42

5.Conclusion. Salvation for Every-Body: The Virgin - Martyr trope and the emergence of the early Christian heroine ...... 101

Bibliography ...... 106

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:38 - 42

Fig.1. Ivory Casket; one of three panels. Lower panel carved in relief: Paul bringing his apostolic message and Thecla (left) listening to him from her window; divided by a half-rounded arch is the second scene with the Stoning of St Paul (right). Period: Late Roman (ca. 430 AD). Image courtesy of the British Museum Online Collection, http://www.britishmuseum.org

The Christian stories were stories with meanings - Let us call them myths. They were mostly evangelistic. But they were also just stories.

Averil Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire1

Wherever it appeared, it seems, the saintly body was a poetic body.

Patricia Cox Miller, The Corporeal Imagination2

1 Averil Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: The Development of Christian Discourse (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 89-90. 2 Patricia Cox Miller, The Corporeal Imagination (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 163. 6

Introduction

My research interest in the cultural significance of the phenomena related to early Christian martyrdom, and respectively, the various aspects of the ideas of renunciation and suffering - seen as an integral pattern of early Christianity - has evolved in a somehow ‘time-line-reversed’ manner. The departure point was at first the cultural problematic surrounding today’s revival of extremist ideologies and acts of terror disguised under various ‘rhetorics of martyrdom’. Then from the field of synchronic studies on the subject my perspective shifted towards the diachronic trajectory: back to the Christian female mystics and the expansive textual and visual imagery3 of medieval Christianity surrounding the notions of bodily suffering and renunciation as ways of achieving spiritual purification; a sort of elaborate ‘purgatory of the incarnated spirit’, as most strikingly captured in the imagenarium of Hieronymus Bosh paintings. Then further back to the cult of the martyrs and the late antique cult of the saints4 and their relics, signified by overwhelmingly multifaceted devotional practices densely growing throughout the emerging imperial landscape of the 4th century Christianity. This ‘landscape of holiness’ that was unfolding along the pilgrimage routes also provides an abundant research material related to the ‘renunciation and suffering’ imagery, especially when it comes to its manifestations related to the notion of imitatio Christi. As Patricia Cox Miller succinctly puts it in her inspiring study of the dynamic between matter (i.e., corporeality) and ‘religious representations’ of meaning (i.e., both artefacts and ‘written images’): “The fact that the Word had a body made embodiment itself a site of religious meaning, “filled with divine energy and grace”5. Indeed, the main focus of the current study came to be aimed at viewing the phenomena of renunciation and suffering as ‘paradigmatic’ within the perspective of rhetoric and imagery (in both narrative and art) of early Christianity. That naturally lead me further into the world

3As we can see in, e.g., the depiction of The Worship of the Five Wounds (in the Prayer book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg) by the Flemish artist Simon Benning (1483-1561); courtesy of the interactive feature for the exhibition Imagining Christ of The J. Paul Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/imaginingchrist/. 4As vividly interpreted in Peter Brown's seminal work The Cult of the Saints (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981). 5 Cox Miller, Corporeal Imagination, 157. 7

of the 2nd and 3rd century martyr acts and apocryphal acts of the apostles as the very spring of formation of that paradigm and its rhetoric. It is also there that I have encountered the heroine of the current study: the figure of the Virgin-Martyr. That fascinating dramatis persona6 which even today captures the imagination of the reader will be presented in one of its most popular and charismatic impersonations: the virgin-martyr Thecla. Her character and textual functions in the narrative of the 2nd century narrative of the Acts of Paul and Thecla - interpreted within the context of early Christian rhetoric of identity formation - will form a major part of my thesis. Not least, a sufficient attention will be paid to the inherent ‘performativity’ of expression7 of the renunciation and suffering paradigm of late antique Christianity8. I attempt to offer a textual analysis of Thecla’s narrative which is in line with the understanding of the important function of the ‘ideologies’ and ‘practices’ of martyrdom for the construction of early Christian identity. The analysis also seeks to bring forth the hypothesis that the main ‘tools’ of the early Christian identity construction were based on rhetorical themes centred around the ideas of renunciation and suffering, and respectively, textual-images and recurring tropes9, such as the one of the Virgin-Martyr, the prototypical early Christian heroine. Further, I set to explore one of her earliest literary manifestations known to us: the virgin and

6 Lat., dramatis persona is a rarely used singular form of dramatis personae (characters of a play) and in the current study the term is appearing as a reference to the figure of the Virgin-Martyr in order to underline the ‘novelistic’ features of the heroine of Thecla in the Acts of Paul and Thecla as interpreted further in this paper. 7 That rationale is brilliantly formulated in Kate Cooper’s study on the heroine in the apocryphal acts: “Rhetorical analysis adds a new dimension to the theory of ascetic behaviour as “performances designed to create a new culture and to inaugurate new identity”. The rhetorical approach to asceticism pushes back the terms of the definition to another discursive level: accounts of ascetic behaviour themselves become performances, designed to elicit a new sense of allegiance from an audience. The chronicling and advertisement of ascetic behaviour at all levels, from abstinence to defiance of death, served as a medium for claims to power and allegiance. The invention of the ascetic hero and heroine was an important element in the formation of a Christian alternative language of power and society.” Kate Cooper, The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity (London: Harvard University Press, 1996), 58. 8 Here and further in this text for purposes of simplicity I use the singular form for ‘Christianity’ while being aware of the scholarly angle of approaching and describing the period of emergence and formation as ‘Early Christianities’ rather than a singular ‘Christianity’. On the question of the deeply diverse character of Early Christianity, which conditions the scholarly parlance of ancient ‘Christianities’ see for example: Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). 9 Lat., tropus, from Greek. tropos, ‘turn (of phrase)’, figure of speech. In this study I use ‘trope’ first and foremost in the meaning of cultural rhetoric manifested in a reoccurring ethical-esthetical ‘theme-image’ that carries metaphorical meaning(s). The etymology of the word also carries association with the mediaeval Mass where ‘trope’ as ‘a textual or musical addition (or both) to plainchant’. For more details on definition and etymology, cf. www.oxfordreference.com

“protomartyr” Thecla of Iconium in the Acts of Paul and Thecla. My interpretation of this apocryphal act attempts to read the figure of the Virgin-Martyr as ‘genetically’ bound to the early Christian discourse of the ‘passion’ and soteriological suffering of the incarnated Word. This ‘foundational’ narrative is referred to in this study as the ‘cultural paradigm of renunciation and suffering’ in early Christianity. Arguably, it can be traced in the imagery and themes of the stories of the Gospels, the apocryphal acts of the apostles, the martyr narratives, the apologetical writings and the later Christian hagiographies, as well as visual art. They all offer glimpses into the intricate world of religious practices, rhetorical devices, metaphors and textual-images that stream out from the mega-narrative of the Son of God: virginally pure and innocently martyred for the sins of the humankind. Encountering the heroines of early Christian martyr narratives and apocryphal acts such as Blandina10 and Perpetua and Felicitas11 and Thecla from Iconium12 has opened a broad field of scholarly interpretations that are drawing on feminist and post-structuralist perspectives13 that read the socio-cultural gesture of the acts as subversive to the established patriarchal structures of the family and polis in the Greco-Roman cultural universe (see next chapter for a brief introduction on related scholarship). While being intrigued by this possible line of interpretation, my reading of Thecla’s narrative chooses a more ‘hermeneutical’ approach and aims to facilitate the means of rhetorical analysis and cultural contextualisation, rather than socio-historical de-and, -re-constructions. The limitations of the current text juxtaposed to the complexity and vastness of the early Christian cultural landscape, as well as the immensity of related scholarship to be kept as a point of reference, resulted inevitably in many lapses and merely schematically presentation of

10 The Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, in Herbert Musurillo, ed., The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 62-86. 11The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, Ibid., 106-132. 12The Acts of Paul and Thecla, in E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 2 (ed. W. Schneemelcher; London: SCM Press, 1975), 353 – 364. 13 For an excellent general introduction into the immense field of postmodern ‘schools’ of biblical interpretations, see George Aichele, et al., ed. Elisabeth A. Castelli, et al. The Postmodern Bible. (New York: Yale University Press, 1995). See also Elisabeth A. Castelli, “Heteroglossia, Hermeneutics, and History: A Review Essay of Recent Feminist Studies of Early Christianity”, Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25002233.

the research hypothesis. Nevertheless, hopefully there are some important points risen and questions asked.

1. Outline and referred scholarship The attempted purpose of this thesis is to explore further the possible interpretations of the rhetorical functions and cultural role(s) of textual-images14 related to the phenomena of renunciation and suffering – such as the Virgin and the Martyr, and in the instance of this paper, their composite figure, the Virgin-Martyr. More specifically, this interpretation engages with questions about the rhetorical role(s) of the female protagonist in early Christians narratives and related metaphorical meanings and their functions within the discourse of Early Christianity. However, these questions are situated within the larger context of discursive strategies of formation of the religious and cultural identity of emerging Christianity and the encompassing shift of societal relations and cultural authority. The study itself is inspired by the complex and ‘paradigm-shifting’ discourse of the first Christian centuries. This discourse can be argued to manifest ‘subversive’ and ‘appropriating’ strategies - for example expressed through ‘re-working’ and ‘convergence’ of Jewish and the Greco-Roman cultural notions and imagery and their appropriation in the emerging Christian identity15. The current study focuses on the expressions of this discourse in the apocryphal acts of the apostles. It will be accentuated on the cultural centrality in these narratives of rhetoric drawing on notions of renunciation, chastity and ‘soteriological’ suffering. At the same time, my interpretation takes in regard the insights of the gendered perspectives that hypothesize the phenomena of early Christian martyrdom and asceticism as ‘avenues of rebellion open to early Christian women’16. I seek to explore the centrality of the Virgin-Martyr trope in

14 “Especially in the literature about martyrs that arose in connection with the cult of the relics, the reader/hearer was situated as an active participant in the martyrial drama by the force of emotionally charged rhetoric. (…) Enthusiasm for pictorial theatricality as means of materializing the holy in the everyday world continued into the sixth and seventh century, particularly in hagiography.” Cox Miller, Corporeal Imagination, 14-15. 15 Just as a quick illustration can be pointed to the example of biblical themes and personas of the Jewish Scripture being interpreted as a prefiguration of Christianity - in the metaphorical parlance of Late Antiquity as 'underpainting' – that had been brought to completion by the Church in her role of the new spiritual Israel. On the other hand, the inheritance of the Greco-Roman rhetoric, philosophy, art - and not least cultural ideologemes - had in a similar way become nurturing ground for the early Christian discourse. 16 The expression belongs to Elizabeth Clark, “Early Christian Women: Sources and Interpretations”, in Lynda L. Coon, et al., eds. That Gentle Strength: Historical Perspectives on Women in Christianity (London: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 25. 11

textual manifestation of the Early Christian heroine. The powerful soteriological ‘gesture’17 is most clearly embodied in the figure of the suffering Christian, the martyr who is witnessing his faith wile becoming an integral part of the body of Christ (and by that, also the body of the Church), while ‘participating’ in the bodily suffering of the incarnated Christ. Further, I approach the problem of the implicit ‘ethical’ dimension of the metaphor of the suffering body of the martyr when seen in the context of already exiting body-metaphors within the Greco-Roman cultural paradigm. Wayne Meeks for example compares the commonly used in the moral philosophy “inherently conservative” connotations of the societal order as ‘body’ and of the individual members as ‘limbs’, to the new meanings enhanced by Paul’s theology: “The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus’ body now become a master metaphor infecting the commonplace political one”18. I will be tracing in more detail the elements of ‘body-metaphors’ and meaning in the second and third chapter of the thesis. While concentrating on the importance of contextualizing such meanings, I proceed to observation on the ideas and imagery, surrounding the ‘body of the martyr’, and especially, the one of the female martyrs19. The potency of this transformation of the cultural topos of the ‘gendered body’ through the female martyr, and its possible consequences for the practices and teachings of the Church, had been in the centre of controversies and debates since antiquity, as it is evident also by Tertullian’s often cited infuriated remark on the story of Thecla in his treatise De Baptismo20. Further in the paper I will be elaborating the question of the typology of rhetorical ‘strategies’ of early Christian discourse; how they are manifested in the layers of meaning of the narrative, and not least, what is the role of the female protagonist for the realisation of these

17 As Candida Moss puts it: “The martyrs imitate Christ in their words and gestures, mouthing scripture and rethreading the path blazed by Christ. But the imitation is never explicitly identified in the account; Christ is, in a sense, “invisible.” In the same way as the apostles in the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, the martyrs fill the vacancy left by Jesus at the executioner’s block”. Candida R. Moss, The Other Christs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 4. 18 Wayne Meeks. The Origins of Christian Morality (Yale University Press, 1993), 134. 19 To refer to Meeks again: “The body, which will be reverenced by the faithful in death and raised by God at the last day, is in the suffering itself the very instrument of obedient defiance of the devil and the Empire. (…) Such power is nowhere more clearly manifested than in the stories of female martyrs”. Ibid., 134. 20 “How could we believe that Paul should give a female power to teach and to baptize, when he did not allow a woman even to learn by her own right? Let them keep silence, he says, and ask their husbands at home.” Tertullian, On Baptism, 17. http://www.tertullian.org/articles/souter_orat_bapt/souter_orat_bapt_04baptism.htm. 12

textual strategies. Also, in chapter two I attempt to systematize in a table the typology of notions associated with ‘gendered’ metaphors of respectively, ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’. After a brief contextualisation of Thecla’s narrative in the beginning of chapter three, in the I proceed to a detailed textual analysis of the Acts of Paul and Thecla with focus on the character and textual functions of the figure of Thecla. I will seek through the interpretation of the narrative and its contextualisation in the larger early Christian rhetoric to find supporting argument for the main hypotheses of the current study. First, that the paradigm of renunciation and suffering and its dependent rhetoric - amongst which the martyrs' narratives and apocryphal acts of the apostles naturally take a prominent position - was not only a major rhetorical tool but also an important identity marker in the early Christian discourse. Second, that this rhetoric finds its most charismatic and potent vehicle in the face of the figure (trope) of the Virgin- Martyr which provides a subtle ‘subversion – through - appropriation’ of values and moral valency. Her chastity, readiness for renunciation, formidable endurance in suffering and self- sacrifice are being re-told in the narrative of Christianity juxtaposing them with Greco-Roman ideologemes concerning the socio-cultural ‘roles’ of women, oikos and polis. Conclusions and directions for future research will be summarised in chapter five.

***** The vast trajectory of scholarship referred to in this thesis is predetermined by the broadness of the chosen perspective of cultural contextualisation of the interpretation of Thecla’s narrative. Both the complexity of the period (2nd and 3rd century Christianity) and the topic (asceticism and martyrdom) - and not least, the immense scholarship in the field - bare dangers for any researcher as they open up to a labyrinth of questions. In my research on the topic I have been drawing from scholarship in the fields of the cultural history of late antiquity; the problems of religious identity and dynamics of relationship of emerging Christianity with pagan and Jewish socio-cultural contexts. Not least, I have been relying on scholarly interpretations concerning the dynamics of notions of gender, masculinity, asceticism and noble death in the multifaceted cultural context of late antiquity. However, they are a few major scholarly perspectives that I am especially indebted to. To begin with, the perspective on the period of late antiquity of his scholarly ‘re-inventor’ Peter 13

Brown in his seminal works such as The World of Late Antiquity21 and The Body and the Society as well as his research – focusing after 1966 more and more closely on the manifestation of late antique Christianity in the East parts of the Empire - have been a major inspiration to start looking with an increasing interest into the phenomena of the late antique period. Peter Brown’s insights bring forth the re-imagining and re-interpreting late antiquity from a gloomy landscape of decay of the classical culture 22 into seeing it as a fruitful field of immense socio-cultural complexity and nurturing ground to transformations with paradigmatic importance for the history of European culture23. Some of the main traits of the subsequent state of scholarship on Late Antiquity is eloquently captured in the following comment of Elizabeth Clark made in the same issue Revising the World of Late Antiquity:

The "flood" of scholarship on topics pertaining to women, gender, sexuality, and asceticism since the publication of The World of Late Antiquity is abundantly evident, yet the tone and direction of this scholarship has, I think, changed. Much of the first work on such topics was undertaken in the hope of recovering some golden feminist moment at Christianity's inception to which contemporary Christian women (and right-thinking men) could appeal for the reform of the present Church. Increasingly, the search for those "good old days" is being

21 As Averil Cameron puts it in the volume of Symbolae Osloenses dedicated on the 30-years anniversary of the first edition of the book, “a brilliant and very idiosyncratic sketch, outlining a different and exciting way of seeing territory we thought we knew”. See SO: Norwegian Journal of Greek and Latin Studies, 72:1 (1997), 33. doi.org/10.1080/00397679708590918. Indeed, this ‘idiosyncratic sketch’ opened up the ways for a plethora of new perspectives and interpretations of the diverse socio-cultural landscape of the late antique period, many of them interdisciplinary and influenced by strands in philosophy, anthropology and theory of culture’. 22 As Edward Gibbon casts it in accord with the admiration of Enlightenment of the late 18th century to the heritage of the Classical world and the Greco-Roman culture captured in his monumental 12 volumes work. See Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (J.B. Bury, ed.; 12 vols.; New York: Fred de Fau & Co., 1906). The full text is in the public domain for academic and educational purposes and available as on-line book, e.g., at https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/gibbon-the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of- the-roman-empire-12-vols. 23 To mention just a couple, the colossal influence of the philosophical thought of Michel Foucault and Paul Veyne has been clearing the road to new horizons for the research of generations of scholars of history of religion and culture. As Peter Brown points out himself to this major influence in the development in his later work: “My interest in the manner in which mental maps of a society and of the human person might silently settle into new patterns, irrevocably different from the past, led me at one and the same time to the work of Paul Veyne and of Michel Foucault and to undertake a study of the social and personal implications of the various forms of sexual renunciation practiced in the Early Church.”, SO 72:1 (1997), 76. doi.org/10.1080/00397679708590919.

abandoned, Paul less often claimed as a champion of women's advancement. Another stage of feminist scholarship sought to reclaim both the persons and the "voices" of women in the early Church, especially from sources that had often been slighted by those concentrating on "high" theology and doctrine. This work of recovery will doubtless continue and is of special importance for scholarship in areas outside of Greek and Latin patristics. Yet here, too, under the influence of the "linguistic turn" in humanities' scholarship, some now acknowledge that we are dealing with rhetoric "all the way down": there may not be a bedrock of "real women" on which to ground our arguments. Post-structuralist critique suggests that the quest both for foundations and for origins may as well be relinquished.24

Namely the rhetorical core of the story of Thecla from The Acts of Paul and Thecla will be in the centre also of my interpretation. Amongst the scholarly investigations on which I have been relying most in this approach are Averil Cameron’s Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire(1991) and Susanna Elm’s brilliant study on female asceticism viewed in the socio- cultural dynamics of its formation25, "Virgins of God": The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (1994). Not least, I found equally valuable aid for approaching the perspective of

24 Elizabeth A. Clark. In Symbolae Osloenses: Norwegian Journal of Greek and Latin Studies, 72:1 (1997), 38. doi.org/10.1080/00397679708590918 25 “It becomes clear that fourth-century women ascetics adopted organizational patterns and forged institutions via a complex process involving both the transformation of the given model of the family and a reaction against this very model. Moreover, women did so in concert with men. (…) By the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century AD ascetic communities had developed in urban centres and gained an important voice in ecclesiastical decisions and doctrinal disputes. These communities consisted of male and female ascetics who cohabited. To put it differently, monasticism originated as an urban phenomenon and consisted largely of men and women living together. This symbiosis not only conforms to the structural model of the household, which also comprises men and women; it further represents a stringent interpretation of scriptural precepts. If the ascetic life transforms humans into angels, if angels neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matt. 20:30), and if, there is neither male nor female in Jesus Christ, then the symbiosis male and female ascetics represents the highest form of ascetic perfection. If through asceticism woman achieves ‘male’ virtue (areté) and is thereby transformed into a ‘manly woman’, then she has not only achieved true equality with her male counterparts, but has been transformed into an ideal, complete human being.” See Susanna Elm, ‘Virgins of God’: The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), viii-ix.

‘hermeneutics of ascetism’ in Elizabeth Clark’s Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in early Christianity (1999). In the review of Clark’s study, Castelli points out:

(…) Clark shows how ascetic interpreters were able to make ascetic meaning out of the most recalcitrant of biblical texts through the deployment of a wide range of interpretative and ideological tools and strategies. Rather than pass judgment on early Christian readers for “distorting” the text, Clark asks a more interesting question: what interpretative logics undergirded the hermeneutical and textual practices of ascetic reading?26

To this summery of scholarly research on which I have been relying most in my interpretation of the Acts of Paul and Thecla should be added Judith Perkins’ study of the intricate dynamics of theology and rhetoric of suffering and renunciation in her seminal work The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era (1995). Another invaluable aid for understanding the martyr paradigm of early Christian centuries and its importance for the formation of Christian identity has been Castelli’s Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making (2004). Similarly, to Perkins, she argues the centrality of the construction of the martyr narrative and imagery for both self-identification and emancipation of Christianity from competing cultural and religious paradigms27. In chapter 2. of this paper I will trace some examples for notions of valiant suffering and death respectively in pagan, Jewish and early Christian context. Finding (contra)-junctions between these competed, rejected or appropriated contexts by the emerging Christian identity is of central importance as Castelli argues further:

Christian culture found itself in direct competition with a wide range of forms of entertainment-the games, the circus, the theatre, the races. The arena became

26 Elizabeth Castelli, review of Elizabeth Clark, Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in early Christianity, Cambridge University Press 69:3 (2000), 637-638. doi:10.2307/3169403. 27 “[T]he memory work done by early Christians on the historical experience of persecution and martyrdom was a form of culture making, whereby Christian identity was indelibly marked by the collective memory of the religious suffering of others. This book is not a history of early Christian martyrdom but an exploration of the culture-making aspects of its representations. The category of collective memory helps to illuminate why martyrdom was-and continues to be-such a critical building block of Christian culture.”, Elizabeth A. Castelli, Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making, (Columbia University Press, 2004), 4.

an especially charged venue where this competition came to be staged, since it was also the place where the executions of Christians could take place. As a consequence, the contest over the meanings of spectacle in this context was especially amplified. In a different venue, Christian debates over visual representations and the moral impact of graphic portraits of martyrs' sufferings emerged in this framework but continued well into the period of iconoclasm. These debates provide a complex historical record of the anxiety and paradox embedded in the practices of memorializing and the ethically charged-and often ethically ambivalent-power of the visual.28

I cannot avoid mentioning Elizabeth Castelli’s articles “Virginity and Its Meaning for Women's Sexuality in Early Christianity”(1986) in which she illuminates some issues of the ‘diversity of women’s practices of virginity’ and the way the idea of virginity has been depicted within the patristic perspective29, as well as “I will make Mary male”: Pieties of the Body and Gender Transformation of Christian Women Late Antiquity”(1991)30. and many of the contributions in the volume From Rome to Constantinople: Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron.

Not least, I have been drawing on a vast spectrum of studies that are investigating in particular the topics of gender and the role of women in Early Christianity and the early church, amongst the plethora of which, from the classical works in feminist studies of religion of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza31 through investigating further the dynamics of shaping and transformation of the valency and available roles of women in Early Christian culture in contributions like Gillian Cloke’s “exploration of the abandonment of many of the classical models of womanhood and increasing appeal of life in dedication to the Christian ideal”32 in

28 Ibid., 17.

29 Elizabeth Castelli, “Virginity and Its Meaning for Women's Sexuality in Early Christianity”, JFSR 2:1 (1986), 61-88. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25002030. 30 Julia, Epstein. Body Guards (New York: Routledge, 1991). 31 See Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler. In Memory of Her (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1994). 32 Cf., Gillian Cloke, ‘This Female Men of God’: Women and spiritual power in the patristic age, AD 350-450 (London: Routledge, 1995), 2. 17

‘This Female Man of God’. Women and Spiritual Power in the Patristic Age AD 350-450 (1995); Collen Conway’s Behold the Man: Jesus and Greco-Roman Masculinity. It ought to also mention the valuable orientation in the complex terrain of Early Christian phenomena provided by collection of essays, edited by Todd Penner and Caroline Vander Stichele, Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourses (2007) as part of Brill’s Biblical Interpretation Series. Elizabeth Clark’s article “Sex, Shame, and Rhetoric: En-Gendering Early Christian Ethics” and Ross S. Kraemer’s essay on “The Conversion of Women to Ascetic Forms of Christianity” have both been of big help for comprehending some of the major implications for situating the women’s roles in Early Christianity and its paradigm of renunciation and soteriological suffering.

Further, in my approach to the Acts of Thecla I have been guided by seminal works such as Stephen Davis’ The Cult of Saint Thecla: A Tradition of Women’s Piety in Late Antiquity, and especially his article “Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men”. Two other studies that had acquired a prominent place in the vast scholarship on Thecla and provided me with guiding insights into the cultural and literary context of the text, especially in respect of the possible implications for the dynamics of possible women roles I Early Christianity are Dennis MacDonald’s The Legend and the Apostle and Stevan Davies’ The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts. One of the of the interpretations of the stories of the women protagonists in the Apocryphal Acts with a vast both positive and critical resonance in scholarship33, is Virginia Burrus’ Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts (1987) where she challenges the hypothesis of the ‘literary origins’ of the Apocryphal Acts and their suggested connectedness to the Greek Novel (and by this assumingly rooted in the elite literature endeavour of the educated male authorship). Burrus argues instead in this monograph, based on her master’s thesis, the

33 For a brief summary of the main points of criticism, see for example, G. Anderson review of Virginia Burrus, Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts. The Classical Review, 39:2 (1989), 410- 411. doi:10.1017/S0009840X00272739. 18

possibility for origins rooted in the oral traditions and the folk tale34 by introducing a narrative analysis based on Prop’s analysis on the structure and personas in the fairy tale35 and also referring to .This perspective has implications for both the textual analysis and cultural contextualisation of the Apocryphal Acts in general and Thecla’s story in particular, and the hypotheses of the role of women in Early Christianity and although Burrus revisits some of her arguments in later works they still remain influential. However, the attempts of interpreting the chastity stories through the prism of a supposed female agency as a trait of the 2nd century dynamics of the Christian movement has met a significant critical response from scholars implying anachronic feminist agendas for the proponents of this hypothesis. Amongst these sceptical voices is also Wilhelm Schneemelcher36 who does not argue against the possibility of use of ‘popular material’ in the narration of the story of Thecla, rejects, what he calls, “folklore hypotheses with the assumption of a liberated women’s movement in die Church of the 2nd century”37. However, I am most indebted for the textual analysis of Thecla’s narrative that is presented in this thesis to the work of Kate Cooper and Patricia Cox Miller. Especially inspirational have been Cox Miller’s insights on the notion of textual images38, the relation between visible and invisible in the Christian discourse, and between matter and religious representation in general. Invaluable help for my own interpretation of the text has been also Kate Cooper’s elaboration on the ‘gendered rhetoric’ in the apocryphal acts and her argument

34“In the history of scholarship, it is these “chastity stories” which have most often been cited as evidence of the apocryphal Acts’ literary origins. The stories about chaste women, it is claimed link the Apocryphal Acts with the Hellenistic romantic novel. The chastity stories have thus established the Apocryphal Acts as “Christian romances”; their identification as folk-stories provides a serious challenge to this traditional view. (…) The implication of the question on the origins for the Acts’ ‘identity’ and the history of women in general. Literary origins therefore argue against their identity as women’s stories. Folklore origins, on the other hand, leave open the possibility that these stories represent the voices of Early Christian women.” Virginia Burrus, Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), 31. 35 V. Propp. Morphology of the Folktale (University of Texas Press, 2010). 36 The scholar behind the revised and enlarged edition of Edgar Hennecke’s collection of the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles which is today considered as the ‘golden standard’ edition of the AAP. It is the English translation’s 1975 edition that is used also for the purposes of my current analysis: E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha. vol.2., ed. W. Schneemelcher (London: SCM Press, 1975). For the Greek text in this thesis I have been referring to Acta Pauli et Theclae, in Acta Apostolorum (Leipzig: Mendelssohn,1891). 37 Ibid., 222. 38 “Textual images can themselves be considered “things” (to recall Brown’s thing theory) whose excess or surplus value make them magnets of interpretative attention.” Patricia Cox Miller, The Corporeal Imagination: Signifying the Holly in Late Ancient Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press: 2009), 17. 19

on the female protagonists as rhetorical vehicles used for the articulation of competing authority discourses of men39. Yet there is a large body of related literature that has not been mentioned in this outline but has provided valuable perspectives in the process of building up this thesis. Many more sources of inspiration stemming from art and artefacts of the period at hand are also left out. However, the indispensable help and ideas acquired in discussions with professors at the Theological Faculty (UiO) and their remarks on my work progress cannot be overestimated.

39 Kate Cooper, “The Bride That Is No Bride,” in The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity (London: Harvard University Press, 1996), 45-67. 20

2. Novum martyria genus40. Setting the stage: female protagonists and metaphors

Sexual renunciation might lead the Christian to transform the body, and in transforming the body, to break with the discreet discipline of the ancient city.

Peter Brown, The Body and Society41

We should not speak of an ideology or theology of martyrdom in the ancient Church. Just as we speak of ancient Christianities, we should speak of ancient ideologies of martyrdom.

Candida Moss, The Other Christs42

I start this chapter with a succinct outline of some of the specific features of the notions of suffering and renunciation and their centrality43 in the emerging early Christian discourse on identity. Not least, those are seen juxtapositioned with similar notions of the Greco-Roman socio-cultural landscape. There is hardly any aspect of the discourse of early Christianity that can be approached without underlining the importance of bearing in mind the socio-cultural backdrop of the Greco-Roman milieu in order to attempt interpretation on the phenomena of early Christianity. This understanding is also the base of the current study which attempts to both contextualize and be in a dialogue with central notions and ideologemes of the Greco- Roman socio-cultural milieu when arguing the structures of meaning (paradigms) built around

40 “A new kind of martyrdom was this: not yet fit to suffer, she was already ripe for victory.”, Ambrose, On Virgins, I 2:8, in Early Church Fathers: Ambrose, ed. Ramsey Boniface (London: Routledge 1997), 71-117. 41 Peter Brown, The Body and Society, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 31. 42 Candida R. Moss, The Other Christs, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), viii. 43 As e.g., through the paradigm of the passion of Christ, exemplified in the doctrine of imitatio Christi and its manifestations in the martyrs’ narratives. There is a vast scholarship on this subject. Amongst those contributions that I found especially helpful to broaden up my perspective towards the topic should be mentioned the works of Candida Moss, The Other Christ; Morna Hooker’s Not Ashamed of the Gospel, and not least, The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity by John Caroll. 21

the early Christian rhetoric on morally valiant continence and martyrdom. As Candida Moss puts it: “Not only “martyrdom” but the idea of the suffering exemplar predates the deaths of early Christians (emphasis mine)”44. However, when investigating early Christian ideas of suffering and renunciation - as any other ideologemes of the field of emergence and interaction of religious discourses – one encounters polyphony of voices resonating within socio-cultural dynamics that are hard or impossible to be fully re-constructed historically. This polyphony is largely characterised by the complex convergence of cultural and religious identities that were unfolding on the late antique canvas of shared ideas of the Greco-Roman paideia45 and culture. This bond of shared cultural meanings was rooted in the shared bilingualism (i.e., Greek and Latin, at least for the educated elites) and the shared realm of ideas and imagery captured in a body of philosophic and scientific works, myths, art and architecture, which all together formed the fertile soil that nurtured the rhetoric and many of the phenomena of early Christianity46. At the same time, the uniformity of the Greco-Roman ‘cultural canon’ was combined with a pronounced toleration to foreign cults and deities, as long as they did not come into a direct conflict with the religious pantheon and ritual of Rome and the notion the Roman Pax Deorum47. This understanding - and respectively, religious practices - of ‘contractual’ relation to the deities of the Greco-Roman pantheon were aimed to secure through an elaborate system of sacrifices and ‘signs’ the harmonious functioning and prosperity of the Roman Empire. The strict and pious compliance to the ancient norms of the religio48 demanded the participation of every citizen in the official cult of the emperor, official rites and festivals. Deviations of the compliance to these cultural and religious demands were condemned as superstitio49 that could

44 Moss, The Other Christ,10. 45 From Greek, παιδεία: training and teaching, education. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. See also: “System of education and training in classical Greek and Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) cultures that included such subjects as gymnastics, grammar, rhetoric, music, mathematics, geography, natural history, and philosophy. In the early Christian era the Greek paideia, called humanitas in Latin, served as a model for Christian institutions of higher learning, such as the Christian school of Alexandria in Egypt, which offered theology as the culminating science of their curricula”. Cf., https://www.britannica.com/topic/paideia. 46 See Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad (London: Thames & Hudson, 1971), 6. 47 From Latin, pax (pacis): peace; harmony and deorum (Gen.pl. from deus): gods. I.e., the meaning of the phrase is: ‘Peace of the Gods’. Cf., http://archives.nd.edu/words.html. 48 From Latin, religio: obligation; sanction; worship; rite; sanctity; religion. Cf., ibid. 49 From Latin, superstitio: superstition; irrational religious awe. Cf., ibid. 22

be considered in the worst case as a treason to the person of the emperor who was the embodiment of the cult of the emperor50. On the other hand, in spite of the general cultural tolerance and strong appropriating tendencies51 towards foreign cults and deities throughout the vast territory of the Roman empire, the emerging Christian movement was surrounded with controversy and often encountered with suspicion or even hostility from the population52. Based on the references in the texts of the Roman elite has been possible for the scholarly investigations to map some of the general attitudes of Roman society which resulted in measures or outbursts of persecution that were undertaken by Roman authorities in the face of emerging Christianity. The ‘reaction’ to these popular attitudes and the actions undertaken by the authorities has been playing allegedly a central role in the identity - negotiation in the discourse of early Christianity. It is manifested most explicitly in the ‘erudite’ rhetoric that often takes the form of philosophical ‘disputes’ in the early Christian apologies as it is exemplified in the treatises of Aristides53, Justin Martyr54 and Tertullian55. Most importantly, in regard to the topic of this paper, is that these attitudes and actual persecutions against the early Christians become the building stones for the creation of the grand-narrative of Christian martyrdom. In fact, the Roman Empire personified in the figure of the provincial governors and other men of authority and power in the Greco-Roman polis are the ever present dramatis personae in the martyr narratives and the apocryphal acts of the apostles. They are indeed the implied antagonist at the cosmic arena of epic clash between the evil and the beloved ‘athletes of God’, the early Christian martyrs.

50 About the cult to the emperor, see for example, Mary Beard, et al., Religions of Rome, Vol. I. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 352-354. 51 A vivid example of incorporation of foreign cults and the common strategy of Rome for “invitation to a new deity in a war-crisis” is the cult of Magna Mater (Cybele). See ibid., 96-98. 52 For a succinct introduction to this question see for example, “Why Did the Romans Dislike Christians?”, in Moss, Candida. The Myth of Persecution. (New York: Harper Collins, 2013), 163-189. 53 J. Rendel Harris, and J. Armitage Robinson, eds. The Apology of Aristides (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004). 54 Saint Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho, in The Fathers of the Church, vol.6. (CUA Press, 2010), 139-147. 55 Tertullian, The Apology of Tertullian (trans. W.M. Reeve; London: Forgotten Books, 2012).

As it becomes visible in the fragments concerning Christians in the ancient sources56, the followers of Christ soon become known, sometimes even admired, for their 'contempt' to death and resilience in suffering. As Judith Perkins puts it: What did inhabitants of the early Roman empire know about Christianity? Notwithstanding the paucity of sources for the period and their elite bias, it is safe to say that one thing that contemporaries knew about Christianity (in fact, for some the only thing they give any evidence of knowing) is that Christians held death in contempt and were ready to suffer for their beliefs.57

There are numerous studies that are attempting to investigate and problematize the relation between the paradigm of ‘soteriological58’ suffering in Christianity, and respectively, the non-Christian discourse on noble death. Generally, the scholarly debate groups around two major stands: one group following the line of Jewish influence, and another concentrating on the inherited Greco-Roman notions and cultural stereotypes. The former stand, supported amongst others, by Daniel Boyarin59 and Geza Vermes60, argues a link between Christian martyrdom and Jewish tradition and points out to texts like 2 and 4 Maccabees, and the story of Isaac – the Akedah61.

The approach towards investigation of the influence of the Greco-Roman cultural paradigm and exemplars of noble death and moral temperance (sophrosyne) is followed notably by Bowersock62. He brings forward the importance of the internalized Roman

56 Engberg, Jakob, et al. In Defence of Christianity (Peter Lang Pub Incorporated, 2014), 229-235. 57 Perkins, The Suffering Self, 18. 58From Greek, σωτήρ: 1. saviour, deliverer, preserver; 2. In NTest. The Saviour. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. Here and further in this paper I use the phrase ‘soteriological suffering’ in the meaning of ‘suffering’ ideologically related to doctrines of salvation in the context of early Christianity. 59 Daniel Boyarin. Dying for God (Stanford University Press, 1999). 60Géza Vermès, Jesus in His Jewish Context (Fortress Press, 2003). 61“Were the Christian martyrs ‘Jewish’ and their deaths part of the story of Jewish persecution and suffering, or were they heirs of the Greco-Roman stoic ideas of heroic and self-denying death? Or was it something new, a mixing of martyrdom and heroism to provide a potent and very long-lived ‘new’ Christian tradition? (...) To Geza Vermes, however, martyrdom is derivable from very ancient Jewish example. The Akedah, the story of the death and ‘resurrection’ of Isaac was, at least by the first century CE, available independently in Judaism, and was fairly easily taken over into Christianity from that source.” Jon Davies, Death, Burial and Rebirth in the Religions of Antiquity (Routledge, 2013), 203-204. 62 G.W. Bowersock, Martyrdom and Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2002). 24

(masculine) moral values of temperance of bodily passions, but also the ideal of ‘noble death’ as manifested in paradigmatic examples. These ‘heroes’ of the Greco-Roman ideal of noble death served arguably as a pattern for imitation passed through the shared cultural backdrop of the paideia in the late antique world63 . Such examples were foreshadowing the way in which the suffering and death of an exemplary figures came to be valued as a model for imitation for achievement of valiance by their followers. Thus, bearing in mind the multifaceted cultural context of notions of noble death that predate the rhetoric of martyrdom of early Christians, we owe to ask some questions concerning the particularities of manifestation of the ‘paradigm of renunciation and suffering’ that came to emerge in the first Christian centuries.

*****

After sketching some of the prominent notions of suffering and renunciation in the Greco- Roman cultural context, I will seek to outline in the following pages – although only schematically - the early Christian discourse of asceticism and martyrdom within the backdrop of those pre-existing Greco-Roman notions The figure of the Virgin-Martyr figure indeed bears a paradoxical value in early Christianity: her strength lies within her powerful ‘transfiguration’ and negation of her female ‘nature’ and prescribed socio-cultural role64 while at the same time establishing herself within the discourse of authority and emerging religious identity. Virginia Burrus in her study on the virginal-martyr paradigm read in its development from Thecla to the 4th CE character of St.

63 As most notoriously, in the case of the death of Socrates that had been serving a paradigmatic ‘noble death’ from late antiquity until today. See for example, Ricky K. Green, Democratic Virtue in the Trial and Death of Socrates (Peter Lang Pub Incorporated, 2001). 64 Cf. Elizabeth Clark, “Ascetic Renunciation and Feminine Advancement: A Paradox of Late Ancient Christianity” in Ascetic Piety and Women's Faith: Essays on Late Ancient Christianity (Studies in women and religion XX) (Queenstown: Edwin Mellen Press, 1986), 175-194. 25

Agnes, refers to one of the central arguments in Averil Cameron’s seminal work Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire65:

The hallmarks of the emergent Christian discourse are, according to Cameron, its assertively and self-consciously figural or representational character and its central use of biographical narrative. She suggests that a rhetoric of the human body works to knit together the doubled truth claims of symbol and story (emphasis mine), while at the same time facilitating a blurring of the boundaries of both public and private spheres and elite and popular literature. In this context, the figures and lives of women leap into dramatic relief - even as gender itself remains, on Cameron's reading, incidental to the impulses that most powerfully shape the "totalizing" or repressive Christian discourse of late ancient Mediterranean culture. The apocryphal literature of the pre-Constantinian period gives access to a realm of remarkable narrative productivity and flexibility marked by sensitivity to the interpenetration of private and public spheres and interest in the lives of women as well as of men: both the yearly elaboration of Marian traditions and the stories of ascetic heroines like Thecla are well known, if not generally given the scholarly attention they deserve, as Cameron persuasively argues66.

In my interpretation I follow Cameron’s understanding of the centrality of the ‘figural and demonstrative side of Christian discourse’ and its ‘performative and declaratory quality’67. The signs, the metaphors, alongside with the miracle and parables are the rhetoric devices that played a major part in the emergence and, not least, in the following development of the early Christian discourse68. Further, another important aspect of this discourse that has been taken into consideration in this paper is the argument concerning the centrality of the metaphor of the

65 For the complete argument, cf. A. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: the development of the Christian discourse (Oxford: University of California Press, 1991). 66 Virginia Burrus, "Reading Agnes: The Rhetoric of Gender in Ambrose and Prudentius" in Journal of Early Christian Studies 3:1, (1995), 25-46. 67 See Averil Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, 47-50. 68 Ibid., 59-60.

body of Christ as an interpretative key. The theme of the Incarnation of Christ imposed the language of the body, and with it, bodily symbolism on Christian writing. All the central elements in orthodox Christianity – the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, and the Eucharist – focus on the body as symbolic of higher truth69. My attempt for textual analysis of the Acts of Paul and Thecla will be primarily focusing on the manifestation of this discourse in the rhetoric surrounding the body of the virgin-martyr and its valorisation through endurance in suffering and renunciation. At the same time, we will try to show that the figure of the virgin-martyr functions as a metaphorical device which both connects to and widens up a range moral category in the Early Christian discourse. I will aim to illustrate with textual examples in chapter four that the unique cultural “coup” of early Christianity is rooted in strategies of subversion surrounding the territory of symbolism of the body and notions of renunciation and suffering. It seems that on narrative level these strategies were supported by of re-making of already pre-existing dramatis personae and development of relevant metaphorical ‘apparatus’. In this process of emergence of new heroes at the stage of Late Antiquity the figure of the martyr is undoubtfully one with paramount importance in the development of the discourse of Christianity through throughout the centuries. The Christian martyr has also been long in the ‘spot-light’ of the scholarly research. However, less has been said about the role of the figure of the virgin-martyr. In approaching the analysis, the prototypical literary phenomenon of the virgin and protomartyr Thecla I follow Lakoff’s and Johnson’s classical study on the structural functionality of metaphor for the way we understand, experience, and even more, re-shape our cultural realities. Thus, the metaphors have not only ‘aiding’ function in reality- conceptualization but also can actively modify the ‘experience’ of this social and cultural reality and through this to re-shape it.

New metaphors have the power to create a new reality. This can begin to happen when we start to comprehend our experience in terms of a metaphor, and it becomes a deeper reality when we begin to act in terms of it. If a new metaphor enters the conceptual system that we base our actions on, it will alter that

69 Ibid., 68-69. 27

conceptual system and the perceptions and actions that the system gives rise to. Much of our cultural change arises from the introduction of new metaphorical concepts and the loss of old ones (…).70

A role that arguably had been played in the context of emerging Christianity by various metaphorical ‘figures’ incorporated in the suffering and renunciation paradigm – and in this paper the interest is focused on one of those, namely the virgin-martyr and the role she might have played in the ‘re-shaping’ of the realm of Greco-Roman world.

70 Lakoff George and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (London: The University of Chicago Press,1980), 145-146. 28

Table 1. ‘Gendered performativity’71 and ethos MASCULINE FEMININE PUBLIC PRIVATE SPEECH SILENCE MIND BODY HONOUR/PROUD NAKEDNESS SHAME AGRESSION SUBMISSION SELF-CONTROL EXCESS PIETY SUPERSTITION NOBLE SUFFERING NOBLE SUFFERING

71 Here ‘performativity’ is understood in a broad sense but also in rhetorical terms. “Performativity is the power of language to effect change in the world: language does not simply describe the world but may instead (or also) function as a form of social action. The concept of performative language was first described by the philosopher John L. Austin who posited that there was a difference between constative language, which describes the world and can be evaluated as true or false, and performative language, which does something in the world.” Cf. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0114.xml 29

3. Thecla and the metaphor of the ever-enduring virgin body. This “male woman”72 of God

There are several important levels of contextualization to keep in mind when one is trying to position the APThe, e.g., the possible socio-cultural settings of the text (where, when, why and what audience it could have been aimed to); its relation to the rest of the material of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and not least, to the rest of the ‘apocryphal acts’73. Additionally, the investigation of parallelism and juxtaposition of the latter - and APThe in particular – with the

72 Expression belongs to Kate Cooper as encountered in “The Bride of Christ, the ‘Male Woman’, and the Female Reader in Late Antiquity”, in Judith Bennett and Ruth Karras, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) and sounds like a paraphrase and an intertextual reference to the phrase this “female man of God”, originally used by Palladius in The Lausiac History, 9.1., but also forms part of the title of Gillian Cloke’s famous work from 1995, ‘This Female Man of God’: Women and spiritual power in the patristic age, AD 350–450. (London & New York: Routledge, 1995). 73 “Alongside these gospel materials (i.e., various ‘apocryphal’ gospels that did not end up being included in the New Testament – note mine) must be set another group of works of quite different sort, the literature that relates the deeds or ‘acts’ (πράξεις) of various apostles. These writings are similar in form if not always in style, and clearly were immensely popular in the churches of the first four centuries, at all levels of their membership. Each narrated the journeys, speeches and miracles of a single apostle, drawing on mostly legendary materials that circulated in early oral tradition. Their titles, containing as they invariably do the word ‘acts’, invite comparison with Lucan Acts of the Apostles, and the comparison is not wholly without a point. Like the canonical Acts, these apocrypha are narratives which interest themselves in the visions, wonders and conversions that occurred as their subjects fulfilled an apostolic mission. On the other hand, while they convey and commend the beliefs and commitments of popular Christianity and so perform a teaching function, they do not evince the theological concerns that preoccupy the canonical Acts, nor are they part of larger works. They are meant to entertain and edify even more than to instruct, and therefore can with equal profit be compared to the romantic fiction of the late Hellenistic Age, i.e., to works such as Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe, or even Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. In this instance too, however the differences seem, in the end as great as the similarities. (…) The early Christian literature of apostolic acts, then, has affinities with various literary genres in the Roman world (not excluding the sort of thing one finds in biographies of philosophers like Pythagoras or even Plotinus); but it does not conform precisely to any of them.”, Richard A. Norris, Jr. “Apocryphal writings and Acts of the martyrs” in Frances Young, et al., eds., The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 31. For a more general concise introduction of early Christian apocryphal literature and related bibliography, see Stephen J. Shoemaker’s article “Early Christian Apocryphal Literature” in Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David Hunter, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010), 521.

Hellenistic novel74 is a ‘scholarly subgenre’ in itself75. As there is already abundant and well known research on all the above mentioned questions - both when it comes to the Acts of Paul in their entirety, and the chapter referred to as the Acts of Paul and Thecla which has been circulating as an independent piece76 - here I will mark just a few basic points of orientation that have been most relevant to building up my own interpretation. The first reference point of contextualisation is - as underlined already in chapter one and two - the ‘emergence’ and development of the early Christian discourse in general and the apocryphal acts in particular, within the nurturing cultural and rhetorical paradigms of the ‘Greco-Romanness’. This perspective could be applied as well to the notions of asceticism and ‘noble suffering’ that are in the centre of interest of the current study. As Karen Torjesen elaborates:

Early Christians evolved a distinctive lifestyle and set of values expressed in Christian asceticism. Roman society provided two distinct paradigms for

74 “They are narrative fiction in prose – imaginative, creative literature, sufficiently similar to what we call novels to justify the use of the term here. They belong to a period several centuries later than the literature just evoked (i.e., myths and legends – note mine); their heyday is the second century A.D. and the latest of them were written a thousand years after the earliest expand epic. Most of them offer a mixture of love and adventure; it would seem that as the form increased in sophistication, the proportion of adventure declined, and the theme of love was treated less simplistically than in the earliest stages. Hero and heroine are always young, wellborn, and handsome, their marriage is disrupted or temporarily prevented by separation, travel in distant part and a series of misfortunes, usually spectacular. Virginity or chastity, at least in the female, is of crucial importance, and fidelity to one’s partner, together often with in the gods, will ultimately guarantee a happy ending (emphasis mine).”, B. P. Reardon, “General Introduction” in Collected Ancient Greek Novels, ed. B.P. Reardon (California: University of California Press, 1989), 1-2. 75 See, e.g., Tomas Hägg’s key-study The Novel in Antiquity (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983) but also the more recent significant contributions gathered in Marìlia Pinheiro, Judith Perkins, Richard Pervo, eds., The Ancient novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections (Groningen: Groningen University Library, 2012). 76For an extended introduction on the problems connected to dating, relation to the canonical Acts, theological tendencies, attestation and transmission of the APl, see, e.g., the considered as a ‘scholarly standard’ Wilchelm Schneemelcher’s edition of the collection of apocryphal writings initiated by Edgar Hennecke: “The Acts of Paul”, in E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha (ed. W. Schneemelcher; London: SCM Press, 1975), 322-351. Here just a swift reference to the author, date and place of origin of APThe: “According to the testimony of Tertullian, the author of the AP was a presbyter in Asia Minor, who was rewarded for his work by deposition from office but not apparently by deposition of the Church. This we can understand if we bear in mind the theological tendencies - which are really not heretical – but on the other hand observe what offence must have been occasioned on a more rigorous examination by certain particular traits in the AP. We need recall only Thecla’s baptism of herself (…). Of the person of the author nothing more can be said. His native land was Asia Minor. This is not only stated by Tertullian but may also be seen from the work itself. (…) The date likewise cannot be precisely determined. We can only say that the AP must have been written before 200, the approximate date of Tertullian’s De Baptismo. Since on the other hand it is dependent on the AP, the period between 185 and 195 may be regarded as a possible estimate.”, Ibid., 351. 31

renunciation as a vocation and Christian asceticism borrowed from both. Elite men marked for public life (which meant managing their family assets, contributing to the prestige of the city, and building their own carriers through cursus honorum) could renounce their public life for a life of philosophical retirement. Simplicity of dress (signified by the philosopher’s pallium, renunciation of an active sexual life, the discipline of the passions, a simple life and a hard bed were the markers of philosophical asceticism. A prototype for a female version of asceticism can be found among elite women. Traditional Roman mores expected widows of elite men to demonstrate their loyalty to their deceased husbands by choosing a vocation of chastity rather than remarrying. Chastity figured as a distinctly female virtue and formed the very core of female honour. When Christian teachers urged Christian women to pursue a vocation of chastity either as widows or as unmarried virgins, they were demonstrating that the Christian women excelled at this most Roman of female virtues.77

The appropriation of these cultural and social roles can be logically conceived as accompanied by adoption and re-working of rhetorical strategies in the early Christian discourse.

This leads us to the second point of reference, namely the textual environment and possible narrative correlation of the apocryphal acts. As mentioned (see footnotes 91-92 above), the parallels to the Hellenistic novel have been the focus of scholarly scrutiny and many structural meeting points with the apocryphal acts had been brought forward: the heroine (and the hero) are young and beautiful, and from a noble family, there is an always present element of travelling, many adventures and perils – which re-occur with a certain repetitive pattern – and also importantly, the virtue of chastity, especially the one of the heroine, and its defence on whatever cost is a central moving force of the narrative. Yet what interest me most in my interpretation of the narrative of APThe is how all these points of similarities can be viewed as the vehicles of the subversive rhetoric of the early Christian discourse. Here my perspective is

77 Karen Jo Torjesen, “Social and historical setting: Christianity as a culture critique”, in Young, Ayres and Louth, Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature, 193. 32

leaning towards Kate Cooper’s argument of the paradigm of the romantic novel as a one of the well suited vehicles78 for the early Christian rhetorical intentions: Since love and disruption were linked in the ancient imagination, romance was a narrative form well suited to the exploration of the limits of an established identity. Generally, it was expected that an individual’s identity should be enacted within (and against) the confines imposed by his or hers or her standing within a family and by the family’s standing within the social order. The moment at which a marriage was contracted held enormous practical an imaginative significance, since it offered a fleeting opportunity for realigning a family’s social and economic status. (…) The ancient romance can thus be understood as a rhetorical echo chamber of the dynastic fears and hopes reverberating at the marriage feasts of the provincial gentry. In chronicles of the passage from tempestuous adolescence to the restabilising foundation of a new household, ancient readers might enjoy the amplification – sometimes to comically grotesque proportions – of their deepest familial concerns.79 How these important common places of the imagination and concerns have been re-told and re-shaped in the terms of early Christian rhetoric, will be in the centre of interpretation of the narrative of the APThe that follows in the next chapter. If I have to summarize again its leading approach, it will not be concerned that much with the questions of historical veracity of the story, neither with attempts for construing possible glimpses to the life of the ‘real’ women of early Christianity, but rather will be engaging with the text as story, full of interesting characters, exciting plot and not least, skilful rhetorical devices. As Scott Fitzgerald Johnson puts it: When it comes to the question of Christianity and narrative fiction, one is frequently presented with the apparent dilemma of faith and falsity. If one believes that the Gospels are true, or that the Lives of the saints are essentially true, then this often prohibits an analysis of the form of the texts—out of concern that treating them as literature implies that they are merely literature. On the other hand, if one is convinced such texts are substantially false, then it is often the case

78A different type of appropriated rhetorical vehicles can be found in the writings of the early Christian apologist showing acquaintance with the notions of classical philosophy and the tools of the philosophical dialogue which they adopt for rhetorical purposes (see, e.g., Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho). For a general introduction to the Christian apologetical literature, see, e.g., Mark Edwards, Apologetics, in Harvey and Hunter, The Oxford Handbook, 549 - 565. 79Cooper, The Virgin and the Bride, 34. 33

that they are deemed unworthy of concern for the history of literature—perhaps because they often do make claims about reality and history. Both approaches assume their beginning with the quest for verifiable truth. However, whether the Gospels and the Lives of the saints are verifiably true or false has no necessary bearing, I suggest, on the literary techniques which their authors chose to employ in writing them. Moreover, I would claim that it is less likely that a reader will be able to understand the story, argument, or achievement of the text (truth claims or no) unless he or she has taken the time, first and foremost, to seek to understand how the texts were written, and why they have the effects that they do80.

*****

In the previous pages I have tried to sketch some of the ideas concerning the ‘modes’ of renunciation and suffering - both Greco-Roman and early Christian - that might be significant for any attempt of interpretation of the textual variations of the apocryphal acts (πράχειζ) of the apostles and the martyrdom narratives in general. Here and in the following pages I seek - with this background of complex correlations of ideas in mind - to build a textual interpretation that is sensitive to their importance, while investigating the rhetorical vehicles that might had been carriers of new, ‘Christian’ meanings81. I will try to argue the importance of the virgin- martyr metaphor as a rhetorical vehicle in a discourse aimed both towards cultural appropriation (in respect to its Hellenistic and Jewish milieu) and towards the construction of

80 See for citation with references, Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, “Late Antique Narrative Fiction: Apocryphal Acta and the Greek Novel in the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thecla”, in Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, ed., Greek Literature Late Antiquity: Dynamism, Didacticism, Classicism (Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, 2006), 189-190. 81 As Kate Cooper puts it vividly: “Christianity was in the throes of a cultural revolution during the fourth century, and young women were at the front line. In October of 312, the Emperor Constantine had captured Rome from his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, giving credit for his success to the God of the Christians. But reinventing a minority faith as a religion of empire was a complex process, and the war for hearts and minds was a more-drawn out affair than victory on the battle-field. Ties to the imperial establishment brought grace and favor to the church, but they also gave rise to a sense of moral malaise. In this environment, the ethical decisions of members of the Christian community took on a new urgency, and sexual ethics became a matter of fierce debate. By the late fourth century, renouncing the prospect of marriage and children had begun to be seen as a heroic gesture, a bold rejection of the compromises made by prosperous Christian householders. Women and children played an important role: the virginal ideal was spreading like wildfire, and Christian writers were competing to reach a female readership.” Cooper, “The Bride of Christ”, 529. 34

a new superseding identity. While being aware that such an argument cannot be built on the interpretation of just a one, or a couple of texts in that matter, and requires a much larger scope of research and textual material for comparison and analysis, I have been tempted to at least ‘try out’ this perspective of interpretation in the reading of the narrative of Thecla, and further. My approach is concentrating mainly on the attempt to trace rhetorical strategies and the ways of their textual expression with regard of the possible explicit and implicit functions of the narrative and its potential audiences. The questions concerning how these rhetorical strategies have been infiltrated into the larger socio-cultural discourse of Late Antiquity and what was their role in the transformation of Christian identity from one of cultural marginality to a discourse of authority and centrality, are much larger and complex than the scope of the current thesis. Here I will aim to explore the interpreted text while restricting my reading to a schematic contextualization and intertextual references, e.g., turning to some possible parallels with the genre of the ancient novel, and more concretely, drawing textual examples of Xenophon’s An Ephesian tale82. Another textual universe I will be seeking reference and juxtaposition with, is the Miracles of Saint Thecla, a collection that presents the second half of the Life and Miracles of Thecla (LM), written in ca. 470 in Seleukeia83 (Seleucia/ Silifke in today’s south-central Turkey). Further, in the textual analyses itself there are six narrative elements that will stand in focus while searching for rhetorical structures forming meaningful bridges to the renunciation and suffering paradigm. These elements are as follows: author-function; genre identification; explicit and implicit text-function/ effect; personas and metaphors; chronotop84 and achieved textual authority. Further, I seek the eventual links of these elements to the virgin-martyr

82 In Reardon, Collected Ancient Greek Novels (University of California Press, 2019). 83 “(…) Seleukeia-on-the Kalykadnos, the provincial capital of Roma Isauria, in southern Asia Minor. This was the site of flourishing pilgrimage and healing shrine devoted to Saint Thekla in late antiquity. Figures as diverse (and significant) as the pilgrim Egeria and Gregory of Nazianzus visited the site during this period. This fifth century collection marks the apex of literary interest in Thekla, a legendary companion of Saint Paul, and describes the cult via – via forty-six miracles plus preface and epilogue – in fascinating detail. The Miracles are highly important for religious, literary and cultural historians alike and have often been mined by scholars of late antique Christianity. However due to the lack of English translation, the text has not reached its widest possible audience, despite the prominence of Thekla’s cult in the period. It is no exaggeration to claim that Thekla was the most famous female saint in early Mediterranean Christianity, only to be eclipsed by the Virgin Mary as late as the end of fifth century or so”. Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, Introduction, in Scott Fitzgerald Johnson and Alice-Mary Talbot, eds., Miracle Tales from Byzantium (London: Harvard University Press, 2012), viii-xix. 84 Cf., Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World (Indiana University Press, 1984). 35

metaphor which I interpret as the main rhetorical drive behind Thecla’s narrative that on its turn functions on all different levels of the text serving respectively various topoi of theology, discipline and emotional effect/pathos85. Especially the latter will be in the very centre of the interpretation of the story of Thecla as we find it the Acts of Paul and Thecla.

85 πάθος: 1. anything that befalls one, an incident, accident; what one has suffered, one’s experience; and in pl., Plat.: —commonly in bad sense, a suffering, misfortune, calamity 2. of the soul, a passion, emotion, such as love, hate, etc. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 36

Fig. 2. Marble frontal of the high altar of the Cathedral of Tarragona, ca. 12th century with various scenes of the life of Thecla on the left and the right, and in the centre a mandorla with Jesus blessing the saint86; Image http://cdatarragona.net/wp-content/uploads/frontal-altar_web.jpg, courtesy of the Cathedral of Tarragona web content, reposted from http://onceiwasacleverboy.blogspot.com/2015/09/st-thecla.html

86 “It depicts six scenes from the life and martyrdom of St. Thecla arranged around a central mandorla representing the Holy Trinity: Jesus Christ blessing the saint, God the Father symbolised in the haloed Dextera Dei (or “right hand of God”) and the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove with outstretched wings. The episodes referring to the saint are shown in compartments arranged in two horizontal bands: on the left we see St. Thecla of Iconium, the fiancé Thamyris, who listens from a window of her house to Paul preaching on the virtue of chastity. Next, – moved by the Apostle’s teachings– Thecla offers her virginity up to Christ; then accused before the governor’s court she is condemned to the flames from which she would miraculously escape. The sequences on the right show the saint surrounded by wild beasts that have been tamed, baptising herself by immersion in a pool full of vermin and poisonous snakes; and finally we see Thecla released from her torments when she is freed and received in the mansion of Queen Tryphaena. The last scene depicts her death in Seleucia, surrounded by her followers, while two angels deliver her soul to heaven in the form of a dove.”, https://www.catedraldetarragona.com/cathedral/plan-11-20/

Fig. 3. Thecla depicted at her window (at left), listening to St. Paul (at centre); and at right: Thecla's mother (Theocleia) in a sixth-century fresco in the so-called Grotto of St. Paul in Ephesus. Image courtesy to http://onceiwasacleverboy.blogspot.com/2015/09/st-thecla.html

4. The virgin and ‘protomartyr’ Thecla: Virgo87 or Virago88? Building up a metaphor: appropriation, subversion or liberation?

The first encounter of the contemporary reader with the narrative of the Acts of Paul and Thecla89 inevitably holds an element of surprise; one cannot dismiss the impression of vividness of the description of the ‘adventures’ of the heroine and her ‘closeness’ to the sympathy of the reader90. Significantly, although the plot91 and the textual concerns have hardly

87 In Latin, virgin. Cf., ibid. 88 In Latin, warlike/ heroic woman. Translation aid used for all the translations from Latin in this essay is the on-line dictionary of the University of Notre Dame: William Whitaker’s Words, http://archives.nd.edu/words.html 89 Here I have used primary the English translation of Acts of Paul and Thecla in Schneemelcher 1975 edition, along with the Greek text in Lipsius 1891 edition. 90 Especially if we compare it with the text of the 5th century Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla where we find one Thecla shaped under the developing force of the canon and bound in the narrative frame of the early Christian hagiography, which leaves less space the narrative tools of emotional impact. See Johnson, Miracles of Saint Thecla, in Johnson and Talbot, Miracle Tales from Byzantium, 2-184. 91 “Acts of Paul and Thecla (Iconium, Antioch, Myra, Iconium, Seleucia) (…) Since the content of this piece is guaranteed by a wide textual tradition, the reconstruction offers no problem. The composition of the narrative is also clear: Paul comes to Iconium, preaches there (the sermon is summarized, cc. 5f., in the form of blessings) and through this sermon converts Thecla. The consequences correspond to the pattern which occurs in other apocryphal Acts: the husband (here is the fiancé), who through the woman’s continence has been deprived of her, stirs up the people or the authorities against the Apostle. Here Paul is now imprisoned. Thecla visits him by night, but is discovered and in consequence, after Paul has been expelled from the town, she is condemned to death at the stake. Rain and hail however prevent the execution of Thecla, now set free again, is able to follow Paul, who is staying meanwhile in a burial vault on the road to Daphne. Despite serious scruples Paul takes Thecla with him to Antioch (which? - Psidian Antioch located not far from Iconium or Antioch in Syria, closer to Seleucia – note mine), where at once a fresh misfortune comes upon her. A Syrian Alexander (…) falls in love with Thecla, but naturally is rebuffed and takes his revenge by having her condemned by the governor at the arena. A woman named Tryphaena, who is later described as a queen and a kinswoman of the emperor, takes her under her protection. This Tryphaena has lost her daughter Falconilla and begs Thecla to intercede for the deceased. We now come to the fight with the beasts, in course of which Thecla baptizes herself. As many beasts are set loose against her, she throws herself into a large pit full of water (and blood-thirsty seals, cf. 34f. – note mine). The seals in it are killed as by a flash of lightning. Since the other animals also do nothing to Thecla, but Tryphaena falls in a swoon and is feared that she is dead, Thecla is set free. It is characteristic for the entire AP that the detailed description of the fight with the beasts, which owing to the help of a lioness and some marvellous event does not lead to Thecla’s death, concludes with the conversion of Tryphaena and part of her household (…). After Thecla has rested eight days in the house of Tryphaena and has proclaimed the Word of God, she yearns after Paul. She learns that he is in Myra and goes after him (after dressing up like a man, cf. 40f. – note mine). After a short time together, she goes back to Iconium with the commission (from Paul, cf., 41f. – note mine) to teach the Word of God, finds her fiancé no longer alive, attempts to convert her mother (nothing is reported of any outcome) and then proceeds to Seleucia. There she enlightens many through the Word of God and dies a peaceful death (…) (I will return to the question of the ending variations in Ch. 4.3. – note mine).”, in Schneemelcher, Acts of Paul, 330-331. 39

any relevance to today’s culture, the emotions evoked are still recognisable. This first observation might prove to be a useful interpretative key for further textual analysis. As pointed out in chapter three, I aim to argue that one of the main rhetorical strategies of the early Christian discourse might be traced in the appropriation and/or subversion of concepts with structural importance for ethical and aesthetical categories of the dominant cultural milieu of the time, the world of the Greco-Roman paideia. In chapter two of this essay I also tried to outline some of these junction points of early Christianity with both Jewish and Roman concepts of renunciation and noble suffering. In the current analysis of APThe the focus is especially on the ideas of chastity and renunciation and their textual manifestations in the narrative. I try to see how they have been incorporated in the Christian story-to-be-told and what rhetorical devices might be detected in the narrative of Thecla. In this I will proceed following the natural unfolding of the text, paying special attention on the portrayal of the female protagonist (Thecla), the implicit and explicit functions of her character, the larger narrative arc it has been incorporated under in its relations to other characters, and especially to her co-protagonist, Paul.

Table 2. Rhetorical strategies Rhetorical strategies Ancient Novel APThe

Foreshadowing of key events ✓ ✓

Repetition92 (e.g., repetition ✓ ✓

of the type of peripeteia) Passion (pathos) as a plot ✓ ✓ vehicle Miracles, miraculous rescues ✓ ✓ and divine interventions The heroine is: young, ✓ ✓ beautiful and from a noble family The hero is: young beautiful ✓ • The sub-hero is and from a noble family the apostle (mediator to Christ, the “heavenly bridegroom”) The heroine is dislocated o The passion • The passion of from her family and polis of eros (the Word of) moved by her passion Christ Chastity should be preserved ✓ ✓ at all costs Preservation of chastity o Resolution • Resolution of reaches its determination of passion passion into into union with marriage Christ

92 Επαναφορά, cf. 41

Table 3. Narrative layers

Virgin-Martyr Narrative layers & Rhetorical functions

Combating erotic love in the face of her fiancée – Discipline (ascetic renunciation) & Emotional textual centrality effect/ pathos

Combating filial love/ bonds in her opposition to her Discipline (ascetic renunciation) & Emotional mother – textual centrality effect/ pathos Combating temptations - implicit importance Discipline (ascetic renunciation)

Combating the Roman authorities/ persecutors & Discipline (ascetic renunciation) & Charges of Sacrilege – explicit importance Theological & Emotional effect/ pathos

Combating for gaining (religious) authority (as an Discipline (ascetic renunciation) apostle) – textual centrality Combating for gaining male* virtues – textual Discipline (ascetic renunciation) centrality

Combating for gaining eternal life in Christ/ Theological Renunciation leads to Resurrection – textual centrality Bodily exposure/ nakedness equals innocence – Emotional effect/ pathos & Theological textual centrality Bodily transformation: ‘disguised’ into male – Discipline (ascetic renunciation)

textual centrality

Incorporated ‘theology’ in the text – explicit (e.g., in Theological beatitudes) References to Christian ritual – explicit Theological

Achieved authority (of the heroine?): Apostolic - Discipline (ascetic renunciation) &

Confessor – textual climax Theological & Emotional effect/ pathos

At the opening of the narrative of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, we first meet Paul ‘after his flight from Antioch’93 and along with him, the travelling companions Demas and Hermogenes. The first six fragments of the text give us the impression that in this narrative as expected by ‘the genre’ the main focus will be on the acts and deeds of the apostle and nothing indicates that there will be a deviation from this pattern and we are soon to encounter a strong female protagonist ‘taking over’ the plot. In the first paragraph we are being introduced to a potential line of conflict in the story: the companions of Paul are “full of hypocrisy” but he – as a perfect example of the Christian agape94 – “had eyes only for the goodness of Christ (αποβλέπων εις μόνην την αγαθοσύνην του Χριστού), did them no evil, but loved them greatly (…)” 95. In this phrase two points of interest can be put forward: first, we should bear in mind the importance of all the appearances in this narrative of metaphors related to the eyes, vision, seeing and their major importance in the ancient imagination (and not only) as a trope for the gateway to the soul but also for the great dangers connected to the love sickness. These eyesight-metaphors are broadly used in the Hellenistic novels and there will also prove to be important in the narrative of Thecla; of which there will be abundant textual examples as we will see further in the current analysis. Secondly, we should notice the word that is used in Greek for ‘goodness’ because it carries very specific connotations of what kind of ‘goodness’ it might be referring. Namely, here we encounter the noun αγαθοσύνη which is linked to ‘ἀγαθός’, one of the core notions in the Greco-Roman thought when it comes to the description of indispensable values

93 Schneemelcher, The Acts of Paul, 1f., 353. 94From ἀγαπάζω: to treat with affection, shew affection to a person, caress (https://logeion.uchicago.edu/). For more on the various verbs for describing ‘love’ used in APThe, see further in this chapter, esp. footnote 141 & 148). For a concise definition: “Agape, Greek agapē, in the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. In Scripture, the transcendent agape love is the highest form of love and is contrasted with eros, or erotic love, and philia, or brotherly love. In John 3:16, a verse that is often described as a summary of the Gospel message, agape is the word used for the love that moved God to send his only son for the world’s redemption. The term necessarily extends to the love of one’s fellow humans, as the reciprocal love between God and humans is made manifest in one’s unselfish love of others.”, Cf., https://www.britannica.com/topic/agape. 95 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 1f., 353. In the Greek text: “ό δέ Παύλος αποβλέπων είς μόνην την αγαθοσύνη του Χριστού ουδέν φαῦλον εποίει αυτοίς (…)”, Lipsius Acta, 1f., 249. Here ‘ουδέν φαῦλον εποίει αυτοίς’ can also be translated as ‘had no bad/ evil (intentions) about them’. For the translations from ancient Greek in this paper are used the open-access data-base hosted by the University of Chicago: Logeion, https://logeion.uchicago.edu and Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott, A Greek – English Lexicon (New York: American Book Company, 1913). 43

representing the exemplary ‘manliness’96. When it describes personal qualities it usually connotates to the meaning of noble, esp. of those distinguished by social position and athletic prowess. Already within this short first fragment we can also find the proclamation of the message that the apostle is carrying: “all the words of the Lord, of the doctrine (της διδασκαλίας) and of the interpretation (της ερμηνείας) of the Gospel (του ευανγελίου), both of the birth (της γεννήσεως) and of the resurrection (της αναστάσεως) of the Beloved (του ηγαπημένου) (emphases -mine)”97. It is important to note that in this concise form – maybe it would be more adequate to call it a ‘formula’ - we receive already here a textual hint of the different levels98 of meaning in the narrative that the reader might be expected to decipher. First, we have – what it is formulated here, as ‘theological layer’ of the text (or doctrine; διδασκαλίας; ‘regula fidei’) which the reader finds summarized in the beatitudes uttered by Paul when he enters the house of Onesiphorus in f.5. (I will return to the content of the beatitudes when examining that fragment). Secondly, it might be argued that another textual layer is formed by the parts of the narrative, connected to the interpretation (της ερμηνείας), especially when it comes to the matters of resurrection (της αναστάσεως) and as we shall see further in the text, especially, matters concerning the connection of resurrection with chastity – a implicit leitmotif of Thecla’s story, but also of other apocryphal acts; an interesting topic of investigation which remains outside the scope of the current analysis. I will be referring to this second group of textual connotations as the layer concerning ‘discipline’; ‘regula disciplinae’; or ascetic renunciation and might well be considering central for the narrative of Thecla, but also the one causing most trouble for both the future opponents and proponents of APThe when it came to

96ἀγαθός: 1. gentle, noble, in reference to birth; 2. brave; 3. good in moral sense (cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/). One of the two adjectives (together with καλός: beautiful; noble; cf., ibid.) that derive the noun kalokagathia (καλοκἀγαθία, ἡ,: the character and conduct of a καλὸς κἀγαθός, nobleness, goodness; cf., ibid.) which itself signifies ideal of manly virtue and conduct for the ancient Greeks. For a concise introduction of the notion of kalokagathia, see Elena Nikityuk, “Kalokagathia: to a Question on Formation of an Image of the Ideal Person in Antiquity and During Modern Time”, in Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 25(2): 429–442. 97Schneemelcher, The Acts, 1f., 353. Lipsius, Acta, 1f., 250. 98See Table 3. for comparison of these textual layers and their assumed function respectively in the narrative of Thecla. 44

establishing the orthodoxy and authority of the text (we have already mentioned above the well-known example of the outraged commentary of Tertullian in De Baptismo99. The strong ascetic tendencies100 are surely a driving force not only in APThe but also in the other apocryphal acts, as well as is the prominent role of the female protagonists in the narratives unique just for the story of Thecla. Yet, there is a ‘precedent’ in this narrative when it comes to aspect of the Christian discipline concerning teaching and baptising from women that will cause disputes in the centuries to come. Namely, this the episode that we will come to encounter in fragment 34, the self-baptism of Thecla. And third, but not least, we have the reference to Christ as the Beloved (του ηγαπημένου). This, although might seem to us like a very standard trope of Christianity, must have been a fairly novel attitude towards the Divine in the late antique cultural milieu. The ‘passionate’ Love to the Son of Man that had been introduced by early Christianity deviated from both the Roman Pax Deorum with its contractual type of relation between the polis with its citizens and the gods, secured through participation in the cults and rites of the religio in order to achieve peace with the gods and their continuous benevolence101. It also differs significantly from the solemn law of the Covenant of Judaism but also from the development of the Rabbinic Judaism of the first centuries CE with its shift towards hermeneutical approach of uncovering the layers of the Divine meaning through the interpretation of the Torah102.

99 See here footnote 20. 100 For an excellent summary on the “roman roots of Christian asceticism”, see Karen Jo Torjesen, “Social and historical setting: Christianity as culture critique”, in Early Christian Literature (eds. Young, Ayres and Louth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 193-194. As she argues there: “When Christian teachers urged Christian women to pursue a vocation of chastity either as widows or as unmarried virgin, they were demonstrating that Christian women excelled at this most Roman of female virtues” (ibid., 193.). 101 See here chapter 2., 21-22. 102 “Strikingly, the Rabbinic Judaism that emerges in the first centuries CE largely rejects the model of prophet and charismatic leader prominent in Judaic writings from scripture through the literature of Qumran, the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical literature, and Hellenistic authors such as Josephus. Rather than on models of a personal piety that might provide an individual with special access to God and God’s blessings, the Rabbis focus on the activities of the schoolhouse, seeing in the intellectual pursuit of the true meaning of the Torah the key to reinvigorating Judaism in the face of the loss of the sacrificial cult, which ended with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. This meant downplaying, or completely rejecting, other images of how one might know God. In line with this, the Rabbis were clear, for instance, that the age of prophecy, and so of direct revelation from God, had ended. All knowledge of God and God’s will would now come as a result of the Rabbis’ own study of the legacy of the Sinai revelation, the written and oral Torahs. Rabbinic Judaism thus depicted the holy man as an individual skilled in the manipulation of the law. This is an image quite different from that which had existed in Judaism up to the Rabbis’ day. This shift away from the ideal of the charismatic prophet, miracle worker, or

However, in the early Christians narratives, especially those of the apocryphal acts and the martyrs’ passions, the protagonists are excelling in their renunciation, miraculous deeds and heroic suffering through and for their Love for Christ, and not least, Imitation of Christ, witnessing for that through their deeds, and ultimately their death. In this context the figure of the Virgin and its complementary metaphor of the Bride of Christ – being also a metaphor of the Church itself – represented an enormous rhetorical potential throughout the Christian centuries to come and indeed it remains a ‘functioning’ metaphor until today103. As we will see further in the story of Thecla, it could be used to divert and subvert readers emotions from the habitual, highly familiarized through the popular literature of the epoch - presented by the Hellenistic novel - narrative of young lovers from noble families, their misfortunes and adventures in pursue of their Love while guarding their Chastity promised to one another intact. We will see further in the story of Thecla how these elements are incorporated in the textual structure of the APThe, achieving both a significant emotional impact on the reader and guaranteeing a secure bridge to his attention and sympathy for the heroine. As mentioned above, it can be well claimed that this emotional impact is also ‘functional’ today, as the same narrative pattern is equally vivid; we easily recognise the theme of the ‘quest for Love’ and the various manifestations of the paradigm firmly fixed in our cultural ‘imaginarium’, from Cinderella, to Romeo and Juliette (e.g., directly linked to narrative elements of the ancient novel to every ‘romantic’ drama or comedy played on Netflix: (young) lovers – misfortunes and adventures – proof and preservation of the fidelity to the Beloved one – happy ending. Thus, this textual layer for the purposes of the narrative analysis has been signified as ‘emotional effect/pathos’104 and read as deeply bound to the figure of the

healer with a special status in the eyes of God reflects the Rabbis’ distinctive understanding of the history of the Jewish people in their own day.”. Alan J. Avery-Peck, “The Galilean Charismatic and Rabbinic Piety: The Holy Man in the Talmudic Literature”, in A.J. Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan, eds., The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 149-166. 103 If we google the ‘Bride of Christ’ and open the first site with Christian content that pops-up, we read: “With Christ’s life, death on the cross, and resurrection, Jesus became the living embodiment of the bridegroom and a faithful husband who was willing to give up His life for the one He loved. As it is written in 2 Corinthians, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him” (2 Corinthians 11:2). Through Christ’s sacrifice, intimacy with the Father can be restored and sins forgiven. Through Christ’s atonement, we are presented to God with the purity of a virgin on her wedding day.”, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/church/the-church-is-the-bride-of-christ.html 104 See here Table 3. 46

Virgin as a metaphor. At the same time, this perspective helps to bring forward some of the paradoxes of the rhetorical device in hand: its heroine both renunciates the erotic love and ‘inflames’ with love for Christ that is signified narratively with semi-eroticized language. Not least, in the midst of this ‘emotional shift’ she vigorously renegotiate her female gender. As Cameron argues:

Virginity stood for the paradoxes at the heart of Christianity. It is this very paradoxical quality – the notion that only through virginity, that is, by denying nature, can true virtue be attained – that gave the theme a centrality over and above mere misogyny.105

As pointed previously and as will be elaborated further in my textual analysis of Thecla’s narrative, my line interpretation is unfolding around the understanding of such semiotic tension of paradoxality in the figure of the virgin-martyr. At the same time, I am seeking to investigate the strategies of ‘subversion’ of cultural categories as they might be potentially manifested on narrative level through the creation and development of new key ‘metaphorical personas’ to step on the scene of the emerging Christianity and its religious ‘experiences’ and ‘practices’. Amongst the most significant of these ‘metaphorical personas’ in the rhetoric of early Christianity were the figures of the female Virgin and the female Martyr, along with the composite persona of the female Virgin-Martyr106. What kind of concrete textual manifestation of this hypothesis can be found in the narrative in hand shall soon be discovered as we approach the entrance on the scene (in fragment 7.) of our heroine Thecla. But before that, let us take a

105Averil Cameron, “Virginity as a Metaphor: women and the rhetoric of early Christianity”, in History as a Text: The Writing of Ancient History (ed. Averil Cameron; London: Duckworth, 1989), 190. 106 Still until today the full ‘title’ of Saint Thecla in the Greek Orthodox Christianity reads Holy Virgin, Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles. For an interesting insight on the rituals of the contemporary commemoration of the feast day of St. Thecla (September 24/ October 7) in Eastern Orthodox Christianity as celebrated in the Patriarchy in Jerusalem, see https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/blog/2018/10/07/the-feast-of- saint-thecla-at-the-patriarchate/. The interesting topic of the development of the cult of Saint Thecla and the transformations of the ‘authority’ and popularity of the saint in the East and West Christianity will unfortunately remain outside the scope of the current essay. For study on the historical and geographical development of the cult of Saint Thecla, see Stephen J. Davis, The Cult of Saint Thecla (Oxford University Press, 2001). 47

look at the striking portrayal of the apostle of beatitudes, Paul - the implied protagonist107 of the narrative - who soon might prove to be merely a foil108 for the female heroine. It is a noteworthy portrayal109 of Paul that we encounter in f.3, after learning that ‘a man named Onesiphorus’110 (‘τις ανήρ ονόματι Ονησιφόρος ακούσας τον Παύλον παραγενόμενον είς Ικόνιον’)111, hearing the news that the apostle is coming to Iconium112 went out with his family to meet him and welcome him in his house. He had been passed on a description of the apostle from one Titus: ‘For (hitherto) he had not seen him in the flesh but only in the spirit.’ (‘ού γάρ είδεν αυτόν σαρκί αλλά μόνον πνεύματι’)113. We might well ponder what is meant here with the seeing ‘not in the flesh, but only in the spirit’, and not least, what kind of spirit (πνεῦμα)114 is the reference to, even more so as it is being introduced with the dative case (in the use of locative) of the grammatical object (πνεύματι), implying also a

107 “Protagonist, in ancient Greek drama, the first or leading actor. The poet Thespis is credited with having invented tragedy when he introduced this first actor into Greek drama, which formerly consisted only of choric dancing and recitation. The protagonist stood opposite the chorus and engaged in an interchange of questions and answers. According to Aristotle in his Poetics, Aeschylus brought in a second actor, or deuteragonist, and presented the first dialogue between two characters. Aeschylus’ younger rival, Sophocles, then added a third actor, the tritagonist, and was able to write more complex, more natural dialogue. That there were only three actors did not limit the number of characters to three because one actor would play more than one character.”, https://www.britannica.com/art/protagonist 108“Foil, in literature, a character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character. An obvious example is the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson is a perfect foil for Holmes because his relative obtuseness makes Holmes’s deductions seem more brilliant.”, https://www.britannica.com/art/foil-literature 109 I agree with the interpretation that this description of Paul – paralleled in some early visual representations (cf., here Fig. 3) of the apostle and basically persevered in the main characteristics of later iconography) might not have so much to do neither with a historically accurate portrayal or with a generic ‘typical portrait of a Jew’, but rather could be based in the physiognomic consideration of late Antiquity of how a successful leader/ general should look like. Robert M. Grant is pointing to a popular phrase of the poet Archilochus that evidently had been widely cited and paraphrased in the second and third centuries and fitted well to one of the most popular in early Christianity own metaphoric identifications as ‘soldiers’ of God (along with the one of ‘athletes’ of God). See Robert M. Grant, “The description of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla”, VC 36:1 (1982), 1-4. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1583027. 110 Regarding the etymology of the name, it could be translated literary as something like ‘Attributed/ Carrier of Good Luck’, or simply ‘Lucky’, cf., ‘ὄνησις’: use, profit, advantage, good luck & ‘φόρος’: payment, tribute, https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 111 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 2f., 353. Lipsius, Acta, 2f., 236-237. 112 Something that might at least imply an active network of Christian communities in that region within which news like that would have travelled and might as well explain some of the scenes of female ‘supporters’ of Thecla in Antioch that we will find further in fragment 32 & 33. 113 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 2f., 353. Lipsius, Acta, 2f., 236-237 114 πνεῦμα πνεῦμα, ατος, τό, πνέω: 1. blowing, πνεύματα ἀνέμων; 1.1. metaph., θαλερωτέρῳ πν. with more genial breeze or influence; 2. like Lat. spiritus or anima, breathed air, breath; 2.1. that is breathed forth, odour, scent; 3. spirit, Lat. afflatus, An.: inspiration, NT; 4. the spirit of man; 5. spirit; in NT of the Holy Spirit, τὸ Πνεῦμα. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu. 48

meaning of a ‘location’ of encounter. If we assume that the meaning of ‘spirit’ here might be the one of ‘the Holy Spirit, τὸ Πνεῦμα’, might not be that farfetched to suggest a possible reference to a sort of ‘visionary’ religious experience. There is a further hint in this direction in the statement of Onesiphorus following the encounter with Paul’s travelling companions that: ‘I do not see in you any fruits of righteousness’ (f.4.). Yet noting these potential queries regarding the theology of text, my attention remains on the merely rhetorical centrality of the connectedness of religious experience with the sight and seeing and its related metaphors in the Christian narratives:

According to Paul’s testimony, the appearances of the resurrected Christ, eye witnessed by a series of different spectators, underpin the tradition of faith: the visual nature of the resurrection plays a key role in the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection. Similarly, since to the early Christians Jesus’ resurrection was a historical event, their narrative accounts of his life, death and resurrection drew on Greek forms of historiography and biography, privileging the idea of autopsy. Like earlier Greek texts, the single-authored double-work Luke-Acts and the gospel of John (both late first/early second century CE) give particular prominence to eyewitness authority (Luke 1:2; John 1:14; 19:35 and passim) 115.

It is in a scene rich of allegories related to the ‘sight’ and seeing - and the absence of it - where we meet for the first time “ a virgin (named) Thecla – her mother was Theocleia” (“Θέκλα τις παρθένος Θεοκλείας116 μητρός) and she “was betrothed to a man (named) Thamyris” (“μεμνηστεθμένη ανδρί Θαμύριδι117”) sitting alone by a window in her house not being able to see Paul, but only “listened day and night to the word of the virgin life as it was spoken by Paul” (“ήκουσεν νυκτός και ημέρας τόν περί αγνείας λόγον λεγόμενον υπό τού Παύλου”) that he delivers “in the midst of the assembly in the house of Onesiphorus” (“εν μέσω της εκκλησίας

115 Jane Heath, “Sight and Christianity: Early Christian attitudes to seeing”, in Sight and the Ancient Senses (ed. Michael Squire; London and New York: Routledge 2016), 220-221. 116 Concerning the etymology of the name of Thecla’s mother here can be proposed a composite of: θεός, ὁ/ God and κλείω in the meaning of to shut, close, confine. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 117 Cf., θαμυρίζω, assemble. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 49

εν τω Ονισιφόρου οίκω118”)119. The metaphor of the window open to the world is perfectly suited to imply both the confined state of the virgin Thecla within the walls of her household – she is bound to stay inside although ‘she desired to be counted herself worthy to stand in Paul’s presence’ while ‘she saw that many women and virgins going in to Paul’120 - and at the same time enables her to listen to his message, i.e., the new Word and the new world coming into her121. This might serve for a fine example of the ambiguous and appropriated usage of common metaphorical devices and late antique natural law theories122 into new Christian rhetoric.

118 It looks like a clear indication for a ‘house church’. “While there is and agreement over the variated forms of leadership in the house churches of the first and second centuries, there is considerable controversy over the meanings of these roles for claiming a division within the church between clergy and laity. The vitality of the house churches was generated by the multiple roles and ministries that their members undertook. Those with some social status and a modicum of wealth took on the roles of patrons by hosting meals, writing letters of recommendation, giving to leaders and sending contributions to other churches. Patrons were often acknowledged by giving them leadership roles. Debate centres on whether these leaders were early versions of bishops. Others took on administrative ministries, caring for the sick, overseeing the poor, and securing training for orphans. Those exercising these were designated as administrator or overseer (episkopos) and manager (diakonos). Those with responsibility for the group were designated elders (presbyteros). The question posed by such titles is: do these terms in the second century mean the same thing as they do in the fourth (and what were the women’s modes of participation in them – note mine). House churches recognized the ministries of revelation in the work of travelling prophets or prophets in residence (emphasis mine), and developed criteria for testing their authenticity.” Karen Jo Torjesen, “Clergy and Laity”, in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (ed. Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 389-406. 119 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 7f., 355. Lipsius, Acta, 7f., 240-241 120 Ibid. 121 The window lets in the light and air in and signifies the openness of a confined and private space towards the theoretically endlessly expanding and variable – but also potentially hostile - world outside. By that it stands for the embodied symbol of the heuristic orientation of the senses and the mind towards new impressions, ideas and knowledge but also points to the restrictions of our ‘framed’ and restricted view. The examples of metaphorical uses of the window in art and literature are of course countless, but here I will refer again to a staple example in the common cultural imaginarium, the opening of the famous ‘window scene’ in Romeo and Juliet: “What light through yonder window breaks?/It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”, cf., William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2 “In Capulet’s Orchard”, https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays. However, it is needed to underline the ambiguous emotional charge of the window as a metaphor - as mentioned - it also signifies all the dangers and temptations that may enter through the senses and attack the defences of the soul. For biblical references, see, e.g., Joel 2:9, Jeremiah 9:21, passim. 122“It may reflect a belief common in antiquity that sight was the most powerful among the senses, occupying “an unparalleled position in the range of human capabilities,” and therefore must have engendered a much deeper reflection. It is a frequent motif in mythic stories where it often appears in peculiar forms, such as the Cyclops’ eye, the eye of the Graeae, those of Argus, Lamia, or Gorgon. It would prove difficult to find ears and hearing as a motif in mythology in such abundance, though it does appear e.g. in the Sirens episode in the Odyssey, or the donkey ears of Midas, or in the figure of Fama, the personification of fame and renown, described by Virgil as having multiple tongues, eyes, and ears. Both the Greeks and the Romans may therefore be considered primarily as cultures of the eye and of visualizers”. See together with references, Julia Doroszewska “Windows of Curiosity: Eyes and Vision in Plutarch’s De Curiositate (Mor. 515 B–523 B)”. GRBS 59 (2019): 158–178. 50

Thecla sits by the window but cannot see Paul, only hears the ‘word of the virgin life’ so the ‘passion’ that builds up in her through Paul’s preaching shall not be confused by the reader – but is still rhetorically referenced to - the fatal power of Eros that we know from the Ancient novels that enters through the eyes. Here is how the “machinations in Love’s plot” with its dangerous attack through the sight is described when introducing the young heroine and hero in Xenophon’s Ephesian Story (one of the Ancient Greek novels particularly well suited for drawing potential parallels with APThe): “Her eyes were quick; she had the bright glance of a young girl, and yet the austere look of a virgin.(…) Then they saw each other, and Anthia was captivated by Habrocomes, while Love got the better of Habrocomes. He kept looking at the girl and in spite of himself could not take his eyes off her. Love held him fast and pressed home his attack. And Anthia too was in a bad way, as she let his appearance sink in, with rapt attention and eyes wide open; and already she paid no attention to modesty (…)”123 As we will see further in Thecla’s narrative, there are many textual hints that keep the reader until the end in suspense about the nature of her passion. Already in the next scene (f.8, 9 & 10) there is a further accent the ambiguity of her passion and the dangers that it might bring. It is especially underlined by her mother’s ‘hostile’ window metaphor when she describes to Thamyris her daughter’s perilous and unproper behaviour for “a maiden of such modesty”: “Thamyris, this man is upsetting the city of Iconians and thy Thecla in addition124; for all the women and young people (“αι γυναίκες και οι νέοι”) go into him, and are taught by him. ‘You must’ he says, ‘fear one single God only and live chastely.’ (“μόνον θεόν φοβείσθαι και ζην αγνως”), And my daughter also, like a spider at the window(“ως αράχνη επί της θυρίδος”), bound by his words,

123 Xenophon, An Ephesian Story, Collected Ancient Greek Novels (ed. B.P. Reardon. Oakland, California: University of California Press 2019), 150. 124 “The idea of virginity had not always been accepted so warmly. Support for widows and virgins had begun as a form of organized charity in the first-century church, and in the second and third centuries, the unmarried maiden is visible in Christian literature as an icon of purity. But if she remained unmarried by choice rather than necessity, a virgin’s rejection of expectations could pose a threat to the social order. Yet by the late fourth century, the ascetic revolution had come to stay. The ascetic movement was among other things a youth movement, and it was not universally accepted as respectable (emphases mine). A frisson of suspicion surrounding sexual asceticism was still in the air, and the “silent majority” of Christians often found the shock tactics of the ascetics alarming. Many Christian parents suspected that the young were being steered by older “handlers” who could not be trusted. In the cities, groups of virgins would sometimes be found in a bishop’s entourage, their visible innocence an advertisement of their leader’s moral purity, their otherworldly virtue a proof of his ability to mobilize the power of prayer. More disturbingly, it was not unknown for groups of male ascetics to play an unsavoury role in the cities, as catalysts for religious violence.” Cooper, “The Bride”, 529-530. 51

is dominated by a new desire and a fearful passion; for the maiden hangs upon the things he says, and is taken captive .” (“η θυγάτηρ ως αράχνη επί της θυρίδος δεδεμένη τοίς υπ’ αυτού λόγοις κρατείται επιθυμία καινή και πάθει δεινώ”125 ).126 In this outburst of the mother we have in a nutshell a resume of most of the of the fears and preoccupations that early Christianity must have been raising in the citizens of the polis. It has been amongst the claims voiced by the pagan authors127 that the Christian teaching had a particularly strong attraction to (young) women and children, i.e., the ones with supposedly weaker capacity of moral judgment and reason. The apologetic reflex of early Christians towards these attitudes might as well represent one of the main reasons behind the dominance of the virgin-martyr trope – namely, the ultimate subversion of weakness into power: even the young maidens (i.e., the most ‘fragile’ morally in the hierarchy of the polis’ population) when ‘trained’ in Christian asceticism were able of display extraordinary valour in defending their chastity. They are being additionally bound to their faith in the (fully developed by the 4th and 5th century, but already rhetorically very visible in the narrative in hand) allegory of the betrothal to Christ being their Bridegroom and them, His Brides – even when it comes to witness for their love for God through their death128.

Early Christianity had always carried an ambivalent legacy about women’s relations to men. Women were powerful, but their power was dangerous. The story of Adam and Eve captured the problem: the Achilles’ heel of male rationality was men’s willingness to be charmed and persuaded by the fairer sex.

125 Cf., δεινόω, to make terrible: to exaggerate. 126 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 8 & 9f., 355-356. Lipsius, Acta, 9f., 242. Emphases in citation – mine. 127 See Jakob Engberg, “Martyrdom and Persecution: Pagan Perspectives on the Prosecution and Execution of Christians c.110-210 AD. Contextualising Early Christian Martyrdom”. In Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity, vol. 8 (eds., J. Engberg, U. Eriksen, and A. K. Petersen; Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2010), 93- 117. 128 As pointed out earlier in this paper, this has been another common point in the reflection of the pagan authors on the Christian character: an ambiguous astonishment of their display of bravery in the face of death (cf., core value of the Roman male valour in itself) that - along with the renunciation (corresponding to the value of modesty, and manly control and moderation of passions) - could evoke both admiration (cf., e.g., Galen, from On Plato’s Republic, in Arabic translation), but also critique that this values when observed in Christians are merely obstinacy rather than a display of a true moral character (cf., e.g., Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.3 ). Jacob Engberg, et al. “The other Side of the Debate. Translation of Second Century pagan Authors on Christians and Christianity”, in In Defence of Christianity: Early Christian Apologists, vol. 15 (eds., J. Engberg, A.C. Jakobsen, and J. Ulrich.; trans. G. Weakley Frankfurt: Peter Lang 2014), 229-239. 52

It was the genius of Christian virginity to break the link between feminine charm and male weakness in the ancient imagination. During the second and third centuries, the virgins and widows of the church began to be seen as a source of the church’s spiritual power. Virgins could live as “Brides of Christ.”129

However, in Thecla’s story we can find a very subtle and skilful overlapping of these two visions of the feminine ideal – the Virgin Bride of Christ and the “male woman” – without the latter taking over the former130. In Thecla’s story we can observe merely a gentle shift of the knowledge and sympathies of the readers, achieved through the ‘borrowing’ of the Eros- plot rhetoric of the familiar narrative structure of the Ancient novel to culminate almost unnoticed in a subversion of the paradigm: it is no longer the pagan Eros who is the deus ex machina of the narrative but the Christian God, and more precisely, his Word – Christ.

***** The reader is eased into the familiar narrative universe of the ancient novel: it comes without difficulty to recognize and empathize with the young and beautiful virgin from a noble family who is “taken captive” by a “new desire and a fearful passion” (Ibid., 9f.). It is made known that she is betrothed with Thamyris, a man apparently also from one of the first families in Iconium – as we shall see in 12f. he invites Demas and Hermogenes “ to a sumptuous banquet, with much wine, great wealth and a splendid table” and later he gathers great many to support

129 For full citation with references see, Cooper, “The Bride”, 530. 130It should be noted that the latter ideal (of the ‘male woman’) is achieving a big popularity in the following centuries being manifested in the figure of the ‘transvestite saint’. “In fact, during the late fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, church writers produced a whole series of monastic legends about women disguised as men: at least eleven vitae of transvestite female saints were published during this period. Within this group of texts may be included the vitae of Saints Anastasia (Anastasios), Apolinaria (Dorotheos), Athanasia (wife of Andronikos), Eugenia (Eugenios), Euphrosyne (Smaragdus), Hilaria (Hilarion), Mary (Marinos), Matrona (Babylas), Pelagia (Pelagius), Susannah (John), and Theodora (Theodoros). These Lives each exhibit subtle variations on the same theme. Some of the heroines (Apolinaria, Eugenia, Euphrosyne, Hilaria) take on male dress in order to escape their parents’ inflexible expectations of marriage and to travel incognito to monastic areas. Others leave already existing marriages, sometimes with their husbands’ consent (Athanasia), and sometimes against their husbands’ wishes (Matrona, Theodora). Still others, like the prostitute Pelagia, disguise themselves as men in order to mark their conversion to Christianity and the monastic life, and their break from a sinful past. In all cases, the act of crossdressing enables the women to enter the monastic life unhindered by binding familial or social prejudices”. For citation with references and a concise introduction to the topic, see Stephen J. Davis, “Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men”. JECS 10:1 (2002), 1-36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2002.0003 53

his claim against Paul heading to the house of Onesiphorus, being “full of jealousy and wrath” and followed by the “rulers and officers and a great crowd with cudgels” (15.f.). Most importantly, we also learn that his actions and passions are ruled by his love for Thecla. When he first approaches Thecla asking her to turn away from the passion that holds her “distracted” and turn to him (Ibid.,10f.), he stands before her “at one at the same time loving her and yet afraid of her distraction” (“φιλών131 αυτήν, άμα δε καί φοβούμενος την έκπληξιν αυτής”). Notably, he does not plead to her love but to her sense of shame132: “Turn to thy Thamyris and be ashamed”133. At this point we still have not heard a single word uttered by our heroine, neither has she lifted her eyes to look at the fiancé. As if being bound in a spell – indeed soon in the text we will find accusations in sorcery against Paul – she sits looking down and making no answer, but like one stricken” (“κάτω βλέπουσα κάθησαι, καί μηδέν αποκρινομένη134 αλλά παραπλήξ”). Thecla has all the symptoms of a fatal love sickness that we are familiar with from the world of the Ancient novel (she doesn’t eat or sleep, nor responds to the pleads of her family135), and in the next sentence comes the scene describing the mourning of the whole household as if Thecla is on her death bed: “And those who were in the house wept bitterly, Thamyris for the loss of wife, Theocleia for that of a daughter, the maidservants for that of a mistress”136. She is as dead for the world that she ones knew and loved, and this brings waves of disruption in her oikos, and respectively in a larger scale, for

131 φιλέω /φιλῶν (part sg pres. act masc. nom): 1.to love, regard with affection; to love and cherish as one’s wife 2. to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome a guest 3. to kiss, to kiss one another. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 132 “Few concepts can claim a greater significance in early Greek ethics than aidōs, or a sense of shame. In Hesiod’s myth of the races, the collapse of human society is marked by the flight of the goddesses Aidōs and Nemesis (‘righteous indignation’) from the earth to Olympus. At the conclusion of the Iliad Achilles regains his humanity when he is moved by aidōs and pity to release Hector’s body to Priam. And in the collection of didactic verses attributed to Theognis, we find: ‘There is no better treasure you will lay down for your children than aidōs, which attends good men, Cyrnus.’” See for complete citation with references Christopher C. Raymond, “Shame and Virtue in Aristotle”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 53 (2017), 111-161. 133 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 9 & 10f., 356. Lipsius, Acta, 9 & 10f., 242-243. 134 ἀποκρίνω: 2. to answer charges, defend oneself. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 135 Cf., e.g., “As time went on, the boy was unable to go on; already his whole body has waisted away and his mind has given in (might tell us something about what to expect of Thamyris destiny? – note mine), so that Lycomedes and Themisto were very despondent, not knowing what had happened to Habrocomes, but afraid at what they saw. Megamedes and Euippe were just as afraid for Anthia, as they watched her beauty wasting away without apparent reason. (…) Both lay ill; their condition was critical, and they were expected to die at any moment, unable to confess what was wrong.” Xenophon, Ephesian, 152. 136 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 9 & 10f., 356. Lipsius, Acta, 9 & 10f., 242-243. 54

the whole polis. This stage of the narrative corresponds well with the plot structure in the novels when the disaster first strikes and the order in the world of the heroes is shattered. Now the reader stands at the threshold of the long series of adventures – most of them serving to test and challenge the moral character of the heroine and the hero – while the ‘silent’ subversion of personas and values in the story of Thecla will continue. While at this stage of the narrative the reader’s expectation could still be that Thamyris and Thecla might stand for the hero and heroine a la ancient novel137, Thamyris is trying to bribe Demas and Hermogenes with “a sumptuous banquet, with much wine” into providing him with information about Paul and his teaching: “Tell me, you men, what is his teaching, that I also may know it; for I am greatly distressed about Thecla because she so loves138 the stranger139, and I am deprived of my marriage”(Ibid., 13f.). This sudden love of Thecla of a stranger and her peculiar state of stupefied rejection of Thamyris and by this of her duties to the family and polis brings narrative connotations of another element of popular stories about travelling sorcerers infamous for their skills of love magic. As we shall see already in the next

137 Cf., with Kate Coopers analysis on the Acts of Andrew where she argues also that “[w]e see these elements (i.e., significant characters’ triangles important for the rhetorical functioning of the apocryphal acts in parallelism with those in the ancient novels – note mine) at play even more strikingly in the triangle of Andrew, Aegeatas, and Maximilla. When they are first introduced, Aegetas and his wife Maximilla might be taken as the hero and heroine of an ancient romance.”, Kate Cooper, “The Bride that is no Bride”, in the Virgin and the Bride, p.46. 138 The same verb ‘φιλέω’ is used for Thecla’s feelings to Paul as the one describing Thamyris’ devotion to Thecla in the previous episode (cf., above footnote 143), which to be noted is not the same as the one describing Demas’ and Hermogenes’ behaviour when flattering Paul “as if they loved him” (“ως αγαπώντες αυτόν”) (Ibid.,1f.). Cf., ἀγαπάζω / ἀγαπῶντες (part pl.): to treat with affection, shew affection to a person, caress. Neither is the same verb for love used to describe the affection to Paul towards Demas and Hermogenes in “but loved them greatly” (“αλλ’ έστεργεν αυτούς σφοδρά”). Cf., στέργω/ ἔστεργεν (3rd sg, imperf.): 1.to love, of the mutual love of parents and children; of king and people; of brothers and sisters; of friends; (less frequent) of husband and wife 2.generally, to be fond of, shew liking for; also of things, to accept gladly. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 139 The figure of the stranger in ancient narrative (and not only) is a broad topic of interpretation on its own right. For a concise introduction on the stranger in the ancient novels, and respective rules and conduct of hospitality, and respectively gratitude, see, e.g.: “The term hospitium defines proper host–guest relations and involves interaction between people of different cities rather than fellow citizens. The stranger is considered to be under the protection of a god, Zeus Xenios for the Greeks or Jupiter Hospitalis for the Romans. The institution is designed to welcome strangers and integrate them into the local community. This is accomplished through the acceptance of the guest in the house, bathing, clothing, feasting, and the exchange of gifts of hospitality. The host is expected to accompany his guest to court, protect his legal interests, and provide a festive occasion for his stay He is also expected to facilitate his homecoming by providing resources for travel. The guest must respect and honor his host and family. Betrayal of this hospitium is thought to be an offence against the gods.” For complete citation with references, see Stavros Frangoulidis, “Reception of Strangers in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, The Examples of Hypata and Cenchreae”, in A Companion to the Ancient Novel (ed. E. P. Cueva and S. Byrne; Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 275-288. 55

scene that is exactly the accusation that the enraged crowd is shouting when led by Thamyris to Onesiphorus’ house to capture Paul: “Away with the sorcerer! For he has corrupted all our wives!” (Ibid., 15f.). At the same time, exercising magic has been also one of the accusations towards the early Christians of which we find reference in the ancient sources140. However, what interests us most here is how this textual tension expressed in the rivalry between Paul and Thamyris (and the order and traditions of the ancient the polis in his face) develops in Thecla narrative by managing to overcome the paradox of the contradiction with the values of familial faithfulness and obedience along with the expectations for the female conduct summarised in the ideal of sophrosyne141 that must have been shared by pagans and Christians alike:

In an ordinary romance, the episode of the heroine spellbound by a travelling magos would not seem out of place, but that the girl should never recover would be some cause for alarm. The expectation is clearly that the audience will identify with the heroine’s rejection of her duty to family, city and empire. But we know from the tombstones of countless chaste wives throughout the Roman empire that such duties to past and future generations were valued as much by Christians as by pagans.

An important chapter in the history of the city in late antiquity, and of the encroachment of Christianity into its life, is bound up in the rhetorical antithesis – highlighted by competition over the alliance of a pure woman – between the well-meaning but spiritually inadequate householder and the visionary Christian ascetic.142

Indeed, the ambiguity of the narrative concerning the heroine’s action and her future destiny continues in the next fragments and the reader is left in suspense if the young virgin is heading towards her moral distraction or the hoped for ‘happy ending’. Paul is arrested and brought in front of the “judgment-seat” of the proconsul where he in another fragment (16 &

140See for example in Beard, Religions of Rome, 225-226. 141 σωφροσύνη: prudence, self-control, moderation, cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 142 Cooper, “The Bride that is no Bride”, p.55 56

17f., cf., beatitudes in 5f.) linked to the implicit ‘theology’ of the text (see above this chapter and Table 2.) is pronouncing the moral grounds of the Word of God that he is teaching: “If I today am examined as to what I teach, then listen, Proconsul. The living God, the God of vengeance, the jealous God, the God who has no need of nothing (“ἀπροσδεής143”) has sent me since he desires salvation of men, that I may draw them away from corruption and impurity, all pleasure and death, that they may sin no more. (…)144”. Here for the purposes of the current analysis should be noted the hint in that summary of the apostle’s teaching to rhetorical bound – with major significance in the early Christian discourse - on the one hand, between virginity and resurrection, and on the other, the antithetical, between pleasure (i.e., especially sexual) and death. As Dale B. Martin points out:

A common understanding among ancient Jews and Christians was that the angels are androgynous, or perhaps completely male. They need not in any case, reproduce themselves the way human beings do because they are not subject to death. Marriage therefor, was completely implicated in the dreaded cycle of sex, birth, death and decay, followed by more sex, birth, death and decay. As John Chrysostom put it many years later, “where there is death, there is marriage” (On Virginity 14.6.). In the resurrection Jesus taught, that cycle will have been broken. Marriage will be obsolete and even offensive in the kingdom of God. Jesus’ rejection of the traditional family and his creation of an alternative community signalled the imminent, or perhaps incipient, in-breaking of the kingdom of God.145

But let us return to our heroine and her upcoming adventures in defence of her chastity while following the call of the “word of the virgin life” (cf., 7f.) but not least, following Paul. As we see in the next fragments her actions still fit the inflamed by Eros heroine of the ancient novel. “The wrath of Thamyris’ eros is not enough to restore his standing with Thecla, however. He

143 ἀπροσδεής: without want of anything; self-sufficient. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 144 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 16&17f., 357. Lipsius, Acta, 7f., 246-247. 145 Dale Martin, Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016), 105-106. 57

brings Paul before the proconsul, who has him led off to prison. Thecla clings to the apostle with determination and manages to slip out of her house one night to visit him”146. The description of this nocturnal escape from her home and the following scene where she bribes her way into Paul’s prison cell, are indeed in full compliance with the tribulations that we can find in the ancient romances. In the cover of the night she bribes the door-keeper with her bracelets and the goaler with her silver mirror. Both gestures can be read as a metaphor of Thecla “giving away” these symbols of women’s vanity, an accessories in service of accentuating beauty - and eventually, wealth – and at the same time, “exchanging” them symbolically for Paul’s shackles and the listening to his word instead of looking to her beautiful reflection in the mirror. “[And] so went in to Paul and sat at his feet and heard (him proclaim) the mighty acts of God. And Paul feared nothing but comported himself with full confidence in God; and her faith also was increased, as she kissed his fetters” (Ibid, 18f.). But this new found intimacy does not last long and soon Thamyris and Thecla’s household members who are in search for her – “they hunted her through the streets as one lost” (Ibid., 19f.) – find out from the door-keeper about her whereabouts. “And they went as he had told them and found her, so to speak, bound with him in affection (“συνδεδεμένη τη στοργή”).147 As expected, Thecla’s fiancé and family are not happy with this discovery and Paul is brought again before the “judgment-seat” while Thecla “rolled herself upon the place where Paul taught when he sat in prison” (20f.). Let us compare again with one passage from Xenophon’s An Ephesian Tale when Anthia approaches Habrocomes in the prison where he is thrown in one of their adventures: “With this she kissed him, embraced him, clang to his chains, and rolled at his feet”148.

146 Cooper, “The Bride that is no Bride”, pp. 50-51 147 Here we need to accentuate again on the variable lexicological use for describing ‘love’ in the Greek text. In this scene for example which sounds highly erotically loaded in the English translation, in Greek the word used for ‘affection’ is the noun στοργή, ἡ which derives from the verb στέργω (see above footnote 148), the same that we find to describe Paul’s feelings towards his travelling companions, Demas and Hermogenes in 1f. 1. στοργή, ἡ: love, affection, esp. of parents and children; rarely sexual love. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 148 Xenophon, Ephesian Tale, 165. 58

***** With this remarkable scene, and in the following fragment (21f.), we enter a new stage of the narrative. We not only venture into the cycle of martyrdom of Thecla but our heroine raises her eyes for the first time in the story, “looking steadily at Paul” (“Παύλω ατενίζουσα149”) (20f.) and a bit further, “looked steadily at him (“προσείχεν150 αυτώ ατενίζουσα”) (at the “Lord sitting in the form of Paul”- note mine)” (21f.): Thecla is for the first time in the story no longer only the Listener.

The continent heroine is essentially not a speaker but a listener. Her reluctance to speak serves both to amplify the truth of the apostle’s word and to mark her as a point of identification for the audience. If falsehood was associated with the uncontrolled speech of old women151, the rapt listening of the feminine youth and purity were linked to the truth. The attractive, aristocratic, attentive young virgin was the type of the ideal listener, straining after truth, and the repulsive, lowly, garrulous, and jaded old woman was the type of the suspicious speakers. For the apostle to preach to a willing female listener served as an overarching metaphor for the Christian mission, whether or not the preaching was actually taken as a substantive call to continence.

If we imagine the continent heroine as an idealized listener, we can come one step closer to understanding how the new, heroic continence changed the terms of the classical rhetoric of sophrosyne and womanly influence.152

However, our heroine will be soon urged again to speak but this time in much more threatening way then the earlier insisting - but still loving - inquiries from her mother and fiancé (see 10f.) She is to face her first public trial when summoned in front of the governor after Paul also had been questioned. And while the crowd is shouting to Paul the already familiar accusations of

149 ἀτενίζω: to look intently, gaze earnestly. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 150 προσεῖχεν (verb 3rd sg imperf ind. act, cf., http://www.perseus.tufts.edu), from προσέχω: 1. to hold to, offer 2. to turn to or towards a thing 3. metaph., to devote oneself to a thing. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 151 See for example, the reference to the “old wives’ tales” in Plato’s Lysis 205d, as well as, biblical references as the urging in Pastoral Epistles to “avoid the profane tales told by old women” (1 Tim 4:7). 152 Cooper, “The Bride That is No Bride”, 63-64 59

sorcery that we know from 15f. but the governor “gladly” hears the apostle’s words “concerning the holy works of Christ” (20f.), Thecla is confronted with questioning about her disobedience to the “law of the Iconians” due to her refusal to marry Thamyris. Thus, it is becoming more and more clear for the reader that this “new desire and fearful passion” (cf., 9f.) that had besieged the Virgin is endangering not just her but the whole order of thing and mores of the community. This might be the reason why – while being somehow paradoxical for the contemporary audience – the punishment she is condemned to by the governor is far more severe than Paul’s. He is “scourged” and “drove out of the city” (cf., 21f.) but Thecla is sentenced to be burned at the stake with her own mother pleading for the severe judgment: “Burn the lawless one! Burn her that is no bride in the midst of the theatre, that all the women who have been taught by this man may be afraid” (cf., 21f.). With this swift turn in the heroine’s destiny when even her own mother wishes her death – a move worthy of Aeschylus’ tragedy – Thecla is entering the protagonist position in the narrative and from this point on readers’ empathy if firmly fixed on her struggles. In the next scene of the “unavoidable spectacle” (“ανάνκην της θεωρίας”153) (ibid.) of the execution we find a rhetorical accent on this new elevated gaze of the heroine with an abundance of references to sight and seeing: “[but] Thecla sought for Paul as lamb in the wilderness looks about for the shepherd (περισκοπεί154 τον ποιμένα). And she looked upon the crowd (εμβλέψασα155 εις τον όχλον), she saw the Lord (είδεν156 τον κύριον) sitting in the form of Paul and said: “As if I were not able to endure, Paul has come to look after me (ήλθεν Παθλός θεάσασθαί157 με).” And she looked steadily at him (και προσείχεν αύτω ατενίζουσα158); but he departed into heavens” (ibid., 21f. – emphasis mine)159. In this small passage we find rich variation in the connotations of the verbs for ‘see’ and ‘look’ that are used in the Greek text,

153 θεωρία: being a spectator at the theatre or the public games. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 154 περισκοπέω: 1. to look round 2. to examine all round, observe carefully, consider. Cf., ibid. 155βλέπω:1.to see, to look 2. to look to someone from whom help is expected. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 156 είδω/ aor. 2 εἶδον:1. see, perceive, behold 2. look, look at or towards 3. see mentally, perceive. Cf., ibid. 157 θεάομαι: 1.to look on, gaze at 2.to view as spectators cf., θεωρία, being a spectator at the theatre or the public games. Cf., ibid. 158 ἀτενίζω: to look intently, gaze earnestly. Cf., ibid. 159 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 21f., 358. Lipsius, Acta, 21f., pp. 249-250 60

each well suited to rhetorically underline different meanings. In the metaphor of Thecla seeking Paul as a “lamb in the wilderness” her shepherd, the verb ‘περισκοπέω’ accentuates that she is looking eagerly around while the gaze of the manifestation of Paul in the form of Christ at her is described with ‘θεάομαι’, as for someone who is merely an observer, spectator, sharing etymology with the word used for the spectacle itself, ‘θεωρία’. At the same time, the new found strength of Thecla’s gaze is twice referred to with the verb ‘ἀτενίζω’ that brings forward the nuance of its intensity. It is important to note here the leading role that the rhetorical motif of the ‘gaze’ will play in the narrative of Thecla’s peripeteia, and respectively, in the construction of the character of the Virgin – Martyr. The gaze can be – for the one that is being looked at - both disciplining and punishing/ shaming as the gaze of the crowd and the authoritative males (governors and others from the curial class160) observing the spectacle of martyrdom161 at the theatre – but also empowering, as the manifestation of the Lord looking at Thecla. And on the other hand, for the one who is looking, the gaze can manifest vulnerability (Thecla looking as a “lamb in the wilderness”) but also make a clear statement of inner strength and moral steadfastness (Thecla “looking steadily at Paul”), (ibid., 20 & 21f.). However, this rhetoric of the gaze has much more complex implications in the discourse of Christianity, based on the dynamics of shame and guilt, a broad subject that remains largely outside the current textual analysis, but still worth mentioning the important point of its connectedness to a metaphorically gendered discourse, or as Elisabeth Clark puts it:

"Discipline by shame" at times required an audience of human "others," but rested ultimately upon one Divine Other whose all-seeing eye pierced the most intimate moments of its human objects. That even the perdurant gaze of God

160“Perhaps a useful way to characterize the difference between the ancient romances and the Apocryphal Acts is in the treatment of the curial class. The Greek novel, written if we can believe Longus by and for provincial families, sought to distribute their wealth more evenly and so to reinforce the social order by luring readers toward the duty of procreation. But the Apocryphal Acts paint an unsympathetic picture of the men who governed the ancient city. A shift of identification has taken place: from an exploration of the difficulty of maintaining an evenly distributed cadre of reasonably wealthy and literate landowners, to an assertation of resentment against the politically powerful.”, Cooper, The Virgin and the Bride, 66-7. 161 Whereas the Apocalypse makes an arena of the world, subsequent account of martyrdom brings us into the world of the arena, where (for those with the eyes to see it) the public display of suffering and death gives birth to a truth that is at once a confession of faith and a forging of self-identity” (of the early Christians – note mine). Burrus, Saving Shame, 19. 61

was not entirely effective as a disciplinary device is suggested by the fact that the rhetoric of shame required such constant repetition. Not even when coupled with a rhetoric of guilt (most notably by Augustine) was it able to eradicate those behaviors against which it warred. Although God's gaze—a "male" gaze, like that of both the cinematic hero and the cinematic audience—tended to feminize its objects, it produced different, more complex, gender norms than those critiqued by feminist film theorists: the ancient Christian rhetoric of shame routinely—and paradoxically—exhorted both sexes to become more "manly" through the adoption of a "feminine" standard of conduct.162

Namely this paradoxical subversive rhetoric of virtues of active “manliness” achieved through traditionally “feminine” passive virtues (see Fig.2) such as renunciation and sexual purity lie in the new discourse of asceticism introduced by early Christianity and uses the wide pallet of virgin-bride visual metaphors. Nonetheless, through the same rhetorical move is achieved also the possibility of uplifting of the women’s status to the condition of morally perfected “manliness”. As already briefly discussed in chapter 2 & 3, the notion of the difference between the sexes as one of degree, rather than polarity is widely spread in late antiquity and not a Christian invention163. What can be argued as an unique strategy of the early Christian discourse though is the engaging of this gender related “coordinate system” into a new rhetoric of authority and power: even women in spite of being morally and physically incomplete “by nature” are able to exceed in virile “manliness” of body and spirit through embracing the renunciation and suffering “in Christ”. At the same time, men - within this same paradigm of renunciation and suffering – can achieve higher degree of moral virtue confession of faith by renouncing some traits considered typical for the active “maleness” (e.g., activeness in the

162 Elizabeth Clark, “Sex, Shame, and Rhetoric En-gendering Early Christian Ethics”, JAAR (LIX/2), 221-22. 163 “(…) in the minds of people of the Greco-Roman world, male and female bodies were not so sharply distinguished as they are in our culture. Male and female stand rather at two ends of a continuum, a sliding scale. To put it another way, many people thought of the female as an incomplete or imperfect male, while a man was always in danger of having his masculinity diminished or weakened. This wavering line between male and female may also help to explain another motif that sounds as a dark undertone through much of ancient literature, myth and folklore: men’s fear of the female. Doctors prescribed regimens for their patients designed to help prevent the loss of heat and vital spirit, which might occur in any relaxation of male discipline, but especially trough excess of passion (emphasis mine)”. Meeks, Origins, 141. 62

public life and the sexual conduct), and of course, before the 4th century transformation of Christianity into an institutionalized religion, undergoing the ultimate witness of faith through martyrdom. In other words, both men and women, could achieve a perfecting transformation while erasing the differences of ethnicity and gender through these novel ways of worship, and to become the “third race”164 by following the path of imitatio Christi165. At the same time - as the current analysis of Thecla’s narrative is aiming to illustrate - one of the most successful rhetorical vehicles to bring forth these notions in early Christian discourse appears to be namely the metaphorical figure of the virgin-martyr166. Now that the virgin Thecla had been introduced to the reader as both an exemplary Listener and one who had acquired the steady Gaze of the morally strong follower of the apostle, we are prepared to enter the stage of the text where the actual martyrdom and miraculous rescues of the heroine will unfold. Without delay after Thecla’s condemnation to be burned at the arena, we learn that: “Now the young men and maidens brought wood and straw that Thecla might be burned. And as she was brought in naked167(“γυμνή”), the governor wept and marvelled the power that was in her (“εθαύμασεν την εν αυτή δύναμιν”). The executioners laid out the wood and bade her mount the pyre; and making the sign of the Cross (“τον τύπον του σταυρού ποιησαμένη”) (i.e. stretching out her arms)168 she climbed up on the

164 Here is mentioned just one aspect of the complex notion of the Christian ‘third race’. For a succinct introduction see Erich S. Gruen, “Christians as a ‘Third Race’ Is Ethnicity at Issue?”, in Christianity in the Second Century: Themes and Developments (eds. James Carleton Paget and Judith Lieu; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 235-50. 165See, e.g., the classic study of Candida Moss, The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) 166 Here by ‘metaphorical figure’ is meant that the figure of the virgin-martyr ‘embodies’ two of the most important – as has been argued in this thesis - notions for interpretation of early Christian texts, namely, renunciation and suffering (and their interconnectedness). Further, the virgin-martyr can be also interpreted as a metaphor of the Christian Church itself. 167 For more on the spectacle and the nakedness on the arena, see, for example, Gareth G. Fagan, The Lure of the Arena. Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), especially, 257-8. And further, see also Donald G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (London: Routledge, 1998) and K.M. Coleman, “Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments”, The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 80 (1990), pp. 44-73. For a general introduction of Greco- Roman attitudes to dying and death, see also, Valerie M. Hope, Death in ancient Rome a source book (New York: Routledge, 2007). 168 Here we have a visual reference to the common praying posture in late antiquity, often to be seen in funeral art, known as the figure of the “orant”. “The term “orant” was adapted by art historians from the Latin word orans, meaning a praying person. The orant is a universal and popular figure of late antique art, almost always shown as a veiled woman, standing, facing front, gazing heavenward, with her hands outstretched and

wood”.169 Here we ought to note the ambiguity of the spectacle of the naked virgin body in the martyr narratives. We find it emerging amongst the smoke of the pyre and the wild beast at the arena, personified in heroines such as Thecla, Blandina, Perpetua and Felicitas, to just mention the few most familiar for today’s reader170, and contributing to accentuate in this powerful visual metaphor the tension between the profound vulnerability symbolized by the naked female body and the virality of the Christian women martyrs at the arena. As we have it juxtaposed in a single sentence in the above cited paragraph: naked (γυμνή) verses power (δύναμη) evokes the “marvel” of the governor. However, in my interpretation I see the references to Thecla’s ‘powerful nakedness’ also as a foreshadowing of her actual self-baptism, with baptism being a ritual in early Christianity that is deeply connected to the symbolism of the naked human body in its natural state when being born, dying for the old life and being born again in Christ.

Baptism was a radical, initiatory, life-changing rite of passage in the early church. Although candidates for baptism may have had a long lead-up to the point of baptism — extensive association with Christians, resolution to be a Christian, and the receiving of catechetical instruction — it was the rite of baptism that was the Rubicon. The point within the complex process of initiation at which the line from death to life was passed was the point of immersion in water. There the person became a Christian. Salvation was through water: there one was “born again;” there was the place where Christian life began. Baptism was a tomb, the place where one died, and a womb, the place where one was reborn. It was a radical life-changing rite. No wonder then that John Chrysostom could wax lyrically over baptism as “sacred nuptials.” Baptism was a new creation, paralleling the creation of Adam. As John Chrysostom said of baptism: “it creates and fashions us anew, not forming us again out of earth, but creating

slightly lifted (expansis manibus). Both her posture and appearance are characteristic of classic prayer images (cf. Timothy 2:8) and are not specifically Christian.” Robin Margaret Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (London & New York: Routledge, 2000), 35. 169 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 22f., 359. Lipsius, Acta, 22f., 250-1. 170 For an exciting broadening of the horizon of the motifs and imagery connected to the virgin-martyr trope in the martyr narratives from the East, see Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, Introduced and translated by Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey. (Berkley, LA & London: University of California Press, 1987). 64

us out of another element, namely of the nature of water.” A feature of both death and birth is the phenomenon of nakedness.171

So the fire is lit and the first miraculous intervention is takes place: “God in compassion caused a noise beneath the earth and a cloud above, full of rain and hail, overshadowed (the theatre) and its whole content poured out, so that many were in danger and died, and the fire was quenched and Thecla saved”.172 After this miraculous and dramatic rescue with divine interference173 Thecla is found to be wandering searching for Paul, accidently spotted by Onesiphorus son who has been sent to buy bread in Iconium for his family who has withdrawn fasting together with Paul in “an open tomb on the way by which they go from Iconium to Daphne”. The astonished boy offers to take her to Paul “for he has been mourning for thee and praying and fasting six days already.” The following scene of the happy reunion of the young virgin with the beloved one she had been seeking for after being separated by a mortal peril – a pattern well familiar to the reader from the ancient novel – is re-introduced in a different rhetorical angle by accentuating heavily on the new saving Christian love to and within Christ:

But when she came to the tomb Paul had bent his knees and was praying and saying: “Father of Christ (“Πάτερ Χριστού”), let not fire touch Thecla, but be merciful to her, for she is thine!” But she standing behind him cried out: “Father, who didst make heaven and earth, the Father of thy beloved Son (“του αγαπητού σου Ιησού Χριστού πατήρ”), I praise thee that thou didst save me from the fire,

171 For complete citation with references and a concise introduction to the attitudes to nakedness in the Greco-Roman world, and more specifically, to the question of “baptismal” nakedness in Judeo-Christian perspective, see Laurie Guy, “Naked” Baptism in the Early Church: The Rhetoric and the Reality”, JRH 27:2 (2003): 133-142. 172 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 22f., 359. Lipsius, Acta, 22f., 250-1. 173 The sudden divine intervention in answer to the hero’s or heroine’s prayers is another common motif in the ancient novels. Compare for example with two subsequent miraculous rescues of the hero in An Ephesian Tale: “When the prefect heard the particulars, he made no further effort to find out the facts but gave orders to have Habrocomes taken away and crucified. (…) The god took pity on his prayer. A sudden gust of wind arose and struck the cross, sweeping away the subsoil on the cliff where it had been fixed. Habrocomes fell into the torrent and was swept away; the water did him no harm; his fetters did not get in his way; nor did the river creatures do him any harm as he passed, but the current guided him along. (…) And so, everything was made ready, the pyre was set up at the delta, Habrocomes was put on it, and the fire had been lit underneath. But just as the flames were about to engulf him, he prayed the few words he could to be saved from the perils that threatened. Then Nile rose in space, and the surge of water struck the pyre and put out the flames. To those who witnessed it this event seemed like a miracle.”. Xenophon, An Ephesian Tale, 180-1. 65

that I might see Paul again (“ίνα Παύλον ίδω”). And as Paul arose, he saw her and said: “O God the knower of hearts (“Θεέ καρδιογνώστα”), Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (“ο πατήρ του κυρίου ημών Ίησου Χριστού”), I praise thee that thou hast speedily (accomplished) what I asked, and hast hearkened unto me.”174 25. And within the tomb there was much love (“αγάπη πολλή”), Paul rejoicing and Onesiphorus and all of them.175

This scene brings to the reader the mixed connotations of, on the one hand, the novelistic pattern of reunion of the hero and heroine in love with one another (cf., above 24-25f., Thecla praises God that she is saved so that “might see Paul again”), and on the other hand, the driving ‘pathos’ of the story is steadily being redirected to this “new passion” that we are to encounter in the Christian discourse. Paul begs God for Thecla’s rescue because she is promised to God (cf., ibid., “be merciful to her for she is thine!”). The same fragment (25f.) unfolds with further dynamic of connotations to ‘pathos’ verses the strengthening of the narrative of the ‘new (Christian) passion’. Thecla acquires her own voice and clearly articulated will: “I will cut my hair short and follow thee wherever thou goest”176 (“Περικρούμαι177 και ακολουτήσω σοι όπου δαν πορεύη”). A request – which maybe against readers’ expectations - is met with cautioning rejection by Paul: “The season is unfavourable (“ο καιρός αισχρός”) and, and thou art comely (“και σι εὔμορφος”). May no other temptation (“πειρασμὸς”) come upon thee, worse than the first, and thou endure not (“ουχ

174 Compare with: “To you greatest goddess we owe thanks for our safety; it is you, the goddess we honor most of all, who have restored us.”, Ibid., 195. 175 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 24-25f., 359. Lipsius, Acta, 24-25f., 252-3. 176 In this Schneemelcher edition of the Acts as note of reference for this sentence is pointed to Mt. 8:19 (And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee withersoever thou goest”. Compare to this ‘side story’ in Xenophon’s novel where Aegialeus, a fisherman from Syracuse, tells to Habrocomes: “Habrocomes, my child, I am neither a settler nor a native Sicilian but a Spartan from Lacedaemon, from one of its leading families. (…) While I was still an ephebe, her parents arranged to marry her to a young Spartan by the name of Androcles, who was also now in love with her. At first, she kept making excuses and putting off the wedding, until finally she was able to meet me and agreed to elope with me by night. So, both of us dressed as young men, and I even cut Thelxinoe’s hair”. Xenophon, An Ephesian, 184. 177 Possibly a variation from περικείρω: to shear or clip all around; to clip one’s hair (?), Cf., A Greek – English Lexicon. Revised eighth edition. Compiled by Henry George Liddell, D.D. and Robert Scott, D.D. New York, Chicago, Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1901. Accessible on-line at: https://ia802307.us.archive.org/16/items/greekenglishlex00lidduoft/greekenglishlex00lidduoft.pdf 66

υπομείνης”) and play the coward (δειλανδρήσης)!” Here we are left to wonder what the initial temptation is (or trial, cf., bellow footnote 191) that Paul is referring to. One possible interpretation would be that Paul implies that Thecla might had been disturbed and ‘tried’ (πειραζομένη178) by the passion of eros (ερωτικό πάθος) which the reader is well familiar with as the driving force in the ancient novel. Alternatively, one could suggest that in this instance “πειρασμὸς” is meant in the meaning of “trial”, rather than “temptation”, and then, Paul could have been pointing out to the first trial of martyrdom and near death which the young virgin had undergone on the pyre in Iconium and the fear that, if a second, even harsher struggle arises, she might not endure it. At the same time, he underlines that the danger might arise due to her comely looks (“και σι εὔμορφος”) which leans the connotations towards the fear of the pathos of eros, the ‘competitive’ type of passion to the Christian one (αγάπη). Importantly, the latter dynamic, is confirmed by the later development of the narrative as seen in its paraphrase179 in the fifth-century Life and Miracles of Thecla. As Fitzgerald Johnson points out in his analysis of LM: In the Life the two foci around which Paul and Thekla’s relationship revolves are 1) romance and 2) training (or education) in ‘piety’ (εὐσέβεια); these two elements are only touched on in the ATh (the source text), but they are brought to the fore in the Life (the paraphrase) and made to bear a great deal of argumentative weight. Let us begin with romance. From the first time that the two characters meet in the Life—in the prison at night in Iconium—their romantic, forbidden liaison is highlighted. Thus, Thekla’s secretive entry into the prison is described as an adventure fraught with danger, with gates to be passed and jailers to be bribed. (…) Paul’s speech to Thekla in the jail, not present in the AThe, highlights further aspects of her unyielding attraction to the apostle. He says, for instance, that she has been ‘inflamed’ (ἀναφλεχθῆναι) by the ‘small and indistinct spark (σπινθῆρος) of my words’ (9.14–15). This theme of young lust is here transformed into a lust for Paul’s teaching and for the ‘evangelistic course’ (τὸν

178 Passive form from πειράζω: 1. to make proof or trial of; 2. to try or tempt a person, put him to the test. Cf., with the above citation of 25f., “πειρασμὸς” (trial; temptation). 179 “In the first half of the LM, the author rewrites the entire ATh into Attic Greek, applying the schoolroom exercise of paraphrase (metaphrasis) to this Christian apocryphon and offering in the process fascinating view into late antiquity’s recasting of early Christian history. The fifth-century Life of Thekla retells this original story with numerous minor changes to the dialogue and argument.”. Johnson, Miracle Tales, x-xi. 67

εὐαγγελικὸν δρόμον) that has compelled her to renounce her mother, her family reputation, her wealth, her fiancé and to ‘take up the cross’ (echoing Matthew 16:24). Paul’s recounting of these difficult barriers through which Thekla has come serves to focus the reader’s attention on her incomparable desire for the apostle himself.180 However, Thecla remains determined in her wish and the means to fulfil it: “Only give me the seal in Christ (i.e., baptism – note mine), and temptation shall not touch me”. Her outcry receives the gentle denial of the apostle of an immediate baptismal initiation and a plead to have patience and she shall “receive the water” (ibid., 25f.). Now, while there is a variety in the records concerning the early baptismal practices181, it is evident that baptism as a key initiation rite of Christianity always included a certain period of preparation and catechesis, which length could vary in the different traditions182. At the same time, Paul’s ‘refusal’ to the Thecla’s request for baptism could also be regarded within the notion of postponed baptism, sometimes until the death bed183, which becomes common later in the fourth century, taking on the perspective of the gravity of post-baptismal sins and the difficult path to their redemption184.

180 Johnson, “Narrative Fiction”, 196-197. 181 See, e.g., Maxwell E. Johnson, “Christian Initiation”, 693-710. In Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. Susan Ashbrook Harvey, and David G. Hunter. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 182 “In early Syrian documents – the Didascalia Apostolorum, the Acts of Judas Thomas, and the Acts of John – a pattern of initiation appears to exist wherein the baptism of Jesus is seen as the primary paradigm of Christian baptism, and the theology of baptism flows from the new birth focus of John 3. While these documents place minimal stress on catechesis, there is a strong emphasis on pre-baptismal anointing of the head (and eventually, the whole body), interpreted as a ‘royal’ anointing by which the Holy Spirit assimilates the candidate to the kingship and priesthood of Christ, baptism accompanied by Matthean Trinitarian formula, and the concluding reception of the eucharist. (…) Western sources in the third century provide alternative patterns to the early Syrian, and possibly Egyptian practice. In North Africa, Tertullian’s De Baptismo (c. 200) describes a ritual process which included ‘frequent’ pre-baptismal vigils and fasts, a renunciation of Satan, a threefold credal profession of faith in the context of conferral of baptism, a post-baptismal ‘Christic’ anointing related to priesthood, a ‘blessing’ by laying on of hands associated with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and participation in the eucharist, which also included the reception of milk and honey as symbols of entering the ‘promised land’.(…) According to the Apostolic Tradition, pre-baptismal catechesis was to last for 3 years, and included frequent prayer, fasting, and exorcism (…).” Ibid., 698-9. 183 See, e.g., interpretations of the baptism of Constantine Garth Fowden, “The Last Days of Constantine: Oppositional Versions and Their Influence”. The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 84 (1994), pp. 146-170 184 “However, within the context of widespread baptismal theology in the second and third century, all pre-baptismal sin was easily cleansed in the baptismal waters, but post-baptismal sin was a serious and problematic infraction.” Benjamin Edsall, “(Not) Baptising Thecla: Early Interpretive Efforts on 1 Cor 1:17”, VC 71 (2017): 244-5. See also Tertullian Bapt. 8:5 68

However, Thecla’s wish to follow Paul is fulfilled, he has “sent away Onesiphorus with all his family to Iconium, and so taking Thecla came to Antioch185”. Right as they enter the city, as foreshadowed in Paul’s concerned warning about Thecla’s comely appearance (“και σι εὔμορφος”) in 25f., the trouble is not late to fall upon them. Another man of power, belonging to the local ruling elites, a “Syrian186 by the name of Alexander, one of the first of the Antiochenes, seeing Thecla fell in love with her (“ηράσθη187 αυτής”) and sought to win over Paul (“εξλιπάρει”188) with money and gifts.”189 Let us again compare it with a similar sounding motif in An Ephesian Tale where the heroine in one of her many misfortunate adventures is brought by pirates to Alexandria and handed over there to merchants and then,

They looked after her at great expense and lavished attention on her appearance, always looking for a buyer at a suitable price. And sure enough someone did come to Alexandria, an Indian ruler, to see the city and do business. His name was Psammis. This man saw Anthia at the merchants’ quarters, was ravished at the sight of her, paid the merchants a large sum, and took her as a maidservant.

185 It is unclear if here is meant the Psidian or Syrian Antioch. Cf., e.g., “Paul lived, learned, and taught in Syrian Antioch for 14 years (Gal 1:21-2:1)”, but also, “According to the Pastoral Letters, Paul suffered abuse in Antioch of Pisidia, well west of Syria (2Tim 3:11)”. For more relevant facts and a concise introduction in the history and scriptural references of these two cities with such a pronounced importance for Paul’s mission and the history of the early Christian communities, see, e.g., https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/main- articles/antioch. 186 Without intention to venture into the complex and intriguing topic of the socio-cultural dynamics between the notions of “barbaric” thought and heritage in opposition to the classical models of the Graeco-Roman paideia in the world of the Roman empire, nor of the related equally complex ‘ethnologem’ of the ‘Syrian’, it owes to be noted that: “a Syrian ethnos, a cognitively experienced collective (if not an ethnicity), was a meaningful social category under Roman rule. But it was also complex. This Syrian ethnos integrated ethnic Greeks and, in many ways, interwove Greek and Near Eastern cultural symbols, but its members also embraced a common legacy with contemporary Assyrians of the Parthian and Sasanian empires who did not share their Syrian classification. As a result, it can be maintained that Greek and Roman imperialism concretized distinctions between Syrians and Assyrians, but Syrians, including Greek speakers, still claimed ancient Assyrians to be seminal founders or members of their social ethnos, if not their actual ethnic ancestors.” For complete citation with references, see Nathanael Andrade, “Assyrians, Syrians and the Greek Language in the late Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Periods”, p.301. Journal of Near Eastern Studies,73 (2014), 299-317. 187 From ἐράω, used in act. only in pres. and impf. (which in Poetry are ἔραμαι, ἠράμην): 1. of the sexual passion, to be in love with; 2. without sexual reference, love warmly, opp. φιλέω. For more on the lexical variants denoting different connotations of ‘to love’ in the narrative, see here, footnotes 143 & 150. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 188 From λιπαρέω: (2.) of persistent entreaty, to be importunate; beseech one to do a thing. Here is to be noted that the same verb was used in 1f. for the instance where are two negative characters, Demas and Hermogenes, “flattered” Paul. 189 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 26f., 360. Lipsius, Acta, 26f., 253. 69

The moment he bought her the barbarian tried to force her and have his will with her.190

The attack on Thecla’s chastity from the Antiochian man of power driven by eros is met with a very surprising - for the expectations of the contemporary reader - reaction of Paul. He simply rejects any acquaintance with the young virgin and leaves her alone to her destiny, or maybe, fairly enough, to the next trial she has to overcome in order to prove herself worthy of baptism. If we take here a short comparison of this motif, namely, of Paul deserting Thecla - which had often been interpreted in modern analyses to contribute to the somehow ambivalent portrayal of the apostle in the APThe – it is interesting to see how it has been completely reworked by the antique authors, apparently in order to fit better the favourable depiction of the apostle character. Here is how we find a similar scene resolved in the Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca191, an anonymous work with uncertain dating and evidently influenced be both APThe and the narrative patterns of the ancient novel192:

Then her captor came again and looked for Polyxena, but the great Paul persuaded him to stay away from her, and he also believed, and there was great joy in that city of Spain for the recovery of Polyxena. From that time on she did not leave Paul for fear of temptations.193

In the narrative of APThe though the heroine is left to fence off the advances of the suitor alone: a pattern that is closer to the one of the ancient novel where the two separated by the fate lovers are firmly standing off their ground alone and rejecting the constant sexual advances of those who are falling in love with them. In this way, the ‘credit’ for preserving

190 Xenophon, An Ephesian Tale, 178. 191 See an English translation of the text in Patricia Cox Miller, ed., Xanthippe and Polyxena, Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2005), 166-180. 192 “The text tells about not one woman, but several women, who come under the spell of Paul and wish to imitate his way of life. The text is rather more lengthy than the Acta Theclae and accordingly offers more in terms of adventure and spectacle, with many details recalling the tradition of the ancient novel. The AXPR can stand as a concrete example of the kind of popular texts that Christian readers in late antiquity apparently liked to read, in addition to the Bible and other authoritative or apocryphal texts.” Vincent Hunink, “Following Paul: The Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena, and Rebecca as an Ancient Novel”, in Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: The Role of Religion in Shaping Narrative Forms (ed. Ilaria Ramelli and Judith Perkins; E-Offprint with the permission of the publisher), 178. Accessed at https://www.academia.edu/122204345. 193 Cox Miller, Xanthippe and Polyxena, 180. 70

their chastity untouched mostly goest to the young heroine and hero, and to a much lesser degree is a ‘curtesy’ of other antagonists in the narrative. Similarly, while Thecla once more “looked194 about for Paul” in vain she is taking the initiative pleading to be spared from violence: “Force not the stranger, force not the handmaid of God! Among the Iconians I am one of the first, and because I did not wish to marry Thamyris I have been cast out of the city”195. Now, in this plead we find a three-fold reasoning that she should be treated with mercy: her being a stranger demands respect according the ancient rules of hospitality (see above footnote 151), then she is titles herself a “handmaid of God” which in a late antique context demands special treatment in reference with the already established forms of female sanctity196, such as for example the vestal virgins197 or the priestesses of Isis198. Let us compare with the plot variation in the ancient novel:

She was unwilling and at first refused, but at length gave as an excuse to Psammis (barbarians are superstitious199 by nature) that her father has dedicated her at birth to Isis till she was of age to marry, which she said it was still a year

194 The verb used here for ‘to look’ is none of the previously used in the narrative in connection with the newly acquired ‘gaze’ of the heroine. It is derived from ‘ζητέω’ (to search after, require, demand; desire, cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/) which adds a connotation of urgency in the ‘looking after’ Paul, well suited stylistically to the dramatic character of the scene. 195 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 26f., 360. Lipsius, Acta, 26f., 254. 196 See for example, Sissel Undheim, Borderline Virginities: Sacred and Secular Virgins in Late Antiquity (London: Routledge, 2017). 197 “It may be that the key to the Vestal’s sacred status lies precisely in it ambiguity: they are prepared as sharing the characteristics of both matrons and virgins, with even some characteristics (such as specific legal rights in the making of wills) of men too. It is a pattern observed in many societies that people and animals deemed as ‘interstitial’, those who fall between categories into which the world is usually divided, are often regarded as sacred, powerful or holy. Here is it seems plausible that the intermediate sexual status assigned to the priestesses served to mark their separateness and their sacredness”. For a full citation with references and an extended overview on the topic see, Beard, Religions of Rome, 51-8. 198 See ibid., and also, e.g., Sharon Kelly Heyob, The Cult of Isis Among the Women of the Graeco- Roman World (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975). 199 “By the early second century A.D. we can detect another development in the use of the term superstitio: the word began to denote the religious practices of particular foreign peoples. In the late Republic and into the first century A.D. there seems to have been a general assumption at Rome that each foreign race had its own characteristic religious practices; even though they were no doubt thought inferior to Roman practice, the ‘native’ religions of the provincial populations of the Roman empire were not systematically dismissed or derided. But from the second century at the latest - perhaps as it became more pressing for the Roman élite to define itself in relation to the provinces (and provincial élites) – that position changed.” Beard, Religions of Rome, 221. 71

away. “And so,” she said, “if you offend the goddess’s ward, she will be angry with you and take a terrible revenge”.200

At last, Thecla gives the reason for her outcast position as of her rejection to marry, but in the same sentence also underlines her noble upbringing. This claim to the leading position of her family in the polis, often introduced with the ‘formula’ “first among” also fits well the familiar for the reader pattern of the late antique novel. At the same time, it could also suggest that in the emerging rhetoric of the Christin virgin-martyr the departure from the marital demands of the family and polis, and the alternative devotion to the chaste life in Christ, does not necessarily signify a ‘revolutionary’ rejection of her high social status which reappears as one of the stable characteristics of the Christian heroine in both the apocrypha and martyr narratives201. Yet it is worth noting that both in the Greco-Roman context and the one of the emerging Christian rhetoric, the woman finds socio-cultural and symbolic realisation within the roles allotted in the ‘private’ locus of the family and the domus, i.e., wife, mother, matron, but also within the dynamic of the lack of fulfilment of these roles. If due to a higher call of the divine, it might lead of status of sanctity and benefits for the community, but if due to a moral failure to fulfil them, it inevitably leads to tragic consequences for both the heroine and the polis in the framework of the late antique narratives. Either ways, women’s performance in the ‘private’ sphere is intrinsically bound to the ‘public’ locus – apart from the obvious ‘practical’ reasons of procreation and succession – but also as the most important vehicle of symbolic value for both the domus and the polis. As Cooper argues,

It is particularly difficult for English-speaking scholars to assess the experience of ancient men and women without reference to a post-Enlightenment conception of individual autonomy. This makes it difficult to capture the importance of women’s agency within and on behalf of the household. The assumption tends to be that since their position was in general structurally lower than that of similarly ranked men (unless other factors such as privileged access to a more powerful family system through the married woman’s parents,

200 Xenophon, Ephesian, 178. 201 To mention just a few examples, Maximilla (Acts of Andrew), Mygdonia (Acts of Thomas), Xanthippe and Polyxena (Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena), Perpetua (Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas). 72

disrupted the gendered ordering), both they and their male counterparts would have considered their actions in the private sphere to have minor significance compared to men’s more noteworthy activity in public. Such a view is of course anachronistic: the notion of “private” sphere divested of “public” significance would have seemed impossible (and undesirable) to the ancient mind. The domus, along with its aspects of family and dynasty, was the primary unit of cultural identity, political significance, and economic production. All of this means that aristocratic women saw their highly visible “invisibility” with the domestic sphere as a source of power and identity.202

However, neither Thecla’s claim for descent from a noble family, and being a “handmade of God” (“του θεού δούλην”) (ibid., 26f.), or her look enquiring Paul’s help, seems to have discouraged the violating gesture of Alexander who blinded by eros had been attempting to embrace her in the open street. Instead, in the next instance we see Thecla striking back by forcefully rejecting the attempt of the suitor: “ripped his cloak” , “took off the crown from his head” and “made him a laughing-stock” ( “ἔστησεν αὐτὸν θρίαμβον”), with the latter a literal translation could be “made him/set him as a triumph”. There are several noteworthy details in this scene that have to do with military related imagery construing Alexander as a general-like character, wearing a general’s “cloak” (“χλαμύδα203”) and a “crown” (“στέφανον204”). At the same time, “θρίαμβον205” except of the connotation of military triumph is also etymologically establishing a link to a Dionysus related symbolism206, assumingly another pleasing rhetorical treat for the late antique audience. A ‘dionysian’ undertone is further developed in 28f.(ibid.) where after Thecla has been brought to the governor by Alexander “partly out of love

202 Cooper, The Virgin and the Bride, 14. 203 acc. from χλαμύς: 1. short mantle, worn by horseman; generally, military cloak; general’s cloak 2. a civilian’s mantle. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. 204 From στέφανος: 1. crown, wreath, chaplet 2. honorary wreath or crown, freq. worked in gold, awarded for public services in war or peace. Cf., ibid. 205 From θρίαμβος: 1. hymn to Dionysus, sung in festal processions to his honour; epithet for Dionysus 2. metaph., scandal. Cf., ibid. 206 For the complex question of the etymological (and ideological) connection between the Dionysiac thriambus and the notion of military triumph see H. Versnel, Triumphus: An Inquiry into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph (Leiden: Brill, 1970). 73

(“φιλών207”) for her and partly of what had befallen him” and condemned to the beasts, she is seen in a scene where “the beasts where led in procession, they bound here at a fierce lioness (…). And as Thecla sat upon her back, the lioness licked her feet, and all the crowd was amazed”. We find an interesting reading of the ‘lion’ motif and the ‘triumphal’ imagery in 28f. in APThe as an ‘appropriating’ and ‘subversive’ rhetorical strategy of this favoured for the late antique imagenarium motif, especially when it comes to connotations to Dionysiac procession of triumph, but not least Cybele related imagery. The interpretations of the ‘lion’ motif in 28f. in APThe are also open towards both the ‘appropriating’ rhetorical strategies of this favoured for the late antique imaginarium motif – it is enough to recall the fable of Androcles and the lion208, but also the abundant layers of biblical meaning (just to mention one of the most popular associations, Daniel in the lions’ pit209), The image of the lion, respectively, the lioness (to be noted the matching gender of the beast), has its clear developments in later Christian narrative, as for example, in the above mentioned Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca in the story of Polyxena finding rescue in the lioness den210, and notably in such narratives as the story of the young Jesus and the lions in the NT apocryphon, known as the Infancy Gospel of Matthew (The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew)211.

207 φιλέω /φιλῶν: to love and cherish. For more on the meaning of φιλέω and the variating usage of verbs denoting love in the narrative, see here footnotes 143, 150 & 160. 208 For various reappearances of the fable, see for example Androcles and the Lion and other folktales, https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0156.html. 209 Daniel 6: 16 - 24. For more Biblical references to the ‘lion’ imagery, see for example, “The Lions and the Christians”, in Sian Lewis and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, eds. The Culture of Animals in Antiquity: A Sourcebook with commentaries (London: Routledge, 2018), 322-326. 210 “Morning came and the lioness returned from her hunting. Seeing the wild beast, Polyxena trembled and said, “By the God of Paul, O wild beast have compassion on me and do not tear me until I receive baptism …The wild beast immediately went away and stood apart gazing at her.” Cox Miller, Xanthippe and Polyxena, 177. 211 “The story of the young Jesus and the lion contained in Pseudo-Matthew, better known as The Infancy Gospel of Matthew, probably draws on the early Christian stories of martyrdom to lions by making these particular beasts into tame celebrants of the living Christ; in fact they are Wild animals 337 among the first of any creature to recognise his divinity. The story is in part told as the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy of universal peace (65.25) and, for his part, Jesus shows his kindness to the lions by allowing them to cross the river Jordan into freedom rather than be captured and killed for dwelling too close to human habitation. In fact, Pseudo-Matthew shows a deep sympathy for animals; it is in this text, for instance, that stories of the ox and ass in the stable at Bethlehem first emerge in the Christian tradition”. “The Lions and the Christians”, in The Culture of Animals in Antiquity: A Sourcebook with commentaries, ed. Sian Lewis and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (London: Routledge, 2018), 336-337. For on-line access of the English translation of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, see, e.g., http://gnosis.org/library/psudomat.htm. 74

The reworking of the appearance of the lion is mirrored also in the larger textual body of the apocryphon of the Acts of Paul in the scene of Paul meeting at the arena the lion that he had baptised, and that same lion spares his life. Apart from the reappearance of the lion, noteworthy in this passage are also that other elements are familiar from the narrative of Thecla and clearly overlapping with the story in the APThe:

“Away with the sorcerer (cf., APThe15&20f.) Away with the [poisoner!” But the lion] looked at Paul and Paul [at the lion. Then] Paul recognized that this [was the] lion which had come [and] been baptised. [And] borne along with by faith Paul said: “Lion, was it thou whom I baptised?” And the lion in answer said to Paul: “Yes.” Paul spoke again and said: “And how wast thou captured?” The lion said with one voice: “Even as thou, Paul. As Hieronymos sent many beast, that Paul might be slain, and against the lion archers, it too might be killed, a violent and exceedingly heavy hail-storm fell from heaven (cf. APThe 22f.), although the sky was clear, so that many died an all the rest took to flight.212

Back to the story of Thecla - where we left the young virgin after being condemned to the beast in 27f. – apart from the complex cultural connotations and intertextual references of the ‘lion’ imagery that has been swiftly discussed above – the passage is noteworthy for at least two more reasons. In regard of the plot development of the narrative, Thecla sitting on the back of the lioness ‘who licked her feet, and all the crowd was amazed’ (ibid, 27f.) constitutes the second ‘miracle’ (after the miraculous survival on the pyre in Iconium where ‘the fire did not touch her’ and the fire had been quenched by the divine intervention causing an outpour of rain and hail, cf. 22f.) that is manifested on behalf of the virgin, which points to ‘theological’ layer of the text (see below, Table.2) and also foreshadows the appearance of another miracle at the arena as we shall see in in 33f. when the punishment ad bistias is unfolding. At the same time, the scene also carries an enhanced emotional effect that corresponds to the ‘pathos’ rhetoric of the narrative (see ibid.). It is masterfully achieved with two-fold associations. On the one hand, the reader is once submerged in the familiar plot variations of the ancient novel. If some of the

212 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 372. 75

most recognisable should be put forth: repetitiveness of the ‘adventure’ within some variations, with the motif of reoccurring misfortunes striking because of the antagonists falling in erotic love with the heroine (or in the case AN, also with the hero) being one of the main vehicles of the plot. In our example, Thecla after just had escaped (miraculously) the mortal danger caused by the pathos of her fiancé short after falls a victim of the intimidating advances of Alexander. On the other hand, one should not underestimate the rhetorical strength of the powerful ‘persona’ of the ‘chorus’ of women that is introduced in the plot and bares the echo of the ancient tragedy. A voice that will remain important part of the plot to the very end of Thecla’s trial and victory in 39f. and has been often read by scholars even as evidence for the connectedness of APThe to women’s oral tradition213. However, in the present interpretation the ‘chorus’ of women is read as a rhetorical vehicle pointing to patterns inherited by the ancient Greek drama214. Alike a proper ‘character’ of the narrative we see the ‘chorus’ of women making its subtle but meaningful appearance from the beginning of the story: “many women and virgins” are going into Onesiphorus’ house to hear the word of Paul (cf., 7f.), then the “young men and maidens brought wood and straw that Thecla might be burned” (cf. 22f.). Then at the episode of the second and most decisive trial at the arena of the heroine - I shall return in detail on the key-importance of the sequence that encompasses the fragments 29-39 – the chorus of women is finally stepping in fully as a dramatis persona, a ‘personage’ incorporated in the plot. If the terminology from the poetics of the drama should be ‘borrowed’ again for illustrative purposes, it could be said that the chorus of the women in the APThe is making its parode. If we extend the analogy215 a bit further, which suits well the actual meaning-bearing structure of the narrative of Thecla, we can figuratively establish that the entering of the personage of the women’s chorus marks - in respect of meaning and

213 See Burrus, Chastity. 23 & 31-3. 214 “The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an integral part of the whole and take a share in the action—that which it has in Sophocles rather than in Euripides.” Aristotle, Poetics, 18.7. the text is accessed on public domain https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6763/6763-h/6763-h.htm#link2H_4_0020. 215 “From the point of view, however, of its quantity, i.e. the separate sections into which it is divided, a tragedy has the following parts: Prologue, Episode, Exode, and a choral portion, distinguished into Parode and Stasimon; these two are common to all tragedies, whereas songs from the stage and Commode are only found in some. The Prologue is all that precedes the Parode of the chorus; an Episode all that comes in between two whole choral songs; the Exode all that follows after the last choral song.”, Aristotle, Poetics, 12., http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html. 76

accumulation of emotional impact – the conclusion of the Prologue and the beginning of the main Episodes. As well as we shall see soon in the text, the two central scenes – after the condemnation of Thecla to the beasts accompanied with her plea to be preserved pure which is secured by the protection granted to her by queen Tryphaena, and final contest at the arena commencing with 32f. are framed by the interventions of the chorus. And the final exhortation of the chorus at the end of 38f., marks the beginning of the Exodus, or the closure of the narrative.

Fig. 4. Cybele riding a lion. Statuette of Cybele, mother of the gods, and queen of nature. Rides a lion; tympanum hangs from left hand. Greek, Late Classical Period, ca. 400 B.C. Image courtesy of online col lection of Museum of Fine Arts Boston. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/151649

***** After Alexander driven by the fatal mixture of eros and shame brings Thecla to the governor, she confesses that “she had done these things” and is condemned to the beasts216 as a consequence. Thereafter comes the parode of the chorus which is introduced with the dramatically loaded scene of the “panic-stricken” women who “cried out before the judgment- seat: An evil judgment! A godless judgment! (“Κακή κρίσις, ανοσία217 κρίσις”)”218 and the reader is left in suspense about the nature of the charge against the young virgin that has led to one of the most severe - even by the standards of the arena - punishments. Thecla makes a plead to the governor for her chastity to be spared so she dies pure – a ‘plead’ that evidently does not stand for just a rhetorical exuberance but possibly points to real practices connected to the executions of Christians (or possibly also those who do not have or have lost their privileges as Roman citizens due to the nature of their charge)219. In this dramatic moment Thecla is saved by the interference of “a reach woman”, “the queen” (“βασίλισσα”) Tryphaena, who had lost her daughter, and as we shall see further in the text, clearly takes the role of a substitute mother220 of Thecla. A mother that - unlike the

216 “The damnatio ad bestias was, the Romans believed, one of the strongest deterrents. Being thrown to wild beasts involved slow torture for the victims as the animals tore their bodies to pieces before death came. This mode of execution turned the victim into animal food, a death that was arguably the most ignominious of all forms of Roman capital punishment. Although the ad bestias punishment is often associated in the popular mind only with Roman persecutions of Christians, the latter were never singled out as a group for this penalty. The Roman authorities also meted out this punishment to countless non-Christians.” Roger Dunkle, “A Brief History of the Arena Hunt,” in Gladiators: Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome (London: Routledge, 2013), 216. 217 While there is no problem with the translation of “κακή κρίσις” (κᾰκός, ή, όν: bad, wicked, evil; cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/), the interpretation of “ανοσία κρίσις” remains somehow unclear. The literary translation of “ανοσία” as ‘free of sickness’ (from α-νοσία; cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/) does not fit quite well the meaning of the phrase. Instead, one is tempted to read “ἀνοσία” as “ανούσια” (from ἀνούσιος, in the meaning of without the use of οὐσία: that which is one’s own, one’s substance, property; cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/) or with other words, an alternative translation could be “insubstantial judgment”. 218 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 27f., 360. Lipsius, Acta, 27f., 254-255. 219 “There was no law that provided for deflowering before execution or that expressly forbade the execution of a virgin. Condemnation to a brothel as punishment for women is not attested by Roman law. Yet condemnation to lifelong punishment involved the loss of freedom. (…) The oldest historically reliable source for sentencing to prostitution is Tertullian’s Apologeticum, in which he reproaches the Romans for summarily delivering Cristian women to a pimp (leno) instead of lion (leo), knowing that Christians regarded this as a more horrible punishment than death.” Anne Jensen, God’s Self-Confident Daughters: Early Christianity and the Liberation of Women (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996). 220 The motif of conflict and breakage of the patriarchal bonds of subordinance and dependence within the ‘natural’ family of the young Christian convert and their substitution with the new-found through the Word of Christ bonds of the Christian community is an important and re-occurring motif in the narratives. Probably one of the most familiar examples being Perpetua’s confrontation with her father (cf., The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas). 79

biological mother who endangered both the physical life of the young virgin, but also her purity and therefore the resurrection to eternal life in Christ – as we shall see, will help Thecla to preserve both her chastity and her life. Tryphaena follows the procession (“πομπή”221) that leads Thecla “bound to a fierce lioness” (cf., 28f.) when encounter the second interposition of the women’s chorus after the announcement of Thecla’s actual charge written on the superscription being “Guilty of Sacrilege” (“επιγραφής αυτής ήν Ιερόσυλος222”). As Olivia Robison points out in her study of the treatment of the notions of sacrilege blasphemy in Roman law: “Sacrilege in the literal sense of classical law is seen not so much as blasphemous as an offence against public order; it is discussed as a variant of theft.223” But also as an offence related to treason in the perspective of the cult of the emperor: “To return to the legal sources and to sacrilege: Ulpian on the pro-consulate tells us that "next kin to sacrilege is the crime called treason" (46) ; this must be more than theft even from a temple, it implies a lack of fealty to the gods that finds its parallel in lack of fealty to the deified emperor whose maiestas has superseded that of the Roman people224”. That links to the possible interpretation that ‘crown’ that Thecla takes off from Alexander’s head when rejecting his advances, might be one carrying imperial symbols or even the image of the emperor. In that sense the offence to the attributes of authority worn by Alexander can result in the charge of sacrilege. On symbolical level this ‘charge’ serves well the rhetorical escalation of the narrative; the young virgin is no longer just charged with breaking the bonds and laws of the family and the polis through her rejection of marriage, but rather with challenging of what is considered most sacred in the Roman empire, the persona of the emperor and therefore sentenced by one of the gravest punishments in the Roman penal system, death ad bestia. This brings us to the possible subtle rhetorical bridge of Thecla’s charge of lawlessness225 (of moral conduct), and the followed thereafter charge of sacrilege to the one of atheism, an accusation that becomes increasingly prominent in the persecution and attitudes against the Christians in the 3rd century.

221 ποπμή, η: procession, Διονύσῳ πομπὴν ἐποιοῦντο (Heraclites) (cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/). A word which might point towards another subtle link to the imagery of the Dionysian procession discussed above (see p. 79, footnote 220). 222 ἱερόσυλος, ὁ: a temple-robber, sacrilegious person. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. 223 Olivia Robinson, “Blasphemy and Sacrilege in Roman Law”, Irish Jurist 8.2 (1973): 356. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44027907. 224 Ibid., 361. 225 For a concise discussion on the various charges against Christians, see Engberg, The Other Side. 80

A new central cause of hatred was found – atheism – and it proved justification for prosecution. Hatred supplied the impetus and desire, increased knowledge the means of discovery. And providing the material was the true nature of Christianity, which was far more dangerous than the vast majority of pagans had realized: these detestable people were set upon undermining good relations with the gods and ultimately traditional worship itself.226

The importance of the formulation of the announced judgment is brought forward by a new exclamation of the women’s chorus: “But the women with their children cried out from above (“άνωθεν227”), saying: “O God, an impious judgement (“ανοσία κρίσις228”) is come to pass in this city!”229. In this critical moment, just before we are introduced to the central appearance of the queen Tryphaena is due to make a note on the general reoccurrence of the motif of women, children and young people appearing in the poignant points of the narrative as one that connects well the notion of Early Christianity as a narrative, on the one hand, assumingly having a large audience within these segments of the population, but also, on the other hand, as it is discussed here, a narrative that is using rhetorically this dramatis personae for achieving a higher ‘ideological’ purposes. Here are the ‘key appearances’ in the narrative of the ‘group character’ of women, children and maidens. From the beginning of the narrative the reader learns that Thecla sees through her window “many women and virgins” who are going to listen to the word of Paul (7f.); then Thecla’s first trial is to be a warning for “all the women who have been taught by this man” (20f.). Further, it is namely the “young men and maidens” who bring wood and straw for the pyre where Thecla is to be burnt. All these appearances are capitalised and receive their own voice through the women’s chorus as we have already seen in 27f. and 28f.

226 Joseph J. Walsh, “On Christian Atheism”, VC 45 (1991): 266. 227 The general reoccurrence of the motif of women, children and young people appearing in the poignant points of the narrative should be noted as one that connects well to the notion of Early Christianity as a narrative, on the one hand, assumingly having a large audience within these segments of the population, but also as it is discussed here, that is using rhetorically this dramatis personae for achieving higher ‘ideological’ purposes. Here is a short resume of the key appearances 228 It is the same formula referring to the judgment as in the parode of the women’s chorus in 27f. 229 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 28f., 361. Lipsius, Acta, 28f., 255. 81

when Thecla’s judgment is being announced, and will encounter again at the beginning of the second trial of the young virgin (32f.) and its exode (38f.). Still in the following fragment, as a reinforcement of the subversion of roles, we meet again the “young men and maidservants” but this time as followers of Thecla! As remarked earlier it is important to keep in mind the somehow counter-intuitive presumption for the today’s reader - a Christian believer or not - regarding not only how extraordinarily valued the ascetic discipline has been in the first Christian centuries, but also how big the attraction of asceticism in general and sexual renunciation in particular must have been for the young people of this epoch. Or as Dale Martin formulates it:

(…) Ascetic Christianity—and just about all Christianity in the ancient to medieval worlds was “ascetic”—offered people an escape from the dreaded cycle of birth and death. The key to immortality was to break the cycle of death, and the best way to do that was to stop having sex. The Acts of Paul and Thecla and many other early Christian texts thus called Christians to deprive death of its victory by depriving themselves of sex.230

The centrality of the notion of sexual continence and chastity for the construction of the rhetorical impact of the figure of the Christian virgin-martyr cannot be overestimated. However, what is most interesting for the purposes of the current analysis is the positioning of the intertwined continence and martyrdom paradigm in a palimpsest manner within prior Greco-Roman narratives, as for example that of the ancient novels. Within the narrative of Thecla, the notion of preservation of purity is present in both layers of the text mentioned above – emotional impact (pathos) and theological (discipline of ascetic renunciation) (see Table 2.). The discipline of ascetic renunciation is introduced at length in the very beginning of the narrative with the beatitudes that Paul utters upon arrival at Onesiphorus house with an explicit announcement on the subject of Paul’s discourse: “the word of God concerning continence and resurrection (“λόγος θεού περί εγκρατείας και αναστάσεως”231). It is outside the scope of the current study to engage with the broad debate

230 Dale B. Martin, “It’s About Sex…Not Homosexuality”. https://reflections.yale.edu/article/sex-and- church/it-s-about-sexnot-homosexuality. 231 Lipsius, Acta, 5:11 82

concerning the encratite character the apocryphal acts in general and the Acts of Paul and Thecla in particular. However, in the perspective of the ‘theological layer’ of APThe – as interpreted here – is important to underline that the core theme of this layer is the encratistic ‘purity’, especially as metaphorically construed in the image of the young female virgin, and its ideological interconnectedness with the theme of salvation and resurrection. In this reading the accent is clearly located in the notion of purity as continence and virginity: “Blessed are the pure in heart (“οι καθαροί τη καρδία”); (…) who have kept the flesh pure (“οι αγνήν την σάρκα τηρήσαντες”); (…) the continent οί εγκρατείς; (…) they who have renounced this world; (…) they who have wives as if they had them not (cf. also I Cor. 7:29232); οί το βαπτισμά τηρήσαντες (…) those who through love of God have departed from the form of this world οί δι αγάπην θεού εξελθόντες του σχήματος του κοσμικού; Blessed are the bodies of virgins τα σώματα των παρθένων; (…) and shall not lose the reward of purity και ουκ απολέσουσιν τον μιςθόν της αγνείας αυτών”233 . Further, it is postulated explicitly as the main point of conflict between the apostle and the polis (a trait shared with the other apocryphal acts). When the traveling companions of Paul, Demas and Hermogenes, that we encounter at the opening of APThe, are later inquired by Thecla’s desperate fiancé concerning Paul and his teaching, they reply the following: “Who this man is, we do not know. But he deprives young men of wives and maidens of husbands, saying: ‘Otherwise there is no resurrection for you, except you remain chaste (“αγνοί”) and do not defile the flesh234, but keep it pure (“αγνήν”)’.”235 And a bit further, they not only offer advice to Thamyris with what kind of accusation he might secure the removal of Paul, but also offer to present him with an ‘alternative’ version of the teaching of the resurrection that might suit better the laws and customs of polis, and nonetheless, to have his “wife Thecla236”. “And we shall teach thee concerning the resurrection which he says is to come, that it has already taken place in the

232 “(…) they that have wives be as though they had none”, I Cor 7:29, KJV. 233 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 5&6f., 354-55. Lipsius, Acta, 5&6f., 238-239. 234 Cf. Rev. 14:4, These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth. These were redeemed among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. 235 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 12f., 356. Lipsius, Acta, 12f., 244. 236 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 14f., 356. Lipsius, Acta, 14f., 245. 83

children whom we have237, and that we have risen again in that we have come to know the true God.”238

237 Cf. 2 Tim 2:18, Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 238 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 14f., 356. Lipsius, Acta, 14f., 245. 84

*****

Back to the final scenes of this intriguing narrative, where we saw that the young virgin before her second trial not only has found her voice but also lifts it up “without delay” with a prayer to her God to grant salvation and eternal life for those she is interceding for (29f.). And again, before she steps out at the arena, Thecla raises her voice in prayer for Tryphaena for the due reward for preserving her chastity: “Lord God, in whom I trust (“Κύριε ο θεός ω εγώ πιστεύω”), with whom I have taken refuge, who didst deliver me from fire, reward (“απόδος μισθόν”239) thou Tryphaena, who had compassion upon thy handmaid (“δούλην240 σου”), and because she preserved me pure (“αγνήν241”)”.242 A character that serves as a vehicle of pronounced rhetorical subversion, and at the same time as an important antagonist in the plot who ‘secures’ Thecla’s purity - as mentioned above – is the figure of queen Tryphaena. The reader encounters in her the moral antagonist of Thecla’s mother. The mother Theocleia has been pushing her daughter into marriage and subsequent loss of chastity, whereas Tryphaena’s first act upon meeting the young virgin is to take her under her protection for the preservation of purity before Thecla’s agon at the arena. Theocleia is pleading for the death sentence of her own child, but Tryphaena mourns the impending loss of Thecla as deeply as the one of her own dead daughter: “A second mourning for my Falconilla is come upon my house (…)” (31f.) and further, “My daughter Falconilla I brough to the tomb ; but thee, Thecla, I bring to fight the beasts”(31f.). Most importantly, upon her deceased daughter’s request she receives in a dream, she trusts Thecla without hesitation to pray for her daughter to “be translated to the place of the just” (28f.), so “that she may live”, in other words to be resurrected on judgment day (a scene that reminds us of the prayer of Perpetua for her deceased brother ). A request that Thecla addresses with confidence as she “lifted up her voice and said: “Thou God of heaven, Son of the Most High (“Ο θεός μου , ο

239 μισθός, οῦ, ὁ: 1. wages, pay, hire; 2. reward. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 240δοῦλος, ὁ, ἡ: a born bondman or slave, opp. to one made a slave (ἀνδράποδον). Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. 241 ἁγνός, full of religious awe: Ι. of places and things dedicated to gods, hallowed, holy, sacred, 2. of divine persons, chaste, pure. II. of persons, undefiled, chaste, pure. Cf. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. 242 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 31f., 361. Lipsius, Acta, 31f., 258. 85

υιός του υψίστου ο εν τω ουρανώ”), grant to her according to her wish, that her daughter Falconilla may live forever!”. It should be pointed out that similar plot solutions with ‘intervention’ on behalf of the dead by the heroine who is impending to face death herself – apart from the famous in the Christian context example with Perpetua’s dream and interceding on the behalf of her deceased brother – are to be also found in examples from the ancient novels. If we are to reach out again to the story of Anthia and Habrocomes, here is how she faces the doctor Eudoxus who she pleads to help her with a mortal potion that she would rather take on the wake of her forced wedding with Perilaus, rather to break her “pact of chastity” with Habrocomes: “Before I die, I will pray reputedly to the gods on your behalf, and they will give you a great reward for your service (…)”243.

Back to Thecla’s narrative, the complex character of queen Tryphaena appears as both patron (preserving Thecla’s chastity) and client (requesting Thecla’s as soon to be-martyr intervention on the behalf of the deceased daughter) and a substitute ideal mother-figure. Again unlike the presumably wealthy birth mother of Thecla, she leaves considerable financial means to the young virgin, ergo to the mission of Paul: “Now Tryphaena sent her much clothing and gold, so that she could leave (some of it) for the service of the poor” (41f.). Or as we read in the Greek text: “Η μεν ούν Τρύφαινα πολύν ιματισμόν και χρυσόν έπεμψεν αυτή, ώστε καταλιπείν τα Παύλω είς διακονίαν των πτωχών (again possible literal translation could be “Indeed then Tryphaena sent her a lot of clothing and gold to be left behind to Paul for the attendance to the poor”)” . Although a subtle detail, it gives a broader angle of interpretation of the dynamic of Paul’s ‘blessing’ of Thecla’s mission. However, probably most of the interpretational debates among modern scholars concerning the character of Paul in APThe are centred around his suggested ‘ambivalence’, mainly because of his reticent reply to Thecla’s request for baptism, but also because of the scene in Antioch where he abandons the young virgin to fence off Alexander’s advances on her own. They are often read as an implied narrative criticism to the figure of the apostle or

243 Xenophon, Ephesian Story, 174. 86

even as possible evidence for the connectedness of Thecla’s narrative to (oral) traditions pointing to female religious authority movements, critical to the male apostolic authority244. The latter debate is much larger than the scope of the current thesis and here it suffices to underline that - as I have already mentioned above – an alternative interpretative angle is offered if the reading focuses on the argued rhetorical subversive functions of the narrative. On the one hand, it aims to substitute the ‘hero’ in the traditional plot of ancient novel with the figure of the sub-hero of the apostle, who is acting through his preaching as an agent of the true hero of the acts, Christ. On the other, respectively, the figure of the heroine and her ‘performance’ in the plot of the ancient novel is supplanted by the construction of a new rhetorical device of Early Christian narrative, the Virgin – Martyr (cf. Table 2.). In some scholarly interpretations we see the agency of the figure of Paul in APThe coupled with specific theological concerns linked to the baptismal problematic in 1 Cor 1:1-13, and especially, 1Cor 1:17245.

Important elements identified in previous explanations for Paul’s reticence to baptize Thecla included the presentation of Thecla as an initiate, the emphasis on self-control, and the identification of exegetical impulses underlying the narrative. Paul’s deferral of baptism is not a rejection of Thecla’s wish for initiation, nor is it a criticism of Paul by characterization. Rather, when one takes account of the exegetical under-pinning that draws on key passages from 1 Cor 1-3— signalled by the deferral of baptism and the “co-worker” language—the second- century theological context, and the common trends in early exegesis of 1 Cor 1:17 the strategy becomes clear. However, the text of the Thecla narrative may have developed, in the “final” form that we have it, Paul deferred Thecla’s baptism because it was not his role to carry out, he presented himself and was remembered as the one called to preach the gospel—and certainly not before she had completed the required preparation for her full initiation. In short, the characterization of Paul’s actions in the Thecla narrative fits like a glove within

244 Cf., e.g., Davies, The Revolt; Burrus, Chastity, 49-57. 245 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none of none effect.” 1Cor 1:17, KJV 87

the thought-world of the second and third centuries, which no doubt contributed to its enormous popularity at the time.246

Through Paul’s deferral of Thecla’s baptism and her ‘abandonment’ to face even a bigger trial that may come, endure it and not “play the cowered” (as already foreshadowed, cf. 26f.), a two- fold rhetorical effect might had been achieved. On the one hand, the heroine’s performance is enhanced and through that the emotional impact on the reader (narrative layer of pathos, cf. bellow Table 3.). On the other, the theological layer of the narrative (cf. ibid.) which promotes the apostle’s role as chiefly a carrier of the Word and a teacher (along with a sub-hero textual positioning in correlation to the implied heroic persona of the narrative, that is Christ) had been reinforced. But let us return to the closing paragraphs of the narrative and swiftly look into the act of Thecla’s self-baptism and initiation into a missionary co-worker.

***

The episode opens, as observed and earlier in the structure of the narrative - here for a third time - with the intervening of the chorus of women. Their voices are clearly distinguished from the ‘roaring of the beast’ and the ‘shouting of the people’ and raise two opposing claims. Some ‘women who sat together’ saying “Bring in the sacrilegious one!”, while other women shouting: “A bitter sight, an evil judgment (κακή κρίσις)!”. Thus, clearly marking once more the line of conflict between the judgment on the virgin and its ‘lawlessness’ and ‘impious’ nature. In a way the entire passage can be seen as mirroring fragment 28 while juxtaposing its narrative elements of the protective lioness (with a matching gender to the one of the martyr), the announced judgment of sacrilegious behaviour of the virgin-martyr and the denouncement of the judgment by the chorus of women.247

246 Benjamin Edsall, “(Not) Baptizing Thecla: Early Interpretive Efforts on 1 Cor 1:17”. In Vigiliae Christianae 71 (2017): 206. 247 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 32.-33f., pp.361-2. Lipsius, Acta, 32.-33f., pp. 258-9. 88

After these exclamations of the chorus the reader is prepared to venture into the most dramatic and ‘cathartic248’ part of the martyr’s tale, with Thecla being taken away from Tryphaena’s hands and stripped naked (cf. above regarding the nakedness in the Christian baptismal symbolism) and given a gridle (διαζώστρα249) to partially cover herself. The beasts are set upon the virgin and now the protecting lioness (η λέαινα) fulfils as foreshadowed in fragment 28:3 her role to defend Thecla and after tearing apart the charging bear, she pays with her life fencing off the attack of a male lion (ό λέων) and perishes with him. After this initial combat more beasts are released at the arena while Thecla is depicted unmoved praying with her hands outstretched in the pose of the orant250 and remaining untouched while finishing her prayer. With that she turns to see the ‘great pit full of water’ and utters the famous “Now is the time for me to wash” (“Νυν καιρός λούσασθαί με”) to announce her determination for her self-baptism. And she throws herself (έβαλεν251 εαυτήν) with the exclamation of the formula “In the name of Jesus Christ I baptize myself on the last day!” (“Εν τω ονόματι Ιησού Χριστού υστέρα ημέρα βαπτίζουμαι”)252. The dramatic effect is enhanced by a new exhortation of the ‘women’ (γυναικές) and the ‘crowd’ (όχλος) pleading that she shall not be thrown into the water (μή βάλης εαυτήν εις το υδώρ) with even the governor τον (ηγεμόνα) weeping (δακρύσαι) by the prospect at ‘such beauty’ (the τοιούτον κάλλος) to be

248 “When used in literature, catharsis is the release of emotions such as pity, sadness, and fear through witnessing art. Catharsis involves the change of extreme emotion to lead to internal restoration and renewal. Catharsis was first linked to drama, especially to tragedy, by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. The theory was that, through viewing tragedy, people learned to display emotions at a proper amount and lessen excessive outbursts of emotion in daily life. The word catharsis comes from the Greek word katharsis, which means “purification” or “cleansing.” In http://www.literarydevices.com/catharsis/. 249 For more on this type of loincloth or waistband that seems to appear in the artefacts like terra sigillata pottery when depicting images of women exposed to damnatio ad bestias punishment and an interesting study of related imagery with ‘Domina Victoria’ inscription and its possible relation to Thecla, see Annewies van den Hoek and John J. Herrmann, Jr., eds., “Thecla the Beast Fighter: A Female Emblem of Deliverance in Early Christian Popular Art.”, in Pottery, Pavements, and Paradise Iconographic and Textual Studies on Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 65-107. 250 “This nearly universal praying posture of late antiquity (today ordinarily reserved for clergy celebrating the eucharist or proclaiming benediction), was described by Tertullian as having the appearance of Christ on the cross: “We, however, not only raise our hands but even expand them; and taking our model from the Lord’s passion, even in prayer we confess to Christ.” (…)Thus, an iconographic figure well known to Christians and non-Christians alike might have been adapted to Christian context with little or no change in appearance apart from occasional prop changes (scripture rolls exchanged the pagan altar, or doves for stork) and given a specific Christian meaning.” Robin Margaret Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (London: Routledge, 2000), 36. See also here, footnote 184. 251 βάλλω, aor. εβάλον / έβαλα: throw; cast; fall. Cf., https://logeion.uchicago.edu 252 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 34f., pp.362. Lipsius, Acta, 34f., pp. 260-1. 89

devoured by seals. This emotionally emphasised moment reaches its culmination by the duplication of announcement of the act of throwing in the water: “So, then, she threw herself into the water in the name of Jesus Christ(…)” (η μεν ουν έβαλεν εαυτήν εις το ύδωρ εν τω ονόματι Ίησού Χριστού)253. The interesting debate on the reasons for the appearance of this doublet goes beyond the scope of the thesis as it concerns the complex problematic such as the one of the parallels with the themes of the Pastoral Epistles and the source-historical analysis of the ‘Iconium’ episode and the ‘Antioch’ episodes, respectively also the role of the alleged redactor’s effort of harmonizing the two parts of the narrative. This argument reads the duplication of the announcement as an example for the traces of an assumingly involuntary overlap by the ‘redactor’ 254. Further, this hypothesis brought up by Esch-Wermeling255 purports that the original Antioch material did not represent self-baptism but rather the demonstration of God’s power and triumphant deliverance thanks to Thecla’s willingness for voluntary martyrdom. While this is an intriguing argument and requires further investigation, in my analysis I remain closer to the interpretation that this ‘doubled notice’ can be read as a heightening of dramatic tension256”. As argued in my thesis so far, it is namely the skilful rhetorical usage of the ‘pathos’ layer of the narrative which represents one of the main ‘subversive’ strategies that I have been attempting to describe (see Table 3.). The self-baptismal initiation of Thecla, as pointed in the narrative itself, can be interpreted as baptism of the “last day” (υστέρα μέρα) in the of face of her impending martyrdom: an expanded textual figure for the notion of baptism of blood, as martyrdom for

253 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 34f., pp.362. Lipsius, Acta, 34f., pp. 260-1. 254 See Benjamin Edsall, “(Not) Baptizing Thecla: Early Interpretive Efforts on 1 Cor 1:17”, VC 71 (2017), 235-260. 255 “Esch-Wermeling’s overarching project is to understand the compositional history of the Thecla narrative, treated as an independent piece, and to examine the way in which the final redactor provided Leserlenkungen (guiding cues for the reader) in his effort to integrate the originally non-Pauline Antioch episode with the newly composed Iconium episode. One of the key redactional strategies, in her view, is the use of framing. For instance, Paul’s absence during Thecla’s trials in Antioch is framed by Paul’s prayerful presence in the Iconium narrative and the later happy reunion with Paul after being delivered in Antioch such that the reader is then able to read Paul as present, probably in prayer as before. It is within this redactional reading that Esch- Wermeling situates her solution to the baptismal deferral. The original Antioch material, she argues, did not represent Thecla baptizing herself, but rather she was demonstrating the power of God in her voluntary martyrdom, which was rewarded by effecting her rescue.” Ibid., 242-3. See also, Elisabeth Esch-Wermeling, Thekla - Paulusschülerin wider Willen? Strategien der Leserlenkung in den Theklaakten, NAbh 53 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2008), 256 Edsall, “Baptising”, 244. 90

the faith was seen to secure the baptismal grace257. The following second miraculous salvation of Thecla is rich in baptismal imagery and merely reinforces the reading that her willingness to undergo this final trial and martyr for her faith is rewarded with the “seal in Christ” (εν Χριστώ σφραγίδα). Further, the self-baptismal episode can be read as fulfilment and rhetorical development of what is foreshadowed in the encounter between Thecla and Paul after the first trial in Iconium and Paul’s postponement of her initial baptismal request:

“May no other temptation (πειρασμός258) come upon thee; worse than the first, and thou endure not and play the coward!” And Thecla said: “Only give me the seal in Christ, and temptation shall not touch me.” And Paul said: “Have patience, Thecla, and thou shalt receive the water.”259

Here should be underlined that the choice of translating “πειρασμός” with “temptation” instead of “trial” gives rather different connotations in English, and subsequently, interpretations. As pointed out earlier in the analysis (cf. footnote 195) “temptation” shifts the attention towards Thecla’s (moral) unpreparedness as a catechumen and even – after the erotically charged language description of her visit to Paul in prison – opens up for the implied “temptation” of eros. This duplicity of linguistic nuance that could have been sought intentionally in the Greek text in order to achieve a stronger rhetorical effect when the ‘proper’ meaning – and by that almost prophetic power - of Paul’s utterance is revealed. The description of the trial of the self-baptismal-martyr act of Thecla continues with related imagery and further reinforcement of the foreseen invincibility that will follow the “receiving of the water”. As soon as the self-immersion and baptism in the name of Christ is complete, the pre-baptismal ‘nakedness’ is covered by a “cloud of fire (νεφέλη πυρός), so neither could the beasts touch her nor could she be seen naked (μήτε θεωρείσθαι260 αυτήν γυμνήν)”261. The “cloud of fire” links to the symbolism of the Holy Spirit coming unto the apostles (cf. Acts

257 “Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfil his will, can be saved even if they have not been baptized”. Cf. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm 258 πειρασμός: trial, temptation. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 259 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 25f., 360. Lipsius, Acta, 25f., 253. 260 On the different verbs for “seeing” in the narrative, cf. footnotes 170-175. 261 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 34f., 362. Lipsius, Acta, 34f., 261. 91

2:3262) and the baptism of Jesus (cf. Lk 3:16263) while the “women” throwing “petals” and the “abundance of perfumes (πλήθος μύρων)264” at the arena additionally magnifies the triumphal imagery of the scene and the references to Christ and the Holy Spirit265. Thus, Thecla clothed in the “cloud of fire” after her self-immersion can be perceived as representing a vivid textual- image of “putting on Christ” (cf. Gal 3:27266). This is confirmed shortly after in the text when Thecla, offered garments by the governor to cover herself, she explicitly announces what the reader has already experienced through the textual-image of her surrounded by the “cloud of fire”: “He who clothed me when I was naked among the beasts shall clothe me with salvation on the day of judgment (ημέρα κρίσεως ενδύσε με σωτηρίαν)”267. With this short proclamation of Thecla explaining the true nature of the miracle just observed, the reader is yet again lead into the ‘theological layer’ of the narrative. This particular textual moment could be also distinguished as the logical culmination of the narrative where, on the one hand, the absolute triumph over the earthly “evil” and “impious” judgment is established through the salvation on the “day of judgment” (ημέρα κρίσεως). On the other hand, we also have the resolution of the ‘novelistic’ plot where the deliverance (σωτηρία) of the heroine from her trials clearly no longer lies in the marital union but is instead revealed to lie in the hands of the One who ‘clothes her with salvation’, i.e. Christ. Through the resolution on these two rhetorical levels (i.e., ‘theological’ and ‘novelistic’), the reader rests reassured that the path of discipline that the heroine has chosen, i.e. sexual renunciation and enkrateia is the right one (layer of ‘discipline’)268. Interestingly, as if all these miraculous signs of divine intervention were not enough, the factual release of Thecla is brought into fulfilment namely by her earthly patron queen

262 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. Acts 2:3 263 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Luke 3:16. 264 μύρον: sweet-oil, unguent, balsam. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/. 265 See also: “The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.” Cf. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm 266 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27 267 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 38f., 363. Lipsius, Acta, 38f., 264. 268 Cf., Table 3. 92

Tryphaena and the quite mundane fear of Alexander from the anger of Caesar as he pleads to the governor to free the prisoner as the whole city might perish due to Caesar’s anger if he hears that his “kinswoman Tryphaena had died at the circus-gates” (because she faints shattered by the struggles of Thecla at the arena) (cf. 36f.). Yet, it is not before the conversation with Thecla and her statement about the “salvation in the day of judgment” that the governor “issued a decree, saying: “I release to you Thecla, the pious handmaid of God (του θεού δουλήν την θεοσεβή)”269. With other words, Thecla is not only freed from the accusation of lawlessness and sacrilege but announced to be pious (θεοσεβή) with a decree by the governor - the man of highest authority in the polis, an emperor’s representative. The description of Thecla’s victory - and by that of the renunciation and suffering paradigm of Christianity so skilfully incorporated in the novelistic structure of the narrative about the trials of the virgin – continues with further escalation of the triumphal language. The chorus of women “as with one mouth” makes its final exhortation before its exode: “One is God, who has delivered Thecla!”, so that the whole city was shaken by the sound” (a further accent on the ‘chorus’ imagery one could argue)270. Straight after comes the affirmation from queen Tryphaena - the woman of power in the polis and kinswoman of the emperor himself – who is now both patron and client of the virgin-martyr. Affirmation both of the theology of the resurrection of the dead and its bond to the virginal purity (enkrateia) and martyrdom for the faith as manifested in the virgin-martyr Thecla who now through her piety can intervene on the behalf of the dead271.

“Now I believe that the dead are raised up! Now I believe that my child lives! Come inside and I will assign to thee all that is mine.”272

After those triumphal exclamations, the conclusion of the narrative is set to unfold steadily towards the ‘happy-ending’ without further obstacles for Thecla. She stays at Tryphaena’s

269 270 Ibid., 38f., 363. 271There has been also suggested the intriguing hypothesis regarding Thecla’s auto-immersion as ‘baptism for the dead’ (i.e., Tryphaena’s diseased daughter Falconilla in that instance) or a so called ‘vicarious baptism’. A Practice with possible reference in 1 Cor 15:29. See e.g., David Lincicum, “Thecla’s Autoimmersion (APTH 4.2-14 [3.27-39]): A Baptism for the Dead?”, Apocrypha 21 (2010): 203-213. DOI 10.1484/J.APOCRA.1.102237 272 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 39f., 363. 93

house to rest while “instructing (κατηχήσησα273) her in the word of God” for eight days274. An interesting question that here will be only marked in passing is the one about the possible contents of the instruction275 that Thecla provides to Tryphaena. This is an intriguing question to be contemplated bearing in mind the already discussed above possible reasons for Paul’s deferral of Thecla’s baptism and the hypothesis of her prolonged period of catechumenate. In any case, as the reader finds out, it becomes evident that after Thecla’s “baptism of the last day” performed with the supportive divine intervention (cf., 34-36f.), the young virgin had been completely ‘transformed’ from a passive and silent Listener of the Word (brought by Paul) to herself being a vehicle and Transmitter of the Word Of God (τον λόγον του θεού) (cf., 39:6). However, Thecla’s ‘instruction’ is apparently fruitful and results in the conversion of queen Tryphaena and many from her household: “the majority of the maidservants also believed”. It is noteworthy that Thecla’s ‘first audience’, similarly to the ones of Paul’s preaching, is evidently predominantly female. Whereas there are “many women and virgins (γυναίκας και παρθένους)” who assemble to listen to the apostle in Iconium (cf. 7f.), the converted by Thecla are the noble queen Tryphaena but also the slave girls, “maidservants” (παιδισκών276) of her oikos. Now, the attraction of emerging Christianity for women and their significant role in its formative period has become, as Judith Lieu puts it, a “truism of scholarship”277 but the relevant discussion about the reasons and the modes of their allegedly

273 From κατηχέω: 1. teach by word of mouth: hence generally, instruct; 2. in NT, instruct in the elements of religion (1 Cor. 14.19: —Pass.; περὶ ὧν κατηχήθης λόγων Luc. 1.4; ὁ κατηχούμενος τὸν λόγον Gal. 6.6; κατηχημένος τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Κυρίου Acts 18.25. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 274 Cf. Nehemiah 8:18. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner. KJV 275 “We now know that before the violent conflict with Gnosticism short formulated summaries of the faith had already grown out of the missionary practice of the Church (catechising). The shortest formula was that which defined the Christian faith as belief in the Father, Son, and Spirit. It appears to have been universally current in Christendom about the year 150. In the solemn transactions of the Church, therefore especially in baptism, in the great prayer of the Lord’s Supper, as well as in the exorcism of demons, fixed formulae were used. They also embraced such articles as contained the most important facts in the history of Jesus. We know definitely that not later than about the middle of the second century (about 140 A.D.) the Roman Church possessed a fixed creed, which every candidate for baptism had to profess; and something similar must also have existed in Smyrna and other Churches of Asia Minor about the year 150, in some cases, even rather earlier.” A. Harnack, History of a Dogma, Vol.2, p.22. 276 παιδίσκη, ἡ: 1. young girl, maiden 2. a young slave, courtesan 277 Importantly, Lieu also warns against the correlative “rhetoric” and agendas, as well as against the “naïve use of sources” that she claims often accompanies such claim. See, Judith M. Lieu, “The 'Attraction of

extensive participation goes beyond the boundaries of the current text analysis. Here will suffice to point out that the text at hand (along with the other “chastity stories” in the apocryphal acts) appear to confirm the general claim about the strong appeal of early Christianity to women and youth. One could also argue that an interesting topic of some further study could be aimed at the dynamics between such a “gendered” popularity (if one purported), on the one hand, and on the other, the rhetoric of the renunciation and suffering paradigm with its ‘poster’ figure of the virgin-martyr heroine. The act of the (mass) conversion performed by Thecla in queen Tryphaena’s household brings “great joy in the house” (cf., 39f.) which textually mirrors the deeds of Paul in Iconium where he similarly brings “great joy” in the household of Onesiphorus (cf., 5f.). But Thecla is not yet settled in her new found role of itinerant missionary and the reader learns that she “yearns (επεπόθει)” for Paul and even “sought after him, sending in every direction”. This appears somehow paradoxical in the context of the ‘theological layer’ of the narrative as the trial of martyrdom of the heroine, the rewarding baptism and the successful conversion of new devotees to Christianity had been completed and this textual lead does not require further elaboration and continuation in the search of the apostle. This is not the case though when it comes to the ‘novelistic’ and the textual ‘layer of pathos’ in Thecla’s narrative. As the reader is to discover in the concluding paragraphs, the tale of the young Virgin-Martyr and the apostle shall be further developed by following closely the plot pattern of the ancient novel while at the same time successfully ‘subverting’ the ‘hue’ of the story. As soon as Thecla learns that Paul is in Myra, she takes “young men and maidservant” (40f.) – a rhetorical echo from the “young men and maidens” that “brought wood and straw that Thecla might be burned” (cf., 22f.) – and “girded herself (αναζωσαμένη) and sewed her mantle into a cloak after the fashion of men (σχηήματι ανδρικώ), and went off to Myra278”. This very discussed element of Thecla’s ‘transformation’ into maleness finds an intriguing solution for example in Glenn Synder’s reading. In his interpretation, the encratistic tendencies

Women' in/To Early Judaism and Christianity: Gender and the Politics of Conversion”, JSNT 72 (1998): 5-6. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uio.no/10.1177/0142064X9902107202. For an interesting socio-historical perspective on the women’s participation, roles and numbers in the early Christian movement, see Rodney Stark, “Reconstructing the Rise of Christianity: The Role of Women”, ASR 56 (1995): 229-244. 278 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 40f., 363. Lipsius, Acta, 40:4, 266. 95

of the narrative should be read together with the slow ‘masculinization’ of Thecla, with the two narrative threads combined so that “the Acts of Paul and Thekla may therefore be providing a narrative representation of Gal 3:28’s thesis that there is no ‘male and female in baptism.’ ”279. In my reading, this final element of ‘pretended’ masculinization of the heroine can be interpreted as naturally interwoven with the ‘novelistic’ thread of the narrative and fits well the pattern of the last – dangerous – journey – before - reuniting with the one that she “yearned” for while she acts alike the heroine of the ancient novel who always seeks to “invent ways of keeping chaste beyond a woman’s capacities280” (emphasis mine). Paul is at first concerned by the sight of Thecla with her entourage. The motive for his worries appears to be that she might had been exposed to “temptation (πειρασμός)”. She hurries to reassure him that she has “taken the bath”, not least, with divine co-operation: “he who worked with thee for the Gospels has also worked with me for baptism” (40f.). In this statement of the virgin-martyr the reader finds reassurance that her ordeals of martyrdom that lead to baptism are equally deserving the divine help and intervention as the missionary work of Paul for the Gospel. The apostle merely ‘re- confirms’ her further statement that she is going to Iconium (Πορεύομαι εις Ίκονιον) with the short “Go and teach the word of God!” (΄Υπαγε και δίδασκε τον λόγον του θεού)281. It is noteworthy that not much indeed is offered in this scene to reinforce the ‘theological layer’ of the narrative: Paul’s concise exhortation is not accompanied with any further blessings or rituals (like for example eucharist) and although his approval of the baptism that the heroine has initiated at the arena is implied, no explicit praise is offered either. It is interesting to draw again a quick parallel with the fourth-century Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena where many of Thecla’s narrative themes and rhetorical elements are used (e.g., female chastity, baptism, helpful lioness, cross-dressing) while retold in a somehow more ‘reconciling’ manner:

[Xanthippe’s husband, Probus, incited by the devil, orders Paul out of his house. Xanthippe, desiring to be baptized, prays to God to bring prolonged sleep upon Probus; she then bribes the porter and goes to the house of Philotheus, where Paul is staying.]

279 Glenn E. Synder, Acts of Paul: the formation of a Pauline corpus (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 139-141 & 143. 280 Xenophon, An Ephesian, 190. 281 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 41f., 364. Lipsius, Acta, 41:5-6, 267. 96

Thus, the great Paul immediately took her hand and went into the house of Philotheus and baptized her in the name of the Father and the Soon and the Holy Ghost. Then, taking bread, he also gave her the eucharist, saying, “Let this be to you for remission of sins and for a renewing of your soul.” Then the blessed Xanthippe, receiving the divine grace of holy baptism, returned to her own house, rejoicing and praising the Lord…282

Thecla also – after leaving for Paul a share of the fortune that queen Tryphaena has given her for the service to the poor283 - sets off back home to Iconium. When she arrives there, she – somehow paradoxically - heads first to Onesiphorus’, apparently vacant, house. In a clear mirroring gesture to the opening of the narrative and her first encounter with Paul in jail (cf. 20f.), she throws herself “down on the floor where Paul had sat and taught the oracles of God (εδίδασκεν τα λόγια του θεού)”. At that emotionally loaded moment the young virgin makes an exhortation which resolves the accumulated tension in the ‘pathos layer’ of the narrative. A tension built up both through the ‘peripeteia’ of the heroine but nonetheless through the multiple plot ‘subversions’ of the ‘role’ that should be traditionally filled by the figure of the Beloved one (the hero). The reader has been left so far in some degree of interpretational uncertainty when it comes to the hero in the narrative. The fiancé who would have naturally taken the part of the hero is replaced by the figure of the apostle who is merely a vehicle of the word of God. Ultimately, what has been foreshadowed already at Thecla’s first trial in Iconium, when she sees ‘the Lord (κύριον) sitting in the form of Paul” (21f.), is reconfirmed at her second martyrdom in Antioch: the ‘true’ hero of her tale is Christ himself as verified both through her divine deliverance in multiple miracles and, importantly, by the divinely ‘enabled’ baptism. As it finds a clear expression in this final scene, rhetorically with the repetition (epanafora) of the elements: she is back to Iconium (again), sitting on the ground where Paul has been sitting (again) but only this time to be able to raise her voice in praise of the true reason and purpose of all that has happened in the narrative so far: the “glory (δόξα)” of “Christ Jesus the Son of God”.

282 Cox Miller, Women, 171. 283 For the discussion about the phrasing in Greek see above in this paper. 97

“My God (θεός μου), and God of this house where the light shone upon me, Christ Jesus the Son of God (Χριστέ Ίησου ο υίος του θεού), my helper in prison, my helper before governors, my helper in the fire, my helper among the beasts, thou art God (αυτός ει θεός), and to thee be the glory (δόξα) for ever. Amen.”284

In the following final fragment, all the ‘loose ends’ of the plot are tied up. Thecla learns that Thamyris is dead, with no additional explanation, but the infamous ‘love-sickness’ of the ancient novels could be easily assumed by the reader. Her mother is alive but noteworthily Thecla does not go to her but summons her, “calling her mother to her” (προσκαλεσμένη285 την μητέρα αυτής) which might be implying a certain achieved authority of the young virgin- martyr over the parental one. Then Thecla urges her mother to believe that “the Lord lives in heaven” (ζη κύριος εν ουρανοίς) and hints to the possible rewards of such belief, notably, no ‘salvation’ or ‘resurrection’ is mentioned but far more earthly ones:

For weather thou dost desire money (χρήματα), the Lord (κύριος) will give it through me (δι εμού); or thy child (τέκνον), see, I stand beside thee.”286

It needs to be underlined here that this often ignored in the scholarly debates paragraph carries yet one more reinforcement of the ‘subversive’ rhetoric. It is to be noted that in this short exhortation of Thecla, when referring to the Lord, she uses the word κύριος instead of θεός, which she uses everywhere else in her discourse. Now, the word ‘κύριος287’, one could argue, carries specific connotations in Greek, as well as in the English translation ‘lord’ for that matter. In Greek, as preserved also in today’s use of the word as a polite form of address, it point to the meanings such as: master of household, ruler, husband. That type of associations within the context of Thecla’s narrative makes her ‘κυρία288’, the lady of the household. This brings forth

284 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 42f., 364. Lipsius, Acta, 42:3-7, 268. 285προσκαλέω: to call to, call on, summon; with perf. pass., to call to oneself. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 286 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 43f., 364. Lipsius, Acta, 43:4-5, 269. 287κύριος, ὁ: 1. a lord, master, Lat. dominus, of gods, Pind., Soph., etc.: the head of a family, master of a house, Aesch., etc. 2. later, κύριε is a form of respectful address, like sir. Cf. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ 288 κυρία, ἡ: mistress or lady of the house, Lat. domina. Cf., ibid. 98

the ‘textual imagery’ of Jesus as implied ‘dramatis persona’ who takes the place of the romantic hero of the narrative. By that ‘subversive’ turn of rhetorics, respectively the young virgin- martyr becomes what will be called in the later Christian centuries, ‘bride of Christ’. Furthermore, Thecla’s reference to ‘money’ and clear instruction that the Lord would provide them through her points even stronger to the ‘lady of the household’, ‘domina’ associations (which on its turn reminds us of a similar though differently articulated scene between Perpetua and her father). Along with the second part of Thecla’s ‘promise’ to her mother, that she can have her, Thecla, her offspring (τέκνον) back, right “beside” her (παρέστηκα289 σοι) the passage builds up to a miniature ‘alternative’ version of the familial ideal of the polis. That could be simplified read as follows: the beautiful young Virgin from a noble family (Thecla) had found her Lord (κύριος) who lives in heaven (ζη κύριος εν ουρανοίς) and through this noble match Thecla assumes also the symbolic role of the ‘lady of the house’ (κυρία) who can provide her old mother with money (χρήματα) and protection (παρέστηκα σοι). We as contemporary readers need often to remind ourselves that this ‘familial ideal’ of the polis was not representing just an ‘ideal’, i.e. moral values, but also a real matter of ‘life and death’ in a world where there must not have been many options for survival for old widows (as assumingly Thecla’s mother is, as a ‘father’ is not mention anywhere). However, that pledge of Thecla to her mother appears to be merely rhetorical. As pointed in the conclusion of the narrative, after Thecla “had borne this witness” (ταύτα διαμαρτυραμένη290) she heads away to Seleucia and “after enlightening many (πολλούς φωτίσασα) with the word of God (τω λόγω του θεού) she slept with a noble sleep (μετά καλού ύπνου εκοιμήθη)”291. With this Christian formula of “happily-ever-after” we come to the end of the current textual analysis of the peripeteia of the young Virgin-Martyr Thecla. She shall become not only one of the most ‘popular’ figures of Early Christianity, only to be matched by the Virgin Mary herself, and a patroness of a thriving cult, but as I have hopefully demonstrated in this paper, a paradigmatic dramatis persona to set the rhetorical pattern of the ‘early Christian heroine’ in

289 From παρίστημι: 1. pass., with aor. 2, pf. and plpf. Act., intr.: stand besides, or near; 2. stand by, i.e. help, defend. Cf., ibid. 290 From διαμαρτυρία: evidence given to prevent (usually in a trial). Cf., ibid. 291 Schneemelcher, The Acts, 43f., 364. Lipsius, Acta, 43:5-7, 269. 99

both text and ‘real-life’ impersonations. Not least, being а captivating story for over nineteen centuries.

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5.Conclusion. Salvation for Every-Body: The Virgin - Martyr trope and the emergence of the early Christian heroine

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Romans 8:35

In my reading of Thecla’s story, I have tried to establish some broad parallels between the novelistic pattern of the narrative and its strategies of appropriation and subversion of meaning, arguably in service of the major themes of renunciation and soteriological suffering in the discourse of early Christianity. The textual interpretation presented in this paper has been leaning on a threefold juxta positioning of the narrative levels, which I have themed as ‘layer of theology’ (or concerning regula fidei), ‘layer of discipline’ (related to regula disciplinae) and ‘layer of pathos’ (bond to the ‘passions’ of the dramatis personae and their impact on the reader) (see Table 3.). It is namely the latter textual layer that I have argued to be the proper ‘vessel’ of the novelistic ‘tool box’ that carries the recognisable plot line of the ancient novel and shapes the main contours of the female protagonist. She is namely the young noble and beautiful virgin at the verge of paying her duty to the familia and polis through entering a marriage bond with a socio- culturally suitable partner, but even more, this duty is articulated through the rhetorical means of the tale of passion (pathos) and countless trials (peripeteia) before her destiny is fulfilled. Further in my thesis I sought to illustrate that the new momentum built by the early Christian appropriation of the novelistic textual character is based on the dynamics between pathos (of eros) in ‘competition’ with the Christian passion in Christ (agape). With other words, the rhetoric surrounding the emerging early Christian heroine in the genre of martyrs’ passions and apocryphal acts (and continued later in the hagiographies) borrows the device of 101

pathos (eros) from the ancient novel - along with its most precious vehicle, the young beautiful and noble virgin – and by using that popular narrative structure achieves to capture effortlessly the attention and sympathy of the audience. Then through a subtle shift of the plot development and the ‘moral valency’ of the dramatis personae is achieved gradually the subversion into the new, Christian meanings and metaphors of the narrative. The eros transforms to agape, the young virgin into a perpetual virgin, the hero becomes the apostle (who stands for the actual hero of the Christian tale, Christ), the peripeteia turn out to be a trial of martyrdom, and the ‘happily ever after’ becomes the eternal life in Christ and ultimately, the Kingdom of Heaven. In the current analysis of the Acts of Paul and Thecla in passing has been pointed to some scholarly interpretations of the narrative as an exegetical picture in novelistic form of themes occurring in 1Corinthinas. While this line of investigation has not been elaborated further in this paper, it needs to be acknowledged that the interpretational perspective of my arguments might also benefit from baring in mind a possible overarching parallelism especially with the notion of knowledge (‘wisdom’) established by 1Corinthians 2:6-16. The notions of opposition between earthly wisdom and “wisdom of God in a mystery” (1Cor 2:7) which is revealed by his spirit to “them that love him” (1Cor 2:9-10) has been one of the powerful rhetorical tools of early Christian writers, both for exegetic but also for apologetic purposes292. Thus, approaching the narrative of Thecla as a tripartite unity of meaning that is using the literary form of the ancient novel for its articulation, might gain additional advantage of being viewed in a ‘dialogue’ with the development of this notion of wisdom that has been widely popular within early Christian exegetics. Namely, the understanding of the knowledge (wisdom), i.e. also the Scripture, itself is tripartite: as one related to the body, the soul and the spirit293 . In a way, this tripartite structure could be seen as the ‘hermeneutical background’ for

292 “As Margaret Mitchell clarifies, this threefold mapping of interpreters of scripture – laid out by Paul, expounded by Origen, and attributed to 1Corinthians 2:6-8 – allows the language of 1Corinthians to be ‘pressed into the service of the hermeneutical theory in a slightly different way: flesh, soul, and spirit are not three types of people per se, but they are three elements of which scripture itself is composed.” J.R. Srawbridge, “The use of 1Corinthians 2:6-16 by Early Christians,” in Studia Patristica vol. LXIII, ed. Markus Vinzent (Leuven: Peeters Press, 2013), 78.

293 “For just as a man consists of body, soul, and spirit, so in the same way does the scripture, which has been prepared by God to be given for salvation.” Origen, De principiis, IV, 2.4

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the three layers of the narrative discussed above: that of ‘passion’ (body), ‘discipline’ (soul), and ‘theology’ (spirit). However, that does not imply that these three dimensions have equal moral valence and value within the discourse of Christianity. As Elizabeth Castelli succinctly formulates: “The construction of the feminine as passion (emphasis mine) means that women, the embodiment or the cultural representation of the feminine, are erased by that repression of passion. Therefore, for a woman to participate in the institution which calls for the negation of the feminine is, on one level, for her to participate in a profound self-abnegation, self-denial, even self-destruction.294” It has been, and probably will continue to be, the topic of many scholarly debates if the figure of the Christian heroine in the apocryphal acts is a signifier of socio- cultural processes of reinforcement of women’s agencies within the religious practices of early Christianity or merely a vehicle of male rhetoric resolving dynamics concerning authority of men295. The current paper stands closer to the latter understanding brought forward by Kate Cooper, but also does not dismiss the momentum created within this rhetoric of renunciation and suffering manifested trough the figure of the Virgin-Martyr – intentionally or as a side effect – that has created a different scope of real socio-cultural ‘choices’ and ‘voices’ for ‘real’ Christian women and not just the ones from the martyrs tales and hagiographies. Here I agree again with Cooper’s stance that:

For the period of their production, the second and third centuries, we may never be able to document the audience of the Apocryphal Acts and the other novelistic fragments of the early Christian imagination, beyond nothing that they seem to expect an audience familiar with the belles-lettres of the age but resentful of the imperial administration. Still it is clear that in the late fourth century, when the romances of renunciation finally reached the daughters of consuls and governors, their appeal was irresistible. Imitation of the heroine became the

294 Elizabeth Castelli, “Virginity and Its Meaning for Women's Sexuality in Early Christianity”. In Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1986), 88.

295 See chapter two here for a concise introduction on some related scholarly stances. For interesting exposition on the scholarly debate on the ‘gendered rhetoric’ of Christianity and socio-cultural authority, see Virginia Burrus, Reading Agnes, 44-46. 103

vehicle of identification for female audiences, and the gesture of sexual renunciation took on an increasingly well-documented importance as a model for women of all classes.296

Surely, these complex narrative dynamics and textual images have only been schematically sketched in the current paper, however, the hope remains that a few new points of interest for further investigation had been brought forward, not only applicable to the Acts of Paul and Thecla, but also to other ‘renunciation and suffering’ narratives of early Christianity and their heroines. Inevitably, many related questions of significance remained only schematically presented in this paper or have been left aside for future study. For example – in spite of the already formidable scholarship on this problem - the figure of the Virgin-Martyr can be further investigated in the perspective of her socio-cultural role not just for the purported life ‘choices’ that she made available to ‘real’ women in early Christianity, but also for her significance in the shaping and articulation of the emerging Christian identity in general. Also, a special interest for interpretation can be found in the specifics of the narrative development of the heroine of the apocryphal acts into the figure of the transvestite saint297 in the hagiographies of the 4th and 5th centuries.

296 Cooper, “The Bride That is No Bride”, 67. 297 See for example Stephen J. Davis’ article, “Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men”, Journal of Early Christian Studies10:1(2002), 1- 36 104

Fig. 5. St. Thecla kneeling and praying amid wild animals; behind, to right, St Thecla's martyrdom at the stake and a thunderstorm298. Engraving, paper. Netherlandish school, ca.1619, print made by Hieronymus Wierx. Image & description courtesy of British Museum Collection online: https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3014510 &page=2&partId=1&peoA=10474-1-7&people=10474&sortBy=fromDateDesc

298 Lettered in Latin on top of image (translation mine): 'ILLAESA' (‘Inviolable’) and below image: ‘S. TECLA. Liberasti me a Rugientibus praeparatis ad escam; a pressura flammae ignis. Eccl. 51.’ (‘St Thecla. Freed me from those who Roaring prepared to devour; from burning in the yoke of flames. Eccl. 51.’). The phrase is probably inflation of 51:4 and 6 from Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), as it appears in the Latin Vulgate Bible, source: http://www.drbo.org/lvb/chapter/26051.htm), which reads as follows 4: ‘Et liberasti me, secundum multitudinem misericordiae nominis tui, a rugientibus praeparatis ad escam & 6: a pressura flammae quae circumdedit me, et in medio ignis non sum aestuatus’. For a full text and English translation, see e.g., https://biblehub.com/catholic/sirach/51-4.htm. Signed: 'Hieronymus Wierx fecit et excud. Cum Gratia et Privil. Piermans' (‘Made and printed by Hieronymus Wierx. With the grace and privilege of Pierman’). 105

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