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40-584: Santa Tecla may mean: A saint: see Thecla Santa Tecla, Italy , a commune near Acireale , Sicily Santa Tecla, Este , a church building in Este, Italy Santa Tecla, Milan , a church building in Milan, Italy Santa Tecla, El Salvador , formerly named Nueva San Salvador Santa Tecla BC , a basketball club based in Santa Tecla Santa Tecla F.C. ,

80-498: A culture of imitation in these women. Several of them would live as virgins in households, in tombs (as she was rumored to do), and sometimes in monasteries. These women would travel together as bands of empowered virgins telling stories of Thecla and her grace. Other women in the Movement of St. Thecla would name their daughters after her and engrave her face on their tombs and on their oil lamps. All of these women were empowered by Thecla,

120-475: A deal for their release. Those negotiations produced an agreement on a prisoner exchange under which around 150 Syrian women detained by the government were also freed. After the nuns were freed on 9 March 2014, they stated that they were mostly treated well by their captors. On 14 April 2014, with the help of Hezbollah and SSNP , the Syrian Army once more took control of Maaloula. This government success

160-582: A football club based in Santa Tecla Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Santa Tecla . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Tecla&oldid=1018089242 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

200-745: A man's cloak". As she traveled, she preached the word of God and encouraged women to imitate her by living a life of chastity. According to some versions of the Acts , Thecla lived in a cave in Seleucia Cilicia for 72 years, where she continued to spread Christianity. It is also said that Thecla spent the rest of her life in Maaloula , a village in Syria. There, she became a healer and performed many miracles, but remained constantly persecuted. In one instance, as her persecutors were about to get to her, she called out to God,

240-606: A new passage was opened in the cave she was in, and the stones closed behind her. Before her death, she was able to go to Rome and lie down beside Paul's tomb. Tertullian , in chapter 17 of his work On Baptism , writes: But if the writings which wrongly go under Paul's name, claim Thecla's example as a license for women's teaching and baptizing, let them know that, in Asia, the presbyter who composed that writing, as if he were augmenting Paul's fame from his own store, after being convicted, and confessing that he had done it from love of Paul,

280-527: A publication now in the public domain :  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). " Sts. Thecla ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Maaloula Maaloula ( Arabic : مَعلُولَا ; Western Neo-Aramaic : ܡܥܠܘܠܐ ,מעלולא , romanized:  Maʿlūlā ) is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria . The town is located 56 km to the northeast of Damascus and

320-457: A woman who did things that not many women would ever dare to do, and they built a strong community in which they empowered each other. Thecla is counted as the patron saint of Tarragona and Sitges in Catalonia ( Spain ), where the cathedral has a chapel dedicated to her . Her feast day remains the town's major local holiday. In Spanish-speaking countries, she is also facetiously counted as

360-499: Is built into the rugged mountainside at an altitude of more than 1,500m. It is known as one of two remaining villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken, the other one being the nearby smaller village of Jubb'adin . Until the Syrian Civil War , Bakhʽa also had speakers of Western Neo-Aramaic. However, Bakhʽa was completely destroyed during the war, and all the survivors fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon . Maʿlūlā

400-481: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Thecla The Acts of Paul and Thecla is a 2nd-century text ( c.  AD 180 ) which forms part of the Acts of Paul , but was also circulated separately. According to the text, Thecla was a young noble virgin from Iconium who chose to leave her fiance so she could convert to Christianity and follow Paul. In

440-544: Is said to derive from the Aramaic word maʿəlā , meaning "entrance". The name is romanized in multiple different ways, such as Maaloula, Ma'loula, Maalula, Ma'lula, Malula. However, "Maaloula" is the most common one. In 1838, its inhabitants were Antiochan Greek Orthodox Christians , Melkite Catholics , and a minority of Sunni Muslims . Presently, the population maintains religious diversity, with both Christians and Muslims identifying ethnically as Arameans Notably,

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480-423: Is the only place where a Western Aramaic language is still spoken, which it has been able to retain amidst the rise of Arabic due to its distance from other major cities and its isolating geological features. However, modern roads and transportation, as well as accessibility to Arabic-language television and print media – and for some time until recently, also state policy – have eroded that linguistic heritage. As

520-528: The Antiochan Convent of Saint Thecla . The Saint Sarkis Monastic Complex of Maaloula is one of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria. It was built on the site of a pagan temple, and has elements which go back to the fifth to sixth century Byzantine period. Saint Sarkis is the Aramaic name for Sergius , a Roman soldier who was executed for his Christian beliefs. This monastery still maintains its solemn historical character. The monastery has two of

560-607: The Apostle . "It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thecla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs," wrote M. R. James , the editor of this Acta (James 1924). The cave-tomb in Seleucia was one of the most celebrated in the Christian world. Gregory of Nazianzus withdrew to the shrine of "the highly praised young maid Thecla" for three years. The site

600-568: The Monk , and St. Theodora of Alexandria . Written three or four centuries after the Acts of Paul and Thecla , these stories reference Thecla's story through thematic connections, and in the case of The Life of Eugenia , explicitly. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , the wide circulation of the Acts of Paul and Thecla is evidence of her veneration. She was called "apostle and protomartyr among women" and " equal-to-apostles in sanctity". She

640-718: The Muslim inhabitants have a remarkable legacy as they haven’t embraced an Arab ethnic identity , unlike the majority of other Syrians who underwent Islamization and, consequently, Arabization over the centuries. Half a century ago, 15,000 people lived in Maaloula. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics , Maaloula had a population of 2,762 in the 2004 census. However, during summer, it increases to about 10,000, due to people coming from Damascus for holidays. With two other nearby towns, Bakh'a and Jubb'adin, Maaloula

680-600: The Roman empress Helena founded the monastery of Saint Tecla that is located in Mosfiloti near Larnaca . After the Mamluks had taken control of Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , part of the hallows of Saint Thecla were carried to Cyprus by Christians . The hallows are in this monastery now. An inscription in remembrance "of the martyr Thecla" in the church of St. Menas in Cyprus, and dated to

720-505: The last remaining area where Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken, the three villages represent an important source for anthropological linguistic studies regarding first century Western Aramaic. According to scholarly consensus, the language of Jesus was a Western Middle Aramaic variety, Galilean Aramaic . There are two important monasteries in Maaloula: the Melkite monastery of Mar Sarkis and

760-510: The mountain split open and let her escape through. The town gets its name from this gap or entrance in the mountain. However, there are many variations to this story among the residents of Maaloula. There are also the remains of numerous monasteries, convents, churches, shrines and sanctuaries. There are some that lie in ruins, while others continue to stand, defying age. Many pilgrims come to Maaloula, both Muslim and Christian, and they go there to gain blessings and make offerings. Maaloula became

800-515: The mountainside, a pilgrimage site with a holy well. The Church tradition is that the mountain opened miraculously to protect Thecla from her persecutors. On Monday, December 2, 2013, during the Syrian civil war , twelve nuns there were seized by Al-Qaeda radicals of Al-Nusra Front during the bombardment of her shrine; three months later the nuns were exchanged for relatives of terrorists and in April 2014,

840-452: The old or Julian Calendar. Her veneration flourished particularly at Seleucia Cilicia (where she was said to have lived to old age and be buried), Iconium (present day Konya ), and Nicomedia . Chamalières in France was believed to hold relics. The obscure saints, Tecla of Aquileia and of Trieste are modeled after her. In Bede's martyrology , Thecla is celebrated on 23 September, which

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880-460: The oldest icons in the world, one depicting the Last Supper . This convent holds the remains of Thecla , which the second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla accounts a noble virgin and pupil of Paul the Apostle . According to later legend not in the Acts , Thecla was being pursued by soldiers of her father to capture her because of her Christian faith. She came upon a mountain, and after praying,

920-469: The oldest image in existence of Paul, dating from the late 4th century. St. Thecla, with her dedication and image of a chosen saint, started a following of masses of women across Asia Minor and Egypt. St. Thecla was praised among these women as a sort of patron of empowerment for women : in the Acts of Paul and Thecla , St. Thecla preached to men, and baptized herself, all things that were normally supposed to have only been done by men. St. Thecla created

960-1052: The oldest is the St. Taqla Church in Masqa , Matn District , built in 1695. The church boasts an 1870 painting of Thecla by the Italian artist Vincento Lampodico . In Syria, there is a Greek Orthodox church of St. Thecla in Darayya . In 1849, some people found a cave in Latakia which later became St. Taqla's Shrine. In the United States there are three Roman Catholic parishes named for Saint Thecla: in Clinton, Michigan ; in Pembroke, Massachusetts ; and in Chicago , Illinois . Several cities and towns are named for her: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

1000-562: The other side. In June 2010, on a wall of the Catacomba di Santa Tecla in Rome , Vatican archaeologists of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, using laser technology to remove layers of clay and lime rind, discovered a frescoed portrait of St Paul the Apostle , "recognizable by his thin face and dark pointed beard... with small eyes and furrowed brow", which they believe is

1040-523: The patron saint of computers and Internet , from the homophony with the Spanish and Catalan word tecla ("key"). The earliest cathedral in Milan was also dedicated to her; its baptistry and remnants of its structure are still accessible below the present structure . The duomo of the town of Este, Veneto , is dedicated to Santa Tecla . Lebanon has 42 churches dedicated to St. Takla or Taqla. One of

1080-505: The same source. Eugenia of Rome in the reign of Commodus (180–192) is reported in the Acts of her martyrdom to have taken Thecla as her model. According to some scholars, Thecla's story inspired many later stories of women saints who dressed as men, including St. Anastasia the Patrician , St. Matrona of Perge , St. Euphrosyne of Alexandria , St. Apolinaria , St. Eugenia of Rome , St. Marina

1120-791: The scene of battle between the Al-Qaeda -linked insurgent group Al-Nusra Front and the Syrian Army in September 2013. The insurgents took over the town on October 21. Around 13 people were killed, with many more wounded. On October 28, government forces recaptured the town. Maaloula was taken over by al-Nusra Front , opposing the Syrian government, again on December 3, 2013. The group took 12 Orthodox nuns as hostages. The nuns were moved between different locations and ended up in Yabroud where they were held for three months. Officials from Lebanon negotiated

1160-461: The second half of the 1st century, was interpreted in the early twentieth century as evidence for her historical existence. At this pilgrimage site near the Church of St. Menas in Cyprus, women had the option to buy a flask which they could fill with holy water, oil, or even dirt from that stop which many women visited during their pilgrimage. These flasks depict the image of Menas on one side and Thecla on

1200-583: The text, it is said that Thecla spent three days sitting by her window, listening to Paul speak about the Christian God and the importance of living in chastity. Thecla's mother, Theoclia, and fiance, Thamyris, became concerned that Thecla was going to follow Paul's teachings. They turned to local authorities to punish Paul for being a Christian and "mak[ing] virgins averse to marriage". Paul was sent to prison, where Thecla visited him, kissed his bonds, and refused to leave him and return to her mother and fiance. Paul

1240-531: The town was liberated by Syrian governmental troops. On May 30, 2018, the rector of the Church, Ilias Ades, announced that the monastery would be entirely restored in a month by the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch with help from the Russian Orthodox Church . The Monastery is a popular destination for Eastern Orthodox Christians from around the world, including Russia. According to tradition,

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1280-638: The whole world seemed dead to her as she was to the world. Macarius Magnes , shortly after AD 300, wrote how the message of Christianity was "the sword, [Matt 10:34] which cuts relations from each other [Matt:10:35], as it cut Thecla from Theocleia". Around AD 280, Thecla features as one of the characters in Methodius of Olympus ' Symposium , in which she displays considerable knowledge of secular philosophy, various branches of literature, and eloquent yet modest discourse. Methodius states that she received her instruction in divine and evangelical knowledge from Paul, and

1320-552: Was described by Egeria in the mid-380s. It was restored several times, among others by the Emperor Zeno in the 5th century, and today the ruins of the tomb and sanctuary are called Aya Tekla Church or Meriamlik . A 5th-century anonymous work, The Life and Miracles of Thecla , concentrates on the town. In Maaloula , Syria, a Greek Orthodox nunnery , the Convent of Saint Thecla , was built near her cave tomb, reached by steps in

1360-482: Was eminent for her skill in sacred science ("Logos 8"). The martyrdom of Thecla is frequently referred to in the earliest Acts of the Martyrs . Eugenius, a martyr of Trebizond under Diocletian (284–305), couples Thecla with David and Daniel in his prayers. The exordium of the Acts of Polyeuctes (died 259) refers to Thecla and Perpetua , and there were certainly many virgin martyrs who drew their first inspiration from

1400-789: Was her feast day in the West, though in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed Thecla's feast day from the Calendar of Saints for lack of historic evidence. The Western Rite Parishes of the Orthodox Churches continue to celebrate her on 23 September (new Calendar Parishes) and 6 October (old Calendar Churches). The Western Rite Monastic Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit celebrates her feast day on 24 September. A local martyr tradition of Thecla may have inspired an episode connected to Paul

1440-551: Was made to leave the city and Thecla was condemned to be burned. However, Thecla was miraculously saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm. She then encountered Paul outside of Iconium , where she told him, "I will cut my hair off and I shall follow you wherever you go". She then traveled with Paul to Antioch of Pisidia . There, a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to rape her. Thecla fought him off, tore his cloak, and knocked his coronet off his head, which caused her to be put on trial for assault. She

1480-520: Was part of a string of other successes in the strategic Qalamoun region, including the seizure of the former rebel bastion of Yabroud in the previous month. The people of Maaloula celebrated as a new statue of Mary, mother of Jesus was erected in its centre, replacing the figure destroyed in Islamist attacks in 2013. On 13 June 2015, Syrian officials unveiled the new statue of the Virgin Mary, draped in

1520-603: Was removed from his office. Johann Peter Kirsch says, "Notwithstanding the purely legendary character of the entire story, it is not impossible that it is connected with an historical person." The Church Fathers recount a number of traditions about Thecla. Gregory of Nyssa writes in the 4th century (Homily 14 in Cant ) that she undertook the sacrifice of herself, by giving death to the flesh, practicing great austerities, extinguishing in herself all earthly affections, so that nothing seemed to remain living in her but reason and spirit:

1560-488: Was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts , but was again saved by a series of miracles. In one scene, female beasts, particularly lionesses, protected her against her male aggressors. While in the arena, she baptized herself by throwing herself into a nearby lake full of aggressive seals, who were all killed by lightning before they could devour her. Thecla rejoined Paul in Myra , "wearing a mantle that she had altered so as to make

1600-490: Was widely cited as an ascetic role model for women. During the fourth and fifth centuries, Thecla was lauded in literature as an exemplary virgin and martyr by ascetic writers and theologians such as Methodius of Olympus , Gregory of Nyssa , and Gregory of Nazianzus . The Eastern Rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorate her on 24 September in churches following the new Calendar and 7 October for those using

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