By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. Saint Thekla was from the city of Iconium. Her mother was named Theokleia, and she belonged to a noble and illustrious family. She was instructed in the word of the faith by the great Apostle Paul, whom she heard teaching in the house of Onesiphoros. When she became a Christian, she was eighteen years old and had been betrothed to Thamyris. Later she scorned the fire into which they cast her, as well as her mother and her betrothed, she followed Paul. After these things, she found herself in Antioch, where, because of her faith, Alexander had her thrown among wild beasts and bulls so that they might tear her to pieces. Yet she was saved from all these things by the grace of God. Thereupon she began traveling through various cities, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, with the result that she brought many people to the Christian faith. Afterwards she returned to her homeland, where she withdrew to some of its mountains and practiced asceticism by herself. She performed many miracles for the people who visited her, until she brought her life to an end, entering into a rock that opened by the power of God for her sake. The total span of her life was ninety years.
2. It is not only men who can boast of the first among the martyrs, Saint Stephen. Women likewise have their first martyr among women, Saint Thekla, who was also a Great Martyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles. This Saint holds a particular place among the saints and martyrs, not only as the “fellow athlete of Stephen,” but also as the “companion of Paul.” For she was converted and became a Christian by the Apostle Paul, but she also followed him on many of his journeys, displaying such a courageous spirit, especially in what she endured, that, according to the Hymnographer, she caused Eve, our foremother, who had submitted to the commands of the devil, to rejoice because a woman had been found to subdue the evil one. “Eve rejoices, beholding the serpent subjected to a woman.”
The Hymnographer particularly emphasizes the fact that the Saint, very young in age, as soon as she became a Christian, left her betrothed in order to become a follower of Paul and an evangelist of Christ. Her decision, from one who was destined for marriage to one who ultimately dedicated herself to Christ as an unmarried woman, was certainly not due to any disparagement of marriage. Such a thing is not Christian, since marriage and virginity according to Christ are both regarded as being from God and as equal paths within the Church which, when rightly practiced, lead to the Kingdom of God. Besides, Thamyris, her betrothed, was a pagan, and their relationship had begun before the Saint became a Christian; consequently, we cannot speak of marriage in the Christian sense. The Saint simply, when confronted with the newness that had opened before her — Christ and His Kingdom — was captivated by love for Him to such a degree that she considered it impossible to continue living as she had before. Faced with the choice of remaining with her betrothed in a pagan life or being with Christ as a Christian, she chose the latter without hesitation. For she understood that love for Christ was above all. “He who loves … anything more than Me is not worthy of Me,” said the Lord. Things would certainly have been different if Thamyris had also been a Christian. Then they would rather have striven together to attain the Kingdom of God. As a pagan, however, the betrothed could no longer “survive” in this relationship. The Hymnographer points this out: “Though betrothed to Thamyris, Paul, the bridal escort, united you, as an undefiled bride, to the heavenly Bridegroom, O all-wise Thekla.” Who can compare with Christ and with His love? Love for Christ now caused Thekla to regard whatever words Thamyris spoke as foolish babbling: “The words of Thamyris you mocked as foolish babbling, O Martyr.”
This love for Christ, the Saint’s longing for her Creator, is also what the Hymnographer perceives. If Saint Thekla overcame human love, which under other circumstances would, of course, have been lawful, if she overcame her affection for her mother, if she overcame all the pleasures promised by youth, it was precisely because her heart had been conquered by her Bridegroom, Christ. As the poet also notes: “The longing for the Creator overcame the loves for created things.” And this is what we generally observe in our saints: they are able to overcome every obstacle; they can appear superhuman and heroic because the love of Christ constrains them. Like the Apostle Paul, they too can say: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, danger, the sword? Neither death nor any creature can separate us from His love.” Every Christian must likewise have this love of Christ if he wishes to live as a Christian. And in order to acquire it, he must first of all recognize its absence in his life and ask for it from Him who grants it: the Lord Himself. The problem is that we do not ask for it. And we do not ask for it because we do not feel its absence. And we do not feel its absence because other loves, the loves of this world, overwhelm our existence. Yet they are perishable loves, whose only offerings are sorrow and death.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
