The Miracle of Saint Thekla for Old Man Panais of Lysi

Panais Hatzeionas was afflicted in his youth with a rash (called karfites in the Cypriot dialect) on both of his legs, causing him considerable suffering whenever he walked. He went to doctors and applied ointments, but nothing helped. One day, as he and his brother Vasilis were returning from Stavrovouni Monastery (the journey from Lysi to Stavrovouni was always made on foot) they stopped at the Sacred Monastery of Saint Thekla in Mosfiloti to venerate. There, he took mud from the holy spring of Saint Thekla and applied it to his legs. By the time they reached Lysi, the rashes had disappeared from both of his legs.

Holy Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles Thekla in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

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.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 24

The Month of September

Day 24

25. Is There Any Benefit in Hearing the Word of God?

(From the Life of Holy Protomartyr Thekla)

When, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, a lectern is placed on the ambo in the church and the priest comes out to give a sermon, then ordinarily, especially in the cities, nearly a large portion of the people, and especially those who consider themselves educated, rush out of the church. And this, of course, shows that such people either do not wish to acknowledge that there is any benefit in hearing the word of God, or do not understand this at all. Yet there truly is benefit in listening to the word of God, and it is not difficult to prove this.

Holy Protomartyr Thekla was at first a pagan; she came from a noble and distinguished family and was exceptionally beautiful. When she had reached the age of eighteen, the Apostles Paul and Barnabas came to Iconium, where Thekla lived, preaching the gospel. Thekla constantly went to listen to their discourses concerning Christ, and the seed of the word of God fell upon good soil, took root in the heart of the young maiden through the action of the Holy Spirit, and brought forth fruit. Thekla believed in the Son of God and clung to Him with all her soul. Then, after her Baptism, when she heard Paul preach about virginity and chastity, she was persuaded by his preaching of the excellence of virginity and resolved in her heart to leave the world with all its pleasures and serve Christ in virginal purity until her death. Later she listened to the same Apostle while he was in prison, and the result of this listening was that Thekla became fully instructed and firmly established in faith and in ardent love for the Son of God. “Paul,” writes Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “poured the myrrh of his lips into the holy ears of the maiden, and she, for the sake of his words, put to death the outward man within herself and extinguished all vain thoughts and desires.”

References to Saint Thekla in the Writings of Gregory of Nyssa

Saint Thekla, to whom a famous martyrium near Seleucia was dedicated in the time of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, was celebrated in the early Church as an archetypical virgin and martyr. In the two places where she is mentioned in Gregory of Nyssa's writings, this is how she is presented.

1. Homily 14 on the Song of Songs

(A commentary on Song of Songs 5:13, which reads: "His jaws are like bowls of spice pouring forth perfumes. His lips are lilies, dropping abundant myrrh.")

For the myrrh that flows from the mouth and fills the receptive soul is an image for the mortification of the body, since it is often observed that in the improper usage of the inspired text the term 'myrrh' signifies death. Therefore the pure and perfect eye, which makes of the jaw a bowl that pours and gushes perfumes out of itself, this eye blossoms with lilies in the form of words that proceed from the mouth of those who have been beautified by the divine radiance; for so does the text identify those who are pure and who breathe out the perfume of virtue, from whom there is unendingly distilled the drop of myrrh that fills the mind of its recipients — that is to say, disdain for the material life, which appears when everything that people work for in this life becomes inoperative and dead on account of their desire for transcendent goods.

Homily for the Commemoration of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Saint Thekla (Fr. Daniel Sysoev)

Homily for the Commemoration of Saint Thekla

By Fr. Daniel Sysoev

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

I congratulate you all on the feast day of the Holy Protomartyr Thekla, Equal-to-the-Apostles! If we look at the history of the Church, we see that there were saints who were once highly venerated, but later became less so. This applies to Saint Thekla. The entire ancient Church, right up until the 15th century (now she is highly venerated only in Syria), held her in high esteem. Yet many Orthodox Christians don't even know her life, which is remarkable. 

Saint Thekla was from Asia Minor and lived in the city of Iconium, near Antalya, now Konya (fifty kilometers from Antalya). Saint Thekla was an ordinary pagan, a young woman of nineteen, betrothed to a pagan youth. At that time, the Apostle Paul was passing through the city, preaching the holy gospel. He went to preach in a high-rise building called an insula (Latin for "insula" — literally translated as "island" — in ancient Roman architecture, a multi-story residential building with rooms and apartments). At that time, cities already had high-rise buildings inhabited by the less wealthy. Saint Thekla lived in a mansion next to this "khrushchevka" building, where the Apostle Paul celebrated the Liturgy in one of the apartments.

September: Day 24: Holy Protomartyr Thekla

September: Day 24:
Holy Protomartyr Thekla
 
(On the Motivations for Preserving Chastity)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Thekla, whose memory is celebrated today, was the first Christian martyr. For her participation in the preaching of the gospel, she was called Equal to the Apostles. When the Holy Apostles Paul and Barnabas were passing through Iconium, they stayed with a pious man named Onesiphoros. Many gathered at Onesiphoros’ house to listen to the apostles. Among those visiting Onesiphoros’ house was Thekla, the daughter of noble and wealthy parents. Thekla was betrothed to a young man, but when she heard the preaching of the Apostle Paul, she secretly accepted the Christian faith and decided to devote her entire life to God without entering into marriage. After repeated suffering for Christ, Thekla settled on a mountain, in the most deserted place, where many came to her for teachings. And she taught, healed the sick and converted the pagans. Thus did Saint Thekla, who was distinguished by strict chastity, spend many years in prayer and good deeds and died in old age, having lived to the age of 90.

The Monastery of Saint Thekla in Mosfiloti of Cyprus (History and Miracles)

The Sacred Monastery of Saint Thekla is located about 500 meters south of the Mosfiloti village in the District of Larnaca in Cyprus. It is built in the middle of a small, verdant valley, in an area that provides the necessary peace for the monastic community that abides in it.

According to tradition, which was recorded by the British traveler William Turner in 1815, the Monastery of Saint Thekla was built by Saint Helen during her visit to Cyprus in the beginning of the 4th century AD, when she had also established the Monastery of Stavrovouni. The relevant tradition reports that Saint Helen arrived at the region where the monastery stands today, prayed to God and then Holy Water started flowing from the earth that helped her and her escorts to cool off. She then constructed a church over this spot, which she dedicated to the early martyr and Equal to the Apostles, Saint Thekla.

The Holy Water spring exists today and it is used by the faithful for the cure of skin diseases and eczemas.

In the trail through which Saint Helen and her escort passed, next to the monastery, there were, until recently, trees of an oblique shape. A sort of certification by nature that it bowed as the Saint was passing by.