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The apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla is the one surviving complete episode from an Acts of Paul composed, according to Tertullian in honor of Paul by a presbyter of Asia, whose fraud was identified, and he was degraded from his office, at a date about A.D. 160. The surviving work shows the author to have been quite orthodox in his Christianity.
Many surviving versions in Greek, and some in Coptic, show that the work was widely disseminated. A local martyr legend, of Tecla may have inspired the episode in which she was connected to Paul of Tarsus. "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).
External link
- Early Christian Writings: (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html) Acts of Paul: episode "The Acts of Paul and Thecla" (e-text) ed. M.R. James 1924
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