Thecla: A Female Apostle and Healer You've Never Heard About

Real History

Thecla was a female Apostle converted by Paul directly in the 1st century (Acts of Paul and Thecla). She survived attempted martyrdom twice by miraculous intervention: being burned alive and being killed by beasts (Acts of Paul and Thecla). She founded a teaching and healing center in modern-day Syria that functioned for 1,000 years and still stands today (German Archaeological Institute at Seleucia Pieria, 1910). It is said that she put the local doctors out of business. First-century church history confirms that she was an early apostle and the same figure who founded the Apostolic Center mentioned above (Gregory of Nazianzus, "Oration 24"; Basil of Caesarea, "Letter 204").

Both Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea spoke of Thecla as a