Acts of Paul and Thecla

[2] 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 after reading the text, prior to its disapproval by Tertullian.

[3] Jerome recounts the information from Tertullian,[4] and on account of his exactitude in reporting on chronology, some scholars regard the text a 1st-century creation.

[5] Many surviving versions of the Acts of Paul and Thecla in Greek, and some in Coptic, as well as references to the work among Church fathers show that it was widely disseminated.

"In the Ethiopic, with the omission of Thecla's admitted claim to preach and to baptize, half the point of the story is lost.

Thecla bribed a guard to gain entrance to the prison, and sat at Paul's feet all night listening to his teaching and "kissing his bonds."

Alexander dragged her before the governor for assaulting a nobleman, and, despite the protests of the city's women, Thecla was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts.

Still, Thecla was stripped naked and thrown into an arena, where the lioness protected her from a bear and died while killing a lion that belonged to Alexander.

Believing that the day in the arena would be her last chance to baptize herself, Thecla jumped into a vat of water that contained ravenous seals (or sea-calves, in some versions of the story).

The governor heard Thecla speak about the Christian God, ordered her clothed, and released her to the rejoicing women of the city.