Thecla and Medieval Sainthood

The Acts of Paul and Thecla in Eastern and Western Hagiography

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"It is an old, yet powerful story. A beautiful young woman falls in love, and try as they might, her disapproving family and friends fail to dissuade her from that love or keep her from her beloved. Persistent and uncompromising, the young woman disrupts the social order of her world, be it that of high school or high society. And by tale's end, either the lover and her beloved are integrated back into society, or a new world order arises (uneasily sometimes) out of the ashes. Perusing through a list of popular young adult novels, teen movies, and ancient romances, one may be struck by the sheer number of stories that follow this arc. The same storyline was also popular in the late antique and medieval periods. A subset of the latter, however, follow a slightly different track. They detail the lives and trials of women who have fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with the transcendental, namely the word of God, and some, even on pain of torture and death, claim Christ as their eternal bridegroom"--