Thecla and Medieval Sainthood: \_\_The Acts of Paul and Thecla\_\_ in Eastern and Western Hagiography

"Saint Thecla was one of the most prominent figures of early Christianity who provided a model of virginity and a role-model for women in the early Church. She was the object of cult and of pilgrimage and her tale in the Acts of Paul and Thecla made a tremendous impact on later hagiographies of both female and male saints. This volume explores this impact on medieval hagiographical texts composed in Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Greek, Irish, Latin, Persian, and Syriac. It investigates how they evoked and/or invoked Thecla and her tale in constructing the lives and story worlds of their chosen saints and offers detailed original readings of the lives of various heroines and heroes. The book adds further depth and nuance to our understanding of Thecla's popularity and the spread of her legend and cult."-- Provided by publisher "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"-- Provided by publisher 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 04.0_pp_v_vi_Contents 05.0_pp_vii_viii_Contributors 06.0_pp_ix_x_Acknowledgments 07.0_pp_xi_xii_Abbreviations 08.0_pp_1_32_Introduction 09.0_pp_33_194_An_Act_to_Follow 09.1_pp_35_60_A_Cainite_Invocation_of_Thecla 09.2_pp_61_84_Saint_Thecla_in_Geez_Hagiographical_Literature 09.3_pp_85_109_Versified_Martyrs 09.4_pp_110_141_The_Reception_of_the_Acts_of_Thecla_in_Armenia 09.5_pp_142_174_Thecla_beyond_Thecla 09.6_pp_175_194_Shifting_the_Poetics_of_Gender_Ambiguity 10.0_pp_195_317_An_Act_to_Surpass 10.1_pp_197_232_Thecla_the_First_Cross-Dresser 10.2_pp_233_255_From_Diotima_to_Thecla_and_Beyond 10.3_pp_256_281_Reception_and_Rejection 10.4_pp_282_317_A_Medieval_Sufi_Thecla 11.0_pp_318_328_Afterword 12.0_pp_329_339_Summaries_of_Texts 13.0_pp_340_346_Index Saint Thecla, an immensely popular figure of early Christianity, inspired bishops, saints, emperors, church fathers, ordinary readers, and hagiographers who viewed her as an exemplary model. This volume explores the impact of her story on medieval hagiography written in a variety of languages across Eurasia and North Africa. Explores Saint Thecla and her story as preeminent models for medieval hagiographers across Eurasia and North Africa