Agia Thekla and Sotira are celebrating today

The Savior is celebrating today because of the feast of Saint Protomartyr Thekla. With great enthusiasm and religious reverence, hundreds of believers flooded the picturesque chapel of Agia Theklis Sotiras, both on the eve of Vespers and at the Divine Liturgy on the eponymous day.

The custom of the inhabitants of Sotira is established, who on September 23, the previous day of the feast of the Saint, spend the night in their fields and the next day, attend the Divine Liturgy.

Who was Saint Thekla:

Agia Thekla

THEKLA: (from God + cleos) = the one who has divine glory.

Saint Thekla was one of the first women to embrace Christianity, to be single, to be admired and to be sanctified. Information about her life and Christian activities is mainly obtained from two sources, from Acta Pauli et Theclae, written at the end of the 2nd century. AD, and from the Miracles of Agia Thekla, a text of the 5th c. AD, written perhaps by the bishop of Caesarea Basil. The texts, edited and studied by the French Byzantine scholar Gilbert Dagron, preserve different versions of the saint's life, but retain a common core that allows us to draw some conclusions about this apostle and first witness, a forerunner of female asceticism. Also, a description of the monastery and the worship of the saint is given by the pilgrim of the 5th century Egeria, who visited the area.

The chapel and the catacomb:

Agia Thekla is a chapel located a few kilometers south of Sotira on the border between Ayia Napa and Sotira. It is believed that there was an ancient settlement or cemetery in this place. To the west of the chapel there are indications that quarries were operating. The catacomb of Agia Thekli, (it is not a catacomb with the literal meaning of the word,) is a cave or tomb carved in stone. It is believed that in 1571 the Turkish General Piele Pasha landed there with an army and marched against Famagusta where he helped General Mustafa in the siege of the city.

Biographical data

According to Acta Pauli et Theclae, Thekla came from a prominent family in Konya. Her mother's name was Theoklia. At the time she embraced Christianity, she was engaged to someone named Tamyr, one of the prominent citizens of Konya. Thekla's house was next door to Onisiforos' house, where the apostle Paul preached.

Thekla accidentally heard the apostle's sermon from an open window. For three days she remained motionless and speechless in front of that window, in a deep collection. She then announced her decision to cancel her marriage and dedicate herself to the God the unknown man was talking about in the neighboring house. Thamyris was outraged against Paul, whom he blamed for this conversion of Thekla, and persuaded the inhabitants of Iconium to imprison the apostle. Thekla visited him in prison, but his guards discovered her. The apostle was expelled and Thekla, who remained steadfast in her refusal to marry Thamyris, was sentenced to death by fire. At the time of her execution, a miracle took place: the flames engulfed her body, protecting it instead of burning it, and extinguished it by a sudden downpour, which saved the saint but caused damage to the city. Following Paul, Thekla took refuge in Antioch.

In this city she had a stepmother, Tryphena, also the offspring of an aristocratic family, who had recently lost her daughter, Falconilla. Tryphana received Thekla near her and embraced her preaching for Christianity. However, Thekla had the misfortune to fall in love with Alexander, a local official. In her attempt to escape, she was captured by Roman soldiers and taken to the amphitheater for a second time, this time to the amphitheater. Before confronting the beasts, he prayed and immediately a lioness, instead of devouring her, protected her from the other wild animals. Then they threw Thekla into the lake with the carnivorous seals. Falling into the water, she baptized herself, and this gave her the secret power to defeat death and escape martyrdom for the second time.

Thekla found final refuge in Seleucia of Kalykadnos (Seleucia Tracheia), where she lived alone for several years in a cave, which was located in the old necropolis of the city. This cave was located higher than the tomb of the local hero Sarpidonios, who was worshiped together with Apollo, especially because of its healing properties, but lower than the sanctuary of Athena Kanitidos, patron saint of the city. Thekla immediately became involved in Christian preaching, but also in pharmacology, which allowed her to heal many people by using herbs and plants. Her fame spread quickly and she began to gather crowds around her, who wanted to hear her or be healed.

Worship

When the saint died, according to legend, falling into the cave near her hermitage, the inhabitants of Seleucia built a church in her honor. It is reported that in cases of plague the whole city performed litanies to the holy place of the saint. In the 5th century, Emperor Zeno, perhaps as a token of gratitude for the saint's help in his war against the usurper Vasiliskos, grew up and brightened this church, now known as Meriamlık, or Church of Mary. , of the Virgin.

The radiance of the saint and the importance of her worship

Reading the texts about the life and miracles of the saint, one observes the emphasis given to the female presence. Thekla, by refusing to marry, rebels against the established order, the male sex, and even her own mother. She despises her beauty, denies her social status, in order to gain the spiritual goods that the apostle Paul spoke of in his sermon. With her attitude, to which she is initially skeptical and negative, the apostle himself claims a place in paradise on behalf of the female sex.

Thecla's cult in Seleucia replaced the cult of Athena Kanitidos and Apollo of Sarpidon. As the character of the cult, the latter itself, was therapeutic-healing, Thekla's cult retained the same characteristics. The miracles performed by the saint during his lifetime caused a wave of pilgrims, which continued - and even intensified - after her death. The nunnery founded in the place where the saint consecrated was a pole of attraction, both for the inhabitants of Seleucia and for believers from all over the empire, especially after the construction of the brilliant ecclesiastical complex by Zeno.

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