According to the Acts of Paul and Thecla, Thecla is a young woman in Iconium who listens for days from a window as Paul teaches about chastity, resurrection and devotion to Christ. Her rejection of an arranged marriage provokes conflict within her household and city. Paul is expelled and Thecla is condemned to the fire, which a sudden storm extinguishes in the narrative.
Later in Antioch, Thecla resists an assault and is sentenced to wild beasts. In the apocryphal text a lioness lies at her feet, kills an attacking bear and fights another lion. When Thecla enters a pool of seals as an act of baptism, lightning flashes, the seals die and a cloud of fire surrounds her. Other beasts fall as if asleep; when she is tied between bulls made frantic by hot irons, the flames burn through her ropes without harming her. The governor finally releases her. Later tradition places her life and death near Silifke, where Ayatekla became a major pilgrimage centre.
The work is not part of the New Testament. Tertullian rejected its use to authorise women to teach and baptise, reporting that it had been composed by a presbyter in Asia. His criticism shows both the account’s early popularity and the dispute over its authority. Thecla’s story therefore belongs at the intersection of history, apocryphal literature and the memory of women’s Christian dedication.