Acts of Paul and Thecla 28–31

The Acts of Paul and Thecla (abbreviated APT) is one of the Christian Apocryphal Acts dating probably from the middle of the second century. It forms part of a larger work, The Acts of Paul but it often circulated separately and was quite popular in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The story is first mentioned by the Latin theologian Tertullian (c. 200 ce), but he disapproves of its contents because it exalts a woman who preaches and baptizes (he thinks such activities are inappropriate for women), and because the work is not by Paul (De Baptismo 17). ¹ The text survives in eleven Greek manuscripts dating from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries, and is also found in Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Slavic, Arabic and Coptic versions. The critical Greek text underlying the translation here is that of Lipsius, ² with consultation of Vouaux. ³ An English translation of the whole work may be found in Schneemelcher, who also provides detailed information about the manuscript tradition and about the relationship between APT and the larger Acts of Paul. ⁴