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Originally, the story of Thecla was an integral part of the Acts of Paul and ended with the words : « and after she had enlightened many with the word of God, she slept a good sleep ». When the story was transmitted independently, this original ending mentionning Thecla’s death was retained only in a limited part of the Greek witnesses of the Acts of Paul and Thecla (APThe). The new edition of this text prepared by Willy Rordorf and Jean-Daniel Kaestli (to be published in the Corpus christianorum, Series apocryphorum) is based on 41 manuscripts ; 28 witnesses contain « additional texts », that is to say revised and amplified versions of the last part of Thecla’s life. These items, numbered from I to VIII, are variously connected with the body of the APThe and combine with each other in different ways in the manuscripts. In the following edition and translation they are presented so as to show clearly the ending of each individual manuscript. One of these endings is unedited : it describes the celebration of the memory of Thecla « in her holy house », in the place where her mortal remains went down miraculously into the earth (texts I +II). There are two versions of the plot of the physicians of Seleucia against Thecla and her going alive into the rock to escape the licentious young men ; the original form is better preserved in text VI than in text III - except for the interpolated story of the healing of Proclianos’ daughter. Text IV and text V form a unit ; they are the preamble and the body of an anonymous letter to the imperial power, narrating how « the true image of the holy apostle » Thecla had been providentially painted and preserved in Seleucia. Extracts of the same letter, attributed to Basil of Seleucia (5th century), are quoted by Nicephorus of Constantinople (9th century) and in a florilegium of texts defending the cult of images. Text VII is the « Roman ending », stating that Thecla went underground to Rom, died and was buried there. Text VIII, borrowed from Symeon Metaphrastes, is a wordy rewriting, based on texts I + III, of the the tale of the physicians’ plot against Thecla and her entering alive into the rock.
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