Abstract

The Acts of Thecla is the title given to a lengthy section of the apocryphal Acts of Paul. The work exists in several ancient versions including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Syriac, and Armenian. It is not possible to date the Acts of Paul with any certainty. The earliest reference to it may be in Tertullian's second-century treatise on baptism. Third-and fourth-century theologians such as Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome knew of it, but they classified it among the apocryphal writings-among those books that circulated within certain circles or localities of the early Church but were not part of sacred Scripture.