Join us for the feast of St Thekla:
Wednesday, Sept. 23 – Vespers at 6:30 PM
Thursday, Sept 24 – Orthros & Divine Liturgy t 9:00 AM
THE SYNAXARION
On September 24 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we commemorate the holy Great-Martyr Thekla, equal-to-the-Apostles.
Verses
Himself that rent the rock saveth thee, O Thekla,
At Whose Passion once the rocks were rent asunder.
On the twenty-fourth the rock welcomed Thekla.
She was born in Iconium of eminent but pagan parents. At age 18, she was betrothed to a young man named Thamyris at the same time that the Apostle Paul arrived in Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel. Hearing Paul’s testimony for three days and nights, Thekla converted to the Christian Faith, and vowed to live in virginity. Her mother, seeing that she was now ignoring her betrothal, tried to dissuade her, and then beat her and tortured her by starvation. Finally, this wicked mother turned Thekla over to the judge and demanded that Thekla be burned. The judge threw her into the fire, but God preserved her unharmed by pouring rain on the fire. Once in an arena and sentenced to death, Thekla saw a vat of water that contained carnivorous seals. Thekla jumped into the vat and baptized herself. Lightning killed all of the seals before they could eat her. Another time, a lioness protected her from other wild beasts. Once, as a group of arrogant young men were about to catch Thekla, a large rock opened up and hid this holy virgin. This rock in Maaloula, Syria was her refuge and her tomb, and the site of the monastery which she founded, the oldest Christian convent in the world. Thousands of pilgrims flock to it yearly for healing of ailments.