Saint Thekla the Isapostolos
Date of celebration: 24/09
The co-apostle Thekla came from Iconium and was the daughter of an ethnic family, and her mother’s name was Theoclia. Converted to the Christian faith thanks to the sermons of the Apostle Paul himself (see June 29) which he preached in the neighboring house of Onisiforos (see September 7). She was already betrothed to a national named Thamyris.
When he and her mother Theocleia realized that she had converted to the Christian faith, they tried to get her to take back her decision. When they saw that this was useless, they handed the Apostle Paul over to the ruler Castile, who finally imprisoned him and banished him. Then Thekla abandoned her suitor and followed the Apostle to Antioch in Pisidia.
Many times she was martyred but her faith saved her. From Antioch he went to Myra in Lycia to meet the Apostle Paul and from there to Seleucia, where he took refuge on Mount Kalamon, where he fell asleep in peace at the age of ninety.