The Acts of Saint Paul (written about ca. 160–180 AD) narrated by Joe D. Translated by Bernhard Pick in 1909. This is Librivox recording and is in public domain - https://librivox.org/. The Acts were first mentioned by Tertullian (d. 240 AD). Tertullian found it heretical because it encouraged women to preach and baptize. The Acts were considered orthodox by Hippolytus (d. 235 AD) but were eventually regarded as heretical when the Manichaeans (4th cen. AD) started using the texts. The author of the Acts of Paul is unknown and wrote out of respect for Paul in Asia Minor. The author does not show any dependency on the canonical Acts but uses oral traditions of Paul's missionary work.

The text is primarily known from Greek manuscripts. The discovery of a Coptic version of the text demonstrated that the text was composed of

1) 0:00:15 The Acts of Paul and Thecla
2) 0:45:51 The Epistle of the Corinthians to Paul and the Third Epistle to the Corinthians
3) 0:54:51 The Martyrdom of Paul – his death at the hand of Nero

All of these constituent parts were often considered worth treating as separate texts and frequently appeared independently, although scholars agree that they were originally part of the Acts of Paul. Besides the four main sections mentioned above, the remainder of the Acts exist only in fragments from the 3rd and 5th centuries:

The healing of Hermocrates from dropsy
The strife of the Ephesian beasts

The texts are a coherent whole and are generally thought to have been written by one author using oral traditions, rather than basing it on any of the other apocrypha or the orthodox canon. The main emphasis of the text is on Chastity and anti-Gnosticism. According to Tertullian, the author was a priest in Asia Minor. While the priest encouraged female ministry, he expressed doctrinal orthodoxy in regard to continence and Resurrection. Also, they mentioned the close relationship of sexual purity and salvation.

The Epistle of the Corinthians to Paul and the Third Epistle of the Corinthians both appear in some editions of the Armenian Bible.

ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA:

The Acts of Paul and Thecla is a 2nd-century text (circa AD 180) which forms part of the Acts of Paul but also circulated separately. According to the text, Thecla was a young noble virgin from Iconium who listened to Paul's "discourse on virginity", espoused the teachings and became estranged to both her fiancé, Thamyris, and her mother. She sat by her window for three days, listening to St. Paul and his teachings. When they witnessed this, they became concerned that Thecla would follow Paul's demand "one must fear only one God and live in chastity" and turned to the authorities to punish both Paul and Thecla.

Thecla was miraculously saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm and traveled with Paul to Antioch of Pisidia. There, a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to rape her. Thecla fought him off, tearing his cloak and knocking his coronet off his head in the process. She was put on trial for assault. She was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts but was again saved by a series of miracles, when the female beasts (lionesses in particular) protected her against her male aggressors. While in the arena, she baptized herself by throwing herself into a nearby lake full of aggressive seals.

She rejoined the Holy Apostle Paul in Myra, traveled to preach the word of God and became an icon encouraging women to imitate her by living a life of chastity and following the word of the Lord. She went to live in Seleucia in Cilicia. According to some versions of the Acts, she lived in a cave there for 72 years. However, she passed the rest of her life in Maaloula, a village in Syria. She became a healer, performed many miracles, but remained constantly persecuted. The story goes, as her persecutors were about to get her, she called out to God and a new passage was opened in the cave, and the stones closed behind her. The passage and caves are still found in Maaloula which became a very important site for pilgrims. She was able to go to Rome and lie down beside Paul's tomb.

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