Union Académique Internationale

This volume comprises an extensive study on the legend of Thecla in the Armenian tradition, as well as a philological analysis of Armenian sources on Thecla and on the Martyrdom of Paul compared to parallel texts in other languages (Greek, Syriac, Latin, Coptic). In this volume, the critical edition of Armenian texts is published in combination with a thoroughly commented translation. In addition to a general introduction on the Acts of Paul, the volume also contains an overview of the cycle of Paul in Armenian, and of the history of the research on the field of the Armenian Christian Apocryphal Literature.

When one attempts to piece together the itinerary by which saint Thecla fully established her position in the religious environment of ancient and medieval Armenia, literary and liturgical accounts may be found spanning almost ten centuries, from the fifth to the fourteenth century. To support this research, this monograph takes into consideration the ties between Syriac and Armenian Christianity in the fifth century; the ancient Armenian historiography; the correlation between ancient Byzantine and Armenian literature of the twelfth century; and, finally, the diplomatic and religious relationships between Armenians and the Latin kingdoms of the West in the fourteenth century. Still within the fifth century, at least three works written directly in Armenian presuppose the legend of Thecla. In these writings the paradigms of holiness embodied by the saint have influenced the representation of female figures associated with the origins of Armenian Christianity. The milestones of this itinerary in place and time are indicators of the established importance of the legend in Armenian tradition. At the same time, they form interesting evidence regarding the way legends and traditions spread through the Christian communities of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.