(中文：整理自李子忠稿、English: cited from Wikipedia)按二世紀偽經《保祿及德克拉大事錄》（Acts of Paul and Thecla）記載，保祿常派弟鐸（Titus）在要到的地方預告自己的來臨。當他到依科尼雍時也照樣派弟鐸先行前往。弟鐸告訴當地的弟兄敖乃息佛洛（Onesiphorus）保祿快將到來，並給他描繪保祿樣貌，敖乃息佛洛遂走到城外大路上迎接保祿。
敖乃息佛洛看見一個人，「身材不算高大、秃頭、雙腿彎曲、體魄強健、兩眉緊接、鼻似鷹嘴…像個凡夫俗子，有時卻一臉靈氣，像個天使…。」這是唯一描述保祿容貌的古代文獻！
保祿在敖乃息佛洛家中停留良久，他的家成了一個「家庭教會」，許多人聚集祈禱、舉行禮儀和聆聽保祿的教訓。一位住在敖乃息佛洛隔鄰名叫德克拉（Thecla）的十八歲少女，三日三夜坐在家中窗几旁，細心聆聽保祿的話，其時他正給人講論自制、守貞、祈禱和復活的道理。這事使德克拉的母親德敖克里亞（Theoclia）和德克拉的未婚夫塔米黎（Thamyris）二人憂心忡忡，苦勸她要遠離保祿，但她決心守貞，竟推卻了婚事。他們一怒之下，便抓了保祿到總督那裡，把他投到獄中。
夜間德克拉來到獄中，坐在保祿腳前聽他講道，並苦苦央求保祿給她付洗，收她為徒。保祿怕她年輕受不住誘惑，不允她所求。最後，保祿被控誘使婦女背離常道，令少女拒絕結婚，判以鞭刑和逐離本城。德克拉則被判處火刑，卻奇蹟地被一場及時雨保住了性命。
德克拉逃出來後，在城外一個新墓穴找到了保祿，便跟隨他回到安提約基雅。那裡的外教大司祭對她有興趣，遂問保祿要把她買下來，保祿卻說：「我不認識你所說的這個女子。」德克拉見勢不對，遂扯下大司祭的頭飾和外氅，令他當眾出醜。
大司祭老羞成怒，把她捉了去交給總督。總督判她被投獅圈，她在鬥獸場中熱切祈禱，絲毫無損，赫見一大水缸，便大聲喊說：「我要在死前因主耶穌基督之名受洗！」遂縱身水中，忽有一團雲彩把她遮蔽，不為猛獸所害，最終還獲得釋放。眾人都齊聲呼喊：「德克拉的天主，是唯一的天主！」後來她蒙一位富有的寡婦特黎費納（Tryphaena）收為義女，也有說她是一位王后或保祿的一位女門徒。
德克拉後來易服到米辣（Myra）找到保祿，細說她為基督所受的苦難和考驗，並如何獲得領洗的大恩。有說她後來曾遠赴羅馬尋訪保祿，並在羅馬逝世，葬於保祿墳墓不遠的地方。另一傳說指她到了敘利亞的瑪阿路拉（Maalula），潛修默禱以終其一生。這故事雖然不可思議，學者一般卻認為歷史上確有德克拉這位聖女。
According to the Acts of Paul and Thecla, Thecla (St. Taqla) was a young noble virgin who listened to Paul's "discourse on virginity" and became Paul's follower. Thecla's mother, and fiancé, Thamyris, became concerned that Thecla would follow Paul's demand "that one must fear only one God and live in chastity", and punished both Paul and Thecla. She was miraculously saved by a storm from being burned at the stake, and traveled with Paul to Pisidian Antioch.
There a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to take her by force. Thecla fought him off, assaulting him in the process, and was put on trial for assaulting a nobleman. She was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts, but was again saved by a series of miracles when the female beasts protected her against her male aggressors. No other early account of Thecla exists.
In the Eastern Church, the wide circulation of the Acts of Paul and Thecla is evidence of her veneration. She was called "Apostle and protomartyr among women" and even "equal to the apostles." She was widely cited as an ascetic role model for women. Her cult flourished particularly at Seleucia (where she was said to be buried), Iconium (present day Konya), and Nicomedia. The cult also appeared, at least as early as the fourth century, in Western Europe. In Bede's martyrology, Thecla is celebrated on the September 23, which is still her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Churches commemorate her on September 24.
A local martyr legend, of Tecla, may have inspired this episode, in which she was connected to Paul of Tarsus. "It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thecla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs," wrote M.R. James, the editor of this Acta, (James 1924).
In Maalula, Syria, there is a monastery of St. Thecla, built near what is said to be her cave. Santa Tecla is the patron saint of Tarragona, Spain, where her feast day is the major fiesta of the city and the cathedral is dedicated to her. In Spain, she is sometimes facetiously referred to as the patron saint of computers (tecla means "key" on a keyboard in Catalan and Spanish).
There are three Roman Catholic parishes named for Saint Thecla placed in Clinton Township, Michigan, Pembroke, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois. The village of Llandegla in North Wales is also named after her.
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