Thecla was born in Iconium of eminent pagan parents.
She was eighteen at the time the Apostle Paul came to Iconium with Barnabas to preach the Gospel (Acts, 14). Listening to Paul for three days and nights, Thecla turned utterly to the Christian faith and vowed to live in virginity. The governor condemned her to death and threw her to the wild beasts, but the animals would not touch her. The governor let her go free and she lived a long time in asceticism , healing the sick with miraculous power and bringing many to Christianity. The doctors in Seleucia were jealous of her and sent some young men to assault her, hoping that, in losing her virginity, she would lose also her miraculous power. Thecla fled from these insolent young men, and a rock was her hiding place and her tomb. St Chrysostom says:" This blessed virgin went to Christ with virginity in one hand and martyrdom in the other".