E05615: The Miracles of Saint Thekla recounts how *Thekla (follower of the Apostle Paul, S00092) delivered the entire city of Seleucia from an epidemic of eye disease, with healing water at her shrine. Written in Greek at Seleucia ad Calycadnum (southern Asia Minor) in the 470s.
Creators: name: Julia
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Miracles of Saint Thekla, 25<br><br>A terrible eye epidemic afflicted the city of Seleucia [ad Calcadnum, Asia Minor], when the calendar year and summer were coming to an end [i.e. the end of August]. None of the inhabitants was spared by the disease and the healers were helpless.<br><br>ἀλλ’ ἡ μάρτυς, τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀλεξητήριον, ἐλεήσασα τὸ πολυάνθρωπον οὕτω καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον πάθος, ἀνοίγει μὲν ἐν τῷ αὐτῆς τεμένει τὸ ἰατρεῖον, προσκαλεῖται δὲ κοινῇ πάντας ὡς αὐτήν, ἑνὶ μὲν τῶν πασχόντων τοῦτο νύκτωρ διακελευσαμένη, πᾶσι δὲ δι’ ἐκείνου κηρύξασα, ὥστε τῷ αὐτῆς χρήσασθαι λουτρῷ πάντας τοὺς τῷ πάθει τούτῳ περιπεπτωκότας. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ ἰατρεῖον, ὃ τῷ μὲν νοσήματι τῆς ὀφθαλμίας πολέμιον ἦν ὡς ἂν καὶ ἄρτι ἀρξαμένης, ἀνακραθὲν δὲ ὅμως τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τῆς μάρτυρος, ἄκος μέγιστον ὁμοῦ πάσῃ τῇ πόλει γεγένηται· ὡς τὴν ἐπέκεινα λεωφόρον μηδὲ ἀρκεῖν τοῖς ἀνιοῦσι μὲν μετ’ οἰμωγῆς καὶ δακρύων, κατιοῦσι δὲ μεθ’ ἡδονῆς καὶ δοξολογίας· καὶ ἀνιοῦσι μὲν νῦν συμμεμυκόσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς, κατιοῦσι δὲ ἀναπεπταμένοις τοῖς βλεφάροις. Οὔτε γὰρ τῆς πτωχῆς ἐκείνης καὶ πενιχρᾶς κολυμβήθρας ἡ χάρις ἦν, τῆς ἕνα—καὶ μόλις τοῦτον—σῳζούσης ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τῆς πλουσίας καὶ ἀφθονωτάτης πηγῆς. Ἀπειρήκει μὲν γὰρ ἅπας ὁ δῆμος συνθέων· ἀπειρήκει δὲ τὰ ταῖς κολυμβήθραις ἐπαντλούμενα νάματα· οὐκ ἐνεδίδου δὲ ἡ τῆς μάρτυρος χάρις, τοὺς μὲν δεχομένη καὶ ἰωμένη καὶ ἀποπέμπουσα, τοὺς δὲ αὖθις ὑποδεχομένη τε πάλιν καὶ ἰωμένη, καὶ πάντας μεθ’ ὁμοίας ἀποπέμπουσα τῆς θεραπείας· ὡς ἐν τρισὶν ὅλαις ἢ τέτρασιν ἡμέραις εἰς ἄγαν εὐαριθμήτους περιστῆναι τὴν νόσον, ἀπιστίας οἶμαι κἀκείνους ἢ καὶ βίου κακίας ἄλλης ἕνεκεν, διαμαρτεῖν παρασκευαζούσης τῆς κοινῆς βοηθείας, ἢ τάχα ἵνα καὶ μάθοιμεν ὅσον ἦν τὸ κακόν. Οἷς γὰρ ἐπέμεινε, τούτοις καὶ τύφλωσιν ἐπήγαγεν· ἢ γὰρ καὶ τῶν δύο ἅμα, ἤγουν τὸν ἕτερον τοῖν ὀφθαλμοῖν πάντως ἐξέκοψεν. Οὕτω δεινότατον ἦν τὸ κακὸν καί τι δαιμόνιον ἐπιβούλευμα· ἡττηθὲν δὲ ὅμως τοῦ θαύματος, ὡσεὶ μηδὲ γεγονὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν οὕτως ἀϊστώθη τε καὶ ἐκ ποδῶν γέγονεν.<br><br>'But the martyr, the true healer of human nature, considered with pity this inhuman affliction that affected so many, and she opened the healing shrine in her sanctuary and summoned all together to herself. She gave the instruction during the night to one of the afflicted people and then proclaimed it to everyone through him, that all who had fallen victim to this affliction should make use of her bath. For this bath was the place of healing which was able to combat the eye disease, from the very beginning, but when stirred up by the power of the martyr it became the greatest remedy to the entire city together. From then on, the highway overflowed with those who went up [to the shrine] with lamentations and tears, and those who came down full of joy and praise: for they ascended with their eyes shut, but descended with their eyelids opened again.<br><br>For it was not the grace of that poor and miserable pool [of Bethseda], which could save only one person - and hardly that – but the grace of an abundant and exceedingly generous fount. When all the assemblage of people grew weary and when the flow of the water into the pools slowed down, the grace of the martyr did not cease: she had hardly welcomed, healed, and sent the afflicted on their way when once more she was welcoming and healing again, sending everyone on their way with the same cure. The outcome was that, in three or four days total, the illness still affected only a very small number of people. I think they remained afflicted because of their lack of faith or because of some other evil in their life – [the martyr] having arranged for them to miss out on her general assistance or, perhaps, in order for us to understand the gravity of the affliction. For it resulted in blindness among those in whom it persisted: it removed sight either from both eyes at the same time or, at the least, from one eye. So terrible was the affliction, truly a demonic machination! Nevertheless, once vanquished by the miracle, it was destroyed and stamped out as it had never existed.'<br><br>Text: Dagron 1978. Translation: Johnson 2012. Summary: J. Doroszewska.