The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Miracles of Saint Thekla, 11

There was a certain Aurelios, a fellow citizen and likely a relative of bishop Symposios [mentioned in E05479], who, being young and in the first phase of his life, fell ill with a disease called by physicians 'hog's back' or 'scrofula'. The scrofulous bumps appeared on the youth's neck and gradually swelling up, grew into an enormous tumour. Various remedies were applied by doctors to the disease, but none could help and cure him. Then, the boy's grandmother appealed to Sarpedonian Apollo, believed to be the most skilled of doctors. Yet this demon could not help either: he either remained silent, or deceived the woman and sent her unaided, or answered her with a riddle or a fable, or nothing at all.

Ἀλλ’ ἡ μάρτυς, ἡ ἀληθῶς ἀρωγός, ἡ ἐνεργὴς βοηθός, ἡ πάντοτε καὶ περὶ πάντα τὰ χρηστὰ πρόθυμος, τῆς μὲν γραὸς καταγελάσασα, τὸν δὲ νέον ὡς καὶ αὐτῆς τρόφιμον καὶ πιστῶν γονέων παιδίον οἰκτίζουσα, ὡς αὐτῇ ἔθος, ἐπείγεται μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν θεραπείαν, παραδραμοῦσα δὲ πάντας αὐτῇ φαίνεται τῇ πρεσβύτιδι, τοῦτο μὲν ὡς οἰκείᾳ τοῦ παιδός, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐπιτωάζουσα οἶμαι αὐτὴν δι’ ὃν ἐπρέσβευε δαίμονα. Ἐπιφοιτήσασα δὲ καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν εὐθὺς ὑπέφηνε· «Λαβοῦσα γάρ—φησίν—, ὦ βέλτιστον γραΐδιον, ἔριον μαλακὸν καὶ πρὸς μέτρον τὸ ἀνεστηκὸς τοῦ παιδίου μηρυσαμένη τοῦτο, ὡς ἄρχεσθαι μὲν ἐκ κεφαλῆς, λήγειν δὲ ἄχρι ποδῶν, εἶτα τοῦτο καύσασα καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τούτου τέφραν ἀναμίξασα τῷ φαρμάκῳ—ὃ πάλιν εἶπεν αὐτῇ—, κατὰ τὸ πεπονθὸς μέρος τοῦ αὐχένος τοῦτο ἔμπλασον, καὶ ἀπαλλάξεις τοῦ δεινοῦ πάθους τὸ παιδίον.» Καὶ ἡ μὲν εἰρηκυῖα ταῦτα ἀπέπτη ἠΰτε πέλεια—ποιητῶν ἄν τις εἶπεν—, ἐπανίσταται δὲ τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις ἡ πρεσβῦτις, καὶ ἀπὸ μόνου τοῦ προσχήματος ἐγνωκυῖα τίς ἡ ταῦτα φήνασά τε καὶ εἰποῦσα εἴη—καὶ γὰρ τῇ αὐτῆς μὲν θυγατρί, μητρὶ δὲ τοῦ νέου, Θέκλᾳ καὶ αὐτῇ καλουμένῃ, δέμας φυήν τ’ ἄγχιστα ἐῴκει.

'But the martyr, the true benefactor, the effective helper, who is always eager for every beneficial deed, ridiculed the old woman, while showing pity on the youth as if he were her own nursling and a child of believing parents, and she hastened on to the treatment, as is her custom. Bypassing all others, she appeared directly to the old woman, first because of her relationship to the child, but also, I think, to jeer at her for having sought the intercession of a demon. During her visit, Thekla immediately revealed the method of the cure: "My good little old lady, take some soft wool and draw it out to the height of the child while standing – start from his head and end at his feet – then, burn the wool, and mix its ashes with the medicine," (which she indicated to her). "Apply the mixture to the afflicted part of the neck and you will deliver the child from the terrible disease." Having said all of this Thekla flew away like a dove (as one of the poets would say), and at these words the old woman bestirred herself. She only recognized from outward appearance who it was that had shown and told her this remedy, since the stature of her daughter, the boy's mother, was very close to that of Thekla, and she was even called by the same name of Thekla.'

The grandmother was angered at the vision because she did not learn the remedy from her demon, but nevertheless she carried out the instructions given her by the martyr. But when the medicine was applied to the boy's neck, the tumour immediately moved to another part of his body. The situation kept repeating itself, since wherever the medicine was applied, it only made the bumps move to still another part. At last, a good doctor, inspired by the martyr, made a great quantity of the medicine and applied it all around the whole neck, which compelled the bumps to descend into the boy's belly and from there to flow out through his rear end. This story was recounted by the very person who was afflicted with the disease, and then delivered from it by Thekla.


Text: Dagron 1978.
Translation: Johnson 2012.
Summary: J. Doroszewska.

Saint as patron - of a community

Miracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation

Ecclesiastics – unspecified
Pagans
Demons
Family
Physicians

Source

Discussion

Bibliography