THECLA – was born in Konya Turkey in the early part of the first century. She was baptized by Paul. She lived a solitary life. During the reign of Emperor Nero she was accused of being a Christian and thrown to the lions in the local amphitheater. The lions refused to harm her. Later she was thrown into a burning pyre from which she escaped unscathed because the fire burned out as soon as she was put into it. At this obvious miraculous turn of events, she was let go.

She spent the rest of her life in isolation dear Adana Turkey. She died in her nineties, probably shortly after the turn of the first century. She is called a Proto-Martyr because of what she endured.