St. Tabitha of Joppa

A disciple of Joppa, the port of Judea, "full of good works and almsdeeds"; her Aramaic name, Tabitha, is Dorcas in Greek, a gazelle (Acts 9:36). When she fell sick and died, the disciples sent to nearby Lydda for Peter, and the widows met him weeping, showing him the tunics and cloaks she had made for them. He put them all out, knelt and prayed, and said, "Tabitha, arise"; she opened her eyes and sat up, and many in Joppa believed (Acts 9:36-42). The Church remembers that she lived many years more in the same service. In Jaffa the Russian church of St Peter, consecrated in 1896, stands on the ground of the burial cave tradition calls hers. Feast: October 25.