Dorcas

For other uses, see Dorcas (disambiguation).

Section of Healing of the Cripple and Raising of Tabitha by Masolino da Panicale, 1425.

Dorcas (also known as Tabitha) was a disciple who lived in Joppa, referenced in the Book of Acts 9:36–42 of the Bible. Acts recounts that when she died, she was mourned by "all the widows ... crying and showing (Peter) the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them." (Acts 9:39). This may indicate that Dorcas was a widow, or at the very least that she joined the widows in their works of charity. The disciples present called upon Saint Peter who came from nearby Lydda to the place where her wake was being held and raised her from the dead.

Tabitha/Dorcas is one of the few women whose name was remembered and preserved in New Testament writings, which makes this passage most interesting, and may indicate her importance in the early church. Another point of interest is the fact that she is clearly named as a disciple, which may indicate a broader usage of that term by the early church than is generally accepted today. It may also indicate that she was a church leader in the community of Joppa. This might also be assumed by the fact that Peter took the trouble to come to her from a neighbouring city, when requested by the community members.

The name Dorcas is Greek translation of the Aramaic name Tabitha, meaning "gazelle". One species of gazelle is now known as the dorcas gazelle. She is commemorated with Lydia of Thyatira and Phoebe on January 27 in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on October 25 in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

Dorcas, along with Lydia of Thyatira and Phoebe, is honored with a feast day on the liturgical of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on January 27.

Depictions of Dorcas in art are very rare, but she is represented in a window in the apse of Christ Church, Bath; in a window on the south side of St Peter's Church, Caversham; in the sacristy of Calvary Episcopal Church (Pittsburgh); in Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff; and in St Leonard's Church, Bridgnorth.

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