Tabitha — disciple

Luke calls her mathētria — disciple, in the feminine. It is the only use of the feminine form of that word in the entire New Testament. The title is hers alone.

Acts 9:36–42 narrates the death and raising of Tabitha (called Dorcas in Greek) in Joppa. The Greek word Luke uses to describe her — mathētria — is the feminine of mathētēs (disciple). It is the only time any form of that feminine noun appears in the New Testament. She is praised for the tunics and garments she had made for the widows; when she dies the community pleads for Peter, and Peter raises her. The story is the first resurrection of the apostolic age. The only person the New Testament grammatically calls a "woman disciple" is raised from the dead.