Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe were three women of the apostolic church whose stories, preserved in Acts and Romans, represent three essential forms of Christian ministry: generous hospitality, devoted charity, and diaconal service. Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira, was Paul's first European convert and opened her home to the apostle and the infant Philippian church. Dorcas (Tabitha in Aramaic) of Joppa was a woman devoted to good works and acts of charity, remembered for the garments she made for widows, and was raised from the dead by Peter. Phoebe of Cenchreae was formally recognized as a deacon of her church and served as the courier and first interpreter of Paul's Letter to the Romans to that crucial community.

Traditionally, little post-biblical material developed regarding these three women. The canonical accounts remain the primary sources for their lives and ministries. However, the fact that all three are commemorated together as a group (January 27) suggests that later Christian tradition recognized them as exemplars of distinct forms of Christian women's ministry: Lydia as a woman of financial means who provided hospitality, Dorcas as a woman of skill and charity devoted to the poor, and Phoebe as a woman of recognized authority and leadership in the church.

Lydia appears in Acts 16:14–15 and 40. Paul and his companions came to Philippi in Macedonia on Paul's second missionary journey. On the Sabbath, they went outside the city gate to a riverside prayer gathering where, they had heard, women met to pray. There Paul met 'a woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth.' Thyatira, in Asia Minor, was a center of the purple-dye trade; purple cloth was an expensive commodity, indicating that Lydia was a woman of some means and entrepreneurial capability.

'The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.' She and her household were baptized — the first recorded Christian baptism in Europe. She then 'prevailed upon' Paul and his companions to come to her house: 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.' Luke reports that 'she prevailed upon us,' suggesting it took some persuasion. Lydia's home became the meeting place of the Philippian church; later, when Paul and Silas were released from prison, they returned to Lydia's house and saw the brothers and sisters there before departing the city (Acts 16:40).

• Confessor
• Deacon