Rhoda is a minor character in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. She appears only in Acts

Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

 . Rhoda (whose name

Rhoda (name)

Rhoda is a female given name, originating in both Greek and Latin. Its primary meaning is "rose" but it can also mean "from Rhodes", the Greek island originally named for its roses...

 means "rose") was a servant girl in the house of Mary

Mary, mother of John Mark

Mary, mother of John Mark is a character in the Bible. She is apparently mentioned only once in , when Peter is coming to her house, after his escape from prison:...

, the mother of John Mark

John Mark

John Mark is a character in the New Testament. According to William Lane, an "unbroken tradition" identifies him with Mark the Evangelist. John Mark is mentioned several times in the Acts of the Apostles...

. After Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

 was released from prison

Liberation of Saint Peter

The Liberation of Saint Peter is a story told in the Acts of the Apostles in which Saint Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theological discussions and has been the subject of a number of artworks.-Biblical...

, he went to the house and knocked on the door. Rhoda came to answer it, and when she heard Peter's voice she was so overjoyed that she rushed to tell the others, and forgot to open the door for him. She told the group of Christians who were praying that Peter was there. They did not believe her at first, and told her she was out of her mind. When she kept insisting that it was Peter, they said, "It is his angel

Guardian angel

A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...

." Yet Peter kept on knocking and eventually they opened the door for him. Amusingly, Peter's release from prison came as a result of the intervention of an angel who miraculously led the apostle out of his cell, passing guards and gates in the process, yet Peter was unable to gain entry through a front door because of the absent mindedness of a servant girl.

Jaroslav Pelikan

Jaroslav Pelikan

Jaroslav Jan Pelikan was a scholar in the history of Christianity, Christian theology and medieval intellectual history.-Early years:...

 suggests that it is "difficult not to smile when reading this little anecdote," while F. F. Bruce

F. F. Bruce

Frederick Fyvie Bruce was a Biblical scholar and one of the founders of the modern evangelical understanding of the Bible...

says that the scene is "full of vivid humour."