Persis

Persis (meaning: same as Persia — a Persian woman) was a woman in the Roman church greeted by Paul at the close of Romans 16:12 as "the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord." She is distinguished from Tryphena and Tryphosa (whom Paul exhorts to work hard) by the past tense applied to her labors, which some interpreters take as indicating her advanced age. Her name, meaning Persian woman, suggests she or her ancestors came from the eastern parts of the empire, reflecting the diverse ethnic composition of the early Roman church.