Philip

The holy Apostle Philip was one of the twelve Apostles of the Lord. He came from Bethsaida of Galilee, the city of Andrew and Peter, and was among the first called by Christ. The Church keeps his feast on 14 November.

Discipleship

The Gospel of John says that the Lord found Philip himself, on the way to Galilee, and said to him: "Follow Me." Philip went to Nathanael and told him that they had found the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael doubted, and Philip answered simply: "Come and see." His name is Greek, and probably for this reason the Greeks who had come to the feast approached him when they wished to see Jesus; Philip went with Andrew and told the Lord.

Before the feeding of the multitude the Lord asked Philip where bread could be bought for the crowd, in order to test him. At the Mystical Supper Philip asked: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." The Lord's answer, that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father, and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, gave one of the clearest testimonies to the oneness of the Son with the Father.

Preaching

After Pentecost, says Tradition, Philip preached the Gospel in Asia Minor and other lands. The apocryphal Acts of Philip, written about the time of Eusebius, relates that he was sent to Greece, Phrygia and Syria together with his sister Mariamne and the Apostle Bartholomew. According to the Greek Synaxarion he also proclaimed the Word to the Parthians. Eusebius records, on the authority of Polycrates of Ephesus, that Philip had daughters, that he was buried at Hierapolis with two of them, and that the third lay at Ephesus. Clement of Alexandria says that Philip was married and gave his daughters in marriage.

Martyrdom

According to the Acts of Philip, he healed the proconsul's wife at Hierapolis and brought her to the faith, and the enraged proconsul had Philip, Bartholomew and Mariamne tortured. Philip and Bartholomew were crucified head downward. The crowd, moved by Philip's words from the cross, took Bartholomew down, but Philip refused to be released and gave up his soul on the cross. Other sources say he was beheaded. The Greek Synaxarion says that he died a martyr at Hierapolis and that the reliquary with his body adorned for many years the church built there in his honour.

Relics and veneration

The holy head was honoured by emperors such as Theodosius and Heraclius. After the Latin sack of Constantinople in 1204 it was taken to Cyprus and kept in the village of Arsos; before 1788 it was moved to the monastery of the Holy Cross at Omodos, where it remains. A palm is kept at Kykkos Monastery in Cyprus, a finger at Neamț Monastery in Romania, and parts of the relics at Dionysiou and Xenophontos on Mount Athos. A part is also venerated in the basilica of the Holy Apostles in Rome. In 2011 an Italian archaeologist announced the discovery at Hierapolis (today Pamukkale in Turkey) of an empty tomb at the centre of a fourth or fifth century basilica; in 2012 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated the Divine Liturgy there.

The Church commemorates him on 14 November, on 30 June in the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles, and on 31 July for the translation of his relics to Cyprus. His feast on 14 November is the day before the Nativity Fast begins, which is also called the Fast of Saint Philip. The Apostle Philip should not be confused with Philip, one of the seven deacons in the Acts of the Apostles.