Philip of Apamea

Holy Martyr Philip of Apamea was a soldier and suffered in the year 305 together with Saint Maurice, their commander from Apamea in Syria, his son Photinus and sixty-⁠nine other soldiers, under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311). Of the seventy soldiers only two are known by name, Theodore and Philip.

In the time of the persecution the pagan priests denounced Maurice to the emperor for spreading faith in Christ. Brought to trial, Maurice, his son and the soldiers firmly and steadfastly confessed the faith and bowed neither to caresses nor to threats. They were beaten mercilessly, burned with fire and torn with iron hooks. The young Photinus, who bore the torments steadily, was beheaded before his father's eyes. Not even this cruel trial broke Maurice, who rejoiced that his son had been counted worthy of a martyr's end.

Then a still more ingenious torment was devised: the martyrs were taken to a marshy place full of clouds of mosquitoes, wasps and gadflies, and tied to trees, their bodies smeared with honey. The insects stung them cruelly, and thirst and hunger wore them down. For ten days the saints endured these torments, without ceasing to pray and glorify God, until the Lord put an end to their sufferings. The wicked tormentor ordered their heads cut off and their bodies cast out unburied, but Christians buried the holy remains in secret, by night, on the place of their dreadful execution.

About Philip the page says nothing in particular. The saints are commemorated on 7 March, a movable day.