Philip of Gortyn

Saint Philip of Gortyna was bishop of the city of Gortyna, on the island of Crete, and a Christian writer of the second century, who died about 180. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, where his commemoration is on 11 April; in the Church of Crete he is celebrated on 8 October.

The place and year of his birth are not known. Philip was bishop of Gortyna, in Crete, in the time of the emperors Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus. He wrote, according to Jerome, a remarkable work, Against Marcion, a Christian defence against the Gnostic heresy. His writing has not been preserved. Saint Jerome devotes to him the thirtieth chapter of his book On Illustrious Men.

Eusebius of Caesarea says in his Church History that Dionysius of Corinth wrote a letter to the Church in Gortyna and to the Cretan churches, in which he praises Bishop Philip, because the Church of Crete had repeatedly given proof of its faithfulness to right doctrine. In the letter, Dionysius reminds them to guard against the contagion of heresy.