Philip the Deacon

The Holy Apostle Philip the Deacon, also called the Evangelist, was one of the seven deacons chosen at Jerusalem and one of the seventy apostles. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as the one who baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 11 October and, as protodeacon of the seventy, on 4 January.

The deacon at Jerusalem

Philip bore a Greek name and was a Hellenist Jew, that is, born outside the land of Israel and acquainted with Greek language and culture. The Acts of the Apostles first mention him (6:5) as the second of the seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, chosen by the disciples, at the urging of the twelve apostles, to care for the daily affairs of the Church of Jerusalem, after the murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews. The apostles laid hands on them and set them in this service.

In Samaria and on the road to Gaza

After the martyrdom of Stephen, in the first persecution, Philip left Jerusalem and went to a city of Samaria, where he proclaimed Christ. The people listened with one mind, and by the power of Christ Philip cast out unclean spirits and healed the lame and paralysed, and there was great joy in that city. Many were baptized, men and women, among them Simon Magus himself, who gave himself out as the great power of God and who stayed with Philip. Because the deacon could not bring down the Holy Spirit on the baptized, the apostles Peter and John came from Jerusalem, and by laying their hands on them they received the Holy Spirit.

An angel of the Lord then told Philip, “Rise and go toward the south, on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert.” There he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an official of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, who had come to worship at Jerusalem and was returning in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip to go up to the chariot. Philip asked whether he understood what he was reading, and the eunuch answered, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” and invited him to sit beside him. The passage of Scripture was: “As a sheep led to the slaughter, and as a lamb silent before its shearer.” Philip, beginning from this Scripture, told him the good news of Jesus. On the way they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water; what prevents me from being baptized?” They both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing, and Philip was found at Azotus. Tradition sees in this the beginning of the Ethiopian Church. Preaching the Gospel in all the cities, he came to Caesarea.

At Caesarea

Philip made his home at Caesarea, where, years later, on his second journey, he received into his house the Apostle Paul and his companions, going to Jerusalem. Here Luke calls him “the evangelist”. He had four daughters, virgins, who prophesied. One of them, Saint Hermione, was, according to tradition, a physician and healed the sick. Papias of Hierapolis met Philip’s daughters and received accounts from them, according to Eusebius. From early times Philip was confused with the Apostle Philip, one of the twelve. According to a later tradition, he settled at Tralles in Asia Minor and became bishop of the Church there.