De sancto Philippo apostolo
The Meaning and Mission of Philip
The chapter introduces the etymology of Philip's name and recounts his miraculous ministry in Scythia and Hierapolis.
Philip is called the mouth of the lamp or the mouth of the hands, or his name is derived from 'philos,' meaning love, and 'yper,' meaning above, as if to say a lover of things above. He is therefore called the mouth of the lamp because of his brilliant preaching, the mouth of the hands because of his constant work, and a lover of things above because of his heavenly contemplation. After the apostle Philip had preached for twenty years throughout Scythia, he was seized by pagans and forced to offer sacrifice to the statue of Mars. Then suddenly a huge dragon emerged from beneath the base, which killed the son of the priest who was serving the fire at the sacrifice, and it destroyed two tribunes whose soldiers were holding Philip in chains, and it infected the rest with the stench of its breath so severely that they all became ill. Philip said, 'Believe me, break this statue and worship the cross of the Lord in its place, so that your sick may be healed and the dead raised.' But those who were suffering cried out, 'Just make us well, and we will break this Mars immediately.' Then Philip commanded the dragon to go down into a desert place, so that it would harm no one at all; it left immediately and did not appear again. Then Philip healed everyone and obtained the gift of life for those three dead men; and so he preached for another year to all the believers, and after ordaining priests and deacons among them, he came to the city of Hierapolis in Asia, and there he extinguished the heresy of the Ebionites, who taught that Christ had assumed a phantom body.
Martyrdom and Historical Testimony
Philip concludes his ministry, suffers martyrdom by crucifixion, and is remembered through the varying accounts of Isidore and Jerome.
There were two most holy virgins there, through whom the Lord converted many to the faith; but seven days before his death, Philip called together the bishops and priests and said to them, "The Lord has granted me these seven days for your instruction." He was eighty-seven years old. After this, the unbelievers seized him and fastened him to a cross, just like the Master he preached, and so he departed to the Lord and happily completed his life. Two of his daughters are buried beside him, one on his right and the other on his left. Isidore writes this about Philip in his book on the life, birth, and death of the saints: "Philip the Gaul preaches Christ, and leads the barbarian nations and the neighboring darkness, joined to the swelling Ocean, to the light of knowledge and the harbor of faith; finally, he died in Hierapolis, a city in the province of Phrygia, having been crucified and stoned, and he rests there with his daughters." That is what Isidore says. But Jerome said in his martyrology regarding the Philip who was one of the seven deacons that he died on the eighth. He rested at Caesarea, renowned for signs and wonders, near whom three of his daughters are buried, for the fourth rests at Ephesus.
Distinguishing the Saints
The author clarifies the distinction between Philip the Apostle and Philip the Deacon.
The first Philip is different from this one, because the former was an apostle and the latter a deacon; the former rests at Hierapolis, the latter at Caesarea; the former had two prophetess daughters, the latter four, although Church history seems to suggest it was Philip the apostle who had the four prophetess daughters, but on this point, Jerome is more to be trusted.
Read the original Latin
Philippus dicitur os lampadis vel os mamuum, vel dicitur a philos, quod est amor, et yper, quod est super, quasi amator supernorum. Dicitur igitur os lampadis propter suam luculentam praedicationem, os manuum propter assiduam operationem , amator supernorum propter coelestem contemplationem. -Philippus apostolus cum XX annis per Sithiam praedicasset, a paganis tenetur et ad immolandum statuae Martis ab iisdem compellitur. Tune subito draco quidam ingens desub base exivit, qui filium pontificis, qui ignem ministrabat, in sacrificio interfecit duosque tribunos, quorum ministri Philippum in vinclis detinebant, exstinxit caeterosque adeo sui flatus foetore infecit, ut omnes morbidi redderentur. Dixitque Philippus: credite mihi et statuam istam confringite et in loco ejus crucem domini adorate, ut infirmi vestri sanentur et mortui suscitentur. At hi, qui cruciabantur, clamabant : tantum fac, ut sanemur, et hunc Martem protinus confrimgemus. Tunc Philippus draconi praecepit, ut in locum desertum descenderet, ita ut nulli omnino noceret, qui statim recessit ct ulterius non comparuit. Tunc Philippus omnes sanavit et illis tribus mortuis vitae beneficium impetravit sicque universis credentibus per annum unum iis adhuc praedicavit et in iis presbiteros et dyaconos ordinans in Asiam civitatem Hierapolin venit, ibique haeresin Hebronitarum, qui Christum carnem phantasticam assumsisse dogmatizabant, exstinxit.
Erant autem ibi duae sacratissimae virgines, per quas dominus multos ad fidem convertit, Philippus autem ante VII dies obitus sui episcopos et presbiteros convocavit iisque dixit: hos VII dies propter admonitionem vestram mihi dominus concessit. Erat autem anno LXXXVII. Post hoc infideles ipsum tenuerunt et cruci ad instar magistri sui, quem praedicabat, affixerunt et sic ad dominum migravit et feliciter vitam complevit. Juxta aulem eum duae filiae ejus, una a dextris et alia a sinistris sunt sepultae. De isto Philippo sic dicit Ysidorus in libro de vita et ortu et obitu sanctorum: Philippus Gallus praedicat Christum, barbaras gentes vicinasque tenebras et tumenti Oceano conjunctas ad scientiae lumen fideique portum deducit; demum in Hierapoli, A Phrygiae provinciae urbe crucifixus lapidatusque obiit simulque cum filiabus suis ibi requiescit. Haec Ysidorus. De Philippo autem, qui fuit de VII dyaconibus, dixit Hieronymus in martirologio, quod VIII. ydus Julii signis et prodigiis inclitus apud Caesariam requievit, juxta quem tres filiae ejus tumulatae sunt, nam quarta apud Ephesum requiescit.
Primus ergo Philippus ab isto differt, quia ille fuit apostolus, iste dyaconus, ille quiescit apud Hierapolin, iste apud Caesaream , ille habuit duas filias prophetissas, iste quatuor, licet liystoria ecclesiastica videatur dicere, quod fuit Philippus apostolus, qui habuit HII filias prophetissas, sed in hoc magis Hieronymo est credendum.
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