Philip the Evangelist

2025-09-18T18:59:07Z

2600:4040:A80B:2900:81DA:4358:30D3:A074:

{{short description|1st-century Christian saint}}
{{Distinguish|Philip the Apostle|Philip (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=[[Saint]]
|name=Philip the Evangelist
|birth_date=Unknown (1st century)
|death_date= 11 October (1st century)
|feast_day= 11 October
|venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]] ([[Latin Church|Latin]] and [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Rites]]) [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]] [[Protestantism]]
|image=Filippodiacono.jpg
|imagesize=250px
|caption=Icon of Philip, Italy
|birth_place=[[Caesarea Maritima]], [[Roman Empire]] (modern-day [[Israel]])
|death_place=
|titles=Evangelist or Deacon
|beatified_date=
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|canonized_date=
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'''Philip the Evangelist''' ({{langx|el|Φίλιππος}}, ''Philippos'') appears several times in the [[Acts of the Apostles]]. According to the work, he was one of the [[Seven Deacons|Seven]] chosen to care for the poor of the [[Christians|Christian]] community in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] ({{Bibleverse||Acts|6|KJV}}). He preached and performed [[miracle]]s in [[Samaria]], and met and [[baptism|baptised]] an [[Ethiopian eunuch|Ethiopian man]], a [[eunuch]], on the road from Jerusalem to [[Gaza City|Gaza]], traditionally marking the start of the [[Ethiopian Church]] ({{bibleverse|Acts|8:26-39}}). Later, Philip lived in [[Caesarea Maritima#Early Christian centre|Caesarea Maritima]] with his four daughters who [[Prophecy|prophesied]], where he was visited by [[Paul the Apostle]] ({{bibleverse|Acts|21:8-9}}).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sasson |first=Avi (Avraham) |last2=Marom |first2=Roy |author-link2=Roy Marom |last3=Kharanbeh |first3=Saleh |date=2025-08-20 |title=Bayyarat al-Khuri: An Ecclesiastical Agricultural Estate in Caesarea, Israel |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8nf7668m |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |language=en |page=4 |doi=10.1080/00310328.2025.2515756}}</ref>

==New Testament==
Philip bore a [[Greek name]]. He is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ({{Bibleverse-nb|Acts|6:5|KJV}}) as one of "[[Seven Deacons]]" who were chosen to attend to certain temporal affairs of the [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|church in Jerusalem]] in consequence of the murmurings of the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenists]] against the [[Hebrews]].

After the [[martyr]]dom of [[Saint Stephen|Stephen]] he went to "the city of [[Samaria]]", where he preached with much success, [[Simon Magus]] being one of his converts. He afterwards was told by an [[angel of the Lord]] to go to the road between Jerusalem and [[Gaza City|Gaza]]. There he instructed and baptized the [[Ethiopian eunuch]]; next he was "caught away" by the Spirit and "found at Azotus" ([[Ashdod]]); and then "passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea" ([[Acts 8]]). Philip made Ceasarea Maritima his home.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sasson |first=Avi (Avraham) |last2=Marom |first2=Roy |author-link2=Roy Marom |last3=Kharanbeh |first3=Saleh |date=2025-08-20 |title=Bayyarat al-Khuri: An Ecclesiastical Agricultural Estate in Caesarea, Israel |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8nf7668m |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |language=en |page=4 |doi=10.1080/00310328.2025.2515756}}</ref>

Here some years afterwards, according to {{Bibleverse|Acts|21:8–9|KJV}}, where he is described as "the evangelist" (a term found again in the [[New Testament]] only in [[Epistle to the Ephesians|Ephesians]] {{Bibleverse-nb|Ephesians|4:11|KJV}}; [[Second Epistle to Timothy|2 Timothy]] {{Bibleverse-nb|2 Timothy|4:5|KJV}}), he entertained [[Paul the Apostle]] and his companions on their way to Jerusalem; at that time "[[Philip's daughters|he had four daughters]], virgins, which did [[Prophecy|prophesy]]".<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Philip "the Evangelist" |volume=21 |page=376|noprescript=yes}}</ref>

==Tradition==
[[File:Baptisms-ethiopean-jesus.jpg|thumb|A stained glass diptych showing the baptisms of the [[Ethiopian eunuch]] by St. Philip the Evangelist and of Jesus Christ by St. John the Baptist, from the [[Cathedral of the Incarnation (Garden City, New York)]].]]

At a very early period he came to be confused with the [[Philip the Apostle]]; the confusion was all the more easy because, as an esteemed member of the apostolic company, he may readily have been described as an [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostle]] in the wider sense of that word, beyond the original 12 Apostles.<ref name="Salmon1894">{{cite book|author-link=George Salmon|title=A historical introduction to the study of the books of the New Testament |edition= 7th|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoricalintr00salmgoog/page/n351 313]-|first =George|last =Salmon|date =1894|url =https://archive.org/details/ahistoricalintr00salmgoog}}</ref> A late tradition describes him as settling at [[Tralles]] in [[Early centers of Christianity#Anatolia|Anatolia]], where he became the [[bishop]] of that church.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Feasts==
"St Philip the Deacon" is commemorated on October 11 in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], in the [[Roman Rite]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Martyrologium Romanum|publisher=Typis Vaticanis|edition= Editio Altera|date=2004|oclc=254598655}}</ref> the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]],<ref name="KinnamanLane2010">{{cite book|last1=Kinnaman|first1=Scot A. |last2=Lane|first2=Laura L. |title=Lutheranism 101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mveSAAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Concordia Publishing House|isbn=978-0-7586-2505-2|page=278}}</ref> and in the [[Anglican communion]] including, for example, the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|U.S. Episcopal Church]], and the [[Calendar of saints (Anglican Church of Southern Africa)|Anglican Church of Southern Africa]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=2019-12-17 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], Philip is counted among the [[Seventy Apostles]], and is referred to as a [[Protodeacon]]; this feast day is celebrated on January 4.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Saints}}
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100028 Apostle Philip the Deacon of the Seventy] Orthodox [[icon]] and [[synaxarion]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091123160618/http://www.charlotteanglican.org/St_Philip_the_Evangelist.php Who is St. Philip the Evangelist]
*[http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getChapterSections&cid=5&source=1&schap=8 IVP New Testament Commentary on Philip in Acts 8]

{{New Testament people|prophets|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Angelic visionaries]]
[[Category:Early Jewish Christians]]
[[Category:Christian saints from the New Testament]]
[[Category:People in Acts of the Apostles]]
[[Category:1st-century Jews]]
[[Category:1st-century people]]
[[Category:Saints from the Holy Land]]
[[Category:Seventy disciples]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Christian miracle workers]]

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Philip the Evangelist