The Life
Philip was a Galilean from Bethsaida, the same town as Peter and Andrew. He was a learned man, familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures and the prophecies of the Messiah. He was the third apostle directly called in the Gospel of John — the Lord himself sought him out and said “Follow me.” Philip’s very first action was to go find his friend Nathanael (whom we know as the Apostle Bartholomew) and bring him to the Lord. When Nathanael answered skeptically, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip answered with three of the most beautiful words in the Gospel: “Come and see.” After Pentecost he preached widely in Asia Minor with his sister Mariamne and the Apostle Bartholomew. He was crucified upside-down at Hierapolis in Phrygia, preaching from the cross until his last breath. His feast on November 14 is the day immediately before the beginning of the Nativity Fast, which is therefore traditionally called “Philip’s Fast.”
After the Lord called him, Philip went to find his friend Nathanael (whom we know as the Apostle Bartholomew). He told him: “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael was skeptical. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he asked. Nazareth was a tiny obscure village in Galilee, the kind of place that produced nothing notable. Philip did not argue. He did not try to convince. He simply said: “Come and see.” He brought Nathanael to the Lord. The Lord did the rest. The exchange (John 1:45-46) has been one of the most beloved scenes in all the Gospels.
The Gospel of John records that when the great multitude of five thousand had followed the Lord into the wilderness, the Lord turned to Philip and asked: “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” The Gospel adds that the Lord asked this to test Philip, since he himself already knew what he would do. Philip answered with the practical mind of a Galilean fisherman: “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little” (John 6:5-7). His arithmetic was correct. There was no human way to feed five thousand people in the wilderness. The miracle that followed was beyond his arithmetic and beyond every arithmetic.
In the last week of the Lord’s public ministry, certain Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem for the Passover wished to see Jesus. They came first to Philip — perhaps because his name (Philippos) was Greek, and they hoped he would serve as a bridge to the new teacher. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together went and told the Lord (John 12:20-22). The small detail captures the apostolic ministry of Philip throughout: bringing people to the Lord, working with his fellow apostles, the quiet faithful service of the bringer.
On the night of the Last Supper, the Lord had been speaking to his disciples about his union with the Father, about going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, about being himself the Way and the Truth and the Life. Philip, listening, asked the question every disciple has wanted to ask: “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” The Lord answered with the supreme self-revelation: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:8-9). Every authentic Christian theology of the Trinity, of the Incarnation, of the supreme equality of the Son with the Father, takes one of its deepest scriptural foundations in this exchange.
After Pentecost, Philip preached the Gospel widely across Asia Minor. His sister Mariamne, who had received the gift of preaching alongside her brother, traveled with him. The Apostle Bartholomew often joined them. Together the three of them brought the Gospel to many cities of Galilee, Lydia, and Phrygia. They preached, they baptized, they healed the sick, they cast out demons, they ordained bishops and presbyters. They confronted pagan idolatry directly and quietly built churches across the heart of the eastern Mediterranean world.
These three words are perhaps the most beautiful invitation in all the Gospels. Philip used them to bring his friend Nathanael to the Lord. The Lord himself had used them just one day before to bring Andrew and the unnamed disciple to where he was staying. They are the supreme model of authentic Christian witness. We do not have to argue our friends into faith. We do not have to defeat their objections. We have only to invite them to come to the Lord himself and see. The pattern has shaped two thousand years of Orthodox missionary work.
The proconsul of Hierapolis had Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne tortured. Philip and Bartholomew were crucified upside-down on crosses near the temple of the snake. From his cross, Philip continued to preach the Gospel to the people of Hierapolis. As he hung there, a great earthquake shook the city. The people, terrified, recognized the judgment of God upon their persecution and rushed to take down the apostles. Bartholomew was released. Philip insisted that he himself be left to complete his martyrdom on the cross. He gave up his soul to the Lord while still hanging there. It was around the year 80, in the reign of the Emperor Domitian.
Philip matters to every Orthodox Christian for many reasons. He was the third apostle directly called by the Lord. He brought his friend Nathanael (Bartholomew) to the Lord with three simple words: “come and see.” He asked at the Last Supper to be shown the Father and received one of the supreme self-revelations of the Lord: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He was at the feeding of the five thousand and at the bringing of the inquiring Greeks. He preached the Gospel for many decades across Asia Minor with his sister Mariamne and the Apostle Bartholomew. He was crucified upside-down at Hierapolis around the year 80, preaching from his cross until the very end. He is the patron of every Christian who has ever invited a skeptical friend to come to the Lord and see for themselves.