Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 31. John i. 43, 44, &c. Stromat. l. 3. p. 436. Matth. viii. 21, 22.6. PHILIP the Apostle: He was a Native of Bethsaida in Galilee. Eusebius says he was a married Man, and had several Daughters. Jesus Christ having seen him, invited him to follow him, saying to him, Follow me. Philip follow’d him; and soon after, finding Nathanael, Philip said to him, We have found the Messiah, of whom Moses and the Prophets have spoke, Jesus son of Joseph of Nazareth. Nathanael asked him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? To which Philp replied, Come yourself and see. Then he brought Nathanael to Jesus, and they went with him to the Marriage of Cana in Galilee. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions it as a Thing universally acknowledged, that it was St. Philip that gave our Saviour the Answer, when he was bid to follow him, Let me first go to bury my Father. To which our Saviour answer’d, Let the Dead bury their Dead. Tertullian assures us expressly, that it was one of the Apostles, but the Evangelists do not say it was this Apostle: And it would be very strange, that Tertul. de Baptismo, c. 12.St. John, who tells us so particularly what Christ said to Philip, at his Call to the Apostleship, should not mention so remarkable a Circumstance.
Luk. vi. 13. Mat. x. 2. John vi. 5, 6, 7.St. Philip was call’d at the very beginning of our Saviour’s Mission, in the 30th Year of the Vulgar Era, and about a Year after he was appointed an Apostle. When our Saviour intended to feed the five thousand Men, that follow’d him, he asked St. Philip, only to prove him, whence Bread might be bought for such a Multitude of People. Philip answered, That two hundred Peny-worth would not be sufficient for every one to taste a little. Some Gentiles, having a Curiosity to see Jesus Christ, a little before his Passion, they addressed themselves to St. Philip, who mention’d it to St. Andrew, and these two John xii. 20, 22.together to Christ. At the Last Supper, Philip asked our Saviour, that he would please to shew them the Father, and that was all they desired. But Jesus answered them, That seeing the Son, John xiv. 8, 10.they saw the Father also. And this is all we find of him in the Gospel.
Clemens Alexandrinus says1 that St. Philip marry’d some of his Daughters. Theodoret says,2 he preached in the two Phrygia’s; and Eusebius3 says he was buried at Hierapolis in Phrygia Pacatiana. Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus4 assures us, that St. Philip, with St. John, celebrated the Passover on the Fourteenth Day of the Moon. The same Author seems to say, that Papias had been inform’d by the Daughters of St. Philip, that a dead Man had been restored to Life in the Time of this Apostle. The false Histories that we have of St Philip, pretend that he died at the Age of Fourscore and seven Years, under Domitian or Trajan. There hath been a Book of Acts falsely imputed to this Apostle, which was condemned by Pope Gelasius; as also a Gospel used by the Epiphan. Hæres. 26. c. 13.Gnosticks. The Bollandists may be consulted concerning the History of this Saint, on the First Day of May.
As to his Daughters, Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus says, that two of ‘em lived in Virginity, and were buried with their Father at Hierapolis. ‘Twas from them, that Papias was informed of the raising of a dead Person: And Sozomen thinks that it was they themselves that had restored him to Life. Polycrates speaks also of another Daughter of St. Philip, who lived in great Sanctity, and died at Ephesus. This is, probably, she that was marry’d; and, perhaps, it was this last that the Greeks honour’d by the Name of Hermione, who, they say, was buried at Ephesus, and was Daughter of St. Philip the Vid. Valef. Not. in Euseb. p.55.Apostle.
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