Martyrdom of Apostle Philip

 The Martyrdom of St Philip the Apostle in Hierapolis, Turkey

Ruins of a Justinian Church on the site of the martyrdom in Pamukkale, Turkey

Philip was the fifth of the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. Like Peter, Andrew, James, and John, Philip too was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee. Initially, Philip, like Andrew, was a follower of John the Baptist and became an apostle of Jesus when Jesus asked him to follow him. 

According to John 1:43-46, Jesus finds Philip and simply tells him, "Follow me." Philip then rushes to find Nathanael and tells him about Jesus, asserting that they have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth. 

His immediate evangelism reflects his quick acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and also shows that he had a profound knowledge of Holy Scripture, to correctly understand the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the coming of the Messiah. 


We don’t know a lot about Philip. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us no details about him. All of Philip's vignettes appear in the Gospel of John, including: 

• Philip brought to Christ the Apostle Nathaniel (aka Bartholomew,  Jn 1:46). 
• The Lord asks Philip where to buy bread for five thousand men before the miracle of the five loaves and two fish (Jn 6: 5-7). 
• He brought a certain group of Hellenized Jews wanting to see Jesus at the Passover (Jn 12:21-22); and finally, 
• At the Last Supper, Philip asked Christ to show them the Father (Jn. 14:8).

Bold witness of the Resurrected Christ

After the Ascension of the Lord and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Philip preached the Word of God in Galilee, performing miracles. Here, he restored to life a dead infant in the arms of its mother. 


Scholars believe that the name Philip being Greek, not Hebrew, might indicate some heritage or connection to Greece. From Galilee, Philip went to Greece, where preached among the Jews that had settled there. 

Some of them reported the preaching of the Apostle to Jerusalem. In response, some scribes arrived in Greece from Jerusalem, with one of the Jewish chief priests at their head, to interrogate the Apostle Philip.

The Apostle Philip exposed the lie of the Jewish chief priest, who said that the disciples of Christ had stolen away and hidden the body of Christ. Philip told instead how the Pharisees had bribed the soldiers on the watch to deliberately spread this rumour. 

When the Jewish chief priest and his companions began to insult the Lord and lunged at the Apostle Philip, they suddenly were struck blind. By his intercession to God, the Apostle Philip restored everyone's sight. Seeing this miracle, many came to believe in Christ. The Apostle Philip provided a bishop for them, named Narcissus (one of the Seventy Apostles).

Missionary work in Parthia and Syrian Hieropolis

From Greece, the Apostle Philip preached the Gospel in Parthia, a region and empire located in what is now northeastern Iran. He then returned to the holy land to preach in the Philistine city of Azotus (modern-day Ashdod, is a city located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, approximately midway between Tel Aviv and Gaza), then a predominantly Greco-Roman city with Jewish and Christian communities, where he healed an eye affliction of the daughter of a local resident named Nikoklides, who had received him into his home, and then baptized his whole family.

From Azotus, the Apostle Philip set out to Syrian Hieropolis (also Hierapolis Bambyce or Mabog or Manbij, in modern-day Syria, located near the banks of the Euphrates River, northwest of the modern city of Aleppo) where, stirred up by the Pharisees, the Jews burned the house of Heros, who had taken in the Apostle Philip, and they wanted to kill the Apostle. 

Philip performed several miracles: the healing of the hand of the city official Aristarchus, withered when he attempted to strike the Apostle, and restoring a dead child to life. When they saw these marvels, they repented, and many accepted holy Baptism. After making Heros the bishop at Hierapolis Bambyce, the Apostle Philip went on to Syria, Asia Minor, Lydia, Emessa, and everywhere, preaching the Gospel and undergoing suffering. 


Both Apostle Philip and his sister Mariamne (Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Miriam or Mary) were pelted with stones, locked up in prison, and thrown out of villages. Mariamne played a crucial role in preaching and converting many to Christianity. She is described as wise and courageous, sometimes overshadowing the male apostles in her zeal and faith.

Philip's Shining Hour - Martyrdom in Phrygian Hieropolis

According to Christian tradition, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Titus (r. 79-81 AD),  Philip the Apostle and his sister Mariamne visited Phrygian Hieropolis (modern-day Pamukkale, Turkey) together with Bartholomew (who he introduced to Jesus in the first place). 

Asclepios with the serpent

At that time, worship in Hieropolis was a prominent cult centred around a serpent God, a common pagan symbol of healing powers derived from Asclepios, the Greek god of healing and medicine. 


The serpent god in Hierapolis could also reflect older Anatolian or Phrygian traditions where snakes symbolised fertility, the underworld, and divine protection. Hierapolis was a centre of various syncretic religions, blending Greek, Roman, and local deities, so the serpent god may have been worshipped in a composite form. 

Ruins of the Temple of Hades with an underground pool that emits deadly CO2

At Hierapolis there was even an underground pool (dedicated to Hades, God of the underworld and the ruler of the realm of the dead) that killed anyone who dared enter - this pool exists today and continues to emit Carbon dioxide, a colourless, odourless, poisonous gas that is lethal.

In Hierapolis, the serpent symbolism may have been enhanced by the healing powers of the city’s famous hot springs, which were thought to have therapeutic properties. These springs likely reinforced the idea of the serpent as a source of healing and renewal.


Through prayer, Philip and Bartholomew killed or neutralised a large serpent in the Temple devoted to serpent worship - angering the Temple priests who incited the people to revolt against the visitors. 


Philip also healed many from deadly snake bites. Among those healed was the wife of the city governor or Romn Pro-consul, Amphipatos. Having learned that his wife had accepted Christianity, Governor Amphipatos gave orders to arrest St. Philip, his sister, and the Apostle Bartholomew travelling with them. At the urging of the pagan priests of the temple of the serpent, Amphipatos ordered the Apostles Philip and Bartholomew to be crucified.

As the two disciples were hung upside down on the cross, an earthquake knocked everyone to the ground, and Philip prayed, asking God to save the people from the ravages of the earthquake - and miraculously the earthquake stopped; everyone remained alive except for Governor Amphipatos and the pagan priests who died. 

Seeing this happen, the people believed in Christ and had the Apostles taken down from the crosses. Apostle Philip was already dead but Apostle Bartholomew was still alive when he was taken down, and he baptized all those believing and established a bishop for them.

Mariamne his sister buried Philip's body, and went with the Apostle Bartholomew to preach in Armenia, where the Apostle Bartholomew was crucified; Mariamne herself then preached until her own death at Lykaonia.

The confrontation between Philip and the serpent god in Hierapolis has symbolic resonance in Christian theology, as serpents often represent opposition to God or evil (e.g., the serpent in the Garden of Eden). Philip's triumph over the serpent god was seen as a demonstration of the supremacy of Christ over pagan religions.

References 

• Life of St. Philip. (n.d.). St. Philip the Apostle Orthodox Church. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://www.tampaorthodox.org/stphilipslife
• The story of St. Philip the Apostle. (n.d.). St Philip’s Anglican Church. Retrieved December 1, 2024, from https://stphilipsoconnor.org.au/story/saint_philip/