 |
| St. Philip's window. |
Philip is mentioned by name in the Apostle lists of the Synoptic Gospels. He is a frequent character in the Gospel According to John (1:43-51):
| The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. |
At the time of his call, Philip belonged to a group influenced by St. John the Baptist. He participated in the miracle of the loaves and fishes (John 6:5-9):
| When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? |
With St. Andrew the Apostle, he brought word to Jesus that certain Greeks had asked to see him (John 12:21-22):
| The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. |
Philip asked Jesus to reveal the Father in John 14:8-9:
| Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, 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; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? |
Nothing more is known about him from the New Testament. In later legends he was often confused with Philip the Deacon, one of the seven deacons of the early church (Acts 6:5):
| And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch. |
His apostolate was supposedly in the territory of Scythia, an ancient Eurasian area. The symbols in his window are the cross in the center, symbolizing one version of his death (crucifiction) and two small oaves of bread. Yes, those are loaves of bread. I didn't think so, either. They maybe look like a couple slices of toast, but even that's pushing it. Oh well.
|
