By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. Saint Philip the Deacon, distinct from Philip the disciple of the Lord, came from Caesarea in Palestine. He was married and had four daughters, all four of whom were prophetesses in the Church. The Evangelist Luke mentions him on several occasions in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. He was appointed by the Holy Apostles as a Deacon of the Church, to serve the needs of the Christians, together with Saint Stephen and the other deacons. After the persecution that broke out following the death of Saint Stephen, he went to Samaria, where he preached and instructed many in the Christian faith, including Simon the Magician, whom he baptized. The Evangelist Luke also recounts the incident in which Philip was carried away by an angel so that he could approach an Ethiopian official. Finding the official reading the Prophet Isaiah, Philip catechized him and baptized him. Then, having once again been led by an angel of the Lord to the city of Azotus, he enlightened its inhabitants through his preaching. He subsequently arrived at Tralles in Asia Minor. There, alongside his preaching, he performed many miracles, founded a church, and finally departed to the Lord.
2. It is remarkable that the Evangelist Luke chose to devote several verses of the Acts of the Apostles to the Apostle Philip, one of the Seventy Disciples of the Lord and one of the seven deacons of the early Church, rather than, for example, to Philip the Apostle, one of Christ’s Twelve, or to the Apostle Nathanael, or to other Apostles — apart, of course, from the Apostle Peter and, especially, the Apostle Paul, who came later. This indicates that Deacon Philip was a figure whom one could not easily overlook or fail to take seriously. Indeed, the episodes preserved from his life confirm this assessment. On the one hand, we see him acting in ways reminiscent of the great Apostles: with intense missionary zeal, eloquence, the performance of miracles, guidance by angels, and the founding of churches. On the other hand, his entire family also had a distinctive presence in the Church. His daughters in particular, whom Saint Luke mentions, were “virgins who prophesied,” meaning that they were dedicated to God and possessed the gift of prophecy, and thus the ability to prophesy and teach the people.
Our Church’s Hymnographer frequently refers to the gift of eloquence possessed by Saint Philip the Deacon. This was a gift through which, as we have seen, the Spirit of God sent him on various missions to instruct and persuade not only ordinary people but also educated and high-ranking individuals. The episode involving the Ethiopian official provides a small example of this truth. Indeed, a hymn from the third ode of the Matins canon is particularly revealing in this regard: “By your honey-sweet words, O divinely inspired Philip, you persuade those who have been driven far away by ignorance to flee the soul-destroying poison and to receive the grace that brings salvation.”
Saint Philip’s speech was so persuasive that people accepted the faith of Christ. The Hymnographer, however, also employs a particularly beautiful expression that highlights the Saint’s exceptional eloquence: “honey-sweet words.” When the Saint spoke about Christ, he did so in such a way that his words seemed to flow like honey. We should understand that the sweetness of his words lay not only in their content but also in their form and in the manner in which he expressed himself. Of course, he always proclaimed Christ — as the Hymnographer says elsewhere, “proclaiming the glory of the Word” — that is, recounting the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man, and confirming this proclamation through miracles, “with awesome signs.” Yet he did so with eloquence, in a calm manner accessible to the people he addressed.
Saint Philip thus provides an enduring example for all time. The word of our Church and its instruction of the people must always possess these two qualities. First, they must proclaim Jesus Christ as our God who became man, who was crucified and rose from the dead for the sake of humanity. As the Apostle to the Gentiles says: “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Second, the Christ whom the Church proclaims must be presented not in an authoritarian manner, nor through preaching in the negative sense of the word — that is, in a dry, schoolmasterly fashion — but like a gentle breeze, like honey that delights not the ears but the hearts of people. This is the manner later taught by the Three Great Hierarchs, the patrons of education, who are themselves described as “honey-flowing rivers of wisdom.”
We do not believe, therefore, that it was by chance that the Spirit of God made such extensive use of Saint Philip in proclaiming the faith of Christ. In other words, God makes use of people’s particular gifts to accomplish His work, choosing each time those whose gifts are suited to the task at hand. Saint Philip, then, was among those especially endowed by God, and he devoted his entire self to His service.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
