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Of the Journeyings of Philip the Apostle.

From the Fifteenth Acts Until the End, and Among Them the Martyrdom.²¹⁵⁸

2158 [This enlarged title is from the Venetian ms.; see p. 355.—R.]

About the time when the Emperor Trajan received the government of the Romans, after Simon the son of Clopas, who was bishop of Jerusalem, had suffered martyrdom in the eighth year of his reign, being the second bishop of the church there after James who bore the name of brother of the Lord,²¹⁵⁹

2159 Comp. Euseb., H. E., iii. 32.

And having come to the city of Ophioryma, which is called Hierapolis of Asia, he was entertained by a certain believer, Stachys by name.  And there was with him also Bartholomew, one of the seventy disciples of the Lord, and his sister Mariamme, and his disciples that followed him.  All the men of the city therefore, having left their work, ran to the house of Stachys, hearing about the works which Philip did.  And many men and women having assembled in the house of Stachys, Philip along with Bartholomew taught them the things of Jesus.

And Philip’s sister Mariamme, sitting in the entry of the house of Stachys, addressed herself to those coming, persuading them to listen to the apostles, saying to them:  Our brethren, and sons of my Father in heaven, ye are the excellent riches, and the substance of the city above, the delight of the habitation which God has prepared for those that love Him.  Trample under foot the snares of the enemy, the writhing serpent.  For his path is crooked, since he is the son of the wicked one, and the poison of wickedness is in him; and his father is the devil, the author of death, and his mother corruption; rage in his eyes and destruction in his mouth, and his path is Hades.  Wherefore flee from him that has no substance, the shapeless one that has no shape in all the creation, whether in the heaven or in the earth, whether in the flying creatures or the beasts.  For everything is taken away from his shape; for among the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the heaven is the knowledge of him, that the serpent trails his belly and his breast; and Tartarus is his dwelling-place, and he goes in the darkness, since he has confidence in nothing.²¹⁶⁰

2160 Or, in no one.

2161 Or, covetousness.

And all these things Philip said to the multitudes that had come together to worship as in old times the serpents and the viper, of which also they set up images and worshipped them.  Wherefore also they called Hierapolis Ophioryma.²¹⁶²

2162 i.e., Serpent’s town.

And Nicanora, the wife of the proconsul, lying in bed under various diseases, especially of the eyes, having heard about the Apostle Philip and his teaching, believed in the Lord.  For she had even before this heard about Him; and having called upon His name, she was released from the troubles that afflicted her.  And rising up, she went forth out of her house through the side door, carried by her own slaves in a silver litter, and went into the house of Stachys, where the apostles were.

And when she came before the gate of the house, Mariamme, the sister of Philip the apostle, seeing her, spoke to her in the Hebrew tongue before Philip and Bartholomew, and all the multitude of those who had believed, saying:  Alemakan, ikasame, marmare, nachaman,²¹⁶³

2163 Or, iachaman.

2164 Comp. Mal. iv. 2.

And when Nicanora, standing before the door, heard these things, she took courage before all, crying out, and saying:  I am a Hebrew, and a daughter of the Hebrews; speak with me in the language of my fathers.  For, having heard the preaching of my fathers, I was straightway cured of the disease and the troubles that encompassed me.  I therefore adore the goodness of God who has caused you to be spoiled even to this city, on account of His true stone²¹⁶⁵

2165 Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 4, etc.

Nicanora having thus spoken, the Apostle Philip, along with Bartholomew and Mariamme and those with them, prayed for her to God, saying:  Thou who bringest the dead to life, Christ Jesus the Lord, who hast freed us through baptism from the slavery of death,²¹⁶⁶

2166 Comp. Rom. vi. 3, 4.

And all having sent up the amen along with the Apostle Philip, behold, there came the tyrant, the husband of Nicanora, raging like an unbroken horse; and having laid hold of his wife’s garments, he cried out, saying:  O Nicanora, did not I leave thee in bed? how hadst thou so much strength as to come to these magicians?  And how hast thou been cured of the inflammation of thine eyes?  Now, therefore, unless thou tell me who thy physician is, and what is his name, I shall punish thee with various punishments, and shall not have compassion upon thee.  And she answering, says to him:  O tyrant, cast out from thee this tyranny of thine, forsake this wickedness of thine; abandon this life lasting only for a season; run away from the brutality of thy worthless disposition; flee from the wicked dragon and his lusts; throw from thee the works and the dart of the man-slaying serpent; renounce the abominable and wicked sacrifices of the idols, which are the husbandry of the enemy, the hedge of darkness; make for thyself a life chaste and pure, that being in holiness thou mayst be able to know my Physician, and to get His name.  If therefore thou wishest me to be beside thee, prepare thyself to live in chastity and self-restraint, and in fear of the true God, and I shall live with thee all my life; only cleanse thyself from the idols, and from all their filth.

And when the gloomy tyrant her husband heard these words of hers, he seized her by the hair of her head, and dragged her along, kicking her, and saying:  It will be a fine thing for thee to be cut off by the sword, or to see thee from beside me committing fornication with these foreign magicians; for I see that thou hast fallen into the madness of these deceivers.  Thee first of them, therefore, I shall cut off by an evil death; and then, not sparing them, I shall cut their sinews, and put them to a most cruel death.  And having turned, he said to those about him:  Bring out for me those impostors of magicians.  And the public executioners having run into the house of Stachys, and laid hold of the Apostle Philip, and Bartholomew and Mariamme, dragged them along, leading them to where the proconsul was.  And the most faithful Stachys followed, and all the faithful.

And the proconsul seeing them, gnashed his teeth, saying:  Torture these deceivers that have deceived many women, and young men and girls, saying that they are worshippers of God, while they are an abomination.  And he ordered thongs of raw hide to be brought, and Philip and Bartholomew and Mariamme to be beaten; and after they had been scourged with the thongs, he ordered their feet to be tied, and them to be dragged through the streets of the city as far as the gate of their temple.  And a great crowd was assembled, so that scarcely any one stayed at home; and they all wondered at their patience, as they were being violently and inhumanly dragged along.

And the proconsul, having tortured the Apostle Philip and the saints who were with him, ordered them to be brought, and secured in the temple of the idol of the viper by its priests, until he should decide by what death he should destroy each of them.  And many of the crowd believed in the grace of Christ, and were added to the Apostle Philip, and those with him, having renounced the idol of the viper, and were confirmed in the faith, being magnified by the endurance of the saints; and all together with their voice glorified God, saying the amen.

And when they were shut up in the temple of the viper—both Philip the Apostle, and Bartholomew and Mariamme—the priests of the viper assembled in the same place, and a great crowd, about seven thousand men; and having run to the proconsul, they cried out, saying:  Avenge us of the foreigners, and magicians, and corrupters and seducers of men.  For ever since they came to us, our city has been filled with every evil deed; and they have also killed the serpents, the sons of our goddess; and they have also shut the temple, and the altar has been desolated; and we have not found the wine which had been brought in order that the viper, having drunk of it, might go to sleep.  But if thou wishest to know that they are really magicians, look and see how they wish to bewitch us, saying, Live in chastity and piety, after believing in God; and how also they have come into the city; and how also the dragons have not struck them blind, or even killed them; and how also they have not drunk their blood; but even they who keep our city from every foreigner have been cast down by these men.

And the proconsul, having heard these things, was the more inflamed with rage, and filled with wrath and threatening; and he was exceedingly enraged, and said to the priests:  Why need you speak, when they have bewitched my own wife?  And from that time she has spoken to me with strange words; and praying all the night through, she speaks in a strange tongue with a light shining round her; and groaning aloud, she says, Jesus the true light has come to me.  And I, having gone forth from my chamber, wished to look down through the window and see Jesus, the light which she spoke of; and like lightning it came upon me, so that I was within a little of being blinded; and from that time forth I am afraid of my wife, on account of her luminous Jesus.  Tell me, ye priests, what I am to do.  And they said to him:  O proconsul, assuredly we are no longer priests; for ever since thou didst shut them up, in consequence of them praying, not only has the temple been shaken from the foundations, but it is also assuredly falling down.

Then the proconsul ordered to bring Philip and those with him forth out of the temple, and to bring them up to the tribunal, saying to the public executioner:  Strip Philip and Bartholomew and Mariamme, and search thoroughly to try to find their enchantments.  Having therefore first stripped Philip, then Bartholomew, they came also to Mariamme; and dragging her along, they said:  Let us strip her naked, that all may see her, how she follows men; for she especially deceives all the women.  And the tyrant says to the priests:  Proclaim throughout the whole city round about that all should come, men and women, that they may see her indecency, that she travels about with these magicians, and no doubt commits adultery with them.  And he ordered Philip to be hanged, and his ankles to be pierced, and to bring also iron hooks, and his heels also to be driven through, and to be hanged head downwards, opposite the temple on a certain tree; and stretch out Bartholomew opposite Philip, having nailed his hands on the wall of the gate of the temple.

And both of them smiled, seeing each other, both Philip and Bartholomew; for they were as if they were not tortured:  for their punishments were prizes and crowns.  And when also they had stripped Mariamme, behold, straightway the semblance of her body was changed in the presence of all, and straightway there was about her a cloud of fire before all; and they could not longer look at all on the place in which the holy Mariamme was, but they all fled from her.

And Philip spoke with Bartholomew in the Hebrew tongue saying:  Where is our brother John? for, behold, I am being released from the body; and who is he that has prayed for us?  Because they have also laid hands on our sister Mariamme, contrary to what is meet; and, behold, they have set fire to the house of Stachys, saying, Let us burn it, since he entertained them.  Dost thou wish then, Bartholomew, fire to come from heaven, and that we should burn them up?

And as Philip was thus speaking, behold, also John entered into the city like one of their fellow-citizens; and moving about in the street, he asked:  Who are these men, and why are they punished?  And they say to him:  It cannot be that thou art of our city, and askest about these men, who have wronged many:  for they have shut up our gods, and by their magic have cut off both the serpents and the dragons; and they have also raised many of the dead, who have struck us with amazement, detailing many punishments against us, and they wish also, these strangers who are hanging, to pray for fire out of heaven, and to burn up us and our city.

Then says John:  Let us go, and do you show me them.  They led John, therefore, as their fellow-citizen, to where Philip was; and there was there a great crowd, and the proconsul, and the priests.  And Philip, seeing John, said to Bartholomew in Hebrew:  Brother, John has come, who was in Barek, where the living water is.²¹⁶⁷

2167 Another and more probable reading is:  He who is the son of Barek, which means living water.

2168 Or, hams.

And he said also to the men of that city:  Ye men who dwell in Ophioryma Hierapolis, great is the ignorance which is among you, for you have erred in the path of error.  The dragon breathing has breathed upon you, and blinded you in three ways; that is, he has made you blind in body, and blind in soul, and blind in spirit:  and you have been struck by the destroyer.  Look upon the whole creation, whether in the earth, or in the heaven, or in the waters, that the serpent has no resemblance to anything above;²¹⁶⁹

2169 One of themss. has:  has no resemblance to a man in anything.

And when they heard these words from John, they raised their hands against him, saying:  We thought thee to be a fellow-citizen, but now thou hast shown thyself that thou art their companion.  Like them, so also thou shalt be put to death; for the priests have intended to squeeze out your blood, and having mixed it with wine, to bring it to the viper to drink it.  When, therefore, the priests attempted to lay hold of John, their hands were paralyzed.  And John said to Philip:  Let us not at all render evil for evil.  And Philip said to John:  Behold now, where is my Lord Jesus, who told me not to avenge myself?  But for my part, I shall not endure it longer; but I will accomplish upon them my threat, and will destroy them all²¹⁷⁰

2170 A Bodleianms. adds:  for because I am wrathful, Jesus named me Son of thunder.  [This is the ms. from which Grabe derived his text of the Acts of Paul and Thecla; comp. pp. 355 and 491.—R.]

And John and Bartholomew and Mariamme restrained him, saying:  Our Master was beaten, was scourged, was extended on the cross, was made to drink gall and vinegar, and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.²¹⁷¹

2171 Luke xxiii. 34.

2172 Matt. xi. 29.

2173 The Bodleianms. has the Hebrew thus:  Saballon, prumeni, duthael, tharseli, annachathaei; adonab batelo teloe.

2174 The Bodleianms. has Ailoel.

And there remained both Stachys and all his house, and the wife of the proconsul, and fifty other women who had believed with her upon the Lord, and a multitude besides, both of men and women, and a hundred virgins who had not been swallowed up because of their chastity, having been sealed with the seal of Christ.

Then the Lord, having appeared unto Philip, said:  O Philip, didst thou not hear:  Thou shalt not render evil for evil? and why hast thou inflicted such destruction?  O Philip, whosoever putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh backwards,²¹⁷⁵

2175 Comp. Luke ix. 62.

2176 Comp. Matt. xxii. 11.

2177 Comp. Matt. ix. 37.

Philip says:  Why art Thou angry with me, Lord, because I have cursed mine enemies? for why dost Thou not tread them under foot, because they are yet alive in the abyss?  And knowest Thou, Lord, that because of Thee I came into this city, and in Thy name I have persecuted all the error of the idols, and all the demons?  The dragons have withered away, and the serpents.  And since these men have not received Thy light, therefore have I cursed them, and they have gone down to Hades alive.

And the Saviour says to Philip:  But since thou hast disobeyed me, and hast requited evil for evil, and hast not kept my commandment, on this account thou shalt finish thy course gloriously indeed, and shalt be led by the hand by my holy angels, and shalt come with them even to the paradise of delight; and they indeed shall come beside me into paradise, but thee will I order to be shut outside of paradise for forty days, in terror under the flaming and turning sword, and thou shalt groan because thou hast done evil to those who have done evil to thee.  And after forty days I shall send my archangel Michael; and he, having taken hold of the sword guarding paradise, shall bring thee into it, and thou shalt see all the righteous who have walked in their innocence, and then thou shalt worship the glory of my Father in the heavens.  Nevertheless the sign of thy departure shall be glorified in my cross.  And Bartholomew having gone away into Lycaonia, shall there also be himself crucified; and Mariamme shall lay her body in the river Jordan.  But I, O Philip, will not endure thee, because thou hast swallowed up the men into the abyss; but, behold, my Spirit is in them, and I shall bring them up from the dead; and thus they, seeing thee, shall believe in the glory of Him that sent thee.

And the Saviour having turned, stretched up His hand, and marked a cross in the air coming down from above even to the abyss, and it was full of light, and had its form after the likeness of a ladder.  And all the multitude that had gone down from the city into the abyss came up on the ladder of the luminous cross; but there remained below the proconsul, and the viper which they worshipped.  And when the multitude had come up, having looked upon Philip hanging head downwards, they lamented with a great lamentation at the lawless action which they had done.  And they also saw Bartholomew, and Mariamme having her former appearance.  And, behold, the Lord went up into the heavens in the sight of Philip, and Bartholomew and Mariamme, and Stachys, and all the unbelieving people, and silently they glorified God in fear and trembling.  And all the multitudes cried out, saying:  He alone is God, whom these men proclaim in truth; He alone is God, who sent these men for our salvation.  Let us therefore truly repent for our great error, because we are by no means worthy of everlasting life.  Now we believe, because we have seen great wonders, because the Saviour has brought us up from the abyss.  And they all fell upon their face, and adored Philip, and entreated him, ready to flee:  Do not do another miracle, and again send us away into the abyss.  And they prayed that they might become worthy of the appearing of Christ.

And Philip, yet hanging, addressed them, and said:  Hear and learn how great are the powers of my God, remembering what you have seen below, and how your city has been overturned, with the exception of the house which received me; and now the sweetness of my God has brought you up out of the abyss, and I am obliged to walk round paradise for forty days on your account, because I was enraged against you into requiting you.  And this commandment alone I have not kept, in that I did not give you good in return for evil.  But I say unto you, From this time forth, in the goodness of God, reject the evil, that you may become worthy of the thanksgiving²¹⁷⁸

2178 Or, the Eucharist.

And some of the faithful ran up to take down Philip, and take off him the iron grapnels, and the hooks out of his ankles.  But Philip said:  Do not, my children, do not come near me on account of this, for thus shall be my end.  Listen to me, ye who have been enlightened in the Lord, that I came to this city, not to make any merchandise, or do any other thing; but I have been destined to go out of my body in this city in the case in which you see me.  Grieve not, then, that I am hanging thus; for I bear the stamp²¹⁷⁹

2179 Or, type.

And Philip, having looked round upon the multitudes, said:  O ye who have come up out of the dead from Hades, and the swallowing up of the abyss,—and the luminous cross led you up on high, through the goodness of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,—He being God became man, having been made flesh out of the Virgin Mary, immortal, abiding in flesh; and having died, He raised the dead, having had pity on mankind, having taken away the sting of sin.  He was great, and became small for our sake, until He should enlarge the small, and bring them into His greatness.  And He it is who has sweetness; and they spat upon Him, giving Him gall to drink, in order that He might make those who were bitter against Him to taste of His sweetness.  Cleave then to Him, and do not forsake Him, for He is our life to everlasting.

And when Philip had finished this announcement, he says to them, Loose Bartholomew; and having gone up, they loosed him.  And after loosing him, Philip says to him:  Bartholomew, my brother in the Lord, thou knowest that the Lord has sent thee with me to this city, and thou hast shared with me in all the dangers with our sister Mariamme; but I know that the going forth from thy body has been appointed in Lycaonia, and it has been decreed to Mariamme to go forth from the body in the river Jordan.  Now therefore I command you, that when I have gone forth from my body, you shall build a church in this place; and let the leopard and the kid of the goats²¹⁸⁰

2180 Alluding to Isa. xi. 6.

2181 Comp. 1 Cor. vii. 5.

2182 Lit., be a good trier.

2183 On the subject of the immemorial practice of prayers for the dead, see Apostolical Constitutions, vi. 30, viii. 47.  Comp. 2 Macc. xii. 44 and 2 Tim. i. 18.

And Philip, having said these things, prayed thus:  O Lord Jesus Christ, Father of the ages, King of the light, who hast made us wise in Thy wisdom, and hast given us Thine understanding, and hast bestowed upon us the counsel of Thy goodness, who hast never at any time left us, Thou art He who taketh away the disease of those who flee to Thee for refuge; Thou art the Son of the living God, who hast given us Thy presence of wisdom, who hast given us signs and wonders, and hast turned those who have gone astray; who crownest those who overcome the adversary, Thou excellent Judge.²¹⁸⁴

2184 Lit., president of the games.

And having thus spoken, Philip gave up the ghost, while all the multitudes were looking upon him, and weeping, and saying:  The life of this spirit has been accomplished in peace.  And they said the Amen.

And Bartholomew and Mariamme took down his body, and did as Philip had commanded them, and buried it in that place.  And there was straightway a voice out of the heavens:  Philip the apostle has been crowned with an incorruptible crown by Jesus Christ, the Judge of the contest.  And all shouted out the Amen.

And after the three days the plant of the vine sprouted up where the blood of the holy Philip had dropped.  And they did all that had been commanded them by him, offering an offering for forty days, praying without ceasing.  And they built the church in that place, having appointed Stachys bishop in the church.  And Nicanora and all the faithful assembled, and did not cease, all of them, glorifying God on account of the wonders that had happened among them.  And all the city believed in the name of Jesus.  And Bartholomew commanded Stachys to baptize those who believed into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And after the forty days, the Saviour, having appeared in the form of Philip, said to Bartholomew and Mariamme:  My beloved brethren, do you wish to rest in the rest of God?  Paradise has been opened to me, and I have entered into the glory of Jesus.  Go away to the place appointed for you; for the plant that has been set apart and planted in this city shall bear excellent fruit.  Having therefore saluted the brethren, and prayed for each of them, they departed from the city of Ophioryma, the Hierapolis of Asia; and Bartholomew departed into Lycaonia, and Mariamme proceeded to the Jordan; and Stachys and those with him remained, maintaining the church in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and strength for ever and ever.  Amen.

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