Philip the Evangelist
One of the seven deacons of the Jerusalem church
- Role
- One of the seven deacons chosen in Acts 6
- Known for
- Baptizing an Ethiopian court official
- Later home
- Caesarea, with four prophesying daughters
- Main source
- Acts of the Apostles, chapters 6, 8 and 21
Early Christian preacher who, in Acts 8, baptizes an Ethiopian official and is then 'caught away' by the Spirit, turning up at Azotus.
What is Philip the Evangelist known for?
Philip the Evangelist was one of seven men appointed in Acts 6 to look after the Christian community in Jerusalem so that the apostles could concentrate on preaching. He is a different person from Philip the apostle, one of the Twelve, though the two were sometimes confused in later tradition.
Acts 8 describes his preaching in Samaria and then his meeting on the desert road to Gaza with a court official of the Ethiopian queen, whom he instructs and baptizes. The text then says the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, the official saw him no more, and Philip was found at Azotus (Ashdod), some distance up the coast.
Acts 21 places him later at Caesarea, where he hosts Paul and has four daughters who prophesy. He is known only from Acts and later church tradition. Readers take the Azotus episode in different ways: as a miraculous transport, or as a vivid way of describing a sudden departure.
His sudden disappearance and reappearance at Azotus in Acts 8:39–40 is one of the site's accounts of people moved by unexplained means.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Saint Philip the Evangelist'Reference
- Acts 8 (KJV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
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