My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY APOSTLE PHILIP
From Metaphrastes, The Great Collection of Readings compiled by the blessed Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow.
By the sea of Galilee, near Chorazin and Capernaum, stands the town named Bethsaida in the Hebrew tongue means "House of Fishermen," and many fishermen lived there. Three Apostles were born there: Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Peter and Andrew were fishermen and followed that occupation until called by Christ, but Philip was given an education by his parents. He was educated in the Sacred Scripture and knew well the prophecies concerning the longed-for Messiah, which he often read, and thus was smitten with love for Him Whom he did not yet know and filled with the desire to behold the face of Him Whom he had not seen. At that time, Philip was unaware that He Whom many desired to see but had not seen had already appeared upon the earth.
While Philip thus burned with love for the Messiah, Christ entered the land of Galilee and there came upon him, as the holy Evangelist John writes: "Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me." Philip heard the Lord's summons not merely with his bodily ears but with those of his heart as well. He straightway believed in Him as the True Messiah, promised by God through the Prophets, and followed Him. Witnessing the Lord's All-Holy Way of life, Philip sought to emulate His poverty. Moreover, Philip was instructed by Christ in divine wisdom, which later enabled him to prevail over the foolish reasoning of the heathen (pagans).
Philip rejoiced to find a treasure, the value of which surpassed the whole world, but he did not wish to hoard it for himself alone: he wanted others to share in the riches he had found. When he met his friend Nathanael, he joyously announced to him: "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!"
Hearing this, Nathanael doubted whether the Messiah the King of Israel, could spring from such undistinguished parentage or come from such an insignificant town, and said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
Philip did not enter into a lengthy explanation but counseled Nathanael to come and look for himself. "Come and see," said Philip, for he knew that if Nathanael saw Jesus and heard Him speak the word of salvation, he would immediately recognize Him as the Messiah. And, indeed, it was as he had anticipated. Philip led Nathanael to Jesus, and when the Lord, Who tries the hearts and reins of men, saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"
Hearing these words, Nathanael was amazed and said to Jesus, "Whence knowest Thou me?" You have never seen me before, neither have I seen You. How then do You know me?"
The Lord replied, "Before that Philip called thee when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee." For while Nathanael was sitting beneath the fig tree, he was thinking of the divine Messiah, the Hope, the Joy of Gladness of God's faithful servants. At that moment the All-Seeing eye of God looked down on Nathanael, and the Lord granted him compunction of heart and warm tears.
Although he knew his Teacher to be the most perfect of men, Philip, like the other disciples, still understood only partially that He was also perfect God. The Lord went o the far side of the Sea of Tiberias, followed by a crowd of five thousand men. Wishing to feed the multitude in a miraculous way, he asked Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Jesus said this to test Philip and to lead him to an understanding of Who He was, to induce him to feel shame because of his lack of faith, and correct himself. But Philip did not understand Christ to be Omnipotent, nor did he say, "O Lord, You can accomplish whatever You wish: it is not necessary for You to ask this question. If it is Your will, all are satisfied immediately, for "when Thou openest Thy hand, all things shall be filled with goodness."
Philip continued to regard his Lord as a mere man and wavered in his understanding of Him as God. He considered how difficult it would be for food to be provided for such a great crowd of people by human means, and said, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little? To this, he and the other disciples added, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals." But when Philip saw how the Lord divided the five loaves and two fishes among the five thousand men and that all the people received from His hand sufficient food and were satisfied as if from an inexhaustible granary, he was humbled because of his evident lack of faith. Thereafter, his faith grew much stronger, and together with the other disciples, he glorified the power of God in Christ Jesus.
Philip was deemed worthy by the Lord to be chosen as one of the Twelve Apostles, and as such, became Christ's close companion. Once, on a feast day, certain Greeks came up to Jerusalem. Unable to gain access to Jesus because they were unbelieving pagans, they sent to Philip and entreated him, saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus!" Philip first told Andrew of this, and together they made bold to tell Jesus of the Greeks desire, rejoicing that even pagans sought to see and hear their Lord and Teacher. It was at that time that Philip heard the Lord's wondrous teaching and prophecy concerning the Gentiles, who would come to believe in Him after His death. Except "a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die," said Jesus, "it abideth alone, but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit." By this Christ meant: "While I am still living on earth, only a portion of the house of Israel believes in Me, but when I die not the house of Israel alone but many of the Gentiles too shall come to have faith."
At another time, after the Mystical Supper, Philip boldly questioned the Lord concerning His Divinity and entreated Christ to reveal the Father through His own person, saying, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Saint Philip's request brought much benefit to the Church, for it we have learned that the Son is one of one essence with the Father, and the mouths of the heretics are stopped who deny the consubstantiality of the Father and Son. The Lord answered Philip, "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, Show us the Father?" "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?" This reply taught Philip, and through him, the whole Catholic and Apostolic Church, to believe correctly in the equality of the divinity of the Father, and the Son, and contradicts the blasphemer Arius, who declared that the Son of God is not the Creator, but a creature.
After the voluntary Passion and Resurrection of the Son of God, Saint Philip, together with the other Apostles, beheld the Lord in his glorified body, now made immortal. The resurrected Christ bestowed His peace and blessing upon Philip, who also witnessed His Ascension. Later, Philip was present at the descent of the Holy Spirit and became a preacher of Christ among the Gentiles, it being his lot to proclaim the Gospel to the inhabitants of Asia Minor. First, however, he preached in Galilee, where he was met by a woman, lamenting inconsolably, who bore in her arms her dead son. The preacher of Christ took pity on the woman and stretching forth his right hand over the dead child declared, "Christ, Whom I preach, commands you to arise!" The child straightway returned to life, and the mother, seeing her son raised from the dead and restored to her in perfect health, fell at the Apostle's feet. She thanked him for raising her son, asked Baptism of him, and professed her belief in Christ the Lord, Whom Philip preached. After baptizing both mother and son, the Apostle set off for other lands.
The Apostle preached in Greece, where he worked numerous miracles, healed the sick, and resurrected a dead man through the power of Christ.
Having passed through Syria and the Taurus Mountains, he entered Asia Minor, coming to Lydia and Mysia. While traveling through these regions, he turned the heathen living there to God. He was joined by the holy Apostle Bartholomew, who had been preaching in neighboring cities and was sent by God to assist Philip. Philip's sister, the maiden Mariamne, also joined him, and the three Saints began to labor together for the salvation of men. They traversed all the cities of Lydia and Mysia proclaiming the Gospel and endured many afflictions at the hands of the unbelievers. They were beaten, imprisoned, and stoned, but in their tribulations, they were preserved by the grace of God, Who enabled them to continue to perform their appointed task of preaching the Gospel.
Finally, the holy Apostles were condemned by the pagan Governor to be crucified. First, they took the holy Apostle Philip, bored holes through his ankle bones, slipped cords through them, and crucified him head-downward. Philip was suspended from a tall cross set opposite the portals of the viper's temple, and the people stoned him as he hung there. Then they crucified Saint Bartholomew directly to the wall of the temple. Suddenly a mighty earthquake struck and the earth split apart, swallowing the Governor, all the pagan priests, and a multitude of the impious citizens as well.
While hanging on the cross Saint Philip prayed to the Lord for his enemies, asking that He remit their sins and illumine the eyes of their minds with the knowledge and understanding of the truth. The Lord heard his supplication and straightway commanded that the earth open and spew forth alive all those whom it had swallowed, save the Governor and the pagan priests. The people confessed and glorified the power of Christ with a mighty voice, asking for Baptism. They began to remove Saint Philip from the cross but found that he had already surrendered his holy soul into God's hands, so they brought down his holy body. The holy Philip's sister, the pure virgin Saint Mariamne, who witnessed the sufferings and death of her brother, lovingly embraced and kissed his body when it was taken down from the cross, rejoicing in spirit because he had finished his course well.
Holy Apostle Bartholomew baptized all who believed in Christ, appointing Stachys as their Bishop. At the site where the Apostle was crucified, a grapevine grew up in three days as a sign that since Saint Philip's blood was shed for Christ, he rejoices forever in the Kingdom of heaven.
Unto our God be glory for all this, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (Source: The Great Collection of The Lives of the Saints)
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DIVINE SERVICES FOR NOVEMBER 14TH:
Orthros (Matins) at 9:00 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
Place of worship: Saint Nektarios Chapel
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George