Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/859

 Eusebius (Vit. Cons. i. 3) the first Christian emperor. (2) No event, except his alleged penitence at Antioch, is recorded of Philip that implies he was a Christian. (3) He celebrated the millennial games with heathen rites. (4) He deified his predecessor, and was himself deified after death. (5) No heathen writer mentions that he was a Christian. (6) A year before Decius issued his edict against the Christians, and therefore while Philip was still reigning, a violent persecution had broken out at Alexandria (Eus. H. E. vi. 41), which would not have been allowed to go on had the emperor really been a Christian. It seems, therefore, safer to conclude with Clinton (Fasti Rom. ii. 51) that Philip was not a Christian. Is there, then, any foundation for the story of Philip and St Babylas? Philip may very possibly have been at Antioch at Easter, 244, on his return to Rome after Gordian's death, and perhaps feeling remorse for the way he had treated Gordian and believing that Babylas was able to purify him from his guilt, may have made some application to him, and this may be the origin of the story; but it seems impossible to say with any certainty what parts of it, if any, are genuine and what fictitious. Philip was the first emperor who tried to check the grosser forms of vice at Rome (Lampridius, V. Heliogabali, 31; V. Severi, 23), though his efforts were unsuccessful (Victor, de Caesaribus, c. 28). Zosimus, i. 18–22; Vita Gordiani Tertii, cc. 28–33; Tillem. ''Mém. eccl.'' iii. 262; Gibbon, cc. 7, 10, 16.

[F.D.]

Philippus (6), bp. of Heraclea in Thrace and martyr in the Diocletian persecution c. 304 with Severus, a presbyter, and Hermes, a deacon. His Acts present one of the most vivid and minute pictures we possess of that persecution, and are often quoted by Le Blanc in his Actes des Martyrs—e.g. pp. 12, 41, 52, 54, etc., where many incidental marks of authenticity are pointed out. The various steps in the persecution can be clearly traced, the arrest of the clergy, the seizure and destruction of the sacred writings and vessels, and finally the torture and death of the martyrs. Philip was arrested and examined by a president Bassus, who then committed him to the free custody of one Pancratus (c. vii.). Bassus was soon succeeded by a certain Justinus, who was much more stern towards the Christians than his predecessor, whose wife was a Christian. After some time Justinus brought them to Adrianople, and there burned Philip and Hermes on the same day (Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 442).

[G.T.S.]

Philippus (9), of Side, an ecclesiastical historian at the commencement of 5th cent., a native of the maritime town of Side in Pamphylia, the birthplace of Troilus the sophist, whose kinsman he was proud of reckoning himself. We find Philip at Constantinople enjoying the intimacy of Chrysostom, by whom he was admitted to the diaconate. Tillemont says that he was the imitator of Chrysostom's eloquence rather than of his virtues, and that the imitation was a very poor one. On the death of Atticus, 425, by whom he had been ordained presbyter, Philip was a candidate for the vacant see, and found a number of influential supporters (Socr. H. E. vii. 27). The prefering of Sisinnius caused him extreme mortification, which he exhibited in his Christian History, introducing a violent tirade against the character both of elected and electors, more particularly the lay supporters of Sisinnius. The bitterness and rashness of the charges are noticed by Socrates, who thought them undeserving mention in his history (ib. 26). Philip, when again a candidate, both after the death of Sisinnius, 428 and on the deposition of Nestorius in 431, had a considerable and energetic following (ib. vii. 29, 35) but was unsuccessful, and died a presbyter. His chief work, entitled A Christian History, was divided into 36 books and about a thousand chapters. It ranged from the creation to his own times. Except one or two fragments, the whole is lost. The descriptions of it given by Socrates (ib. 27) and Photius (Cod. 35) shew that its loss is not to be regretted on literary grounds. Socrates describes it as a medley of theorems in geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music, with descriptions of islands, mountains, and trees, and other matters of little moment. The chronological order of events was constantly disregarded. Photius's estimate is equally low: "diffuse; neither witty nor elegant; full of undigested learning, with very little bearing on history at all, still less on Christian history." A fragment relating to the school of Alexandria and the succession of the teachers has been printed by Dodwell at the close of his dissertations on Irenaeus (Oxf. 1689). Of this Neander writes: "The known untrustworthiness of this author; the discrepancy between his statements and other more authentic reports, and the suspicious condition in which the fragment has come down to us, render his details unworthy of confidence" (Ch. Hist. vol. ii. p. 460, Clark's trans.). Another considerable fragment is reported to exist in the Imperial Library at Vienna, entitled de Christi Nativitate, et de Magis, giving the acts of a disputation held in Persia concerning Christianity between certain Persians and Christians, at which Philip was himself present. Tillem. ''Mém. eccl.'' xii. 431; ''Hist. des empereurs'', vi. 130; Cave, ''Hist. Lat.'' i. 395; Fabric. ''Bibl. Graec.'' vi. 112, lib. v. c. 4, § 28.

[E.V.]

Philo (2), deacon. Among the proofs of the genuineness of the Ignatian letters [] is the fact that we obtain a thoroughly consistent story on piecing together scattered notices about obscure persons. Thus two deacons are mentioned, Philo from Cilicia and Rheius Agathopus from Syria (Philadelph. ii., Smyrn. 10, 13). We find that these deacons had not started with Ignatius, but had followed afterwards, taking the same route; that at Philadelphia, where Ignatius himself had encountered heretical opposition, some had treated them also with contumely; that they had been too late to overtake the saint at Smyrna, but had been kindly entertained by the church there. Finally, they were with Ignatius at Troas, and from them doubtless he received the joyful news of the peace which the church of Syria had obtained since his departure. The clearness with which the whole story comes out from oblique inferences