PHILIP, the second of the seven deacons, was chosen by the apostles after our Saviour's resurrection. (Acts vi. 5.) This deacon, they say, was of Cæsarea in Palestine. It is certain that his daughters lived in this city (Acts xxi. 8, 9.). After the death of St Stephen, all the Christians, excepting the apostles, having left Jerusalem, and being dispersed in several places, St Philip went to preach at Samaria (id. viii. 1, 2, &c.), where he performed several miracles, and converted many persons. He baptized them; but being only a deacon, he could not confer on them the Holy Ghost. Wherefore having made known to the apostles at Jerusalem, that Samaria had received the word of God, Peter and John came thither, and the Samaritans that were converted received the Holy Ghost. St Philip was probably at Samaria when the angel of the Lord ordered him to go to the south part of the country, in the road that leads from Jerusalem to old Gaza. Philip obeyed, and there met with an Ethiopian eunuch belonging to Queen Candace, who had the care of her revenues, and had been at Jerusalem to worship God there (id. viii. 26, 27, &c.). He was then returning into his own country, and was reading the prophet Isaiah as he went along in his chariot. Philip, hearing the eunuch reading the prophet Isaiah, said to him, Do you understand what you read? The eunuch replied, How should I understand, except somebody explain it to me? He desired Philip therefore to come and sit down by him in the chariot. The passage the eunuch was reading is this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so he opened not his mouth." The eunuch then says to Philip, Pray, whom does the prophet speak of in this place? Is it of himself, or of some other? Then Philip began to instruct him concerning Jesus Christ. And having gone on together, they came to a fountain; when the eunuch said to Philip, Here is water, what hinders me from being baptized? Philip told him that he might be so, if he believed with all his heart. He replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He then ordered the chariot to stop, and they both alighted
and went down into the water, where Philip baptized the eunuch. Being come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw no more of him. But Philip was found again at Azotus, and he preached the gospel in all the cities he passed through, till he arrived at Cæsarea in Palestine. After this, the scripture does not inform us of any particulars relating to Philip. The modern Greeks say that he went to Tralles in Asia, where he founded a church, of which he was the apostle and bishop; and where he rested in peace, after performing many miracles. The Latins, on the contrary, say that he died at Cæsarea, and that three of his daughters were there buried with him.
It is thought, that the eunuch converted by St Philip was the first apostle of the Ethiopians; and that the Abyssines boast of having received the Christian faith from him.