St. Phillip Story

Item #6022

Phillip is one of the twelve chosen disciples of Jesus. Although very little is said about him in the New Testament, we are told that he was from the town of Bethsaida (John 1:43). After meeting Jesus, Phillip went to get his friend Nathaniel to hear this new Teacher. Nathaniel skeptically recanted a familiar saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
There are legends about Phillip’s activities after the disciples dispersed, but none are provable. One legend tells of Phillip being in Heirapolis where he used a cross to cast out a serpent that the people were falsely worshipping. Another legend tells of Phillip’s taking a stick and sinking it into the ground, whereupon it took root and turned green. This symbolic act was to prove the genuineness of his message to the Hungarians (and became the basis for the May pole customs). Some sources say that Phillip was crucified on a cross shaped like a T (Tau cross). Consequently the Tau cross is often called Phillip’s cross.
Phillip’s response to Nathaniel’s skepticism is instructive to all those who question the authority of Jesus. Phillip said simply, “Come and see!”

Dr. Thomas F. Clark