The Lycus Valley & Acts of Philip
The Gospel in the Lycus Valley
A Colossian God-fearer named Epaphroditus (Epaphras for short) brought the gospel to the Lycus Valley. The Lycus River meets the Meander River in a valley in Western Turkey, about one hundred miles east of the site of ancient Ephesus. Three important cities occupied the valley: Laodicea, Colossae, and Hierapolis. They were Phrygian cities, but the Romans included them within the Province of Asia. Hierapolis and Laodicea faced one another from opposite sides of the valley, with the Lycus River flowing between them. Colossae sat a few miles further upstream.
Geothermal hot springs burst out of the earth at Hierapolis at a temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Colossae had coldwater springs. Laodicea seems to have received its water supply partially by aqueduct. Strabo observed that the water at Laodicea was extremely hard, though drinkable. Several Bible commentaries suggest that the Laodicean water supply provides the imagery behind the Master's rebuke to the believers in that city:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
The Lycus Valley offered fertile pastures for livestock. Local industry produced wool and dark red woolen cloth called colossinum (named after Colossae). The hot springs at Hierapolis provided calcium-rich waters, which dyers used to set their dyes, and mineral deposits, which they used to make blacks, purples, and scarlet. Laodicea exported the local wool and a variety of fabrics to the Roman world. The Laodiceans also exported a medicinal powder for the eyes. The two industries may underlie the symbolism in the Master's rebuke to the Laodicean believers:
Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. (Revelation 3:17-18)
Epaphroditus (Ἐπαφρόδιτος) means “handsome” or “charming.” He was one of Paul’s close disciples. Paul considered Epaphras his “fellow bond-servant,” his “fellow worker and fellow soldier” (Colossians 1:7; Philippians 2:25). Epaphras probably studied under Paul during the years that the apostle taught at Ephesus. He may have attended Paul's lectures at the study hall of Tyrannus. He seems to have traveled with Paul in Asia Minor and Macedonia. He was well-known to the believers in Philippi. During his imprisonment in Caesarea and Rome (57-62 CE), Paul continued to send his most trusted disciples to visit the congregations, encourage the believers, and deliver the mail. Timothy of Lystra, Titus of Antioch, Tychius of Ephesus, and Epaphras of Colossae traveled widely on Paul's behalf.
At some point, Epaphras carried the gospel to his hometown of Colossae and the adjacent cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. Paul wrote that the believers at Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodice first heard the gospel message "and understood the grace of God in truth" when they "learned it from Epaphras" (Colossians I:7).
Epaphras brought the gospel to both Jews and God-fearers in the Lycus Valley. A large Jewish population lived in the area ever since King Antiochus II had sent two thousand Jewish families from Babylon and Mesopotamia to settle in Phrygia and Lydia. The same king established the city of Lodicea and populated it with Jewish families. That strong Jewish presence continued in Laodicea and the Lycus Valley into the Apostolic Era.
Epaphras established at least two communities of disciples in the Lycus Valley. The believers in Laodicea met in the home of a woman named Nympha (Colossians 4:15). The believers at Colossae met in the home of a wealthy Colossian named Philemon. Philemon and his wife Apphia hosted the assembly and demonstrated remarkable hospitality. In their home, "the hearts of the saints" were "refreshed" through their generosity (Philemon 7). Philemon led the congregation at Colossae together with another brother, a deacon named Archippus (Colossians I:I-8, 4:17).
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
False Teachings at Kolassa and Ludkeya
Whenever Epaphras passed through the region, he spent time in the Lycus Valley nurturing the new believers. He had "a deep concern" for the believers in Colossae "and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis" (Colossians 4:13).
During one of his visits to Colossae, he found that the local believers had fallen under the sway of new teachings. The new teaching in Colossae espoused a complex angelology similar to the hierarchies of the aeons in Gnosticism. New teachers offered mysterious, secret teachings and knowledge. They delighted in the adoration of angels. They taught that "the Son of God" descended as only one of many angelic emanations of the unseen and unknowable God. They taught that He ranked highly among the thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities, but they denied that the fullness of deity dwelt within Him. They claimed to have received secret knowledge directly from visions. They insisted that the body and all worldly pleasures are impediments to the salvation of the divine soul. They taught the Colossians to take on severe asceticism (a lifestyle characterized by self-discipline, self-denial, and abstention from various forms of physical or material indulgence, often for religious or spiritual purposes) and self-abasement in order to chastise the flesh and liberate the soul. They contradicted the Torah and warned against Judaism. They issued "commandments and teachings of men," which were based on "philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to the Messiah" (Colossians 2:8, 2:22). They taught against enjoying the physical world. They said, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (Colossians 2:21). They criticized the Colossian believers for their fleshly indulgence in food and drink on biblical holy days, new moons, and Sabbath days (Colossians 2:16). Their teaching had "the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body" but all their ascetic ideals were "of no value against fleshly indulgence" (Colossians 2:23).
The heresy at Colossae seems to represent an early form of Gnosticism. The influence of Simon Magus had begun to grow. His mystical teachings appealed to Greco-Roman minds, and his twisted ideas spread quickly among the God-fearing Gentiles. Even some Jewish believers began to entertain the theosophy of Simon Magus. Like a quickly morphing virus, the sorcerer's teachings changed and adapted as they spread from community to community. They divided into countless, subtle permutations, each one claiming to offer salvation from the cage of the material world.
Epaphras saw the new influence as a threat to the Laodicean and Colossian communities. He recognized that the Gnostic teachings at Colossae and Laodicea were only part of a larger philosophical theology that had begun to appear in various places. The new teachers claimed that Paul was in agreement with them on these matters. Epaphras had never heard anything of that sort in the study hall of Tyrannus when he learned under Paul. He wished that Paul were present in Asia Minor to hear these ideas and settle the questions raised by the new teachings.
Epaphras decided to travel to Rome to see Paul and bring him news about the congregations. On his way, he visited other congregations in Asia Minor. He took a ship to Macedonia and spent some time with the believers at Philippi. The community at Philippi gave him a large gift to carry to Paul on their behalf. Epaphras may have walked overland along the Via Egnatia to the Adriatic, or he may have taken a ship from a place such as Thessalonica. In any case, the journey left him deathly ill.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Acts of Philip
Around the time that Epaphras left for Rome to seek out Paul, the Apostles Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne arrived in Hierapolis. In addition to the apocryphal Acts of Philip, several early church sources confirm that Philip taught in Hierapolis. (Those sources tend to conflate Philip the apostle with Philip the evangelist. Perhaps they were the same person.) Philip of Bethsaida was one of the Master's first disciples, a close friend of the sons of Zebedee. Philip brought his friend, Nathanael Bartholomew of Cana, to the Master, saying, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Torah and also the Prophets wrote-Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (John 1:45). Philip may have been competent in Greek. He seems to have served as a translator when some Greek-speaking Jews wanted an audience with the Master (John 12:20), lending support to the tradition that conflates him with Philip the Evangelist.
According to the Acts of Philip, he had a sister named Mariamne. Mariamne (Μαριάμμη) is a common Graecized form of Miryam (מרים), the most popular female name among first-century Jews in the land of Israel. Approximately one out of four girls bore the name. Mariamne also ranked among the apostles, meaning that the risen Messiah had appeared to her.
Unfortunately, Acts of Philip is not an authentic apostolic document, nor does it transmit a reliable, historical tradition about Philip. An anonymous, third- or fourth-century Christian composed Acts of Philip in Greek by artlessly stringing together a variety of earlier sources into an anthology of legends about Philip. The stories and teachings of Acts of Philip are far removed from the Jewish voice of the apostles. Acts of Philip is a fantastical, religious romance full of wild miracles, profane tales, and encratic celibacy propaganda. It reads like mythology. Philip vanquishes dragons and converts a talking leopard and a talking goat. Long prayers and theologically loaded sermons clutter the text. The various episodes have only artificial connections from one to the next as the writer compiles several different sources into one disjointed narrative.
Despite all these many shortcomings, Acts of Philip provides a few memorable stories worthy of the telling -none more so than the tale of Philip's martyrdom in the city of Hierapolis. Enjoy the tale for its narrative value without putting too much stock in its authenticity.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Commissioning of Pilippos and Mariamne
When the twelve disciples cast lots for the nations, Mariamne kept a record of the allotted lands that fell out to each man. The lot for the country of the Greeks fell to her brother Philip.
Philip thought this assignment hard, and he began to weep. Mariamne saw her brother's tears and exclaimed, "Master! Don't you see how my brother is vexed?"
At that moment, the Master replied to Mariamne in a vision, saying, "Behold! The character of women went into Philip, but the masculine and brave character of men went into you. And I have chosen you from among women to go with him and encourage him, for I know that he is a wrathful and rash man, and if he goes alone, he will inflict harsh punishments on men."
The classical world considered emotional outbursts and fluctuations of temper as a feminine trait. A man showed his masculine spirit through reservation and an even-spirited disposition. In that respect, Philip's petulance and tendency toward emotional outburst could be described as feminine in character; Mariamne received the character of "masculinity" in that she governed her emotions and exercised self-control over her temperament. He commissioned Mariamne to travel with her brother as his spokesman and co-laborer.
In the vision, the Master tells Mariamne to conceal her feminine identity on the journey:
Behold, I will send Bartholomew and John to suffer hardships with you because of the wickedness of those that dwell there; for they worship the viper, the mother of snakes. Now change your woman's aspect and go with Philip. Change your dress and appearance: take off everything external to yourself which is reminiscent of a woman, the summer dress you are wearing. Do not let the hem of your clothing trail along the ground, or drape it, but cut it off.
Then he speaks to Philip:
Why do you hesitate, Philip? Did you not hear my teaching: "Behold, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves" Do not fear, therefore, their savageness. I will be always with you, helping and assisting. Behold, I send you out as rays, I, the Sun of Righteousness. I am with you everywhere.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Snake-Town
Hierapolis (Ἱεράπολις) means “holy city.” It stood on the great east-west route that connected Syrian Antioch and Ephesus. Its ruins are near modern Pamukkale, Turkey. The city straddled an active fault line, only six miles north of Laodicea. The hot springs and other geothermal activity around the location create an otherwordly impression. The area can be compared to Yellowstone National Park in North America. Geothermal activity around Hierapolis erupts in hot springs and steam vents. Cascades of white, calcium stalactites created by the run-off from the thermal springs hang from cliffs and ridges like icicles. Craters pock the landscape, and colorful, travertine pools of unnatural blue and green water well up in craters and basins.
In the days of the apostles, the Roman world considered Hierapolis a healing center. Huge stone blocks formed great baths fed by the natural hot springs. Doctors prescribed the spas and hot springs of Hierapolis as a treatment for various maladies. People came from all over the empire to soothe their ailments, with many of them retiring or dying there. A large necropolis at Hierapolis is filled with sarcophagi bearing the names of Romans and Greeks.
In addition to medicinal benefits, the water of the hot springs had practical applications: it cleaned laundry, bleached wool, and fixed the color of fabric dyes. Guild dyers were prominent in Hierapolis.
Although Hierapolis means "holy city," the apostles called the city Opheorymos, i.e., "Snake Street." According to Acts of Philip, the people of Hierapolis worshiped a serpent. The "serpent" referred to the embodiment of the python spirits who served as oracles for Apollo and Cybele. In Greek mythology, the power of Apollo's oracle originally belonged to a powerful, divine serpent that once lived at Pytho beneath Mount Parnassus. Apollo slew the serpent and took over the power of the oracle. He became Apollo Pythius (python), and men reverenced him as the foreteller of future events. Priests, priestesses, and fortune-tellers who used spirits to predict the future were called pythons and pythonesses. People from all over the world traveled to Hierapolis to consult the local pythons.
The strange, geothermal character of the area inspired local cultic activity. The temple of Apollo straddled an active fault line that opened into a cave called the Plutonium. Smoke and noxious gases rose out of the earth through the Plutonium Cave. A shrine to Hades, the god of the underworld, stood at the entrance to the cave.
Several ancient writers, including Strabo and Cassius Dio, described the Plutonium. They wrote about a cave opening, just large enough for one person to access through a gated entrance, beyond which stairs descended into the earth. A suffocating carbon dioxide emerged from fissures below and filled the cave. Behind the small sanctuary, visitors could peer into a deep cleft in the rock, through which fast-flowing hot water passed, releasing a sharp-smelling gas.
The gases filled an enclosed area at the entrance to the cave. The gases killed everyone who dared to enter. The priests sold birds and livestock to visitors so that they could test the deadly atmosphere by sending in the animals. For another fee, visitors could ask questions of the oracles of Pluto, Apollos, and Cybele.
The Plutonium is situated below a small brow of the overhanging mountain. It has an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent to a great depth. In front is a railing [cordons off] ... a space filled with a cloudy and dark vapor, so thick that one can hardly see through it. The air outside the railing is harmless to everyone, for in calm weather the cloud remains within the enclosure. But animals which enter beyond the railing die instantly. Even bulls, when brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless. Only the Galli [priests of Cybele] who are eunuchs, can enter the enclosure unharmed. They approach even the opening or mouth, bend down over it, and descend into it to a certain depth, but we could tell by their faces that they were holding their breath the entire time. (Strabo, Geography 13.4.I4)
*Note: Strabo is a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived from around 64 BCE to 24 CE. Strabo is best known for writing two major works, although only one has survived in full. His most famous and enduring work is the Geographica (or Geography), a 17-volume treatise written around 7 BCE to 23 CE. This comprehensive work blends geography, history, and ethnography to describe the known world of the Greco-Roman era. It spans regions from Britain and Spain in the west to India in the east, covering Europe, Asia, and Africa as they were understood in his time. Geographica offers detailed accounts of natural features, cultural practices, historical events, and notable cities, making it one of the most valuable sources for understanding the ancient world and preserving the knowledge of earlier, now-lost sources.
Strabo also wrote a second major work called the Historical Sketches (Hypomnemata Historika), which comprised 43 books. Unfortunately, this work has not survived, and only fragments and references quoted by other ancient authors remain. The Historical Sketches was a universal history that reportedly chronicled events from the mythical past up to Strabo’s own day, drawing on earlier historians such as Polybius and Posidonius. Despite its loss, the Geographica alone secures Strabo’s reputation as one of antiquity’s most important geographers and historians.
In his writings, Strabo discusses the region of Asia Minor, specifically the area around Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Colossae, which are located in the Lycus River Valley (modern-day Turkey). This area was part of the ancient region of Phrygia.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Healing of Stachys
As Philip, Mariamne, and Bartholomew entered Hierapolis, they took note of the many sick and infirm who filled the streets, seeking healing. They took charge of an abandoned infirmary and began to minister to the sick. A wealthy man named Stachys came to them. He described how he had once worshiped the viper and snakes but was blinded when he applied some of their salve to his eyes. The serpent had left him blind for forty years.
Philip prayed for Stachys and applied his sister's spittle to the blind man's eyes. (Jewish folk medicine considered spittle beneficial to the eyes. Compare Mark 8:23 and John 9:6, where Yeshua used spittle to heal blind men. Similarly, in Mark 7:33, he healed a mute man by touching spittle to his tongue.) Stachys received his sight, and he prepared a dinner in honor of the apostles. He owned a large house, and the apostles took up residence with him. The people of Hierapolis heard about the healing and gathered around the house of Stachys to hear the apostles and see the miraculous healings they performed. Philip and Bartholomew taught the people the things of Yeshua, healed the sick, and exorcised demons. Philip immersed the men; Mariamne immersed the women.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Mariamne and Nikanora
Mariamne used to sit at the entrance of the house of Stachys, addressing the crowds of people who came, persuading them to listen to the message of the apostles, renounce idolatry, and cleave to the one God. She said, "Trample underfoot the snares of the enemy, the writhing serpent. For his path is crooked, since he is the son of the wicked one, and the poison of wickedness is in him, and his father is the devil." She alluded to Apollo, Cybele, and the gods at Hierapolis without mentioning their names. Openly blaspheming the gods was illegal, so the apostles used veiled language to avoid blasphemy charges.
Meanwhile, the Jewish wife of the Roman proconsul, a woman named Nikanora, lay confined to her bed. When she married her Roman husband, she had abandoned the God of her fathers and served the idols of the nations. Shortly after she and her husband arrived in the city to take charge over the Roman province, a serpent of Hierapolis had bitten her. The snakebite induced a variety of complications and ailments, including blurred vision.
Her servants told her about the presence of the Jews at the house of Stachys and how they had healed the blind man. They told her about the message the apostles taught concerning a certain healer who had risen from the dead. Nikanora listened with interest. She had heard about the Nazarene on other occasions.
Her servants carried her to the house of Stachys on a litter where she listened intently to the teaching of Philip. Then they carried her home. That night, Nikanora prayed to God in the name of the Nazarene, asking for physical and spiritual healing. Her husband heard her praying all night in Hebrew. He later complained to the local priests, "They have bewitched my wife! From that time she has spoken to me with strange words, and praying all the night through, she speaks in a strange tongue." As Nikanora prayed through the night to the God of her Fathers, Yeshua, the true light came to her. He released her from her afflictions. Rising up the next day, she called her servants and told them to carry her once again to the house of Stachys.
When Mariamne saw the proconsul's wife being borne toward the house, she said, "Daughter of the Father, you were given as a pledge to the serpent; but Yeshua our Redeemer has come to deliver you, to break your bands and cut them asunder. For you are my sister, one mother brought us forth as twins, but you have forsaken your Father, you have forsaken the path leading you to the dwelling-place of your mother! Behold, now your Redeemer has come to redeem you; the Messiah, the Sun of Righteousness, has risen upon you, to enlighten you." The language is figurative. Mariamne calls her "my sister" because she recognizes Nikanora as a Jewish woman. Their common mother is the nation of Israel. Their common father is God.
Nikanora replied, "I am a Hebrew and a daughter of the Hebrews. Speak with me in the language of my fathers. For having heard the preaching of my fathers, I was immediately cured of the diseases and troubles that encompassed me."
The three apostles came around the woman. Philip prayed to God on her behalf, saying, "You who raise the dead to life and have raised the Messiah Yeshua our Master, may you free this woman from the enemy. Make her alive in your life, and perfect her in your perfection, so that she may be found in the land of her fathers, in freedom. Give her a portion of your goodness."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
A Domestic Dispute
Later that day, the proconsul discovered his wife in the company of the apostles at the house of Stachys. He dragged her home by the hair of her head, "Did I not leave you in bed? How is it that you have the strength to come to these magicians? Who is the physician that has cured you?" Nikanora replied that he, too, could meet her physician and learn His name if he would renounce idolatry and wickedness.
Nikanora knew she had committed a great evil against God and her people when she renounced Judaism in order to marry her Roman husband. As a component of her penance, she announced that she would leave him if he did not renounce idolatry. She said, "I shall live with you all my life, only cleanse yourself from the idols and from all their filth." (An anachronism in keeping with the Christian ideals of later centuries also has Nikanora pressing her husband to commit to abstinence.)
The proconsul was not at all interested in her offer. He replied, "First I will put you to death, but they will die a slow and painful death." He turned and said to those about him, "Bring out for me those imposters of magicians." This dispute between the proconsul and his wife follows a plot device common in apocryphal acts of the apostles: The wife of a local leader becomes a believer; she renounces idolatry, her angry husband arrests the apostle who has influenced her and puts him to death. The predictable plot line appears so commonly in apocryphal stories because it really did happen quite often. The women of the first-century Roman world found Judaism attractive. Judaism offered them dignity and respect that the idolatrous Roman world did not. The Roman world's sexual licentiousness dehumanized women, took advantage of their dependent status, and eroded marital fidelity. Men often treated their wives as disposable. The Torah put sexual boundaries in place that protected women and the integrity of the family.
The misplaced abstinence and celibacy theme of encratic Christianity that appears so commonly in the apocryphal acts of the apostles (including Acts of Philip) may have originated with a historical memory of the apostles' real campaign against sexual immorality. The apostolic decree (Acts 15) required God-fearing Gentile believers to renounce both idolatry and sexual immorality. The Torah's standards of sexual propriety stood in such stark contrast to Roman licentiousness that the Roman world may well have understood the message as tantamount to total abstinence.
Josephus notes that first-century men "distrusted their own wives, who were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion" (Jewish War 2:560/ xx.2). Their husbands were more likely to weigh the consequences of fraternizing with Jews. For example, a Roman proconsul could be removed from office on suspicion of involvement with a non-Roman religion. In some cases, leading Roman citizens had been tried before the Senate and put to death simply on charges of atheism or the charge of adopting a foreign superstition like Judaism. When a Roman wife became "addicted to the Jewish religion," her husband had to choose between his loyalty to her and his loyalty to Caesar and the Roman people.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
The Scourging of the Apostles
The proconsul's lictors hurried to the house of Stachys. They burst in and laid hold of the apostles. They dragged Philip, Bartholomew, and Mariamne back to the praetorium and stood them before the tribunal. Stachys and many others followed.
The proconsul gnashed his teeth and ordered, "Torture these deceivers that have deceived many women and young men and girls, saying that they are worshipers of God, while they are actually an abomination." The lictors publicly scourged the apostles, dragged them through the streets as far as the gate of the temple of Apollo, and turned over to the priesthood there. Since this was a religious matter, the proconsul wanted the local priesthood to present the charges.
The priests reported that they had discovered the foreigners to be magicians, corrupting and seducing men to turn away from the worship of the gods. Moreover, they observed that several omens and auguries at the temple condemned the three foreigners. The temple doors had shut; the altar had been defiled, and the wine they used to sedate the priestess of the python oracle could not be found. Most ominous of all, when they shut the three Jews up inside the temple, the earth beneath had trembled, and the temple's foundations were shaken.
The priests said that, aside from the omens, one need look no further than the message that the foreigners proclaimed. Their own words condemned them. The proconsul heartily agreed with the assessment. He said, "Why need you speak further when they have bewitched my own wife!" The proconsul issued his verdict and called for the death sentence.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Crucified
The proconsul ordered the apostles stripped and searched for magical amulets or other enchantments. Apocryphal Acts of Philip delicately protects the modesty of Philip's sister by explaining that, at that moment, the cloud of glory concealed her: "At such time as they stripped Mariamne, behold, straightway the semblance of her body was changed in the presence of all, and straightway there was about her a cloud of fire before all, and they could not longer look at all on the place in which the holy Mariamne was." The scene also explains why the Master told her to conceal her feminine aspect by changing her dress and appearance and taking off all that "is reminiscent of a woman." According to Acts of Philip, the disguise was intended to protect her from the serpents of Hierapolis, i.e., the men of the city. Acts of Philip says they did not crucify her along with her brother, but they did lay hands upon her "contrary to what is appropriate."
The executioners hung Philip by his ankles on a certain tree opposite the temple. They pierced his ankles and drove iron hooks through his heels so that he hung head downward. They stretched out Bartholomew opposite him, having nailed his hands on the wall of the gate of the temple. Seeing one another, the two men smiled, for they knew their punishments were prizes and crowns. The apostles hung opposite one another for many days. At last, Philip's patience came to an end. He spoke to Bartholomew in Hebrew, "They have laid hands on our sister Mariamne, contrary to what is appropriate, and behold, they have set fire to the house of Stachys. Why should we not call down fire from heaven to burn them up? Where now is my Master, who told me not to avenge myself?"
Bartholomew and Mariamne replied, "Our Master was beaten, was scourged, was stretched out, made to drink gall and vinegar, and yet He said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do? And this He taught, saying, 'Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart? Let us also therefore be patient."
Philip replied in petulance, "Do not mollify me, for I will not bear that they have hung me head downward and pierced my ankles and my heels with irons." He began to curse them. He invoked God and cried out in Hebrew:
O Father of Messiah, the only and Almighty God; O God, whom all ages dread, powerful and impartial Judge, whose name is in your dominion of the hosts, be blessed forever. All dominions and powers of the heavens, and even the flaming seraphim, the cherubim, and the chayot tremble before you ... Now, I pray, let the great Hades open its mouth; let the great abyss swallow up these, the ungodly, who have not been willing to receive the word of truth in this city. So let it be.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
She’ll Opens Its Mouth
Behold. Suddenly, the abyss was opened, and the forum at which the proconsul sat was swallowed up. The earth swallowed up the whole of the temple of the python, the idols that they worshiped, and the priests of the python. The earth swallowed great crowds, about seven thousand men, besides women and children. Only the place where the apostles hung remained unshaken.
Voices could be heard from beneath, saying, "Have mercy upon us, oh God of these whom we have scourged and crucified, for we are descending alive into Hades."
It sounds fantastical, but the Torah tells similar stories. After the mistreatment of Lot and his guests, God poured out fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. When Dathan and Abiram joined Korah's rebellion against Moses, "the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions" (Numbers 16:3-32). Rabbinic literature often attributes miracles of similar caliber to the great sages. The fantastic story of the earth swallowing up Hierapolis at least remains within a genre of biblical story and the scope of rabbinic folktale.
Roman history, particularly through the writings of Tacitus, records that a violent earthquake did shake the Lycus Valley in 60 CE. The earthquake devastated the nearby city of Laodicea. According to Tacitus in Annals 14.27, the city of Laodicea was completely destroyed by the earthquake. Remarkably, however, the city rebuilt itself without imperial financial aid, which speaks to its wealth and economic strength, likely due to its position on key trade routes and its thriving textile and banking industries. Archaeological and historical evidence concur that the city of Hierapolis shook at the epicenter of the quake. The fault line responsible for the earthquake cut through the center of Hierapolis. The people of Hierapolis had intentionally built the temple of Apollo overtop that same fault line to utilize the geothermal vapors that rose from below. The Plutonium- the opening to Hades-was part of the temple complex.
Acts of Philip says that, while the city collapsed around him, Philip saw a vision of the Master. The fantastical narrative reports the vision matter-of-factly. In the story, Yeshua chastised His disciple Philip for his impetuosity and vengeful nature: "O Philip, did you not hear: You shall not render evil for evil? And why have you inflicted such destruction? And how have you become, O Philip, unmerciful, having cursed your enemies in wrath?"
Philip retorted, "Why do You not tread underfoot those that are yet alive in the abyss? You know, Master, that I came to this city for your sake and in Your name ... And since these men have not received Your light, therefore have I cursed them, and they have gone down to Hades alive."
The Master replied, "Since you have disobeyed me and have repaid evil with evil, I will shut you outside of Paradise for forty days, in dread under the flaming and turning sword, and you shall groan because you have done evil to those who have done evil to you. And after forty days I shall send my archangel Michael. He will take hold of the sword guarding Eden and bring you into Paradise. There you will see all the righteous."
Then the Master spoke regarding the fates of the other two apostles: "Bartholomew will go away into Lycaonia and will be crucified. Mariamne shall lay her body down in the Jordan River."
Philip's vision of the Master concludes with an apocalyptic scene in which Yeshua rescues the people of Hierapolis who have fallen alive into Hades. He raises them up from the abyss, and they repent. The entire episode and Philip's vision can be understood as an embellishment of a historical event. No doubt, many people did emerge from the rubble of the toppled city after the quake in 60 CE.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
Death of an Apostle
When all the dust had settled, people of Hierapolis connected the earthquake with the crucifixion of the strangers. Some ran up to assist Philip and take him off of the iron grapnels and hooks that affixed his feet. Philip refused, "Do not come near to me ... I have been destined to go out of my body in this city in the manner that you see." He did, however, ask them to release the others.
They released Mariamne from her bonds. They took the nails from the hands of Bartholomew and lowered him to the earth. Bartholomew became the only apostle to survive a crucifixion. Josephus reports that crucified men could sometimes recover from their wounds if they were removed from their crosses and treated by a physician, but two out of three died. Tetanus infections were common for victims of crucifixion.
Philip told them, "Bartholomew, my brother in the Master ... you have shared with me in all the dangers with our sister Mariamne, but I know that you have been appointed to go forth from your body in Lycaonia. It has been decreed for our sister Mariamne to go forth from the body in the Jordan River." He gave them his last instructions, telling them to establish the congregation of Hierapolis. He also told them not to wrap his body in linen, "Do not put around me flaxen cloth, for the body of my Master was wrapped in linen. Prepare my body in Syriac sheets of paper and bind it tight with papyrus reed."
Having thus spoken, Philip gave up his spirit while all the multitude looked on. Bartholomew and Mariamne took his body down and attended to him as he had commanded them. They buried him in that place. Forty days later, they saw a vision of the Master, and they heard that Paradise had been opened to Philip. Then, they departed from that place. Mariamne returned home to the cleansing waters of Jordan, but Bartholomew departed into Lycaonia.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
After the Quake
The Lycus Valley quake toppled Hierapolis and most of Laodicea. Nero and the Roman Senate offered the devastated cities disaster relief in the form of financial assistance. The proud Laodiceans refused the offer. They employed their considerable wealth to rebuild without any help from Rome. Revelation 3:17 criticizes the proud financial independence of the Laodiceans: "You say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing?"
Hierapolis, on the other hand, did accept Roman disaster relief. Rome rebuilt Hierapolis, and they made it better and more magnificent. Broad streets laid out at right angles replaced the narrow winding roads of old-city Hierapolis. Plumbing distributed water around the city and washed away waste. The Romans built new bath and spa complexes capitalizing on the therapeutic springs. The new Hierapolis bathhouses were the largest in Asia Minor, allowing up to a thousand patrons simultaneously. They rebuilt the theater and expanded the seating by digging out the side of a hill. The Romans also rebuilt the temple of Apollo on a magnificent scale.
Hierapolis became a prominent city in arts and philosophy. The population expanded significantly, and the city became wealthy. A robust Jewish quarter constituted a large demographic portion of the city, and the new messianic faith blossomed.
According to Polycrates of Ephesus (a second-century bishop), two of Philip's prophetess daughters settled in Hierapolis while a third daughter remained in Ephesus. (The sources fail to clearly distinguish between Philip of Bethsaida and Philip the evangelist.) The women occupied prominent positions in the local community of believers. The second-century bishop Papias of Hierapolis knew both women before they died, and they told him stories, lore, and teaching from the Apostolic Era:
It has already been mentioned that Philip the apostle resided at Hierapolis with his daughters: it must now be pointed out that their contemporary Papias tells how he heard a wonderful story from the lips of Philip's daughters. He describes the resurrection of a dead person in his own lifetime, and a further miracle that happened to Justus, surnamed Barsabas, who swallowed a dangerous poison and by the grace of the Master was none the worse ... Papias reproduces other stories communicated to him by word of mouth, together with some otherwise unknown parables and teachings of the Savior. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.I1)
Sadly, the writings of Papias no longer survive, but they must have contained much of the local lore of Hierapolis. That collection of apostolic lore might have been the original literary kernel behind the story of Philip's martyrdom and the earthquake of Hierapolis in Acts of Philip.
The new faith eventually prevailed over the serpent. During the fourth century CE, Christians plugged up the Plutonium with stones to signify the triumph of Christianity over the world of idolatry. A few centuries later, the Christians turned the old Roman baths into a church. For many centuries, the Byzantine Christian community in Hierapolis venerated Philip the apostle's remains in an octagonal martyrium, which has recently been rediscovered and excavated. In the summer of 2011, archaeologists unearthed the tomb of Philip during excavations near the martyrium and church traditionally associated with Saint Philip.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.