07 — Martyrdom and the Nativity Fast
The end of Philip’s life as the tradition records it — martyrdom at Hierapolis, with the persistent motif of crucifixion (in some traditions head-downward) — and the liturgical place his feast holds in the Orthodox year: November 14, the last day before the Nativity Fast begins, the fast the Slavic churches call the “Philip’s Fast” (Filippov post) precisely because it opens on the morrow of his commemoration. These files keep the martyrdom (a graded tradition) and the feast-and-fast (firm liturgical fact) properly distinct.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
The martyrdom of Philip is known only through tradition — the apocryphal Acts of Philip, the synaxaria, and the iconography — not through any early documentary martyr-act of the kind that survives for Polycarp. It must therefore be reported as tradition, pinned to its attestation and graded, not asserted as established history; and its various forms (crucifixion, the upside-down motif, the involvement of Bartholomew) are presented as such. The feast, by contrast, is firm: November 14 is fixed in the calendar across the Orthodox world, and its position on the eve of the forty-day Nativity Fast gives the apostle a place in the rhythm of the Church’s year out of proportion to the thinness of his record. This section connects the two: the martyr remembered, and the fast his memory opens.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Martyrdom | The martyrdom tradition at Hierapolis: the Acts of Philip’s narrative; the motif of crucifixion and the head-downward (upside-down) form; the company of Bartholomew and Mariamne; the grading of these claims against their (late) attestation; and the absence of any early martyr-act. |
| The Feast and the Fast | The feast of November 14; its fixity across the Orthodox calendar; and the Nativity Fast that begins on November 15 — the “Philip’s Fast” (Filippov post), so called because it opens on the day after Philip’s commemoration — with the forty-day shape that mirrors Great Lent. |
See Also
- The Acts of Philip — the apocryphon that supplies the martyrdom narrative
- The Tomb and the Octagon — the martyrium that commemorates the death
- Iconography and Cult — the feast in hymnography and image
- The Fasting Periods — the Nativity / “Philip’s” Fast
- The Church Calendar — November 14 in the fixed calendar
References
- Bovon, François, and Christopher R. Matthews. The Acts of Philip: A New Translation. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2012. (The martyrdom narrative.)
- The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church: November. Buena Vista, CO: Holy Apostles Convent. (The synaxarion for November 14.)
- The Festal Menaion / Menaion for November. (The propers of the feast of the Apostle Philip.)