An Amazing Find

THE TOMB of the St Philip the Apostle has been discovered at Hierapolis, an ancient Greco-Roman city in Phrygia, southwest Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey. The find is of extraordinary importance and is the crowning achievement of an Italian archeological mission that was initiated way back in 1957.

Director of the mission is Francesco D’Andria, a 69-year-old university professor. D’Andria holds a Classical Languages and Literature degree and a Masters in Archaeology from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan. For the past thirty years D’Andria has been working at Hierapolis, becoming director of the mission in the year 2000. D’Andria also teaches Archaeology at the university of Lecce in southern Italy. His enthusiasm, energy, organizational skills and competence in his area of research have transformed the Faculty of Archaeological at the university of Lecce in one of the most advanced and prestigious schools of Archaeology in the world.

Francesco D’Andria was very happy to share the results of his findings with the readers of this magazine.

 

Obscure Apostle

 

Professor D’Andria, what contribution will this find make to our knowledge of archaeology and early Christianity?

This discovery has added an important piece of information to our knowledge of St Philip and of early Christianity in Asia Minor, and not only because, after 55 years, we were able to find the original tomb of the Apostle Philip, but also because we have unearthed a vast building complex that extends along the eastern hill of Hierapolis.

The compound is actually constituted by two churches, a great processional road, a series of steps in travertine marble, small courtyards, chapels, fountains, thermal baths for purification and dwellings for pilgrims. All of this was built according to ancient Jewish-Christian symbolism. The complex is proof of how popular the cult of St Philip was at Hierapolis.

 

What do we know about the Apostle Philip?

Not much. The Gospels tell us that he hailed from Bethsaida, which in those days was situated on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He must therefore have come from a family of fishermen. John is the only Evangelist who mentions him more than once, and his name actually occurs twelve times in his Gospel.

In the first chapter of John’s Gospel it is written that Jesus himself chose Philip as one of his disciples, and that Philip was one of the earliest members of Jesus’ inner circle. Philip is actually the fifth apostle to be chosen by Jesus, after James, John, Andrew and Peter.

In the episode of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus turns to Philip and asks him, “‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ Jesus said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’”

Later, in chapter 12 of the same Gospel, John writes that after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, some Greeks wanted to see Jesus, but turned to Philip first in their attempt to be received by him.

In John’s Gospel, Philip is last mentioned at the Last Supper in chapter 14; when Jesus declares, “If you know me you will know my Father also”, Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied”.

From the Acts of the Apostles, we know that Philip was with the other apostles during the Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and he was one of the Twelve Apostles to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

All the other information on Philip comes from the Early Church Fathers and traditional accounts.

 

Martyr for the faith

 

Philip was from Bethsaida in modern-day Israel. Why was his tomb in modern-day Turkey?

After Jesus’ death the apostles spread his message far and wide. According to tradition, Philip’s ministry was in Greece, Syria, and finally Phrygia, where Hierapolis is located. Policrates, who was bishop of Ephesus at the end of the 2nd century, notes in a letter to Pope St Victor I that the founders of his church were the apostles Philip and John. Of Philip he wrote, “He was one of the twelve apostles, and he died at Hierapolis, just like two of his daughters, who died virgins… another daughter of his… was buried in Ephesus”.

Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Ecclesiastical History, writes that Papias, who was bishop of Hierapolis at the beginning of the 3rd century, was acquainted with Philip’s daughters, and learned from them important details regarding the Apostle’s life, including the story of the miraculous healing of a dead man.

 

How did St Philip die?

Most ancient sources claim that Philip died at the age of 85 at Hierapolis in year 80 AD. He died a martyr’s death during the Domitian persecution, and was crucified upside-down like St Peter.

Philip’s body was later transferred to Constantinople to save it from the devastating fury of the barbarian hordes. In the 6th century, under Pope Pelagius I, the body was transferred to Rome, where he was buried in a specially built church together with the remains of James the Apostle.  

This Byzantine church, called ‘Of Saints James and Philip’ was destroyed by an earthquake, and later rebuilt into a magnificent basilica called ‘The Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles’ in the 15th century. Today, the basilica is under the care of the Conventual Franciscans, whose headquarters in Rome is in the adjacent building.

 

Symbolic meanings

 

When did excavations to find the tomb of Philip the Apostle start?

In 1957, through the initiative of Professor Paolo Verzone. The Turkish Ministry of Culture granted Professor Verzone permission to initiate archeological excavations at the site of Hierapolis.

Verzone’s primary aim was to locate the Apostle’s tomb. He first began digging at the site which was traditionally known as the church of St Philip. His excavations unearthed a wonderful octagonal church with marvelous travertine-marble arches – a masterpiece in 5th-century Byzantine architecture.

This church was part of a bigger, square-shaped building with rooms to accommodate pilgrims. The compound also contained many triangular courtyards and seven-sided chapels: it is clear that the design of the building was based upon certain numbers: the number eight, which St Ambrose and St Augustine saw as symbolic of eternity, the number four, which recalls the four Evangelists, the number three, symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the number seven, which is also highly recurrent in the Bible.

The building was identified as a martyrion by Professor Verzone, that is, a shrine built over a place where a saint was martyred and buried. However, despite extensive excavations, the actual tomb was never located.

Initially, I was also convinced that the tomb was located there, but in 2000, when I took over the mission, I changed opinion.

 

What led you to this change of opinion?

The study of the satellite photos of the area. From these photos, which reveal details which simply cannot be seen from the ground, we were able to discern the existence of a great processional road that led from the city to the Martyrion, which is located on the top of a hill. We also found the remains of a bridge that enabled pilgrims to cross over a torrent, and we saw that at the feet of the hill there was a staircase in travertine marble that led to the top of the hill. At the base of this staircase we found another octagonal building. We dug around this structure and discovered that it was a thermal bath.

 

Place of purification

 

What was the purpose of this bath?

We believe that the pilgrims who arrived at Hierapolis to worship at the tomb of the Apostle had to first purify themselves before reaching the top of the hill. The existence of this bath made me understand that the whole hill contained a pilgrim’s path composed of various stations. After further excavations, we unearthed another staircase leading directly to the Martyrion, and next to the Martyrion we found a pool for ablutions. Near this pool, and in front of the Martyrion, there were traces of another building.

Professor Verzone had never dared to dig in that part of the complex because it was filled with too much rubble, but in 2010 we began to clear the area, and made some very surprising discoveries.

 

Which were?

Traces of what looked like the ground plan of another large church. While the Martyrion was octagonal in shape, this was a basilica-shaped church with three naves. It must have been a truly wonderful building with chapels in marble, refined decorations, crosses, decorated barriers, friezes, palm-shaped reliefs inside niches, and a central marble pavement with coloured, geometrical forms. All of this dated from the 5th century, so it was built more or less at the same time as the Martyrion. The most exciting thing, however, was that we found something that made us hope for the best.

 

Was it the tomb of the apostle?

Exactly. We found a Roman tomb dating back to the 1st century AD located right in the centre of the church. This means that the 5th century basilica had been built over this tomb, which must therefore have been of great importance. Everything was pointing to the very concrete possibility that the tomb we had discovered was that of the Apostle.

 

A bronze medallion

 

Were you able to find corroborating evidence for this?

We certainly did. We continued our excavations around the church, and found that it was built around a base connected to a marble staircase. The pilgrims, entering from the narthex (the external vestibule of the church) then rose to the upper part of the tomb, which was dedicated to prayer, and would then walk down from the opposite side. The steps leading up and down the tomb were all worn from the thousands of pilgrims who had walked over them during the centuries.

Further excavations around the tomb unearthed a number of pools for ablutions. These would have been used for healings in much the same way as people make ablutions at Lourdes now.

However, the biggest confirmation that we are dealing with the tomb of St Philip comes from an object kept at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, USA.

 

What type of object is this?

It is a bronze medallion of about 10cm diameter used as a seal to authenticate the St Philip Bread that was given out to pilgrims. In those days there was the tradition of the Bread of St Philip, which was a very similar tradition to our current Bread of St Anthony. The seal was used to indicate that the loaf that bore its impression was hallowed, and was therefore to be kept with devotion.

That seal contains some images. It bears the effigy of St Philip adorned with a pilgrims cloak. Near the rim of the medallion the following trisaion (an ancient praise to God) can be read in Greek: Agios o Theos, agios ischyros, agios athanatos, eleison imas. The sentence translates: Saintly God, Powerful Saint, Immortal Saint, have mercy on us.

Experts have always maintained that the seal comes from Hierapolis, but the most extraordinary fact is that the effigy of the saint is placed between two buildings: the one on the left is covered by a dome, and is remarkably similar to the octagonal Martyrion; the building on the right has a roof identical to the basilica with three naves which we discovered. Both buildings are at the top of a staircase. The image is like an ancient photograph of the buildings we are working on at Hierapolis. Moreover, the church on the right of the effigy has a lighted lamp at the entrance, a typical sign indicating a place where a saint is buried.

 

International cooperation

 

Were all these discoveries made recently?

They were all made in the years 2010/2011, and have attracted hundreds of scholars and scientists from all over the world, including China and Korea.

Last year on November 24, I had the honour of illustrating these findings at the Pontifical Academy of Archaeology in Rome in the presence of scholars from all over the world and representatives from the Vatican.

I have also met His All Holiness Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. On November 14, feast day of St Philip, he celebrated a Mass at the site of the tomb. I was present at the ceremony; I had never been more delighted in my whole life.

 

How many people work at the mission?

Every year about 65-70 technicians, archaeologists, restorers, geologists and specialists of all kinds come to help us. We are an Italian-led mission with an international participation. Hierapolis is a  truly fascinating place for archaeologists, and teams from other countries are excavating in other parts of the town, but all these missions work as a team and exchange information.

Since our latest discovery the number of tourists coming to Hierapolis has increased enormously, much to the satisfaction of the local residents.