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Thursday 28 March |
Holy Thursday of the Supper of the Lord
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Deacon at Work: St. Philip Baptizing the Ethiopian

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Deacon Greg Kandra - published on 04/14/16

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This popped up on Twitter this morning: an image from the baptistry in Brooklyn’s Co-cathedral of St. Joseph, showing St. Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch.

This event is described in today’s reading from Acts. 

About St. Philip: 

Saint Philip the Evangelist, also called Philip The Deacon (born 1st century), in the early Christian church, one of the seven deacons appointed to tend the Christians of Jerusalem, thereby enabling the Apostles to freely conduct their missions. His energetic preaching, however, earned him the title of Philip the Evangelist and led him to minister successfully in Samaria, in Palestine, where he converted, among others, the famous magicianSimon Magus (Acts 8:9–13). Later, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, he instructed and baptized a court official from Ethiopia. Philip’s missionary journey ended at Caesarea (Acts 8), where he raised his four daughters, reputed to be prophets, and where, about ad 58, he entertained theApostle St. Paul and his companions on their last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8). According to Greek tradition, he became bishop of Tralles (modern Aydin, Tur.).

From Wikipedia:

At a very early period he came to be confused with the Philip the Apostle; the confusion was all the more easy because, as an esteemed member of the apostolic company, he may readily have been described as an apostle in the wider sense of that word, beyond the original 12 Apostles. A late tradition describes him as settling at Tralles in Anatolia, where he became the bishop of that church. “St Philip the Deacon” is commemorated on October 11 in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,  and the Episcopal Church (USA). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Philip is counted among the Seventy Apostles, and is referred to as a Protodeacon; his feast day is celebrated on June 6. In The Episcopal Church, St. Philip shares a feast day with St. James the Lesser on May 1.

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