Difference between revisions of "Philippi"

<p> (Φίλιπποι) </p> <p> [[Philippi]] was a city in the E. of Macedonia, re-founded in the middle of the 4th cent. b.c. by [[Philip]] of Macedon, who made it one of his frontier strongholds. [[Built]] on an outlying spur of the Pangaean range (‘Pangaea nivosis cana jugis’ [Lucan, Phar. i. 680]), and separated by that range from its seaport Neapolis, it looked westward and northward over a vast green plain watered by many springs, from which it derived its original name of Crenides (Strabo, vii. p. 331). In 168 b.c. [[Macedonia]] was subdued by the Romans, who broke up her national unity by dividing the country into four districts, the inhabitants of which were forbidden to marry or hold property outside their respective boundaries (Livy, xlv. 29). Philippi was included in the first region, of which [[Amphipolis]] was the capital. In 42 b.c. the Roman [[Republic]] made its last stand on the plains of Philippi, and to commemorate the victory of [[Imperialism]] the city was re-founded by [[Octavian]] under the name of Colonia [[Julia]] [[Augusta]] [[Victrix]] Philippensium. [[Receiving]] the Jus Italicum, it became a miniature Rome, enjoying equal privileges with the mother-city. After the battle of [[Actium]] it provided a home for the defeated veterans of Mark Antony. Even the Greek natives (incolae), who still probably outnumbered the coloni, caught the now prevailing spirit and gloried in being Roman (&nbsp;Acts 16:21). Latin was the official language of the colonia, whose magistrates, chosen by a senate of the citizens, were attended by lictors (‘sergeants,’ &nbsp;Acts 16:35) bearing fasces. The Via Egnatia, the second part of the great overland route between Rome and Asia, passed through the city. </p> <p> [[Christianity]] first came to Philippi in the autumn of a.d. 50 (so Turner; Harnack, 48; Ramsay, 51 [see HDB_ i. 424]). In response to the appeal of ‘the man of Macedonia,’ whom Ramsay wishes to identify with St. Luke, St. Paul crossed the aegean to Neapolis, took the Egnatian Way over Mt. Symbolum, and reached the colonia. The change from ‘they’ to ‘we’ in the narrative after the departure from [[Troas]] (&nbsp;Acts 16:10) indicates that the historian accompanied the [[Apostle]] on this journey into Europe. </p> <p> Philippi is described as ‘a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony’ (&nbsp;Acts 16:12 RV_). The words πρώτη τῆς μερίδος form an exegetical crux. (1) Conybeare and Howson hold that they ‘must certainly mean the first city in its geographical relation to St. Paul’s journey’ (The Life and [[Epistles]] of St. Paul, i. 341), i.e. the first he came to in the district; but this seems a feeble observation for a first-rate historian to make, and moreover one not strictly accurate, as Neapolis, which had just been left behind, belonged to the same μέρις as Philippi. (2) F. Blass (Philology of the Gospels, 1898, p. 68) and others emend the text (though it is found in àAC) into πρώτης μερίδος, so that Philippi would be described as ‘a city of the first region of Macedonia’; but it is unlikely that St. Luke wished to refer to the old and now almost forgotten division of the country into tetrarchies. (3) [[Van]] Manen (EBi_ iii. 3702) thinks that Philippi was a ‘first’ city in the same sense in which Ephesus, Pergamus, and [[Smyrna]] bore that distinction-a ‘first-class’ city; but it does not appear that this phraseology was used outside the [[Commune]] of Asia. (4) WH’s_ ingenious proposal (Appendix, p. 97) to rend Πιερίδος for μερίδος-‘a city of Pierian Macedonia’-has not commended itself. (5) It is best to take the phrase as an obiter dictum of St. Luke, who unofficially confirms the great Roman colony’s estimate of itself as the most important city of the district. ‘Of old Amphipolis had been the chief city of the division, to which both belonged. [[Afterwards]] Philippi quite outstripped its rival; but it was at that time in such a position that Amphipolis was ranked first by general consent, Philippi first by its own consent’ (Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 206 f.). </p> <p> Had there been a synagogue in Philippi, St. Paul would, according to his invariable practice, have visited it without delay. But a military colony did not offer the same attractions as a commercial city to the [[Jews]] of the Diaspora, and apparently the sojourners in Philippi were few. There was, however, a προσευχή, or place of prayer, outside the gate by the side of the river-the [[Ganges]] or Gangites, a tributary of the Strymon-where some women were in the habit of meeting on the [[Sabbath]] (&nbsp;Acts 16:13; &nbsp;Acts 16:16). προσευχή evidently denotes something simpler than a fully organized συναγωγή with all the proper officials and appointments. It is true that [[Philo]] and [[Josephus]] employ the two terms as synonymous (Schürer, HJP_ II. ii. [1885] 68-73). The latter, e.g., describes the προσευχή of [[Tiberias]] as μέγιστον οἴκημα καὶ πολὺν ὄχλον ἐπιδέξασθαι δυνάμενον (Vita, 54). But the fact that St. Luke everywhere else uses the word ‘synagogue’ indicates a distinction in his own mind. Only women attended the [[Philippian]] προσευχή, whereas the presence of at least ten adult male persons was required for the conduct of the regular worship of the synagogue. The Philippian worshippers had doubtless some enclosure which marked off their meeting-place as sacred, but no roofed building like a synagogue. The river-side gave them the means of [[Levitical]] washings, as well as a refuge from the interior of a city tainted with idolatry. Philo (in Flaccum, 14) mentions the instinctive desire of Jews residing in a foreign city to pray ἐν καθαρωτάτῳ, in the purest place they could find. It was in green pastures and beside still waters that St. Paul won his first European convert, the proselyte (σεβομένη τὸν θεόν, &nbsp;Acts 16:14) Lydia. </p> <p> Another Philippian woman, who was attracted by the Apostle and his message, was well known in the city as a soothsayer (&nbsp;Acts 16:16). She was in the hands of a syndicate of masters who exploited her strange powers, advertising her as the possessor of a Python. According to [[Plutarch]] (de Defec. Orac. 9), [[Python]] was a name assumed by ἐγγαστρίμυθοι (ventriloquists), persons whom the LXX_ identifies with diviners. Popularly regarded as inspired by the Pythian Apollo, the girl was evidently no mere impostor, but a person of abnormal gifts and temperament, perhaps with symptoms of epilepsy, who believed herself to be the mouthpiece of a divine power, and gave free expression to her intuitions, often astonishing those who consulted her by the justice and truth of her oracular words. She was irresistibly drawn to the evangelists, rightly divining that they had brought to Philippi another and greater power than that of Apollo. She calls them servants of ‘God the Most High’-an expression widespread in paganism, as Ramsay notes (St. Paul, p. 215). St. Paul’s mode of saving her is an example of the mighty workings (δυνάμεις) of which he speaks (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:28). An authoritative word in the name of Christ broke the spell of her unhappy possession, and liberated her to serve a new Master. </p> <p> Her conversion was the signal for an outburst of pagan hatred, to which St. Paul alludes years afterwards (προπαθόντες καὶ ὑβρισθέντες … ἐν Φιλίπποις [&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 2:2; cf. &nbsp;Philippians 1:30]). [[Enraged]] at the loss of their income (τῆς ἑργασίας, ‘business,’ ‘gain’), the girl’s owners avenged themselves by contriving to get the apostles charged with disturbing the peace and teaching a religio illicita. St. Paul and Silas were dragged before the magistrates, scourged without a hearing, and flung into the innermost prison. Weizsäcker (p. 285) thinks that ‘the story is rendered impossible by the conduct of Paul; he lets himself be chastised illegally, in order afterwards to secure greater satisfaction. Paul could not have acted so.’ But in the tumult he may well have made a protest which was drowned by a babel of hostile voices. Or who will blame him if he sometimes chose to suffer in silence-τρὶς ἐρραβδίσθην (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:25)-like ordinary Christians, who could not shelter themselves under the aegis of the Roman citizenship? </p> <p> The magistrates of Philippi are first called ἄρχοντες (&nbsp;Acts 16:19) and then στρατηγοί (&nbsp;Acts 16:20; &nbsp;Acts 16:22; &nbsp;Acts 16:35-36; &nbsp;Acts 16:38). Ramsay (St. Paul, p. 217) thinks that the two clauses, ‘dragged them into the agora before the rulers,’ and ‘brought them before the magistrates’ (&nbsp;Acts 16:19-20), mean the same thing, and holds that if St. Luke had revised his narrative he would have struck out the one or the other. Blass says, ‘non licet distinguere inter ἄρχοντες et στρατηγοί’ (Acta Apostolorum, 1895, p. 180). The former is the ordinary term for the supreme board of magistrates in a Greek town, the latter the popular equivalent of praetores. St. Luke knew no doubt that in a colonia like Philippi the highest governing power was in the hands of duumviri (see inscriptions in J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 51), the exact translation of which would have been δύο ἄνδρες, but he preferred good Greek to slavishly technical accuracy on such a point. His use of στρατηγοί, therefore, does not prove either that the magistrates of Philippi had duly received the dignity of the praetorship, or that they had assumed it without leave, as provincial duumviri were said sometimes to do (Cicero, de Leg. Agr. ii. 34). </p> <p> St. Luke is characteristically careful to make it clear that the majesty of Roman law might have been invoked against the Philippian authorities and on behalf of the apostles. By illegally punishing Roman citizens-Silas was apparently one as well as St. Paul (&nbsp;Acts 16:37)-the magistrates had rendered themselves liable to be degraded and counted unfit ever to hold office again (Cicero, in Verr. II. v. 66). The scourging and imprisoning were acts of high-handed violence. The accused were subjected to these indignities ‘without a trial’; that is the meaning of the word ἀκατακρίτους, which is translated ‘uncondemned’ (&nbsp;Acts 16:37). In the end the magistrates saved themselves by begging the prisoners to leave the town quietly, and the historian’s point is that in acceding to this request the apostles forfeited the unquestionable right to appeal against a gross maladministration of justice. </p> <p> Many writers regard the story of the earthquake and the conversion of the jailer as legendary. H. J. Holtzmann asserts that this is the view of the whole critical school (‘Apostelgeschichte’ in Hand-Kom. zum NT i. [1889] 389). The interpretation of such a passage is naturally affected by one’s whole attitude to the miraculous. The older view is defended by Ramsay, whose acquaintance with Turkish prisons helps him to remove some of the difficulties of the narrative (St. Paul, pp. 220-222). </p> <p> Five years later, probably in the autumn of a.d. 55, St. Paul re-visited Macedonia, giving the believers ‘much exhortation’ (&nbsp;Acts 20:2); and in the spring of the following year, having unexpectedly to begin his journey from [[Greece]] to [[Palestine]] by land instead of by sea, he had the happiness of keeping the [[Passover]] with the brethren of Philippi (&nbsp;Acts 20:6). None of his converts gave him the same unalloyed satisfaction as the Philippians, his ‘beloved and longed for,’ his ‘joy and crown’ (&nbsp;Philippians 4:1). He repeatedly showed his confidence in them by accepting at their hands favours which he refused from every other church. To Thessalonica, and again to Corinth, their messengers followed him with the tokens of their love (&nbsp;Philippians 4:16, &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:9); and when he was a prisoner in Rome, [[Epaphroditus]] of Philippi made a journey of 700 miles over land and sea to bring him yet another gift, which was acknowledged in the most affectionate letter St. Paul ever wrote (see Philippians, [[Epistle]] to the). </p> <p> The prestige of women in the Church of Philippi, as in the other [[Macedonian]] churches (&nbsp;Acts 17:4; &nbsp;Acts 17:12) is a striking fact, only to be compared with their prominence at an earlier date in the personal ministry of our Lord’ (Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 57). St. Paul’s first Philippian audience consisted entirely of women (&nbsp;Acts 16:13); his first convert was a woman of influence, whose familia was baptized with her, and who became his hostess (&nbsp;Acts 16:14-15); and the only element in the Philippian Church which called for reproof in his letter was the variance of two prominent [[Christian]] ladies, both of whom he remembered gratefully as his fellow-workers in the gospel (&nbsp;Philippians 4:2-3). Lightfoot (op. cit. p. 56) quotes a number of Macedonian inscriptions which ‘seem to assign to the sex a higher social influence than is common among the civilised nations of antiquity.’ </p> <p> In the time of Trajan-i.e., before a.d. 117-Philippi became a stage in the triumphal progress of St. [[Ignatius]] from [[Antioch]] to Rome, where he was to die in the arena. His visit made so deep an impression on the Philippian Church that they soon after requested the martyr’s young friend [[Polycarp]] to write them and send them copies of St. Ignatius’ own letters. Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians was the response, and it is still extant. The writer congratulates the Church of Philippi on ‘the sturdy root of their faith, famous from the earliest days’ (1), warns them against certain doctrinal and practical errors, and sets before them the example of apostles and saints who have gone to their rest. The later history of this remarkable church is almost a blank. </p> <p> The village of Filibedjik (Little Philippi) is all that remains of the once famous city. </p> <p> Literature.-W. M. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, 1835, iii. 215-223; J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians4, 1878, p. 47 f.; Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, new ed., 1877, i. 341 f.; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, p. 213 f., The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, p. 158 f.; C. von Weizsäcker, The [[Apostolic]] Age of the Christian Church2, Eng. tr._, i. [1897] 279 ff.; A. C. McGiffert, Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 239 f. </p> <p> James Strahan. </p>

<p> A city of Macedon, in a plain between the Pangaeus arid Haemus ranges, nine miles from the sea. Paul from the port [[Neapolis]] (Kavalla) on the coast (&nbsp;Acts 16:11) reached Philippi by an ancient paved road over the steep range [[Symbolum]] ''(Which Runs From The W. End Of Haemus To The S. End Of Pangaeus)'' in his second missionary journey, A.D 51. The walls are traced along the stream; at 350 ft. from it is the site of the gate through which Paul went to the place of prayer by the river's (Gangites) side, where the dyer Lydia was converted, the firstfruits of the gospel in Europe. (See [[Lydia]] .) [[Dyed]] goods were imported from [[Thyatira]] to the parent city Philippi, and were dispersed by pack animals among the mountaineers of Haemus and Pangaeus. The Satriae tribe had the oracle of Dionysus, the Thracian prophet god. The "damsel with the spirit of divination" may have belonged to this shrine, or else to Apollo's ''(As The Spirit Is Called "Pythoness," Greek)'' , and been hired by the Philippians to divine for hire to the country folk coming to the market. </p> <p> She met Paul several days on his way to the place of prayer, and used to cry out on each occasion "these servants of the most high God announce to us the way of salvation." Paul cast out the spirit; and her owners brought him and Silas before the magistrates, the duumvirs, who inflicted summary chastisement, never imagining they were Romans. Paul keenly felt this wrong (&nbsp;Acts 16:37), and took care subsequently that his Roman privilege should not be set at nought (&nbsp;Acts 22:25; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 2:2). Philippi was founded by Philip of Macedon, in the vicinity of the famed gold mines, on the site "the springs" (Kremides). [[Augustus]] founded the Roman "colony" to commemorate his victory over Brutus and [[Cassius]] &nbsp;Acts 16:12), &nbsp;Acts 16:42 B.C., close to the ancient site, on the main road from Europe to Asia by Brundusium, Dyrrachium, across Epirus to Thessalonica, and so forward by Philippi. Philippi was "the first (i.e. farthest from Rome and first which Paul met in entering Macedon) city of the district" called Macedonia Prima, as lying farthest eastward, not as KJV "the chief city." </p> <p> [[Thessalonica]] was chief city of the province, and Amphipolis of the district "Macedonia Prima." A "colony" ''(Accurately So Named By Luke As Distinguished From The Greek '' apoikia '')'' was Rome reproduced in miniature in the provinces (Jul. Gellius, 16:13); its inhabitants had Roman citizenship, the right of voting in the Roman tribes, their own senate and magistrates, the Roman law and language. That the Roman "colonia," not the Greek apoikia is used, marks the accuracy of &nbsp;Acts 16:12. Paul visited Philippi again on his way from [[Ephesus]] into Macedon (&nbsp;Acts 20:1), and a third time on his return from Greece (Corinth) to Syria by way of Macedon (&nbsp;Acts 20:3; &nbsp;Acts 20:6). The community of trials for Christ's sake strengthened the bond which united him and the Philippian [[Christians]] (&nbsp;Philippians 1:28-30). They alone supplied his wants twice in Thessalonica soon after he left them (&nbsp;Philippians 4:15-16); a third time, through Epaphroditus, just before this epistle (&nbsp;Philippians 4:10; &nbsp;Philippians 4:18; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:9). </p> <p> Few Jews were in Philippi to sow distrust between him and them. No synagogue, but merely an oratory (proseuchee ), was there. The check to his zeal in being forbidden by the Spirit to enter Asia, Bithynia, and Mysia, and the miraculous call to Macedon, and his success in Philippi and the love of the converts, all endeared it to him. Yet the Philippians needed to be forewarned of the [[Judaizing]] influence which might assail their church at any time as it had crept into the [[Galatian]] churches (&nbsp;Philippians 3:2). The epistle (&nbsp;Philippians 4:2-3), in undesigned coincidence with the history (&nbsp;Acts 16:13-14), implies that females were among the prominent church members. </p> <p> Its people were poor, but most liberal (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:1-2); persecuted, but faithful: only there was a tendency to dissension which Paul reproves (&nbsp;Philippians 1:27; &nbsp;Philippians 2:1-4; &nbsp;Philippians 2:12; &nbsp;Philippians 2:14; &nbsp;Philippians 4:2). In A.D. 107 the city was visited by Ignatius, who passed through on his way to martyrdom at Rome. Immediately after Polycarp wrote to the Philippians, sending at their request a copy of all the letters of Ignatius which the church of Smyrna had; so they still retained the same sympathy with sufferers for Christ as in Paul's days. Their religion was practical and emotional, not speculative; hence but little doctrine and quotation of the Old [[Testament]] occur in the epistle of Paul to them. The gold mines furnished the means of their early liberality, but were a temptation to covetousness, against which Polycarp warns them. Their graces were doubtless not a little helped by the epistle and the oral teaching of the great apostle. </p>

<p> <strong> PHILIPPI </strong> was a city situated E. of Mt. Pangæus, on the E. border of Macedonia, about 10 miles from the coast. It was originally (under the name of Crenides) a settlement of Thasians, who mined the gold of Mt. Pangæus; but one of the early acts of Philip of Macedon was to assure himself of revenue by seizing these mines and strongly fortifying the city, to which he gave his own name. The mines are said to have yielded him 1000 talents a year. Philippi passed with the rest of Macedonia to the Romans in b.c. 168. Until b.c. 146 Macedonia was divided into four regions, with separate governments, and so divided that a member of one could not marry or hold property in another. But in 146 it received the more regular organization of a province. The great Eastern road of the Roman Empire, the Via Egnatia, after crossing the [[Strymon]] at Amphipolis, kept N. of Mt. Pangæus to Philippi and then turned S.E. to Neapolis, which was the port of Philippi. Philippi stood on the steep side of a bill, and immediately S. of it lay a large marshy lake. </p> <p> The Church at Philippi was founded by St. Paul on his second missionary journey. With Silas, Timothy, and Luke he landed at Neapolis, and proceeded to Philippi, which St. Luke describes as ‘a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony.’ Philippi was not the capital city of either of the regions into which Macedonia had been divided in 168, but the most natural explanation of the phrase ‘first of the district’ is that the province had at this time a division for official purposes of which we do not know. Other explanations are that it means ‘the first city we arrived at’ (which the Greek could scarcely mean), or that Philippi claimed a pre-eminence in much the same way that Pergamus, Smyrna, Ephesus all claimed to be the ‘first city’ of Asia. It had become a Roman colony after the battle of Philippi, b.c. 42, when Octavian and Antony, having vanquished Brutus and Cassius, settled a number of their veterans there. Another body of veterans was settled there after Actium, b.c. 31. As a colony its constitution was modelled on the ancient one of Rome, and its two chief magistrates had not only lictors (EV [Note: English Version.] <strong> [[Serjeants]] </strong> ), but also a jurisdiction independent of that of the governor of the province. It was the first essentially Roman town in which St. Paul preached. There was no synagogue, but on the Sabbath, says St. Luke, ‘we went forth without the gate by a river-side where we supposed there was a place of prayer.’ At this place, therefore, St. Paul found a number of women assembled, Jewesses or proselytes, one of whom named <strong> Lydia </strong> (wh. see), a merchant in purple from Thyatira, was immediately converted and baptized. For the subsequent Incidents see Python, Magistrate, etc. </p> <p> It is probable that the Church at Philippi was left in charge of St. Luke, for at this point in the narrative of the Acts the first person is dropped until St. Paul passes through Macedonia on his return from the third missionary journey (&nbsp;Luke 20:5 ). The Church flourished, and always remained on terms of peculiar affection with St. Paul, being allowed to minister to his needs more than once. See art. Philippians [Epistle to], which was probably written during his first imprisonment at Rome. From &nbsp; 1 Timothy 1:3 we assume at least one later visit of the Apostle to Philippi. </p> <p> Before a.d. 117 Ignatius passed through Philippi on his journey from Antioch to his martyrdom in Rome. He was welcomed by the Church, and they wrote a letter of consolation to the Church of Antioch and another to Polycarp of Smyrna, asking for copies of any letters that Ignatius had written in Asia. Polycarp wrote his Epistle to the Philippians in answer. In the 4th and 5th centuries we read of the bishop of Philippi as present at Councils, but apart from this the Church passes out of history. </p> <p> A. E. Hillard. </p>

&nbsp;Acts 16:12&nbsp;Philippians 1:1 <p> History In ancient times the site was in a gold mining area. After 400 B.C., Philip II of Macedon seized the mines, fortified the city, and named it for himself. Philippi, along with the rest of Macedonia, came under Roman control after 200 B.C. In 42 B.C., Philippi was the site of a decisive battle that sealed the fate of Rome as a republic and set the stage for the establishment of an empire. The forces of Octavian (later to be Augustus Caesar, the first emperor) and Antony defeated the army of Brutus and Cassius. In honor of the victory, Antony settled some Roman soldiers there and made Philippi a Roman colony. After defeating Antony at the [[Battle]] of Actium in 31 B.C., the victorious Octavian dispossessed the supporters of Antony from Italy, but he allowed him to settle in places like Philippi. Octavian refounded Philippi as a Roman colony. </p> <p> Paul and Philippi Paul first visited Philippi on his second missionary journey in response to his Macedonian vision (&nbsp;Acts 16:9 ). They and his companions sailed from Troas across the Aegean Sea to Neapolis, on the eastern shore of Macedonia (&nbsp;Acts 16:11 ). Then they journeyed a few miles inland to “Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony” (&nbsp;Acts 16:12 ). </p> <p> On the sabbath, Paul went to a prayer meeting on the river bank. When Paul spoke, Lydia and others opened their hearts to the Lord (&nbsp;Acts 16:13-15 ). As a rule, Paul first went to the [[Jewish]] synagogue when he came to a new city. The fact that he did not do this in Philippi probably shows that Philippi had no synagogue. </p> <p> The Roman character of the city is apparent from Paul's other experiences in Philippi. He healed a possessed slave girl whose owners charged that Jews troubled the city by teaching customs unlawful for Romans to observe (&nbsp;Acts 16:20-21 ). The city magistrates ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten and turned over to the jailer (&nbsp;Acts 16:20 ,Acts 16:20,&nbsp;16:22-23 ). After Paul's miraculous deliverance and the jailer's conversion, the magistrates sent the jailer word to release Paul (&nbsp;Acts 16:35-36 ). Paul informed the messengers that he was a Roman citizen. Since he had been beaten and imprisoned unlawfully, Paul insisted that the magistrates themselves come and release him (&nbsp;Acts 16:37 ). The very nervous magistrates went to the jail. They pled with Paul not only to leave the jail but also to leave town (&nbsp;Acts 16:38-40 ). See [[Paul]]; [[Roman Law]]; Philippians . </p> <p> [[Robert]] J. Dean </p>

<p> The city of Philippi was an important administrative centre in Macedonia, the northern part of Greece. (For map see [[Macedonia]] .) It was named after Philip of Macedon (the father of [[Alexander]] the Great), who conquered it about 356 BC and made it into one of his strategic cities. During the Roman civil war, Philippi was the scene of a vital battle in 31 BC, after which the victor gave the city the status of a Roman colony (&nbsp;Acts 16:12). (For the privileges that citizens of a Roman colony enjoyed see ROME, sub-heading ‘Roman citizenship’.) </p> <p> Philippi was on the main route from Rome to Asia Minor. Its port was Neapolis (&nbsp;Acts 16:11-12). Paul and Silas visited Philippi on Paul’s second missionary journey, and found their first converts among a group of God-fearing [[Gentiles]] who met for prayer at the river bank (&nbsp;Acts 16:13-15). When the missionaries healed a demonized girl, their opponents stirred up trouble and had them thrown into prison (&nbsp;Acts 16:16-24). But this resulted in more people turning to Christ (&nbsp;Acts 16:31-34). Though released the next day, Paul and Silas had to leave the city, but they left behind the beginnings of the church in Philippi (&nbsp;Acts 16:39-40). </p> <p> Paul appears to have visited Philippi twice on his third missionary journey – once when travelling through Macedonia south to [[Achaia]] (&nbsp;Acts 20:1-2), and once when returning through Macedonia to Troas (&nbsp;Acts 20:6). He probably visited Philippi again after release from his first Roman imprisonment (&nbsp;1 Timothy 1:3). </p> <p> The Philippian church saw itself as a partner with Paul in his missionary work and helped support him financially (&nbsp;Philippians 1:7-8; &nbsp;Philippians 4:14-18). The church brought Paul much joy and drew from him warm expressions of true friendship (&nbsp;Philippians 1:4; &nbsp;Philippians 4:1; see PHILIPPIANS, [[Letter]] TO THE). </p>

<p> A city of proconsular Macedonia, so called from Philip king of Macedon, who repaired and beautified it; whence it lost its former name of Dathos. It was constituted a Roman "colony" by Augustus, and as such possessed certain peculiar privileges, which made it a "chief city of that part of Macedonia." This expression however, is supposed to mean, in &nbsp;Acts 16:12 , that it was the first city the traveler met after landing at its port Neapolis, from which it lay ten miles northwest on an extensive plain. Here was fought the celebrated battle in which Brutus and Cassius were overthrown by Octavius and Antony, B. C. 42. </p> <p> Here, too, Paul first preached the gospel on the continent of Europe; A. D. 52, having been led hither from Troas by a heavenly vision. The first convert was Lydia; and the church which at one sprang up here was characterized by the distinguished traits of this generous and true-hearted Christian woman. Having cast out a spirit of divination from a young damsel here, Paul and Silas were seized and cruelly scourged and imprisoned. But their bounds were miraculously loosed, their jailer converted, and they permitted to pass on to Amphipolis. Luke appears to have remained here, and to have rejoined Paul when he again visited Philippi on his fifth journey to Jerusalem, A. D. 58, &nbsp;Acts 16:8-40 &nbsp; 20:3-6 . The site is now strown with ruins. </p> <p> Paul's EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS, written during his first imprisonment at Rome, A. D. 62, gratefully and warmly acknowledges the receipt of their gift by the hand of Epaphroditus, and their continued affection towards him; also their irreproachable Christian walk, and their firmness under persecution, &nbsp;Philippians 1:7 &nbsp; 4:23 &nbsp; 2:12 &nbsp; 4:10-15 . See also &nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:1-2 . </p>

<p> '''Philip'pi.''' ''(Named From Philip Of Macedonia).'' A city of Macedonia about nine miles from the sea, to the northwest of the island of Thasos, which is twelve miles distant from its port Neapolis, the modern ''Kavalla'' . It is situated in a plain between the ranges of Pangaeus and Haemus. The Philippi which St. Paul visited was a Roman colony founded by Augustus after the famous battle of Philippi, fought here between Antony and Octavius and Brutus and Cassius, B.C. 42. The remains which strew the ground near the modern Turkish village ''Bereketli'' are, no doubt, derived from that city. The original town, built by Philip of Macedonia, was probably not exactly on the same site. </p> <p> Philip, when he acquired possession of the site, found there a town named ''Datus'' or ''Datum'' , which was probably in its origin a factory of the Phoenicians, who were the first that worked the gold-mines in the mountains here, as in the neighboring Thasos. The proximity of the goldmines was of course the origin of so large a city as Philippi, but the plain in which it lies is of extraordinary fertility. The position, too, was on the main road from Rome to Asia, the Via Egnatia, which from Thessalonica to [[Constantinople]] followed the same course as the existing post-road. </p> <p> On St. Paul's visits to Philippi, ''See '' '''Philippians, The Epistle to The''' ''.'' At Philippi, the gospel was first preached in Europe. Lydia was the first convert. Here too, Paul and Silas were imprisoned. &nbsp;Acts 16:23. The Philippians sent contributions to Paul to relieve his temporal wants. </p>

<p> one of the chief cities of Macedonia, lying on the north-west of Neapolis, and formerly called Datum or Datos, but afterward taking its name from Philip, the celebrated king of Macedon, by whom it was repaired and beautified. In process of time, it became a Roman colony. It was the first place at which St. Paul preached the [[Gospel]] upon the continent of Europe, A.D. 51. He made many converts there, who soon afterward gave strong proofs of their attachment to him, Php_4:15 . He was at Philippi a second time, but nothing which then occurred is recorded. The Philippian Christians having heard of St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, with their accustomed zeal, sent Epaphroditus to assure him of the continuance of their regard, and to offer him a supply of money. His epistle was written in consequence of that act of kindness; and it is remarkable for its strong expressions of affection. As the Apostle tells the Philippians that he hoped to see them shortly, Php_2:24 , and there are plain intimations in this epistle of his having been some time at Rome, Php_1:12; Php_2:26 , it is probable that it was written A.D. 62, toward the end of his confinement. </p> <p> "It is a strong proof," says Chrysostom, "of the virtuous conduct of the Philippians, that they did not afford the Apostle a single subject of complaint; for, in the whole epistle which he wrote to them, </p> <p> there is nothing but exhortation and encouragement, without the mixture of any censure whatever." </p>

<li> When Philip the tetrarch, the son of Herod, succeeded to the government of the northern portion of his kingdom, he enlarged the city of Paneas, and called it Caesarea, in honour of the emperor. But in order to distinguish it from the [[Caesarea]] on the sea coast, he added to it subsequently his own name, and called it [[Caesarea-Philippi]] (q.v.). <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Philippi'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/p/philippi.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> [[Philippi]] (''Fĭ-Lĭp'Pî'' ). A city of Macedonia. It was on the borders of Thrace, 83 Roman miles northeast of Amphipolis, and about ten miles from Neapolis its port, where Paul landed. It was built on the site of a village, called. Krenides (also Datos), by Philip king of Macedon, and made a strong military station. From the New Testament history Philippi appears to have been the first city in Europe which heard the gospel. The account of Paul's visit and of his founding of a church there is given in &nbsp;Acts 16:1-40. </p>

<p> A city of Macedon, rendered memorable from Paul the apostle having preached the gospel to the people there by the direction of a vision, and having sent that blessed Epistle there which we have still preserved in the New Testament, and made so truly blessed to the church. See the Epistle to the Philippians (&nbsp;Philippians 1:1 - &nbsp;Philippians 4:23). </p>

<p> A Macedonian city, was the scene of a victory gained in 42 B.C. by Octavianus and Antony over Brutus and Cassius, and the seat of a church, the first founded by St. Paul in Europe. </p>