Of Side Philippus

Of Side Philippus

Philippus (9), of Side, an ecclesiastical historian at the commencement of 5th cent., a native of the maritime town of Side in Pamphylia, the birthplace of Troilus the sophist, whose kinsman he was proud of reckoning himself. We find Philip at Constantinople enjoying the intimacy of Chrysostom, by whom he was admitted to the diaconate. Tillemont says that he was the imitator of Chrysostom's eloquence rather than of his virtues, and that the imitation was a very poor one. On the death of Atticus, a.d. 425, by whom he had been ordained presbyter, Philip was a candidate for the vacant see, and found a number of influential supporters (Socr. H. E. vii. 27). The prefering of Sisinnius caused him extreme mortification, which he exhibited in his Christian History , introducing a violent tirade against the character both of elected and electors, more particularly the lay supporters of Sisinnius. The bitterness and rashness of the charges are noticed by Socrates, who thought them undeserving mention in his history ( ib. 26). Philip, when again a candidate, both after the death of Sisinnius, a.d. 428 and on the deposition of Nestorius in 431, had a considerable and energetic following ( ib. vii. 29, 35) but was unsuccessful, and died a presbyter. His chief work, entitled A Christian History , was divided into 36 books and about a thousand chapters. It ranged from the creation to his own times. Except one or two fragments, the whole is lost. The descriptions of it given by Socrates ( ib. 27) and Photius ( Cod. 35) shew that its loss is not to be regretted on literary grounds. Socrates describes it as a medley of theorems in geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music, with descriptions of islands, mountains, and trees, and other matters of little moment. The chronological order of events was constantly disregarded. Photius's estimate is equally low: "diffuse; neither witty nor elegant; full of undigested learning, with very little bearing on history at all, still less on Christian history." A fragment relating to the school of Alexandria and the succession of the teachers has been printed by Dodwell at the close of his dissertations on Irenaeus (Oxf. 1689). Of this Neander writes: "The known untrustworthiness of this author; the discrepancy between his statements and other more authentic reports, and the suspicious condition in which the fragment has come down to us, render his details unworthy of confidence" ( Ch. Hist. vol. ii. p. 460, Clark's trans.). Another considerable fragment is reported to exist in the Imperial Library at Vienna, entitled de Christi Nativitate, et de Magis , giving the acts of a disputation held in Persia concerning Christianity between certain Persians and Christians, at which Philip was himself present. Tillem. Mém. eccl. xii. 431; Hist. des empereurs , vi. 130; Cave, Hist. Lat. i. 395; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vi. 112, lib. v. c. 4, § 28.

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