Hierarch
Hierarch Philip, Bishop of Gortyna
II в., † ок. 180
Saint Philip, Bishop of Gortyna — an early Christian apologist and writer of the 2nd century, head of the Cretan Church, author of a lost treatise against the Marcionite heresy, mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea and Blessed Jerome of Stridon.
DATE CORRECTION: the previous date "October 11" is not confirmed by independent sources — multiple sources (including the article on the Synaxis of Cretan Saints on drevo-info.ru) agree on the correct date, October 8.
St. Philip, Bishop of Gortyna, was an early Christian apologist and writer of the 2nd century who headed the see of Gortyna on Crete during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus. The principal source on him is Eusebius of Caesarea, who records that Philip's contemporary, Hieromartyr Dionysius of Corinth, praised Bishop Philip in a letter to the Gortynian community for the church's steadfastness in orthodox teaching.
Blessed Jerome of Stridon, in "On Illustrious Men," also attests that Philip wrote a "quite remarkable" treatise against the Marcionite heresy, though the text has not survived. No further biographical details are preserved. He is known as one of the early opponents of Marcion's Gnostic heresy, alongside Dionysius of Corinth and Modestus. In Orthodox tradition, particularly on Crete, his memory is included in the Synaxis of Cretan Saints.