The snake temple and portal to the underworld [ The story of apostle saint Philip ]

The snake temple and portal to the underworld  

[ The  story of apostle saint Philip ]

The Greek Archeologist Strabo was wonderstruck with amazement on seeing the two stone statues which his assistant gave him by the end of the first century BC and there was a reason for this. Though the area where the excavation was being carried out was filled with many statues of snakes these two stone statues were very unique.  That statue looked like a snake with the head of a wolf, sharp long teeth, long wings, body of a snake and four legs. This kind of a statue was never seen before and was very unique. There was another statue. This too was totally very different. This statue was a three headed dog statue with sharp teeth which made it very fierce to look at.

As the archeologist held these two statues in his had he felt dizzy and at the same time he felt a chill feel run through his spine from top to bottom. A nerve from his palm blotted out and it hit his brain and he could not believe what he saw next.  The statue of the giant snake which was in his hands came alive and stood up gigantically in front of him. It breathed and spat fire from his mouth and flew high in the sky. Its voice was similar to that of a peacock. That voice echoed throughout this world. All those who heard the voice of this snake shook with fear and closed their eyes. They fell to the ground crying and started to shout out, “Eghithna do not harm us….. Eghithna we will give you whatever you ask…. Do not harm us please….. Eghithna please do not harm us.” That snake got its original form and reached a cave temple which was its home. The entrance of this cave was guarded by a dog with three heads. Then these two unique creatures sat on their throne. The priest of the temple will then come and offer cows and calves as a sacrifice to them.  When he is filled with unusual power of prophecy the village people would come to him to know their future. All the prophecy which the priest would tell would be very accurate.

  By chance if a husband of very beautiful women came to the priest to know his fortune, then the priest would try all possible ways to have that woman for his lust. If she refuses to obey him, then he would accuse her of adultery and offer her as a sacrifice to those gods. He will throw her into the mouth of the cave. All those who have crossed through the entrance of the cave have never come again to see this world. They are assumed to be dead or consumed by the gods of the cave. There are still more foolish people who have given all they own to this priest in order to get rid of their sins and have a good and bright future. 

  At one point of time the village people were fed up with this priest and the fierce snake and so they shouted out aloud praying that, “O Lord won’t you send any one to save us from the hands of this fierce snake and the cunning priest….” With this the vision was over.

    Now the archeologist Strabo understood all the details behind the statue he was having in his hands. He confirmed that it should be the Plutonium temple of the giant snake which is also known as the gates of hell. He then smelt the entrance of the old ruined cave entrance of the temple. There was a huge cloud of smoke covering the entrance. The smell of acid which emerged from the temple was unbearable. Still the archeologist wanted to confirm his finding and so he threw few of the birds which he had with him in front of the cave entrance. Immediately he saw that the birds which flew inside the entrance of the cave struggled to fly and then fell down to the ground dead. So now he confirmed that the great Plutonium snake temple which was considered as the portal to the underworld was the one he was standing in front of.

   Now we shall look at the beginning of this story. During 30 BC there was a huge crowd along the Sea of Galilee. All the miracles and signs and wonders which were done by a Jewish Rabbi Jesus Christ were greatly spoken among the people. At that time Jesus was in the sea selecting and calling Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him as His apostles. These two apostles belonged to the city of Bethsaida. A handsome young man, who belonged to a rich family, who also belonged to the city of Bethsaida had come to meet Jesus. His looks showed that he was thirty years of age and he had bright eyes. His appearance seemed that he had a clear thought and could not be easily deceived. But Jesus looked at him and said, “Philip…. Come follow me…” Philip did not say a word in reply. He was convinced by the looks and glory filled countenance of Jesus and accepted Jesus as his Master the very minute Jesus called him to follow Him.

Philip went to meet his friend Nathanael since he wanted to introduce him to Jesus. At that time Nathanael told Philip, “Can any good come from Nazareth?”  For this Philip replied, “Come and see and you will know”. 

  Then Philip and Nathanael discussed many interesting things about Jesus. Nathanael was the childhood friend of Jesus. When they finally came to meet Jesus, Jesus exclaimed, “Here is a true Israelite, there is no deceit in him.” Nathanael was surprised at this statement of Jesus and asked him, “My Lord how do you know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Jesus accepted Nathanael also as his disciple. Jesus, Nathanael and Philip became very close friends and they were of the same age group. Days passed by.

    Once, Jesus was preaching to a great multitude of people on a mountain. This is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. The people were struck with wonder on hearing all that Jesus taught them for no wise men on earth had given such great teachings. This went on for three days and people did not realize that three days had passed. At the end of the third day, Jesus finished his sermon and then when he saw the crowd, they were hungry. Jesus did not want to send them away in hunger. So he called his disciples and asked them, “Can you get something to eat for this crowd?” 

   Philip replied, “My Lord, the multitude is huge and this place is a desert. How can we fetch food for this whole crowd? We do not even have any shops nearby? Why don’t we send them off so that they can go to the nearby villages and get food for themselves?” Jesus looked at the disciples and asked them to make the people sit in groups ready to eat. Jesus asked the disciples to find out what they had in hand. In the crowd was a boy who had five loaves of bread and two fishes. They brought the boy and the food he had with him to Jesus. Jesus got the give loaves and two fishes and looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God the Father. Immediately the five loaves and two fishes multiplied and the crowd of five thousand people ate. They even collected the remaining food in twelve baskets. Of all the disciples Philip observed every movement of Jesus very keenly. He noticed that when Jesus was about to do a miracle, He raised his eyes and hands to his heavenly Father and prayed. Once the miracle had happened, Jesus thanked the heavenly Father.

   Once Jesus called his disciples and gave them authority and power and sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure all disease; and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Jesus further said to them, ‘I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. I am sending you just like how the Father has sent me….’ Philip did not miss to listen carefully to these words of God and decided in his heart to ask him about his heavenly Father.

   Once a day he got the chance and he asked Jesus, “Lord forgive me for this doubt of mine. But I was so curious to know this and so I am asking it to you now. You do not stay with us at night….. You leave us and go to pray in solitude. You pray the whole night… you do not sleep during the day also. You just rest for a while and then you are back to your preaching. To whom are you praying?” 

   Jesus looked at Philip and said, “Dear Philip, I pray to my Father in heaven. When I pray the whole night, my Father in heaven will explain to me all that I have to preach the next day and all that I should do the following day. He gives me the blue print of all that I should do. He also tells me all that awaits me the next day and also in the future. Then I pray to him for these things and I do all that He tells me to do.” Philip was not fully satisfied with this answer and so he asked Jesus, “Lord, often you mention the words ‘My Father’ but you have never introduced Him to us. We have never seen Him. So I request you to show your heavenly Father to us.”

   Jesus turned to him and said, “Philip you have not understood what I am saying. My Father dwells in me and I dwell in my Father. Any one sees me and knows me sees and knows my Father. He who listens to me and obeys my words listens to my Father who sent me. Then how is it possible for me to show my Father to you. Why could you not understand this?”

  Still Philip was not convinced at this reply of Jesus. He confused himself asking this question, “How is it possible for Jesus to be within His Father and His Father to be within Him?” of course Philip was not able to understand this at that time. He did not get an answer to this question then. But when Jesus died and ascended to heaven, as Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, was poured on mother Mary and all the apostles, including Philip.

    The Holy Spirit guided them in all the truth they should know. They received the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit namely, wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. After this all of them understood clearly the Trinity of our Lord. They also understood what is heaven, earth and hell, they understood the theory of creation, they understood the trinity of human life namely body, soul and spirit. They also understood that God created everything for mankind but he created mankind to praise him and worship him. They came to know that up to the day this world understands that there is only one creator, one true God, this world and all that is in it will exist in the way they were created to exist.

   God created this whole world and gave it to mankind. The rightful authority to this world was given to man. But man sinned and thus the authority was lost by him and Satan gained that authority. But God was gracious and merciful to man and so, He sent His only son, Jesus to save us from Satan and gave us back the authority we lost. So whoever believes in Jesus and in his precious blood gets back the authority from Satan. For this purpose the second person in the trinity, Jesus Christ, came to this world as human being. For this purpose he was immaculately conceived in the womb of Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was clearly understood by the apostles once they received the Holy Spirit. They now understood their work or mission on this earth that is to go and preach Jesus Christ to this whole world and make Jesus known to every mankind.

 One day Philip was preaching in Samaria when he was filled with the Holy Spirit who told him to go to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out and on the way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake. (Which means “queen of the Ethiopians”) this man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. He did not understand certain verses in the passage he was reading.   At this time, Philip ran close to the chariot and asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” For this the man replied, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come and sit with him. Philip got into the chariot and explained the Scripture verses in Isaiah chapter 53 to the minister. Philip explained all that he knew and saw of the sufferings of Jesus, how Jesus died and how the prophetic verses in Isaiah 53 were fulfilled. The minister was very much convinced with all that Philip said and as they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of me being baptized?” and he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Through this Ethiopian minister, Christianity spread all over Ethiopia. The place where this Ethiopian minister was baptized is still available for us to see. 

  During 724 AD. to 728 AD, a pilgrim named Willibald visited this place. In his book about his journey in Palestine, he mentions about this place and he states that there was a church which was recorded in the famous Madaba map. In present days this place is near Betzuri, which is called as “Ayn al-Dhirwah’. This Betzuri is the place is the last place where the three wise men who came to meet Jesus stayed. This place, which was once a high way, is now a small foot path.

   The apostles discussed among themselves and put lots to decide on the place where each one should go. Philip and Bartholomew (who is also known as Nathanael) had to go to Samaria. One it was decided, Peter looked at these two apostles and said, “My dear brethren in Jesus Christ, we separate to go ahead to do the ministry of God and I feel that we will not meet again in this world. Jesus will be within us and guide us and lead us. Just remember all that Jesus said to us, especially these words, ‘I am sending you like lambs among wolves, just like how my Father had sent me, so am I sending you.’ I say these very same words to you and I bless you both as a leader of this team as appointed by Christ Jesus. Dear Philip and Bartholomew do you know what kind of a place you are about to go? It is a place of deadly dangerous people who are very well known for idol worship. Just like how Jerusalem is the capital of Jews, Smyrna is the capital of Satan. So God has specially chosen you to go and meet Satan at the gates of hell which is in this city. But I assure you that you will defeat Satan and have victory, you will bear witness to our Lord Jesus Christ. All the best and may the grace of God be with you always.” So saying, Peter blessed them and kissed them and bid farewell to them. In the same way all the apostles wished and blessed each other and went their way to do the ministry of God.

The great city of Smyrna

133 years before Jesus Christ was born as a human being on this earth, the romans captured this city of Smyrna and brought it under their control. In order to exercise their control on them, the Romans brought in their gods and goddesses into the city and also spread a lot of stories about their religion and gods. They also built temples for their gods and built palaces and grand halls according to their culture. At present this city is located in the south western part of Turkey. The name Smyrna has changed along with time and now this province is called as Izmir. This place is now a main town in Turkey and a part of this big town is Ephesus.

  After the death of Jesus Christ, assassinations and martyrdoms took place in various parts of the world. At that time, the disciple, close friend, evangelist and the most beloved disciple of Jesus, Apostle John, took mother Mary along with him and came to this city of Ephesus. 

  History states that Mother Mary lived and spent the rest of her life until death in this city of Ephesus. She died and was buried in this city. Even now the house where Mother Mary lived and died is still available. Jesus Christ has done everything with a purpose and this too was done with a purpose. Since this city of Smyrna is the headquarters of Satan, the woman who is the deadly enemy of Satan, Mother Mary, was sent to this place by God and her grave is also in this place. As God mentioned in Genesis 3:15, “and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you swill strike his heel” God spoke these words to Satan, for deceiving Eve.” According to this verse as long as Mother Mary is in that place, Satan cannot win with all his evil tricks and power. Whenever Satan tries to rise up against mankind, Holy Mother will crush his head to the ground.

   So the headquarters of Satan is in Smyrna. Now let us find out where is this place the snake temple and the portal to the underworld. This place is located in the nearby territory of Ephesus namely Phrygia.  The Gates of hell and the portal to the underworld is located at a distance of 250 miles east of Phrygia. The apostles Nathanael and Philip came to this place to do their ministry.

The gates of hell and the portal to the underworld

‘Opiormye’ is the name of this city.  The Romans and the Greek have named their snake gods as Opiormye. Though there are numerous snake temples in this city, this temple at Opiormye is very special. The reason for the specialty of this temple is, in the center part of the temple lives the giant snake which would spit fire and cause destruction. It lives in the temple and rarely comes out. But when it comes out if breathes fire and the very look of it will be fierce and breathtaking. It will come out and kill all those who happen to fall in its sight. It would cause great damage to people and the entire place. Then when it goes back, it goes into the plutonian cave and disappears. People were scared of this giant snake up to the time our apostles Nathanael and Philip came to that city.

Philip had three girl children. Two of them did not marry but lived as virgins offering their lives to God. The last girl was married but she too offered up her life for the ministry of God and lived in Ephesus. Philip’s Sister Miriam also assisted Philip in his ministry and accompanied him wherever he went. All these relatives joined together and came to this city of Operimey and lived there. By their powerful teachings and sermons, and the great miracles, which were done by them, made many of the people of that city, to accept Christ as their savior. 

  One such person was Isthagis who accepted Christ based on the teachings of Philip. He accepted Christ along with his family members. He made the apostle Nathanael, Philip, Philips daughters and Philips sister to stay in his house and do their ministry. He took care of all the needs of their ministry. So God blessed Isthagis and his family abundantly. One of the greatest miracles which was done by Philip and Nathanael as recorded in history was, they brought a dead person alive.  This aggravated the anger of Satan and he waited for the right opportunity to take revenge on Philip and Nathanael.

   One day, the wife of the Governor of the city, Nagnora, listened to the teachings of Philip. After the sermon was over, she introduced herself to Philip and Nathanael. She said, “Sir, I am a Hebrew by birth. Since you speak the same Hebrew language which my father speaks, I treat you as my own father. I have a problem with my eye sight and few of the sickness which ladies have. So I request you to pray for me so that I will be healed.” 

   Philip and Nathanael prayed for her and she was healed that very moment. She was thrilled and overjoyed. But this happiness did not last long. When Nagnora’s husband came to know of the way his wife was healed, he did not like it. He could not bear to see his wife worship some foreign God Jesus Christ instead of worshiping his own dear snake God. He was also surprised to see a strange light fill the room in which she prayed regularly every night. His hatred for her grew strong day by day. He called her and warned her and commanded her saying, “You should not worship any foreign god like Jesus Christ. You should worship only the snake Gods which our ancestors worshiped.”

   Nagnora could not bear this torture of her husband. But still she spoke boldly to him saying, “I worshiped the so called snake god whom you asked me to worship all these days. But that god was not able to cure me of my disease. But the God whom you hate and say as a foreign god, Jesus Christ, cured me the very moment I asked Him. He is the true God and He is capable of anything. I believe in Him and will worship Him only. I don’t see anything wrong to worship the true and all powerful God. Alright, since you are so stubborn to make me worship your snake god, come on and accept this challenge of mine. I will give you the eye problem with which I was suffering all these years. If your snake God is capable of healing you, then I will deny Jesus and worship your snake God. Do you agree for this challenge?” her husband accepted this challenge.

  Very soon the governor’s eyes were infected with cataract. Day by day his eyesight became weaker and weaker. This aggravated the governor. In his anger, he caught hold of his wife and dragged her to the house of Isthagis. He stood at the door and shouted out, “Oh you Philip and Nathanael come out you cowards. You, who were able to show all your power to a lady, come out and face my challenge. Can you stand before my god, the great snake god of Operimey and perform your miracles? If you lose in this challenge, you will be killed. If you win in this battle, I and all my people will accept your God as our God. But I assure you that my great and mighty snake god will tear you to pieces and kill you. Are you ready for this challenge or are you ready to give up your lives?” immediately Philip and Nathanael accepted the challenge.

   The next day morning, Philip and Nathaneal were waiting outside the great snake temple to take up the challenge. The priests of the temple started chanting their holy verses, “come our dear snake god…… come … come… the great god of Operimey….. the god of all this world…. Egithna come come come …. Come to this place soon….” So saying they danced and sang calling their snake god to come and take up the challenge. All of a sudden the sky turned dark and dark smoke came out of the temple. The priest had the spirit upon him and started to speak on behalf of Satan, “The mighty god Egithna is coming, the great snake god is coming, come on all you who stand here, fall at his feet and worship him..” he was shivering all over his body and came dancing all over the place. 

   In the next few minutes all the snake statues in the temple got life and started to move. They fell to the ground and started to move swiftly. When the people saw this they were struck with fear and shouted out saying, “Egithna, forgive us…. We forgot your power and might and have done this great sin…. Forgive us and spare our lives… oh great god… we beg your mercy…. Forgive us for believing in this foreign false god Jesus…. Forgive us… please forgive us….” They shouted in great fear.

  All the snake statues in all the temples in that city came alive and started to move. All of them came swiftly and started to chase the people. All the people of the city, around 20000 of them, men and women and children ran in panic and surrendered themselves before the snake god shouting, “Oh powerful and mighty snake god, save us……” so saying they reached this big snake temple.

  On reaching the temple, they saw Philip and Nathanael standing at the entrance. These two apostles were not scared or tensed for anything or anyone. They stood calm and undisturbed. They did not even close their eyes, for if they did so, then the enemy will think that they are scared. But now they closed their eyes as a sign of prayer and said, “Oh Lord Jesus Christ, be merciful to us. Let your mercy surround us. This battle is not between us and Satan. But it is between you and Satan. We are just your representatives and now the battle is all yours. We leave it in your hands. Do all that you wish and let your name be glorified.” Once they said this prayer, the incidents that happened next were something that the people had never seen or expected.

  The great giant snake which stood as a statue in the midst of the temple came alive and came out of the temple. As the snake came out of the temple, many of the men and women were filled with the power of Satan and danced so fiercely that it all the onlookers were speechless and scared. Small children shouted loudly in fear.

   The giant snake shouted in anger asking, “Who are these two wanderers who are standing here?” 

 The high priest of the temple replied, “These two men have come from Palestine. They do not know your greatness, power and might and so they have called you for a challenge. They are preaching about a foreign god by the name Jesus Christ. Many of our people too have believed their false teachings and accepted Jesus as their God. Oh my great master, show your power and might to these two wanderers. Teach them a good lesson. Also show our people and these two men the consequences of accepting any other god other than you. Swallow all those who stand for Jesus Christ and kill them immediately. I humbly request you to do this my Lord.” 

 The snake stood up between the earth and the sky and replied, “I will do as per your request. I will kill these two men and all those who support him and follow the foreign god.”

It was a fearful sight to see that tall structure of the snake god. People were greatly scared of this appearance of the snake god. “You cheap human being….. How dare you call me for a challenge? I will now prove to you my greatness and power….. Your death should be a lesson for all those who doubt my power…..” roared the snake god Egithna in anger.

    So saying the snake opened its mouth wide open. As the snake’s mouth widened it appeared like a cave. The smell of acid which came out of the mouth of this snake was unbearable. Suddenly a great noise was heard in the sky. The sky was lit up with lightning and thunder roared from one end of the sky to the other.    Saint Michael the archangel appeared in the sky and said, “Dear Philip, Nathanael, do not be afraid of this snake creature. I will take care of him. In order to protect the people from the poison which comes out of this snake, and all the poisonous gases which comes from all the other snakes, draw the sign of the cross in the name of Jesus Christ on all the four directions.” 

   Philip’s Sister Miriam and his daughters went among the crowd and drew the sign of the cross in the name of Jesus Christ on all the four directions. The next moment all the snakes in the city could not move and could not harm the people. Saint Michael the archangel looked up at the snake and said, “Egithna….. You cursed Satan…. Come on and show your power to me….. I have marked the sign of the cross in the name of Jesus Christ all around you. You are completely immobilized. If you still have guts come and fight with me.”    Egithna, the giant snake stood up. So far the snake which used to crawl on its belly, now stood up with the help of his hind legs, ready to fight with Saint Michael. The fierce battle started.

  Philip and Nathanael prayed to Jesus Christ, “Sanctus….. Sanctus….. Sanctus… Dominae…. Deius…. Sabavoth….” This means, “Holy… Holy… Holy…Holy is the Lord of all the three worlds. The heaven and earth are full of your glory… Hosanna in the highest…..” they were singing this heavenly hymn. This echoed all around the place. The breath of the giant snake, Egithna became like a cloud of black smoke because of the fierce battle. It became poisonous and surrounded the place.

   But the light which emerged from the sword of  Saint Michael the archangel destroyed the poison on the air and purified it. Immediately the atmosphere turned to normal colour. It appeared like thunder and lightning to the people who saw this fierce battle. The colour of the sky kept on changing from black smoke to normal clear look. After some time, the sign of the defeat of this giant snake was seen when the wings of this snake were cut off and thrown to the ground. 

   The snake god roared in pain and many wounds could be seen all over his body. Blood gushed out from the wounds and it fell like huge balls of fire on all the snake temples in that place. As a result of this the snake temples in that area caught fire and were destroyed. A loud death cry was heard and the Saint archangel Michael struck his fiery sword piercing the heart of the giant snake saying, 

  “you coward Egithna…. You were deceiving these people with this name right? Now this is the end of your life.” The next moment the giant snake fell to the ground with a loud cry. All the people gathered around could not bear to hear that loud death cry of that snake. At last the giant snake fell dead on the ground. When the snake god fell to the ground it fell like any other ordinary snake. Within the next few seconds the snake disappeared slowly. Along with this giant snake all the other snakes found in the city also disappeared. The three headed dog at the entrance of the temple also died and dissolved in the air.

   The next moment all those gathered in that place shouted joyfully, “Victory in the name of Lord Jesus Christ!!!! Praise the Holy name of Lord Jesus.” They celebrated the victory of Jesus. All the people of that city, which was once under the control of snakes, now understood the power and might of the only true God Jesus. As the people were shouting praises to the Lord Jesus Christ, a volcano which was near the city burst and started to spit fire and lava. 

  The governor utilized this opportunity and shouted out, “my dear country men…. See what had happened. These two wanderers have done some magic and killed our all-powerful snake god. In order to take revenge on us, our snake god Egithna has now kindled the fires of this volcano, which is the home of our snake god. These two people have put us all under the perils of our snake god’s anger. So do not spare these two people. Come on stone them to death. These two people who have put our lives at stake should not live. Offer them as a sacrifice to our snake god to cool off his anger. Also kill all the Christians in this town. Kill the person who has given his home to these two preachers. Burn all these people immediately….”    Immediately the governor’s wife Nagnora stood up in terror and said, “No this is injustice…. You have lost in the battle…. You are a looser… that is the reason you are expressing this anger on these two holy men of God. So according to the challenge it is you who is to be killed….. But it is not too late…. Accept Christ as your savior and I will ask Philip to forgive you and save your life..”

  But the governor was not afraid, instead he looked at her and said, “you merciless woman! How dare you ask me to beg the pardon of these two wanderers? Are you sparing my life and showing me mercy? I am the one who is to spare the life of these two so called men of God. Oh my dear citizens, listen to me. These two men have come to you in the name of God and have deceived all of you. So catch hold of all these men who are responsible for this especially these two preachers and stone them to death.”

  The next moment, the people who were shouting glory to Jesus, turned against the apostles and looted the house of Isthagis, they set his house on fire. The house was burnt down. Many houses of the Christians were also burnt down and the Christians were beaten. Philip and Bartholomew were arrested and tied to the pillars near the snake temple. They  tried to rape  the sister of Philip. But God was so gracious that he sent a huge pillar of fire to protect her and cover up her nakedness. 

   The governor’s wife Nagnora was confused and deeply hurt by these heart breaking incidents which followed one after the other. By that time the governor’s eye sight became more and more weak. He was losing his eye sight completely. This aggravated the anger of the governor. He commanded the people saying, “Dear citizens, come on, stone these two preachers to death.” 

   The people who lost their senses and forgot the good things that these two apostles had done for them, started to stone them to death. They very soon forgot all the great things that these two men of god had done to win the snake god and defeat it. Nagnora could not bear to see this. 

   She immediately declared aloud, “let the almighty God avenge you for this notorious act of yours. Already you are a loser; you lost the challenge you had with me. That is the reason you are infected with the eye disease which I had. May you lose, your eyesight completely. For all this daring act of yours, you will surely receive the right punishment from God. You have taken the name of the Lord so lightly that you have done this great injustice to these men of God. The almighty God whom they serve will soon judge you for your acts. Be prepared for it.” 

   The governor replied with a sarcastic smile, “you fool, are you aware of what you say? You thought that I am an idiot to release these two preachers? Never, if I release them then it means they have won and I am a loser. I will never let it happen. I will never lose, they will be the losers. If I have to live then they have to die…. I will ensure they die.”

  The two apostles were very badly hurt by the stones. At that moment Philip looked at his friend Bartholomew and said in their Hebrew language, “My dear friend, I want to see apostle and my friend John.” at that time the governor looked at the crowd and said, “Dear people, stop stoning them. They say they are the followers of the great God Jesus Christ. So we will give them the same punishment which was given to their God. We will crucify them on the cross. They say they are followers of Jesus, let them follow Jesus in death also.” 

  Nagnora started to plead for the apostles. She said, “Oh no please do not do this. This is not right. All of you know that these two men are the Holy men of God. You have seen with your own eyes all the great miracles and signs and wonders done by them. All of you know deep within your heart that these men are innocent. So please do release them. Do not kill them.” So saying she pleaded the cause of the apostles and cried bitterly before the crowd. But the barbaric crowd did not pay head to listen to her cries. They were very much eager to kill the apostles and offer them as sacrifice to their snake god so that the wrath of the snake god on them will be put to an end.

  The crowd sprang on the apostles and caught hold of them. They made them naked and made them stand upside down on the stone to which they were tied. They used huge nails and nailed the feet of the apostles to the stone pillar. In order to balance their weight, they used iron hooks and fastened it to their thighs along with the stone. As these things were happening, Apostle John happened to come that way. 

  He was moved by the Holy Spirit and came there. When he came to the center of the city, he saw a great crowd and a lot of commotion and noise in that place. Curious to know what was going on there, he reached the place and asked the people who were the people tied to the stone pillar and what was going on. The apostles were so badly disfigured by the stones that Apostle John could not even recognize his own friends (disciples of Jesus Christ). 

  The people looked at John and said, “Sir you look new to this place. These people who are tied to this stone pillar are preachers of the gospel. One of them is Philip, the other is Bartholomew and the other lady is Miriam. They came here and preached false doctrine about a new god Jesus Christ. They also killed our snake god Egithna. That is why we have crucified them in this stone pillar.” 

  Immediately John replied, “If your snake god Egithna is all powerful then it should have killed these people who stood against it. Instead the snake god is now dead and these people are alive which means that the god whom these people believe and worship is the all-powerful and only true god. The person who has won is the true one. Then why have you punished the winners? Is this justice? Why don’t you think for yourself?”

   The people were startled at this reply of John and understood that he too was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ. So immediately they said, “Oh so you too belong to these preachers is it? Then you have arrived at the right time. Here is yet another soul to be sacrificed to our snake god. Come on catch hold of him and tie him to the stone pillar. We will crucify him also. Let this be a lesson to all those who believe in Christ and all those who wish to believe.” 

   At this Philip could not bear any more and opened his mouth and spoke, “You senseless people, you cowards….. Are you so ungrateful that you kill those who relieved you from this giant snake god who was torturing you all these days of your life? Have you forgotten the days when you used to cry out asking God to save you from the destruction caused by this snake god? We came to help you, not for any reward. Our almighty Lord was so gracious to you all and killed this snake so that you will live peacefully. In spite of all the wonders our Lord did through us, if front of your eyes, you still do not believe the truth and trust in the god who is already defeated and dead. Did you not see how your snake god died? Is your heart as hard as this stone that you refuse to accept the truth even now? Ungrateful people” 

  Nagnora also spoke up saying, “respected Philip, do not spare these ungrateful people. They should have been left to the plight of that giant snake. Go ahead and curse them. They are not worthy to trust or take part in the life which is given by Jesus Christ. Curse them that the earth will open wide and swallow them. Let these people be pushed into the fires of hell where their thirst will never be quenched. Let the God almighty punish my husband for all that he has done against God. Let my husband be pushed into the deep pits of hell and be buried there forever. Go ahead and curse all these people. Do not spare them anymore.”

  Hearing all these one of the men came quickly and caught hold of John and tied him with a rope. Philip could not bear to see this. His anger reached its heights. He forgot that he was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He tolerated the injustice done to his own sister and to his dear friend Bartholomew. But he could not tolerate to see John being tied to the rope. For, John was the dear brother of Jesus who took care of Mother Mary all her life. He could not bear to see that John was going to be killed. 

  So he cried aloud, “I could not tolerate this anymore my dear Lord, I will curse these people, let these people be cursed. Let the earth open its mouth wide open and let these people be pushed through the gates of hell into the unquenched ever burning fire.” 

  As soon as Philip had uttered the last word, there was great thunder and lightning in the sky. The sky lit up and the earth opened wide with large noise. All the temples in that city, along with plutonian temple of the snake god shattered to the ground with a huge noise. All the roman temples, snake god temples, starting from the snake god temple up to the portal of hell were broken down and the earth quaked and shook their foundations. All those who stood against Lord Jesus Christ and against the believers of Jesus Christ were pushed into the fires of hell. But god spared all those who were true and holy, including men and women, and their children. They stood where they were but the earth swallowed all the other people.

   Amidst the burning fire loud voices screamed, “Oh Philip…. Oh Bartholomew…. Please forgive us. We have done the greatest sin of our life. Though we saw all the great deeds of Jesus Christ, we knew that He is the almighty God; we spoke against Him and did the greatest sin of our life. We repent now with a true heart, please forgive us…..” they wept bitterly.

    Apostle John saw this and was deeply moved. He turned to Philip and said, “At 85 years of age, being a devoted apostle of Jesus Christ, it is not right or fair to curse these people. You should not have put them in fire. This is not the way a true apostle should be. Our dear Lord Jesus Christ did not teach us such things. Don’t you remember the words our Lord spoke on the cross…. Amidst so much of torture, so much of pain, He said, ‘Forgive them Father….for they do not know what they are doing’. He pleaded the cause of those who tortured Him to death. If the blameless, Holy and true God could tolerate and pardon the sins of those who harmed him and insulted him, we as his disciples should be like him. Being a Christian is to be like Christ. If we are going to do just like these people, evil for evil, then there is not difference between them and us. Where is the love and compassion of the Lord in us? We should be showing them at all times, am I right? It is not too late. Plead with Jesus Christ to save these people from this fire. Our compassionate and loving God will surely listen to your prayers and release them. No one else other than you can plead for them. Go ahead and do it. Please.”

  Philip realized his mistake and shed tears. He cried bitterly for what he had done.

   At this time Nagnora said, “Dear sir Philip, forgive and rescue any one you want. But do not show mercy on my husband. Please never do that.” The next moment Philip started to pray for the people to Jesus Christ. He cried to Jesus Christ and asked him to forgive him and all the other people for all that they had done. He pleaded for the mercy of Christ.

    Hearing his prayer Jesus Christ appeared to him and said, “Philip, since you have realized your mistake, I forgive you and all those for whom you are praying for. I release these people from the fires right now.” So saying Jesus lowered his cross into the burning fire and that cross turned into a ladder. The people caught hold of it, climbed on to it and escaped from fire. But there was one  man who refused the cross and remained in fire. He was none other than Nagnora’s husband. All those who came out of the fire and lava sang hymns of praise to Jesus Christ as they came out.

   Jesus Christ then turned to Philip and said, “Philip though your anger is just, still you are not to curse people. I will never accept that. Don’t you remember what I had told you? Forgive your brother seventy times seven in a day. This means forgive him always. Look at people with the God kind of love which is selfless and always waits for them to come back to the right track. You have forgotten this. As I had promised all the apostles, ‘that which you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and that which you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven too..’ according to this promise I had to push these people to fire. But do remember I want you to build the kingdom of god on earth. That is the reason I sent all of you out into the world. Don’t you know that there will be great rejoicing in heaven on one sinner who repents than ninety nine righteous people? But in my grace I protected these people in fire. Their hair, or dress or their bodies were not burnt by fire. But I will have to punish you for this hasty decision of yours. You will die and your soul will not reach heaven for forty days. Once the forty days are over, I will take you to be with me forever in my home in heaven. A grape wine will grow in the place where you will be buried. Take those grapes and make wine out of it; offer it as a sacrifice and worship me. Bartholomew who is there crucified on the cross along with you, will go to Armenia and do the evangelic ministry there. He will die as my witness in that place. Your sister Miriam will go the Jordan and do the ministry there and die as my witness. Your daughters will be with you and appoint your disciple Isthagis as the next bishop.” So saying Jesus disappeared.

   As Jesus said, Bartholomew was taken down from the cross. Philips sister was also released. But Philip refused any men to come near him or touch him or release him. He said that it is the will of God that he should die in that way and did not allow anyone to come near him. He suffered on the cross for six days and on the seventh day he died. He was buried in that city. On the third after he was buried, a grape wine sprang up from the place where he was buried. It had fruits also and as instructed, the grape wine was taken from the grapes and offered as sacrifice and worship was done.

    For the next forty days people continued praying without sleeping on account of the love and respect they had for Philip. On the forty first day Philip appeared to Bartholomew and told him that he was there with Jesus in heaven and disappeared. The two daughters of Philip died of age and were buried along with Philip. His third daughter died in Ephesus. Apostle John died at a ripe old age in the city of Ephesus. His tomb is still there in Ephesus. But the grave of the daughters of Philip was not to be found. According to the words of Philip, Isthagis was anointed as the first bishop of the snake city. Since the romans has built many temples in that city along with the snake temple the city was called as sacred city, that is it was called as Hierapolis.   Many of the archeologist and bishops who lived in the second and third century have mentioned that the grave of Philip is in this city of Hierapolis.

   There are many interesting facts about the volcano’s which erupted and cooled off in this city. There were many hot springs during the Roman times. They were believed to have medicinal qualities in them. Even today there are hot water springs in few places in the city.

The hot water from the springs has flowed over the steps of white clay which is a beautiful sight. They are like natural swimming pools. They all have medicinal qualities in them. This has made it a great tourist spot for many of the tourists from the times of the Romans. In these modern days this place is called as Pamukkale.   There was large highway which was laid from central sear coast, from Ephesus city up to the city of Anatholia which is in the south eastern part of Turkey. This highway passes through this city of Hierapolis. Through this place only James started his second missionary work. Due to business requirements the city of Ephesus and the port city of Anatholia were linked by road transport and this was of great help in earnings for the Romans. But this was a great aid to spread Christianity in that region. 

  After the death of Philip the city of Hierapolis was named as sacred city. Many of the martyrs have been buried in this place. In 8 AD there was a great earthquake which completely disfigured the city. The entire city was demolished. After this incident the city never regained its lost glory. UNESCO took up this city under its control. Around 15 lakh people visit this city and the church which is built near the grave of Philip every year. Right from the first century up to this time, the devotion for Philip has not ceased among the Christians. The relics of Philip are kept in the Vatican City of Rome in the church of Apostles.

Dear Apostle Philip pray for us……… Amen