Philip's daughters are four women briefly mentioned in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Biblical account

They were

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

s of

Philip the Evangelist Philip the Evangelist ( el, Φίλιππος, ''Philippos'') appears several times in the Acts of the Apostles. He was one of the Seven chosen to care for the poor of the Christian community in Jerusalem (). He preached and reportedly perform ...

, one of the seven Greek-speaking Jewish men, including Stephen who were appointed

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

s to the Greek-speaking Jewish widows in the Jerusalem church. He became an evangelist travelling throughout

the Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy L ...

. By the end of the account in Acts, he was living in

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea Maritima (; Greek: ''Parálios Kaisáreia''), formerly Strato's Tower, also known as Caesarea Palestinae, was an ancient city in the Sharon plain on the coast of the Mediterranean, now in ruins and included in an Israeli national park ...

with his four daughters:

The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

Extra-biblical references

Further details of these women are given in various early histories including Eusebius and Papius. It is possible that they were informants for both

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

in their youth and the

early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

historian Papias in their latter years. Eusebius quoting Papias tells us that two daughters remained with Philip in his old age, when he had moved to the

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Hierapolis Hierapolis (; grc, Ἱεράπολις, lit. "Holy City") was originally a Phrygian cult centre of the Anatolian mother goddess of Cybele and later a Greek city. Its location was centred upon the remarkable and copious hot springs in classica ...

and even relates a tale where one was miraculously raised from the dead.” Eusebius' source for these tales was Papias, who he extensively quoted, and who was a young

Bishop of Hierapolis The Diocese of Hierapolis in Phrygia, was a Christian bishopric in Phrygia (modern central Turkey). Through the influence of the Christian apostle Paul, a church was founded at Hierapolis while he was at Ephesus. The Christian apostle Philip spe ...

. It is plausible that Papias knew these women. Eusebius held the women as examples of the right living and refers to them as “great lights” or “mighty luminaries” People would travel long distances to consult them. A later Greek Menaon, an annual calendar equivalent to a Catholic

missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...

, which preserves the memory of

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s and

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s, claims that two of the daughters were called

Hermione Hermione may refer to: People * Hermione (given name), a female given name * Hermione (mythology), only daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology and original bearer of the name Arts and literature * ''Cadmus et Hermione'', an opera by ...

and Eutychis. Hermione and her sister Eutychis travelled to

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

. An early ''

vita Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vit ...

'' of Hermione also survives, and recounts much of her life.

Burial place

Tradition says that two daughters, Irais and Chariline, were buried in Hierapolis. Eusebius writes “After him there were four prophetesses, the daughters of Philip, at Hierapolis in Asia. Their tomb is there and the tomb of their father.” Other sources however, say all four were buried in Caesarea. William Cave, Lives of the Most Eminent Fathers of the Church that Flourished in the First Four Centuries, Volume 1 (London, 1840), 89.

References

{{reflist Unnamed people of the Bible Women in the Bible Sisters Quartets