In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Beloved in Christ, today the Church celebrates the holy and all-praised Apostle Philip, one of the Twelve. In the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem given to Saint John, the wall of the holy city has twelve foundations, “and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:14). We often struggle to recognize who and what is truly important. The world honors celebrities, successful entrepreneurs, and imaginary heroes. The Church, which is not confused, honors a man from Bethsaida, whose name is written in the foundations of the eternal city.
“Follow Me!”
The Gospel of the feast tells us how it began: “On the next day, being determined to go out into Galilee, Jesus met Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me!’” (John 1:43). Two words were enough. We are not told of any long conversation, any argument, any test. The Lord called, and Philip followed.
We should notice what Philip does next. He does not keep this discovery to himself. “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found the one of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!’” (John 1:45). The one who has been found by Christ immediately goes to find another. This is the beginning of the apostolic life, and it is the vocation of every Christian. The word “apostle” means one who is sent. Before Philip was sent to the nations, he was sent to his friend.
Nathanael’s answer is not encouraging: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). He is skeptical, perhaps a little scornful. Philip could have argued. He could have listed the prophecies. Instead, he says three words that contain an entire method of evangelism: “Come and see!”
“Come and See!”
Faith in Christ is not first a theory to be debated. It is a meeting with a Person. Philip does not try to win the argument; he invites his friend into an encounter. This is still the best way to share the Orthodox faith. Arguments have their place, and the Apostles knew how to reason from the Scriptures. Yet in the end, what changes a heart is not an argument but a meeting with the living Christ: in the Divine Liturgy, in the prayer of the Church, in the beauty of holiness, in the love of Christians for one another. We cannot give anyone faith. We can say, “Come and see.”
When Nathanael comes, the Lord says of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47). Nathanael’s skepticism was not dishonesty. He was a man without guile, who wanted the truth. When he asks how the Lord knows him, Jesus answers, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48). Something happened under that fig tree that no one else could have known: perhaps a prayer, perhaps a struggle, perhaps a secret hope. Saint John Chrysostom, in his homilies on the Gospel of John, observes that Nathanael recognized the Lord precisely because He revealed knowledge of what was hidden, knowledge that belongs to God alone. Immediately, the skeptic becomes a confessor: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!” (John 1:49).
It is a great comfort to know that the Lord sees us under our own fig trees: in the hidden places of our hearts, in the prayers no one hears, in the struggles no one knows. Before anyone calls us, He has already seen us.
Heaven Opened
The Lord then promises something greater: “Amen, amen, I tell you; hereafter, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Every Israelite would have recognized the image. It is the ladder that the Patriarch Jacob saw in his dream at Bethel, reaching from earth to heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:12). Christ reveals that He Himself is that ladder. In His Person, God and man are united; heaven and earth are joined; the way to the Father is open.
Philip’s whole life with Christ is a story of seeing. Later, some Greeks came to him with a request: “Sir, we want to see Jesus” (John 12:21). At the Mystical Supper, Philip asked, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us!” The Lord answered him with words that are the foundation of our faith: “I have been with you for such a long time, and still, do you not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:8-9).
Providentially, today the Church also commemorates Saint Gregory Palamas, the great teacher of the vision of God. He taught, with the whole tradition of the Fathers, that God remains unknowable in His essence, yet truly communicates Himself to us through His uncreated energies, so that the saints, purified by grace, behold the divine Light, as the Apostles did on Mount Tabor. The Catechism of the Orthodox Faith summarizes this teaching: the goal of salvation is “theosis: union with God by grace, in which we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ through his uncreated energies, while God remains unknowable in his essence.” The promise made to Nathanael, “you will see heaven opened,” is the promise made to every Christian: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
A Spectacle to the World
The Epistle of the feast reminds us that seeing heaven opened does not mean an easy life on earth. Saint Paul writes: “I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and people…. When people curse us, we bless [in return]. When we are persecuted, we endure” (1 Corinthians 4:9, 12). According to the tradition of the Church, Philip preached the Gospel in Asia Minor and ended his life as a martyr in Hierapolis. The man who once asked to see the Father became, by his death, a witness to the One who had shown Him.
Tomorrow, the holy Nativity Fast begins, which in many Orthodox lands is called the Fast of Philip, because it begins on the day after his feast. As the Catechism notes, the Church has appointed “the fast of the Nativity (Advent, November 15 to December 24)” as one of the seasons of the yearly cycle. It is fitting that we begin this journey under the protection of the Apostle who said, “Come and see.” The forty days before the Nativity are an invitation to come and see the Word made flesh, lying in the manger of Bethlehem.
Let us, then, answer the call “Follow me” with the simplicity of Philip. Let us be without guile, like Nathanael. Let us not keep the treasure we have found to ourselves, but say to those around us, by our words and above all by our lives, “Come and see.” Then we too will see heaven opened, and the Son of Man, who is the way to the Father.
Through the prayers of the holy Apostle Philip and of our father among the saints Gregory Palamas, may Christ our God have mercy on us and save us, for to Him belong all glory, honor, and worship, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.