PHILIP OF SIDE. — Christian historian and bishop, born in Side, Pamphylia. There he was a disciple of Rhodon and later succeeded DIDymus the Blind as head of the Alexandrian Didaskaleion. In Constantinople he was ordained deacon by St JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, with whom he maintained cordial relations, and later became a priest. He unsuccessfully presented his candidacy for the patriarchal see three times. He refuted the books of the Apostate Julian Against the Galileans.
Around 430 he published the Christian History, from the creation of the world to his own time, in 36 books and nearly 1,000 volumes. Only scanty fragments remain, containing inaccuracies that would seem to invalidate the value of the work. Socrates (Hist. ecc., VII, 26-27; cf. 29, 35) states that he did not observe chronological order and inserted the most varied descriptions and notions.