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The Latin Christian Church celebrates this January 6 the “Epiphany of the Lord”, who in the Hispanic world is popularly known as “the feast of the magi“, referring to the religious event which celebrates the manifestation of God before the” Magi of the East “, one of the four Epiphany of divinity which are recognized in the New Testament.
The story of the sages, who were not really “ kings ” or “ magi ” according to the contemporary etymological conception, appears in the Gospel according to Matthew 2: 1-12: ?? Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, at the time of King Herod, wise men from the East appeared in Jerusalem saying: ?? where is the king of the Jews who was born? For we have seen his star in the East and we have come to worship him. ?? Hearing it, King Herod was surprised. He summoned all the chief priests and scribes of the people, and through them he was informed of the place where Christ was to be born. They said to him: “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are not, no, the least of the principal clans of Judah; because from you will come a ruler who will feed my people Israel. ?? “
“So Herod called the wise men apart and from their data specified the hour of the star’s appearance. Later, sending them to Bethlehem, he said: Go and find out carefully about this child; and when you find him, let me know, go to me too to worship him. ?? After hearing the king, they set out, and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went ahead of them, until it came and stopped above where was the child. When they saw the star, they were filled with immense joy. They entered the house; they saw the child with Mary his mother and, prostrating themselves, they adored him; then they opened their coffers and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And, warned in a dream that they did not return to Herod, they withdrew to their country in another way. “
Reference to “East” includes zone zones Arabia, Persia and / or Chaldea, which encompasses what is currently northern and eastern Saudi Arabia, much of Iran, and central Iraq (Mesopotamia).
Meanwhile, the word ‘magician’ obviously did not have the connotation that word has today, according to an article published today on the portal. Infobae. ‘Magician’ comes from Persian ‘maguusha‘, which means priest. It came to Greek as magician (‘magos’, plural: μάγοι, magoi), refiriéndose a a caste of Persian or Babylonian priests who studied the stars in their desire to seek God. From Greek it passed to Latin as’mage‘(plural’ magi ‘) from where it came to the Spanish’ magician ‘. The original meaning of the word referred to the Median and Persian priests who presumably belonged to the Zoroastrianism and they were regarded by the three Persian empires as the custodians of the inheritance of Zarathustra.
So where do kings come from? The biblical text never mentions that they were, so it’s supposed to be a juxtaposition that the Church has done since they came from the region of which Psalm 72 (10-11) speaks, which says: “The kings of the West and of the islands will pay homage to him. The kings of Arabia and Ethiopia will give him gifts. Before him, will all kings bow down and all nations serve him?
Regarding the number of individuals who made up the caravan and their names, the biblical text does not say anything either. Saint Leo the Great (4th century) and Saint Maximus of Turin (5th century) speak of three magicians according to the gifts they wore, while in the first centuries of Christianity there are pictorial representations in which appear two, four, six and even eight magicians. However, the oldest Adoration of the Magi fresco dates from the 2nd century and is in an arch of the Greek chapel of the Roman catacombs of Priscilla, where three digits appear.
The first references to their names date back to the 5th century through two texts, the first entitled Excerpta latina barbari, in which they are called Melichior, Gathaspa and Bithisarea; and in another apocryphal gospel ?? the Armenian Gospel of Jesus’ childhood ?? where are they called Baltasar, Melkon and Gaspar. The names are also different according to the Syriac tradition: Larvandad, Gushnasaf and Exceptdas. It is in the church of San Apolinar Nuovo, in Ravenna (Italy) where the names of the magicians are read for the first time in public and they are dressed in Persian fashion with a Phrygian cap and their attitude is to offer this that they carry in their hands the Virgin who is seated on a throne and has the child on her left knee. Three names can be read above their heads, from right to left: Gaspar, Melchior y Balthassar, which are supposed to be equivalent in Greek to Call icon, Amerin and Damascon and in Hebrew to Magalath, Serakin and Galgalath.
But when do magicians acquire the physiognomy they have today? How we read the oldest representations they have no racial distinction between them, but only in the 15th century appear as we know them today. Melchor will play the Europeans, Gaspar the Asians and Baltasar the Africans. And the three ages of life: old age, adulthood and youth. In truth, the existence of the American continent, the Australian continent or the Antarctic continent was not yet known. In other words, we would need three more kings to represent all the continents.
The Magi, warned by a dream of the king’s intentions, did not return to Jerusalem. Herod therefore ordered the death of all children under the age of two living in Bethlehem, an episode known as the massacre of the innocent. Which is a mirror story between the life of Jesus and Moses. No historian who recounts the life of Herod recounts this genocide.
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