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They were wizards and came from the East following the direction of a mysterious star. They came to Bethlehem and offered the boy three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh and came back very happy in his distant land. (When they arrived in Jerusalem, they spoke to King Herod, but on their return, they avoided it.Herode, suspicious and enraged, sent his soldiers to kill all children under two years old in Bethlehem, but Jesus and his parents were gone., warned in time by an angel, to Egypt.)
This is all that the evangelist Matthew tells about them. Luke mentions and reports only the worship of shepherds. From this first story, the legend has developed and survived in the popular tradition, embellished with a mystical halo adding new details to the short scene of worship of the Magi. The evangelist did not say how much they were, how they called themselves, what was their magic and what mysterious Orient they came from. (Were they Persians, Chaldeans or Arabs?). Wiser and more precise, in the third century, Origen wrote that there were three. Tertullian claims that the three were kings and their names were revealed sometime later: Gaspar, Belchior and Baltasar. The day of Epiphany in Bethlehem was not long: January 6, winter solstice in Egypt. (12 days after Christmas, December 25. It seems that they have traveled quickly, perhaps on fast camels, from the mysterious East to Judea.)
Illi Magi very reges dicuntur . "These three magicians are called kings," wrote Cesario de Arles in the sixth century. At this time, we see them in a brilliant mosaic of Holy Apocalypse. New in Ravenna: they are all dressed as Iranian wizards (they wear fries caps and typical oriental pants), the names are already written on their characters and they walk one after the other, gifts to the child Jesus. Soon they reappear as kings, dressed in sumptuous robes and their gold crowns. At that time, the name "magician" aroused fears and the magic, white or black, was a suspicious practice. so that "with the support of a biblical prophecy of Isaiah, the magi were raised to the rank of kings. Epiphany emphasizes her symbolism: the rich monarchs humiliate in front of the Divine Child and their parents in the humble manger.
The legend, amplified by scholarly interpretations of wise clerics, has its best digest in Voragine's Legenda Áurea, in the thirteenth century. In this book are gathered and clbadified many comments that explain its symbolic aspects. The three gifts express the triple nature of the newborn: gold was for the king, myrrh for man, incense for the god. And the three kings represent the three biblical tribes of Shem, Ham, and Japhet (ie, Asia, Europe, and Africa). The allegorical chandeliers are reflected in thousands of paintings and images because Christian iconography makes the scene one of his favorite themes. There are important new details: kings are of different ages. The first is an old man with a white beard, the second is of middle age and a black beard, and the third is a young man without a beard. And another new one that lasted: one of the three, is black (perhaps by his Ethiopian stock).
The Magi made yet another pilgrim's journey after the dead. It is said that after returning from Bethlehem to their country, they died and were buried in the far-off and fabulous city of Sheba. After a few centuries, a godly lady was discovered as a relic discoverer. St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, went to the city to find her bones and, with the imperial support, led them to Constantinople. They were saved from there by the bishop of Milan, Eustórgio, who took the three people to a sarcophagus in his diocese. A few centuries later, taking advantage of the sack of the city by the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne Reinaldo de Dbadel was able to seize the venerable royal vestiges and lead them on a journey perilous to his city. On the banks of the Rhine, they would finally rest, like vivid relics, venerated like a great treasure in a golden arch.
In the thirteenth century, Jacques de Voragine brings together the commentary explaining the symbolic aspects of the Magi
The church that housed the famous relics of the time, prestige and became the center of multiple pilgrimages. Had to worship the ancient faithful, thousands of pilgrims from Italy, France, Germany and Scandinavia, fascinated by the magic of their holy relics, sheltered in the heart of Christian Europe. The traveling mages have been hired as protectors of travelers and pilgrims. And although they are not officially sanctified, their names have baptized many. His images and festivals have multiplied in countless cities, churches and shrines up to the confines of Europe. (Even in a monastery of Mount Atos, there were revered myrrh grains that they offered to the boy in Bethlehem.)
The cult of kings, pictorial theme of predilection in the Middle Ages, attains a splendor and a magnificent diffusion in the hands of the great painters of the Renaissance period: Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Gozzoli, Botticelli, Italy; Van der Weyden, Memling, Bosch and Rubens in Flanders, and El Greco, Velázquez and others in Spain. A great mythological Christian figure: three kings with gold costumes and exotic suites kneel in front of the quaint and humble stable of Bethlehem.
As you can see, the Magi had a fabulous survival. From the brief evangelical news, they won the name and figure and became brilliant kings. Today, his images last longer thanks to art than to religious worship. In a picturesque way, on the cavalcades and costumes of the carnival and the popular celebration of January 5th.
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