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Nine months before the Nativity of Christ, during the Archangel Gabriel’s annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary concerning God’s incarnation within Her, a new star of the east appeared in the heavens. This was an extraordinary star indeed. According to the Holy Fathers (Sts. John Chrysostome and Theophilactus), this star was not one of the regular celestial bodies, but a certain divine and angelic power which appeared in the form of a star. All other stars have their own place in heaven, while this star could also be seen in the air; all stars usually move from east to west, while this star moved unusually from east to south, in the specific direction of Jerusalem; all stars shine only in the night, while this star shone like the sun even during the day; all stars are in constant movement, while this star sometimes moved and sometimes stopped, i.e. when the magi traveled, then the star traveled with them, and when they rested, then the star stood, too.
This extraordinary star was seen by three magi, or wise men, in three different countries – Persia, Arabia, and Ethiopia. Being learned men, they knew astronomy and studied the stars, and thus, seeing such an unusual phenomenon in the skies, they realized that something supernatural had take place in the world. Then, inspired by God, they remembered the ancient prophecy of another star-gazer, Valaam, who had said: “A star will shine forth from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel.” The magi realized that the time had come for the Lord and King of the universe to be born, and that this was His star, foretold ages ago. Then each one of them left his own country and embarked upon travel to Judea, in order to worship the newborn God. During their travel they met one another and continued on their way in unison.
Traveling thus for several months, the magi finally came to Judea and reached its capital – Jerusalem – on the very day of Christ’s Nativity. However, when they approached Jerusalem, the star that was leading them suddenly disappeared from view. This happened so that King Herod and the envious Jewish priests would not be able to find the Christ-Child and kill Him prematurely, and also because the Jewish populace was not worthy of seeing the wondrous star: the magi were pagans, and yet had come from afar to worship Christ, while the Jews had Him right beside them, and yet disdained Him.
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Finding Christ in the cave, the magi knelt down to the ground before Him, worshipping Him as God, and gave Him their gifts. What gifts did they bring? Gold, incense, and myrrh: gold for Him as King, incense for Him as God, myrrh for Him as a mortal man. The first magus – Melchior, old and grey, with long hair and beard, – brought the gold. The second magus – Gaspar, young and beardless, with a rosy face, – brought the incense. The third magus – Balthazar, with a dark complexion and a long beard, – brought the myrrh.
Several church canticles movingly describe this wondrous moment, depicting the Virgin Mary as though speaking to Her newborn Son: “Having recognized Thee as a King just born, the oriental kings have come, bringing gifts to Thee, My Son, – incense, myrrh, and gold. And now they are standing at the entrance. Bid them enter and look upon Thee, an Infant in My arms, yet more ancient than Adam.” “‘Come and enter carefully, – said the Virgin to the magi – and ye will see the Unseen One, Who can now be seen as a Child.’ And they entered assiduously and knelt down, and presented their gifts, fulfilling the divine prophecy.”
Afterwards, being instructed by an angel not to return to Herod, who was planning to kill Christ, the magi went another way and returned each to his own land, and there became teachers and preachers of Christ. They taught people to believe in Christ as the Son of God, just as they believed in Him themselves, and after their repose they became numbered among the saints.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
The magi’s adoration of the Infant Christ is spoken of in the Gospel only by the Evangelist Matthew. In his narrative he does not indicate specifically when the magi came to Bethlehem; for this reason there exist contradictory views on this subject.
Some ancients thought that the magi did not come to worship the Saviour immediately after His nativity, but later, even a year or two later. Thus, for example, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus wrote: “…found by the magi to be worshipped in the second year after His nativity, He accepted the gifts and that same night, in accordance with the Angel’s command to Joseph, was taken to Egypt,” or it is said in one of the apocryphal gospels: “After two years had passed, the magi came to Jerusalem from the east, bringing great gifts, and carefully set out to find out from the Jews, asking: where is the King Who was born unto us?”
Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, who does not share this view, wrote: “Some say that the star appeared to them (the magi) at the exact time of His nativity, and that the magi traveled for two years and found the Lord with His Mother, not swaddled and in the manger, but in a house, when He was already two years old…”.
From Matthew’s Gospel we know that the magi did not worship the Saviour in the cave, as had the shepherds, but already in a house: “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and when they were come into the house, they saw the Infant with Mary His Mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him” (Matt. 2:10-11). Thus the adoration by the shepherds and by the magi took place separately. Some iconographic depictions showing the magi worshipping together with the shepherds in the cave may be considered as being purely symbolic, uniting all the events related to the Nativity of the Christ on a single canvas. We often come across such symbolism in iconography, such as the representation of Apostle Paul among the other apostles during the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them in the chamber of Zion.
The most ancient depictions of the adoration of the magi specifically do not show the Divine Infant swaddled, or in a cave, but as a one- or two-year-old; for example, on a sepulcher from the catacombs of St. Agnes in Rome (4th century), in a mosaic in the church of Maria Maggiore in Rome (5th century), or in a mosaic in Ravenna (6th century).
But the two-year-old age of the Divine Infant also seems unlikely; most probably it was based by interpreters upon the Gospel’s mention of King Herod’s order to slaughter all infants up to the age of two. This does not mean that the Divine Infant was actually two years old. In ancient Israel age was not counted from zero at birth, as is now customary. The concept of zero in counting appeared much later among the Hindus and came to the West through the Arabs. When an infant was born among the Jews, they began counting his age from one. Thus, according to our method of counting, Herod ordered the slaughter of infants from the age of one and younger.
The Gospel also says that after the end of the Holy Virgin’s 40 days of “purification,” St. Joseph and the Mother of God brought to the temple in sacrifice a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (Luke 2:24). This sacrifice attested to the Holy Pair’s poverty; by law they were required to bring a lamb, while the sacrifice of turtledoves was allowed only to the poor. However, if the adoration of the magi had occurred before the presentation at the temple, by that time the Holy Family would have already had in their possession the gifts of the wise men of the east – gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and they would then have been able to sacrifice a lamb. Moreover, after the adoration of the magi they would hardly have been emboldened to go to the temple in Jerusalem, since after the appearance of the magi in Jerusalem, the Divine Infant was sentenced by Herod to death. Consequently, the adoration of the magi most likely occurred after the presentation at the temple, i.e. after 40 days from the nativity of the Saviour.
There is just one “but.” The Evangelist Luke writes immediately upon describing the presentation at the temple: “And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth” (2:39). However, if one takes into account that in his narrative the Evangelist Luke entirely omitted the adoration of the magi, and the slaughter of the infants, and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, but immediately after the presentation at the temple proceeded to a description of the 12-year-old Christ’s life in Nazareth, this “but” falls away of its own accord.
After the presentation at the temple, the Holy Family most likely returned from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which was only 9 km. or two hours’ walk from Jerusalem, and not to Nazareth, which was 157 km. away (5 days on foot). They possibly decided not to embark upon such a long journey with an Infant in their hands without any great need (the flight into Egypt was definitely a forced event). It may also be supposed that during his 40-day stay in Bethlehem Joseph was able to find work. It is hardly likely that he remained there so long without doing anything. The indigent Holy Family was in need of money precisely at that time, as St. John Chrysostome says, – the magi found the Divine Infant covered with the sole coverlet that the Family had, and one which only the wife of a poor man could have bought.
Returning from Bethlehem, they leased a place where the magi subsequently found them. And from there, after the departure of the magi and the angel’s command, they fled with the Divine Infant into Egypt. And during this flight the gifts of the magi came in very handy.
M.V.
(Reprinted from “Orthodox Russia,” No. 23 for 2008)
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