King James translation of the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, making some confusion about the term "Magi".On the one hand, we are talking about people who come to worship the infant Jesus Christ.They are mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew (the second ch.), And they are certainly positive characters.On the other hand, in the "Acts", in the eighth chapter tells of one Simon, who was engaged in sorcery.Seeing that leniency person of the Holy Spirit allows you to do great miracles, he brought the money to the apostles, asking them to sell the gift.Since then, trade in church positions called Simon.Thus, the sorcerer mentioned in the "Acts" - a magician, trying to impersonate someone great.In short, a charlatan.So what does "the wise men", what is the etymology of the word?
Scripture and the Church's Tradition
Let's first clarify the complexity of translation.If we look at the original Gospels, written in Greek, is mentioned in Matthew magov, «the wise men" - is sages, astrologers, interpreters of dreams, the priests.The Hebrew translation is more severe: that sorcerers, diviners.Both Greek and Jewish interpretations agree on one thing: the person who had come to worship the baby were not alien magic and astrology.Therefore, they led a star appeared in the east.In the Gospel there is no mention of the exact amount of the delegation, nor their names.All the information related to Church tradition, and therefore can be questioned.But divination Simon mageu / w is also translated as "hand-crafting", "vorozhenie", "spellcasting."You see the difference: the wise men, witch?Let's see what it has brought to the history of the worship of the Magi tradition of the Church.
Story Matthew
Evangelist pretty stingy for information.They came to Herod "wise men from the East" and asked: "Where is the king of the Jews, as we have seen his star?" After hearing about a possible rival, Herod excited.He assembled a council of knowing Torah scribes and wise men folk, so they pointed out to him at the exact place of birth of the Child.They have studied the books and the prophets pointed to Bethlehem.Round off the Magi.They followed the star and found the babe in the manger, and his mother.They worshiped them and brought to Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came into this world, frankincense, gold and myrrh.As is warned in a dream an angel, they did not return to Herod, and went to their land the other way.All end of the story.Why are these characters is mentioned only in Matthew and nowhere else?Biblical scholars say that the message of the Gospel is directed to the Jewish population of the Roman Empire.It most often mentioned the prophets, and the entire first chapter is devoted to the genealogy of Jesus, even though all Christians know that he - the son of the living God, and Joseph Davidic irrelevant.Matthew "east of the Magi" - a Jewish scholars of the Scriptures, which are calculated by the movement of the stars, when the Messiah will come to earth.
Beautiful Christmas Tale
Christian tradition rethought Jewish myth about the coming of the King of Israel.First, the Church accepted that there were three wise men, by the number of gifts.Furthermore, it decided that the Magi - the three sides of the world, who left paganism and accepted the torch of the new faith.Despite the fact that Matthew mentions magi from the East (Persia, Mesopotamia), the European tradition insists that, together with Asia Infant worshiped black Africa and Europe.It is also assumed that the new faith, are subject to people of all ages.On numerous paintings depicting the Adoration of the Magi, he looks young African boys, a European - middle-aged man and an Asian (sometimes portrayed resident of the Near East), gray-haired old man.This is somewhat contrary to the Holy Tradition of the Church, which in the eighth century, decided that the wise men were kings.One owned Arabia, the second - Persia, and the third - India.
Slavic tradition dens close to the biblical story.Some characters that poluhristianskogo poluyazycheskogo-bred folk pageant distinctive culture (Hell, Death, Jew), and some reflect the story of the Gospel of Matthew (Herod, soldiers, representing the royal army, angel).Sometimes all the action seems somewhat politicized (at least remember the nativity scene on the Maidan in 2014), but always cheerful and happy with the outcome.Among the actors are always present the biblical Magi, who symbolize the wise men of good will.
Rites of veneration
celebration of Christmas in Western Europe and we, the Eastern Slavs, is not only the time (twenty-fifth of December, and the seventh of January), and ritual.The tradition of the Roman Catholic Church does not forget about adoration magi, which it renamed the "kings".Thus, three ordinary person came to symbolize the peoples of different continents, who converted to Christianity.The church came up with the names of the Magi who came to Jesus.It Balthazar (African youth), Melchior (European in their prime) and Caspar or Gaspar (Asian elderly).In the first days of the year in different European countries, people remember these three characters and try to recreate the Gospel story of the coming of the Magi.
special mention as celebrating Three Kings in Spain.In all the cities and towns of the country are large or small street parades.Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar surrounded by a large retinue, riding, welcomed the crowd and showered her with candy.On this day, we decided to make gifts to all the children, especially the youngest.Christmas Magi worshiped a special scale in Germany.And this is not surprising - after all the relics of the three wise men as the Church says, lie in cancers in the Cologne Cathedral.But the process, these consist of the children.They go from house to house, and everywhere they generously sweets.And thanks to the little petitioners draw a chalk on the door jamb mysterious letters «B + C + M», adding the inscription indicating the year.The owners do not wash it for many years, it is over the threshold will remain a hospitable place.For inscriptions mean that Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar visited under the roof of the house and met a very warm welcome here.For what it received the blessing of the holy dwelling.
Gifts of the Magi - what is it?
Now let's talk about what brought the wise men (or, as they are also called, kings or magi) Baby Jesus Christ.Evangelist Matthew points out, what were these gifts: firstly, a precious metal such as gold, and secondly, aromatic resins - frankincense and myrrh.It is clear that all three gifts have symbolic meaning.Otherwise, it becomes unclear why all this newborn baby need.The value of the gifts of the Magi is also disclosed in the church Tradition.According to him, gold is a symbol of the royal glory.Matthew is silent, the form in which the Magi presented the precious metal - in bars, in the form of coins or some other.But Christ - the king of all heavenly rulers of the earth, and this fact would like to note the wise men from the East.
Well, frankincense and myrrh - gifts of the Magi other?What does this mean?Aromatic resin burned incense still in the pagan temples.The symbolism of the people of the time it is identified with the fragrance of something divine, not of this world.Presenting incense to Jesus Christ, the Wise Men gave to understand that sees it not only as the King of Glory, but as the Son of the living God.In Ethiopia, Arabia and grow trees, bark and resin which, after appropriate treatment is also an aromatic rubbing.The very sight of the plant called "benzoin", but it turns out he incense - or myrrh myrrh.In the Judeo-Hellenistic tradition of this substance anoint the dead before burial.It was believed that it helps people traveling to another world.Gift Infant myrrh symbolized sacrifice the future that Christ will bring for the people.
What happened to the relics then?
Despite the fact that neither Matthew nor any other evangelist does not mention what happened to the Magi after they returned to their own land (Mesopotamia), Church tradition did not think they forget.The cult of veneration of the remains of saints, martyrs and saints appeared in the fourth century and is extremely developed in the Middle Ages.The more relics, the larger the flow of pilgrims and thus the greater the amount of donations.Following this simple logic, the Church undertook to develop the cult of the Magi and all that is connected with them.It was declared that the wise men from the East were baptized by St. Thomas and later accepted a martyr's end in their countries.Not surprisingly, soon found and the power of the Magi.They found a Byzantine Empress Helena of Constantinople, as it usually happened to her in a dream.
How is it that the remains of people departing from Bethlehem to the east, suddenly found in Byzantine (now Turkey), the city of Sheba?Matthew does not mention exactly where the native land of three magicians, but the indication is contained in the Old Testament.The prophecy of Isaiah (60: 6) says: "All of them from Sheba shall come, and shall proclaim the praises of the Messiah, bringing a gift of incense and the gold."And in Psalms (71:10) written something else: "The kings of the islands and Farsi, the Sava and Arabia will bring tribute to him;and worship Him all the peoples. "As you can see, the native land of wise men (or three kings of the kingdom) are far from Sheba.But the sacred tradition has found a way out.There was a legend that in the age of one hundred and fifty years, every three wise men met in Sheva, to honor the memory of our Lord.There they rest in peace.And the bones of the Magi Christian community preserved and transferred to Constantinople.
Travel
relics in Constantinople remains of saints did not stay long.Already in the V century worshiped in Mediolanum, the capital of the Lombard Duchy (modern Milan in Italy).In the twelfth century, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa conquered this territory and brought power in Germany.Preserved written evidence that the relics were donated by the archbishop of Cologne Rainald von Dassel, who in 1164 brought them from Italy, first on carts, and then on a ship on the Rhine.They say that the construction of the tallest Gothic cathedral was synitsiirovano desire to create the majestic "ark" for the imperishable remains of the Three Kings.Now the relics of the Magi lie in reliquaries, who created the craftsman Nicholas of Verdun, in the sanctuary of the Cologne Cathedral.
But then saw Marco Polo, who visited in the late thirteenth century in Sawa - a town south of Tehran?In his memoirs the traveler says he visited three standing next to and beautifully decorated tomb of the Magi.Exhibited there body does not have affected the expansion.This circumstance is particularly Marco Polo said: "As the recently deceased, with beards and hair."Unfortunately, these relics of Sava was completely lost.And Cologne is stored only bones.They show a crowd from a distance during the celebration of the "Three Kings" (the sixth of January).
Where are the gifts of the Magi?
If the relics of the three magi all so ambiguous and doubtful, then with their gifts, the picture looks more simple.According to legend, she kept the Holy Mother of God of gold, frankincense and myrrh, presented to her son.Even before the Assumption she gave these gifts to the small community of Christians in Jerusalem.When the apostles decided to go preach to the Gentiles into all the earth, the relics were transferred to Constantinople.Frames for them was the Hagia Sophia - the great temple, a specimen of Byzantine architecture.But in the fifteenth century the Turks captured Constantinople.Queen Mara, the daughter of Prince George Brankovic Serbia and stepmother of the great conqueror Mehmed II, exported Christian relics of the Ottoman Empire and carried them to the Mount Athos.She wanted to give their own monks, but on the way she was the Mother of God, and asked not to violate the strict monastic regulations forbidding women to climb the holy mountain.Mara obeyed and gave the relics through his guard.There they lie to this day, the local monastery of St. Paul.And in the place of the appearance of the Virgin built a chapel.
gifts of the three wise men are unquestionable for all the Orthodox shrines.Not all pilgrims can come to Greece in order to venerate the relics.On Mount Athos ban on women visiting convents and monasteries.Therefore, the relics themselves to travel to their believers.For example, in December 2013 Athos monastery complex that houses the gifts of the Magi, blessed father Nicodemus accompany shrines in their journey to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.The question arises of whether the base metal, even precious, and incense to work miracles of healing?In response, the monk Nicodemus refers to a passage from the Gospels (Matthew, Chapter Nine, Mark - the fifth, and Luke - eighth), which refers to a woman who has recovered, just touching the edge of the Savior's clothes.If such power has the usual cloth robes, what is the power of emitting objects, which once touched the hand of Jesus and Mary Fertile?
How are the gifts of the Magi could see firsthand all Muscovites and visitors.The relics were exhibited at Christmas to worship Christ the Savior Cathedral.Things that are directly associated with the earthly life of our Lord, there are ten precious, ornate ark.They are twenty eight gold plates triangular and square shapes.Each of them is decorated with unique ornaments made filigree.Relic is the silver thread on which are strung sixty two beads, each the size of an olive, made from a mixture of myrrh and frankincense.
But believers in Ukraine are not fully able to make their own eyes, the look of the gifts of the Magi.They were taken to Kiev just in the second half of February this year, after they visited Belarus.The relics were put on public display in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate).But in those days the Ukrainian people had just been involved in the revolutionary events in Kiev, so not all were interested in the shrines with the Mount Athos.
Lost in Translation
Synodal statement of the New Testament has brought confusion in the minds of ordinary Orthodox.Mentioned in the "Acts" Simon is a negative character, willing to spend money for the Holy Spirit to create more miracles than made up of sorcery.Why, then, have to read the magicians who come to worship in Bethlehem?The word "vlhv" in Old Church Slavonic dialect means magician, wizard, witch.We will not go into the etymology of the term.Whether it occurred from the word "hair" or "vlesneti" (talk vaguely muttering) - it does not matter.Let's look at who the Magi were ancient.
not only on our land, but also in other regions pagan religions worshiped "knowledgeable people".They were well versed in the grass, black and white magic, astrology, were able to predict the future.It was a special caste of priests who were engaged in carrying out religious rites, divination, prophecy, and the preparation of drugs and treatment.We can say that the Celtic tribes of the Magi were called Druids.Representatives of this kind of spiritual caste occupies a rather high position and enjoyed great prestige among the people.For their advice, as well as oracles came the grand dukes (think or Prophetic Oleg Gostomysl).What can I say!Free enchantments owned and some of the princes Polovtsian dynasty.Bryachislav Izyaslavovich pagan priests defended the persecution of Yaroslav the Wise.And his son - Bryacheslavovich Vseslav Polotsk - was born of enchantments.All his life he wore as a mascot, "veil", in which he was born.If you believe the "Lay", Vseslav was a werewolf, had glamor and techniques could guess.
With the adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir Slavic Magi were subjected to repression.Particularly zealous Prince of Kiev, Yaroslav the Wise.Around 1010 he destroyed the temple of Veles.In its place, the prince built the city of Yaroslavl.It is also up in arms against the Magi Gleb Novgorod and Jan Vyshatich.Doctor of Historical Sciences I. Ya Froyanov believes that this fight is clear opposition to the old Slavic pagan beliefs of the people and the new religion.After all, Christianity was "deflated from above", imposed by the secular authorities.Why is that?
