Epiphany: The Strange and the Wise

    So what is a magus exactly? Strictly speaking, “magi” refers to the Zoroastrian priests of ancient Persia; renowned astrologers for whom sacred fires were the preëminent symbols of the presence of God. The thought of their founding prophet, Zoroaster, falls somewhere between dualism and monotheism, and the faith that he left behind both influenced and was influenced by biblical Judaism.

    Persians generally come off pretty well in the Hebrew Bible. When the Chaldeans of the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Judah and scattered the Jewish people into Exile, most settled in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) right next to Persia (modern day Iran). Zoroastrian ideas of angels, demons, and a coming Final Judgment found fertile ground in Judaism, while Jewish monotheism firmed up Zoroastrian concepts of God.

    When Cyrus the Great soon thereafter arose as Emperor of the Persians and Medes, Jewish prophets hailed him as an anointed liberator sent by God to end the Exile. This he indeed accomplished, conquering Babylon and freeing the Judeans to return home, to rebuild their country and their Temple. Judeans would be part of the Persian Empire now, but this they found far preferable to their previous overlords.

    In a broader sense, the Bible uses “magi” to describe what we might call magicians, possessors of secret wisdom, such as the Samaritan sorcerer Simon Magus in the Acts of the Apostles. When Matthew’s Gospel account refers to Magi from the east, who pursue a moving Star to find the Christchild, it isn’t clear whether he intends for us to understand these as Zoroastrian priests or simply as wise men more generally.

    Personally, I suspect the former. It would make both historical and narrative sense for Zoroastrians to reverence the Messiah; they were notorious stargazers, after all, and well acquainted with Jewish messianic expectations. Besides that, Cyrus the Great had been heralded as an agent and champion of the one true God—even referred to by the Prophets as God’s anointed, a kind of prototype messiah himself.

    In Christian art, the Visitation of the Magi represents God in Christ gathering the nations of the world into His people, into the New Covenant. We often portray the Magi at three distinct ages (youth, middle age, and dotage), hailing from the three known continents of the ancient world (Africa, Europe, and Asia). This is artistic license, not literalism. Nowhere does the Gospel claim that they were three, nor that they were kings. Such are later interpolations made through connections to Psalms and Prophets.

    While many modern interpreters have attempted to identify the Star of Bethlehem with perhaps a supernova or planetary alignment, early Christians had no illusions that this was some sort of natural phenomenon. What star, after all, traverses the heavens and comes to settle over a specific house? No, the early Church assumed that the Star in question was an angelic supernatural guide. Religious thought often elided stars and angels in those days, with celestial bodies representing pure spiritual intelligences.

    But the most famous bit regarding the Magi must surely be their evocative gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The popular explanation of these, from the song “We Three Kings,” is right on the money. Immune to rust, shiny and rare, gold evokes the wealth of royalty. Burned for worship in many religions, frankincense is an offering fit for a god. And myrrh, dissolved into embalming oil by Jews and thrown on funeral pyres by Romans, possesses the cloying scent of death. It smells of haunted houses.

    As the hymn puts it: “Glorious now, behold Him arise: King and God and Sacrifice.” Such are the gifts of the Magi, revelations regarding the life and mission of Christ.

    We celebrate the Visitation of the Magi on Epiphany, immediately following the 12 Days of Christmas. In the Eastern Church, 6 January commemorates all the ways in which God “appears” or “manifests” Himself in Jesus Christ: the Nativity, the Visitation of the Magi, the Baptism of Our Lord, and the Wedding at Cana. While the West celebrates all of these as well, throughout Epiphanytide, the Magi take center stage in our observances.

    Behold the many ways in which Creation points to Christ: through contemplation of the starry-decked heavens; through wisdom and science; through ancient religions now all but extinct; and through the confluence of Jewish and pagan thought, the arrival of wealthy priests from afar come to worship the poor Child of a carpenter and his bride.

May wise men seek Him still. In Jesus. Amen.

-Eminent Grand Prelate Sir Knight Ryan Stout