My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: THE MAGI
"The Magi sought the Lord Christ, born King of the Jews, among those from whose race they knew that Balaam, a Prophet from the Gentiles, had prophesied that He would come. The faith of the Magi is the condemnation of the Jews. The Magi believed in the authority of their soothsayer Balaam and the Prophet Daniel; but the Jews, from the testimony of many Prophets, refused to believe. Whereas the Magi acknowledged that the coming of Christ would terminate their profane knowledge and magical arts, the Jews would not accept the Lawgiver's doing away with their sacrifice and refused to accept the mysteries of the divine dispensation. The Magi confessed a Stranger; the Jews rejected their own."
Since the Magi believed that there was a mystical influence of the stars upon earthlings, they would constantly study the heavens, seeking extraordinary signs which might herald the "Expected One." As Blessed Theophylactos, Patriarch of Bulgaria, aptly states: "Because the Magi were astrologists, the Lord brought them in an ordinary manner, as Peter, being a fisherman, came away from the multitude of the fish." The famous Dismissal hymn for the feast also speaks of them, saying, "Those who worshipped the stars were taught by a Star, to do homage to Thee, the Sun of Righteousness [Mal. 4:2], and know Thee, the Dayspring from on high."
Saint Kosmas the Poet writes concerning this: "The Magi, beholding the strange course of an unknown and newly shining Star that exceeded the brightness of all heavenly Light, learned thereby that Christ the King was born on earth in Bethlehem for our salvation."
"...Nevertheless, the Magi, a group already involved in political maneuvering, apart from being wise and knowledgeable, brought gifts to the newborn King. They were good men who struggled to maintain the purity of their souls. They accepted Divine inspiration and were obedient to it. They then understood that the Messianic prophecy of the Kingdom would not be fulfilled immediately then and there, and they obediently departed to their own land to proclaim the newborn Christ; hence, the Persians were firstfruits of the Gentiles. "And kings shall walk in Thy Light, and nations in Thy brightness" (Isaiah 6:3).
The Identities of the Magi
Thus, we see in icons that three magi are traveling, either walking or riding spirited horses over mountainous trails in pursuit of the Star of Bethlehem. They are often depicted beyond and opposite the cave, for they were not present during those first hours after the virgin birth. One Magos is a beardless youth. The second Magos is a middle-aged man with short, dark beards, while the third Magos is an old man with a gray beard.
In holy icons of the Feast of the Nativity, we see both shepherds and Magi depicted. On one side of the cave, we see simple unsophisticated men, with whom the incorporeal on high enter into communication directly, amid their everyday occupations. Then we see Magi, men of learning, who have to undergo a long journey from the knowledge of what is relative to the knowledge of what is absolute. In the shepherds, we witness the first sons of Israel to worship the Christ Child. The Church sees the beginning of the Hebrew Church. In the Wise Men, we see the beginning of nations, the Church of the Gentiles. In the example of the Magi, we understand that the Church of the Church accepts all human science that leads toward it, provided that the relative light of the extra-Christian revelation bring them that serve it to the worship of the absolute Light. Again, we see that the Magi are men of different ages (youth, middle age, and old age), which emphasizes that revelation is vouchsafed to men independently of their years and experience.
According to Saint Dimitri of Rostov (1651-1709 A.D.), in his investigation of the identities of these three kings, he asserts that they were kings of small regions in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt. They had arrived in Bethlehem very soon after the birth of Christ. Melchior was old and withered, with long white hair and beard. It was he who offered the Lord the gift of gold. Gaspar or Caspar was of ruddy complexion, young and beardless. He offered the Lord the gift of frankincense. The third, Balthazar, was of a dark-complexion and heavily bearded. He gave the gift of myrrh. He further writes that these three Wise Men represented the three chief races of men that descended from Noah's three sons, that is, Shem, Japheth, and Ham: therefore, the Arabian, Gaspar, represented Shem; the Persian, Melchior, represented Japheth; the Egyptian, Belthazar, represented Ham. Thus, through these three Magi, the human race worshipped our Incarnate Lord and God.
"...Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying 'Where is He Who was born King of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:1, 2).
The Star appeared in the East at the time of the Annunciation and led the Magi about for nine months. The Tradition of the Church never held that the Star was truly a celestial star but that it was some invisible power transformed into this appearance and made visible to men. Saint John Chrysostomos points out in a homily (sermon) that "no natural star could have traversed such a course, nor could it have shone so brilliantly at midday: and furthermore, it stood still over the Child."
"...In the Epistle (Letter) to the Ephesians, Saint Ignatios the God-bearer writes: "A Star shone forth in heaven above all the other stars, the Light which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonishment. And all there rest of the stars, with the sun and the moon, formed a chorus to this agitations fell as to whence this new spectacle came, so unlike to everything else in the heavens. Hence, every worldly wisdom became folly; conjuration of the wickedness vanished away; the darkness of ignorance was dispersed, and tyrannical authority was destroyed, God being manifested as Man, and man displaying power as God. Now the former was not mere imagination; and the second did not imply a bare humanity. But the one was absolutely true and had been prepared by God. Henceforth, all things were in a state of tumult, because He meditated the abolition of death."
"...Patriarch Theophylactos also agrees that what was seen by the Mai was "the divine power and an angelic appearance in the form of a star." Saint Leo the Great adds that this Light was hidden from the Jews, but shone forth to the heathen (pagans).
Also, in holy icons of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we see that the Star points directly to the cave. It is a long ray which connects the Star with a part of the sphere which goes beyond the limits of the holy icon. Here we have a symbolic representation of the heavenly world. Hence, this Star is not merely a cosmic phenomenon, but also a messenger from the world on high, bringing tidings of the birth of the "heavenly One" on earth. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"- Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George