They Three Kings of Orient Are…

They came from the east, thus from the Orient, and followed the star to bring them to the Christ child.  They had gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  This more or less sums up what we know best of the Three Kings ever since we became aware of Christmases and New Years and saw enough of Nativity sets and tableaus.

The Gospel of Matthew tells how they caught the interest of King Herod I of Judea by asking, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we have come to worship him.” (Matt. 2:2).  Herod was able to get from them the place of Jesus’ birth and asked them to return with more information.  In a dream, an Angel warned them against returning to Herod, and “they departed to their own country by another way” (Matt. 2:12).  The troubled and threatened Herod was to later institute the massacre of the Holy Innocents.

Much else about the “three wise men from the east” mentioned only in the Gospel of Matthew (2: 1-12) may be ascribed to Christian mythology.

There is no mention of three kings or their names in the Bible.  The Greek version of Matthew’s Gospel mentions Magoi or Wise Men, whose Latin version is Magi, the plural for Magus.  The English word “magic” derives from this, for the Magi are said to be an ancient Persian clique involved in cultic activities, including soothsaying and magic.

Some texts relate the Magi with Zoroastrianism, a religion founded around 500 BC.  No records bear this out, though, as centuries of narrative embellishments have fogged whatever was true of their existence.  What is agreed though is that they were a priestly caste credited with the most varied and profound forms of wisdom, esteemed in ancient Persia (today’s Iran) as scientists and scholars who could interpret dreams and rein in demons.

Christian belief holds that Gentiles as well as Jews came to honor the infant Jesus, and the Eastern or Orthodox Church celebrates this at Christmas while the Western Church celebrates it at Epiphany on January 6.  Meanwhile, Eastern tradition puts the number of Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus at 12.  The Western tradition has three, a number said to be attributed to the three gifts they brought to the infant Jesus.  Either number is not in the Bible.

The three Magi thus represent the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, making their feast one of the three principal and oldest Christian Church festivals, the other two being Easter and Christmas.  Their feast, called Epiphany from the Greek epiphaneia for “manifestation,” was in fact said to be more important than Christmas in the first few centuries of Christianity.

The Wise Men became the Three Kings in the 3rd century AD, an idea said to be based on earlier Biblical passages about kings bringing gifts (“May all kings fall down before him.” Ps.72:11).  By the 8th century, they already had names, something that is also not in the Bible.

While the Bible states the direction where they came from, exactly where is not known.  Again, it is tradition that depicted them as representing the three races; Balthasar was said to be king of Arabia, Gaspar was king of India, and Melchior was king of Persia.  An 8th century saint described Melchior as an old man with white hair and long beard, Gaspar as beardless with a ruddy skin, and Balthasar as dark-complexioned with a heavy beard.

The Bible does not specify that the Three Magi were at the stable itself where the infant Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Rather, “when they were come into the house, the saw the young child with Mary mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.” (Matthew 2:11)  Their appearance at the Nativity scene is credited to Christmas decors of Nativity crèche that originated in Naples.  More than decors, ‘The Adoration of the Magi,’ which is the Three Wise Men’s worship of the Holy Infant, became one of the most popular themes in early Christian art.

As for their gifts, the same 8th century saint who described their appearance wrote that gold was offered “to the Lord as to his king,” incense was “the homage due to Divinity,” and myrrh “prefigured the death of the Son of man.”

The Three Magi were even given a reunion by tradition.  In later years, so the story goes, they were baptized by St Thomas the Apostle.  They became bishops and went on to spread Christianity.  In their old age they each saw the Star of Bethlehem again and were reunited.  They celebrated Christmas together when they were over 100 years old, and died within a few days of each other.

In the 4th century, St. Helena, the mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great, brought their supposed remains to Constantinople and later moved them to Milan in Italy.  Then the 12th century Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa gave them to the Archbishop of Cologne (Koln) in Germany.  There their relics remain to this day in that famous Gothic cathedral built by the archbishop.

The evening before the Three Magi’s feast, or the evening before Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night in the West.  The carol “Twelve Days of Christmas” thus refers to December 24 to January 6.  William Shakespeare in turn may have the night before Epiphany in mind when he wrote the play, “The Twelfth Night.”

The famous carol “We Three Kings” was written by the American John Henry Hopkins, Jr. in 1857.

(2005)