Five Days 'Til Christmas

It is again that time of year when the elves are busy at their workbenches making crafts and toys, the grinchiest of hearts grow a few sizes, and Old$ is talking about the occult meaning of The Nutcracker (I’ll get it one day). So I thought it an appropriate time to revisit a book that he put under my nose a few years ago, Brent Landau’s English translation of Revelation of the Magi.

The Three Magi
Photo by Nina Aldin Thune

Revelation of the Magi is an apocryphal New Testament text written from the perspective of the wise men spoken of briefly (twelve verses in total) in the Gospel of Matthew. Their account covers new territory, providing us with background as to who they are and from where they come, describing the fulfillment of their order’s prophecy of the visitation by a star, and telling of their ensuing journey to Bethlehem. Despite its importance, the text dwells still in relative obscurity, remaining unknown even to many Bible scholars. There is only one existing copy of the text, and it was first translated into English fifteen years ago by Landau. It is his translation and accompanying introduction from which much of the information I provide here comes. The copy translated by Landau dates to the 8th century A.D. and was written down by a monk at a monastery in southeastern Turkey. It occurs within a larger body of manuscripts and these together with the Revelation of the Magi comprise the Zuqnin Chronicle, named for the monastery. At a later date it was moved to a monastery in the Egyptian desert, where it was found by G.S. Assemani while he was collecting manuscripts for the Vatican Library. It can be found there today.

The Weyden Nativity Polyptych

The sole copy, made by the anonymous monk, was written in Syriac, a language that evolved from an Eastern Aramaic dialect in the 1st century A.D. and which became one of the primary liturgical languages not only in Ancient Syria and the Near East but also in Christian communities as far away as India and China. Landau has gone to lengths to date the original text from which the 8th century copy was made. It was likely written earlier than the 8th century for multiple reasons. First, other texts within the Zuqnin Chronicle are known to have their origins prior to the 8th century. Second, the text was already known to a Christian writer living on the Arabian Peninsula, Theodore Bar Konai, at around the same time that the Zuqnin Chronicle was written. And third, an abridged version of the Revelation of the Magi is contained in a Latin commentary on the Gospel of Matthew called the Opus Imperfectum, and this was written in the 5th century. Moreover, there is a key piece of evidence indicating that it may have been written even earlier than the 5th century: within the text, "the Holy Spirit" is written in Syriac using a feminine form of the noun, and the feminine form was used from the 2nd to the 4th centuries, after which the masculine form was used due to the influence of Greek Christian thought. Despite the evidence that it has its origins long before the 8th century, Landau is doubtful of the possibility of it being first-person account of the historical Magi who would have lived at the time of Christ. The main justifications for his skepticism are that the author of the story sourced other texts (such as the Book of Revelation) written after this period, and further Landau says that Revelation of the Magi may have borrowed from what he calls “Infancy Gospel X”, written in the 2nd century. Landau does admit however that there is just as much evidence that Infancy Gospel X may have borrowed from Revelation of the Magi.

As for the content of the text, as usual I exhort you to obtain a copy and read first, as what you find important and interesting may differ from that which I find important and interesting. And the latter is as follows.

Procession of the Magi by Gozzoli

We learn far more about who the Magi are. In the Gospel of Matthew, we are told that they are wise men from the East, without name or number, though they are usually counted as three owing to the number of gifts they bring. In Revelation of the Magi, we are told that they are kings [sons of kings] of the great East, in the land of Shir, which is the outer part of the entire East of the world, east of the land of Nod. They are not Magi as in Zoroastrian priests but instead are “called Magi in the language of that land because in silence, without a sound, they glorified and they prayed”. They are sons of Seth, the third son of Adam, and from him have received commandments, laws, and books. They are inheritors of a mystery tradition and a prophecy, one day a light will shine forth from the East, in the form of a star, over the Mountain of Victories. It will come to rest over a pillar of light within the Cave of Treasures of Hidden Mysteries. This star is the Son of the exalted majesty who is the voice of the Father. When the star appears to that generation of Magi, they are to take the gifts that have been stored in the Cave by their ancestors and follow the star, which will lead them to God in bodily form. For many generations, year after year, the Magi preserve their monthly ritual of pilgrimage to the Mountain of Victories, purification at its base, and prayer before entering from the Cave and reading from the books within. The books of revelation passed down to them from Seth include the account of Adam’s transgression and an exhortation to love the maker, walk in justice before him, and repent when offense is given. The Magi keep these commandments and are found worthy to receive the revelation of the star in fulfillment of the prophecy. Twelve are named.

Journey of the Magi by Giovanni
Photo by Sailko

The journey of the Magi from their country to Bethlehem is no ordinary one. All the while they are not only guided by the star, but it provides for them and speeds their passage. The star “goes before them and upholds their caravan from all sides”, and “prepares for them a blessed dwelling place in which to reside while resting and exulting”. The Magi find that their provisions do not decrease but increase daily when the star comes to rest over them. It rejuvenates the Magi, they are not fatigued. They are kept safe; beasts and snakes are trampled under their feet. It makes mountains, hills, and rugged places level before them. 

Throughout the narrative, the star appears to the Magi in many forms and causes them to have unique visions. When the star first descends to the Mountain of Victories, the Magi see that heaven has been opened like a great gate and men of glory carry the star upon their hands. Then they see something like the hand of a "smallperson" drawing near in their eyes, and it comforts them. When they and the star enter the Cave, they see unspeakable light, and the light concentrates itself into the bodily form of a small and humble human. Later after leaving the Cave and recounting what they have seen, the Magi realize that they each had a different vision while in the Cave. One sees an infant with unspeakable forms, another a humble poor unsightly human, another a cross and a person of light who hung upon it, taking away the sins of the world, and so on. Each has had a different vision of a time in the life of Jesus Christ. And yet, as Landau points out, throughout the majority of the text, the name Jesus Christ is not mentioned, only being used liberally in the last section of the story which Landau believes is a later addition by a different author. This is critically important, as Landau deftly highlights. If Christ has manifested to the people of the farthest East and was never known to them as Jesus Christ, then who is to say he hasn’t done so in many places, at many times, in many cultures. Maybe under different names, or no name. The manifestation of Christ to the Magi legitimizes (or at least tempers the demonization of) other traditions. The final pasted-on section, the episode of the baptism of the Magi by the Apostle John, is an attempt to bring the Magi into the fold of organized Christianity which properly “ordains” them and tries to re-gain control of the narrative and ownership of the revelation of Christ. But the bird has flown. The Revelation of the Magi has already changed our understanding of who, or what, Christ is.