Since in the East this is the celebration of the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River, held on January 6, I was wondering if there was any Eastern version of Three Kings Day or the visit of the Magi ?

Eastern Christians celebrate the Birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi to adore him together on December 25th. The Gospel reading for the Vigil of Christmas is Luke 2:1-20 (the account of the Birth of Jesus). On Christmas Day the Gospel is Mathew 2:1-12 (the adoration of the Magi).

There is an excellent article in the December issue of Touchstone Magazine that you might find interesting. I’ve posted an excerpt with a link to the entire article at their website:

Calculating Christmas

William J. Tighe on the Story Behind December 25

Many Christians think that Christians celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25th
because the church fathers appropriated the date of a pagan festival. Almost no one minds, except for a few groups on the fringes of American Evangelicalism, who seem to think that this makes Christmas itself a pagan festival. But it is perhaps interesting to know that the choice of December 25th is the result of attempts among the earliest Christians to figure out the date of Jesus’ birth based on calendrical calculations that had nothing to do with pagan festivals.

Rather, the pagan festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Son” instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the “pagan origins of Christmas” is a myth without historical substance.

See the full article at http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/16.10docs/16-10pg12.html

Dear Lawrence,

Just to add to the Esteemed Administrator's excellent and informative post on this matter, the Eastern Church also commemorates the shepherds who came to see the Lord and His Mother in Bethlehem, along with the Three Wise Men.

Eastern hagiography has usually understood the "Three Kings" as Eastern sages who studied the stars.

Thus, they were the scientists of the time who came to see the Light of Christ through their study of astrology. They not only studied it, but they worshipped the stars. Through the stars, they came to adore the Sun of Truth - as the Nativity Troparion sings.

As an aside, this reminds me of something Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said of the Magi and the Shepherds at the manger of our Lord in Bethlehem.

He said, "And who sought Him out? Two categories of people did. The very wise and the very simple. Never the man in the middle, the man of one book who thinks he knows everything."

I always find that reflection very meaningful.

But getting back to the Theophany, both the Nativity and the Theophany were originally celebrated on the same day or January 6th, before the two came to be separated for the reason given by the Esteemed Administrator above (I say "Esteemed" in all sincerity!).

Thus, the celebration of the Magi was originally, in the East, on January 6th as well.

The Armenian Church stands alone as the only Eastern Church that still celebrates the two feasts together on January 6th (but on January 18th in the Holy Land). The Old Calendar for the Armenians in the Holy Land is one day off since the Armenians did not adjust their calendar at the turn of the 20th century (i.e. Old Calendar Nativity in the 1800's was on January 6th not 7th).

So the two Roman Churches, that of Elder Rome and of New Rome, united in moving the Nativity to the 25th, but they differed in how much of the manifold content of the feasts marked on January 6th were taken over. The West left Three Kings' Day on that day. It is interesting, to me at least, that Puerto Rico, originally named in honour of St John the Baptist, honours the Three Kings as its national patrons - pointing to the unity, ancient and contemporary, of the feasts of both the Three Kings and the Epiphany/Theophany.

The Council of Trullo (?) decreed a 12 day feast of the Nativity and in the Byzantine-Slavic tradition this is marked by three "Holy Suppers", the first on Nativity Eve, the second on the eve of the Naming of Jesus or the Circumcision and the third on the Theophany eve - and the Theophany constitutes a major feast in which the Holy Trinity Itself is revealed to us.

The icon of the Theophany is blessed with the special blessing reserved to only four recognized icons of the Holy Trinity in the Byzantine East, including, additionally, the icon of Pentecost, the Transfiguration and the "Hospitality of Abraham."

Alex

This is an area where I have to agree with the East. Obviously you give the Baptism of Our Lord more significance than the West does, generally speaking. Unfortunately among too many Latins nowdays, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord is just another Sunday.

Rather then start another thread, and because it occurs during this same time of year, how significant is the Feast of the Holy Innocents in the East ?

I think that in Orthodox Romania they do have the Magi the day 6th january just as in our Spanish-Mexican tradition.

Dear Lawrence,

"Childermas" (I just can't leave that whole issue alone ) is a significant part of the 12 days of the Nativity celebration in the East.

The East insists on the number of 144,000 children killed by Herod and there is a miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the Innocents where she is surrounded by the souls of all these Innocents (similar to the Western "Our Lady of the Angels").

A number of Eastern Churches have and venerate the relics of these Children-Martyrs.

There is a long-standing veneration for "St John the Child" in the Kyiv Caves Lavra, the relic of an entire skeleton of one of these children-Saints. Over time, the nameless Saint was given the name "John."

Alex

There is a beautiful Ukrainian Christmas carol on this theme of the slaughter of the children by Herod."Ne Platch Rahkele", if I'm not mistaken the translation in English would be " Do Not Cry Rachel" I usually can't hold back my tears when I hear this song. Once somebody asked me to sing the bariton solo of the song, but I couldn't do it.
Lauro

The highest figure I've seen for the slaughter of the Holy Innocents is 300.000, while the lowest I've heard of is 6. I believe the Greek Orthodox give the number as 14.000, while the Syrian Church says 64.000.

Alex, I believe your refering to Fulton Sheen's "Life Of Christ", the first book I read after becoming a Christian in 1989. Sheen said something like, Our Saviour was sought by those who knew nothing, and by those who knew they didn't know everything. Psalm 71:10 contains a beautiful prophecy of the Kings coming to visit the Christ child.

Dear Lawrence,

Yes, Fulton Sheen, by the way, had biritual faculties, and I've seen pictures of him serving the Byzantine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.

I believe he is a "Venerable" now.

A great man and preacher, I loved it when people would ask him about his Christian name: "Your Excellency, but there isn't a 'Saint Fulton' is there?"

"Well, not yet . . ." came the reply!

Alex

Alex,

No, he has not been declared Venerable, altho I understand that there is a Cause underway.

His baptismal name was "John". His maternal grandfather brought him to be enrolled in school, and when asked as to his name, replied "Fulton" (the grandfather's surname). That is reportedly the origin - he used John as his middle name thereafter.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil,

Well, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, anyone with a Cause would be termed "Blessed" anyway!

May the Lord hasten the day for his servant, Blessed Fulton Sheen, to be raised to the honours of the altar!

And since he had biritual faculties, we may claim him as our own - and write icons of him as an Eastern hierarch.

Alex