Christmas holidays in 2014 presented the Russians with a wonderful surprise: for the first time they had the opportunity to see the great shrine of Christians - the Gifts of the Magi. This relic arrived on the eve of the Nativity of Christ at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Previously, she was not exported outside Greece.
Instructions
Step 1
The Gospel story tells us about the wise men who went to the light of a wonderful star in the city of Bethlehem to worship the newborn Savior. They brought him Gifts, the particles of which, like a sacred relic of life on the earth of Jesus Christ, are kept in Greece in special arks. The gifts presented by the wise men of the East to the Infant Jesus were not accidental, but had a certain symbolic meaning.
Step 2
Gold, firstly, symbolically represents the tribute of the subordinates to their master, namely how the King of kings awaited the begotten Son of God. Secondly, the most luxurious and expensive things were made of gold, holy relics were often decorated with gold (for example, the faces of saints on icons, domes of temples). Gold can be considered a symbol of wisdom (it is not for nothing that words are called "golden", and silence - "gold").
Step 3
Frankincense is the gift of the Magi to Jesus as God and High Priest. Frankincense is an expensive aromatic resin that is used by clergymen to burn incense during services. This offering of the Magi symbolically reflects the reverence of mortals before God.
Step 4
Smyrna is a Greek word for the resin of a tree growing in Ethiopia and Arabia that exudes an incense. Smyrna is used in funeral ceremonies. The symbolic meaning of this gift of the Magi is to point to the sacrifice of the Messiah, to the fact that, having endured all persecution and terrible torments, Jesus will die for the salvation of all people.
Step 5
Tradition says that the Mother of God transferred the sacred Gifts brought to Jesus Christ by the Magi to the Jerusalem Christian community, from where the relic was transferred to the city of Constantinople, where it was kept in the Church of St. Sophia. Transported in the 15th century, the Gifts of the Magi are still located on Athos under the arches of the monastery of St. Paul.
Step 6
Twenty-eight plates of gold, to which are attached with a silver thread beads with incense and myrrh, represent a relic sacred to the Christian world.
Step 7
The tradition, widespread among Christians, to present gifts on the feast of the Nativity of Christ and to newborns, is associated precisely with the presentation of gifts to the Savior by the Eastern Magi.
