Patristic Wisdom for Epiphany

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. (Matthew 2:1–12)

But now, after the service of the star, after the course of the Magi, let us see how glorious was the dignity that attended the king who had been born. For immediately the Magi fall down and worship the one born as Lord, and there in His very cradle they venerate the infancy of the crying child by offering Him gifts. They perceive one thing with the eyes of the body, something else with the vision of their mind. The humbleness of the body He assumed is seen, but the glory of His divinity is not concealed. It is a child who is seen, but it is God who is adored. How inexpressible is this mystery of the divine condescension! For our sake that incomprehensible and eternal nature does not disdain taking on the infirmities of our flesh. The Son of God, who is God of the universe, is born as a human being in a body. He permits Himself to be placed in a manger, within which are the heavens. He is confined to a cradle, one whom the world does not have room for. He is heard in the voice of a crying infant, at whose voice the whole world trembled in the time of his passion. And so, the Magi recognize this God of glory and Lord of majesty when they see Him as a child. Isaiah likewise shows that this child was both God and the eternal king, when he said, “For a child has been born to you; a son has been given to you, whose empire has been made on his shoulders.”

The Magi offer him gifts, therefore, namely gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in accordance with what the Holy Spirit had earlier testified about these things through the prophet, when he said, “From Saba they shall come bearing gold, frankincense, and precious stone, and they shall announce the salvation of the Lord” [Isa 60:6 LXX]. Clearly we recognize that the Magi fulfilled this prophecy. They both “announced the salvation of the Lord,” that the Christ was born as the Son of God, and in the gifts offered they confess that Christ is God, king, and man. For in the gold the authority of his kingdom is shown, in the frankincense the honor due to God in the myrrh the burial of the body. And therefore they offered gold as to a king, frankincense as to God, and myrrh as to a man. David too testifies about this as follows: “The kings of Tharsis and the isles shall offer presents, the kings of the Arabians and Saba shall bring gifts” [Ps 71:10 LXX]. And in order to show very powerfully to whom these gifts were to be given, he adds in this same psalm, “And there shall be given him of the gold of Arabia” [Ps 71:15 LXX]. In another psalm as well, the same David does not keep silent about the myrrh, when he spoke of the passion of the Lord and said, “Myrrh and stacte and cassia from your garments” [Ps 44:8 LXX]. Likewise Solomon speaks of this myrrh from Christ’s persona as follows: “I have gathered my myrrh with my spices” [Song 5:1], and again: “I gave off a sweet smell like myrrh” [Sir 24:15]. Surely in this he clearly testifies to the burial of his body, which burned with the sweetest divine smell throughout the whole world. Finally, the same David is shown to indicate these Magi when he says, “Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall hasten her hands” [Ps 67:31 LXX]. For since Sacred Scripture often calls this world “Egypt,” we rightly understand these Magi as the “ambassadors of Egypt,” having been chosen, as it were, as ambassadors of the whole world. In the gifts that they offered, they consecrated the belief of all the Gentiles and the commencement of faith.

Chromatius of Aquileia, Tractate on Matthew 5.1