Legend Of The Three Kings

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Legend of The Three Kings: Twelfth Night celebrates the arrival of the Three Kings to the birthplace of Christ. It is on January 5th. Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the Three Kings on a different day. The Three Kings are: Caspar, King of Tarsus -The land of Myrrh, Melchior, King of Arabia-The land of Gold, and Balthasar, King of Saba (pron SAY-ba) or Sheba- Frankincense flows from trees. [Ancient Ind, Persia & Kasdim-Chaldea]

‘When the Children of Israel were gone out of Egypt and had won and made subject to them Jerusalem there was in the Kingdom of Ind a tall hill called the Hill of Vaws or the Hill of Victory. Twelve clerks of astronomy kept watch for the Star that was prophesied by Balaam to be the birth of Christ.’ The Star ascended above the hill and was seen by the three wise men. Legend says the Three Kings went to Herod’s palace asking for the child and Herod’s high priests told of a prophecy that his kingship would be usurped by a child born in Bethlehem. Herod invited the three wise men to dinner and told them to return with the child so that he could worship him. As soon as the Magi had departed he ordered his inner circle of sages to find the child. The Three Kings presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child. Gold symbolized kingship, frankincense showed godliness, and myrrh a painful death. In return, he offered charity and spiritual riches for gold, faith for incense, and truth and meekness for myrrh. The Kings returned home by a different route and in 7 A.D. St. Thomas found the Kings in India and baptized them. They became martyrs and were buried in the walls of Jerusalem. They were moved to Turkey by Emperor Constantine’s mother to the Church of Sophia, then to Milan and finally to Cologne’s Church of St. Peter. (1)