The Gospel speaks of three wise men from the East - magoi Matthew 2:1 calls them, that priests of the religion Mazdean, Zoroastrian - that paid homage to Jesus with gold , frankincense and myrrh ( Mt.2: 11). The reasons why the Gospel tells us this has been interpreted in various ways. The nascent Christian church was intended to 'expand beyond the borders of the Jewish context, and to Antioch, where the lesson of Matthew would have taken shape, there was a thriving Zoroastrian communities, the inclusion of the legend of the Magi in the Gospel tissue would thus had a sense a demonstration of the universality of Jesus, particularly his Messiahship: Zarathushtra's disciples were waiting - and still waiting - the Saoshyant (rescuer, savior) and Jesus, according to his followers, was the fulfillment of that hope, like that of the Jews calling for the mashi'ach (the discourse on the "unknown God" held by Paul in the Areopagus of Athens, in At.16, would have a similar function in relation to Greek religion). Do not forget also that the first holders of the Gospel of Luke, Marcion and his followers were in a certain ecclesia that prefigured the more doctrinal duality and the sobriety of the Cathars of medieval ritual than with ideas and procedures of Catholicism.
But this reading, which is based on the proselytizing zeal of the early Christians, it supports a very different, the one that Jesus would be an "agent", in Israel, a belief stemming from the teaching of the prophet Zarathushtra. Perhaps Essene (and the Qumran community, the rules of war marked in the dualistic sense of reality biblical idea of \u200b\u200ba rebellion in the cosmos antidivina), Jesus speaks of the 'adversary', the usurper who rules with his " legions on the world, so with a frequency unknown to the Old Testament, the history of Judaism took note of Iranian influence in Judaism post-exile, and it is no coincidence that in Isaiah the emperor Kurush (Cyrus) is messianizzato as liberator So that Israel can ricorstruire the temple in Jerusalem.
The two interpretations are, to some extent, compatible, if we can locate the work of Jesus, so to speak, in an ideal point of intersection between Persia and Israel. And the importance of that intersection is evidenced by the persistence of a traditio like that in the centuries after the drafting of the canonical Gospels. The seventh chapter. Arabic-Syriac Gospel of the Infancy , repeating the episode of the visit of the Magi, he says it took place "as he said Zarathushtra", while the eleventh chapter. Armenian Infancy Gospel of him back to a mysterious wrote that after the killing of Abel by Cain, God gave to Adam, along with the consolation of the second son Seth. He had received from his father that text (which contains "a promise ... in favor of the sons of men" ) and then transmitted to his descendants up to Noah, to Shem by these, and through the lineage of these, to Abraham . The founder of Israel would Melkitsedech entrusted to the priest-king of Salem (the proto-Jerusalem), who sent it to his lineage, until, at the time of Cyrus, the document would come into the possession of the Persians (apparently implied here, the idea of \u200b\u200ba prize for the dell'achemenide magnanimity towards the people of Israel). Therefore, in this apocryphal genealogy arises spiritual linking Iran Mazdean not only Israel, but even the spiritual ministry of Adam, the man archetype.
But here we want to be a prospect (or a reversion ) to one that is more than the other ones so far examined, assuming that it is reasonable to identify the figure Noachide the glue between the Magi and Jesus and not on the passage through Noach pase a messianic promise, as he says in the Armenian Gospel (who also, like that of Matthew, may have intended to use that kind of a ierostoria easier to preach Christ the Armenians, who were Zoroastrian religion), but by the idea of \u200b\u200bjustice, tzedakah . In fact, after the Prophets (Isaiah 45:8: " Shower, O heavens, from above the clouds and rain do justice" , Micah 6:5: " Man, you were taught what is good and what that the Lord require of thee: do what is right ) is Jesus and Israel stands at the center of the religion's supreme form of morality: " Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness of God .." (Mt. 7:33 ).
Yes, the rav of Nazareth, according to Masonic tradition Noachide, fits into the lineage of ' Ishima tzaddikim, righteous men and as such the Dehn participate in the divine essence: a testimony of great charm is found in the ritual of the first three degrees of the Rite of Swedenborg, which explicitly interprets the gift of the Magi to Jesus as an act of worship Noachide (therefore not idolatrous, but symbolic ) :
"(...) This ancient religion and its symbolic nature, are visible in the acts of
Sages of the East who paid homage to Christ in the Nativity. They brought a gift
gold, frankincense and myrrh, and a star before them. The guiding star was the symbol of heavenly knowledge director; gold, the purest on the good God (...); incense, scented and pleasant, good secondary turned to our neighbor myrrh, the less well addressed to ourselves, and that in that, although valuable (...), has intrinsic bitterness.
These three gifts - to God, to neighbor and to ourselves - are the three elements of each (...) authentic worship and a true Masonic humanity. "
But
according to a Christian interpretation of Jesus - that Noachide did not base any new religion nor ever would have considered himself the son of God, except in the sense of choice, or "adozionistico" - he would have expressed grace and not law, and the revelation of what would be the highest in the Beatitudes. Now, Jesus presents himself as the one which fulfills the Law and, from the Jewish, the spiritualized (one could say that the key to his ministry is to make Law Spirit), then extends to universality here is then that the simple precept against adultery becomes a mosaic in his words a warning not to pose so as to arouse in oneself or in others the temptation to commit it (Matthew 5:27-28). Of course, in the Beatitudes are not on the steps that appear to oppose the evil spirit away from the Noachide, but you can do about the following considerations: 1) in other places - just one example: the expulsion of the merchants from the Temple - Jesus reveals a hardened militant, 2) in the prophetic tradition is expected that the Messiah porgesse " my cheeks to those I pulled out my beard (Isa. 50:6-7), but with God's help, his face would become " hard as stone" , 3) at various points of the Gospel Jesus, and in the same Beatitudes ( Mt 5:26) refers to the legitimacy of secular punishment and the need for compensation, so it's clear that his extreme insgnamento paradoxical nature of forgiveness, to some extent ethology: how the wolves in the lot that is going to succumb offers the jugular area and thereby obtain by the opponent to the conflict, so the man can get to be vulnerable kindness and above all, to break the chain of retaliation. In this respect, writes Aziz Ulfat us-Samad in Islam and Christianity (Sahaba Islamic Press, Kuwait City 1985):
"This [the teaching on non-resistance ] was perhaps a necessary corrective hardness of heart and spirit of revenge by the observation of the literal- teaching "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth ", but may perhaps be considered universal ? Or be practiced as healthy as a moral precept in all cases and on all occasions? The nom-resistance to evil when the target of that not us but someone else is a sign of cowardice and apathy ... "
To these observations we might add that - as is clear from the Koran itself, to remain in an Islamic framework - the Christian Scriptures might have suffered over time, eliminations and decisive changes, perhaps at times be justified - add us on the basis of the achievements of the Church's history - the turn that events in ecclesial turbulent since the beginning, they were taking, and support options theological winning party. It is no coincidence that the canon has not joined the old - but gnosticheggiante - Gospel of Thomas, or that the Gospel of Barnabas, which refers generally to an alternative to the Nicene Christology, the Islamic tradition.
is worth, then go back to the sweet ierostoria of the Star of the Magi and the Child and see it as not only a manifestation of the divine in the human (without implying any idea of \u200b\u200bincarnation exclusive ) , but also serenity of the heavenly rainbow appeared to Noah after the mabbul , namely the divine in the cosmos.
Michael Moramarco
To these observations we might add that - as is clear from the Koran itself, to remain in an Islamic framework - the Christian Scriptures might have suffered over time, eliminations and decisive changes, perhaps at times be justified - add us on the basis of the achievements of the Church's history - the turn that events in ecclesial turbulent since the beginning, they were taking, and support options theological winning party. It is no coincidence that the canon has not joined the old - but gnosticheggiante - Gospel of Thomas, or that the Gospel of Barnabas, which refers generally to an alternative to the Nicene Christology, the Islamic tradition.
is worth, then go back to the sweet ierostoria of the Star of the Magi and the Child and see it as not only a manifestation of the divine in the human (without implying any idea of \u200b\u200bincarnation exclusive ) , but also serenity of the heavenly rainbow appeared to Noah after the mabbul , namely the divine in the cosmos.
Michael Moramarco
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