Epiphany

							    James E. Smyrl                    Committee:                                                 cense) as a symbol of priestship, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.
                                      Richard C. Dunaway,                                        Sometimes this is described more generally as gold symbolizing virtue, frankincense
    Em Grand Standard Bearer
    1021 N. Washington Ave.           Very Em Grand Deputy                                       symbolizing prayer, and myrrh symbolizing suffering. An ancient tradition describes the
    Sand Springs, OK 74063-8128       Commander                                                  custom of offering these three items to an infant and his resulting choice would be an
    Home: 918-246-0021                918-225-0708                                               indication as to his future or fate. Gold would indicate the child would grow to become
    Cell: 918-269-8698                Robert G. Davis,                                           an earthly leader or king; Frankincense inferred that he would be destined to be a priest
    petro474@aol.com                  Past Grand Commander                                       or holy man/prophet; and Myrrh would point to a life as a healer or physician. Of course
                                      405-282-2037                                               the Christ Child chose all three gifts. These interpretations are alluded to in the verses of
                                                                                                 the popular carol “We Three Kings” in which the Magi describe their gifts. Warned in a
                                      Epiphany                                                   dream that Judean king Herod intended to kill the child, they decided to return home by
                                                                                                 a different route. This prompted Herod to resort to killing all the young children in Beth-
                                                                                                 lehem, an act called the “Massacre of the Innocents”, in an attempt to eliminate a rival
Epiphany as a term means “to show” or “to make known” or even “to reveal”; also a sudden,        heir to his throne. Jesus and his family had, however, escaped to Egypt beforehand.
intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually   Thus in Christian interpretations the Magi passage is usually cited as a symbol that the
initiated by some simple, homely or commonplace occurrence or experience. As a Christian         non-Jewish nations will eventually come to Christ and honor Him. As with most aspects
festival, observed on January 6, it commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles     of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching
in the persons of the Magi. Referred to as the (Three) Wise Men, (Three) Kings, or Kings         tool in the church. The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the child Jesus were the
from the East, they are a group of distinguished foreigners who are said to have visited Jesus   first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal"
after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense. According to medieval legend     Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which
the names of three were Melchoir, King of Arabia, who brought gold; Gaspar, King of Tar-         corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation
sus, whom brought myrr; and Balthasar, King of Ethiopia, whom brought frankincense.              to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all peo-
These three names do not come from the Bible and did not appear in Christian literature          ple, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be lim-
until five hundred years after the birth of Jesus. They are regular figures in traditional ac-   ited to only a few. The day is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the
counts of the nativity and in celebrations of Christmas. Magi is a term derived from Greek       church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time
meaning a follower of “Zoroaster”. The term refers to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism.      of focusing on Christian brotherhood and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions
As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an   of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.
international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science.         Sir Knights, as we begin the new year and prepare for our individual challenges both
Their religious practices and use of astrology caused derivatives of the term “Magi” to be       within our Commanderies and without, let us renew our focus on our Christian Brother-
applied to the occult in general and led to the English term “magic”. The majority belief was    hood and share by example the teachings of our Savior. May the Grand Architect of the
they were from Babylon, which was the centre of Zurvanism, and hence astrology. Accord-          Universe share with us His Divine Light and may we diffuse that Light and Love
ing to the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi found Jesus by following his star, which thus tradi-      throughout our Asylums and communities both during this season and the entire year
tionally became known as the “Star of Bethlehem”. Various theories have been presented as
to the nature of this star. On finding him, the Magi are described as "falling down",                                                     Events
"kneeling" or "bowing" in the worship of Jesus. This gesture, together with the use of kneel-
ing in Luke's birth narrative, had an important effect on Christian religious practices. They                        Jan 15th…...Work & Tactics meeting in Shawnee
were indicative of great respect, and typically used when venerating a king. Inspired by                              Feb 5th…….Statewide Field Day in Okmulgee
these verses, kneeling and prostration were adopted in the early Church. While prostration is                                 Next Friday the 13th in May.
now rarely practiced in the West, it is still relatively common in the Eastern Churches, espe-
cially during Lent. Kneeling has remained an important element of Christian worship to this
day. They gave him three symbolic gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The three gifts are
explicitly identified in Mathew. Many different theories of the meaning and symbolism of
the gifts have been brought forward. While gold is fairly obviously explained, frankincense,
and particularly myrrh, are much more obscure. The theories generally break down into tow
groups: All three gifts are ordinary offerings and gifts given to a king; Myrrh being com-
monly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable. The three
gifts had a spiritual meaning : gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an in-

  18                                                                       January 2011          Oklahoma Supplement                                                                       19