Epiphany

The celebration of the Epiphany focuses on the adoration of Baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men (Mt 2, 1-12) as a symbol of the recognition of the pagan world that Christ is the Savior and King of all humanity.

According to the tradition of the Church of the first century, these magicians are related as powerful and wise men, possibly kings of nations East of the Mediterranean, men who by their culture and spirituality cultivated their knowledge of man and nature striving especially for maintaining a contact with God. From the Biblical passage we know that they were magicians (possibly from Persian or Babylonian priests, who studied the stars, because people who studied the stars were called: magicians), who came from the East and who as a gift brought incense, gold and myrrh. From the tradition of the first centuries we are told that they were Three Wise Kings: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar. Until the year of 474 AD his remains were in Constantinople, the most important Christian capital in the East; then they were transferred to the cathedral of Milan (Italy) and in 1164 they were transferred to the city of Cologne (Germany), where they remain to this day.