What is myrrh the gifts of the Magi. Smyrna - what is it: an ancient ancient city or incense resin? What the gifts look like now

The great holiday of the Nativity of Christ is coming, and it is important for us to remember - and tell others - what it means. The Gospel says that the Magi, “entering the house, saw the Child with Mary His Mother, and, falling down, they worshiped Him; and having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matt. 2:10,11).” This detail (which we obviously know from Mary herself) was preserved in the memory of the Church for a reason - the first Christians considered it important. It tells us something about the Child himself that we absolutely need to know.

They pay tribute to the King in gold. Incense is an incense that is used during worship. Smyrna - the composition that was used during burial. The Child who is born is a King, a God, and a man who is about to die and be buried.

Jesus is the true King and He comes to establish the Kingdom of God. We often understand by the “Kingdom” an area that can be marked on a map, and by the “Kingdom of God” a certain place where the righteous go after death. But the Holy Scriptures mean something else - the Kingdom is “kingdom,” the dominion of God.

In those days, people eagerly awaited God's intervention in history, that great day when the Lord would stand on the side of His people, crush their oppressors and establish a Kingdom of peace, righteousness and plenty. On the one hand, this is what happened - God did not just intervene, in the person of Jesus Christ He personally entered human history, He actually established the Kingdom. On the other hand, the Kingdom turned out to be not what people wanted. They wanted (as they want now) deliverance from external troubles - from injustice on the part of other people, illness, need. But the Lord says that our main trouble is within ourselves. “For from within, from the heart of man, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, the envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness; all this evil comes from within and defiles a person. (Mark 7:21-23) “Unjust people cannot build a just society - and all attempts to do this have encountered the same obstacle: the depravity of the human heart. Yes, the Romans, under whose rule the people of God were then, were cruel oppressors; but the main trouble of the people was not in the Romans - it was and remains in sin.

It is sin that makes people hostile to God and each other, it is sin that makes earthly life miserable, and it is sin that ignites the fire of Gehenna - for people who create hell on earth will even more so create it in eternity. Therefore, the Kingdom cannot simply be imposed on people from above; they must change deeply from within in order to enter it. And so God himself descends to earth to save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).

This is exactly how Frankincense is brought to the Child God. Long before His birth, the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah declared: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; the government is upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa.9:6).” At Christmas this prophecy is read in Church. The mysterious baby about to be born is the "Mighty God" and the "Eternal Father". How can a newborn baby be God? For pagans there would be no problem here - for them the word “god” was not very big, there were many gods, people could worship the forces of nature, outstanding people, or anyone. But in a biblical context, these words sounded amazing - the only God that the Bible recognizes is the Creator of heaven and earth, of everything visible and invisible. Not “one of,” but the one and only God, and it is He who becomes the Child and takes on human nature.

The Church calls this event the incarnation of God, relying, in particular, on the words of the Gospel of John “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1-14).” Jesus Christ, as a single person, has two natures - on the one hand, He is entirely God, the Creator of the universe, the One who created it and supports it in being, as it is said, for example, in the Epistle to the Colossians, “for by Him all things were created, what is in heaven and what is on earth, visible and invisible: whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers - all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things stand. (Col. 1:16,17),” pre-eternal, outside of time and space. On the other hand, He is entirely human, similar to us in everything except sin, a baby born at a certain time and in a certain place.

The Magi also bring myrrh to the baby - indicating His death and burial. Christ Himself later says that the purpose of His coming is to die. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)” From Christmas the path to Golgotha ​​begins. “I have come to this hour” (John 12:27) Christ speaks about the hour of his death. The King and God, the Creator of the universe becomes a man in order to live a difficult life and die a heavy, painful and shameful death. For what? The apostles repeat many times - “for our sins” in order to free us from the severity of our crimes and grant us forgiveness and new life. He rose from the dead and dwells with those who believe in Him.

He grants forgiveness of sins and new life to everyone who repents and believes - and anyone can come and join His Kingdom, become His subjects, because His Kingdom is already present on earth. As He himself said, “the Kingdom of God will not come in a noticeable way, and they will not say: behold, it is here, or: behold, there. For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20,21)” The Kingdom will open explicitly on the day of the Second Coming, but it is already present among those who believe in Christ - in His Church.

On Christmas we come to churches to worship our King and God - the One who is our King now and will be in eternity.

“Wise men from the east” - that’s all that the Gospel tells us about the strangers who came to worship the Infant Christ. Holy Scripture does not name them. In fact, we do not know whether they were kings or that there were exactly three of them. The three gifts presented to Christ give reason to assume that there are as many donors. The Gospel describes the gifts to us, showing that they are more important than the personalities of the wise astrologers themselves.

The Magi, “having opened their treasures,” offered Christ gold, incense and myrrh. The unusualness and luxury of these gifts probably struck the evangelist. But besides this, it makes sense to think about what they mean for you and me. These gifts should tell us something important about the Lord and our relationship with Him. We all hope to stand before Christ one day. What will we give Him as a gift?

Gold is the most understandable gift. Gold has always excited human imagination. The ancient Jews, like all the peoples around them, used this material for everything most luxurious and sacred. The cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant were carved from it, but the apostates also cast it into the calf they worshiped. Gold is the most precious metal, it is rare, and therefore it has become a symbol of wealth. But gold is also a symbol of eternity, for it is not destroyed by time. The haloes of the saints, the sky on the icons – it’s all golden. In the Bible, wisdom is compared to gold. Such properties of gold made it a symbol of power. Therefore, the tradition of the Church has always seen in the gold donated by the Magi a sign of the royal dignity of Christ.

What if we also gave gold to the Lord? What does it mean? Of course, in the literal sense of the word, you can simply donate money at Mass and calm down on that. But our gold, our true treasure, is where our heart is. We can give God what is most important in our lives. Perhaps for some this will mean dedicating their work to God at work or family worries, to use the power or wealth given to us for the glory of God. If our gold, not in words, but truly, is a symbol of holiness, then God will be pleased to accept the fruits of our striving for perfection. These fruits sometimes cost us a lot and turn out to be negligible. But we know that it only takes a few grams of gold to gild a football field. For some of us, gold is a symbol of wisdom. Then we can also dedicate our growth in it, our reflections and searches to God.

The Magi, according to the tradition of the Church, bring incense to Christ as God. Frankincense, or incense as it was also called, was a form of temple sacrifice. Incense is a symbol of prayer. The psalmist exclaimed: “Let my prayer be like incense before Thy face” (Ps. 141(140)). At Mass we still burn incense in front of the altar. But in a spiritual sense, the gift of the Magi is a call to prayer, a call to give God the sacrifice of our time, our attention and worship. Incense is small lumps of resin from special trees growing in the East. These frozen drops of resin are fragrant only when they fall on the coals. Dry incense has virtually no smell. When it starts to melt on the smoldering coals, only then does there smoke and smell. The same can be said about our prayer life, and about our life in general. Only when she touches the ardent love of Christ does she become beautiful, she is fragrant. The fragrance of Christ makes us fragrant. And further. You always need a few pieces of incense for burning. So is our prayer. It is truly alive and effective only when it is combined with fraternal prayer in the community.

What does myrrh mean? This is the most mysterious of gifts. In the first reading we heard that everyone will bring gold and incense to the Messiah, but the prophet Isaiah does not talk about myrrh. Myrrh in the ancient world was a fragrant oil for embalming the bodies of the dead. We remember that the righteous Nicodemus brought a composition of myrrh and scarlet for the burial of the body of Christ. Therefore, the Church has always seen in the gift of myrrh by the Magi a symbol of the true humanity of Christ and His future suffering. Myrrh is the only substance that we cannot bring to the temple and literally hand over to God. We have nowhere to take it. How can we bring our humanity to God? To be resurrected with Christ, we must learn to die to ourselves. How dare we bring to our Savior signs of His suffering? Only if we ourselves learn and are ready to endure suffering. Just as a pearl in a clam shell is a wound transformed into a jewel, so our wounds, if we accept them for Christ’s sake, become a great treasure.

Let us, brothers and sisters, bring to Christ everything that is precious to us. Let us bring Him gold - the wealth of our lives; the incense of our prayer and myrrh - our humanity, our imperfections and wounds. We will bring Him our gifts so that the Lord can make a wonderful exchange, giving us the gold of the dignity of kings, incense - a part in the priesthood of the People of God, and instead of funeral myrrh - communion of the Divinity of Him who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

O. Iakinf Destivel OR

) is an aromatic substance extracted from the thorny tree (Cistus ereticus), which blooms 8 and 9 feet in height and is mainly exported from Arabia to East India. Since ancient times, myrrh has been a significant item of trade and was part of St. the Old Testament world (Ex. 30:23), as well as a composition for the fragrant anointing of those who died. It was also one of those valuable gifts that were usually presented to kings and nobles as a sign of special respect in ancient times in the East (Matt. 2:11).

II. Smyrna (Rev.2:8) - a famous Ionian city and one of the most beautiful in the Levant; located at a distance of 320 stadia from Ephesus and the same distance from seashore, at the mouth R. Meles on the western coast of Asia Minor. The ancients considered it the crown of Ionia, precious stone Asia, abundant in its wealth and outstanding in its fine arts. The city was hit at least six times by major or minor earthquakes, lost 60,000 inhabitants to the plague in 1814, and was hit hard by cholera in 1831. The Word of God was sown here back in apostolic times. The church is planted here St. ap. John the Theologian. The first bishop here was St. Polycarp, disciple of John the Theologian. Currently, Smyrna is considered one of the most prosperous trading cities of the Ottoman Empire. However, its streets, with a population of 150 thousand people, narrow and dirty. The houses are mostly wooden, without stoves and on one floor. In modern Smyrna there are few remains of ancient city, somehow: the remains of the amphitheater in which he suffered ap. Polycarp and in it the vaults of those lairs in which animals and etc. Smyrna is currently called by the Turks Ismir and has 4 miles in circumference. The harbor of Smyrna is very spacious and provides an excellent place for anchoring ships.

Bible. Dilapidated and New Testaments. Sinoidal translation. Biblical encyclopedia.. arch. Nikifor. 1891.

See what "Smyrna" is in other dictionaries:

- (Greek smyrna, myrrha dewy palm, incense). Incense resin from a tree native to Arabia and Ethiopia. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SMYRNA Greek. smyrna, myrrha, incense. Fragrant resin... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SMYRNA, Myrrha, tar, odorous tree resin, for smoking. Humble smell. Dictionary Dalia. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (Smyrna, Σμυ̉ρνα). A flourishing city in Asia Minor on the banks of Lydia, one of the Ionian cities. Smyrna was considered the birthplace of Homer. (Source: " Brief dictionary mythology and antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, published by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

Greek name for the city of Izmir modern Turkey … Big encyclopedic Dictionary

- (from the Greek myrrh, i.e. fragrant oil), a city in the west. coast of Asia Minor, located in a deep bay, approx. 55 km north. Ephesus. S. was founded as an Aeolian colony and subsequently rebuilt by Lysimachus (361,281 BC) in ... ... Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia

SMYRNA, myrrh, many. no, female (Greek smyrna) (source). Incense resin, used. for smoking. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 myrrh (6) resin (126) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Izmir Geographical names world: Toponymic dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001... Geographical encyclopedia

Ruins of the Smyrna Agora. This term has other meanings, see Smyrna (meanings). Smyrna (Greek... Wikipedia

Smyrna- a famous trading city in Ionia, on the western coast of Asia Minor at the confluence of the Mele River into the Aegean Sea, located about 8 km northwest of Ephesus. Smyrna was destroyed by the Lydians around 600 BC. and then was in... ... Dictionary of Biblical Names

Books

• Journey to the seven churches mentioned in the Apocalypse, Avraham Sergeevich Norov. Seven churches of the Apocalypse - Laodicea, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, Smyrna, Pergamum, Ephesus - the route chosen by A. S. Norov to return to his homeland from travels to the Holy Land in 1835...

Ancient Greek name for the city of Izmir.

(Ex 30.23; Ps 44.9; Pr 7.17; Mt 2.11; Mk 15.23; Jn 19.39) - a highly fragrant resin from the myrrh tree, growing in Arabia and Ethiopia. Also called myrrh. Is integral part holy myrrh. It was one of the gifts of the Magi to the born Jesus (Matthew 2.11), which is believed to symbolize the recognition of the True Man in Him. (See flavors)

(From 1.11; 2.8) - a city on the western coast of Asia Minor north of Ephesus, an important port and shopping mall(current name is Izmir). The disciple of John the Theologian and the first bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, died as a martyr in this city around 155.

A famous trading city in Ionia, on the western coast of Asia Minor at the confluence of the Mele River into the Aegean Sea, located about 8 km northwest of Ephesus. Smyrna was destroyed by the Lydians around 600 BC. and then was in desolation until the time of Alexander the Great, after which it was rebuilt again, a little to the south of the previous one...

Gifts of the Magi - gold, frankincense and myrrh, brought by the Eastern Magi as a gift to the newborn Baby Jesus. They have survived to this day. Gold - twenty-eight small plates different shapes with the finest filigree ornament. The ornament is not repeated on any of the plates. Frankincense and myrrh are small, olive-sized balls, about seventy of them. The gifts of the Magi are kept in arks on Holy Mount Athos (Greece) in the monastery of St. Pavel.

See also: Shroud of Turin

Historical excursion

The worship of the Eastern sages, who brought gifts - gold, incense and myrrh - to the Infant Christ, is described in the Gospel of Matthew.

Seeing the star, they rejoiced with very great joy, and, entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary, His Mother, and, falling down, they worshiped Him; and having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matt. 2:9-11)

Adoration of the Magi

To the born God-Infant Christ, three eastern sages, also called...

Athos incense - these words combine symbols of holiness and Orthodox traditions. What is incense and why is it often associated with the name of Holy Mount Athos? Frankincense is the oldest incense mentioned in the Bible. In the book of Exodus (34-36) it is said: “And the Lord said to Moses: Take for yourself fragrant substances: stacti, onycha, halvana of fragrant and pure incense, equal parts of all,
- And make of them, by the art of composing the ointment, a smoking composition, erased, pure, holy;
“And polish it finely, and place it before the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle of meeting, where I will reveal myself to you: it will be a great shrine for you.” Such incense was burned in the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament Temple. In New Testament times, burning incense accompanies prayer, performed not only in churches, but also wherever people turn to God. From time immemorial, natural incense, dew incense and Mount Athos incense have been used in churches, cells and for home incense. A substance called “pure Lebanon” and...

On Christmas Eve, Christians remember the gospel story about the worship of the newborn Christ by the Magi, who were led to Him by a miraculous star over Bethlehem. The Magi presented gifts - gold, incense and myrrh. Particles of the Gifts of the Magi are one of the few relics associated with earthly life Savior and survived to this day.

A person perceives involvement in the Lord with all his senses. And this is not only the sight of holy images and the altar, the prayer of the priest and the singing of the church choir, but also the fragrance of incense, the aromas of candles and oil. These unearthly smells remind us of a lost paradise and evoke thoughts of the eternal. They symbolize the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. Aromas accompanied the Savior from birth to death: the Magi brought precious incense to the newborn Jesus - incense and. The Savior, taken down from the cross, was anointed with myrrh and aloes.

Incense is a gift from God and the quintessence of nature. To prepare one gram rose oil five kilograms of rose petals are required. Incense has always been worth its weight in gold and was part of worship. The perception of smell through inhalation of air filled with incense accompanying the service is the most direct physical contact of a person with the service. One of the main signs of a person’s holiness before the Lord is the fragrance of holy relics. Miraculous and myrrh-streaming icons exude a heavenly aroma

Word " myrrh"(myrrh, ointment) is mentioned several times in the Bible and has different meanings. One should distinguish holy ointment from aromatic oils, myrrh and myrrh.
The word Miro (from the ancient Greek μυρον - “fragrant oil”) in Christianity means a specially prepared and consecrated aromatic oil used in the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is also necessary during the consecration of a newly built temple, for anointing the antimension, altar and walls. Previously in Orthodox tradition It was also used for anointing for the kingdom.

The first recipe for making myrrh is given in the Bible: “And the Lord said to Moses: Take for yourself the best fragrant substances: pure myrrh five hundred shekels, fragrant cinnamon half as much as two hundred and fifty, fragrant cane two hundred and fifty, cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and oil olive gin; And thou shalt make of it a holy anointing ointment, a compound ointment, by the art of the one who composes the ointment: it shall be a holy anointing ointment” (Ex. 30:22-25)

The best aromatic substances have been used to make myrrh since ancient times. Nowadays, myrrh is prepared from the highest quality olive oil with the addition of white grape wine and about 40 aromatic substances, incl. resins of boswellia, myrrh, stacti, orris and galangal root, rose petals and various essential oils.

At Golgotha, the Savior was given to drink, according to the Gospel of Mark (15:23), wine with myrrh, and according to the Evangelist Matthew (27:34), vinegar mixed with gall. This drink dulled pain and stupefied the mind. It was given out of mercy to those condemned to death by crucifixion to reduce their suffering. The Romans called this drink "soporific." There is no contradiction in the interpretations: vinegar was then called sour wine, and the word “myrrh” here obviously means myrrh resin, which has a bitter taste - the taste of bile.

The term "miro" often refers to various types of aromatic oils. Here are references to them extracted from Holy Scripture New Testament: “Mary took a pound of pure precious ointment, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment” (John 12:3). Here, myrrh is a precious aromatic oil obtained from the stems and roots of herbs; its cost in those days - 300 denarii - corresponded to the annual income of a peasant.

After the death of the Lord on the cross, Nicodemus brought “a composition of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred liters...” (John 19:39), and the disciples “...took the Body of Jesus and wrapped it in swaddling clothes with incense, as the Jews usually bury ..." (John 19:40), and Mary Magdalene and two other women brought spices for the same purpose to the Tomb on the third day after burial (Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56). A mixture of myrrh and aloe is an embalming composition. Sources differ on whether the "aloe" was the sap of the aloe vera plant or an incense wood powder, but myrrh in this case is definitely the resin of myrrh. In ancient times, the balsamic composition also usually included wax, vegetable and mineral oils and resins.
Myrrh is obtained from tropical trees Commiphora myrrha (or Balsamodendron myrrha) is from the Burzer family - the same family as Boswellia, which produces natural incense. Myrrh trees grow in East Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula. In ancient times, incense, including myrrh, was often brought to the city of Smyrna (now Izmir) on the western coast of Asia Minor - perhaps that is why myrrh in Russian translation was often called myrrh.
Also called myrrh is the gum obtained from the plant Smyrnium perforatum.

The Magi presented the Divine Infant Jesus with gold - as the King of the earth, incense - as the King of Heaven, and myrrh - as a Man who was about to die. Here, myrrh refers to aromatic oils, which are the basis of balms used to anoint the dead.
On icons, the gifts of the Magi are depicted in the form of a box of gold, a box of incense and a vessel of myrrh. The fact that in this case aromatic oils are called myrrh is indicated by the fact: the gifts of the Magi, kept in the monastery of St. Paul on Athos, are golden plates and fragrant balls, according to legend, rolled from a mixture of incense (crushed resin) and myrrh - aromatic oils. This recipe is used to make Athonite incense to this day.
Aroma oils - incense have always been worth their weight in gold. They were a luxury item and an attribute of worship. Only aromatic herbs and resins were available to the masses in kind. Today, fragrances accompany a person everywhere; they are used both in secular life and in church.
In Orthodox everyday life, aromatic substances are called. Concentrated church incense of the highest quality is usually called myrrh. They are made using natural essential oils and do not contain alcohol.
used for anointing, in the production of incense, added to lamp oil. A few drops of myrrh in a lamp will transport you to a spring meadow, or create a prayerful atmosphere in your home. Incense can be used instead of perfume and applied to the skin, but with caution - it is necessary to take into account a person’s individual intolerance to certain components; due to the content of various constituent substances (natural essential oils) in the product, allergic reactions are possible.
To the collection Aromatic compositions of myrrh “Gifts of the Magi” includes more than 40 fragrances in floral and oriental ranges.