Special Reports

A Story about the Magi in Armenia

Rev. Dr. George A. LeylegianJanuary 6, 2012Last Updated: February 1, 2012
13 5 minutes read
As Matthew 2:12 confirms, the Magi decided to return to their homeland via a different way. According to the Gontag, the Magi struck northward from Bethlehem and arrived on a plain outside the ancient city of Moush.

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity and Revelation of Jesus Christ on Jan. 6, I thought you might be interested in an important part of history that involves the Magi who followed the Star to Bethlehem, and then traveled to Armenia.

As Matthew 2:12 confirms, the Magi decided to return to their homeland via a different way. According to the Gontag, the Magi struck northward from Bethlehem and arrived on a plain outside the ancient city of Moush.

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Rev. Dr. George A. LeylegianJanuary 6, 2012Last Updated: February 1, 2012
13 5 minutes read
Photo of Rev. Dr. George A. Leylegian

Rev. Dr. George A. Leylegian

Rev. Dr. George A. Leylegian graduated in 1982 from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, and with a triple major of Political Science, Economics, and Public Law. He received faculty, departmental, and collegiate awards and honors for his academics. From Claremont, George enrolled in the law school and then the business school at the University of San Francisco, and completed his joint Master’s Degrees with honors in 1985. In 1986, he enrolled in theological studies, and by 1989, he completed both a Master’s and Doctorate in Theology with a specialization in the development of the Lectionary System of the Armenian Church. Upon completion of his doctoral work, George was ordained into the Diaconate by Archbishop Datev Sarkissian. He is currently enrolled in a post-doctoral study, again in theology, and hopes to complete this second doctorate within the next several years. Over the past 30 years, Archdeacon George has served Saint Gregory the Illuminator parish in San Francisco, and has been actively involved with Christian Education programs throughout the Eastern and Western Prelacies of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. He teaches Theology and Liturgics at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and has served at several mission parishes over the past decade. He has developed a particular interest in the interaction between village parishes and local monasteries in historic Armenia, and likewise, an interest in the evolution of Armenian parish life in the diaspora. He is committed to the daily, liturgical life of the Armenian Church, and remains dedicated to continuous education and spiritual renewal within the community.

13 Comments

  1. Today is the Birthday of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Orhnial e Haitnutyune Qrisotsi! Mezi Dzezi Mets Avetis!

  2. This is very nice article…
    Please, let us know more about Armenian Inventors Painters…etc
    That we know little…
    By beloved got fed up from my genocide letters…
    He will me to go a place…where he will not hear any genocide word
    and never more

    Read about this painter I never heard before…from Wikipedia

    Harutyun Kalents (Armenian: Հարություն Կալենց), was a prolific Armenian painter, born on March 27, 1910 in the town of Kyurin, present day Turkey.
    [edit]

    Biography

    Kalents was born in Kyurin, Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey) on March 27 of 1910. His father Tiratur owned a wool-dying factory which left a profound impression on young Kalents with its vats of bright colors. In 1915, during the Armenian genocide, Kalents’ father was taken away by Turkish soldiers, never to be seen again. Kalents along with his three brothers and mother escaped to Aleppo, Syria. A few days after their arduous trek into Aleppo, Kalents’ mother died of starvation and fatigue. Kalents and his three brothers spent their childhood and youth in an Aleppo orphanage. Despite the hardships of life in the orphanage, Kalents began cultivating his passion for arts in part by encouragement from one of the orphanage sisters. He often escaped the orphanage to roam around the Aleppo markets and paint.
    In 1922, at the age of 12, Kalents left the orphanage to become an apprentice to a lithographer and later received his primary artistic education from Onik Avetisyan in Aleppo. He then followed his brothers to Tripoli, Lebanon where they had opened a photo studio. Kalents painted backgrounds to be used in the photo sessions. From 1929-1933, French painter Claude Michulet was his teacher in Beirut Academy of Fine Arts, where he then taught painting until 1939.
    Kalents was awarded the Medal of Merit by the presidium of International Exhibitions in New York in 1939, and the honorary prize by the government of Lebanon for his bas-reliefs in the Pavilion of Lebanon presented at the New York International exhibition.

    Thanks for reading
    Any one has his painting…?

    Sylva

    2. I have been to his home museum in Yerevan and met his daughter. Love the vibrant colours he uses in his artwork,

  3. Thank you for such an interesting and informative article .I enjoyed very much reading it .I will e mail to my friends and relatives to read too .
    Nectar Leylekian Derghazarian from Montreal

  4. Thank you for this news. I read the article to my Armenian wife and she didn’t know about this. As for the Magi’s relics in Cologne, I suppose that they were relics not containing those of Gaspar, but people not knowing of Gaspar’s death in Moush thought they were. We may also suppose that there was a fourth magus traveling with them whose relics were taken for Gaspar’s

  5. Thank you Rev. Dr. George A. Leylegian for this piece of research, i would be interested to know the title of the book you found this information from.

    Regards from France.

    .

  6. Enjoyed the Magi story in relation to Armenia – interesting article – precious
    information might be wise to research on – 3 wise men on a mission.
    Thank you for sharing it with us

  7. Very interesting article!

    There were many relics that were taken from Byzantium and other areas of the East to Europe. Often, enterprising businessmen found ways to make money off religious tourists (such as with the relics of St. Nicholas)! So, not quite sure how the relics of the Magi supposedly wound up in Milan and then Germany, but this story sounds rather plausible to me.

    Thank you for the lovely story!

  8. Magi were a privileged and chosen Caspian tribe who lived in the Northern Talysh (part of Midian empire now occupied by Azerbaijan Sultanate) and gave Indo-Europeans many famous prophets including Zarathustra.

    Their country was one of the richest and developed in the world with sophisticated irrigation system that brought waters from Arax and Kur rivers.
    The capital city of this country was called Mygon (near modern Lonkoran) with many other cities surrounding it – Varsan, Barzand, Bajiravan, Balaakh, Zakharkesh, Sadarasg, Sadj (near modern Astara), Duarud.

    After the Turkic invasions this civilization was destroyed and abandoned. Turkic nomads turned their cities into ruins and destroyed irrigation channels so their horses and sheep would feel more comfortable roaming the newly created “steppes” free of the native inhabitants. A small number of Magi escaped to Talysh mountains and became one of the ancestors of the modern Talysh people. The place where this civilization has flourished is still called Mygon which means the Country of Magi in Talysh.

    The current Azeri Turk Sultanate’s policy of forced Turkification of the native peoples resulted in dramatic decrease in “official” number of Talysh minority. Like many other ethnic minorities, Talysh people are not allowed to have their schools, TV, books, etc. and persecuted for speaking their ancient language and raising political concerns. Their lands are being repopulated by tribes close to Sultan Aliyev’s clan coming from Turkey.

  9. Thank-You that was a great article I wish some of the oral stories would be put in a book and anyone with knowledge of such exciting tid bits of our history would put it in the book also but I guess most are dead this was sooo exciting

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