The Tree Wise Men
Copied from "Sabro" (Hope), Vol.2, Oct-Nov-Dec 2000, Issue 7.
A Syriac Orthodox publication Published in California, USA.
It is very clear from the article that (in English) the term
"Syrian" and "Assyrian" are synonyms, and similarly
(in Arabic) the terms "Suryani" and "Athuri" are synonyms
too.
Eng. Cover
English
Arabic
Arb. Cover 3 Wise Men
The Three Wise Men Came on Horses & not Camels!
By: Hanna Hajjar
I was researching some ancient Syriac icons, and I was
amazed to find some unique features in them. They differ in style from both
Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic icons. And even in the contents of the icon,
they are different some times (although they all cover Christian themes).
There is a Syriac icon which is now in Berlin, (Preuss.
Bibl. Sachau 220 fo 8v.), It is
about the three wise men who saw
the star and followed it to Bethlehem and offered baby Jesus their gifts (see
above picture).
The three wise men in this Syriac icon are shown riding
horses NOT camels, since according to Syriac tradition they came from
Mesopotamia and NOT Arabia. Ironically the western world portrays them as camel
riders, because the western world has this stereo type image about the people of
the Middle East as being "Camel Jokeys".
The uniqueness of this icon lies in the fact that our
Syriac/Chaldean/Assyrian forefathers portrayed the actual true way things
happened in the Middle East because they lived there, during the same period of
time those events took place, and they were also the first nation that adopted
Christianity (Note that the correspondence of our King Abgar Ukomo with Jesus
took place during the lifetime of Jesus on this earth).
So the knowledge of our
forefathers of those events were first hand knowledge, and not based on the wild
imagination of some western artists who had never been to the Middle East, add
to that the fact that those westerners adopted Christianity many hundreds of
years after our forefathers did.
