Toros Roslin, “Adoration of the Magi”, 13th century

“Adoration of the Magi”, a miniature by Toros Roslin, 13th century.

The clear separation between the feasts of the Nativity and the Theophany developed gradually in Christian tradition and was officially established only in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon, which not all churches accepted, among them the Armenian Apostolic Church. Keeping the pre-Chalcedonian tradition, Armenians therefore celebrate the Theophany on 6 January as a single feast of the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and the Baptism of Jesus. The Copts celebrate the same feast on the 7th, and in the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem it falls on 19 January, because the Julian calendar is followed there.

In the miniature the enthroned Virgin holds the infant Jesus, the Magi offer gifts on the right, an ox and a donkey stand by the manger, and angels and a star appear above. Below are an old man writing and a scene of the bathing of the Child.