- The three Wise Men might not have been men at all and
there might not have been three of them, the Church of England has ruled.
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- In a new short prayer book, the Church of England has
decided to refer to them as "magi", because it says the Bible
is "silent" on whether they were men or women.
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- Last night a spokesman for the Church confirmed the decision
of the General Synod in preparing the prayer book, Common Worship. He said
the Synod knew there were the three gifts for Jesus of gold, frankincense
and myrrh but original scripture did not say whether these were from three
or fewer visitors, or from men or women.
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- "There is a prayer called Epiphany where magi is
left in in preference to wise men," the spokesman said.
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- "We had grown up with three wise men because in
scripture translation, it had been an easy jump to take the three gifts
to three bearers who must be men," the spokesman said.
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- A church report found: "The possibility that one
or more of the magi were female cannot be excluded completely ... the visitors
were not necessarily wise and not necessarily men."
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=489761
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