Magi
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Magi
The word magoi often has the meaning of “magician”, in both Old and New Testaments (see Acts, viii, 9; xiii, 6, 8; also the Septuagint of Dar:., i, 20; ii, 2i 10, 27; iv, 4; v, 7, 11, 15). St. Justin (Tryph., lxxvui), Origen (Cels., I, lx), St. Augustine (Serm. xx, De epiphania) and St. Jerome (In Isa., xix, 1) find the same meaning in the second... See more
Magi
Neither were they magicians: the good meaning of magoi, though found nowhere else in the Bible, is demanded by the context of the second chapter of St. Matthew. These Magians can have been none other than members of the priestly caste already referred to. The religion of the Magi was fundamentally that of Zoroaster and forbade sorcery; their... See more
Magi
may be a rationalization of the practices as through Christ. While Zoroastrianism forbade particular forms of illicit magical practices that may have contained some "dark magic" things like astrology and dream interpretation were not among them. We might also note however how Greek and Jewish authors were typically not aware of Zoroastrianism and the details of what Zoroastrian priests actually did. They often viewed them as associated with various things including astrology and magic.