Once in a while you might hear a Chaldean or Assyrian priest lay claim to the Magi mentioned in Matthew chapter 2, who came from the East to worship Christ. You might be surprised to hear that it’s actually a pretty old claim.
Mar Timothy I of the Church of the East (d. 823 AD) writes about a number of topics in his very interesting 26th Letter, translated here. Among the topics is the relative ranking of the different Patriarchal Sees. At the Council of Nicea (325 AD), the Dioceses that were given this rank were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch (in that order). Later (I forget which Council), Jerusalem was added as a fifth. But Timothy claims that the fifth Patriarchal See is his own, and indeed that his is the primary one (though he acknowledges that everyone else seems to think it’s actually Rome).
Putting aside his conclusion about the first See, his arguments themselves are an interesting and rare self-reflection of a leader of the Church of the East on the identity of himself and his people. Among other arguments, he makes the claim that Abraham is “from us, the sons of the East,” which should not be surprising since Timothy’s See is by far the closest to the site of Ur of the Chaldeans, where Abraham originated (Genesis 11:31).
Symbolically, he also lays claim to the “Spring” said to be in the garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10, the source of the four rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The symbol implies that the See of the Church of the East is the source and spring of the other four Patriarchates, obviously because his See is the one closest to where Eden was.
Most relevantly to this season, Timothy also claims that his people were the first to worship the newborn Messiah, in the form of the Magi, whom he describes as his people’s “ambassadors guided by the star.” Though he names the three gifts mentioned in the Gospel, he acknowledges the tradition that there were twelve Magi, not three.
Anyway, turns out we do get to call dibs on the Magi, and that the idea of doing that is at least 1200 years old.
Here’s the part of Timothy’s letter I was talking about:
That Christ was seen in the flesh from us, we show thus. If Christ was seen in the flesh from David, and David is the son of Abraham,[1] and Abraham is from us, the sons of the East,[2] and is from the East, the conclusion is known and clear: Christ in the flesh is from the East and from the sons of the East. The Spring of Life, therefore, that is Christianity, was revealed and springs from the sons of the East, and from us was divided to the four streams, the whole Paradise of the catholic Church, which the Divine and Spiritual Spring of the Kingdom of Heaven waters.
Regarding natural priority and station, the spring was said to ascend firstly from Eden to water Paradise, and then afterwards the four streams divided from it, from which the whole world drinks physically. Thus also our Eastern Throne, from which the Spring of Life and of Paradise is seen to ascend first, I say, should keep the first and principal station. Those other four, from whom the whole world drinks as from a spiritual stream, it is fair to give the second place, and those after it. If Rome, because of the Apostle Peter, keeps the first and principal place, how much more reason for Seleucia-Ctesiphon because of the Lord of Peter?
And if the first place and station is due to those who before all confessed and believed in Christ, we also, the sons of the East, before all confessed and believed in Christ, and gave an open declaration of our faith, through our twelve ambassadors guided by the star, and the gifts we offered him: gold, as to the King of all kings and Lord of all lords, frankincense, as to him who is God over all, and myrrh, as foreshadowing the passion of his humanity on our behalf.[3] The conclusion is therefore known, that it is right and fair to grant the first See to the sons of the East.
[1] Matthew 1:1.
[2] Genesis 11:28-31; 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7; Judith 5:6-7.
[3] Matthew 2:1-11.