The Chaldean Magi

Dionysius the Areopagite

The pseudepigraphic writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of St. Paul, Acts xvii. 34, date probably from about the end of the fourth century AD. The quotation is from the seventh of a collection of ten letters, addressed to Polycarp. The reference is to a miracle by which the day was lengthened three-fold said to have occurred in the time of Ezekiel.

Dionysius the Areopagite

Accordingly of this the sacred records of the Persians make special mention, and to the present day the Magians celebrate the memorial rites of the triple Mithras.

Cosmas Indicopleustes

Cosmas, surnamed Indicopleustes, a native of Egypt, who was said to have been a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia, wrote his narrative c. 550 AD.

165 A:

It is reported that to the present time the Persians keep the festival of Mithras, that is of the Sun, in memory of the miracle of the time of Ezekiel.

Maximus, c 580 to 662 AD, known as the Confessor and Martyr, wrote extensively in the early part of the seventh century in defence of orthodox Christian faith against the Monothelite heresy. He became abbot of a monestary at Scutari in 639 and seems to have travelled to Greece and Egypt.

Maximus the Confessor

165 A:

To this the Persians bear testimony, when they give to the Sun the name of Mithra, and thus by their celebration of the memorial rites of the "threefold" recall the lengthening of that day.