Hieromonk Job (Gumerov): The verse quoted in the letter refers to the canonical part of the book of Esther. In the Hebrew text there is the pronoun he (hu). O.N. Steinberg (Hebrew and Chaldean Etymological Dictionary for the Books of the Old Testament) considers this word as a derivative of the word hava: "according to the property of the language, that which neither I nor you denote only indicatively: being in general, that". Based on the meaning of the word "being" and the meaning of the verse (... He took sleep away from the king...) the Hebrew translators in the Greek manuscript put Kyrios (Lord).

Are the Biblical Magi Caspar, Melchior and Belshazzar canonized?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)  

In the Orthodox Church, there was no special glorification of the Magi who brought gifts to the Infant Jesus, but their piety and love for the Divine Infant command the highest respect. In the Minology of Basil II (976-1025), on the day of the feast of the Nativity of Christ, an event is mentioned: the adoration of the Magi. For Western Christians, on the feast of the Epiphany (January 6 according to the Gregorian calendar), the central event is the commemoration of the appearance of the star to the Eastern magi or kings (according to European belief, they were kings) at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the feast of the Epiphany is also called Festum magorum (feast of the Magi), or Festum regum (feast of kings). The day of the Baptism of the Lord (Baptisma Christi) is celebrated on the first Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany and completes the Christmas cycle. The names of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Belshazzar) are first found in Bede the Venerable (672 or 673 – May 27, 735).

About the wise men who came to worship the Divine Infant is known for certain only from the Holy Gospel: entering the house, they saw the Infant with Mary, His Mother, and, falling down, they worshipped Him; and having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt. 2:11). They came from the east (2:1). The Greek word magoy used in the text refers to Persian or Babylonian priests, sages, and astrologers. It is impossible to say with certainty from which country the Magi came: most likely, from Persia or Babylonia. In these countries, the messianic expectations of the Jews were known thanks to the prophet Daniel, whose book was well known to both the Persians and the Chaldeans.

Gradually, a great literary tradition developed on the theme of the Magi. Researchers are faced with an insurmountable difficulty: to separate the historical elements of this tradition from the legendary ones. According to legend, they later became Christians. They were baptized by the holy Apostle Thomas, who preached the gospel in Parthia and India. They became preachers of the Gospel. Western traditions even speak of their ordination by the Holy Apostle Thomas to the episcopacy. It is also said that their relics were found by St. Empress Helena and placed in Constantinople. Later, under the Milanese bishop Eustorgius in the 5th century, they would have been transferred to Milan. Currently, the golden reliquary with their relics is in the Cologne Cathedral.

The gifts that the Magi brought to the Infant Jesus were carefully preserved by the Mother of God. Before Her blessed Dormition, she handed them over to the Church of Jerusalem. They stayed there until the year 400. Later, the Byzantine Emperor Arcadius transferred them to Constantinople and placed them in the Church of St. Sofia. In 1453, Constantinople fell. In 1470, the daughter of the Serbian ruler Georgi Branković, Maria (Maro), who was the widow of the Turkish Sultan Murat (Murad) II (1404–1451), gave the Gifts of the Magi to the monastery of St. Paul, which was Serbian until 1744. Despite the fact that she was the wife of the sultan, she did not convert to Islam and remained a Christian until the end of her life. At the place where the kneeling Mary stood, a cross was erected, called the Tsaritsyn Cross. In the chapel standing next to it, the meeting of the monks with these great shrines is depicted. There is a legend that the pious Mary herself wanted to bring the Gifts of the Magi to the monastery, but at the wall of the monastery, as once Princess Placidia in the monastery of Vatopedi, a heavenly voice stopped her and reminded her that the Athonite rule forbids women to enter the monastery.

The Gifts of the Magi are reverently kept in the monastery in several small reliquaries: 28 small gold plates in the form of a trapezoid, quadrangle and polygon, decorated with elegant, filigree ornaments. This is the gold that the Magi brought to the Divine Infant as King. In addition, about 70 small, olive-sized, balls of frankincense and myrrh are kept. These shrines are strongly fragrant. Sometimes the possessed are healed.

Has one of the most authoritative representatives of modern Judaism really recognized that the name of the Messiah is Jesus?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)  

On January 29, 2006, at the age of 108, Kabbalist Yitzhak Kaduri (real name Diba), who was the spiritual leader of Sephardic Jews, died. In recent years, he often spoke of the imminent coming of the Messiah. Before his death, he said that he knew the name of the Messiah, "which was revealed to me on the 9th of Cheshvan 5764 (i.e., November 11, 2003)." He wrote this name in a small note and asked to be printed only a year after his death. As it turned out, the note contains the following text: "Yarim ha-Am Veyokhiakh Shedvaro Vetorato Omdim (He will exalt the people and prove that His word and law are valid)." Text in Hebrew. The first letters of the words in the Hebrew text (ה ו ש ע י) make up the name of the Messiah – Yishhua (Jesus).

Although many Orthodox Jews reacted sharply negatively to the contents of the note, seeing in it a deviation from Judaism, the text is not sufficient to conclude that Isaac Kaduri was referring to our Savior. Everything that Rabbi Yitzchak said (including after November 2003) during his lifetime fits well into the framework of ordinary Judaism, although some statements may have puzzled Orthodox Jews: "It will be easier for non-religious people to follow the Messiah (i.e., the Messiah) than for Orthodox people."

The most significant thing is that Yitzhak Kaduri does not say that the Messiah had already come into this world 2000 years ago, but in the words of the Apostle John the Theologian, "every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh is not of God, but it is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he will come, and is now already in the world" (1 John 4: 3). Yitzhak Kaduri, in his exceptional focus on the interests of the Jews, is no different from a typical representative of Judaism.

Over the long history from the coming of the Redeemer into the world to the present day, two polar positions have been determined. Some Jews recognized Jesus as God incarnate, the Messiah-Savior. By accepting His teaching and sacrificially following His commandments, they attained holiness and inherited eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven: the apostles, the righteous Gamaliel, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and many others in the centuries that followed. Other Jews (ranging from blind Pharisees to modern Judaists) had and still have an overwhelming hatred for the Savior of the world and His followers. This hostility is sometimes surprising in its sophistication. Since the beginning of the 70s of the XX century, even the international plus sign has been banned in all Jewish elementary schools, and later in many higher schools, because it resembles a cross. Instead, a sign similar to the inverted letter "t" is used.