London, Feb. 10: The Three Wise Men who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus may not have been particularly wise and could have been women, the Church of England has ruled.

A committee revising new short prayers, or “collects” for the Church’s latest prayer book, Common Worship, said the term “magi” was a transliteration of the name of officials at the Persian court and the possibility that they were female could not be dismissed.

The General Synod approved the new prayers yesterday at the opening of its week-long meeting in London but some members privately complained that the Church was becoming obsessed with politically correct language.

A spokesperson conceded it was anxious to avoid sexist language but said the ruling on the magi was consistent with biblical texts.

The committee was responding to pleas to replace “magi” with “wise men” in one of the collects on the grounds that the term would be more easily recognised.

In the King James Bible, which until recently was the authoritative English translation, Matthew 2:1 reads: “There came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who is born King of the Jews?”

The committee, chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Jack Nicholls, said recent scholarship suggested that Matthew “deliberately used an exotic word to emphasise the visitors’ exotic nature”.

Although the Persians were unlikely to have been women, the possibility could not be excluded. So the committee retained magi “on the grounds the visitors were not necessarily wise and not necessarily men”.