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The Gifts of the Magi are gold reliquaries in the shape of small geometric basket-like shapes with handles. The gold reliquaries in which the fragrant myrrh and the incense have been enclosed together have been made with a delicate filigree decoration, and the 'handle' of each basket is made of 'beads' . They are kept in ornate embossed silver and gold reliquaries in the cathedral of the Monastery; sometimes they are exhibited to pilgrims, or occasionally they are lent to other churches outside Mt Athos for purposes of bestowing special blessings or for veneration.

The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four that speaks of the adoration of the Magi:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi (wise men) from the east came to Jerusalem
and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.'
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The tradition further relates that Maro had wanted to bring the Gifts of the Magi, along with many other objects, in person to St Pavlos's Monastery. However, after she had set off on the coast, and when she was about to ascend to the monastery, she heard a voice telling her not to go any further, for this was the realm of another Queen, the Virgin Mary; Maro stopped without a second thought. A chapel was later built on that location. This event is said to be the source of the rule that forbids women to enter Agio Oros.

After the Fall of Konstantinople, the Ottomans presumably offered the Gifts of the Magi, which were preserved there, to the Christian wife of Sultan Murad II, Mara Brankovic. Mara had undertaken to continue the work of her father, the Serbian Despot Georgios Brankovic, who had financed the renovation of the western wing of St Pavlos's monastery. We know that Mara of Ezoba, as she is known to the Monastery, donated the fortress of Prevlaka in 1471, and the dependency of Marobitsa after her death, in 1478. It is not known in exactly what year Maro presented the Monastery with the Gifts that the Magi had offered to Christ.

In the 18th century, there was a significant change in the history of the Monastery, which was also observed by Barsky on his second visit. The population of monks of mainly Slavic origin (Serbian or Bulgarian) gradually turned into Greek, thus changing one of the main characteristics of the Monastery. The reason for the change is not known. It is probable that the war of 1684-1688 between the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman empires cut off the Ottoman-dominated Mt Athos from the areas of Macedonia and Serbia, where the holy pilgrims originated. Moreover, the dominance of the Greek-speaking Phanariotes in the Danubian hegemony helped to increase the number of Greek-speaking monks. But why had the fraternity mainly been Slavic-speaking until then?

For the greatest part of its history, the Monastery was much smaller. It gradually developed, restrained by a row of three successive tall rocks that stood on the side of the mountain, almost independent of each other. The 1744 drawing of the Russian monk-traveler Vasily Barskyshows this arrangement. This early-phase structure can also be seen today from the outside of the north wing, opposite to the deep and steep ravine. Barsky even writes in his diary that the architectural arrangement of the St Pavlos Monastery does not resemble any other monastery on Mt Athos. On the third rock, towards the east, stands the great tower of the monastery, while a fourth rock of similar size lies a little further east, outside the precinct.