Grail - what is it? Meaning of the word. Holy Grail - the mysterious relic of Christianity

The search for the Holy Grail continues today. In his image they see both the pagan cornucopia, and the sacrament cup from the Last Supper, and the mysterious stone that grants immortality. It can only be found by those who have been chosen to do so.

From the Last Supper...

The Grail, a mysterious vessel that bestows all the desired benefits, up to immortality, is often considered the first chalice, that is, the communion cup that served Christ and the apostles during the first liturgy - the Last Supper.

According to some versions, it was made from agate, which fell out of the crown of Lucifer during his overthrow. When Jesus Christ was crucified, one of the Jewish elders, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret follower of Christ, collected His blood dripping from the wound inflicted by the spear of Longinus into this cup.

Enraged Jews threw Joseph into prison, causing him to die of hunger. But the Grail gave food to the unfortunate for forty-two years, until Joseph was freed by the emperor Vespasian, who was cured of leprosy by a shroud on which the face of Christ was imprinted.

...to Mansalvat

Thus begins the long journey of the Grail. Christ in a vision appointed Joseph of Arimathea as the keeper of the cup filled with divine blood, after which he went with her to Britain. Before his death, according to one version, he entrusted the treasure to his nephew, according to another, the Grail was kept in heaven until heroes capable of protecting it were born on earth. The progenitor of this tribe was the Asian ruler Perillus, who arrived in Gaul, where his descendants intermarried with the family of the Breton prince. One of his descendants, the noble Titurel, who from a young age was distinguished by purity of thought, was chosen as the new guardian of the Grail. He and his knights, known as the “Knights of the Holy Grail”, erected the no less legendary castle of Montsalvat for the heavenly bowl, where, according to some versions, it is still located.

According to numerous legends, the Grail supplied all who worshiped it with foods and drinks that they would prefer more than others. He gave healing and maintained eternal youth in people. But the most important thing is that those who managed to see the Grail always felt a certain joy, closeness and anticipation of Paradise. The Grail was considered the most valuable relic that a person could receive during his lifetime.

Birth of a legend

Today it is difficult to trace the history of the legend of the Holy Grail, like any other legend that has received the status of "folk". But there are still some clues.
The search should begin in medieval Europe, where in the 9th century a real hunt for Christian relics begins. This is due to the requirement of the Roman Church for the obligatory presence in the temple of the remains or things of the saint. So the relics became a profitable commodity, which began to massively enter Europe from the East.

Naturally, those that were associated with the Passion of Christ were considered the most valuable. Parts of the cross on which He was crucified, the nails with which the body of Christ was nailed to the cross, the crown of thorns, the spear of Longinus, the Shroud of Turin and other shrines were very desirable objects, both for the ministers of the church and for large feudal lords and monarchs.

But among all the relics of the Passion that were exhibited in numerous temples, there was no cup from which Jesus first communed all his disciples at the Last Supper. Given the importance of communion with wine in Catholic churches, which was considered a privilege and for a long time was available only to the clergy, the absence of such an important item could not go unnoticed. Rumors began to circulate about its extraordinary properties and possible locations. One fine day, England, in opposition to France, where the French kings had collected many of the relics of Christianity, put forward the legend of the Grail, which was allegedly located in the vastness of Britain.

The reason for this was two manuscripts. The first is the chronicle of William of Malmesbury, which tells that in the year 63 the disciples of the Apostle Philip, led by Joseph of Arimathea, arrived in Britain to preach Christianity. They built the first temple where Glastonbury Abbey was subsequently founded, and where the body of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere was allegedly found in the 12th century. In the same place, there is still a source called the "well of the bowl."

The second manuscript of the 12th century - the Grand Saint Graal - conveys the legend already told here about the transport of the Grail to Britain and the keepers of the cup. Subsequently, this story was repeated by the novels of Robert de Boron and Chrétien de Troyes, in which the legend is associated with the legends of King Arthur. The story becomes a real "medieval bestseller", similar novels are created in many European countries and acquire more and more details.

Prototypes of the Grail

There were other reasons why the concept of the Grail, as a cup of abundance, bestowing all sorts of benefits, appeared in Britain. The Christian Grail had pagan prototypes associated with the concept of the cornucopia. In Irish mythology, this is the cauldron of the Dagda, which never ran out of food. In the British - a bowl that Merlin brought to Britain on a crystal ship. She opened the future, the treasures of human knowledge and the secrets of the world. In Welsh mythology, it is the vessel of the goddess Seridwen, the source of wisdom, mentioned in the History of Taliesin. Another possible prototype of the Grail is also found there - a certain cup received by Bran the Blessed from a black giant, a witch and a dwarf from the Lake of the Cup, capable of healing any deadly diseases, stop the blood and raise the dead. Subsequently, during one of the battles, Bran threw the head of the enemy into it and the bowl lost its miraculous properties. Obviously, these were all different versions of the same myth.

About the bowl, dish and stone

So far, the Grail has only been referred to as a sacramental cup, but in fact, it was just one of its many guises. According to other versions, the Grail is a silver dish, sometimes with a bloody head from Welsh legends, which was successfully associated with the image of John the Baptist; in Eschenbach's Parzival, it is a stone with miraculous properties. According to another hypothesis: the Grail, the receptacle of the blood of Christ, is the Virgin Mary. In general, there was no single idea about him.

"Grail"

The name of the bowl did not clarify either. The origin of the "Grail" is still unknown. Someone suggests that the name, like the legend itself, is Celtic, from the Irish cryol - "basket of abundance." Someone believes that the basis of the "Grail" is the old French "Sangreal" - " true blood”, and someone sees in it the Greek “κρατης” or gratalem - a large vessel for mixing wine with water.
Holy Chalice Candidates
The search for the Grail continues to this day. The last time a relic claiming the right to be called the Grail was found in March 2014 in the basilica of the city of Leon. According to the historians who discovered it, after the crucifixion, the Holy Grail did not go to the West, but to Palestine, from where it came to Egypt and then to Arab Spain. After the reconquista, when the Spanish lands were liberated from the Arabs, the bowl ended up in Leon and became known as the Urraca bowl, on behalf of the Queen of Castile.

Today, several cities claim to possess the real Grail. One of the most famous is the Antioch chalice, a silver vessel discovered by antiquarians in 1910 in Antioch (Antakya). It is an ovoid goblet on a round leg, which is covered with relief images of Jesus Christ and the apostles, made, according to the supporters of the authenticity of the chalice, much later than its direct creation. But the results of later studies date the bowl no later than the 6th century. Another "authentic" Grail, allegedly recognized by the Vatican itself, is located in the Cathedral of St. Mary in Valencia.

The Holy Grail is the mystery of our world. They search for him, make films, tell legends. But what it really is and where it is, no one knows. Why hide historical value? Maybe it's just a myth built on the name famous person? We will follow in the footsteps of the researchers and try to figure everything out. Join and comment.

If you have any additional information about the Holy Grail, then feel free to write about it under the article.

(lat. Gradalis) is a bowl. Jesus Christ drank from it at the Last Supper. And it was in this bowl that Joseph of Arimathea (a Jewish elder; a follower of Jesus; a rich man; a member of the Sanhedrin; Jesus was buried in his tomb) collected the blood of Christ after the crucifixion.

According to legend, it was after the collected blood that the bowl began to have incredible power.

There are two versions of the Grail view:

1. In the form of a goblet, like a cup from which they drink
2. In the form of a stone - in the medieval novels of Europe, the Grail is described as follows

Grail power legend

The legend says:

- Whoever drinks from the Holy Grail receives eternal life, forgiveness of sins and healing from all diseases.

The forgiveness of sins in our world is of little concern, but eternal life has always occupied the thoughts of a person, especially a powerful and rich one. For this reason, the hunt for the cup is still going on.

Officially, no one knows where this bowl is and what it actually looks like. All images of her in the article, and throughout the Internet, are just an assumption of the species.

The Holy Grail is the most coveted Christian artifact. But at the same time, the most illusory. They write and talk a lot about him, but no one has revealed his reality in such a different way.

Quest for the Holy Grail

For many centuries people have been searching for the Grail. Someone found something similar and claimed to have found the Holy Grail. But this was only a deception or delusion of the one who believed so.

In Valencia (Spain). A goblet made of chalcedony adorned with precious stones is kept in the city's medieval church. The authors of the find claim that this is the Holy Grail.

Many Holy Popes have used this goblet for Holy Communion. Among these personalities is Pope John Paul II. He used this bowl during Mass.

But the bowl from Valencia is one of dozens and even hundreds of similar ones that claim to be called the Holy Grail.

The owners of such a bowl were waiting for wealth and popularity. As soon as a church or abbey claimed to be the owner of the holy grail, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world began to flock to them. People lined up in endless lines to donate the amount of money available to them and touch the Grail.

Priests have always been the owners of ancient objects and artifacts that were kept on the territory of the church and passed down from generation to generation. They could easily find an ancient bowl. They could easily say that they did not know where she came from and what her origin was. And as a result, they passed it off as the grail.

But if you look closely at all the bowls on display, which are called, it is not difficult to notice that their appearance is very rich - they are decorated with gold and jewelry. This type of bowl is more like a king's cup.

Historians are sure that Jesus Christ could hardly have had such a cup on that very day, at the Last Supper. It is believed that the holy grail is very simple and modest in appearance. This may be the simplest cup made of wood or stone, not decorated with anything. BUT appearance could be completely different from the universally recognized cup.

Bible

The Bible doesn't say anything about a cup. And it is not said that this bowl is any unusual or special. Therefore, in order to search for it, it is necessary to turn to completely different sources.

Vulgate, 1230

In 1230, a series of novels was published in France that tells about knights looking for a mysteriously hidden object. The Vulgate was the title of a series of these stories. They are written in old French and consists of 5 parts.

Some researchers claim that it is in these novels that the Holy Grail is described. And in the descriptions, it was not depicted in the form of a bowl at all.

Parzival, 1200

Another version of the Holy Grail appeared in Bovaria (Germany). A novel called "Parzival" (German: Parzival). This is a chivalric romance. It contains 25,000 lines in verse form. Dated 1200-1210. Written by Wolfram von Eschenbach.

Monument to Wolfram von Eschenbach

As you can see, the novel "Parzival" was created 2-3 decades earlier than the Vulgate. The two novels have a similar theme to the quest for the Grail, but there are significant differences in some of the descriptions.

In Parzival, Jesus and Joseph are minor characters. There is not even any description of the bowl in the novel. Eschenbach believed that the grail is not a cup, but a stone, and it came to people from heaven, from paradise, and therefore is a magical object with incredible properties. And losing a stone in our world is easy.

Wolfram Eschenbach described that the Grail restores its magical properties. A dove sits on it with a wafer in its beak. The bird puts the brought host on the stone and it comes to life with new force.

This, in principle, is the entire description of the holy grail from the novel Percival.

No one today can say for sure on what grounds this description was made. Is this an invention of the author or practical knowledge?

Perceval, 1190

Let's go back a little more, to northern France, to Champagne. Chrétien de Troyes (French Chrétien de Troyes) lived in this area. In 1190 he wrote his own novel, Perceval or the Tale of the Grail. The novel appeared 20 years earlier than Eschenbach's novel "Parzival"

This novel is about a young man named Percival who aspires to become a knight and goes on a long journey to do so. The road leads him to the king, and the young man witnesses an unusual and mystical ritual.

The ritual used a sword and a spear, and a young girl held a bowl in her hands, which they called . The description said that it was a large golden bowl that had great magical power. At the bottom of the bowl was one obladka.

After reading different versions of the descriptions of ancient manuscripts, it is easy to get even more confused. All texts contained completely different grails. What exactly did he look like and did he really have such properties? These and other questions are still being asked by artifact seekers.

Perhaps such differences were deliberately conveyed to our time so that people would never be able to find the real Grail. After all, having learned about the world about it, wars could begin for the sake of possessing the treasure.

Most likely, the true owner will never reveal the truth to the world in order to maintain balance and tranquility on earth.
Imagine that the Holy Grail has been found. What will happen? The world will long and hard find out to which country it really belongs and in which church it should be kept. And wealthy collectors will not be able to resist trying to take possession of this artifact dishonestly.

Our world is too greedy and cruel to share and help each other. We assume that it will be found only when the borders between countries are erased, and people will love and respect the one who lives nearby just like their son or daughter.
But let's stop speculation and continue to look for clues about the secret of the Grail's storage.

Let's go back to the original sources that described the Grail.

In the 12th century it was the most famous and significant in all circles. It was during the existence of the Templars that the manuscripts describing the Holy Grail appeared. This happened from about 1190 to 1275. During this period of time, the Knights Templar were at the very pinnacle of their development and influence. They fought not for power, money and glory, they stood for the defense of goodness and justice.

During the period when von Eschenbach wrote his novel, the Templars were a role model in terms of chivalry and honor.
Von Eschenbach wrote in his novel that the Grail castle was guarded by the Knights Templars, that is, the Templars. In the description, they were people dressed in white cloaks. And historians immediately compared this image with the Templars, because. they wore white clothes as a symbol of purity.

The above may suggest that the story of the search for the Holy Grail is based on the exploits of the Knights Templar. Maybe the missing cup should be looked for not in novels, but in the history of knights?

In the 12th century, in Jerusalem, the first Crusade. An order of knights was assembled to protect the pilgrims on their way to the places of pilgrimage.

In 1099, the crusaders took Jerusalem. Christianity rejoiced at this event. But this turned out to be a big problem - the Holy Land was very difficult to keep in its power. Then one of the knights spoke with the words that he wanted to devote himself to the service of these pilgrims in order to protect them on holy ground.

If we assume that Jerusalem, as an ancient and holy city, could secretly store its treasures and artifacts, then most likely they are still on its territory. And the Templars knew better than anyone where to look for these treasures in the city.

The residence of the order of knights was located in the most sacred place of the city - on the Temple Mount. Today at modern world, at this place is the Dome of the Rock. And during the time of the Crusaders, the Temple of Solomon was located on this site.

King Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave the knights his palace, which was built on the Temple Mount. It was this building that the knights called the Temple of Solomon, since it was located on the site of the temple.

In order for the temple to be a protection and a fortress for people, the knights undertook to rebuild it. They dug a tunnel 20 meters long in the rock and made a whole system of underground passages.

Theologians do not attach much importance to these tunnels. They are open to the public today. And the knights thus expanded their territory and adapted them for their own purposes.

But some researchers believe that such excavations were not made for domestic use. There is a version that the knights found something, because the Templars knew what and where to look. And when they found what they were looking for, they immediately returned to their Europe.

Did they really find what they were looking for? And no one knows what it was. The order consisted of people loyal and closed. None of them revealed this secret during their lifetime.

Now fast forward to Larachel, a port city in France. It was to the port of this city that the knights on ships returned home from Jerusalem.

It is not known what the Templars brought with their ships, but soon after this trip, the order became one of the richest among all knightly orders. They received donations from ordinary people.

For 200 years, the Knights Templar have become the most powerful and very, very rich. Their possessions stretched from the north of Poland to the south of Minorca; from England to the Holy Land. In addition to the acquired wealth, the knights received the blessing of the Pope himself. He gave the order the widest privileges. Because of this turn of events, the monks and priests were very dissatisfied with the decision of the Pope and the situation. Well, as a result, they were very jealous of the knights.

From this description of events in history, one can easily assume that it was the Templars who found the Holy Grail.

Let's move on in the footsteps of history and fast forward to the 14th century, in France, during the reign of King Philip the 4th. At this time, the order of knights was at the very peak of its power. But everything changes with time. And after the peak of the success of the knights, decline awaited.

Ordinary residents began to complain more and more often about the deeds of the Knights Templar. Society began to treat them with negativity, contempt and arrogance.

King Philip took advantage of such changes in the attitude of people towards the order and knights. Frequent wars practically reduced his treasury to zero. And the king decides to rectify the situation with the help of the riches of the order of knights.

Philip began to act psychologically on people and did everything possible so that his subjects would finally turn away from the knights. The king began to spread rumors about blasphemy, sodomy and sodomy on the part of the knights. That is, in everything that in those days was considered a terrible sin.

Then the king sent secret letters to his officials. These were orders. They had the same information for everyone - October 13, 1307 arrest all members of the Knights Templar who lived in France. That is why Friday the 13th is still considered the most unlucky number.

All those arrested were handed over to the Holy Inquisition. The pope decided to close the order, as he began to have a very bad reputation.

The property of the order was confiscated, but nothing resembling the Holy Grail was ever found or carefully hidden from history.
Let us assume that the Grail was not found among the seized riches. Then we move on. And we will continue the search in the habitats of the knights - in the temples of the order.

All the churches of the order were simple in construction, but each has the hallmarks of the Templars. For example, in Christian churches there is an image of Christ everywhere, and in the temples of the knights of the order there is an image of the Virgin Mary.

The Templars, with a special emphasis, revered the Mother of God and dedicated their churches to her, and each knight swore an oath to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the knights had something more in this worship.

Templar Cathedral

France, 13th century Charters Cathedral. Located 90 km from Paris and included in the list world heritage. Pilgrims have always come here for many centuries. Maybe there are clues here and will bring us closer to unraveling the mystery of the Holy Grail.

Small, architectural decorations of the building could be displayed under the influence of the knights. For example, above the main pediment there is an image of Jesus, who raised his hand in blessing. If you look closely at the cross behind the head of Jesus, it is not difficult to notice that its outlines exactly match the outlines of the cross of the Knights Templar.

Inside the church are 3 black Madonnas. There is a version that it is the black Madonnas associated with the Templars. They brought these images from the Crusades.

Could the Templars hide the Holy Grail right here? Can the Grail be associated with a woman whose image is in all the churches of the order?

The Templars believed that the Virgin Mary had more wisdom than Jesus Christ. For other churches, this version was equated with terrible heresy. Churches have always forbidden residents to seek the truth on their own, they demanded to take their word for it. Therefore, the Templars were persecuted for such a belief.

But the Templars themselves were not only warriors, defenders, but also deeply religious. They brought people protection and faith.
There is a version that the knights have always sought to convey information about enlightenment to all mankind and encrypted their message in architecture and handwritten novels. They wanted future generations to be able to learn about them, their faith and beliefs.

Chrétien de Troy encoded in his novel part of the worldview of the Knights Templar. The legends of the Holy Grail arose from the desire to preserve the ideas of the knights. If this was indeed the case, then what kind of wisdom were they trying to convey to us?

Masons - descendants of the Templars

London. The Grand United Masonic Lodge of England. International meetings and secret ceremonies are held here. Many researchers believe that the Freemasons could be directly related to the Knights Templar.

If you study the order of Freemasons and the Order of the Templars, you can find many coincidences:

1. Have secret initiation ceremonies
2. The first Master of the Templars, after his marriage, entered the family of leaders of Scottish Freemasonry
3. One of the highest ranks in Freemasonry is the position of a knight.

But the problem is that the order of Freemasonry arose only 300 years after the Knights Templar.
This is where the question arises - How could the Knights Templar influence the Masonic movement? The order was abolished in 1314, and Freemasonry arose in the early 17th century.

Maybe the families of knights hid from the eyes of people for 300 years, passing information from generation to generation.

Freemasonry is based on 2 principles:

1. Charity
2. Brotherhood

In modern Freemasonry, many find the principles of the Knights Templar.

After analyzing the novels and the history of the knights, researchers come to the conclusion that the Grail is not some kind of material object. It was some kind of intangible treasure, perhaps it was some idea of ​​life. It was this idea that the knights carried to people.

You may not be a knight or a freemason, but you can behave as befits these orders - bring good to people, help, compassion, love, believe.

P.S

The Holy Grail, which gave rise to many legends and myths, which forced researchers to search, which gave rise to film scripts - may be someone's faith and is called the "Holy Grail". For example, Jesus is the Holy Grail for our humanity. He gained eternal life in the history of the planet.

Maybe the Holy Grail is not a goblet or a stone. And this is the name of the value that a person or an order as a whole acquires for himself.

What do you say about this? What is really the Grail that is still being sought?
We are waiting for your opinion and comments under the article.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The one who drinks from the Grail receives forgiveness of sins, eternal life, etc. In some versions, even a close contemplation of a magical object gives immortality, as well as various benefits in the form of food, drink, etc. The words "Holy Grail" are often used in figuratively as a designation of some cherished goal, often unattainable or difficult to achieve.

Quest for the Grail

In the 9th century in Europe they begin to "hunt" for relics associated with the earthly life of Christ. This process reached its apogee in the 13th century, when Saint Louis brought to Paris from Constantinople and placed in the Holy Chapel built for this purpose a number of instruments of the Passion, whose authenticity was doubted by few.

However, among the tools of the Passion, which were exhibited in various churches in Europe, there was no cup from which Jesus ate at the Last Supper. This circumstance spurred rumors and legends about her whereabouts. In contrast to Paris, which "monopolized" many of the shrines of Christianity, part of modern France, which belonged to the English crown, put forward the legend of the cup, which is hidden somewhere in the vastness of Britain.

In medieval novels about Percival main character searches for and finds the magical castle of Munsalves, in which the Grail is kept under the protection of the Templars. In some descriptions, the Grail is very reminiscent of an inexhaustible vessel from older Celtic legends, which in its function is similar to similar objects in the mythology of other Indo-European peoples, in particular, with a cornucopia (see below).

In medieval literature

• - gg. - "Perceval, or the Legend of the Grail", Chretien de Troyes
• - gg. - trilogy "History of the Holy Grail": "The Romance of Joseph of Arimathea", "Merlin" (partially preserved) and "Perceval"(not preserved), Robert de Boron (Burgundy)
• - gg. - "Cycle of the Vulgate": "History of the Holy Grail", "History of Merlin", "The Book of Lancelot", "Search for the Holy Grail" and "Death of Arthur".

In the same Celtic traditions, there is another myth associated with the Grail stone. It was a special stone that could scream. With a cry he recognized the true king and was installed in the ancient Irish capital of Tara.

Grail and conspiracy theories

The search for the true meaning of the word "Grail" gave rise to many conspiracy theories. The most famous are the options voiced in the novel The Da Vinci Code and dating back to the occult researches of Otto Rahn:

• The grail is the blood of the descendants of Jesus, sang raal, sang real, or "sangroyal"- "royal blood", the faithful guardians of which were the Templars, directly descended from the Zion Community.
• in a broad sense, this is the breast of Magdalene, then Mary Magdalene herself, whose cult, which originated at the beginning of the Middle Ages, according to conspiracy theorists, eventually mixed with the cult of the Virgin Mary.

The Holy Grail in Modern Culture

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Notes

Literature

• Bloom Jean. Rennes-le-Chateau. Visigoths, Cathars, Templars: the secret of heretics. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2007. - 252 p. - Series "Historical Library".
• Dashkevich N. P. The Legend of the Holy Grail // From the history of medieval romanticism. - Kyiv, 1877.
• Dashkevich N. P. The Romance of the Round Table in Western Literature and Life. - Kyiv, 1890.
• Veselovsky A. N. Where did the legend of the Holy Grail originate? - St. Petersburg, 1900.
• Averintsev A. Grail // Myths of the peoples of the world. - M .: Sov. Encycl., 1991. - T. 1. - S. 317.
• Andreeva V., Rovner A. Grail, saint // // Encyclopedia of symbols, signs, emblems / Ed.-comp. V. Andreeva and others - M .: Astrel Publishing House LLC: MYTH: AST Publishing House LLC, 2001. - S. 134-135.
• Brother D:., D:. L. Quest for the Grail // Phoenix. - 2002. - No. 16.
• Dashkevich N.P. The Legend of the Holy Grail // Dashkevich N.P. From the history of medieval romanticism. - K .: Naukova Dumka, 1877.
• Dugin A. Crusade of the Sun // End of the World. - M.: Arktogeya, 1997. - S. 234-235.
• Eremin G. The Mystery of the Pentagonal Castle // Technique of Youth. - 1969. - No. 1.
• Cox S. Titans of the Renaissance and the secrets of the Templars and the Illuminati. - M.: LLC "AST", 2007. - 288 p. - Series "Historical Library".
• Mayer R. In space - time is here ... The history of the Grail. - M .: Enigma, 1997. - 352 p. - ISBN 5-7808-0018-9.
• Markal Jean. Rennes-le-Chateau and the mystery of the damned gold ... - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008. - 368 p. - Series "Historical Library".
• Matthews D. Grail tradition. - M .: Publishing House of the Transpersonal Institute, 1997. - 160 p. - ISBN 5-88389-020-2.
• Nepomniachtchi N. N. The Grail // Nepomniachtchi N. N. One hundred great mysteries of history. - M.: "Veche", 2002. - S.176-181.
• Romanchuk L. The phenomenon of the Middle Ages and the Holy Grail // Threshold. - Kirovograd, 2004. - No. 6. - S. 22-27.
• Pechnikov B. A. Who are the knights of the church? Essays on the history and contemporary activities of Catholic orders. - M.: Politizdat, 1991. - 351 p.: ill.
• Rudzitis R. Brotherhood of the Grail. - Riga: Uguns. - 320 s. - ISBN 5-88484-022-5.
• Fanthorpe L. Secrets of the treasures of the Templars and the Holy Grail. Secrets of Rennes-le-Chateau / Per. from English. N. A. Kirilenko. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008. - 367 p. - Series "Historical Library".
• M. Baigent, R. Lay, G. Lincoln. / Per. from English. - M., 1992.

• Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood, Holy Grail. - Corgi, 1982. - ISBN ISBN 0-552-12138-X.
• Rahn, Otto. Crusade against the Grail. - AST, 2004.
• // Order of the Russian Templars. Volume III. Documents 1922-1930 - Moscow: "Past", 2003.

Links

• on the website of the Society of St. Theodore Gavras.
• Alexander Ladik. Full version of the article for the Encyclopedia Modern Ukraine". Volume 7. 2008.
• Abd-ru-shin. "In the Light of Truth. The Grail Message” (“Im Lichte der Wahrheit. Gralsbotschaft”), report .
• and his explorations

Filmography

• "Mysteries of history. Secrets of the Holy Grail "(" Mysteries of History. Mysteries of the Holy Grail ") is a popular science film shot in 2010.

Developments Places Jesus and the disciples Jews Romans Items Iconography

Main characters Knights of the Round Table Magicians and fairies Minor characters Geographical points Legendary Items

Main events Related characters Other In popular culture

An excerpt characterizing the Holy Grail

In the damp, cold air, in the cramped and incomplete darkness of the swaying carriage, for the first time she vividly imagined what awaited her there, at the ball, in the illuminated halls - music, flowers, dances, sovereign, all the brilliant youth of St. Petersburg. What awaited her was so wonderful that she did not even believe that it would be: it was so inconsistent with the impression of cold, crowdedness and darkness of the carriage. She understood everything that awaited her only when, having walked along the red cloth of the entrance, she entered the hallway, took off her fur coat and walked beside Sonya in front of her mother between the flowers along the illuminated stairs. Only then did she remember how she had to behave at the ball and tried to assume that majestic manner, which she considered necessary for a girl at the ball. But fortunately for her, she felt that her eyes were running wide: she could not see anything clearly, her pulse beat a hundred times a minute, and the blood began to beat at her heart. She could not adopt the manner that would have made her ridiculous, and she walked, dying from excitement and trying with all her might only to hide it. And this was the very manner that most of all went to her. In front and behind them, talking in the same low voice and also in ball gowns, the guests entered. The mirrors on the stairs reflected ladies in white, blue, pink dresses, with diamonds and pearls on their open arms and necks.
Natasha looked into the mirrors and in the reflection she could not distinguish herself from others. Everything was mixed in one brilliant procession. At the entrance to the first hall, a uniform rumble of voices, steps, greetings - deafened Natasha; the light and brilliance blinded her even more. The host and hostess, who had been standing at the front door for half an hour and saying the same words to those who came in: “charme de vous voir,” [in admiration that I see you] also met the Rostovs and Peronskaya.
Two girls in white dresses, with identical roses in their black hair, sat down in the same way, but the hostess involuntarily fixed her gaze longer on the thin Natasha. She looked at her, and smiled at her alone, in addition to her master's smile. Looking at her, the hostess remembered, perhaps, her golden, irrevocable girlish time, and her first ball. The owner also looked after Natasha and asked the count, who is his daughter?
- Charmante! [Charming!] – he said, kissing the tips of his fingers.
Guests were standing in the hall, crowding at the front door, waiting for the sovereign. The Countess placed herself in the front row of this crowd. Natasha heard and felt that several voices asked about her and looked at her. She realized that those who paid attention to her liked her, and this observation calmed her somewhat.
“There are people like us, there are worse than us,” she thought.
Peronskaya called the countess the most significant persons who were at the ball.
“This is a Dutch envoy, you see, gray-haired,” Peronskaya said, pointing to an old man with silver gray curly, abundant hair, surrounded by ladies, whom he made laugh at something.
“And here she is, the Queen of Petersburg, Countess Bezukhaya,” she said, pointing to Helen entering.
- How good! Will not yield to Marya Antonovna; see how both young and old follow her. And good, and smart ... They say the prince ... crazy about her. But these two, although not good, are even more surrounded.
She pointed to a lady passing through the hall with a very ugly daughter.
“This is a millionaire bride,” said Peronskaya. And here are the grooms.
“This is Bezukhova’s brother, Anatole Kuragin,” she said, pointing to the handsome cavalry guard, who walked past them, looking somewhere from the height of his raised head over the ladies. - How good! is not it? They say they will marry him to this rich woman. .And your sousin, Drubetskoy, is also very entangled. They say millions. “Well, it’s the French envoy himself,” she answered about Caulaincourt when asked by the countess who it was. “Look like some kind of king. And yet the French are very, very nice. There is no mile for society. And here she is! No, everything is better than all our Marya Antonovna! And how simply dressed. Charm! “And this one, fat, with glasses, is a worldwide freemason,” said Peronskaya, pointing to Bezukhov. - With his wife, then put him next to him: then that jester of peas!
Pierre walked, waddling his fat body, pushing the crowd apart, nodding right and left as casually and good-naturedly as if he were walking through the crowd of a bazaar. He moved through the crowd, apparently looking for someone.
Natasha looked with joy at the familiar face of Pierre, that pea jester, as Peronskaya called him, and knew that Pierre was looking for them, and especially for her, in the crowd. Pierre promised her to be at the ball and introduce her to the gentlemen.
But, before reaching them, Bezukhoy stopped beside a short, very handsome brunette in a white uniform, who, standing at the window, was talking to some tall man in stars and a ribbon. Natasha immediately recognized a short young man in a white uniform: it was Bolkonsky, who seemed to her very rejuvenated, cheerful and prettier.
- Here's another friend, Bolkonsky, see, mom? - said Natasha, pointing to Prince Andrei. - Remember, he spent the night with us in Otradnoye.
– Oh, you know him? Peronskaya said. - I can not stand. Il fait a present la pluie et le beau temps. [It now determines rainy or fine weather. (French proverb, meaning that he is successful.)] And such pride that there are no borders! I followed papa. And he contacted Speransky, some projects are being written. See how the ladies are treated! She's talking to him, and he's turned away,” she said, pointing at him. “I would beat him up if he did the same to me as he did to these ladies.

Suddenly everything stirred, the crowd began to talk, moved, parted again, and between the two parted rows, at the sound of music playing, the sovereign entered. Behind him were the owner and mistress. The emperor walked quickly, bowing to the right and left, as if trying to get rid of this first minute of the meeting as soon as possible. The musicians played Polish, known then for the words composed on it. These words began: “Alexander, Elizabeth, you delight us ...” The sovereign went into the living room, the crowd rushed to the doors; several faces with changed expressions hurried back and forth. The crowd again retreated from the doors of the drawing room, in which the sovereign appeared, talking with the hostess. Some young man with a confused look was advancing on the ladies, asking them to step aside. Some ladies with faces expressing complete forgetfulness of all the conditions of the world, spoiling their toilets, crowded forward. Men began to approach the ladies and line up in Polish pairs.
Everything parted, and the emperor, smiling and out of time leading the mistress of the house by the hand, went out of the doors of the drawing room. He was followed by the owner with M.A. Naryshkina, then envoys, ministers, various generals, whom Peronskaya called incessantly. More than half of the ladies had cavaliers and were walking or preparing to go to Polskaya. Natasha felt that she remained with her mother and Sonya among the smaller part of the ladies pushed back to the wall and not taken in Polskaya. She stood with her slender arms lowered, and with a measuredly rising, slightly defined chest, holding her breath, with shining, frightened eyes, she looked ahead of her, with an expression of readiness for the greatest joy and the greatest grief. She was not interested in either the sovereign or all the important persons that Peronskaya pointed out - she had one thought: “is it really that no one will come up to me, really I won’t dance between the first, really all these men who now, it seems that they don’t see me, but if they look at me, they look with such an expression, as if they say: Ah! it's not her, so there's nothing to see. No, it can't be!" she thought. “They must know how I want to dance, how well I dance, and how fun it will be for them to dance with me.”
The sounds of Polish, which had gone on for quite some time, were already beginning to sound sad, a memory in Natasha's ears. She wanted to cry. Peronskaya moved away from them. The count was at the other end of the hall, the countess, Sonya and she stood alone as if in a forest in this alien crowd, uninteresting and unnecessary to anyone. Prince Andrei walked past them with some lady, apparently not recognizing them. The handsome Anatole, smiling, said something to the lady he was leading, and looked at Natasha's face with the look with which they look at the walls. Boris walked past them twice and each time turned away. Berg and his wife, who were not dancing, approached them.
This family rapprochement here, at the ball, seemed insulting to Natasha, as if there was no other place for family conversations except at the ball. She did not listen and did not look at Vera, who was saying something to her about her green dress.
Finally, the sovereign stopped beside his last lady (he was dancing with three), the music stopped; the preoccupied adjutant ran up to the Rostovs, asking them to move somewhere else, although they were standing against the wall, and the distinct, cautious and fascinatingly measured sounds of a waltz rang out from the choir. The emperor looked at the hall with a smile. A minute passed and no one started yet. The adjutant manager approached Countess Bezukhova and invited her. She raised her hand, smiling, and laid it, without looking at him, on the adjutant's shoulder. The adjutant manager, a master of his craft, confidently, leisurely and measuredly, tightly embracing his lady, first set off with her on a glide path, along the edge of the circle, at the corner of the hall, grabbed her left hand, turned her, and because of the ever faster sounds of music, only measured the clicks of the spurs of the aide-de-camp's quick and agile feet, and every three beats at the turn, the fluttering velvet dress of his lady seemed to flare up. Natasha looked at them and was ready to cry that it was not she who was dancing this first round of the waltz.
Prince Andrei, in his colonel's white (for cavalry) uniform, in stockings and boots, lively and cheerful, stood in the forefront of the circle, not far from the Rostovs. Baron Firgof spoke to him about tomorrow, the proposed first meeting of the State Council. Prince Andrei, as a person close to Speransky and participating in the work of the legislative commission, could give correct information about the meeting of tomorrow, about which there were various rumors. But he did not listen to what Firgof told him, and looked first at the sovereign, then at the gentlemen who were about to dance, who did not dare to enter the circle.
Prince Andrei watched these cavaliers and ladies, timid in the presence of the sovereign, dying from the desire to be invited.
Pierre went up to Prince Andrei and grabbed his hand.
- You always dance. Here is my protegee [favorite], young Rostova, invite her, - he said.
- Where? Bolkonsky asked. “I’m sorry,” he said, turning to the baron, “we will finish this conversation in another place, but at the ball we have to dance.” - He stepped forward, in the direction that Pierre indicated to him. Natasha's desperate, fading face caught Prince Andrei's eyes. He recognized her, guessed her feelings, realized that she was a beginner, remembered her conversation at the window, and with a cheerful expression approached Countess Rostova.
“Let me introduce you to my daughter,” said the countess, blushing.
“I have the pleasure of being acquainted, if the countess remembers me,” said Prince Andrei with a courteous and low bow, completely contradicting Peronskaya’s remarks about his rudeness, going up to Natasha, and raising his hand to hug her waist even before he finished the invitation to dance. He suggested a waltz tour. That fading expression on Natasha's face, ready for despair and delight, suddenly lit up with a happy, grateful, childish smile.
“I have been waiting for you for a long time,” as if this frightened and happy girl said, with her smile that appeared from ready tears, raising her hand on Prince Andrei’s shoulder. They were the second couple to enter the circle. Prince Andrei was one of the best dancers of his time. Natasha danced superbly. Her feet in ballroom satin shoes quickly, easily and independently of her did their job, and her face shone with the delight of happiness. Her bare neck and arms were thin and ugly. Compared to Helen's shoulders, her shoulders were thin, her chest indefinite, her arms thin; but Helen already seemed to have varnish from all the thousands of glances that glided over her body, and Natasha seemed like a girl who was naked for the first time, and who would be very ashamed of it if she had not been assured that it was so necessary.
Prince Andrei loved to dance, and wanting to quickly get rid of the political and intelligent conversations with which everyone turned to him, and wanting to quickly break this annoying circle of embarrassment formed by the presence of the sovereign, he went to dance and chose Natasha, because Pierre pointed her out to him. and because she was the first of the pretty women that caught his eye; but as soon as he embraced this thin, mobile body, and she stirred so close to him and smiled so close to him, the wine of her charms hit him in the head: he felt revived and rejuvenated when, catching his breath and leaving her, he stopped and began to look on the dancers.

holy grail

In Western European legends and tales, the Holy Grail is a mysterious vessel, for the sake of approaching which and initiating its good actions, the knights performed feats. Many myths, ancient legends, poems and painstaking works are dedicated to him. scientific research. Troubadours, minstrels, mastersingers of the 11th-13th centuries created a whole genealogy of kings and guardians of the Grail.

For a long time, there were two views on the origin of the legend of the Holy Grail in science, dividing researchers into two camps. For some, it was a Welsh fairy tale theme, which was later joined by Christian names and motifs, for other scholars, the Holy Grail - further development Christian apocrypha, which was furnished with fantastic details of a folk tale.

One of the prominent representatives of the Celtic theory was Professor Willmark, who believed that the legend of the Holy Grail passed into medieval literature from a Latin retelling of it, made in the 8th century by a British hermit. He got the idea of ​​a miraculous vessel from the works of bards, where there is a cup that has the name and qualities of the Holy Grail.

According to Willmark, the vessel of the bards bore a name meaning the same as the Holy Grail. The word "per", which occurs in poetic tales, means "a wide vessel, a bowl", and this corresponds to the Grail (as the Gallic dictionary explained it). True, other researchers (for example, Gelinand) doubted such an explanation. According to their theory, the word "per" meant mainly a kitchen vessel in which something is cooked, while the Grail was a dish on which the richest dishes were served. Thus, the description of the bowl by different researchers (as well as by medieval authors) varied greatly. For some, it was a modest bowl from the table of the apostles, for others it was made of gold and decorated precious stones, others saw in the Grail a goblet carved from an emerald that fell from Lucifer's forehead during the fall of this rebellious angel.

Many researchers see in such a variety of plots a connection with the legends of the pre-Christian era about sacrificial blood, for example, with the goblet that the ten gods of ancient Atlantis drank before the start of their meetings ... Or with the golden goblet of the Germanic tribes, or with the goblet of Styx water, which had special properties and was considered a receptacle of ancient and lost knowledge.

The question of the origins of the legend of the Holy Grail in past centuries was devoted to many scholarly works (among which there were quite solid ones), but to this day it remains unanswered. In Russia, this issue was dealt with by Professor A.N. Veselovsky and N. Dashkevich. The latter studied in detail all Western European theories and notes that the novels about the Knights of the Round Table played an important role in the creation of the legend of the Holy Grail. For 400 years, these books were creations that fully embodied the ideal of the nobility. The aristocrats collected them in their libraries, after copious libations they also entertained the guests of the noble feudal lords. Ignorance of the stories about the Knights of the Round Table was considered a sign of ignorance, the names actors(Arthur, Lancelot and others) the baby was named at baptism, etc. For example, Merlin is a zealot of Christian principles in the novels. So, having once bestowed wealth and honors on a poor man, he deprived him of them when he became very proud and turned out to be ungrateful.

Some of the heroes of the Round Table were very popular. At the end of the 12th century, they wrote about the knight Arthur, in particular: “To which of the places where Christian dominion extends, did not the winged glory bring and where did not make known the name of Briton Arthur? Who ... does not talk about him when, as the pilgrims returning from the East tell us, he is almost more famous among the Asiatic peoples than the Britons? The inhabitants of the East speak of Arthur as well as the inhabitants of the West, although they are separated by the space of the whole earth. Egypt speaks about him, the solitary Bosphorus is not silent. His deeds are sung by the lord of states, Rome, and the once-rival of Rome, Carthage, knows the battles of Arthur, which are glorified by Antioch, Armenia, Palestine.

The cycle of novels about the Knights of the Round Table also included a story about the Holy Grail, which protects in court and in battle, it glows and soars in the air, separates the righteous from sinners, nourishes and heals, which was first discovered during the imprisonment of Joseph of Arimathea. This feature, which plays an important role in legends, brings the Holy Grail closer to the mythological symbols of abundance (in Greek mythology this is the horn of Amalthea, in the myths and rituals of the Celts it is a cauldron), as well as with the sacraments of communion “like the bread of angels” and manna from heaven.

It is now quite difficult to find the original antiquity of the original tales of the Grail, and in medieval knightly literature, the Grail motif begins to appear at the end of the 12th century. In the novel by the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach "Parzival", the Holy Grail is not a cup, but a stone brought to earth by angels and possessing miraculous power.

A little earlier than the novel "Parzival" appeared "A novel about the history of the Grail" by the French author Robert de Boron. This work has been preserved in two versions - prose and verse, but, unfortunately, only fragments have survived from the second part ("Merlin"). However, the original volume and content of the poem can be restored from them, and we will focus on the first part of the poem - "Joseph of Arimathea", which reveals the essence of the legend of the Holy Grail.

In Robert de Boron, the poem opens with a story about redemption, which the author considers as liberation from the devil. Then the novel tells about the betrayal of Judas, about the washing by Jesus Christ of the feet of his disciples and the celebration of the Last Supper in the house of Simon the leper. Joseph of Arimathea finds on Calvary the cup from which Jesus Christ drank, and takes it to the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, who gives him the cup along with permission to remove the body of the Savior from the cross and give it to burial.

Joseph took the holy body of Jesus Christ into his hands and quietly laid it on the ground. Washing him, he noticed blood flowing from the wounds and was horrified, remembering that it had cut a stone that was at the foot of the Cross. He also remembered the vessel of the Last Supper, which had previously been given to him by Pilate, and the pious Joseph decided to collect drops of divine blood in this vessel. He collected drops from the ulcers on his arms, legs and sides in a bowl, and after wrapping the body of Jesus with a rich cloth, he laid him in a cave.

The news of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ greatly embarrassed the Jews, and they decided to kill Joseph and Nicodemus. Warned, Nicodemus managed to escape, but Joseph was seized in bed, severely beaten and then put in a dungeon, which was closed so that the tower looked like a pillar from the outside. No one knew what happened to Joseph, and Pilate was very upset by his disappearance, because he did not see best friend- truthful and brave.

But Joseph was not forgotten. In the illuminated dungeon, the One for whom he suffered appeared to him and brought a vessel containing His divine blood. Seeing the Light, Joseph rejoiced in his heart, was filled with grace and exclaimed: “Almighty God! Where can this Light come from, if not from You?

“Joseph,” Christ said, “do not be embarrassed, the power of My Father will save you! You will have unceasing joy when you end your life on earth. I did not bring any of my students here, because no one knows about our love. Know that it will be clear to all and dangerous to unbelievers. You will have the memorial of My death, and after you those to whom you will entrust it. Here he is".

And Jesus Christ gave Joseph a precious vessel of blood, which He hid in a secret place known to Him alone. Joseph fell on his knees and thanked, but pointed out to the Savior his unworthiness. However, Jesus Christ commanded Joseph to take the Holy Grail and keep it. The grail was supposed to have three guardians.

Then Jesus Christ announced that the Sacrament would never be performed without the memory of the feat of Joseph of Arimathea. Further, the Savior told Joseph the mysterious words that Robert de Boran does not convey in his poem, and at the end said: have advice in your heart, because the Holy Spirit will speak to you. I am not taking you out of here now, because the time has not yet come.”

This is the content of the poem by Robert de Boron, compiled by us according to the retelling of N. Dashkevich. Further, the poem tells about the release of Joseph from prison by the emperor Vespasian, and then briefly conveys about his life in his homeland. Researchers suggest that perhaps the poem refers to the movement of the precious Grail to the West and some other events. This hypothesis arose, probably, in connection with the appearance of relics of this blood in the West shortly before the publication of the novels about the Holy Grail. So, in 1148, part of the blood of Christ was transferred from Jerusalem to Flanders and was placed in the city of Bruges - in the church of St. Basil. And in 1171, blood relics were exhibited in Normandy. These and some other facts perfectly reveal the reason why the pious truver settled on the legend of the collection of the blood of Christ.

The possession of the Holy Grail has always been considered the cherished dream of many knightly orders. The Knights of the Round Table, the Templars, the Teutonic Knights - all of them unsuccessfully searched for this mystical vessel in order to master the subtlest energies.

And now we will touch on a question that, at first glance, may seem unusual. The fact is that Parsifal and the search for the Holy Grail were of particular importance to the initiated Nazis in Nazi Germany. V.Prussakov writes about this in his book “The Occult Messiah and His Reich”. The musical interpretation of the legend of the Holy Grail by R. Wagner made a deep impression on the Nazi mystics. One of them, Otto Rahn, inspired by the story of Parsifal, went in search of the Grail.

In 1931, he went to France and reached Montsegur - the last point of the heroic defense of the Cathars. The legend says that it was from here on the night before the decisive assault of the papal crusaders that three heretic Cathars quietly left, taking with them the sacred relics. At the risk of their own lives, they saved the magical regalia of King Dagobert II and the cup, considered the Holy Grail.

Otto Rahn thoroughly studied Montsegur and discovered many secret passages here, in which (in his opinion) the “treasure of the ages” should have been hidden. Two years later, he published the book "Crusade Against the Grail" - about his findings and the heroism of the Cathars. According to some reports, in 1937

O. Ran sent his Montsegur "finds", among which was the Holy Grail, to Himmler. Jean-Michel Angebert, in Hitler and the Cathar Tradition, reports that the precious vessel was taken to Wewelsburg Castle, where it was kept on a marble pedestal.

Further information about the fate of Otto Rahn is full of mysteries and contradictions. According to some sources, he was sent to a concentration camp and killed there, according to others, he committed suicide in March 1939 by taking an ampoule of potassium cyanide. Historians suggest that the seeker of the Holy Grail became disillusioned with Nazism and realized that he had transferred a relic of the greatest power and significance into the wrong hands ...

The genesis of the legends about the Holy Grail, as already mentioned above, still causes a lot of controversy in science. Scientists argue about the etymology of the word "Grail", and about the areas of Western Europe where Joseph of Arimathea came from Palestine and where his missionary work took place. By tradition, they even used to speak of the Holy Grail in the masculine gender, as is customary in French and German. Meanwhile, "The Complete Orthodox Theological encyclopedic Dictionary”reports: “According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea, who collected the blood of Christ into her, took her to England.”

In East Slavic traditions, the Holy Grail is a basket with fish and a bottle of red wine, and the Latin word "gradual" means a liturgical book.

None of the medieval authors of poems and novels about the Holy Grail fully reveals the essence of this concept, leaving the reader only some hints. In the minds of the entire Christian world, the Holy Grail is the chalice of the Last Supper, into which later Joseph of Arimathea collected drops of blood from the pure body of the Savior. In illustrations for manuscripts of the 13th-14th centuries, it was depicted mainly in the form of a chalice.

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From the book Sacred Blood and the Holy Grail author Baigent Michael

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Holy Grail.

The legends of the Holy Grail continue to excite the imagination of more than the first generation of mystery lovers. An obscure, mysterious relic, carrying an unheard of power - what is it? Even the authors of the novels about King Arthur are silent about this. As for what the Holy Grail is, there are three main versions. According to one of them, the Grail is a kind of stone, according to another, it is a precious relic (a golden image of Noah's Ark?), but the most common opinion is that this is the cup from which Jesus Christ communed at the Last Supper and into which the adherents collected a few drops of the blood of the crucified on the cross of the Savior. This goblet and spear, which were wounded on Christ, was preserved and brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea - so the legends say.

Researchers have always been interested in the origin of the Grail legend. It is believed that it is based on the Christian apocrypha about the arrival in Britain of Joseph of Arimathea. According to another version, this legend has local roots that go back to the mythology of the ancient Celts. Still others believe that the legend of the Grail is associated with a secret occult society founded in time immemorial and possessing secret knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation.

Of these three completely different theories, the first seems to be the most attractive, but there is not a single fact that could confirm it. The latter hypothesis is shared mainly by those who are generally inclined to consider the whole of humanity as a collection of secret societies. The pagan roots of the legend of the Grail point to its origin from a very ancient Indo-European myth about magical utensils - a symbol of life and rebirth. Subsequently, this legend was filled with a new meaning, acquiring a Christian coloring.

The very first version of the story of the Holy Grail - "Conte du Graal" - was published by the famous poet and troubadour Chrétien de Troy around 1180. This story is left unfinished. Chrétien de Troyes claimed that his story was based on data he found in a book that belonged to Count Philip of Flanders, but this claim can neither be proven nor disputed.

At that time, it was generally believed that the author could not compose anything himself, and only what was contained in ancient sources was true. A story that was not based on an old tradition could not be worthy of attention. No one was embarrassed by the fact that the truth of these legends could not be verified. Therefore, Chrétien de Troyes, like many after him, could quite easily refer to any source. In addition, at that time one had to be extremely careful in choosing topics for novels and poems - pagan plots could incur the wrath of the church.

The hero of Chrétien de Troy's story, the knight Percival of Wales, mentions the mysterious "Castle of the Grail" and its magic goblet. The image of Percival is based on the ancient Welsh saga of a hero named Pryder, and stories about him often speak of a magical goblet that had properties that completely coincide with those attributed to the Grail. The Pryder sagas are contained in the Mabinogion, a collection of ancient Welsh oral traditions. This collection takes us into the fantastic world of Celtic myths, including several stories about King Arthur. The images of the Welsh epic come from even more ancient Celtic heroes. King Lear, for example, was "born" from Ler, one of the people of the mysterious people of the Tuathu de Dannan ("tribes of the goddess Danu"). This people, as the myth tells, having arrived from somewhere in the north, brought magical objects with them to the lands of the Celts - a magic cup, a wonderful spear and an invincible sword. In the later legends of King Aptype, these objects were transformed into the Holy Grail, the spear with which Christ was wounded, and the sword Excalibur.

About how the Grail came to Britain, Robert de Born told in the poem "Joseph of Arimathea", written around 1200. Like Chrétien de Troyes, de Borne refers to a story from an old book that tells how Jesus called Joseph and gave him the Grail - the Cup of the Last Supper. Together with his sister and her husband Bron, Joseph left Palestine and settled in a certain country "far in the West", where they propagated Christianity. Thus, Robert de Born unequivocally connects the Grail with the Christian tradition. However, despite the immense popularity of the tales of the Holy Grail, the Church has never recognized the Grail as a Christian relic. Perhaps that is why the Grail has gained a dubious reputation as a sacred symbol of an organized heretical movement within the boundaries of Western Christendom.

And here a new parallel arises: de Born, having published his poem, wittingly or unwittingly revealed the origins of the legend of the Grail - the Gnostic "Gospel of Nicodemus", which details the myth of Joseph, the cup and the spear. And it is precisely the views of the Gnostics that underlie all European heretical movements.

Approximately in those years when de Born wrote his poem. Wolfram von Eschenbach, the famous German poet of the time, wrote Parsifal, his own version of Chrétien de Troy's unfinished Grail poem. As well as others. Wolfram said that he used "ancient sources" and referred to "one Provencal troubadour who wrote his story in Arabic while living in the Spanish city of Toledo" (a completely confusing story). In his poem, Wolfram claimed that the Grail kept the knightly order Templaisen - in this distorted German name, the famous order of the Templars is easily guessed.

Under the influence of the Templars was the monastic order of the Cisternians, founded in 1098. The Cistercians were a famous and influential order, and its most popular member was the famous a6bat Bernard of Clairvaux, the "spiritual father" of the Templars. The Cistercians had a strong influence on the anonymous author of Queste del Sail Graal, the most famous work in the Grail series.

The hero of the novel, the most honest knight Galahed, having accomplished a series of feats, becomes the owner and custodian of the Holy Grail. He brings the Grail to the city of Sarras, the center of paganism, which Joseph of Arimathea converted to Christianity. Here Galahed dies, and after his death, the townspeople see a miracle: Galahed's hand descended from the sky carries the Grail to the mountain heights.

This parable (recall - told at the beginning of the XIII century) metaphorically says that the Grail is hidden from human eyes. But where? The answer to this question was probably known to the Albigensians (Cathars) - followers of heretical teachings that engulfed part of France at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries - the provinces of Languedoc and Provence (recall the "Provencal troubadour" referred to by Wolfram von Eschenbach). The teachings of the Cathars largely corresponded to the secret teachings of the Templars. And in the sacred center of the Cathars - the fortress of Montsegur - something was kept that contained the Great Mystery.

From 1209 the French kings began crusades against the Albigensians. Montsegur fell in 1244. But the main shrine of the Cathars was saved: four "perfect" ones, having escaped through a complex system of underground passages, carried away with them a mysterious bundle containing the main secret of the Cathars. Who could receive fugitive heretics? Only close to them in spirit. And those, after the defeat of the Cathars, remained only the Templars.

The Knights Templar was founded in 1118. When knighted, the Templars took a vow of poverty and chastity, but the order quickly became the richest and most influential in Europe. The order also became famous for its peculiar interpretation of Christian doctrine, close to the Gnostic, for which it was considered almost a nest of heresy. like everyone else knightly orders and religious sects of that time, the Templars had their own rites and ceremonies, about which a lot has been written, but in reality very little is known.

A long confrontation between the Templars and the official church, which enjoyed the support of the secular rulers of Europe, led to the death of the order. However, many secrets of the Templars remained unsolved. After the fall of Montsegur, sixty years remained before the death of the Knights Templar. In 1312, the Pope of Rome, with his bull "To the Providence of Christ ...", abolished the order, and on March 18, 1314, the last Grand Master of the Templars entered the fire. But again, the main treasures of the order (and with them the Grail?) disappeared without a trace.

Rumor persistently links the location of the Grail to Glastonbury Abbey in England and to Arthurian legends. The old church at Glastonbury, which may have remembered knights round table”, burned down in 1184, a new one was built in its place. And in traditional belief, the opinion is deeply rooted that the Grail is hidden in the dungeons of the abbey.

After the death of the largest heretical organizations, the legends of the Grail ceased to occupy the attention of the dedicated public, leaving for the region folk tales. But the shadow of the relic invisibly overshadowed many events in medieval Europe. The Czech Taborites went into battle under a banner with the image of "Kalika" - a sacred bowl in which the Grail is easily guessed. And the knowledge of the Gnostics did not die with the defeat of the Cathars and the Templars - it continued to live among numerous secret orders and organizations that abound in the history of the XII-XIX centuries. It turned out to be in demand at the beginning of this century, when the occult "Thule Society", which arose in Germany in 1918, began to develop the scientific and mystical base of National Socialism. And along with the teachings of the Gnostics, the Holy Grail was also in demand.

Initially, the search for the Grail was led by a certain Otto Rahn, one of the developers of the Nordic theory. In the early 1930s, he visited the ruins of Montsegur, but, as far as one can tell, he did not conduct serious searches, and based on the results of the trip he published the book “Crusade Against the Grail”, where he calls the Grail “the cup of the Nibelungs”. And in 1937, after his second trip to Languedoc, Rahn suddenly disappeared. Nothing is known about his fate so far.

In June 1943, a large expedition arrived in Montsegur from Germany, which worked in the caves until the spring of 1944. And although he did not find anything, the system of underground shelters and passages laid by the Cathars in the rocky ground near Montsegur, according to archaeologists, allows us to hope that the Grail may be located there. However, there were a lot of inaccessible hiding places in medieval Europe, and the dungeons of Montsegur are not the most perfect of them.