The Grail is one of the instruments of the Passion of Christ, along with the spear of Longinus or the Crown of Thorns. In total, there are more than 20 such weapons, but only a few of them had a chance to become independent symbols. Graal, of course, was the most desirable! However, no matter how much they looked for it, they have not yet found it …
Neither a plate, nor a mug, nor a jug, or indeed any other utensil, managed to leave the kitchen and become a spiritual symbol. Such "ascension" from the world of the lower world to the world above happened only with the cup. And it happened thanks to Jesus Christ.
Not just dishes
From the cup, according to all the Gospels, Christ ate at the Last Supper. And from it he offered the apostles to drink "his blood." After being crucified in this bowl, Joseph of Arimathea collected the Savior's blood from the wound inflicted on him by the spear of the Roman legionary Longinus. Thus, she became the first chalice - the chalice for the sacrament. And also the storehouse of the Holy Blood. Not surprisingly, after that, it ceased to be just a dish! However, it did not immediately become a mystical object …
What happened to the Chalice of Christ next? According to legend, it was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy and noble Jew, but at the same time was a secret follower of Christ. According to the apocryphal text of the Acts of Pilate, written in the 3rd-4th centuries, Joseph was put in prison for taking down the cross and burying the body of Jesus. Details of this story can be found in another apocrypha "The Savior's Vengeance", written in the 9th century. It tells that Joseph, imprisoned in a tower, survived thanks to the food that was sent to him from heaven. And in the 1240 French novel Grand St. Graal specifies what kind of food it was - Joseph spent 42 years in prison, feeding on the blood from the Chalice of Christ, which the Lord brought him every day. And finally, in the English version of the same novel, instead of blood, various foods and drinks are mentioned,and Joseph received them no longer from the Savior, but thanks to the Grail, which was refilled every day.
Thus, this wonderful property of the Chalice of Christ was described only in the XIII century. Researchers believe that it was at this point that the legend of the Grail was finally mixed with the ancient myth of the cornucopia and the Celtic legend of the Cauldron of Dagda. It should be noted that this is not the only addition to the "functionality" of the Grail that appeared in the Middle Ages. Around the same time, a legend arose that this holy relic bestows youth, immortality and healing from all diseases.
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Joseph is the first keeper
But back to Joseph. When he was released, he left Jerusalem, according to one version, obeying the instructions of Saint Philip, according to the other - getting into a boat without oars and sails. In both versions, Joseph eventually arrived in Britain and brought the Grail with him. On a foggy island near the town of Glastonbury, among the swamps, a traveler, as we know from legend, stuck a stick into the ground, and it immediately took root. From the stick grew a beautiful thorny bush that bloomed twice a year. Joseph saw this as a sign from above and built a church in Glastonbury, which eventually grew into an abbey. And on its territory, according to legend, the legendary Grail is hidden. They say that in the place where he was buried, a source suddenly clogged. By the way, there is still a Chalice Well in the abbey.
Today historians, however, believe that Christianity was "brought" to Britain by the converted Romans, and not Joseph of Arimathea with a dozen companions. But in the Middle Ages, the legendary version was not in doubt, and Joseph was officially recognized as the founder of the Church of England. Moreover, it was believed that the legendary King Arthur came from his family!
Before his death, Joseph passed the Grail to the next guardian. Some texts claim that it was one of his descendants, others that it was his son-in-law named Bron, and still others that it was one of his companions, a certain Syrian Evalak, who was converted by Joseph to Christianity. He went into legends under the name of the Fisher King. Whoever the new keeper was, he performed his functions well, because for several centuries nothing was heard about the cup. And they remembered about it only in the 9th century, when in Europe they began to "hunt" for relics associated with the earthly life of Christ.
Genoa or Normandy?
In the 9th century, a certain Bernhard von Verdun reported to King Lothar II of the "magnificent gradale from Alexandria" and described either a dish or a bowl. However, there is no more evidence of that "hailstone". As well as himself.
In the 12th century, judging by the records of Guillaume of Tire, one of the crusaders found a bowl made of green Egyptian glass in a mosque in the Palestinian city of Caesarea. She was immediately identified with the Grail, because in those days there was a legend that Jesus and his disciples drank from the "emerald cup" at the Last Supper. It was allegedly made from a shard of sparkling green stone that was once inserted into Lucifer's crown. Archangel Michael with his sword knocked out a stone during the battle, and it fell to the ground. Here people found him and made a bowl out of it (according to another version, they decorated a metal bowl with fragments of this emerald). This version is even recorded in the "Golden Legend" by Jacob Voraginsky - a collection of Christian traditions of the 13th century. By the way, the hexagonal bowl from Caesarea is absolutely real and is kept in Genoa in the Cathedral of St. Lorenzo.
In the 12th century, the Grail appeared in Normandy in a Benedictine abbey. Here the legend was told that the righteous Nicodemus collected the Savior's blood into a vessel and sealed it. And then, obeying a voice from heaven, he hid this vessel inside the trunk of a fig tree and threw it into the sea. The tree allegedly washed up on the shores of Normandy. In the XIV century, a special cathedral was even built for this "Grail"!
In Gaul, they were sure that it was not Nicodemus and not even Joseph of Arimathea who brought the Grail to Europe, but Mary Magdalene. Fleeing from persecution, she, together with her sister Martha, brother Lazarus and Dionysius the Areopagite, sailed from Palestine and landed near Marseilles. She allegedly hid the grail in a nearby cave. Here she preached Christianity and died in 63. They buried Mary in the Abbey of Saint-Maximin. In the 13th century, the tomb of Mary was opened and an alabaster vessel containing the remains of dried blood was found in it. The remains were transferred to the city of Wesele and a cathedral was erected in honor of Mary Magdalene. Unfortunately, they were destroyed during the Great French Revolution. And what happened to the vessel remains a mystery.
The mystery of the Order of the Temple
In the same XII century, the Templars began to look very actively for the Cup of Christ. This order was originally created to guard the pilgrims in Jerusalem. However, quite quickly, he earned a reputation as a kind of mystical institution, where they were engaged in either magic or alchemy - that is, something not approved by the church. Whether the Templars found the Grail or not - this secret Jacques de Molay, the last master of the order, took with him to the fire. Nevertheless, throughout Europe and in Palestine there were rumors that the Templars had unearthed a lot in the basements of the Temple of Solomon, including ancient artifacts, Very quickly this order of the poor knights of the Temple, who at the very beginning had only one horse for two, became the richest and most powerful! But after the defeat of the Templars in 1314, neither the cup nor the countless Templar treasures were found. Of course, rumors immediately spread thatthat the Templars managed to hide the Grail. But where?
Castle Montsegur - here the traces of the sacred vessel are completely lost.
One of the versions is that the relic was hidden by those knights of the Temple who escaped the court and entered the order of Calatrava. In this case, the Cup of Christ should be sought in Spain. Another version is that the Templars had already passed the Holy Grail to the Cathars by this time. Actually, the Cathars are the next contenders for the role of the guardians of the Grail. Pope Innocent III declared in 1209 a crusade against the Qatari heresy, as a result of which the so-called Albigensian Wars raged in Europe for almost 40 years. In 1243, the last stronghold of the Cathars was besieged - the castle of Montsegur. He held out for almost a year - as many were sure, only thanks to the Grail and its miraculous properties. According to popular legend, when the "good people" - as the Cathars called themselves - realized that they could not resist, they prayed, and a dove descended from heaven to them. He pecked at the rockand the mountain split in two - then the guardians of the Grail threw it into the crevice, and it immediately closed. Since then, the Chalice of Christ has been reliably hidden, and only those who are pure in heart and thoughts can find it.
Some researchers believe that the dove in this story is a mythological character, but it was like this: a few days before Christmas 1243, one of the heretic bishops Bertrand Marty secretly sent two loyal people from the fortress. They took out a certain Cathar treasure and hid it in a spulga (fortified grotto) in Phua County. On the eve of the surrender of Montsegur, March 15, 1244, four men left the doomed castle. They descended at night on a rope from the top of a mountain 1200 meters high in order to get into the grotto where the treasure was hidden and take it. Two of them later reached the Cathars living in Cremona, Italy, and spoke about their mission. This became known many years later, when one of the Cremonians testified during the interrogation of the Inquisition. He himself did not know what kind of treasure it was. But his contemporaries had no doubts - of course,it was the Grail!
A vessel recognized by the Vatican
In the XIV century, another "Grail" was found in Spain. According to local legend, the apostle Peter himself brought the agate bowl from Palestine. Later, Pope Sixtus II presented it to Saint Lawrence, who took the relic to his native Spain. There is a mention in the document of 1399 about the transfer of the Grail to the King of Aragon Martin I the Humane. He kept the cup in Zaragoza and then in Barcelona until his death in 1410. By the way, the Holy Grail is mentioned in the inventory of the property of the Aragonese crown! Another king, Alfonso V the Magnanimous, took the Chalice of Christ to the Cathedral of Valencia in 1436, where it can still be seen in the Cathedral. It is worth emphasizing that this is the only "Grail" officially recognized by the Vatican.
But not everyone agrees with the Pope. Some researchers are sure that the true Grail is kept in Scotland in the Rosslyn Chapel. Built in the mid-15th century, this temple was the ancestral tomb of the Sinclair, traditionally considered the founders of the Masonic lodge in Scotland. Well, where the Masons, there is a stone's throw to the Templars with their secret knowledge and ancient artifacts. The strange decorations of the chapel in the form of incomprehensible symbols and figures only confirm this theory. Local legend says that if you decipher the signs on the ceiling of the chapel, then using the data obtained, you can make a map and find the place where the Templar treasures and the Holy Grail are hidden.
Spiritual quest symbol
The search for the Grail would not have captivated so many people throughout Europe if it were not for Chrétien de Trya, a novelist at the court of the Counts of Champagne. In 1181-1191 he wrote the courtesy novel Perceval, or the Tale of the Grail, which immediately became a medieval bestseller. Due to the death of the author, the novel remained unfinished, but it immediately began to be continued, retellings and translations into other languages. As a result, the legends about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which were previously known only in Britain and Brittany, came into fashion. All European monarchs wanted to be like the legendary King Arthur, and the knights - like Perseval or Galahad. However, it was not easy to live up to these lofty ideals!
The second wave of passion for the search for the Grail came in the 15th century, and we owe this to Sir Thomas Malory, who wrote the magnificent novel The Death of Arthur. Later there were other bursts of graalemania. And more recently - already in the 21st century - adventure seekers again came out on the hunt for the Cup of Christ, having read the bestseller The Da Vinci Code or the earlier book Holy Blood, the Holy Grail. However, in these works the Grail is greatly rethought and appears before us in the form of the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.
Over time, in literature and in the public consciousness, the idea was formed that it is not so much the object itself, even sacred and carrying unheard of power, that is important, but the process of searching for the Holy Grail. This is a symbolic search for truth, a search for God and one's own self. The search is eternal and endless.
Maria HOSTA