April 5, 33 AD. Calvary. The Bible says that on this day and at this place, two robbers, Dismas and Gestas, were executed and Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. Little is known about this mournful event. But, nevertheless, even this information is enough to preserve for humanity the memory of the greatest tragedy - the execution of the Son of God. The murder took place on the Friday before Holy Saturday, which is considered a holiday for the Jews.
It is known from many sources that Guy Cassius Longinus was present at this execution as the official representative of the Roman authorities.
Longinus was a former military man who had been suspended from service due to his blindness. But he was considered a talented person in the field of espionage and intelligence. It was these qualities that were required for the ambassador of Rome in troubled Jerusalem and, in disobedient Judea, during the reign of Pontius Pilate.
Guy Cassius Longinus owned an amazing artifact of that time - a spear, which, according to legend, was forged by the ancient prophet Phineas himself. The spear had a very sharp tip and had a sting more than half a meter long. But the main property of the spear was that it could concentrate magical powers. Longinus was a pagan and firmly believed in witchcraft magic, so he never parted with a spear and very much took care of it from hostile hands.
Guy watched for a long time the life and work of Jesus through the eyes of his many spies and informers. He hated Christ fiercely.
But at the execution, he did not allow the soldiers to inflict injuries on the joints of Jesus (according to the chronicles, this was done in order to alleviate the pain of the being executed), recalling the well-known prediction that the bones of the Messiah should be whole. Longinus stopped the soldier and himself stabbed with his dagger in the right side of Christ. It was a kind of test, practiced by the Romans, to find out whether the crucified person was alive or not (if blood was flowing from the wound, then the executed person was still alive). After this blow, Cassius regained his sight, the bones of the Messiah remained intact, and the prophecy was fulfilled: "let his bones not be broken."
Guy Cassius went down in history as a Longinus spearman. And his spear became the greatest Christian shrine. One of the nails with which Christ was nailed to the cross was mounted in the spearhead. According to legend, the one who owns the spear holds the fate of the world in his hands.
The hunt for the spear began - especially for those who strove for unlimited power. But the spear had several duplicates and it was very difficult to distinguish the original from the fake.
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According to available information, copies of the Spear of Fate were in the Vatican, in Paris (it was brought there by the crusaders from the plundered Constantinople), in Poland in the city of Krakow. But in Vienna, in the Hofburg Palace, the original spear with a nail mounted in it was kept.
Much time has passed since then. The spear has changed many owners. Among them was the Byzantine emperor Constantine, who cruelly persecuted Christians, but at some point suddenly took and legalized Christianity in the empire (for this act he was nicknamed the Great). Then the spear passed into the hands of Justinian, who was known as a scientist and a very powerful ruler. The next owner of the spear was the founder of the most influential Carolingian dynasty - Charlemagne. It was he who managed to unite the peoples of Europe. After him, Frederick I Barbarossa, Henry I the Fowler and Otgon Saxon owned the spear.
The Spear of Fate also visited Russia. It was owned by the father of Alexander Nevsky - Yaroslav. But in the end, Mamai got the tip. Not understanding the value of the “rusty piece of iron”, Mamai gave the spear to the Russian prince Dmitry in exchange for two captured murzas. Having received the spear, Prince Dmitry defeated the horde at the Kulikovo field. A descendant of Dmitry presented a spear to the Lithuanian prince Jagiello for his help in the battle with the German knights.
During the Swedish occupation of Poland, the spear fell into the hands of Charles XII, who was obsessed with military campaigns. Years have passed since the death of the king. Marshal of France Bernadotte became regent of Sweden. He then gave the Spear of Destiny to Napoleon Bonaparte. While the artifact was with Napoleon, it was invincible. But the Russian soldier Kuzma Netkach stole the spear and delivered the relic to the Tarutino camp. The spear passed into the hands of Field Marshal Kutuzov. According to Kutuzov's will, the spear was transferred to Bonaparat's most bitter enemy - the Austrian Marshal Blucher. It was then that Longinus' spear hit Vienna. It was kept in the Hofsburg castle and many pilgrims came to worship the Christian shrine.
Historians testify that in his youth, Adolf Hitler stood for hours at the window of the Vienna Museum of Art History, in which there was a spear. Fascinated by mysticism and astrology, Hitler strove to own the strongest artifact - the spear of Longinus. His dream came true after Austria became part of the Third Reich. Hitler was confident that with the help of this artifact he could enslave the whole world. But even when it became clear that the defeat of the Reich was near, Hitler did not stop believing in the legend of the Spear of Destiny.
There is information that Hitler unsuccessfully tried to hide the miracle spear by sending it to Antarctica in a submarine.
Hitler is credited with the words that he allegedly said about his “knowledge of the spear”: “At that very second I realized that a momentous moment in my life had come. For long minutes I stood looking at the spear, completely forgetting about everything that was happening around. It seemed that the spear kept some kind of secret that eluded me, but I had the feeling that I knew something about it, but was not able to analyze its meaning in my mind. The spear was something of a magical revelator; it opened up such an insight into the idea of the world that human imagination seemed more real than the reality of the material world. What kind of madness took possession of my mind and gave birth to a storm in my heart?.."
After the war, the spear ended up in the hands of American Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1945, he presented the Christian relic to the President of the United States - Harry Truman.
They say that Stalin was very interested in the Spear of Fate, but the search was unsuccessful.
Today, the spear is again in Vienna in the Hofburg castle, where the Americans transferred it.
