The Holy Grail is not mentioned in the Bible, but the first description of it goes back to the legends of King Arthur of Great Britain during the 11th century, although King Arthur lived in the late 5th century AD and early 6th century AD. Originally, the sacred Christian relic was described as a dish, ciborium, chalice, platter, goblet, and even a stone, By the late Middle Ages, 1399 AD to 1500 AD, the chief or main idea; concept of the Holy Grail was accepted to be some sort of drinking vessel personally used by Jesus Christ, especially during the Jewish Passover. Further evolution of thought and belief caused The Holy Grail to be understood to be the cup or chalice that was used by Jesus Christ during The Last Supper and The Holy Communion Ritual with his 12 disciples that was believed to be in the evening of a Wednesday 1th in the year 33 Before Common Era. The Holy event, according to later tradition, occurred in what today is called “The Room of the Last Supper” within an upper floor of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion in Jerusalem within the traditionally known area of “The Upper Room”.
Jesus poured wine, thought by many individuals to be a natural red wine, into the Grail, and according to Christian theology, proclaimed to his Jewish disciples seated around a very big dining table that “This is my blood. Drink it”. The apostles drank the wine. Then Jesus tore a large loaf of bread into a dozen pieces while proclaiming ‘this is my body. Eat it’. The followers of Jesus ate the bread. Jesus then told his devotees that they “shall have everlasting life”.
Many religious scholars believe that Jesus Christ performed some sort of magical prayer ritual in which He turned the commonly accepted notion of “mortal souls” of his adherents into “immortal souls” whereby these souls shall live forever after the physical body, which covers and contains them, dies. Because The Holy Grail lis so sacred in Christianity, for many centuries people have believed the beloved artifact to be a very powerful talisman that would produce healing so great that all wounds would vanish, that the possessor of the holy item would have everlasting life, eternal youth, constant great happiness, and vast wealth.In ancient British lore, King Arthur Pendragon and his Knights of the Round Table of the Castle and Court of Camelot, searched for the Holy Grail. While King Arthur did not find the blessed object, in the earliest accounts, one knight named Parzivat (also called Percival) finds it. This story was written between 1182 and 1190,entitled “Perceval, The Story of the Grail”, and authored in Old French, though unfinished, by Chretien de Troyes (1130-1191). What Troyes left unfinished was completed by other poets in a work known as “The Four Continuations”. In a later variation of the story, there are 4 knights who find the Holy Grail-Sir Bors, (there were 2 knights named “Bors”; a younger and an elder), Sir Percival, and Sir Galahad, after 150 knights under King Arthur went looking for it. Yet, only Galahan was able to see the venerated cup in all of its glory because of his purity. He achieved the vision of God through the sacred goblet.
There are many different legends, from many writers, over the centuries about the sacred Grail. Some of these stories actually contradict basic details from other stories. In looking at the most likely scenario a main framework of events, but with major changes, begins to become established. The Holy Grail gets re-discovered in the Middle East, after Christian searching parties go looking in Jerusalem., The sacred item is found there, and then brought back to Great Britain. In another strong variation, Joseph of Arimathea brings the Holy Grail to Great Britain on his many, frequent business travels there from Israel. He also uses the chalice to collect some of the blood of Jesus Christ that fell down from His crucifixion on the Cross.
The Blessed Grail is supposedly hidden within a secret Christian community in Great Britain and as many years go by, eventually, according to legend, “winds up” at Glastonbury Abbey. But, the Holy Grail is not currently believed to reside in Glastonbury Abbey.Church. At Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, England, within the ruins, King Arthur and his wife, Queen Guinevere,are said to be buried. Some people believe the earthly remains of Arthur and Guinevere were either stolen by King Henry the 8th or destroyed by Henry 8th’s attacks on the Catholic monasteries throughout Great Britain. In 1534, with the passing of the Act of Supremacy, from the “Reformation” Parliament of 1532-1534, laws by the King made himself, King Henry the 8th, the head of the Church of England after the abolishment of Papal authority in England, and the suppression and soon afterward the destruction of over 800 Catholic monasteries and religious houses began. King Henry 8, via his armies, looted the monasteries and houses, destroyed the buildings,took possession of their land, and even sold pristine Catholic real estate to developers; while embezzling the money they paid him.
The King of England Henry 8 did a very Devilish thing against Christianity. King Henry VIII was very angry at the Pope Clement for not granting a divorce from the King’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon; the Pope sent the King a letter threatening the King with excommunication from the Christian Church if the King would remarry. Some of the reasons why the Pope would not annul the royal marriage was because Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, had taken control over Rome, Italy and Charles V was Catherine’s nephew. Also, the Catholic Church ordained the marriage between a royal head of state and a woman of high political and noble family prestige, and marriages were meant to be “in sickness or ill health and death until parting”. There are other Holy Grail legends with Glastonbury. One story states the Blessed artifact was hidden on an altar at Saint John Baptist Church, which was built in the 14 century, but it is not there now. Another tale is of the sacred artifact buried underneath a large thorn bush and lies in a natural spring underground, being known as “Chalice Well” but the Christian artifact is not there now.
A church in Spain claims to have the Holy Grail, which is called “The Gobet of The Infanta Dona Urraca” in The Museum of The Basilica in the northern city of Leon, Spain. But, there are a number of scientific researcher skeptics who claim the sacred goblet is Not the Holy Grail. Other academics claim the blessed item is the genuine relic, while other professionals are not sure what to believe. There are skeptical scientific researchers who indicate that out of a thousand years that the chalice has been in the Basilica, there never was an official claim that this Christian artifact is the Holy Grail. Furthermore, the skeptics claim the materials and techniques used in the creation of the chalice denote a middle 11th century origin. The alleged Christ artifact is a reddish brown cup made of either agate or onyx. Centuries later, a carved gold reliquary with encrusted jewels was added thereto from which the cup is set. . The wine cup used at the Jewish Passover by Jesus Christ most probably was not any type of specially made cup, but simply an ordinary; common type of Jewish Passover wine cup. Such a cup most likely would have been made out of pottery; fired, hardened clay or perhaps made of metal, that is more costly than pottery as tin, or better yet, but even greater costly silver; most especially sterling silver.
A story centuries and centuries old claims the Holy Grail was discovered by The Knights of Templar during one of their Crusades in the Holy Land. The knights discovered King Solomon’s treasure of gold, jewels, and silver in Jerusalem and took away large quantities thereof to their headquarters in Paris, France. The Holy Grail was also found in Jerusalem which the knights seized. Further legend states the Templar Knights brought the Holy Grail to Poland and put the sacred cup in a wooden box, along with many gold coins, and submerged the enclosed box, under the cover of darkness in a lake, which used to be near the village of Swiatki; also owned by these knights. The lake has since dried out for a great many years and the treasure has either been stolen or lost forever in the swamp.There is another theory that the Holy Grail was deposited by The Knights of Templar in a natural labyrinth of tunnels, caves, and chambers beneath the very historical and very old Sinai Park House in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Great Britain, United Kingdom, but no real proof offered.
The Knights of Templar were founded around 1118 in France by a French knight named Hugues de Payens. The original name of the military group was called “The Poor Knights of The Temple of King Solomon”. The knights had the task of protecting Christian pilgrims to The Holy Land.On November 27, 1095 Christian Pope Urban II began the Crusades by giving speeches for Christians to fight and retake Christian territory being held the Muslims in the Holy Land with a cry of “Deus vult! “or “God wills it” with a promise that Christians killed the battle against the Muslims would immediately go to the Christian Kingdom of Heaven.The last official Christian Crusade against the Muslims in the Holy Land was an extension of the 8th crusade which tried to reach the fall of Acre in 1291, but the fall of Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem, by the Muslims under Saladin brought a end to the permanent Christian Crusader presence there.
King Philip of France began to fear and be jealous of the vast power, wealth, privileges, and prestige of the Knights of Templar. In 1138, Pope Innocent 2 issued a papal bull that bestowed upon the order special privileges :the Templars were permitted to build their own oratories and were not required to pay the tithe; these knights were also exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, being subject to the Pope alone. King Philip secretly conspired to destroy them to maintain absolute control over the Spanish Empire even when there was no evidence of a real threat to him. He conspired to steal their wealth and other valuable personal holdings.
Under great pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V reluctantly dissolved The Order of The Knights of Templar in 1312. Although exonerated by the Pope, the members of The Knights of Templar were killed by the King due to accusations of hersey and homosexuality, All the Templars were arrested in France on the same day of October 13, 1307, a Friday which greatly shocked Europe. The knights were tortured into making forced; coerced confessions; then these men were put to death. By March 1314, the last of the Templars were burnt to death at the stakes. Personal property,especially wealth, treasures, and real estate of the Templars was stolen by King Philip of France. There are many people who have claimed to have found the Holy Grail over the ages. there is no scientific evidence that surfaced to substantiate such claims. The same thing applies to those individuals throughout time who are attested to have found the treasures, especially gold,of the ancient Jewish King Solomon.
Many various peoples throughout the world think the Holy Grail is still out there, somewhere, just waiting to be re-discovered.
