In myths, sagas and sacred religious texts of various countries and peoples, one can find many stories about miraculous objects that were left to people or given to them by the gods. Among these legends, perhaps the most mysterious are the texts about the Holy Grail.
The authors of medieval chivalric novels and chronicles did not doubt the real existence of this relic, knights and adventurers went in search of it, people fought and died for it, but the paradox is that we do not have any evidence of anyone who would I saw this mysterious object with my own eyes. Moreover, it is not even known what he really was ...
The Appearance of the Grail
For the first time, the Grail is mentioned in a French chivalric tale of the end of the 12th century, written by Robert de Voron. There we are talking about the Cup, in which Joseph of Arimathea allegedly collected the blood of the crucified Jesus. Then this shrine was preserved by the British Celtic magician Merlin and his pupil King Arthur.
However, in Celtic folklore there is another version of the appearance of the Grail in the British Isles: the ancient sagas say that King Arthur, during his journey to Annon (the other world), obtained a magic cauldron, which he then installed on his famous Round Table. King Arthur's best knights gathered around this table. It should be emphasized that most historians consider King Arthur of the Britons to be a real historical figure who lived at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century AD.
Finally, there is a third version of the appearance of the mysterious Grail. According to N. K. Roerich, in the Iranian poem of the 5th century AD “Percy Val Nam” it is about the Grail and its guard Percy Val, who later, in the chivalric novels of the XII-XIII centuries by Chretien de Troy, Wolfram von Eschenbach and others turned into Parsifal. One of these authors, Wolfram von Eschenbach (early 13th century), gives this significant explanation of where exactly the Grail came from:
"His (Grail) was once brought by a detachment, which then returned again to the shining stars."
It is very interesting that the folklore of the Celts links the Grail with Merlin and other druid priests. It is known that these priests possessed secret sciences, understandable only to the initiates. The same popular Celtic legends, for example, link the construction of Stonehenge and other mysterious megalithic structures in England and Ireland with the activities of the Druid priests. It should be added that the Celts themselves are still a big mystery to historians today. It is unknown where they come from.
Today, various dialects of the Celtic language are spoken by about six million people. These are the predominantly rural population of Scotland and Wales, the Bretons of the north-west of France and the majority of the rural population of Ireland.
But two or two and a half thousand years ago, the Celts occupied a vast territory - from the Volga to the Atlantic Ocean, and N.K. Roerich believed that in ancient times they lived even much further to the east. During his famous Himalayan expedition, he found traces of them in Tibet and in the mountains of Ladakh. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that we see common themes and images in the legends of such seemingly distant peoples as the inhabitants of Iran in the 5th century AD and the Celts of the time of King Arthur.
But back to the Grail. It follows from the chivalric romances of the 12th-13th centuries that at that time the Grail was not located in Britain. Most often, the place of its storage is associated with the mysterious castle of Montsalvat, located somewhere in the East or South. Parsifal, his son Lohengrin and other noble knights, the heroes of the novels of this cycle, are busy searching for the Grail. It follows from the texts that only a person of extremely high moral qualities, a defender of goodness and justice, one who, for the sake of this lofty goal, refuses an excellent life and becomes an ascetic, can find it.
Those who were lucky enough to find the Grail, write these novels, could "see the unseen and hear the unheard." A knight who wanted to find the Grail and devote his life to its defense had to master an almost inhuman composure and purposefulness, to discard everything superfluous, everything that could distract and relax on the way to the Great Goal. Because serving the Grail gave hope for the victory of good - not for oneself, but for all people, for the whole world. It is not surprising that every unworthy person who approached this shrine was struck by a serious illness and wounds.
How is the Grail described?
The very word "Grail" in the Provencal language, common in the south-west of France, means "chalice" or "goblet". This is how the Holy Grail is described - as a magical cup made from a single emerald. She radiated a wonderful light and gave her defenders immortality and eternal youth.
However, surprisingly, the Chalice demanded, in modern terms, "periodic recharging" - once a year a dove flew from the sky, so that, as chivalric novels are written, "strengthen the Chalice with new strength." Amazing, isn't it? A magical thing is a magical thing because it has a completely different nature than ordinary earthly things. And here something like a battery is described, which required periodic recharging.
However, the already mentioned Wolfram von Eschenbach describes the Holy Grail as a stone, which he calls "exillis lapsite". This incomprehensible term is interpreted by some translators as "a stone of wisdom", by others - as "a stone descended from the stars." Other ancient legends are recalled here, for example, about the miraculous stone “champir” of King Solomon, and especially about the famous Chintamani stone from the legends of Tibet and India.
Experts in medieval literature believe that the legend of the magical Grail originated from a mixture of Eastern and Christian sources somewhere in Spain or southern France. The most likely place of origin of the legend is considered to be the region of the medieval state of Languedoc in southwestern France.
The legendary castle of Montsalvat, where, according to chivalric novels, the magical Holy Grail was located, obviously corresponds to the castle of Montsegur, the ruins of which today rise on a rocky cliff of the spurs of the Pyrenees near the city of Foix (Ariège department). 
The Holy Grail (or the Holy Grail in other words) is a mystical Christian relic that never ceases to excite the minds of researchers around the world. Sometimes the word "Holy Grail" can be used in a figurative sense of the word, then it denotes some kind of cherished goal, unattainable or difficult to achieve. You can learn more about this mysterious subject from this article.
It is traditionally believed that the myth of the Holy Grail is based on the Christian apocrypha (a book that talks about items contained in the Holy Scriptures, but not received official church recognition) about the arrival in Britain of Joseph of Arimathea.
Another legend about the Holy Grail is connected with ancient Celtic mythological tales.
And according to the third legend, the myth of the Holy Grail has a connection with a secret occult organization that existed in ancient times. Its adherents possessed secret knowledge carefully handed down from one generation to another.
Combining all versions related to the origin of the Holy Grail to one, we get that initially this mysterious artifact was a precious emerald that adorned the crown of Lucifer himself.
But the archangel gathered an army of angels and attacked Lucifer with his legions of spirits. When the battle took place, Michael, using his fiery sword, managed to knock out the mineral from the crown of his enemy and the stone was swallowed up by the Abyss. After that, in the future, a bowl was made of stone, which they called the “Holy Grail” or “Grail Cup”.
Subsequently, the cup was used by Jesus Christ and his disciples. She was an attribute of the Last Supper. After the death of the Savior, his followers were able to collect a few drops of his blood into it. The cup, along with the spear with which Jesus was wounded, was brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea.
There is another version regarding the origin of this artifact. She calls the Holy Grail a precious mystical relic that survived the time of the Flood.
What mysticism is associated with the Holy Grail
Legends say that the person who drinks from the Grail will receive the remission of all his sins, and will also be able to enjoy eternal life. Some versions say that even just seeing this sacred object at close range is already capable of granting immortality to a person, however, only for a certain period of time.
There is a very interesting version of the interpretation of the Holy Grail, which stands out noticeably from the background of others. He calls the notorious cup not a material substance, but a special state of the soul when it unites with the Almighty. So, to discover the Grail according to this version means to become enlightened.
There is also an atheistic version of this version. This is the Wellerian idea of the Grail, which implies it as the ultimate goal of human development. In this understanding, the Grail is a human civilization that has developed so much that it can create new realities with new Universes. That is, the Grail is a cup in which the ripening of new worlds is possible.
Of course, such a shrine cannot end up in the hands of a simple (and also sinful) mortal. Therefore, anyone who is unworthy but approaches a sacred object is immediately punished with a serious injury or illness.
Where is the Holy Grail located?
Where is this ancient legendary relic hidden? There are many answers to this question, but it is very difficult to understand whether any of them is correct ...
The most common theory says that Arimathea, fulfilling what St. Philip told him, left Jerusalem and took away the relics entrusted to him, which he was supposed to take to the lands of Britain.
Having reached his destination, Joseph planted his staff in the ground, which took root and turned into a magnificent thorn bush. Flowers appeared on this bush twice a year.
Joseph realized that this was a sign from the Higher powers and began building a church on that site, which later became an abbey. There is an opinion that the Holy Grail is hidden somewhere in the dungeon of a certain abbey of Glanstonbury.
According to other sources, the cup can be found in the magical castle of Salvat (Spain), which was allegedly erected by angelic beings during one night.
And medieval novels about Percifal tell about a hero who searches and finds the mystical castle of Muncalves, in which the Grail is stored, reliably guarded by the Templars. Highly a large number of legends of different times claims that the Holy Grail is carefully kept by representatives of this secret order.
The Quest for the Sacred Chalice
People began to be puzzled by the search for a mystical relic a very long time ago. In the 9th century, the "hunt" for relics relating to the earthly life of the Savior intensified in Europe.
This trend reaches its highest peak by the 13th century. Then the ruler of France, Saint Louis, brought various instruments of the Passion to Paris from Constantinople, which were placed in the Holy Chapel specially built for this purpose. At that time, no one doubted the authenticity of the guns.
However, despite the fact that there were quite a lot of tools of the Passion, the sacred cup from which the Savior drank at the Last Supper was absent among them. Therefore, various versions began to appear regarding its location.
That region of France, which was under the control of the English crown, said that the legendary bowl should be sought precisely on British lands.
Some descriptions compare the Grail to an inexhaustible vessel related to ancient Celtic legends. Its functionality is very reminiscent of similar items from the myths of other Indo-European peoples (for example, the famous Horn of Plenty).
What was the form of the Holy Grail?
You will not be able to find a description of the appearance of the famous artifact in any of the literary sources. The books tell the story of the origin and location of the item, but they do not provide a specific description for it.
So, ancient legends and apocrypha claim that the basis for the bowl was a precious mineral that fell out of the head ornament of Lucifer himself (it could be turquoise or emerald).
Taking into account Jewish traditions, scientists come to the conclusion that the bowl must have had a rather large size, and also had a base in the form of a leg with a stand. Remarkable, of course, is no longer the external characteristics of the cup, but its properties for healing and blessing.
Holy Grail: is it myth or reality?
The geniuses of science have been wrestling with the riddle of the Holy Grail for many centuries. The main question is: did the bowl really exist?
Numerous adventurers have tried to reach the mythical bowl, but their search has yielded no results, and the bowl continues to be a mystery to this day.
Information about it is stored exclusively in apocrypha, legends and artistic sources. Not a single scientific work mentions this artifact, which does not make it possible to unequivocally answer the question posed above.
Holy Grail and Hitler
Adolf Hitler also searched for the famous Christian relic. Why did he need her? To understand this, you need to turn to the magical properties of the bowl.
We have already mentioned above that the cup was designed to give its owner power and make him immortal. And since Hitler dreamed of conquering the whole world, he set himself the goal of finding the magic cup, no matter what the cost. And besides this, according to legend, the cup was not hidden by itself, but along with other rare treasures.
Therefore, Hitler created a special group to search for treasures. Otto Skorzeny became its head. Nothing further can be said with certainty.
It is only known for certain that the group discovered treasures in the castle of Montsegur (France), however, whether they found the Grail is already unknown. At the end of the war, people living near this castle could observe how SS soldiers were hiding something in the tunnels of this building. There are suggestions that they were returning the Holy Grail to its place ..
Wikipedia will tell you more about the famous Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail is a mysterious miraculous vessel that has the magical ability to bestow all the desired benefits, up to immortality. His search continues today. What was the meaning of the Holy Grail in history and is there any chance to find it in the present day?
What does the Grail look like?
There are many versions of what the Grail is. Some see in its image a pagan cornucopia or magical Celtic cauldrons, others believe that it is a mysterious stone that can reveal the secrets of the world and give immortality. But all of them are united in one thing - only those who are chosen for this and have reached a certain degree of spiritual development can find the Holy Grail.
The most common version is that the Holy Grail looks like a communion cup. The chalice served Christ with his apostles during the last liturgy, referred to as the Last Supper.
It is believed that agate served as the basis for the manufacture of the church bowl. This stone fell out at the moment of the overthrow of the archangel Lucifer during the battle of his legion with the angelic troops. The stone, once presented by God himself to the Archangel of Darkness, disappeared into the darkness during the battle. But one of the fragments nevertheless reached the ground. The Holy Grail was made from it.
According to legend, Christ himself drank from this goblet at the last supper. Upon learning of the death of Jesus, one of the secret followers of the son of God, Joseph of Arimathea, went to the house where the last meal was held and took the cup. In this cup, Joseph collected a few drops of the Savior's blood, which on the day of the crucifixion oozed from the wound inflicted by the spear of Cassius Loginus, a Roman legionnaire. Then he removed the body of the Savior from the cross, wrapped the shroud and buried it in a rock-cut tomb.
For this, Joseph was thrown into prison, where starvation awaited him. But the magic cup gave him food for two years. Joseph saw the white light only thanks to the order of the emperor Vespasian, who experienced the healing properties of the shroud with the imprinted face of Christ on himself.
According to numerous legends throughout the history of its existence, the Holy Grail of all who worshiped it, not only fed worldly food. He maintained youth in people and gave the desired healing. Those who managed to contemplate the magic cup experienced an all-encompassing joy and quivering feeling in anticipation of Paradise.
The Holy Grail has many forms. In some sources, the Holy Grail is depicted as a golden plate adorned with pearls and precious stones. The grail is also called the cornerstone that fell from the sky, the holy city of Jerusalem, and even the womb of Mary Magdalene, which contains the blood of Christ ... The list is inexhaustible. But any of the incarnations in one way or another symbolizes the divine presence.
In pursuit of the Grail
Attempts to find the Holy Grail are innumerable. Representatives of the church, Christian Gnostics, and mere mortals tried to get this greatest of the relics.
It is assumed that the keeper of the cup, Joseph, went with the relic to Britain, where, before his death, he entrusted the treasure to his successor.
Sources of information about the Grail
Information about the mysterious goblet in the Middle Ages can mainly be gleaned from literary works. This is how Wolfram von Eschenbach first spoke about the Grail. The main character of his work, the knight Parsifal, was looking for a unique artifact. The only thing is that it was not a vessel at all, but a luminous stone.
The magic goblet was also often found in works dedicated to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. And everywhere the artifact was represented by an invisible goblet, which appeared only to people who were not prone to sins and vices.
The legend was most widely spread thanks to the works of Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote a chivalric novel back in the 12th century, taking as a basis the book of Celtic myths "Mabinogion".
Such works were created not just like that. After all, since the 9th century, Europe was massively engulfed in belief in the power of the Instruments of the Passion. The hunt was for all the objects and tools with which they tortured Jesus: the cross on which they crucified, the scourge with which they whipped the body, the pole to which they tied. The Holy Grail was also among such artifacts.
Probable storage locations for the relic
According to one version, on the orders of the English kings, who set a goal to collect the Instruments of Passion, Joseph brought the vessel to the ancient city of Glastonbury. There he remained until the end of his days. The relic was kept on the territory of modern England, presumably until 258. On behalf of Pope Sixtus V, it was guarded by the priest Lorenzo as the most valuable Christian treasure.
After 500 years, King Arthur settled with his associates on Glastonbury Hill. He did not give up trying to find the magic cup. Whether he succeeded is unknown. Although legends say that in the last days of his life, the Grail nevertheless appeared to Arthur.
Some historians claim that the goblet was kept for a long time by the Templars, members of the medieval monastic order of the Temple. The order was created to protect Christian territories and pilgrims from Muslim neighbors. The members of this society were ready to remain faithful to their principles to the grave, personifying the high spirit of Christian love. Since the Templars have earned a reputation as reliable custodians of property, they were entrusted with a valuable relic. True, where she then disappeared along with the rest of the treasures is not known for certain.
The question of the magic cup is directly related to the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Holy Grail. This secret society has been chronicling since the ascension to the throne of King Arthur. It organized the Order of the Knights of the Round Table, whose ranks were filled only by the most virtuous and valiant knights of Europe.
According to legend, it was these knights, led by Titurel, who, despite his young age, was distinguished by wisdom and purity of thoughts, went in search of a magic cup.
Only the leader reached the goal. About the location of the castle, where the cup was kept, he was told by the fisher-king from the Desolated Land. He then became his successor, bearing the eternal name of the Grail King.
The Quest for the Cup in Recent Centuries
The existence of a mysterious goblet, which gives unlimited power and immortality, did not give rest not only to famous kings, kings, generals, but also to our contemporaries.
Adolf Hitler was very interested in this priceless artifact. Being greedy for any kind of mystical things, he sought them all over the world. To do this, he created an occult department called "Ahnenerbs". Its participants organized numerous expeditions to different parts of the world, including the Caucasus, where, according to one version, the sacred cup was kept in caves.
The Fuhrer did not leave his attempts even at the height of the Second World War. So the esoteric occultist Otto Rahn, who headed the organization, unsuccessfully searched for the artifact in the ruins of the last refuge of the Cathars of Montsegur's castle in Languedoc.
In the 13th century, it was the Cathar knights, who preached moral purity, who were considered the guardians of the Grail. Pope Innocent III was unhappy with the influence the Cathars had on "mere mortals". He declared a crusade against these heretics in order not only to destroy the "recalcitrant", but also to seize the relic that gave them undoubted spiritual superiority. In the struggle for the purity of the faith, the pope's troops spared no one. Therefore, it is highly likely that at the last moment the Cathar knights of the impregnable citadel nevertheless decided to transport the greatest treasure away from the epicenter of events.
During the occupation of the Crimea, in search of the Golden Cradle, the Germans "wooled" the ruins of temples and mountain fortresses. It is assumed that the sacred bowl rests in Altyn Beshik. This is a place of power buried underground.
It is believed that in the XIV century the Christian principality of Theodoro found itself between "two fires": the Genoese who settled in the Cafe and the Tatars Mamaia. Genoese Catholics forced the return of the cup, promising in return to end the war. Then the prince took refuge with the relic in the Basman caves and turned to the spirits of the mountain with a call to protect the Golden Cradle. The earthquake that broke out at that moment swallowed people along with the bowl.
Exploration of the cave cities of Mangup and Chufut-Kale continued for several months, but the search did not bring success.
There is a version that Stalin also paid considerable attention to this issue. This is confirmed by the fact that in the pre-war years, the NKVD and KGB officers, headed by leading experts in the occult sciences A. Barchenko G. Bokiy, carefully studied the Crimean caves in search of the Golden Cradle. And during the war, when our troops liberated Koenigsberg, the first thing they took out was the miraculously preserved archive of the Livonian Order.
Grail - the womb of Mary Magdalene?
The version that the Grail is actually not a vessel, but the womb of Mary Magdalene, arose after the Arthurian scholar R.Sh. Loomis, after translating about the Grail, noticed a strange pattern. In Old French, the concepts of "horn" and "body" are denoted by the same phrase "il cors". In the works of the Middle Ages, the Grail is not referred to as a cornucopia, but as the Body of Jesus Christ. Yes, and the old French basis of the word "Sangreal" is translated as "true blood."
The existence of the "royal blood of the descendants of Jesus" is also indicated by documents found in the Jewish archive of the Jerusalem Temple, related to the "King of the Jews" Jesus Christ. They mention a wedding organized in Cannes of Galilee, which is also described in the Gospels.
The main contender for the role of wife, Mary Magdalene, contrary to popular belief, was not a harlot. Her role in the life of Christ is deliberately obscured by the church. The only thing that Christ's disciples condemned her for was that the Savior loves her more than others.
Saint Mary Magdalene in the grotto
Moreover, many historians agree that the wife of Jesus gave birth to children from him, but after the tragic event she was forced to leave the Holy Land and take refuge in the Jewish community of Gaul. So it is likely that the carriers of the "royal blood" have survived to this day.
Candidates for the title of the holy bowl of recent years
The search for contenders for the title of the Holy Grail continues to this day. One of the last relics that claimed the right to be called it was a vessel found in the basilica of the Spanish city of León in 2014.
Historians who have studied the artifact itself and documents dating back to the 14th century put forward a version that in fact the vessel was sent not to Britain, but to North Africa. There, the Egyptian caliph handed over the bowl to the Emir of Denia, who, in turn, gave it to King Ferdinando I. Having traveled a long way, the vessel ended up in Leon, where it received its second name - the Urraca bowl.
According to scientists, the material of manufacture and the method of processing the bowl are exactly the same from which the dishes were made in Palestine at the time of Christ. The authenticity of the artifact is also indicated by hidden symbols found on the fresco of the basilica with the plot of the same Last Supper.
The Italian archaeologist Alfredo Barbagallo, on the contrary, believes that the sacred cup is located in Rome. It is hidden in the cellars under the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the most visited churches by pilgrims. He drew his conclusions on the basis of many years of medieval iconography of the interior decoration of the basilica and the structure of the catacombs located under it. The temple itself was erected on the burial site of St. Lawrence, which also suggests the pattern of placing the relic there.
The third "genuine" sacred cup, allegedly recognized by the Vatican itself, is kept in Valencia in the Cathedral of St. Mary. The goblet is 7 cm high and 9.5 cm in diameter, made of dark red agate. It rises on a small stand and is complemented by two handles. The bowl is trimmed with gold inserts, decorated with emeralds and pearls.
In earlier centuries it was used for religious purposes. But after in 1744 during the holiday the goblet was accidentally dropped and split, after the restoration of the product, it was decided in the future to simply keep it as a cult object. The only exceptions were mass services, during which Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who visited Valencia, used the communion cup.
The Catholic Church recognized the chalice stored in the Cathedral as a genuine shrine, calling it "a witness to the steps of Christ on earth."
The story of the Holy Grail is such a tangled tangle of European legends, oriental traditions, literary narratives and conjectures, rooted not at all in the biblical source, as one might assume, but almost in the pagan folklore motifs of the Celts, that it’s time to exclaim: “Ah was it a boy? Or rather, an elusive Christian relic in the form of a cup, from which the disciples of Jesus Christ took communion at the Last Supper, into which the blood of the Savior crucified on the cross was later collected.
"Grail" is an old French word that denoted a large dish, a tray. This appointment of the Grail is described by the oldest surviving document about this relic - the novel by the Provencal troubadour poet Chrétien de Troy "Persefal, or the Tale of the Grail", referring to 1182. In this novel, the Grail is represented as a large dish inlaid with precious stones, which is carried by a maiden through the halls of the castle. However, in other works about this artifact - poems and novels - the Grail appears in the form of a bowl, goblet and even a stone. However, none of these works is not known as an authoritative source of information.
The legend of the Grail was based on the Christian apocrypha about the journey to England of Joseph of Arimathea. A countryman of Chrétien de Troyes, also a Provençal poet Robert de Born, refers to an old historical source - a manuscript that says that Jesus gave Joseph of Arimathea the cup of the Last Supper, after which Joseph and his sister left Palestine and went to Western Europe to preach Christianity.
Joseph brought the bowl and spear with which Jesus' body was pierced to Britain, and some legends even indicate the specific place where these relics were delivered - Glastonbury Monastery. There was an old church in this abbey, but it burned down in 1184, and a later church was built in its place. Tradition says that the Grail is hidden in the dungeons of the abbey.
The bowl itself is most often represented as a glass carved from an olive tree 12 cm high and 6 cm in diameter.
One of the legends tells that the son of Saint Joseph descended from heaven and took part in the sacrament of the Eucharist, which was celebrated in the Grail castle. Another legend tells that the Celtic wizard Merlin, who patronized King Arthur, sent the Knights of the Round Table to look for the Grail, but these searches did not bring success.
About a dozen writings dedicated to the Grail were composed between 1180 and 1225 in French or are translations from French texts. And each of them offers its own version of the story about this mysterious thing. They are about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. These heroes - Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot, Bore, Galahad - are the knights of King Arthur who make mystical journeys in search of a shrine. The desire to find it is dictated by the magical properties of the Grail: a person who has drunk from this cup receives the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and, according to some sources, immortality, and besides, quite material benefits - food and drink.
The only person who managed to acquire the Grail was the knight Galahad. From childhood, he was brought up by monks in chastity and a righteous life, and having touched the shrine, he ascended to heaven as a saint. Another knight, Percifal, only approached the find: he saw the Grail when he visited his relative, the Fisher King, and witnessed his healing when the king drank from this cup of holy water in front of the knight.
The German Minnesinger poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of Parsifal, in his poem written at the end of the 12th century, claims that the Templaisen knightly order keeps the Grail. This name suggests the order of the Templars - the Knights of the Temple, active participants in the crusades to the Holy Land. This order was destroyed by the French king Philip IV the Handsome at the beginning of the 14th century. In some medieval novels, the knight Parsefal searches for and finds the magical castle of Muncalves, in which the Templars keep the Grail under guard. In medieval legends, the Knights Templar also act as guardians of the Grail. In some of them, the Grail is the blood of the descendants of Jesus.
The etymology of this word is raised to "sang royal" - "royal blood" and even "sang real" - "true blood", which was understood as the blood of Christ. This understanding is dictated, obviously, by the double meaning of the old French word "cors" - both "cup" and "body". Perhaps that is why the Grail, understood either as the "cup of Christ", or as the "body of Christ", in the legends received a strong link to Joseph of Arimathea - the guard over the body of Christ. Therefore, one of the legends speaks of the sacrament of the Eucharist - communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Grail castle, in which the son of Joseph of Arimathea, who descended from heaven, allegedly participated.
The legend of the Grail also has another genealogical line, rooted in Celtic mythology. And even deeper: in Indo-European myths, the magic goblet is a symbol of life and rebirth. In Celtic, Irish and Welsh myths, the story of a magical vessel that gave a person mystical bliss is repeated. In 12th-century France, medieval troubadours and minnesingers worked on this narrative, as a result of which the legendary cup became associated with the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist.
In Celtic myths, there is another interesting container with magical properties: the broken magical witch's cauldron of Ceridwen, stored in the castle of Annun, access to which can only be obtained by perfect people with pure thoughts. For all other people, this castle remains invisible. In another Celtic myth, the Grail appears as a stone that can scream. His cry symbolized the recognition of the true king and therefore was installed in the capital of Ireland, Tara.
The well-known Russian scientist, academician Alexander Veselovsky devoted many years to the study of the legends about the Grail. He proved that the tradition of the Grail originated in the Christian East in the first centuries of our era, in the Christian communities of Syria, Ethiopia and Leuco-Syria - Lesser Armenia. It got to the West in the era of the Crusades, and it was brought there by knights and troubadours who participated in campaigns in the Holy Land and heard these Eastern legends.
Later, Eastern legends and images were creatively rethought in the European artistic word. Therefore, in European traditions about the Grail there are many references to the East. The episodes where the personality of Joseph of Arimathea, who was present at the crucifixion of Christ, appears, have their roots in the apocrypha popular in Byzantium - the Gospels of Nicodemus, the Acts of Pilate, and especially the Books of Joseph of Arimathea. One of the Byzantine written monuments "Mabinagion" refers to the storage of the sacred cup with the empress in Constantinople. However, in the Western European source of the XIII century, "The Younger Titurel" by Albrecht von Scharfenberg, we are talking only about a copy of the Grail stored in Constantinople.
Among the holidays of the Byzantine Church was the feast of finding the Holy Chalice of the Lord, celebrated on July 3. There is evidence that in 394 this bowl was kept in Jerusalem, in the temple of Zion, erected on the site where the Last Supper was held. Perhaps later it was transported to the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, and was kept there in one of the Orthodox churches. However, the further fate of the shrine is unknown: in 1204, as a result of the Fourth Crusade, Western European knights captured and plundered Constantinople. Mentions that the bowl came to the lands of Western Europe are adjacent to the information that it was hidden in one of the castles in the East.
One version of the Grail seekers says that this Christian shrine is hidden in Ukraine. The cache with the relic is located in the Crimean mountains, and the history of his Crimean wanderings goes back to the Middle Ages. In the XII-XV centuries, on the territory of the mountainous and foothill Crimea, there was a small principality of Theodoro with its capital in the city of Mangup-Kale. Its territory stretched in a narrow strip from Yamboli (modern Balaklava) to Aluston (now Alushta). The principality was ruled by the Gavras dynasty of kings, who were of Armenian origin, and was in the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire. The ethnic composition of the population was diverse: Crimean Goths, Alans and Greeks lived there, but they were united by a common religion - the Theodorites professed Orthodoxy.
The position of the small state was precarious. One of the legends that have survived from those times tells about the war between the Theodorites and the Genoese (it is known from history that the principality had to wage frequent wars with the Genoese), who owned colonies in the southern coastal part of the Crimean peninsula. During this war, the Genoese set a condition for the rulers of Theodoro: to give them a certain golden cradle, after which the war would be stopped. The situation was so threatening that the prince, together with his family, took refuge in one of the caves of Mount Basman, where he hid this mysterious golden cradle.
After that, an earthquake and a collapse occurred in the mountains, and the golden cradle was safely hidden from people. Interestingly, this legend is confirmed by the data of archaeological research. Scientists have established that there was a settlement on Mount Basman that was destroyed as a result of a powerful earthquake in the 14th or 15th century. And inside one of the mountain caves, a skeleton of a man was found, crushed by a stone block that had fallen on him.
There are different opinions about what the Mangup golden cradle could have been. Some believe that it was a golden font, presented to Prince Theodoro Isaac by Moscow Tsar Ivan III. Others saw in it a resemblance to the cradle of Genghis Khan. However, the most astute researchers noticed one important detail in the paintings of temples left over from the existence of this small state. They often have the motif of a bowl-cradle with a baby. In Christian tradition, the child in the bowl symbolizes Christ. The blood of the crucified Christ, as we remember, was collected in a cup.
In the 20th century, these Crimean legends showed an unexpected interest in the secret services of the two great empires, which were at war with each other, including in the Crimean mountains. And again, as it once happened, the parties in this war were Western European warriors and heirs of the Byzantine tradition.
In 1926-1927, a group of employees of the special department for cryptography of the NKVD of the USSR, headed by Alexander Barchenko, launched activities in the Crimea. According to the official version, the group explored the cave cities of the Crimea. But this group included astrophysicist Alexander Kondiain, who spoke about another, unspoken goal of the KGB expedition, namely the search for a stone of extraterrestrial origin that fell to Earth from the constellation Orion several hundred thousand years ago.
By the way, in the already mentioned poem by Wolfram Eschenbach “Parsifal”, the Grail is presented in the form of a stone that fell to the ground from the crown of Lucifer, from which the allegorical name of the Grail came from - “a stone from Orion”. This case ended dramatically: the leader of the expedition, Alexander Barchenko, was shot in 1941, just before the start of the war with Germany.
Interest in the Grail was not only the secret services of the country of victorious socialism, but also their German colleagues. Adolf Hitler tried to get the Grail, who ordered at the height of World War II to begin an active search for the relic. The Fuhrer, inclined towards mystical search, wanted, so to speak, to privatize the legendary magical properties of this vessel. His henchmen in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna found the spear of the Roman centurion Longinus, with which he pierced the body of Christ. In this artifact, the Nazis also saw a source of magical power, and Hitler believed that the spear would help him defeat his enemies in the war - the USSR, America and Great Britain.
When the Germans came to the Crimea, they, like their predecessors, launched a search for the Grail in the Crimean mountains. The head of the search for the relic was Otto Ohlendorf, who bore the pseudonym Graalritter - the knight of the Grail, under his command was the "Einsatzgruppe D". The search was carried out in the fortress of Juft-Kale (Chufut-Kale), where the Karaite kenasses, the mausoleum of the daughter of Khan Tokhtamysh Janike-khanum and numerous caves were examined. They searched in Tatar mosques, and in the ruins of old temples, and in the ruins of the Kermenchik fortress. However, the Germans never found the Grail. Nevertheless, for his work in the Crimea, Otto Ohlendorf received the Iron Cross of the First Class from Adolf Hitler.
There is another interesting Grail story related to England, which is given in their book Quest for the Holy Grail and Precious Blood by Ian and Dyke Begg. Its origins all lead to the same Glastonbury Abbey. In the 16th century, during the reign of King Henry VIII, the Reformation was established in England. Catholic monasteries are being closed, Catholic priests are being persecuted. In 1535-1539, the king creates special commissions that closed all the monasteries in England. Their property was confiscated and the brethren dispersed. By order of the king, even the relics of saints were opened and plundered.
The last abbot of Glastonbury, shortly before his death, gave the Grail to the monks he trusted. They went with the relic to Wales, to Aberystwyth Abbey. They found shelter in the rich estate of Nantes Maner, owned by Lord Powell. He offered the monks refuge in his domain; where the monks lived and worked quietly. The last of the monks who lived there for many years, handed over the Grail to the owner of the property and bequeathed to always keep it there, in Nantes Mener. The last member of the Powell family died in 1952, and then the Grail passed to the Myeriless family. However, they did not stay long and mysteriously disappeared.
As we can see, with the passing of the glorious times of troubadours and knights, the search for the Grail did not stop. The Grail excites the minds of seekers even today. Italian archaeologist Alfredo Barbagallo claims that the Holy Grail is located in Rome and hidden in a room under the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura. This church is one of the seven churches most visited by pilgrims in Rome. The scientist made this conclusion after two years of studying the medieval iconography inside the church and the structure of the catacombs under it. According to the archaeologist, the Grail disappeared in 285, after the death of the priest Lorenzo, who was instructed by Pope Sixtus V to take care of the preservation of early Christian church treasures.
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