According to the prevailing opinion of contemporaries, the Holy Grail or Chalice of Christ is a precious goblet or cup from which Jesus Christ drank wine during the Last Supper or a cup into which the blood of Christ was collected when he hung on the cross. How plausible this information is, no one knows, but the fact that for the first thousand years after the ascension of Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven not a single person heard about the Holy Grail makes one wonder about the real existence of this artifact.
Holy Grail and Last Supper
Discovery: In search of the holy grail
The first mention of the Holy Grail
They belong to the 12th century, when 9 noble knights from the noble families of France decided to establish a monastic order to protect pilgrims in Jerusalem. As far as is known, these knights were mainly engaged in excavation of the ruins of Solomon's temple, where after 4 years they found the Bible and the Holy Grail.
Subsequently, the found shrines were transported to France and the small monastic order within a short time turned into the most powerful and richest order known as the Knights Templar with great power over the laity. Perhaps it is an accident that the Holy Grail was found at a very convenient moment when Christianity, represented by the Roman Church, was trying to fight against the powerful Cathars.
And characteristically, the Cathars also used the Holy Grail in their faith. As an attribute of faith, in their ritual ceremonies there was also a thicket from which they drank honey, myrtle or other composition, as the legends say each time different for the manifestation of love. But in Christianity, the Grail was considered a thicket with the blood of a martyr, which made it possible to make this artifact more significant and overthrow the faith of the Cathars.
Subsequently, Christianity more than once used the subject attributes of faith in order to attract more believers to the bosom of its church. Many people know that in the name of faith it was during this period that many bloody battles took place, the undercurrents of which were by no means loyalty to Christianity, but the opportunity to acquire great power over people.
After the destruction of the Knights Templar, the mysterious artifact was mentioned more in the historical novels of the reign of King Arthur, which many modern scholars tend to consider fiction. But in any such novel, the Holy Grail has always been an attribute of a faith that needs to be saved and glorified.
holy grail
In real historical facts, information about the search for the Grail was recorded
since there is a legend that he who drinks from the thicket will gain immortality and wealth. Hitler also believed in this legend. In general, he was prone to mysticism and believed in the miraculous properties of many legendary artifacts and sent many expeditions to search for them. He was also fascinated by the legend of King Arthur and dreamed of becoming its prototype in the modern world. In the castle of Wewelsburg there was a round table, at which not only meetings of high officials of the Reich were held, but also mystical rituals were performed.
Hitler, under the influence of Otto Rahn, believed in the existence of the Holy Grail, and he interpreted the history of its occurrence in his own way. In his understanding, the Holy Grail was the shrine of the Cathars, who preached a bright and blessed life full of love, this shrine was hidden during the destruction of the last masters in the sanctuary of Montesegur. The Holy Grail itself was either a bowl of precious metals, or an ancient stone with runes.
Ahnenerbe - in translation: Heritage of ancestors
Hitler created a special institute "Ahnenerbe"
who was engaged in the search for artifacts and all mystical issues. And it was the employee of this institute, Otto Rahn, who was given unlimited powers and the order to find the Holy Grail. Ran himself did not clearly imagine what the Grail looked like, but, nevertheless, he was actively engaged in searches in all known places where the Cathars lived, starting in 1928, he pays special attention to the caves that are located in the mountain near the ruins of Montesegur.
Since a long search did not bring a positive result, Otto Rahn studied the documents again. At this time, he just met another scientist who also studied the faith of the Cathars and had a lot of valuable information, in the study of which Ran drew attention to some inconsistencies when studying the general plan of Montesegur's building. He suggested that hidden rooms were hidden in these discrepancies, and, starting excavations in these places, he discovered several rooms with many drawings on the walls, which belonged not only to the Cathars, but also to the Templars.
It is believed that Ran found the Holy Grail, but did not tell anyone about it. He brought the artifact to Germany, where he continued to study the culture of the Cathars. But a few years later it was established that the Holy Grail was found and Ran fell into disgrace, and the Holy thing was moved to Wewelsburg Castle, and after the war the Holy Grail disappeared. Otto Rahn died in 1939. There are three options for his death, an accident, murder by the Reich, and murder by the mysterious organization of the Priory of Sion, which Rahn mentioned in his manuscripts.
Ahnenerbe - Operation Holy Grail
There is an opinion that the Priory of Sion is currently the keepers of the Holy Grail.
Also, with numerous historical studies, it was found that it is this ancient order that shapes history and is the secret inspirer of all global changes in the life of mankind for at least the last 10 centuries.
When studying the ancient annals of the Cathars, it was Otto Rahn who revealed documentary evidence of this secret order, which existed, as it were, in the bosom of the official Roman Church, but at the same time was not bound by public opinion and could influence ordinary people by any, even dishonest, means to win new adherents for official faith. It was this order that was behind the destruction of the Cathars, and then the order of the Templars, who became too powerful.
It was the Priory of Sion that initiated many crusades in the name of Christianity, the secret goal of which was to capture Palestine to create their own state, but since Islam could not be defeated, the confrontation exists to this day. All major events in the name of faith and the conquest of the minds of ordinary people were directed and financed by the powerful hand of the Priory of Sion. Why was the small party of Adolf Hitler able to become the ruling party of the country in a short time and from where they were provided with donations for development on a huge scale.
At different times and in different regions of our planet in the Priory of Sion, the most famous and influential people in the world were in the ruling elite. It can be assumed that to this day this mysterious order directs world politics with its secret, but powerful hand. And the secret of the Holy Grail is safely hidden in the depths of their treasures.
... The Grail is so heavy
that none of the sinners of man can lift it forever.
Wolfram von Eschenbach. Parzival
The legends of the Holy Grail have not ceased to excite the imagination for many centuries. An obscure, mysterious relic, one of the most interesting and legendary symbols that carries unheard of power. The source of the legend of the Grail lies, apparently, in the myths of the ancient Celts. In their legends, the Holy Grail is a stone vessel in the form of a bowl made of emerald, which the Archangel Michael knocked out of the crown of Lucifer with a sword (according to other legends, the Grail is a bowl carved from wood).
This priceless mystical relic survived the flood. And later Jesus drank from this vessel at the Last Supper and his disciples communed from it. In, according to old legends, the blood of the Savior, shed on Golgotha, was also collected. After the execution of Jesus, the Holy Grail mysteriously disappeared. A legend is widespread that the Grail and those who were wounded by Christ were preserved and brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. To this day, there is an opinion that the Grail was with the Albigensians for some time, but after the capture of Montsegur, it was not found there.
According to another version, the Grail is a kind of sacred stone that is associated with the secret mystical life of Jesus. All subsequent searches for the disappeared relic were unsuccessful, but many legends appeared that tell about the "adventures" of the Grail. The words "Holy Grail" are often used in a figurative sense as a designation of some cherished goal, sometimes unattainable or difficult to achieve.
Fundamentally different from the "material" versions (chalice, stone) are the assumptions that the Grail is an expression of some mystical spiritual ideas. The Grail is a state of the soul, the connection of a person with God, that is, to find the Grail means to achieve enlightenment.
Researchers have always been interested in the origin of the Grail legend. The British roots of the tradition of the cup go back to the mythology of the ancient Celts, but the legend of the cup was rethought in a Christian spirit. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea, having taken the cup from which the Savior drank on his last evening, collected the blood of the Lord into it and with this relic went around the world, preaching Christianity.
While wandering, Joseph reached Britain, where he decided to stop and found a monastery called Glastonbury (according to some of the sources, it was in this monastery that the Chalice was hidden, which later became the embodiment of God's grace for people). Having founded the monastery, Joseph created a monastic-knightly order, whose members were the first keepers of the bowl, and they, despite the desperate resistance they offered in the 5th-6th centuries to the invaders of Britain - the Saxons, were forced to transport the shrine to Sarras (location unknown), from where The Grail, according to one version, was "ascended to heaven", according to another, it remained in Glastonbury.
However, the old church at Glastonbury, which perhaps remembered the Knights of the Round Table, burned down in 1184, and 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. In this version, the Cup is associated with the legends of King Arthur. During the reign of the legendary king, the sacred relic was hidden at the bottom of an ancient well somewhere in the depths of the island. The Knights of the Round Table, at the behest of Merlin, went in search.
In some of the novels of the Arthurian cycle, the Grail is found and brought to Camelot, but the chalice did not bring happiness to the kingdom. Seeing this, he took her with him to the mysterious island of Avalon and thus averted troubles from the land of the Britons. How long the Chalice stayed on Avalon is unknown, but the next time traces of it were found only in the 13th century among heretics from the Provencal town of Albi. And this is where the story of the Grail of the Cathars begins. According to legend, it was hidden in the dungeons of Montsegur along with other treasures of heretics - Albigensians: ancient manuscripts that store secret wisdom, mysterious relics. But when the fortress - the last stronghold of the Cathars - fell, the victors could not find any traces of the Grail.
There are researchers who 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.
Among these completely different theories, the legends of the Arthurian cycle look the most attractive, but there is not a single fact that could confirm them. Well, the hypothesis of a secret occult society is usually shared by those who are generally inclined to consider all 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. Over time, this legend was filled with a new meaning, having received a Christian coloring. This relic is a symbolic source of life and immortality, abundance and fertility, a "wonderful breadwinner". The one who drinks from the Grail receives the forgiveness of sins. At will, she gives any dishes and jewelry in the blink of an eye, and whoever drinks from her is cured of all ailments; even the dead, as soon as she touches their lips, they come back to life.
Possessing the ability to miraculously saturate its chosen ones with unearthly dishes, the Cup in the Western tradition occupies the same place as the eastern sacrificial bowl with Vedic soma, Avestan haoma or Greek ambrosia - the food of the gods. Among the Celts, a cup full of wine, beer or mead, which a young girl brought to the king assuming the throne, is a symbol of supreme power. Subsequently, this meaning is transferred to the Grail, in search of which the Knights of the Round Table go.
The symbolism of the location of the Grail in the center of the Round Table, around which the knights sit, is very close to the Chinese image of the sky, which has the shape of a circle with a hole in the middle (analogous to a bowl or goblet). In Egyptian symbolism there are associations between the cup of life and the heart as the center of life. The hieroglyph, which denoted the heart, had the shape of a vessel.
The search for the Grail in both pagan and Christian traditions is a return to paradise, the spiritual center of man and the universe; a symbol of initiation, testing through trials and meeting with death in search of the hidden meaning and mystery of life. The search is usually undertaken by a "solar hero" who has no idea of his true nature. For example, Parzival, brought up in forest solitude, a young man gifted with knightly prowess, or an ascetic knight, the virgin Galahad, the son of a sinful, but the greatest of knights - Lancelot.
The Grail played a rather significant role in the secret symbolism of medieval alchemists. Breathing new life into the Phoenix and giving eternal youth to those who serve it, the Grail is related to the symbolism of the Philosopher's Stone. It also acts as a barque, an ark containing the seeds of the cyclic renewal of life, the seeds of lost traditions. The Holy Grail, the chalice containing the blood, the basis of life, is identified with the heart and, as a consequence, with the center.
The Grail combines two elements: a bowl or a shining goblet with a heart (a triangle placed on top) personifies the feminine, receptive, water principle, and a spear or sword (a triangle pointing upwards) represents the masculine, active, fiery principle. These elements are united by the bearers of life - the blood or sacred liquid flowing into the cup. The life-creating, renewing forces radiating from the solar vessel, and the forces of destruction, which appear in the form of a bleeding spear, contain a double sacrament. The combination of opposite principles played an important role in alchemical transmutation - transformation.
In Christianity, the Grail is an ambiguous symbol. It should be noted that none of the Grail traditions is recognized by the official church. Not a single church chronicler ever mentioned the Holy Cup, although all four gospels speak of a man named Joseph, who begged the body of the crucified Christ from Pontius Pilate and, wrapping it in a shroud, placed it in a tomb carved into the rock.
The Grail is mentioned only in the Apocrypha. But his image is quite popular in esoteric Christianity - the Grail symbolizes the sacred Heart of Christ. When, according to legend, the magical emerald was taken away from Lucifer, after the latter’s overthrow into the abyss, and the Grail was made from this stone, then, like the Virgin Mary, who atoned for the sin of Eve, the blood of the Savior through the Grail atoned for the sin of Lucifer.
Thus, the meaning of the Grail is increasingly associated with the torment of Christ, with the idea of voluntary sacrifice and redemption. In the Christian legend, the Chalice was given to Adam, but left by him in paradise after the fall. He is still in the center of paradise, and must be found again, the new Redeemer will gain the cup and restore paradise to mankind.
The image of the Grail, of course, cannot be completely reduced either to the sacrament of the Church or to the Celtic myth. For the knightly culture of the Middle Ages, the importance of the Grail as a symbol was that it combined the spirit of knightly adventures, the free play of fantasy using fragments of half-forgotten mythology, and Christian mysticism.
This bowl is a symbol of nobility, pure thoughts, mental health and the desire to rise, because only those of the seekers who have perfect purity of heart can achieve success on their path. Anyone unworthy who approaches a shrine is punished with a wound or illness, but can expect healing from the same shrine. The Grail is a secret that is revealed only to the most worthy.
Legends of the Grail originated in the Middle Ages as an integral part of the legends of King Arthur, and appeared in written literature in France in the 12th century. Seekers of the Grail Percival, Gawain, Lancelot, Bore, Galahad - all the knights of King Arthur, who set off on their mystical wanderings from Arthur's court, but this is where the similarities between their adventures end. Although not a single chronicle confirms that one of the knights found the cup and brought it to Arthur, the rumor persistently connects the location of the Grail with the legends of King Arthur and with the already mentioned English abbey of Glastonbury.
The very name "Grail" goes back to the rare old French word graal, which meant a large dish, a tray. This is the shape of the sacred vessel, which is spoken of in the oldest existing text about the Grail. The very first version of the story about the Grail - "Percival, or the Tale of the Grail" - was published by the famous poet and troubadour Chretien de Troyes around 1180-1182. There, the Grail is described as a large dish lined with precious stones, which a virgin carries through the halls of the castle. This story is left unfinished.
The most complex version of the Christianized legend of the Grail is contained in the novel "Feat in the name of the Holy Grail", which describes how the Savior descends from heaven and participates in the Eucharist celebrated in the Castle of the Grail. The version of the Grail legend contained in this novel was included in his book The Death of Arthur by T. Malory. A. Tennyson adopted it from Malory and used it in "Royal Idylls", choosing Galahad as his mystical hero.
Another famous interpretation of the grail motif in the 19th century is R. Wagner's Parsifal, where the composer reinforced the religious meaning of his source, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. Today, the most significant treatment of the Grail story is T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, where the medieval theme is used to depict the barrenness of twentieth-century civilization. Wagner's opera and Eliot's poem contributed to a revival of interest in the medieval legend.
It should be noted that some researchers believe that the primary core of the Grail legend is not of Celtic, but of Eastern origin, and that, ultimately, it is in the East that its roots should be sought. It is believed that this legend came to the Moorish culture of Spain (and from it to the Christian one) from Arabia or even from Persia, others consider India to be the birthplace of this legend. And therefore, in a number of epic songs, as, for example, by Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Grail returns from sinful Europe back to India.
In Eschenbach's poem, purely Christian elements are relegated to the background and tolerance, even love, for the people of the East is traced - as, indeed, in other works. Von Eschenbach himself admits that when writing his work, he used the lost poem of the Provençal Kiota, the source of which was not a purely Christian legend, but an Arabic story about the Grail, discovered in Toledo (Spain) and written by the “pagan” Flegetan “from the line of Solomon”.
Phlegetan "was known as a great connoisseur of the stars, an astrologer, and in the stars he read the secret of the Grail." Acquainted with his work, Kiot tried to find in Latin books where there might be "a tribe of the pure in heart, called to serve the Grail." He got acquainted with the chronicles of various European countries and in the city of Anjou found a story about the ancestors of Parsifal, leading to the east, but since the original source is lost, further details are lost in the darkness of centuries.
Gradually, the Grail legends ceased to occupy the attention of the dedicated public, moving into the realm of folk legends. 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 one can easily guess the Grail. 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 the 20th century, when the occult "Thule Society", which arose in Germany in 1918, began to develop the occult-mystical base of National Socialism. And along with the teachings of the Gnostics, the Chalice also turned out to be 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 judge, 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”.
1937 - After his second trip to Languedoc, Rahn suddenly disappeared. Nothing is known about his fate to this day. In June 1943, a large expedition arrived in Montsegur from Germany, which carried out work in the caves until the spring of 1944. And although it could not find anything, the system of underground shelters and passages laid by the Cathars in the rocky soil near Montsegur, according to archaeologists, makes it possible hope that the sacred relic might be there. However, there were a lot of inaccessible hiding places in medieval Europe ...
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 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 dedicate his life to protecting it 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 where the legend originated is 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). 
Grail A miraculous breadwinner, plate or vessel that has the ability to grant any wish so that each knight can eat and drink to his heart's content. Magical Stone (lapis exilis), breathing new life into the Phoenix and giving eternal youth to those who served the Grail. Presumably related to the symbolism of the Philosopher's Stone. Something that has the ability to appear and move without visible support, and is made of gold or a precious stone that radiates a dazzling radiance. It is also called the chalice, and so it entered the Christian legend about the chalice of the Last Supper and the chalice into which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ crucified on the cross. Usually the Grail symbolizes the waters of life, the Holy of Holies, the cosmic center, the heart, the source of life and immortality, the wizard's cup, the source of abundance and fertility. In the Western tradition, it occupies the same place as the Eastern sacrificial bowl with the Vedic soma, Mazdaan haoma or Greek ambrosia and has a Eucharistic meaning, being also a symbolic source of physical and spiritual life. The grail combines two elements: the bowl (triangle, placed on top) personifies the feminine, perceiving, water principle; a spear (a triangle pointing upwards) is a masculine, active fiery principle. These elements are connected by the carriers of life - the blood or sacred liquid flowing into the cup. A bowl, a vase, a triangle placed on top symbolize the heart as the cosmic center of man. In Egyptian and Celtic symbolism there are associations between the cup of life and the heart as the center of life. In Christianity, the Grail is the sacred Heart of Christ. The loss of the Grail symbolizes the loss of the Golden Age, paradise, original spirituality, purity and innocence of man. In Christian legend, the Grail was given to Adam, but was left by him in paradise after the fall. He is still in the center of Paradise and needs to be found again, as the redeemer (whose prototype is Set, who managed to enter paradise and receive the Grail) acquires the cup and restores paradise for mankind. The search for the Grail is a return to paradise, the spiritual center of man and the universe, and a symbol of initiation through trials, tests and encounters with death in search of the hidden meaning and mystery of life. The quest is usually undertaken by a solar hero, often the son of a widow, who has been imprisoned and has no idea of his true nature. The symbols of the Grail are a bowl, a vase or a shining goblet with a heart, a spear, a sword, a dish, a triangle standing on top, a magic stone. Sometimes the search for the Grail is symbolized by a book, in which case the search is for the Lost World.
Symbol Dictionary. 2000 .
See what the "Grail" is in other dictionaries:
- (Old French Graal, Grâl, lat. Gradalis), the Holy Grail (Sangreal, Sankgreal), in Western European medieval legends, a mysterious vessel, for the sake of approaching which and initiating it with good deeds, knights perform their feats. Usually… … Encyclopedia of mythology
Old French. Graal. from the medieval gradalis, lat. cratalis, from Greek. krater, a large vessel in which wine was mixed with water. A bowl made, as the medieval legend says, from a luminous precious stone and used by Christ for ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
In Western European medieval legends, a mysterious vessel, for the sake of approaching which and joining in its good actions, knights perform their feats. It was believed that this is a cup with the blood of the crucified Jesus Christ or a cup for communion, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (old French. Graal, Gral, lat. Gradalis), the Holy Grail (Sangreal, Sankgreal), in Western European medieval legends, a mysterious vessel, for the sake of approaching which and initiating it with good deeds, knights perform their feats. Usually… … Encyclopedia of cultural studies
Grail- i, m. graal m. cf. lat. A bowl made of light stone, allegedly consumed by Christ at the Last Supper. Michelson 1888 ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The "Holy Grail" The Holy Grail is a mysterious Christian artifact, found and lost. The words "Holy Grail" are often used figuratively as a designation of some kind of cherished goal, often unattainable or ... ... Wikipedia
Legends about the Grail arose in the Middle Ages as an integral part of the Arthurian legends; they appeared in written literature in France in the 12th century. Seekers of the Grail Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot, Bors, Galahad are all the knights of King Arthur, who went to ... Collier Encyclopedia
Grail- According to some sources. The Holy Grail is the cup from which Jesus Christ drank during the Last Supper. According to other sources, the Holy Grail is a bowl in which the blood was collected, spilled from the wound of Jesus Christ, which was inflicted on him by a centurion (in ... ... Celtic mythology. Encyclopedia
GRAIL- a symbol of immortality, spiritual purity, the mystical center of the Earth. Transformed within the framework of Christian culture, the Celtic legends about the Grail were widespread in Spain, France, Germany, England, Iceland and other countries. According to various versions ... ... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia
In Western European medieval legends, a mysterious vessel, for the sake of approaching which and joining in its good actions, knights perform their feats. It was believed that this cup with the blood of the crucified Jesus Christ or the communion cup, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Grail, and others, Chandel, Rene, Picknett, Lynn. R. Shandrel "The Grail War": A book that sheds new light on the history of the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ ... A book containing sensational information about the true history of the Holy ...
- Grail: War for the Grail. Secrets of the "Priority of Zion". The myth of Mary Magdalene. Templar meridians. Gold of God (set of 5 books per pack), Chandel R., Picknet L., Prince K., Starbird M., Mann W., Kingsley S. light on the history of the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ ... A book containing sensational information about the true history of the Saint ...
They spent their lives in a fruitless search for the Holy Grail, which (along with the spear that pierced the body of Christ) allegedly preserved and brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. In European medieval novels, the Grail is treated not as a bowl, but as a stone or some kind of precious relic.
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 figuratively as a designation of some cherished goal, often unattainable or difficult to achieve.
Quest for the Grail
Juan de Juanes. Jesus Christ with communion
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 the medieval Percival novels, the protagonist 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
Arthur Hacker, The Temptation of Sir Percival»
see also
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 //
