A Legend Unlocked- The Holy Grail

A recent episode of “Mysteries At The Museum” revealed by historical research that the famous literary work “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was actually based on facts from a nearby battle. The following day, I noticed a billboard for the Texas Ranger Museum with LEGENDS emblazoned across the top. The real life history of the “Lone Ranger” is recounted there for all visitors to see. Most are shocked to learn that he was Black and a true to life legendary hero. Perhaps that’s why Hollywood portrayed him wearing a black mask. The two separate events stirred in me the need to revisit a legend that is directly related to my forty-two years of research into the Shroud of Turin. The Legend I refer to is: The Holy Grail.

     It is most important to begin with Webster’s definition of the word itself. “Legend: a story coming down from the past especially: one popularly regarded as historical (emphasis added) although not verifiable…Arthurian legends.” Of course one of the most important Arthurian legends is the Legend of the Holy Grail. While several have authored detailed books on the subject, my purpose here is to take a more simplistic historical approach to the main facts.

     In short, the Grail Legend involves the following key points:

a) an artifact which contained the very “blood” of Christ as referred to in the Gospels, when Yeshua lifted the Passover Cup of Redemption and declared, “ …This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20 KJV)

b) The artifact is connected with Joseph of Arimathea

c) the artifact was part of the treasure of the Templar Knights.

      Now let’s begin to connect the dots. First of all, the origin of the Grail Legend itself is mysterious at best. According to Britannica while even the “etymology” of the word itself is “uncertain” it “denoted a wide-mouth or shallow vessel.” Citing Robert de Borons poem about the Grail Legend, Britannica goes on to state that the Grail was “…(linked) with the cup used by Christ at the last supper and afterward by Joseph of Arimathea to catch the blood flowing  from Christ’s wounds as he hung on the cross.” That interpretation of the Gospel accounts of the Passover and the crucifixion led to the incorrect conclusion that the Grail was a chalice or cup used by Yeshua. However, the key points to ponder are Joseph of Arimathea and catching the blood from the wounds. The simple historical fact is that Joseph of Arimathea according to Scripture purchased “fine linen” (fine, costly, and bleached) (Mk 15:46) and laid the body of Christ in “his own new tomb”(Mt 27:60)

     Next according to historical accounts which are now confirmed by archaeological and botanical evidence, the linen burial garment now known as the Shroud of Turin is first accurately described by Crusader Knight Robert di Clari before the Knights plundered Constantinople. Secondly the Shroud is first displayed in Lirey, France by Crusader Knight, Geoffrey de Charny who was killed in battle before he could tell how he acquired it. His family could only say it was a “spoil of war.” In what is most certainly more than just coincidence, his possible namesake Geoffrey de Charnay a Templar Knight was burned at the stake by France’s King Philip the Fair along side Jacque DeMolay. Accused of “idol worship” based on the description of their homage to a “bearded male image”, they recanted confessions obtained by torture and called for God’s judgment upon the King and the Pope both of whom died within the year. Philip with the support of the Pope was after the “treasure” of the Templars. 

        So here is the summation of what we now can confirm through Scripture, medical science, history and archaeology: Joseph of Arimathea purchased a costly linen garment to wrap the body of Yeshua before he placed it in the tomb. That linen garment now known the world over as the Shroud of Turin, caught the post-mortem blood that seeped from all the wounds in Christ’s body. Wounds that fulfill prophecy written by David in Psalm 22 some 700 years before the Persians first used crucifixion as a death form. The very wounds recorded in the Gospels. That same linen described accurately by French Crusader Knights before they sacked the city of Constantinople taking the cloth and other artifacts. The burial garment is first displayed in Europe in the possession of a French Crusader Knight whose likely namesake was burned at the stake having been accused of idol worship by a King bent on acquiring their “priceless treasures”. That linen garment has gone on to both baffle and fascinate scientific minds determined to uncover the source of its mind-boggling image but able only to conclude as follows: Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) ”We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is NOT the product of an artist. The bloodstains are composed of hemoglobin, and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image  is an ongoing mystery…”     

     So, we are left with the three-dimensional, photographically negative image of a Sephardic Jewish man, an estimated 30-35 years of age whose dead body left the cloth without evidence of rot or decay; an image that resides solely in the upper curved surface fibers of the threads themselves and to this day defies reproduction even with space age technology. Conclusion: Grail legend unlocked: The Holy Grail is the burial garment of Christ. 

 
Author: Dr. Kenneth Stevenson