The Priory of Sion is an alleged European secret society that was founded in the eleventh century. Its intended purpose is to preserve and defend the original precepts of Christianity. It also acts as the custodian of the family tree of the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Public interest in him was attracted thanks to a number of books, among which the publication that became a bestseller, “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” caused a lot of controversy.

The Priory of Sion plays a central role in the acclaimed novel The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown. It claims that the organization was founded in 1090 in the Holy Land by Baron Godfrey of Bouillon to restore power to the Merovingian dynasty, believed to be descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Among the leaders are Sandro Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci. These names were listed in parchments known as the "Secret Dossier" (they were discovered in the National Library of Paris in 1975).

They say that after Jerusalem was captured by the Crusaders, the construction of the Abbey of Our Lady began. It housed the monks of the Augustinian Order. As advisors to Godfrey of Bouillon, they entered the secret community and also took a direct part in the creation of the Templar Order (1118) as its administrative force. This society operated under various names, but the one most often mentioned was the "Monastery of Zion."

The two organizations acted for common interests, but at the same time were to a certain extent competitors, which ultimately led to serious differences in beliefs. The Templar Order, as we know, was abolished (in 1312), but the Priory of Sion continued to exist and was ruled by grand masters, or Grand Masters - people whose names are glorified in history and culture

They or their descendants left for lands located in the territory of modern southern France. They later entered into marriage alliances with noble families, eventually founding the Merovingian dynasty.

And today the Priory of Sion, which announced its revival in 2002, patronizes the descendants of the ancient French dynasty. In his opinion, the legendary Grail is the womb of St. Mary Magdalene and, therefore, the sacred royal family tree of which she is the ancestor. He devotes himself to the idea of ​​a united Europe and a new world order.

The Catholic Church, according to the "Monastery of Sion", tried to destroy the dynasty and its defenders - the Templars and Cathars - in order to maintain its power through the patriarchal line starting from St. Peter.

But the problem is that although the Templars and Cathars, as well as the secret society of Freemasons that arose in the seventeenth century, historically existed, all the evidence regarding the "Monastery of Zion" and offered as truth in the above works is actually based on on false information. created by the fraudster and pretender to the French throne, Pierre Plantard, who is the founder of the Priory of Sion.

Try your luck!

Yolande de Bar (c.1428–1483). Yolande is the daughter of René of Anjou. She was married to Ferry Sion-Vaudemont, one of the first Knights of the Garter. Her father married her at the age of 9 to young Ferry, with whose father, by the way, he was at enmity, not by accident, as one can understand today. The distant ancestor of Yolande's husband, Count de Vaudemont, erected a statue of the Virgin Mary back in 1070, publicly declaring himself a “vassal of the Queen of Heaven”! The Virgin Mary subsequently became the symbol of all of Lorraine, and the local Mount Semite (i.e. Zion) was chosen by a certain knightly community as an analogue of Mount Zion near Jerusalem! Thus, the count's possessions - in addition to the patrimony of pilgrims to holy places - were a real stronghold of heretics - from the point of view of the Orthodox Church. Rene of Anjou, marrying his daughter to a descendant of Count Vaudémont, most likely had certain hopes for her. And his daughter did not disappoint him! Yolande de Bar decided to go even further than the former Count Vaudemont; After the death of her husband Ferry, during whose lifetime her projects would never have been realized, she set out to restore these places to their former glory, which had almost disappeared over the past four centuries. She more than succeeded! The high status of Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, which she acquired in 1480, made it possible to realize her intentions even more fully. Let us note in passing that Yolanda’s marriage to Ferry was by no means childless. Her son Rene, the future Rene II of Anjou, Duke of Lorraine, was drawn to the occult from an early age. The search for secret knowledge led him to Florence. The time could not have been better: in 1439, the Florentine authorities, and primarily the powerful Medici family, began to routinely send their agents to all corners of the world to find ancient books and manuscripts wherever possible. Apparently, the Medici lords almost dreamed of their own great library, akin to the Alexandrian one! Be that as it may, in 1444 the Library of San Marco was inaugurated, which, of course, was far from Alexandria, but it was the largest in Europe and the first public library! So Rene Jr. had the opportunity to really fall into the treasury of knowledge. He also took care of a teacher who, just as Virgil instructed Dante in The Divine Comedy, would be an experienced guide for the young man in the world of Knowledge. Fate would have it that Giorgio Antonio Vespucci became the mentor of young Rene, who also studied with... Sandro Botticelli, who was also destined to later manage the Priory of Sion!

Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Sandro Botticelli

His real name is Sandro Filipepi. Well, this name is legendary and known to everyone. The only thing that makes sense to point out when talking about Botticelli is his passion for esoteric sciences. Today, when it became known about Botticelli’s closeness to secret societies and that he was involved in the creation of one of the first Tarot decks, we can analyze many of his paintings in a new way.

Most of them are full of esoteric symbolism, which suggests that the creator of the paintings drew his knowledge from a special source, accessible only to a select few. The election of Botticelli as Grand Master is by no means an accident, but a natural consequence of his steady movement towards Truth. Even before Botticelli gained the title of Master among artists, he had to undergo training in the bottega (workshop) of Andrea del Verrocchio (real name: Andrea di Michele di Francesco Cioni). It was there that he met and became friends with Leonardo da Vinci.

Botticelli generously shared his knowledge of the other world with his friend; they became so friendly that they even decided to organize a chain of fast food establishments in Florence. But either the dishes they offered were too refined for the callous Florentine peasants, or the young geniuses did not quite correctly guess the situation on the market for services of this kind, but their endeavor failed miserably. Not too discouraged, both continued to master the basics of the skill.

Despite the fact that their paths soon diverged, Botticelli never lost sight of da Vinci, carefully observing all his actions and secretly helping in litigation. He knew that he could always rely on him. Anticipating his imminent end in 1510, he summoned Leonardo and transferred his sacred powers to him.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).

Well, we can say that Leonardo, with his stunning works, incredible creative talent and the greatness of his personality - even if his acquaintance with Botticelli had not happened - would certainly have attracted the attention of the Priory of Sion, whose leaders have always strived to attract the most worthy contemporaries to the organization . In addition, Leonardo, a famous blasphemer, was a heretic of heretics, and this quality brought additional points to his account. It is impossible not to note here his non-traditional sexual orientation (we recommend you an extremely informative book on this topic: Anton Grekov. Da Vinci's Sexual Code. ACT. 2007). Sodomy (in the time of Leonardo it was also called the “Florentine disease”) is the scourge of the Middle Ages.

She was, perhaps, not very attractive, but an integral, inevitable part of the existence of the same Templars. It is curious, by the way, that the process of initiation into the Order of the Templars in the finale included “brotherly mass intercourse”, which amazed the imagination with its fury; at the same time, the Charter of the Templars severely stigmatizes members of the Order who commit sodomy (the article literally reads: “do not engage in unnatural intercourse”)! Really, it’s paradoxical... Actually, among the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion there were those who gravitated towards perverted carnal pleasures. Why go far, just name Jean Cocteau, an amazing theater and film director, playwright, writer, artist, among other things, who headed the Priory of Sion!

The lust he had for male flesh was reflected in his prose, poetry and, of course, graphics. At the same time, Cocteau was happily married and far from childless!

The symbolic image of the Templar duo had, alas, a very subtle subtext

However, more about that is still to come...

For now, let's get back to the story of da Vinci.

Leonardo was the Grand Master for the last 9 years of his earthly life. However, throughout his life he demonstrated loyalty to the worldview that began to develop in him in his youth. First of all, this is, naturally, an internal rejection of the doctrine of the Orthodox Church.

One of Jean Cocteau's graphic masterpieces, eloquently demonstrating the captivating contradictory nature of the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion

Leonardo's views on the Christian religion itself and on clergy are brilliantly revealed in his aphorisms, riddles, and fables. We are sure you will be curious to get acquainted (or perhaps even resurrect in your memory!) with some examples of the prose of the legendary genius of the Renaissance (translated by R. Grishchenkov):

About Christians

Many people, professing faith in their son, build temples only in the name of their mother.

About priests reading mass

There will be many who, in order to become proficient in their own art, will dress up in the most luxurious robes, cut in the manner of aprons.

About priests with communion in the womb

It will happen that almost all the tabernacles containing the flesh of Christ will move independently along many roads of the world.

About the Brother Confessors

Miserable women of their own free will will reveal to men their countless lusts and shameful intimate affairs.

About paintings depicting saints who are worshiped

People will turn their speeches to those who will not hear or see them, although their eyes will be open; people will talk to them, but they will not receive an answer; and people will begin to ask for mercy from those who, having ears, do not hear; and they will want to light a light for those who are blind...

About crucifixes put on sale

And I see Christ again sold and crucified, and his saints doomed to torment.

About the faith of monks who support themselves at the expense of their long-dead saints

Those who are destined to die will appear after thousands of years as those who support at their own expense many living

About trade in paradise

Countless crowds of people, without even asking the permission of the owner himself, will openly and serenely trade in things of the greatest value that were never their property and which they were not given the opportunity to possess; human justice will not delve into this.

About monks who do not spare words and, as a result, acquiring the greatest wealth, bestow paradise on everyone

Invisible coins will contribute to the triumph of those who spend them.

About temples and abode of monks

There will be many who wish to neglect their occupations, labors, poor existence and shelter and choose life in rich and majestic chambers, thereby proving that there is a means to make friendship with the Lord himself.

A certain priest, going around his parish on Good Friday and with the goal of spreading holy water throughout the house of parishioners - according to custom - entered the home of one painter and sprinkled several of his paintings with water; the painter, turning to him, asked, barely restraining himself, why he was soaking the cortina with water. The priest responded that this was the custom and that he simply had to act in this way; his deed is good, and the one who does good must hope that he will be rewarded a hundredfold, for this is precisely what was announced by the Lord; therefore, for any good done on earth, a hundredfold greater reward is coming.

Having waited for the priest to leave, the painter, leaning out of the window, poured an impressive bucket of water on his head, saying: “Get a hundred times more, exactly as you promised; I repay you for the good done by the holy water, which half ruined my paintings!”

One woman, who was washing cloth, had severely red feet from the cold. A priest who happened to be nearby, amazed, asked her what caused such redness. The woman, without thinking twice, answered that the reason for this phenomenon was the fire that was burning below her. Then the priest laid his hand on a certain member, which made him more a man than a monk, and, clung closely to the young woman, began with touching and sweet speeches to persuade her so that in the name of the goodness of God she would not disdain to light his wick.

Truly, these notes from Leonardo’s secret notebooks speak about his life position much more and more clearly than plump encyclopedic volumes, don’t they? It was precisely such a person that the Priory of Sion wanted more than others - in terms of transferring to him the powers of the Grand Master.

Four years before his death, Leonardo da Vinci, as a military engineer, was seconded to the army of the Viceroy of Languedoc and Milan, Charles de Montpensier of Bourbon, who was also constable of France.

We understand that the motley variety of all these new, not very familiar to the ear names can very quickly get boring.

Leonardo da Vinci

However, keep in mind: we are talking about a secret society, so try to pay attention!

Remember that this list is not a list of some obscure characters, these are all Grand Masters, each of whom at one time had a greater or lesser influence on the course of the entire historical process. There are no random figures among them. So Leonardo’s meeting with the Constable of Bourbon is also far from an accidental event, because it was Charles de Montpensier of Bourbon who was to take over the reins of the Priory of Sion from Leonardo’s weakening hands!

Constable of Bourbon (1490–1527). This nobleman had truly incredible influence in the 16th century. The choice of the Priory of Sion in his case was all the more not accidental since his sister married the next Duke of Lorraine - the grandson of Iolanla de Bar and the great-grandson of Rene of Anjou.

Comments, we believe, are unnecessary. Of the historical events in which Charles, Constable of Bourbon, was involved, it is necessary to mention the First War with the Habsburgs, which was waged by the King of France Francis I (1494–1547), who began to rule back in 1515, with Charles of Austria, later Charles V. Constable of Bourbon, who was a considerable military leader and provided Francis with many triumphs, believed that he deserved a much more generous salary. However, either Francis’s treasury was too thin due to incessant military expenses, or it was unpleasant for him to watch the growing influence of the constable, or he was simply overcome by greed (he even tried to deprive Charles of the lands that had passed to him from his wife who died in 1521), but he he sharply refused the constable’s claims, for which he paid. The famous strategist went over to the side of Charles V, which decided the outcome of the war itself, quite soon leading to the capture of Francis. The culmination of this war was the Battle of Pavia (February 23, 1525), in which the constable, who became the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, used firearms on a large scale for the first time in Europe. His 3,000 muskets decided the matter - there was practically nothing left of the heavy, armored cavalry that Francis had so hoped for. However, you can judge for yourself: the constable lost only about 500 of his soldiers, while Francis lost 12,000 and was captured! However, he was later, although not without difficulty, managed to be redeemed, and the wars, naturally, continued. As for the Constable of Bourbon, two years later he died from a mortal wound received during the siege of Rome by his army. He died calmly, without fuss, because he knew: his twenty-year-old cousin Ferdinand de Gonzaga, devoted with all his soul to the esoteric mysteries, was the most suitable person to stand in his place at the helm of the Priory of Sion...

Ferdinand (Ferrante) de Gonzaga (1507–1575?).

His parents were Isabella d'Este and the Duke of Maptuan, who also patronized Leonardo da Vinci. The circumstances of his life are no less mysterious than the details of his death. What is actually known is that he entered into an alliance with the Duke of Guise. The goal of this alliance was the French throne. Well, before his death, then historians are at a dead end. The fact is that, according to some sources, he passed away not in 1575, but in 1557; in addition, he had a son, Cesar de Gonzaga, who actually died in 1575; year. Perhaps the chronicler of the Priory of Sion made an unfortunate mistake. In the same place, the version of the Nigors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” seems more likely, believing that “this is rather a way to hide something important.”

Louis de Nevers (1539–1595). Louis, Duc de Nevers, also known as Louis de Gonzaga, was the nephew of the previous Grand Master and began to rule the Priory of Sion at the age of 36. He was a famous esotericist of his time, he worked closely with such spiritual colossuses as Giordano Bruno and John Dee, which, however, did not prevent him from taking an active part in the political life of the country and, together with his uncle, supporting the Duke of Pisa in his claims to French throne. As superintendent and in charge of the royal finances, Louis had common projects with Sir Thomas Fludd, who was the father of Robert Fludd; the latter, at the age of 18, succeeded Louis Mever in his post as Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.

Robert Fludd (1574–1637).

Robert Fludd

Robert Fludd, also called Robertus de Fluctibus, was one of the most prominent esotericists in Britain, as well as a famous physician, a follower of Paracelsus. Having already become Grand Master, he acted as a mentor to the youngest son of the Duke of Guise. The period of mentorship lasted from 1602 to 1620.

Robert Fludd's scientific interests included astronomy (he actively collaborated with Kepler), chemistry, physiology (namely the problems of blood circulation, the research of which he carried out in parallel with his good friend and famous physician William Harvey) and even mechanics - Fludd, like Leonardo da Vinci , devoted a lot of time to creating perpetual motion machines. He was also an adherent of the Rosicrucian doctrine; in the corresponding section of our book a detailed story is devoted to him, but here we must certainly indicate the way of transferring to him the powers of the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, Robert Fludd undertook several trips, which were required by the interests of the Priory of Sion. He did not travel alone, but with a group of adherents of the Rosicrucian movement, among whom was a certain Janus Gruter (1560–1627), a venerable Dutch philologist who was a close friend of John Valentine Andrea. The latter was to succeed Fludd (after his death) as head of the Priory.

John Valentine Andrea (1586–1654).

John Valentine Andrea

Before taking charge of the Priory, Andrea lived in a small provincial town near Stuttgart, where he served as a deacon at the monastery.

It may seem surprising how the choice of the Priory could have fallen on him at all, but this did not happen by chance.

Janus Gruger, in close contact with Robert Fludd, certainly described to him the great virtues of his friend. Fludd, being a perspicacious and wise leader, could not help but appreciate the colossal potential of the German theologian and (in the event of his own death) recommended him as the most promising candidate for the post of Grand Master. We will stop here, since Andrea, as well as Fludd, is discussed in detail in a separate chapter of our book dedicated to the Rosicrucians; the time has come to address the identity of the next lord of the Priory.

Robert Boyle (1627–1691).

Robert Boyle

Boyle, the youngest son of the Earl of Cork, became Grand Master at age 27.

In his youth he traveled and studied a lot. This is the same Boyle known to us from the school course on the Boyle-Mariotte law, which Boyle managed to deduce based on his own experiments with an air pump. According to this law (describing an isothermal process and provided for ideal gases), for a given mass of a given gas at a constant temperature, the product of pressure and volume is a constant value!

Boyle had behind him Florence, which enriched him, among other things, with his acquaintance with the crowned Medici family, and Geneva, where he enthusiastically learned the basics of demonology. An interesting detail: being an inveterate warlock, Boyle was overjoyed when he managed to get his hands on a volume called The Devil of Mascon. The “Encyclopedia of the Mysterious and Unknown,” published by ACT Publishing in 1999, written by I. V. Vinokurov, contains an interesting story about this book, which we reproduce here:

“In 1642-1644, Boyle worked in Geneva, where he met the Calvinist priest Francis Perrault, who told about the unusual events that happened in his house in 1612, and introduced the scientist to diary entries made at that time.

Boyle was so amazed by the old priest's story that he considered it necessary to publish the diary and even had a hand in it. Already in 1653, the book was published in Geneva in French, and in 1658 - in English in Oxford; a second French edition appeared in 1853. The English title of the book is “The Devil of Mascon”, the French title is “The Antidemon of Mascon”.

So, those long-ago events unfolded in the French city of Mascon, Burgundy, in the house of the parish priest Francis Perrault, a convinced Calvinist; his grandfather became a Calvinist under the influence of Calvin himself.

...On September 14, 1612, Perrault left home, leaving on business. When he returned five days later, he found his wife and maid in a state close to horror. The priest's wife said that on the night of September 15, she suddenly woke up from the fact that the curtain of her bed was suddenly pulled back furiously with a loud noise. The maid, who was sleeping in the same room, also woke up and got up to see what had happened, but found nothing: the door and the entire window were closed.

The next night, as soon as they went to bed, they felt the blankets being pulled off them. The maid got up, wanted to leave the room, pulled back the bolt, but the door did not open: it seemed that someone was pressing on her from the outside. I had to loudly call for help from another servant, who easily opened the door. The girl lit a candle and walked into the kitchen, where, to her surprise, pots and kettles were scattered. That night and the next, a noise similar to that made by a swarm of bees was heard, and a strange cacophony of sounds was also heard, reminiscent, according to Perrault, of charivari, that is, something like barbaric music played on pots and teapots.

After listening to his wife’s story, the priest became thoughtful. What if all this was the work of some evil jokers? He carefully examined every corner of the house, bolted all the windows and doors and, tired from the journey, went to bed earlier than usual. But he never managed to fall asleep. As soon as he found himself in bed, a terrible noise was heard in the kitchen, as if someone was throwing firewood with force, as well as loud blows on the walls.

Dishes were scattered in all directions, from which the sounds of sharivari were heard. Perrault got up and once again personally examined all the nooks and crannies of the house, but again found nothing suspicious. “Then,” writes Perrault, “I realized that only the spirit of the house could do this, and I spent the rest of the night in such surprise that a person can hardly imagine.”

The next day, early in the morning, the priest informed the bishop about what was happening, as well as the royal notary and procurator of the city of Mascona, Francois Tornu. In the evening of the same day, they all arrived at the “bad” house to personally witness the strangeness, but... nothing happened. They came again, and in the presence of the procurator himself, at about nine o’clock in the evening on September 20, the spirit openly declared itself with a loud and piercing whistle, repeated several times. Then a voice sounded, which was heard three or four steps away from the listeners. The first words of the psalm were heard, the short five-note melody that birds whistle when they are taught to sing. After this, the voice said the words “priest, priest” and repeated them many times.

Further, Perrault reports, the spirit expressed its readiness to turn into an angel of light and began to read various prayers very loudly, but for some reason did not complete any of them. Then he told a lot of stories that were most likely true. The priest came to this idea because everything that was communicated publicly by the spirit in his family corresponded to reality. The Invisible Man said that Father Perrault was poisoned, named the person who did it and why, the place and method of poisoning. He also talked about wives who killed their husbands, about neighbors from whom one should stay away, and about many other things that looked very plausible.

His deeds were as unusual as his words. The devil played pranks more than once in front of the priest; often threw a huge roll of cloth, once snatched a candlestick from the hands of a maid, leaving her only a lit candle, with equal pleasure he brought both order and disorder into the rooms, ineptly looked after a horse, tying its tail and mane in pigtails.

The demon was especially attached to the maid. Her former owners said that the girl’s parents were suspected of witchcraft, and believed that their daughter was also a witch. When Perrault refused her place, the demon, who had never harmed the maid, suddenly began to strike her successor, doused her with water and finally forced her to leave.

For almost two months, many eminent townspeople came to the priest’s house, talked with the invisible man, listened to his rantings, until a denouement came, apparently connected with the dismissal of the maid. Ten to twelve days before his disappearance, the devil began throwing stones at the house - from morning to evening. Some of them weighed up to a kilogram!

Perrault very vividly describes the last visit of the royal notary to his home in those days: “Mr. Tornu came to my house around noon, inquired whether the devil was still with me, and began to blow whistles of a rose tone, and the devil answered every time with a whistle of the same tone Then the devil threw a stone at him, which fell at his feet, without causing any harm, Tornu picked up the stone and, marking it with coal, threw it behind the house, into the depths of the backyard, adjacent to the city wall on one side and the Saon River on the other. , but the devil threw the stone back to him, and it was still the same stone, as evidenced by the mark with coal. Having picked up the stone, Tornu felt that it was very hot, and said that, in his opinion, the stone had time to go to hell, because, when he held it in his hands for the first time, the stone was cold.”

This is such an interesting book! We think that even this description is enough to understand why Boyle was eager to get her! However, for us, in connection with the Priory of Sion, what is important is not so much the book itself as its translator. And he was none other than Pierre du Moulin. He and Boyle later even became bosom friends. But who else was this Pierre du Moulin? The answer, I think, will not disappoint you! The fact is that the translator’s father was... the personal confessor of Catherine de Bar.

This surname appears again, automatically indicating a connection with the Priory of Sion, “the invisible college,” as Boyle called it in his letters.

By the way, Boyle himself knew at least two people who, like him, were determined by Fate to direct the activities of the Priory of Sion at certain periods of time. One of them was John Valentine Andrea, whom Boyle made acquaintance through his close friend Samuel Hartlieb, and the other was Sir Isaac Newton himself, whom he personally initiated into the mysteries of the art of alchemy. Immediately before his death, he called Newton to him and handed him a bottle with a mysterious red powder, which he used in alchemical experiments; his secret was lost.

In addition, Boyle expressed his last will to him, appointing him as his successor.

Isaac Newton (1642–1727).

Sir Isaac Newton

We are accustomed to consider this man a distinguished scientist, but Newton, as Martin Lunn brilliantly characterizes him in his monograph “The Da Vinci Code Deciphered” (2004), is a dark horse of the highest rank in the Priory of Sion.

In addition to alchemy, an interest in which Robert Boyle instilled in him, Newton was engaged in research in such areas as divine geometry and numerology.

In 1696, when Newton had already been head of the Priory of Sion for five years, he was appointed director of the Royal Mint, which allowed him to develop and establish the gold standard. Seven years later he was elected president of the Royal Society; this post opened up even greater opportunities for him, in particular, strengthening contacts with various kinds of Masonic societies.

Speaking about Newton, it is simply impossible not to mention one of his confidants (i.e., confidants). The mysterious Genevan aristocrat Facio de Duillet, who had enormous acquaintances in scientific circles and beyond, appeared to them. Their meeting, we believe, was far from accidental and took place, apparently, back in 1690. It was through the influence of de Duillet that Newton paid close attention to the "Prophets of the Cevennes" who made their presence known in London in 1705. These people were dressed all in white; the main postulate of their religion was the declaration of the priority of direct knowledge over the orthodox religion of the Church.

They made us remember the Cathars, who, like themselves, vehemently denied the divinity of Jesus; the direct consequence of this was brutal repression and persecution. It is clear that their beliefs could not but impress the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, who provided them with serious support.

As we learned today, sensing the imminent approach of death, Newton destroyed the bulk of his manuscript archive two weeks before his physical departure. We can only guess what treasury of Secret Knowledge was thus lost...

Charles Radcliffe (1693–1746).

Charles Radcliffe

To be fair, the whole world learned about Charles Radclyffe, the fifth Duke of Derwentwater, by reading The Da Vinci Code. In chapter 79 of the novel, many were surprised to discover that this generally unknown character turned out to be one of the Grand Masters! What do we know about him today? I must admit that much about Radcliffe’s personality is questionable, although... who knows? He actively interacted with the Freemasons, moreover, it was to him that the honor of developing the Scottish Ritual belongs. Royal blood flowed in his veins (Radcliffe is the cousin of the young Charles Edward Stuart, Charles III the Exile), in fact, he was always a faithful servant of the Stuart dynasty, actively fighting for the return of the royal throne to it.

If we take into account the fact that for 19 years of his life he enjoyed the powers of the Grand Master, then the fact that he accepted... a violent death is somehow inconsistent with this. It is characteristic that the authors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” do not place emphasis on this. And everything happened as follows.

Radcliffe was preparing to board a ship, intending to reach Scotland, where he expected to meet Charles III. Unfortunately, he failed to fulfill his intention. He was captured by the men of the reigning monarch, George II. This happened at the end of 1745, and a little later he was convicted of aiding a pretender to the throne, and Lord Councilor Philip York, the first Duke of Hardwick, sentenced him to death. On December 8, 1746, Radcliffe was beheaded...

Charles of Lorraine (1712–1780). The personality of PoisGine is remarkable! The commander-in-chief of the Austrian army and a brilliant military leader, who lost only to Frederick the Great (in 1742), for which he was dismissed, Charles retired to Belgium (then the Austrian Netherlands, of which, naturally, he himself was the governor-general). There he made every effort to ensure that his own court was in no way inferior to the court of... René of Anjou, his revered ancestor. Now, we believe, his presence on the list of Grand Masters immediately became clear to you. It is curious that, having begun to lead the Priory in 1746, fifteen years later, in 1761, he was awarded the honor of becoming... the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, once patronized by the Templars themselves (and therefore the Priory of Sion!). Masterfully combining the management of two positions, Charles gained every conceivable honor and, during his lifetime (1795), was given the honor of being present at the opening of his own equestrian statue. He died of a simple heart attack, quickly and almost instantly. In the last decade of his earthly existence, Charles of Lorraine carefully looked after his nephew Maximilian and even made the twenty-four-year-old young man a coadjutor of the Teutonic Order (essentially, his deputy). This happened in 1770, and ten years later Maximilian was destined to replace his venerable uncle as Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.

Maximilian of Lorraine (1756–1801). Despite the well-known favor of Fate, Maximilian's life did not last too long. A brilliant military man, as a result of a fall from a horse, he was forced to part with the army and seek peace in the bosom of the Church. Bishop of Munster, Elector of Cologne, after the death of his uncle he not only became Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, but also the head of the Teutonic Order!

Maximilian was brilliantly educated, made acquaintance with the Freemasons (not bad for a bishop, right?!), and was generally on friendly terms with Mozart. In his actions, Maximilian of Lorraine was incredibly secretive, which was very useful to him in life.

Charles Nodier (1780–1844).

Charles Nodier

He, being the son of a Freemason, became Grand Master at the age of 21. This young man developed unusually early. So, at the age of 17 he organized a secret society Philadelphia, whose members ecstatically sang the wonders of Nature, and in 1802, having already become Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, Charles Nodier took advantage of some of his leisure time to revive the Philadslfs in a new capacity and created (again, a secret!) society Meditators. One cannot help but wonder: was it not this undoubted talent of a conspirator and conspirator, which manifested itself in Nodier at such a young age, that became the reason for his election as leader of the Priory of Sion?!

Well, Nodier is, without a doubt, one of the most gifted writers in France, and with him began a series of Grand Masters who showed themselves brilliantly in the field of literature and art. It is today that colleges, lyceums, and streets are named after Nodier; there is even a foundation named after him. And at the dawn of his life, he experienced much more thorns than glory and applause. Real fame came to him only in the mid-twenties of the 19th century, when he had been appearing as Grand Master for almost twenty years. But now we can confidently state such facts, and during Nodier’s lifetime he was considered a popular, entertaining, and at times, perhaps even an abstruse and boring writer - nothing more.

"Exiles", "The Salzburg Artist", "The Sorrowful, or Excerpts from the Notes of a Suicide", "The Vampire", "Lord Ruthven, or the Vampires", "Infernaliana", "Smarra, or the Night Demons", "The History of the Bohemian King and His Seven Castles”, “Bibliomaniac”, “Fairy of Bread Crumbs”, “Francis Columna” - it’s impossible to list everything...

In these works, most of them representing a whimsical combination of legends, Masonic legends, fantasy and esotericism, the mystery of the worldview of Charles Nodier, who enjoyed well-deserved fame during his lifetime and was recognized by the masters of literature, is revealed; It’s not for nothing that his bosom friends were Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset and others.

It would seem that the above will be enough for a brief description of this Master.

However, the purpose of our research is an objective coverage of events directly related to the Priory of Sion, therefore we - with all the reverence for the personality of Charles Nodier - are simply obliged to point out some, at least one, let's say, inconsistency that is not mentioned mentioned by our colleagues studying the activities of the Priory of Sion.

As you remember, Nodier became Grand Master - according to the Secret Files - in 1801. At this time he had a lover whose name was Lucile Frank. In 1803, the girl tragically and untimely passed away, and Charles, beside himself with grief, created a poem... of an anti-Napoleonic nature (remember that at this time Napoleon Bonaparte was at the zenith of his glory, without even thinking that after some time he then 9 years are destined to know the horror of defeat at Borodino). Then he deliberately denounces himself to the authorities and ends up in prison.

It turned out to be the dungeon of Saint-Pélagie, in which, shortly before Nodier, the legendary Marquis Alphonse de Sade was kept, which, by the way, did not stop Charles from reporting in his memoirs that he and Monsieur Marquis shared the same cell. So, the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion and the author of the scandalous ode - could this be the same person? Who knows? Decide for yourself. What if this is a phenomenal example of fantastic mimicry, the art of which Nodier could learn from insects, being a good entomologist and specializing in butterflies? However, most likely, this is evidence of that stormy palette of feelings that distinguishes twenty-year-olds - of all times and peoples. Truly, you can brilliantly act as a Grand Master and, at the same time, sympathize with all your heart for the loss of your loved one, committing rash acts in a fit of despair (like writing an ill-fated ode), for which you will then have to pay cruelly. Probably, this is the same notorious “human, all too human” about which Nietzsche wrote and which allows the Grand Masters, recognizing themselves in us, to decide the destinies of the world...

Victor Hugo (1803–1885).

Victor Hugo

Hugo was a younger contemporary of Charles Nodier; in fact. Seventeen-year-old Victor chose him as his teacher. Thanks to Charles Nodier, young Hugo discovered the mysterious and vast world of esotericism, became acquainted with the basics of Kabbalah and the doctrine of the Rosicrucians. They traveled around Europe, were friends at home, published a magazine together; It is known that it was Nodier Hugo who owes the plots of a number of his works, in particular, the novel “Notre Dame de Paris.” And on May 2, 1825, when Victor Hugo was 22 years old, Charles Nodier introduced him to the Priory of Sion - still as an ordinary member. The union of teacher and student existed until the death of Nodier in 1844; At the funeral, Hugo was given the honor of bearing the pall of the deceased. And on July 22 of the same year (St. Magdalene's Day), by a majority of one vote, he was elected Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. The appointment was not without complications; It is noteworthy that Théophile Gautier, a famous writer and poet, recommended for admission to the Priory of Sion personally by Victor Hugo (1829), was categorically opposed to his candidacy and even took a number of secret actions, intending to achieve his removal. Gautier's plans failed, and he, unable to survive the shame, left Paris and fled to Algeria. Hugo lived an unusually long life and headed the Priory of Sion until his death in 1885.

In his unique, eventful biography, however, there is a period that very few truly know about.

In 1853–1855, Victor Hugo, who, as you understand, already appeared as Grand Master, publicly declared his disagreement with the state policy of France. Following this, he left Paris and went into voluntary exile on the island of Jersey. There the esoteric side of his nature manifested itself quite clearly. The most interesting thing is that his research and experiments were directly related to the discoveries of... Nicolas Flamel, a brilliant alchemist, kabbalist of the 14th century, who, like Hugo himself, was a Grand Master. It would, however, be wrong to conclude that this interest in Flamel’s personality arose in Hugo only in the mid-1850s. Back in 1831, when an impressive distance of 13 years separated him from the Priory of Sion, he published the great novel Notre Dame, which is still considered the indisputable masterpiece of the romantic school. We have specially prepared for you a number of excerpts from this novel in which Nicolas Flamel appears. Read carefully and you will understand a lot ( lane N. L. Kogan):

“...The Parisian mud,” he thought (for he was firmly convinced that this ditch was destined to serve as his bed, “if we can’t sleep on the bed, we can only think!) – the Parisian mud is somehow especially fetid. It apparently contains a lot of volatile and nitrogenous salts - at least that’s what Nicola Flamel and the sealants believe...”

...Thus, the Romanesque abbey, the philosophical church, Gothic art, Saxon art, the heavy round pillars of the time of Gregory VII, the symbolism of the Hermeticists, where Nicolas Flamel preceded Luther, the autocracy of the pope, the schism of the church, the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Saint-Jacques -de la Boucherie - everything melted, mixed, merged in Notre Dame Cathedral. This main church, the parent church, is among the ancient churches of Paris a kind of chimera, having the head of one church, the limbs of another, the torso of a third, and something in common with all.

... It is reliably known that the archdeacon often visited the cemetery of the Innocents, where his parents were buried along with other victims of the plague of 5466; but there he did not seem to kneel as diligently before the cross on their grave as before the strange statues over the tombs of Nicolas Flamel and Claude Pernel, erected nearby.

It is also reliably known that he was often seen on Lombardskaya Street, where he secretly slipped into a house on the corner of Pisateley and Marivaux streets. This house was built by Nicola Flamel; That's when he died around 1417. Since then, the house has been empty and has already begun to collapse, to such an extent that hermeticists and seekers of the philosopher's stone from all countries scratched its walls, carving their names on them. Neighbors claimed that they saw through the vent how Archdeacon Claude once dug, dug and poured earth in two cellars, the stone supports of which were inscribed with countless poems and hieroglyphs of Nicolas Flamel himself. It was believed that Flamel buried the philosopher's stone here. And so, for two centuries, the alchemists, starting with Majistri and ending with the Peacemaker, stirred up the earth there until the house, so mercilessly dug up and almost turned inside out, finally crumbled into dust under their feet.

It is also reliably known that the archdeacon was inflamed with a special passion for the symbolic portal of the Cathedral of Our Lady, for this page of black book wisdom, set out in stone inscriptions and inscribed by the hand of Bishop Guillaume of Paris, who undoubtedly ruined his soul by daring to attach to this eternal building, to This divine poem has a blasphemous title. They said that the archdeacon thoroughly examined the gigantic statue of St. Christopher and the mysterious statue that stood at the main portal in those days, which the people mockingly called “Mr. Legree.” In any case, everyone could see how Claude Frollo, sitting on the fence of the porch, looked for a long time at the sculptural decorations of the main portal, as if studying the figures of foolish maidens with overturned lamps, the figures of wise maidens with raised lamps, or calculating the angle at which the raven sculptured above the left portal, looks at some mysterious point in the depths of the cathedral, where, undoubtedly, the philosopher's stone was hidden, if it is not in the basement of the house of Nicolas Flamel.

Daedalus is the base; Orpheus is the walls; Hermes is the building as a whole. “You will come whenever you please,” he continued, turning to Tourangeau, “I will show you the grains of gold that settled at the bottom of Nicolò Flamel’s crucible, and you will compare them with the gold of Guillaume of Paris. I will explain to you the secret properties of the Greek word peristera, but first of all, I will teach you to disassemble one by one the marble letters of the alphabet, the granite pages of the great book. From the portal of Bishop Guillaume and Saint-Jean le Rhone we will go to Sainte-Chapelle, then to the house of Nicolas Flamel on the Rue Marivaux, to his grave in the Cemetery of the Innocents, to his two hospitals on the Rue Montmorency. I will teach you how to understand the hieroglyphs that cover the four massive iron bars of the portal of the Saint-Gervais hospital on Skobianaya Street. Together we will try to understand what the facades of the churches of Saint-Côme, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardans, Saint-Martin, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie say...

For a long time now, despite all his intelligence that shone in his eyes, Cousin Tourangeau ceased to understand Father Claude. Finally he interrupted him:

Is the godmother with us? What kind of book is this?

“And here is one of them,” answered the archdeacon.

Opening the window of his cell, he pointed to the bulk of the Cathedral of Our Lady.

...This freedom went very far. Sometimes the volitional significance of a façade, a portal, or even an entire cathedral was not only alien, but even hostile to religion and the church. William of Paris in the 13th century and Nicolas Flamel in the 15th century left several such seductive pages. The Church of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie as a whole embodied the spirit of the opposition.

...After all, the light that floods my hand is gold! These are the same atoms, only rarefied according to a certain law; they just need to be compacted on the basis of another law! - But how to do that? Some people came up with the idea of ​​burying a sunbeam in the ground. Averroes - yes, it was Averroes! - one of these rays was buried under the first pillar on the left side in the sanctuary of the Koran, in the large Witchcraft Mosque, but it is possible to open this trench to see if the experiment was a success only after eight thousand years.

"Damn it! - Jehan said to himself. “He will have to wait a long time for his crown.”

Others believe,” the archdeacon continued thoughtfully, “that it is better to take the ray of Sirius. But it is very difficult to obtain this ray in its pure form, since along the way the rays of other stars merge with it. Flamel claims that it is easiest to take earthly fire. - Flamel! What a prophetic name! Flamma!- Yes, fire! That's all.

...The church usually had a cell intended for asylum seekers. In 1407, Nicolas Flamel built a room for them on the vaults of the Church of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie, which cost him four livres six soles and sixteen Parisian deniers.

Everything is here - considerable wisdom, a hymn to the black religion, and extravagantly heretical morality - in a word, it is easy to recognize the future Grand Master in the author!

But what exactly was Master Hugo doing on the island of Jersey?

He, of course, was well aware of Flamel’s ability to transform any materials into gold, but alchemical practices did not bother him too much at that time. The phenomenon of table turning aroused much greater interest in him. He decided to conduct several spiritualistic seances. On the island, he and his wife were visited by Delphine de Girardin, whom they met in the salon of... Charles Nodier. It is possible that she could serve as a courier for the Priory of Sion. So, it was she who instilled an interest in spiritualism in the couple of exiles. At the same time, Hugo himself always experienced vague, ecstatic visions akin to hallucinations. For him, everything supernatural was familiar and natural; in addition, he firmly believed in the immortality of the soul. Having acted capriciously for the sake of appearance, he very quickly became involved and became an inveterate spiritualist.

As a rule, sessions took place with the participation of several people; most often there was a temptation to contact the spirits of Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Dante, Plato and many others. Hugo gradually began to take the sessions seriously; when the spirits expressed ideas close to his own. Victor felt, as Andre Maurois noted, that “his philosophy was now sanctified by Heaven itself.” Very soon Hugo decided to communicate with the spirits alone. More precisely, maybe with one specific spirit. From now on, his nights acquired special significance. It seems to us that there is no need to explain whose spirit he sought to evoke: naturally, Nicolas Flamel! Victor Hugo achieved the desired result on July 26, 1854 at 21.25. The spirit of Nicolas Flamel appeared to him!!!

The memory of the meeting is confirmed by a drawing Hugo created that night. Moreover, the Alchemist himself attached his astral hand to the drawing; his signature can be seen in the upper left corner of the sheet.

Drawing made by Victor Hugo on the night of contact with the spirit of Nicolas Flamel.

You are probably overwhelmed by curiosity: what could the two Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion talk about in the night? If you assume that about the affairs of the order, you will be mistaken. We started talking about the inhabitants of... Mercury. Actually, Mercury is the sacred planet of alchemists, mercury, or “fast silver” (and in mythology it is Hermes, the messenger of the gods), so there is no need to be particularly surprised. The spirit of Nicolas Flamel told Victor Hugo (he tried to take notes as best he could) that “every Mercurian has six suns (globular bodies) attached to the body; two eyes that are always open; huge but light head; long, albeit slender body; he does not eat solid food, but eats only liquid; it does not breathe, instead emitting a glow; he has a wife." Over the next year, Hugo dictated the poems “The End of Satan”, “God” and the second volume of poems “Contemplation”, bringing world fame and prosperity.

Claude Debussy (1862–1918).

Claude Debussy

The brilliant musician, who very quickly achieved fame and success, was introduced to Victor Hugo by the great symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. Debussy and Hugo were brought together by a deep interest in the occult and esoteric sciences.

Subsequently, Claude Debussy set a number of Hugo's creations to music. Debussy's bohemian life contributed to his widest circle of acquaintances, including members of families directly associated with the Priory of Sion (for example, Jacques Saunière). At the age of 23, he was appointed Grand Master (foreseeing his imminent death, Victor Hugo fervently interceded for him, considering Debussy his most worthy successor). In this sacred post, Claude Debussy worked with dignity until his death, confirming in fact his outstanding qualities as a leader and without disgracing the memory of his great intercessor.

Jean Conteau (1889–1963).

Jean Cocteau

A brilliant creator, a kind of Leonardo of the 20th century. Cocteau became famous at the age of 15 for his poetic talent.

A masterpiece called “The Frivolous Poet” brought him the flattering title of the king of poets, fame and money. However, he had practically no need for money, coming from a very wealthy family. His outrageousness - for example, his scandalous romances with the young actor Jean Marais or Marcel Proust, the legendary creator of the epic "In Search of Lost Time", the sex symbol of France - all his life served as a reason for the birth of countless rumors and legends about him. Nevertheless, the truth that he was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion for almost his entire life never became public. As the famous authors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” write, talking about Cocteau, “the most convincing evidence of his belonging to the Priory of Sion is in his work: the film “Orpheus”, the play “The Double-Headed Eagle”, dedicated to Empress Elizabeth of Austria, a member of the Habsburg family, or the painting of the Church of Our Lady of France in London. Finally, let us remember his signature under the statutes of the Priory of Sion - very categorical evidence.”

What is this charter that Michael Bagent, Richard Lee and Henry Lincoln mention in their book?

We have this unique document! It was drawn up by Jean Cocteau five years before his death and is a kind of testament of the Grand Master. We present it here in full:

Art. I. Between those who have signed this Charter and who subsequently are awarded membership and complete the following conditions, an order of chivalry is established, the morals and customs of which go back to the order founded by Godefroy VI, Duke of Bouillon, surnamed the Pious, in Jerusalem in the year 1099 and recognized in 1100

Art. II. The name of the order is “Sionis Priorolus” or “Priorot of Siono”.

Art. III. The Priory of Sion aims to strengthen the traditional knightly order, conduct educational activities and create mutual assistance among its members - both moral and material - under any circumstances.

Art. IV. The duration of the functioning of the Priory of Sion is endless.

Art. V. The Secretary General, appointed by the Convention, elects a bureau of representatives. The Priory of Sion is not a secret society; all its decrees, along with acts and appointments, are promulgated in Latin.

Art. VI. The Priory of Sion has 121 members; within these limits, it is open to all adult citizens who share the goals and accept the responsibilities provided for by this Charter.

Art. VII. If one of the members of the Priory, intending to leave the order, designates with the provision of a document any of his descendants who may be his successor, the Convention is obliged to consider this request and, if necessary, take care of the education specified below for the minor member .

Art. VIII. The future member must purchase at his own expense the white robe with cord necessary to pass the first stage. Starting from admission to the first stage, a member acquires the right to vote. Upon admission, the new member is required to take an oath of service to the order under any circumstances that may arise in his life, and to work for PEACE and reverence for human life.

Art. IX. After admission, a new member is required to make a contribution - in any amount. Every year he must report to the General Secretariat about a voluntary contribution to the order, the amount of which he must determine himself.

Art. X. Immediately after acceptance, the member must provide the metric and a sample of his signature.

Art. XI. A member of the Priory of Sion who has been sentenced at common law by a tribunal may be temporarily deprived of his titles and functions, as well as of his membership in the order itself.

Art. XII. The General Assembly of members of the order is called the Convention. No decision of the Convention will take effect if the number of those present is less than 81 people. Voting is secret and is done using white and black balls. Any proposal that receives less than 61 white balls during voting will no longer be considered.

Art. XIII. The Convey of the Priory of Sion, alone and by a majority of 81 votes out of 121 members, decides on any changes to both the Statutes and the internal regulations.

Art. XIV. Any admission to membership of the order is decided by the Council of the Thirteen Rosicrucians. Titles and posts are granted by the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, and members of the order are accepted into these posts for life. Their right is completely transferred to one of their own, personally designated by them, children. The said child is free to waive his rights, but he does not have the opportunity to do so in favor of a brother, sister, relative or other person. He cannot subsequently be reinstated to the Priory of Sion.

Art. XV. Within 27 days, two brothers of the order must contact the future member and accept his consent or refusal. If, after a period of 81 days given for reflection, there is no agreement, then the refusal is recognized as full and the place may be considered vacant.

Art. XVI. By virtue of the rule of succession confirmed by the preceding articles, the office and title of Grand Master of the Priory of Sion may be transferred, in accordance with the same prerogatives, to his successor. If the seat is vacant and there is no direct heir, the Convention proceeds with the selection within 81 days.

Art. XVII. The Convention is obliged to vote on all decrees, and they are considered valid if they bear the seal of the Grand Master. The Secretary General is appointed by the Convention for 3 years; he has the right to continue to hold this post after the expiration of his term of office.

The Secretary General must hold the rank of commander in order to perform his functions. The functions and posts themselves are performed voluntarily.

Art. XVIII. The hierarchy of the Zion Community includes five degrees:

Navigator (quantity: 11

Crusader (quantity: 3)

Commander (number; 9)

Knight (number: 27)

Horseman (quantity: 81)

Ark of the Thirteen Rosicrucians

Nine Komondors of the Temple

Total: 121 members.

Art. XIX. There are 243 Free Brothers, called Devouts or (since 1681) called Children of St. Vincent, who take no part either in the vote or in the Convention, but who are granted certain rights and privileges by the Priory of Sion - in accordance with the decree of January 17, 1681 G.

Art. XX. The resources of the Priory of Sion come from the donations and contributions of its members. The reserve, otherwise known as the “property of the Order,” is constituted by the Council of Thirteen Rosicrucians; this property can only be used when absolutely necessary and when serious danger arises for the Priory and its members.

Art. XXI. The General Secretary shall convene a Convention if the Rosicrucian Council considers it useful.

Art. XXII. Denial of membership of the Priory of Sion, whether publicly or in writing, without due cause or real danger to the individual, shall entail exclusion from membership, as specifically declared by the Convention.

This text of the Charter in twenty-two articles fully corresponds to the original and is reproduced in accordance with the resolution of the Convention of June 5, 1956.

Signature of the Grand Master: Jean Cocteau.

We believe you will agree that the Charter we have cited, drawn up and signed by Jean Cocteau, can tell more eloquently about the Priory of Sion than immense volumes of commentaries...

Cocteau, leaving behind an unprecedented creative legacy, died in 1963.

The list of Grand Masters discovered in the "Secret Files" of the Priory of Sion ends with him...

Pierre Plantard: another Grand Master?

And what happened then, you might ask, then, after 1963? What to do with this statement of the Charter: “The duration of the functioning of the Priory of Sion is endless”?

Has the Priory of Sion really ceased to exist?!

Not at all.

Even during Cocteau’s lifetime, a certain Pierre Plantard, a professional draftsman by training, appeared as his General Secretary. In fact, it is thanks to him that we know about the Priory of Sion today.

What kind of person was this?

His full name is Pierre Athanas Maria Plantard.

He was born on March 18, 1920, and died on February 3, 2000. His ashes were cremated, but it remained a mystery to everyone exactly where the act of cremation was carried out.

He was also known as Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair. Do you remember this last name? Yes, yes, he was related by blood to the first Grand Masters - according to the “Secret Files” of the Priory of Sion. Moreover, Plantar was the direct heir of King Dagobert II of the Merovingian dynasty. Based on the statement of Plantard himself, the Priory of Sion actively sought to restore the Merovingians to the throne, thereby unequivocally declaring its own claims to the royal throne. Well, he was a rather closed and mysterious person, as befits... a Grand Master! Yes, you read that right, Plantard also ruled the Priory of Sion! True, due to the aura of mystery inherent in his personality, there are several different versions about the years of his “reign”.

Rare photographs of Pierre Plantard showing him with his son Thomas

According to one version, Plantard was elected Grand Master shortly after the death of Jean Cocteau, and he remained in this post until 1984.

According to another version, the Priory of Sion was ruled for two decades by the General Secretary, that is, Plantard, and he was elected Grand Master on January 17, 1981 and, in fact, it was in this capacity that he gave his sensational interviews to the authors of the superbestseller “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.” The publication of Plantard's testimony had a detrimental effect on his reputation in the Priory of Sion, to such an extent that he considered it best to voluntarily resign as Grand Master, which happened on July 11, 1984 - two years after the book was published. He himself officially motivated his decision by a sudden deterioration in his health.

Apparently, his departure could have been dictated by considerations of a completely different kind. Almost immediately after the publication of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” someone under the name Cornelius published an essay called “The Scandals of the Priory of Sion.” This book contained an impressive list of dubious financial transactions in which the Priory of Sion was allegedly involved, and the fraud was carried out with the participation of American bankers and a famous Italian politician. In this regard, we can also mention the death of Cardinal Jean Danielou, which occurred under very strange circumstances. Moreover, a young stripper from a nightclub was involved in the case, and the police found a huge amount of money on the body of the deceased.

Danielou had friendly relations with Cocteau (he even translated Cocteau's masterpiece, the drama Oedipus Rex, into Latin) and was well acquainted with Plantard. Cornelius claimed in his book that Danielou was also undoubtedly involved in unscrupulous financial dealings with the Priory of Sion. Moreover, Cornelius did not stop there, but moved on to new, even more serious charges, accusing the Priory of collaborating with the Italian mafia and the P2 Masonic lodge.

Cornelius argued that there was a fact of personal acquaintance and close communication between Plantard himself and Licho Gelli, the master of the P2 lodge...

And then, akin to the effect of a bomb exploding, the news spread that Corneli's book was a dirty fake and everything that was said in it was just empty and disgusting fabrications. Martin Lunn, author of The Da Vinci Code Deciphered, comments on this episode as follows:

“...despite the fact that the pamphlet written by Cornelius was distributed in a fairly impressive circulation, not a single (!) of the assumptions mentioned in it found documentary evidence, and its author may well be brought to court for libel.”

They can, of course, if they can find it...

There is a third version, according to which the Priory of Sion is not a real organization, but a phantom generated by Plantard’s wild imagination! Plantard himself is an impostor, who also has a criminal past (three prison terms).

An organization with a similar name has already existed in history - we are talking about a monastic order that in 1017 joined the Jesuits. Plantard first announced the Priory in 1956, but to no avail. A year later, the organization, having failed to find any real enthusiasts, ceased to exist.

Plantard tried twice more to give the Priory of Sion the status of a real organization.

The first time was when he gave his interviews to the authors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, and the second time - in 1989–1993, creating a new list of masters and mistakenly adding a person under investigation to it, as a result which led to Plantard himself being brought to trial. As a result, he was publicly ostracized and lived in seclusion until his death.

The well-known Simon Cox, who clearly adheres to this version, in his sensational investigation “Cracking the Da Vinci Code: A Guide to Dan Brown's Labyrinth of Mysteries” (2004), literally states the following:

“Much of the information existing today about the Priory of Sion was most likely prepared under the direction of Plantard and leaked in the form of many samizdat bulletins, cipher manuscripts and genealogical tables kept in the National Library in Paris, or through interviews with trusted individuals.

Probably, Plantard’s efforts to ensure that the above-mentioned information leaked into society can be explained quite simply: he wanted to convey to those around him that he was the legitimate heir to the dynasty of French kings.”

So, we have presented you with three existing versions. It is difficult to say which of them is true today - when Pierre Plantard is no longer with us.

Listen to your heart and make a decision...

And yet... The Priory of Sion today!

We were quite tempted to complete our story about the Priory of Sion, but realized that it was simply incorrect on our part to suddenly break the thread of the story, leaving the main question unanswered - about the reality of the existence of the Priory of Sion. So we had to add another chapter...

Let it be known to you that the Charter of the Priory signed by Cocteau, with whom you have already become acquainted, is far from the only one! At least two more are known, and the numbers and names of the degrees are different in all three. The question is, how is this even possible? Just think: we have a specific community of people; they are mostly elite. Here you have brilliant pedigrees, unlimited financial resources, and fame - you can’t count it all. Naturally, these are all very ambitious people; How else would they have achieved success? However, with such a combination of outstanding talents, conflict is inevitable. Apparently, this is what happened. And all this happened in the same 1956, when the following note was published:

“June 25, 1956 Registration at the subprefecture of Saint-Julien-en-Genesvois. Priory of Sion. Goal: Training and mutual assistance of its members. Location: Sous-Cassan, Annemasse (Haute-Savoie)." The address given, however, did not include any telephone numbers, and the address itself was rather vague. From the subprefecture of Saint-Julien one could obtain a copy of the Priory's Rules, a vague document represented by twenty-one articles, none of which provided precise information about the order's goals, its role, its resources, or its members. But Cocteau’s Charter, which, by the way, dates back to 1956, contains twenty-two articles!

This was the face of the split...

It is characteristic that starting from 1958 in the press - until recent events related to the publication of books by famous historians on this issue, no evidence of the Priory of Sion is noted. What could this indicate? Of course, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of the same Plantard, the schism was overcome, the Priory rallied and secured for itself at least almost a quarter of a century of calm existence - as calm as it could be in the tumultuous 20th century.

The question remains why Plantard needed to disclose information about the Priory in an interview in 1979. It is unlikely that an answer can be received - given that Plantard himself left this world not so long ago, by the way, without even waiting for Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. His son, alas, has no information on the subject, which does not prevent some odious publicists from calling him “the incarnation of the Egyptian god Horus, who, like the new Nimrod, is preparing the world for the beginning of the reign of Lucifer himself”...

Historical statement of the formation of the Priory of Sion (vulture with the symbols of the order)

However, history does not stand still! After the release of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” the authors of the book managed to discover a number of important documentary evidence, which forced them to begin work on the second book, “The Messianic Legacy.” The nature of this evidence is quite remarkable. For example, Baigent, Lee and Lincoln were able to establish that it turns out that the SS was well aware of the existence of the Priory of Sion! Moreover, Heinrich Himmler himself, having come into contact with Plantard, promised him the title of Duke of Brittany if the Priory assisted him in establishing a separate peace! Plantard, naturally, rejected the Reichsfuehrer's proposal. By the way, it also turned out that during that period, namely from 1963 to 1984, the Priory of Sion had leadership, but not of an individual nature, but in the form of... a triumvirate.

In addition to Plantard himself, which is typical, the influential and pious Parisian writer François Ducos-Bourget was previously considered as the proposed leader.

The funny thing is that Ducos-Bourget was actually elected, but with an incomplete quorum (see the Charter), as a result of which he later decided to withdraw his candidacy! By the way, there is one more detail that you need to know about this person. On July 11, 1984, the Priory of Sion received from its Grand Master a handwritten document of astonishing content. Plantard used a special form with a personal stamp for this.

In the letter, Plantard stated that he intended to resign as Grand Master! He also noted that he devoted 41 years of his life to the Priory of Sion, beginning his service on the memorable day of July 10, 1943, when Abbot François Ducos-Bourget recommended him to membership in the order. Plantar's guarantor! This was precisely the role of Ducos-Bourget in this whole mysterious story...

Coat of arms of Pierre Plantard

However, let's return to our story.

In 1963, control of the Priory of Sion passed to a triumvirate represented by the following persons: naturally, Pierre Plantard himself, Antonio Merzagiora and Gaylord Freeman. Well, you already have some idea about Pierre Plantard; The identity of Antonio Merzajora, alas, could not be established. As for Gaylord Freeman, the authors of “The Messianic Legacy”, although not immediately, managed to find out that Gaylord Freeman is a lawyer by training, a banker, president of the board of the First National Bank of Chicago (1975–1980).

That is, a completely real person, a financial tycoon who for twenty years was part of the leading triumvirate of the Priory of Sion. In an interview given by Plantard after his resignation, he confirmed this information.

We could list information of this kind for a long time - there are more than enough facts and evidence confirming the reality of the existence of the Priory of Sion! But is this really necessary? After all, the conclusion suggests itself. In The Messianic Legacy, Nugent, Lee, and Lincoln write:

“The Priory of Sion has survived and continues to operate, although - for the most part - behind facades and through various organizations... Through all these organizations and thanks to long-standing connections with the same families, a special indestructible continuum has developed ...

Namely - indestructible, and let's also add - secret and inaccessible.

And, perhaps, we could not find a better conclusion with which we could conclude our story about the Priory of Sion.

In their book The Messianic Legacy, which has already been quoted many times, Bengent, Lee and Lincoln cite one fragment from their conversation with Pierre Plantard in 1979:

“Plantar very categorically told us that the Priory of Sion actually owns the treasures of the Jerusalem Temple (otherwise called “Templar gold.” - R.G.), captured by the Romans during the suppression of the uprising of 66 AD. e. and subsequently transported to the south of France, in the vicinity of what is now Rennes-le-Chateau. These treasures, Plantard said, will be returned to Israel when the time is right.

If the Priory really possesses the treasures of the Temple and can prove it, the consequences of this could be truly unpredictable... This fact will have the most pressing religious and political consequences... In any case, without even touching on the issue of the treasures of the Temple. Priory of Sion can make claims to a role that enjoys considerable prestige in the modern world" (Italics by the author. - R. G.)

Leonardo da Vinci, Knights Templar

He was born, as we know, in 1452 and died in 1519. The father of the future genius, Piero from Vinci, a wealthy notary and landowner, was the most famous person in Florence, but his mother Catherine was a simple peasant girl, a fleeting whim of an influential lord. There were no children in Pierrot's official family, so from the age of 4-5 the boy was raised by his father and stepmother, while his own mother, as was customary, was hastened to marry off with a dowry to a peasant.
The handsome boy, distinguished by his extraordinary intelligence and friendly character, immediately became everyone’s favorite and favorite in his father’s house. This was partly facilitated by the fact that Leonardo's first two stepmothers were childless. Piero's third wife, Margarita, entered the house of Leonardo's father when her famous stepson was already 24 years old. From his third wife, Senor Pierrot had nine sons and two daughters, but none of them shone “with either intelligence or sword.”
In 1466, at the age of 14, Leonardo da Vinci entered Verrocchio's workshop as an apprentice. Surprisingly: at the age of 20 he was already proclaimed a master. Leonardo took on many subjects, but once he started studying them, he soon abandoned them. It can be said that most of all he learned from himself. He also paid attention to music, having mastered playing the lyre to perfection.
Contemporaries recall that he “divinely sang his improvisations.” Once he even made a specially shaped lute himself, giving it the appearance of a horse’s head and richly decorating it with silver. Playing it, he so surpassed all the musicians gathered at the court of Duke Ludovico Sforza that he “charmed” him for life.
Leonardo, it seems, was not the child of his parents, he was not a Florentine and an Italian, and was he even an earthly man? This supergenius of the beginning of the Italian Renaissance is so strange that it causes scientists not just amazement, but almost awe, mixed with confusion. Even a general overview of its capabilities plunges researchers into shock: well, a person, even if he has seven spans in his forehead, cannot be at once a brilliant engineer, artist, sculptor, inventor, mechanic, chemist, philologist, scientist, seer, one of the best of his time singers, swimmer, creator of musical instruments, cantatas, equestrian, fencer, architect, fashion designer, etc. His external characteristics are also striking: Leonardo was tall, slender and so beautiful in face that he was called an “angel”, and at the same time superhumanly strong (with his right hand - being left-handed! - he could crush a horseshoe).
At the same time, his mentality seems infinitely far from not only the level of consciousness of his contemporaries, but also from humanity in general. Leonardo, for example, was in complete control of his feelings, showing virtually no emotions typical of ordinary people, and always maintained a surprisingly even mood. Moreover, he was distinguished by some strange coldness of insensibility. He neither loved nor hated, but understood, therefore he not only seemed, but was also indifferent to good and evil in the human sense (he helped, for example, in the conquests of the monstrous Cesare Borgia), to the ugly and the beautiful, which he studied with equal interest as something given, external. Finally, according to contemporaries, Leonardo was bisexual. Today it is difficult to accurately judge why he first “studied” the science of love with Florentine ladies who were in love with this handsome and smart man, and then focused on homosexual relationships. There is a denunciation document in which Da Vinci is accused of homosexuality, which was then prohibited. An anonymous person accuses him and three other men of actively sodomizing one Jacopo Saltarelli, 17 years old, the brother of a jeweler.
They all faced punishment - death at the stake. The first meeting took place on April 9, 1476. It yielded nothing: the court demanded evidence, declared witnesses; there weren't any. The trial was postponed to July 7. A new investigation - and this time a final acquittal. Nevertheless, when Leonardo became a master, he surrounded himself with well-written, talented beauties, whom he took as students. Freud believes that his love for them was purely platonic, but this idea seems indisputable to not everyone.
Was he human? Leonardo's abilities and capabilities were undoubtedly supernatural. For example, in Da Vinci's Diaries there are sketches of birds in flight, for which it was necessary to have at least slow-motion filming materials! He kept a very strange diary, addressing himself as “you” in it, giving instructions and orders to himself as a servant or slave: “order me to show you...”, “you must show in your essay...”, “order make two travel bags..." One gets the impression that there were two personalities living in da Vinci: one - well-known, friendly, not without some human weaknesses, and the other - incredibly strange, secretive, unknown to anyone, who commanded him and controlled his actions.
In addition, da Vinci had the ability to foresee the future, which may even have surpassed the prophetic gift of Nostradamus. His famous "Prophecies" (originally a series of notes made in Milan in 1494) paint terrifying pictures of the future, many of which were either already our past or are now our present. Judge for yourself: “People will talk to each other from the most distant countries and answer each other” - we are undoubtedly talking about the telephone. “People will walk and not move; they will talk to someone who is not there, they will hear someone who does not speak” - television, tape recording, sound reproduction. “People... will instantly scatter to different parts of the world without moving from their place” - television broadcast. “You will see yourself falling from great heights without any harm to you” - obviously skydiving. “Countless lives will be destroyed, and countless holes will be made in the ground” - here, most likely, the seer is talking about craters from aerial bombs and shells, which actually destroyed countless lives. Leonardo even foresaw travel into space: “And many land and water animals will rise between the stars...” - the launch of living beings into space. “Many will be those from whom their little children will be taken away, who will be skinned and quartered in the most cruel way!” — a clear indication of the children whose body parts are used in the organ bank.
Leonardo practiced special psychotechnical exercises, dating back to the esoteric practices of the Pythagoreans and... modern neurolinguistics, in order to sharpen his perception of the world, improve memory and develop imagination. He seemed to know the evolutionary keys to the secrets of the human psyche, which are still far from being realized in modern man. Thus, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s secrets was a special sleep formula: he slept for 15 minutes every 4 hours, thus reducing his daily sleep from 8 to 1.5 hours. Thanks to this, the genius immediately saved 75% of his sleep time, which actually extended his life from 70 to 100 years! In the esoteric tradition, similar techniques have been known since time immemorial, but they have always been considered so secret that, like other psycho- and mnemonic techniques, they have never been made public.
Da Vinci's inventions and discoveries cover all areas of knowledge (there are more than 50 of them!), completely anticipating the main directions of development of modern civilization. Let's talk about just a few of them. In 1499, Leonardo, for a meeting in Milan with the French king Louis XII, designed a wooden mechanical lion, which, after taking a few steps, opened its chest and showed its insides “filled with lilies.” The scientist is the inventor of a spacesuit, a submarine, a steamship, and flippers. He has a manuscript that shows the possibility of diving to great depths without a spacesuit thanks to the use of a special gas mixture (the secret of which he deliberately destroyed). To invent it, it was necessary to have a good understanding of the biochemical processes of the human body, which were completely unknown at that time! It was he who first proposed installing batteries of firearms on armored ships (he gave the idea of ​​a battleship!), invented a helicopter, a bicycle, a glider, a parachute, a tank, a machine gun, poisonous gases, a smoke screen for troops, a magnifying glass (100 years before Galileo!). Da Vinci invented textile machines, weaving machines, machines for making needles, powerful cranes, systems for draining swamps through pipes, and arched bridges. He created drawings of gates, levers and screws designed to lift enormous weights - mechanisms that did not exist in his time. It is amazing that Leonardo describes these machines and mechanisms in detail, although they were impossible to make at that time due to the fact that ball bearings were not known then (but Leonardo himself knew this - the corresponding drawing has been preserved). Sometimes it seems that da Vinci just wanted learn as much as possible about this world by collecting information. What did he do with her? Why did he need it in this form and in such quantity? He did not leave an answer to this question.
Strangely, even Leonardo's painting activities seem less and less significant over time. Let's not talk about his masterpieces, known throughout the world, let's just talk about one amazing drawing, kept in Windsor, depicting some kind of unearthly creature. The facial features of this creature are damaged from time to time, but one can guess their striking beauty. In this drawing, the huge and very widely spaced eyes attract attention. This is not an artist’s mistake, but a conscious calculation: it is these eyes that create a paralyzing impression.
It is generally accepted that this is the artist depicting Beatrice of the great poet Dante, but earthly women are not anatomically like this...
The Royal Library of Turin houses the famous self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci - “Portrait of Himself in Old Age”. It is undated but experts believe it was written around 1512. This is a very strange portrait: not only does the viewer from different angles perceive Leonardo’s expression and facial features completely differently, but photographs taken even with a slight deviation of the camera show a different person, who is either melancholic, or arrogant, or wise, or simply indecisive , then he appears as a decrepit old man, exhausted by life, etc.
Most people know genius as the creator of immortal artistic masterpieces. But his closest friend, Fra Pietrodella Novellara, notes: “Mathematics studies have alienated him from painting so much that just the sight of a brush drives him into a rage.”
And he was also an excellent magician (his contemporaries said more frankly - a magician). Leonardo could create a multicolored flame from a boiling liquid by pouring wine into it; easily turned white wine into red; with one blow he broke a cane, the ends of which were placed on two glasses, without breaking either of them; he applied a little of his saliva to the end of the pen - and the inscription on the paper turned black. The miracles that Leonardo showed impressed his contemporaries so much that he was seriously suspected of serving “black magic.” In addition, near the genius there were always strange, dubious personalities, like Tomaso Giovanni Masini, known under the pseudonym Zoroaster de Peretola, a mechanic, jeweler and at the same time an adept of the secret sciences.
Until his death, da Vinci was extremely active and traveled a lot. So, from 1513 to 1519, he alternately lived in Rome, Pavia, Bologna, France, where, according to legend, he died on May 2, 1519 in the arms of King Francis I, asking forgiveness from God and people for “not doing everything for art.” what I could have done."
Leonardo da Vinci is considered to be one of the geniuses of the Italian Renaissance, which is not even remotely true. He is unique: neither before nor after him in history has there existed such a person, a genius in everything! Who was he?..
This is the biggest mystery. Some modern researchers consider Leonardo a messenger of alien civilizations, others as a time traveler from the distant future, and still others as a resident of a parallel world more developed than ours. It seems that the last assumption is the most plausible: da Vinci knew too well the worldly affairs and the future that awaited humanity, about which he himself was little concerned...

The novel “The Da Vinci Code” by American Dan Brown became the best-selling book last year, and this year a film of the same name was released in cinemas. In general, the noise was decent. But is there a historical basis for such noise?
Facts in the novel are intertwined with fiction - Fibonacci numbers, “divine proportion”, Leonardo’s paintings - puzzles that must be solved in order to find the Truth, historical excursions that describe the history of the Templars. There is no point in commenting on the entire, obviously fictional, novel, but we will help you sort out the most “noisy” issues.

Additional Gospel

The text of the novel talks about the Gospels unrecognized by the church.
Indeed, there are a great many different texts not included in the Bible, but the church does not hide them and calls such texts apocrypha. The Church recognizes some of them as “spiritually beneficial” reading. For example, the Orthodox holiday of the Dormition of the Mother of God is celebrated only thanks to one of these apocrypha, which describes the scene of the death of the Mother of God. And the “Gospel of Peter” says that the Roman soldiers who were guarding the cave with the body of the Savior saw the risen Christ coming out and two angels supporting him. There is no such moment in the canonical Gospels.
In general, there are so many books that based on them you can “prove” anything, even that Madonna was black. After all, there is a cult of the Black Madonna.

Grail

Despite the author's attempts, based on very strange symbols, to pass off the Grail as some kind of abstraction, the Grail (Old French Graal) is the cup from which Christ ate at the Last Supper, and into which, according to legend, Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood from the wounds of the crucified Savior.
According to one version, whoever finds the Holy Grail will gain eternal life and youth. The legend is believed to be based on a Christian apocrypha about the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea in Britain. According to another version, this legend has local roots, going back to the mythology of the ancient Celts.
Many believe that the Grail has long been found. In 1910, in Antioch, treasure hunters dug up a silver bowl-shaped ark, in which they found another, unpolished silver bowl. Based on the nature of the carving, experts attribute the bowl-ark to the 5th century. And the inner one dates back to the first century.
The find is now kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Jesus and Magdalene

Dan Brown in his book talks about the special relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
In the apocryphal Gospel of Philip (63:33-36) - “loved her more than the other disciples” and often “kissed her on the lips”; the men - disciples of Christ - were dissatisfied with his behavior.
There is also a mention of close relationships in one of the Nag Hammadi texts called the Gospel of Mary. In verse 17:10-18 of this Gospel we find words that the Apostle Andrew doubted that Mary Magdalene really saw the resurrection of Christ. Peter asks the question: “Did He really speak to the woman in secret without us knowing about it?” Then he declares: “Did he really choose us over her?” Levi then continues to rebuke Peter: “But if the Savior has made her worthy, dare you reject her? Of course, the Savior knows her well. That’s why he loved her more than us.”
All this is true, but they don’t say anything about how close this relationship was, and the kisses... so it can also be said that Brezhnev was married to Eric Honecker.
There is another book - this is “Panarion” (IV century) by Epiphanius of Cyprus, in which the apocryphal work “Questions of Mary”, written at the end of the 2nd century, is refuted. It describes the close relationship between Jesus and Mary.
Unfortunately, we know nothing reliably about the life of Magdalene after the crucifixion of Christ. It seems that she preached in Italy, but died in the city of Ephesus in what is now Turkey.
Believe the apocrypha or not - leaning forward and knocking over the salt shaker is a typical thing for everyone. The official church rejects this.

Jesus was appointed God

Believers have no doubts about the divine nature of Christ, otherwise they would not be believers, but there were attempts to “humanize” Jesus. At the end of the 3rd century, the Alexandrian presbyter Arius began to spread his teaching, according to which Christ was considered the son of God not “in essence,” but only “by grace.” In his opinion, the Savior was only a man with all his advantages and disadvantages, and God simply gave him new faith and power.
The bishops at the Council of Nicea rejected the “newfangled” teaching of Arius and never returned to it.

Leonardo da Vinci and secret societies

The only secret society that Leonardo may have been a member of that we now know about is the Leonardo Academy. But what it was, who was part of it, is unknown. In any case, historians do not have reliable information proving that Leonardo was the head of some secret organization in opposition to Christianity.
And legends have been circulating about Da Vinci’s homosexual inclinations for a long time. This is confirmed by a court charge for harassing a boy (not confirmed by the court). Because da Vinci did not part with his students Melzi and Salai. And in the artist’s diaries and in the notes of his contemporaries there is not a single mention of the fact that the master was interested in women. But still there is no direct evidence of this either.

Mysteries of the Last Supper

Perhaps the main intrigue of the novel revolves around Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper”. Let's try to figure it out. “The Last Supper” is a fresco painted on the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. Even in the era of Leonardo himself, it was considered his best and most famous work. The fresco was created between 1495 and 1497, but already during the first twenty years of its existence, as is clear from written evidence of those years, it began to deteriorate and underwent many restorations, so that the details of da Vinci’s original plan could have disappeared.

Fresco "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci

It measures approximately 15 by 29 feet. It is known that the customer of the painting was the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza, at whose court Leonardo gained fame as a great painter, and not the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie.
The theme of the picture is the moment when Jesus Christ announces to his disciples that one of them will betray him. Pacioli writes about this in the third chapter of his book “The Divine Proportion”. It was this moment - when Christ announces betrayal - that Leonardo da Vinci captured.
The identities of the apostles depicted in the fresco have repeatedly been the subject of controversy, however, judging by the inscriptions on a copy of the painting stored in Lugano, these are (from left to right): Bartholomew, James the Younger, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Thomas, James the Elder, Philip , Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon Zelotes.
According to Dan Brown, it is not John who sits on the fresco to the left of Christ, but Mary Magdalene.
When you first look at the picture, you can see that the character to the right of Jesus (to the left of the beholder) really has feminine features. It is known that John was the youngest and most beloved apostle of Christ. He is always depicted as young, beardless, with long hair. And sometimes they fell on the chest of Jesus (there is a mention of this in the Gospels).

Look at the paintings “Bacchus” by Caravaggio and “John the Baptist” - there is even more femininity in these images of men. There were such times, ideas about beauty were unstable.
The question also arises: if Magdalene is next to Christ, then where did John go? After all, there should be.
Brown assures readers that a woman's breasts are even visible under the folds of clothing. Yes, hints of breasts can be seen. I was able to see them on several other bearded apostles.
But what does it matter if in the painting “The Last Supper” Jesus and John (the woman) leaned in opposite directions, forming a space between them in the form of the letter V, and the contours of their bodies forming the letter M? Look at your photographs, I think you can find not only these letters in them.
In the book “The Da Vinci Code” the writer pays close attention to the figure of Peter. Allegedly, he threatens Maria with the edge of his palm. Upon closer examination, it turns out that he simply places his left hand on John’s shoulder.
About Peter in the paintings, Leonardo wrote to Goethe: “Peter, meanwhile, clasped his left hand around the right shoulder of John, who was clinging to him, and points to Christ. He demands that his beloved disciple ask the Teacher: who is the traitor? Squeezing the handle of the knife with his right hand, Peter accidentally hits Judas with it. to the side and thus justifies the gesture of the frightened Judas, who leans forward so sharply and knocks over the salt shaker.”

So the “nobody’s” hand with the knife turns out to be Peter’s right hand, albeit somewhat unnaturally twisted. Nothing is known about the reason for such an image of the hand, but the hand is also depicted in the surviving sketches. Author: L. Koltsov

This strange and still existing secret society began as one of the branches of the Templar Order. Until about 1188, the society was under the control of the Grand Master, who also ruled the Templars. But then a split occurred: the Priory of Sion acquired its own master and spread to almost the entire territory of modern Europe.

The history of this secret society is shrouded in darkness. Today all that is known is that it is considered the most cruel and richest order of our time.

• Official version

  According to the surviving scrolls, the Priory of Sion was founded by the knight Godfrey of Bouillon. After the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099, on the orders of Godfrey, the construction of the Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion began here, which housed the order of Augustinian monks, who acted as advisors to Godfrey. They, according to the archives of the Priory of Sion, were involved in the creation in 1118 of the Order of the Templars, which served as the military and administrative instrument of the Priory. In 1307, the Templar Order was dissolved. The main goal of the Priory was to restore the Merovingian dynasty to the French throne and preserve this sacred dynasty.




Merovingians

The sacred family of the Merovingians was the first dynasty of Frankish kings, ruling from the end of V to the middle of VIII. According to legend, the first female ancestor of the Merovingians was Jesus Christ himself, who allegedly married Mary Magdalene, who gave birth to a child from him. The child was transported to Gaul and became the first founder of the dynasty.




First persecutions

The Roman Church could not allow the existence of such a serious force at hand. Persecution began against the order and the Priory of Sion almost completely moved to the territory of England and Scotland. However, a large group of adherents survived in the 12th century in Orleans - here the order was supported by Louis VII himself and the church could not do anything about it.




Military strength

According to surviving documents, it can be assumed that the Knights Templar themselves were nothing more than a military unit of the Priory, and the division of the orders became nothing more than a deceptive maneuver for those in power. There really are grounds for such fabrications: it is well known that due to the attacks of Philip the Fair, the masters and knights of the Templars found refuge in the secret shelters of the Priory.




Masters of the Order

For a long time, the great masters retained power over the Priory. The position was passed down by inheritance, but then the tradition changed and masters began to be chosen from great artists, scientists and philosophers. Many famous people headed the Priory at different times.




Leonardo da Vinci

Many consider Leonardo da Vinci to be a true Christian - and how else can one perceive the man who created “The Last Supper”. In fact, the great master was famous among his contemporaries as a blasphemer and a heretic (pay attention to Leonardo’s little-known fables, which ambiguously blaspheme church morals). For the last 9 years before his death, Leonardo was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, of which documentary evidence has also been preserved.




German searches

Hitler was distinguished by a strange craving for everything mystical. During World War II, the Germans dug up the entire Rennes-le-Chateau area, not even sparing the walls of ancient churches. Today it is known that scrolls with the chapter of the Priory were taken from here - they were found during the analysis of treasures looted by Germany. However, what else Hitler took from France remains a mystery.




Modern life at the Priory of Sion

The big story was the release of the Priory. In 1989, a descendant of the Merovingian dynasty, Pierre Plantard, stated that the Priory of Sion became the guardian of the treasure of the Jerusalem Temple, which would be returned only when the appropriate time came. Modern historians consider this just a shocking prank: the secret society continues to influence our lives, hiding behind the scenes.