Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Ancient Wisdom, Modern Spirituality No. 3 Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Secrets of Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres A Mystical, Magical Place Where Mysticism, Paganism and Christianity Meet 7 miles from Edinburgh, Scotland In the Tiny Village of Rosslyn In a pastoral setting Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Edinburgh Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Surprising Rosslyn Myths? Rosslyn houses the secret treasure of the Knights Templar It was built as a Templar shrine to house the sacred relics retrieved by the Knights when they occupied Jerusalem It is the home of one or more of the sacred Christian relics: the Holy Grail (Christ’s cup of the Last Supper); the True Cross; the Lance of Christ; lost scrolls of wisdom; and even his body Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres New Sources on Rosslyn Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Rosslyn and Knights Templar Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Who Were the Knights Templar? To understand Rosslyn we must first learn about the Knights Templar These warrior monks wore the distinctive red cross adorned on a white robe Their order rose from seemingly out of no- where to become so rich and powerful that they rivaled most kings Even as amazing as their rapid rise was their startling fall from grace Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Crusades Toward the end of the eleventh century Seljuk Turks, or Saracens, seized control of Jerusalem and banned Christians from making their pilgrimages Leading to a brutal series of battles for the Holy Land known collectively as the Crusades The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1095 Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres When Jerusalem was retaken in 1099, a French nobleman, Hugues de Payen, and eight other French knights formed the unofficial Order of the Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon in 1118 Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Guardians of Christian Pilgrims King Baldwin II, the patriarch of Jerusalem, quickly blessed the new order and quartered them in the eastern portion of his palace which stood on the site of King Solomon’s temple The Templars, as they were now called, came into official existence to protect Christian pilgrims on their dangerous trek from the port of Jaffa to the Holy City Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Why Did Their Mission Change? But instead of protecting the pilgrims, they soon started excavating underneath the ruins of Herod’s temple They appeared to be searching for something and continued digging for 9 years beneath the temple mount Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres In 1128 the Templars were provided with a papal Rule or constitution of their own and they rapidly expanded Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres What Were They Searching For? Some believe that the Templars were the military arm of a more shadowy order, the “Prieure de Sion” whose purpose was to locate the hidden treasure of the temple which had been concealed from the Romans, and use it to promote the orders aims and aspirations Others believe the Templars real purpose was to seek out sacred relics such as the Holy Grail, True Cross and manuscripts Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Templar Rule The Rule was a strict code of conduct Entrants had to take the Templar oath: Must be born in wedlock, His grave had no of noble birth, sound body, inscription except for a free from any other oath carving in rectangular A Templar Knight owned stone of his sword only his sword; had no Could cut their hair identity apart from his but not their beard sword, which he dedicated to the Order Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Templars Were Gnostics In a huge twist of irony, the Templars grew and prospered at the hands of nobles and the Catholic church, they were far from traditional Christians They appeared to be on the surface but they had secret rites and rituals that were clearly Gnostic in content and belief Leading some authors to believe they discovered secret texts under the temple mount that completely changed their world view and caused a shift in beliefs Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Gnosis: An Alternative Vision of God The Nag Hammadi Exemplified by the Library is characterized as familiar verse in John: “Gnostic” Jesus said to him, “ I am the truth, the way and From the Greek word the life; no one comes gnosis or knowledge to the father, but by Gnosis is “insight”; an me” intuitive process of i.e., We find God only knowing oneself through Jesus, and we To know oneself is to find Jesus only through know God, the “light the church within” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres A Comparison of Views God is outside of us, God is found within, without; we need help through an intuitive “all have sinned, and fall process of self-discovery short of the Glory of Ignorance, not sin, God” ; we suffer because causes our suffering; it is we fail to achieve the self-destruction, moral goal (we miss the oblivion mark) God’s Kingdom is Consumed with timing of already here; around end of the world; and inside us apocalyptic vision Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres We Are Drunk, Asleep, Unconscious... Because we encounter built-in resistance to the counter-intuitive truth that answers are to be found within, not without or externally Gnostics characterized this internal resistance metaphorically as the desire “to sleep” or to “be drunk,” unconscious: “I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in the flesh I appeared to them..I found them all drunk,…none of them thirsty…because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight….” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Seeking Self-Knowledge to Shake off Our Drunkenness “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” The Gospel of Thomas. Such insight unfolds gradually and must be achieved through effort- “Recognize what is before your eyes, and what is hidden will be revealed to you.” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Kingdom of God is Not a Place According to Thomas, the Kingdom of God was not a place: “If those who lead you say to you, ‘Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds will arrive there before you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’” then, he says, the fish will arrive before you. Instead, it is a state of self-discovery Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Kingdom is not a Future Event His disciples said to him, “When will... the new world come?” He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.” …His disciples said to him, “When will the Kingdom come?” “It will not come by waiting for it…Rather the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Kingdom is Within “Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, then the you dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty.” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres The Kingdom is Symbolic of a State of Transformed Consciousness Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom.” They said to him, “Shall we, then, as children, enter the Kingdom?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one , and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, when you make the male and the female one and the same….” Copyright 2003 Stratton Horres Rosslyn Chapel and the Knights Templar By Stratton Horres Whoever Achieves Gnosis Becomes “no longer a Christian , but a Christ” …You saw the spirit , you become spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ.