Illuminati, Templars, Sons of Liberty and other Freemasons. Is there a connection between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons? Freemasons vs Templars

At the beginning of the architectural work, I would like to make a number of preliminary remarks. Firstly, the topic is so vast that I narrowed the objectives of the work only to considering the organizational connections of the Templars and Freemasons, deliberately not touching on the esoteric component. This will require a separate study. Secondly, in the work the concept of historical relationships suggests a search for the origins of Freemasonry, and not a search for traces of the surviving remnants of the Templars. I'll try to explain this. I am far from thinking that for almost 700 years the Templars were preserved in their original and unchanged form. And therefore, this is not a search for traces of the Templars as such, but a search for how the structures of the Templars were transformed after the defeat, and whether they are related to the origins of Freemasonry. Finally, one last preliminary note. This architectural work does not pretend to be an exhaustive presentation of all historical material devoted to connections between the Masons and the Templars.

I propose to consider the problem in two opposite directions. First. How, where and why did the Freemasons suddenly burst into the historical arena and why was their past before 1717 shrouded in a veil of uncertainty? Or was there no history of Freemasonry as such?

Second direction. How and where did the remnants of the Templars disappear and did they leave successors behind? Or did the knights themselves, their wealth, financial system and fleet dissolve overnight?

The very posing of these questions a priori suggests that the Freemasons could not appear from nowhere, and the Templars could not disappear into nowhere. But who was the predecessor of the Freemasons, and who was the successor of the Templars - these questions still remain relevant. There is too little historical material and too much speculation in both cases. But there is another way. This is the path of historical reconstruction, when the missing fact is not conjectured, giving free rein to one’s imagination, but is completed based on the logic of the historical process, the current situation, analysis of written sources and oral traditions.

Let's start with the origins of the Freemasons. As you know, 4 London lodges united in 1717 to form the Grand Lodge. And then questions immediately arise. The Russian translation of the term Grand Lodge itself is not entirely accurate. Rather, it means the Big Lodge, that is, a lodge that united several smaller lodges. And at that moment the Grand Lodge did not claim to be the representative of all Masons in England (or were there none at all?). It is no coincidence that in response to the creation of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of York announced its creation, claiming its more ancient history. And Cavalier Ramsay, already in France, announces the introduction of Freemasonry from Scotland to the continent. Then, much later, it turns out that there were Masonic lodges of a speculative nature in the 17th century, as evidenced by Ashmole's diary entries. There are indications that as early as the late 16th century, noblemen worked in lodges. And the presence of lodges was not limited to London alone. So, in any case, the history of speculative Freemasonry is pushed back a century, or even more. But at the same time, we are offered a version about the origin of speculative Freemasonry from the depths of the medieval guilds of masons. In my opinion, this does not stand up to any historical criticism. And that's why.

The guilds of masons in the Middle Ages did not differ in many respects from other medieval guilds. At least, history knows nothing about this. But it is known that all the guilds of urban artisans were extremely devoted to Catholicism and the Pope. And it is impossible to imagine that lodges of masons proclaim tolerance of the religious views of their brothers. By the way, the oath on the Bible is also quite an interesting fact. Books in the Middle Ages were not just expensive, but fabulously expensive, and it is difficult to imagine that each lodge meeting in secret had its own Bible.

Even within the guild itself, within the same city, it was difficult to move up the social ladder. The place of the master in the workshop was occupied by a specific person who had his own tool and workshop. The number of orders inside the medieval city, which was not very large in size, was very limited. And therefore, a new master did not always become such in official status after passing the mastery exam. And after a successful exam, he could remain an apprentice for a long time, until the position of a master became vacant due to the death of his predecessor or due to the expansion of the number of orders, when the existing masters could not cope with the volume of work.

What kind of brotherhood, what kind of mutual assistance, what kind of secret travels and terrible secrets, for which one had to be ready to give one’s life, can we talk about if we consider the life of a guild of operational masons? And finally, about the symbols of Freemasonry. A clean and unstained apron and gloves - can we imagine this when talking about masons on construction work? (By the way, did the medieval mason have these aprons and gloves as such?) So, the symbols of Freemasonry, the traditions of secrets, religious tolerance and much more, characteristic of speculative Masons, cannot have their origins in the medieval guilds of operational masons. Speculative Freemasons used masons' tools to fill them with their own philosophical and moral meaning and nothing more.

By the way, about philosophy, science and esotericism in Freemasonry. Without touching in detail on the content of these concepts, I would like to draw attention to the following. The very ideas of such scientists as F. Bacon, as the Rosicrucians, as well as the founders of the Royal Society, later the Academy, had much in common with each other and have direct connections with the philosophy of Freemasonry. But to imagine that representatives of the intellectual and moral elite of England suddenly all rushed together to seek membership in the medieval guilds of masons, who in modern times continued to cling to their traditions and privileges, is not only difficult, but I would say even more definitely - impossible.

Let's sum up the intermediate results. The use of historical reconstruction does not allow us to agree with the widespread version of the origin of Freemasonry. Freemasonry appeared much earlier than is commonly believed. Masonic lodges were common in England and Scotland; their predecessors could not have been the guilds of medieval masons. Accordingly, we are obliged to look elsewhere for the origins of Freemasonry.

In this case, let us turn to the second direction of the search, to the Templars, more precisely to the time of the defeat of the Templars and subsequent events. Let us ask ourselves: how much irreparable damage did King Philip cause to the Order of the Temple? Could the Templars survive after this defeat, or did they have no chance? Yes, in France a crushing blow was dealt to the Templars. But how does our idea of ​​France and the presence of Templar commanderies on French territory compare with the realities of that time? When we say that Philip’s decree was carried out throughout France, we, willingly or unwillingly, imagine France within its modern borders. But at that time, a number of commanderies on French territory did not fall under the jurisdiction of the royal power of France. The province of Poitou with the city of Bordeaux and a number of other territories were the possessions of other monarchs, in particular the English king. Therefore, the order to arrest the Templars could not be carried out here. And in La Rochelle, the Templar fleet unhindered weighed anchor and left in an unknown direction. By the way, this concept has always surprised me - in an unknown direction. The fleet of that time, not being able to sail against the wind and having a small displacement, could not go far; it could only be within the Ecumene known to medieval Europeans, and this is the Baltic states, Scandinavia, the British Isles, Spain, Portugal and, less likely, the Mediterranean coast seas. And unless, of course, we take for granted the legend that the Templars fled to America.

So, even on the territory of France, the order to arrest the Templars could not be carried out, which means that a significant number of members of the Order remained free even in France. But that's not all. It is known that in Spain and Portugal the commanderies continued to operate, only slightly changing the name of their Order. This means that there was already an opportunity to take refuge here for those fleeing persecution by the French authorities. In Portugal and Spain, the knights continued their activities, and there is even a legend that sea maps for traveling to the West - in order to discover America and to the East - in order to open the route to India, were received from followers of the Templars. The cross that was depicted on the sails of the brigantines sailing to discover new lands was absolutely similar to the Templar cross. How much this corresponds to historical truth is the subject of another study. And now it should be noted that in Spain and Portugal the Templar commanderies were preserved. But it is unlikely that they could become structures that preceded Freemasonry. They could act openly without creating a secret network, developing a system of secret signs, etc.

But Poitou and England seem interesting for our analysis. Undoubtedly, the members of the Order in the southwest of France, where there were English possessions, knew in detail what was happening in the possessions of the French king and, of course, immediately reported this to their brothers in England. It was here that a favorable situation developed for the preservation of Templar structures, although not in such an obvious form as on the Iberian Peninsula. The English king Edward II, who had recently been knighted with the participation of the Templars and on the territory of their priory, was young and weak in character. He did not want to fulfill the request of his father-in-law King Philip. The Templars did nothing wrong to Edward, enjoyed the support of the English nobility and had great financial resources. The persecution of the Templars could create additional conflicts with the English nobility, which already did not favor Edward II for his homosexual preferences. And therefore in England there was no order to arrest the Templars for 3 months. This time was enough for the Templars, having information about events in France and having an extensive network of preceptories in England, to prepare for future events, create a system of secret shelters and work out the rules for identifying their own. And 3 months later, after correspondence with the French king and the Pope, when the king of England gave the order of arrest, only 2 people were arrested. Everyone else was gone. Again the question arises: where did they go, where should we look for them, and what did these warriors do?

So, let's summarize. Philip's order was not fully implemented throughout France due to the fact that his power did not extend to all French lands. In the southwest of France, as well as in England, the Templars had 3 months to prepare their shelter and create a system of connections between these shelters. The fleet stationed in La Rochelle left in an unknown direction. But his individual ships could freely return to the port for another 3 months and transport the Templars in an unknown direction. The Templars survived, almost openly, in Spain and Portugal.
It also remains unknown what happened to the Templar banking system. Usually they pay attention to the disappearance of their treasures without a trace. But in addition, everyone knew their system of using unique “travelers’ checks,” providing loans, transferring money, etc. Of course, financial-credit relations were still in their infancy. But there were also financial structures that would operate in Europe and the Middle East - commercial companies of Lombards, Jews, Templars and some others. We know very well what kind of resonance occurs in the event of the liquidation of one of the main financial institutions - confusion, bankruptcy, etc. But for some reason, all this did not happen in connection with the defeat of the Templars. Maybe the Templars’ treasures did not disappear anywhere, and their activities in the financial and credit field did not stop? This also requires separate consideration.

Let's return to England. The capture of two Templars out of many hundreds begs the question, where are the rest? Apparently, some moved to the Pyrenees, and some to Scotland. In Scotland, the struggle against England for its independence unfolded. This struggle went on with varying degrees of success. The Scots' guerrilla attacks ended in success, but the Scots lost major battles where discipline and the power of knightly cavalry were needed. The Scottish nobility did not recognize any discipline and did not want to obey anyone. And so Robert the Bruce, who stood at the head of this struggle, drew attention to the persecuted Templars. He had not previously carried out the orders of the Pope to arrest the Templars, and they found shelter in Scotland. And now, after the belated order of the English king for their arrest, the fugitive Templars could not only find refuge in Scotland, but also use their martial arts, which Robert the Bruce so needed in the fight against the English. The result was immediate.

In 1314, when Jacques de Mollet was burned in France, Robert the Bruce completely defeated the British troops at Bannockburn. And the role of the Templars, as professional warrior-knights, was far from the last here. Of course, this service to Scotland could not go without reward. And although R. Bruce subsequently established relations with the Catholic Church, he provided the Templars with an unpublicized shelter and the opportunity to continue secret activities. This explains why in the remote northwestern regions of Scotland, where it was convenient to maintain sea communications with Ireland and through it with the continent, Templar graves dating back to this and later times have been preserved. And what is very remarkable is that Masonic symbols are found on these Templar graves. This is precisely what explains such a phenomenon as the Roslyn Chapel, where, on the one hand, the plan of Solomon’s Temple was used in the construction, and on the other, on the column, there is an image very reminiscent of the reception of a neophyte into the Masonic fraternity.

It can be said that at this point the traces of the Templars in England and Scotland are lost, and we will not be able to bring the historical line back to the times of the first Freemasons. But things are not that simple. John Robinson in his book convincingly showed that traces of the Templars can be found in the late 14th century in connection with the rebellion of Wat Tyler. Wat Tyler himself appeared out of nowhere, but his last name - Tyler - in English sounds very Masonic and Templar at the same time. This is exactly what the position of one of the officers in the Masonic lodge sounds like in English. Tyler is also related to the Templars. During the chapter, the Templar guard was posted on the roof of the temple, that is, on its roof. It is no coincidence that the translation of the word tyler means roofer. And finally, returning to J. Robinson, translated from Old French, tyler means a warrior-slasher, that is, exactly the one who should stand at the entrance to the box and guard the secrecy of the meeting.

The history of the uprising itself is connected with events that are directly related to the Templars. The rebels broke into, first of all, buildings and churches belonging to the Hospitallers and burned all the papers of this order here. It should be noted that all the property of the Templars after their dispersal was transferred to the Hospitallers, which could not but arouse a desire for revenge among the followers of the Templars. The most interesting thing is that when the rebels broke into the Templar church, which had been handed over to the Hospitallers, they did not burn the papers inside. As if afraid of causing damage to the property of the Templars, they carried them out onto the road and only then burned them.

The rebels acted in a very coordinated manner, although they were moving towards London from different directions. And in all cases, the property of the Hospitallers was plundered, and the commanders of this Order were executed. Things got amazing. Already in London, the rebels, having destroyed the entire city, summoned the king, who was hiding in the Tower, to negotiations. And when the king and his retinue sailed on boats to meet, the leaders of the uprising with a small detachment broke into the Tower. The question arises: how did a small detachment manage to take a powerful fortress by storm? But even more surprising is that after the capture of the Tower, the rebels captured the prior of the Hospitallers, executed him and left without causing any further damage to the fortress and having no desire to stay there. This happened not only in London, but also in other regions. There is a belief that the main targets of the rebels were the Hospitallers and their property.
After the arrest, the leaders of the rebels indicated that they acted on the instructions of a certain Great Society. Unfortunately, the investigation did not become interested in what kind of Great Society this was. A logical continuation of this line of concealing the true leaders of the uprising is the fact that after the death of W. Tyler and a number of other leaders, other participants not only were not executed, but were soon released. One cannot help but think that certain people who wished to remain in the shadows, but with significant influence, achieved their release. Hatred of the Hospitallers, concerted actions in different regions, the desire to preserve the property of the Templars, the presence of a certain Great Society - these are evidences that make one wonder: is this not the trace of a secret organization created after the defeat of the Order of the Temple?

But the presence of a secret organization that has connections with the Templars does not mean that this organization is connected with the Freemasons. Therefore, for further reconstruction we should move on to the ritual practice of the Freemasons. Many terms used in English rituals, as well as some unclear indications in Masonic legends, can only be understood by referring to the history of the Templars. D. Robinson points out that when they were initiated into the Masons, English Masons in the old days were told that they were becoming brothers to pirates and corsairs. It would seem, where does this phrase come from? But if we remember that the Templar fleet left La Rochelle and traces of it were lost, then a certain picture begins to emerge. The Templars become persecuted, and the ships become their home and means of subsistence. It is unlikely that knights would make diligent fishermen, but they would very easily make successful and skilled corsairs. They were outlaws, they had ships and military skills - all this was a logical premise to become a corsair. Maybe this is where this phrase about “brother to the corsairs” comes from during initiation?

Now let's return to the signs and phrases used in Masonic practice. If the medieval mason did not need to hide and give secret signs for identification, then for the defeated Templars, in order to save their lives, they had to learn the practice of secret words and symbols. If for a meeting of the masons' guild there was no point in hiding and protecting the secrecy of its meetings, then for the wanted Templars, armed gatekeepers (Tylers in English) and special identification marks were vitally needed, which helped to ensure that outsiders would not get into the meeting of the lodge. If for masons from a medieval workshop there was no need to keep certain secrets under pain of death, then for the Templars, breaking a secret threatened death to all members of society. And finally, if the operational masons were faithful Catholics, then the Templars were rejected by the Pope and, willingly or unwillingly, found themselves outside the boundaries of the church. The presence among them of people who were either inclined to Catholicism, or who brought the Cathar heresy from the south of France, or the ideas of Gnosticism from the East, could lead to disastrous disagreements and end in the defeat of the secret organization. That is why the principle of religious tolerance has become so necessary. The main thing is that faith in the One Great Lord God is recognized, who received a common name for all - the Great Architect of the Universe. Everything that was inappropriate and incomprehensible for the practice of operational Masons becomes completely understandable and understandable if it concerns the hiding Templars and their followers.

Such a reconstruction is also confirmed by an analysis of Masonic terms. It is well known that the Order of the Temple was French-speaking. However, many Masonic terms in English can only be understood using knowledge of Old French. The Old French origin of the word tyler has already been mentioned above. But it doesn't stop there. Tyler guarded the lodge from "cowans and eavesdroppers", which in the explanation of the English Masons is translated as profane and spies. But neither in English nor in Scottish languages ​​there is such a word “cowans”. But in French there is a word “couenne” pronounced “couen”, which means an ignoramus or a dork. This means that Tyler protects the box from the ignorant and curious.

In the English ritual, the identification gesture "due-guard" is used. In French there is an expression "gest du gard", which translates as a protective gesture. In the English version it was shortened and anglicized to "due-guard". There is a similar picture with the word Lewis, which means son of a mason. In French there is a word Levees, which means shoots, shoots. In English there has been an inversion of v to w. The use of this word is quite logical to designate the offspring of the Masons. And one more example. During initiation, a noose is put on the neophyte, which in English is designated by the word cable-tow. It would seem that this could be translated into an English phrase that means a thick sea rope. But the French version turns out to be more acceptable. From French, the word cable can be translated as a halter or halter, which more accurately conveys the meaning of this attribute, since the initiate is literally led through the temple on a leash.

The listing of similar Old French and Scottish words in the Masonic lexicon, the meaning of which becomes more clear when translated into modern language, can be continued, but in this case it would be more appropriate to turn to the book by D. Robinson, which became for me a source of information on this issue. But these examples alone are enough to understand that the Templars, as French-speaking knights, left Freemasonry a whole series of expressions that cannot be correctly understood unless one turns to the Old French language spoken by the Knights of the Order of the Temple.
The same author provides several explanations regarding ritual paraphernalia. The Masonic apron was made from sheep skin. The only thing the Templars were allowed to use in clothing, other than rough linen, was sheepskin. The transition of sheepskin from the attire of the Templars to a symbol of the purity of Freemasonry becomes very understandable. The same is true with gloves. If gloves did not correspond to their social status for operational masons of the Middle Ages, then for knights gloves were a mandatory element of clothing. Here you can also continue the list of similar examples, but I again refer you to the original source.

So, as a result of the reconstruction obtained in the course of progress in the second direction, we get the following. The Templars had the time and opportunity to move to safe places and preserve their Order. But if in Spain and Portugal this took official forms, then in England and Scotland it led to the creation of a secret organization. When creating a secret network of their shelters, they needed secret signs and words to identify their own; only by maintaining the secret, under the threat of death punishment for its disclosure, were the Templars able to maintain their secret organization. And only they needed to introduce the principle of religious patience in conditions of excommunication from the Catholic Church. And on the contrary, all these symbols, secrets, etc. were completely unnecessary for medieval masons.

Traces of the secret organization of the successors of the Templars can be traced many decades after their defeat. From helping R. Bruce and his Scottish fighters for independence to the uprising of W. Tyler - this is the path of the knights and their followers who did not want to come to terms with the decisions of the French king and the Pope. Traces of their secret structures can be found from the south of England to the north-west of Scotland. The Old French terms used by the Templars were adopted by the Freemasons, although over the decades and centuries their pronunciation, and sometimes their meaning, was changed. But as soon as we begin to use Old French to translate these terms, much becomes clearer. And finally, a number of items of Masonic paraphernalia, apparently in one form or another, migrated from the Templar paraphernalia.

The two directions converged somewhere around the 15th century. During the time after the defeat of the Templars, their secret organization changed, gradually lost its original meaning, new symbols and new ideas appeared. But the basic principles have been carried through the centuries. Brotherhood, mutual assistance, religious tolerance, the secret and then simply closed nature of the organization, the desire to know the truth and the Great Light, maintaining fidelity to spiritual and moral values ​​and the joint construction of the Temple within oneself and in the outside world - this is a far from complete list of those ideas that are common to Masons and Templars.

Knights signed their documents as Knight Templar. But the Temple, as they called their Order, was destroyed. They bequeathed to us, freemasons, as their successors, the restoration of this Temple.

Literature.

1. Ambelain R. Jesus or the deadly secret of the Templars. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2007.
2. Baigent M., Lee R. Temple and Lodge. From the Templars and the Masons. - M.: Eksmo, 2006.
3. Bordonov J. Daily life of the Templars in the 13th century. - M.: Mol.guard, 2004.
4. Dezgri A. The Order of the Templars and the Masonic Knights Templar. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008.
5. Dezgri A. The Secret History of the Grail: Cathars, Templars, Rosicrucians and Framasons. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008.
6. Zharinov E. Jacques de Molay. M.: Olimp, Astrel, 1999.
7. LegmanJ., Lee G.C. History of the Templars. - M.: Olma-press, 2002.
8. Knight K., Lomas R. Masonic Testament. Hiram's legacy. - M.: Eksmo, 2006.
9. Lobe M. The tragedy of the Templar Order. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2003.
10. Robinson D. Born in Blood. Lost secrets of Freemasonry. M.: Et Cetera, 2004.

Rex Deus theory

Of course, it makes no sense to retell the textbooks, and therefore we will talk about what is not found in the textbooks. On the other hand, I myself do not like, and I do not recommend to anyone, any “theories” that do not have confirmation in the form of quite tangible historical documents and artifacts.

My presentation of a theory does not mean that I agree with it. But this, of course, means that the theory is interesting to me...

Crusade

These same families, called Rex Deus (this is not a story about the descendants of Yeshua, this is the story of many Jewish “houses”), which over time became part of the circle of the highest European aristocracy, thus preserved knowledge about their origin.

This went on for quite a long time, until 1088. At this time, someone was chosen as Pope Ed (Odo) de Chatillon de Lagerie, Frenchman, native of the Champagne region. He took the name Urban II. The province of Champagne gave history 50% of all the first Templars, as we will see later, and Urban's connection with the Rex Deus families is obvious.

At the same time, representatives of the families gathered and decided to go to Jerusalem for evidence of their genealogies. They knew about the dungeons under Solomon's Temple, and they hoped to find confirmation of ancient Jewish legends there.

Jerusalem had long been in the hands of Muslims, as was the entire Middle East, excluding the territories remaining under the rule of the Orthodox Christian Byzantium.

There were already Muslim shrines in the area of ​​Solomon's Temple. Excavations and searches there were impossible either secretly or overtly. Therefore, the Families decided on the Adventure of the Millennium: Raise the Christian World to war and capture Jerusalem. This adventure was called the Crusade.

First of all, it was necessary to enlist the support of the Pope, but objectively speaking, such an enterprise did not bode well for any other Pope except Urban.

Firstly, the Pope himself always needed money. And war is an expensive business. Loot in newly conquered territories usually went to the participating marauders and their barons.

Secondly, the Roman Church became “Main” in the Catholic world, and the Bishop of Rome became Pope solely for two reasons:

1. The Church of Jerusalem (Elder of the Sisters) did not exist, since Jerusalem was in the hands of the adversaries, and thus the Roman Church took its place.

2. Thanks to a forged document known as the Gift of Constantine.

And now it was proposed to go to war against Jerusalem and take it away from the infidels.
What, is Dad a fool or what? We will have to appoint a Bishop of Jerusalem, and then how to control him?

But contrary to logic, Pope Urban ardently became involved in preparing the campaign. They say that his speech was so incendiary that it has no equal to this day.

Cross Archeology.

The propaganda set fire to the hearts of Catholics. Moreover, sinners and criminals were promised both earthly and heavenly amnesty. The homeless and the poor - shelter and food, crooks - a chance to get rich, and so on.
The Christian army consisted of troops of influential feudal lords, mainly French and Germans. The feudal lords in this campaign are usually called “barons”. The most influential, honest and intelligent leader was one Godfried of Bouillon.

When you look at modern Frenchmen, pampered by social assistance, capricious and dependent, it is almost impossible to imagine their ancestors in this form:

Scorching, unbearable heat. The sun is shining so hard it's really scary. The army and convoy slowly crawl through the waterless desert. Riders and their horses succumb to the heat, flies, festering wounds, uncomfortable saddles and hot armor. But they still don’t care - here is the infantry walking in the dust, in torn shoes. For many months the clothes had not been washed or changed. Sweat fills the eyes, stench, hunger, wounds and fear.

But they move forward and fight to the death in unexpected skirmishes. They besiege fortresses and defeat Muslims in battles. Horrible and cruel, absolutely incredible.

I had the following personal experience: Once in Israel, the air conditioning in a car broke down. It was somewhere in the Ashdod area. I really sensed the fear that if we didn’t get there quickly, we’d be burned to death. That's when I thought about the Crusaders, dragging pikes, swords, shields and iron under the scorching heat of a foreign desert.

To be honest, I don’t even really believe that Palestine a thousand years ago was as harsh as it is now. After all, the Bible says: “A land flowing with milk and honey.” Probably, before this land was greener, with water, forests and game. Well, kind of like Galilee today.

This Army of the Crusaders nevertheless reached Jerusalem in battle and took it by force. Well, let's not talk about atrocities - there were plenty of them, both in relation to the enemy and the civilian population.

During the campaign, the barons, surprisingly, did not completely quarrel and did not cut each other off over the booty. Meanwhile, the disagreements were very serious. But surprisingly, internecine and very serious disputes were always resolved by some miracle.

However, when Jerusalem was taken, the informal leader and favorite of the Crusader Army, Godfried of Bouillon, suddenly died for no apparent reason. He was 39 years old, this healthy, handsome man had no illness.

However, Pope Urban suddenly moved his hooves. Both died somehow.

The barons elected a relative of Godfrey of Bouillon as the first King of Jerusalem, and he took the name Baldwin the First, King of Jerusalem.

Well, while it was being looted, and then strengthened, built and organized in a new place, certain events began to occur. Not exactly secret, but not particularly noticeable in the bustle.

The influential Baron Hugo of Champagne visited Jerusalem. He looked around and left.

Then several of his vassals and their friends, 9 in total, They organized a kind of brotherhood and swore an oath to each other about loyalty and mutual assistance. Nobody knew much about the brotherhood, and it was called like this: Brotherhood of the Poor Knights of the Temple of the Lord. They even chose a logo for themselves: Two riders on one horse. Here is their full list:

Hugo of Payen
Geoffroy de Saint-Omer
André de Montbard
Payne de Montdidier
Archambault de Saint-Amans
Gundomar
Roland
Gottfried
Geoffroy Bizot.

The newly minted Brothers immediately got down to business. True, this turned out to be strange. They settled where Solomon's Temple once stood and began to actively DIGGING. They dug for eight years. They did not protect any pilgrims from the Saracens, and in general they were not even seen. They were digging. There were only 9 brothers, and they did not undertake any, even the most insignificant, military actions.

Eight years later, the brothers found what they were looking for. They climbed out of their vertical adit, dressed in ceremonial armor, and appeared before the Pope. What they talked about and what they presented to the Vicar of Christ remained a mystery. But the brothers left the Papal chambers already as an Order, with never-before-seen “privileges” and “rights,” and the Pope was specifically afraid of them.

From that moment on, the history of the mighty Templar Order, visible to the prying eye, began.

From the Templars to the Masons.

The Templar Order grew by leaps and bounds.

First, he had privileges, prestige and prospects. Therefore, both the impoverished aristocracy and even the rich feudal lords flocked there, just as careerists now flock to EdRo.

Secondly, the Templars had their own Army, that is, a reliable roof that protected the financial and political affairs of the Brothers. And there were a lot of these things.

Thirdly, the Templars perfectly mastered and advanced banking; they even organized something called “Western Union” - an office that accepts money in one part of the world and issues it in another, for a fee. By skillfully steering, investing and indulging in usury, quite in keeping with Jewish traditions, the Templars rapidly grew rich.

Soon the political influence of the brothers became dominant in Europe. We can say that the Templars could well lay claim to an organization like the “European Union” and the “Schengen Union”...

As we already know, the founding fathers of the Templar Order were the Rex Deus families, that is, those who considered themselves descendants of the highest Jewish aristocracy. Therefore, Jews. Thus, their Order - essentially a supranational state in Europe, should have been based not on Catholicism and Christianity in its Pauline form, but on Judaism, and not the same as everyone else’s, but, sorry if I may say so, esoteric Judaism, with elements of Satanism.

But here is a specific problem: Imagine that you are the Master of the Order. A certain neophyte, a young aristocrat - a Catholic, comes to the Order, and he should be accepted. And what should I tell him? Are we really Jews here, we have the Torah, the Pentateuch, circumcision and Shabbat? The order is declared as Catholic!

Therefore, the Templars invented a whole system of rituals, stages, steps in order to gradually prepare the beginner to accept the truth, if he can accept it at all. But he won’t be able to, or being in the process of “learning” he will gradually move from degree to degree, sorry, from degree to degree. Some of these “careers” lead to a dead end. The neophyte receives “degrees” but does not actually advance. This happens with Masons too. There are Masons whose degrees are growing, but not this one.

But the Templars also took other measures: For example, they explained to “their own” that it was not Jesus who was in charge in that biblical mess: but John was in charge(known to us as the Baptist). This was certainly a strong statement. It turns out that it is not Christ who is responsible for life, but John! It was strong. But still, the neophyte could digest it. In the end, John and Yeshua were doing the same thing. And having digested such a pill, the rest is easier:

After all, John the Baptist is not a Christian. This is the Jewish Prophet, a zealot of the Jewish Law (we are not talking about Faith in this context).

Therefore, we are already on the right track. Well, next comes Baphomet, constant shifters of what is good and what is evil? And if so? And like this? And so on.

To put the question directly: Were the Templars Heretics? The answer is clear - yes. At the same time, the top “initiates” were rather Jews, with elements of what is commonly called Satanism.

The protocols of the inquiries have been preserved, and if in France the Templars were subjected to torture during interrogations, this rarely happened in other countries. However, the testimony about rituals given in different places by different people coincides.

In defense of the Templars, it must be said that all of Christianity, including the Divine Essence of Jesus Christ, was invented by one single person: the Pharisee Shawl, a murderer and a Roman agent. This man is known to us as “Apostle” Paul.

Knowing the real history of Paul, his feud with all the Apostles and how everything was, the Templars rightly believed that their “Heresy” was just an innocent child’s game, compared to the deeds and monstrous forgery at the heart of Christianity.

"Apostle" - Imposter

Christianity as we know it was not given to us by Christ or the Apostles. This religion appeared largely thanks to two people: the Pharisee Saul (Shavl) aka the Apostle (impostor) Paul, and Emperor Constantine, who assembled the Council of Nicaea.

Just the facts:
Saul was born in 0007 in Tarsus, in the home of a wealthy Jew, a convinced Pharisee, and a tent manufacturer.
Saul graduated from Jewish school, and at the age of 15 he went to Jerusalem. to become a rabbi. In Jerusalem, he entered training with Rabban (this is cooler than a simple rabbi) Gamalel. (Mentioned three times in the NT) Gamalel was even a member of the Sanhedrin.

Saul did not notice the Crucifixion or the events associated with it at all. Those whom we call Apostles and Christians were called in those days "Galileans" or "Essenes", sometimes "Zealots". This was a group of Jewish nationalists from Galilee, preparing another uprising against Roman power and collaborators.

Among these “Galelians” was a certain Jacob, a very authoritative figure among Orthodox Jews. He wore white like an Essene and was holy. this man is known to us as Apostle Jacob (Brother of the Lord). Jacob preached in the Temple, like other preachers, after the Crucifixion. He had terrible calluses on his knees from praying, and so he earned the nickname “Camel.”
Saul also tried to attract attention to himself, but no one listened to him. Saul was not married, and this is unforgivable for a rabbi. The reason is unknown to us, but probably health problems.
One day, in the year 0037, Saul tried to preach, but was unsuccessful. And nearby a certain Stephen, Jacob’s assistant, preached with success.

Saul attacked Stephen first verbally, then physically. He accused Stephen of blasphemy. Saul's supporters dragged Stephen to the gate and began to demand trial by the Sanhedrin. 2 elders came and said that we needed to figure it out not in a hurry, but in detail. But Saul did not wait, and together with his accomplices they dragged Stephen out of the city and killed him with stones.

Then Saul and the excited crowd rioted all night in Jerusalem. By morning, the Roman authorities arrested Saul and other rioters. Saul broke the Roman Law by killing a man, and the Jewish Law by killing him without trial.
Saul should have been executed absolutely.

But by some miracle he is suddenly released from prison, secretly. He finds himself on the way to Damascus, and supposedly with a letter from the Sanhedrin (which is incredible, because Saul is a criminal, and because the Sanhedrin has no power in Damascus).
On the way to Damascus, he falls on the road and says that he went blind and saw Christ. Then he gives the exact address in Damascus where he needs to go. There. 2 days later, a certain Ananias comes to him at this address. Saul “sees clearly” and says that he is now a Christian. Question: Who baptized him? Stephen (killed) was the First Deacon, i.e. one of the 7 assistants of the Apostles. Ananias is a deacon. Ananias baptizes (?) the murderer of his superior without the permission of the Apostles?

Well, okay, then Saul comes to the Synagogue in Damascus, and makes a strange speech, as if just to “show off.”
Immediately after this, Saul goes to the Nabataeans in the city of Petra. The Nabateans are in a cold war with Rome.
There he remains for 3 years. What he does is not known. After three years, he hastily flees to Damascus; the Nabateans are looking for him to execute him for espionage. There, in Damascus, Ananias fails to hide him, and therefore Saul flees from there, descending in a basket from the fortress wall.

From Damascus he goes to Jerusalem. Tries to meet with the Apostles. The apostles do not believe him. However, they decide to send him away from Jerusalem out of harm's way because they fear killing him because of the Romans. Saul goes to preach and settles for some time in Tarsus.
His preaching to the Jews was not successful. He makes tents.

Further, to shorten: he begins to preach to the pagans, at his own discretion. Since the Jewish arguments do not work, he invents his own, and describes Christ as God. Then he changes his name to Greek - Paul.

The apostles are horrified when they find out what he preaches. They send an embassy to disavow it.
Paul then collects the money, 20 talents in gold, and goes to Jerusalem to settle the matter with James and Peter.
Yakov refuses to accept the “filthy” money. They speak in a raised voice. Paul calls himself an Apostle.
Jacob orders Paul to undergo a rite of purification.

Paul goes to the Temple, and there the Jews from the provinces recognize him as a Blasphemer. They start beating Pavel.
Suddenly, a whole hundred Roman guards come to his aid, and they evacuate him to the Antonia Fortress (next to the Temple). Paul is not held as a prisoner, but as a guest, and is given a chance to talk to the crowd. The crowd goes wild.
At night, with an escort of hundreds of horsemen and foot soldiers, the Romans (the thousand-leader Lysias) transported this man to Caesarea, on the coast. There Pavel lives in a palace for several years. The Jews come there to judge him. But the matter is hushed up by the Roman Authority and the puppet rulers of Judea.
Then Paul goes to Rome and disappears there. Sounds like a "witness protection program." It is believed that Paul's head was cut off and milk flowed from his neck. (Why would you?)

Jacob was very soon killed during the riots in the Temple. They finished him off with a clothier's rolling pin. After some time, an uprising broke out, and as a result the Temple was destroyed to the ground by the Romans.

This man is the founder of Christianity.

Philip the Handsome. King.

We saw how the Templar Order was born. His financial power is now constantly growing, his military glory will soon reach the skies and then collapse.

If there is interest, we will talk about the Crusades. Almost all of them, except the First, turned out to be inglorious. During one of them, instead of the Saracen troops, the Crusaders took and captured Orthodox Constantinople, releasing rivers of blood.
There was also a march to the south of modern France, for the sake of exterminating the Cathars, they are Albigensians, they are also Bogomils, which lasted 20 years.

So, let’s leave the Brothers for a while to return to their cult and history a little later, but for now let’s get acquainted with the one who will make a desperate attempt to destroy the Order.

We are in 1285 A.D. In Paris. A 17-year-old young man named Philip ascends the throne. He is well built, intelligent and courageous. Therefore, from now on he deservedly bears the nickname “Beautiful”. Philip the Fourth, Most Christian King of the Franks.

The boy headed a bankrupt state. The treasury is empty, the debts are huge.

The more the treasury was depleted, the more the Templar bankers grew fat. The Crusades, undertaken by desperate efforts, devastated the country.
Philip calculated that just to pay off the principal debt, without taking into account interest, the state would need more than 300 years if ALL net treasury income was used to pay off debts.

At the end of his life, something apparently began to dawn on his father, and Philip III imposed heavy taxes on the Jewish population of France in 1284. This matter did not raise any objections, and Philip the Fair left these taxes in force. Moreover, he issued similar decrees in 1292 and 1303. Then he decided to impose a 100 percent tax on Jewish property, and in 1306 he ordered the confiscation of the property of the Jewish community and the expulsion of all Jews from the country.

In addition, he imposed a heavy tax on those bankers whom he could reach - the Lombards and the Florentines. The Templars were too tough for the boy.

Under the pressure of circumstances, the young King decided to devalue the national currency. He collected all the coins, melted them down, and re-minted them - with less gold and silver content.

At the same time, he flatly refused the “help” of the Templar Treasurers from the Temple (Round Residence-Fortress in the center of Paris). The Clever King chose to create his own treasury in the Louvre.

The poor man had to carry out this operation systematically, and in just 13 years the French Mark depreciated by half.

But he didn't give up. He didn’t take out any loans and got by as best he could. Philip's grandfather, St. Louis 9, received permission from the Vatican to tax church income during the war. Philip remembered this and imposed a tax on the clergy.

Pope Boniface was furious. He issued a bull that monks in France must obey the Pope in both spiritual and temporal matters. Philip sent the Pope in a very direct speech, and publicly burned the Papal Bull in the square amid fanfare.

I must say that Pope Boniface was one hell of a guy. He cohabited, for example, with a girl and her mother at the same time, and also had male lovers. By the way, this phrase belongs to him:

"Sexual intercourse is no more sin than rubbing your palms together."

Philip, according to contemporaries, was distinguished by an even, courageous character, was not seen in perversions, and never raised his voice.

Well, a series of all sorts of meannesses followed on the part of Boniface, and the King decided to capture the Pope right in Rome, and then judge him. The king and his Italian special forces actually captured Boniface, but they did not dare to kill him on the spot, and then the Pontiff died.

The next Pope, Benedict, was poisoned by Philip the Fair on reflection. Well, quite in the spirit of the times.

The cardinals gathered again for the election of the Pope, and here there was a hitch: the French blocked the Italian candidates and vice versa. This went on for 10 months, and everyone was exhausted. At this moment, Philip the Handsome made a magnificent move:
He recruited one of the Italian candidates (albeit a Frenchman by origin), promising support, making him promise in writing the following: agreement on five points (not important to us) and one point - secret. That is, fulfill the requirement, whatever it may be.

He was chosen under the name of Clement 5. The candidate agreed.

So that the Pope would not change his mind about keeping his promises, Philip the Fair forced him to stay in Avignon (this is in France, a couple of hours by high-speed train from Paris to the south.)

There they organized the “city of Popes”. And from that moment on, Avignon replaced the Vatican for 50 years. I recommend everyone to visit - beautiful and gloomy.

What was the 6th condition that even the one who promised to fulfill it did not know about? It's not hard for us to guess - The king was about to “cut down” the Templars.

It’s the same as today, say, a certain Lukashenko takes over Wall Street, the CIA and the entire US Navy at once. Well, it’s a stretch, of course, I said that for the sake of a nice word.

Defeat of the Templars

By 1306, the military glory of the Templars was already a thing of the past. The Order fled from the Holy Land and settled in Cyprus. But even there the Saracens attacked him, and the Templars acted like traders, in accordance with their essence, ransoming their prisoners. However, in banking and collecting money throughout Europe, they had no equal. Their financial power only grew.

The Hospitallers fought for Rhodes, the Teutons attacked Rus', and these simply weakly fought back in Cyprus, and even caused mischief by supporting a coup against the local king. In short, for the Grand Master the move of the Order to the European continent was quite desirable.

The Pope and Philip the Fair kept talking about the unification of the Hospitallers and the Templars. So, united, we will again regain Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher...

Surely Philip knew that the Templars would not agree to unite with the Hospitallers. Besides all other reasons, there was one more: the Templars secretly restored the traditions of the High Priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple, and served “one God,” i.e. they were Jews rather than Christians.

And at a perfectly chosen moment, Pope Clement persistently invited the Master of the Hospitallers and the Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, to France for negotiations on the unification of the Orders. Philip knew that the Hospitaller would not be able to come, he was at war. And Jacques de Molay will not be able to refuse. The Pope asked De Molay to come secretly, with a minimal retinue.

But Jacques De Molay arrived at the port of La Rochelle with a whole fleet of 18 ships. And he brought with him a huge treasury. 150,000 florins, I think. The rich Master demonstratively unloaded all this in front of the poor King’s eyes at his Paris residence - the Temple.
Let us emphasize once again - Neither Philip nor the Pope asked Jacques de Molay to carry the money and the fleet. Apparently, De Molay wanted to buy himself either the King or France.

While De Molay lived in France, and shuttled between Avignon and Paris to prevent the unification of the Orders, an uprising broke out in France. The people could not stand poverty, and The king had to hide with the Templars in the Temple for three days until the uprising was suppressed.

When they began to investigate the uprising, it turned out that two of its instigators were Templars, and one was even a prior. Philip talked with them with passion, and they handed over the entire Order to him, accusing him of mortal sins.

A pretext was found, Philip presented the Pope with the old agreement on the sixth condition, and it began.

At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, the police (seneschals) of France harshly received 15,000 Templars. It should be noted that this The order, once militant, cautious and strong, has turned into some kind of bag of shit and gold.

No one warned Jacques de Molay. That is, intelligence is zero. No one offered any resistance. Everyone surrendered and surrendered the most fortified building in Paris - the Temple.

However, the fleet left at night. It is believed that he “disappeared without a trace,” although with a 99 percent probability the ships went to Scotland.

When the French captured the Temple, they found a “chapel” there without windows. The floor is black and white checkered and a large letter "G" in the center of a star is nailed to the ceiling. The walls were painted with symbols incomprehensible to Christians.(I’ll tell the connoisseurs right away - compare this with the decoration of modern Masonic lodges. Take into account that the seneschals of medieval France knew nothing about Freemasonry, because it did not yet exist).

Jacques de Molay, of course, was immediately interrogated and tortured.

Modern Masons.

In principle, I started this series only to show where, from my point of view, the European Union, the Masons and the Kingdom of Bubble come from. The Templars went to the islands of Great Britain, and from there, at the beginning of the 18th century, Freemasonry entered the world.

Although the Freemasons trace their history to biblical times, the Egyptian civilization and even the Sumerians, their real origins are the Templars. Freemasons do not have any “terrible secrets”. For the Templars, the most terrible secret was their real religion, and only because they existed in the midst of Catholicism. For this reason, all kinds of barriers, degrees, allegories and rituals were conceived. The Masons have only this left: rituals and degrees for the sake of rituals and degrees.

The Templars flourished and degenerated in just 200 years. For past times this is not a deadline. Today's Freemasons are also a huge and seemingly powerful organization. In fact, there are so many of them that it all looks more like a massive DOSAAF movement.

Well, it’s clear why the Knights disappeared? After the defeat of the Templars, people used to say things like: “You fuck like a Templar” or “Drink like a Templar.” The Templars became strongly negative and negative in their image. It is clear that not without the help of the propaganda of the King and the pocket Pope.

The Major Arcana are 22 numbered picture cards. It was against these cards, the Major Arcana, that the church fought in earnest, and they disappeared along with the Knights of the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana also had other names: “Trumps” and “Great Mysteries”. Of these cards, only “Jester” has been preserved in our deck. His second name is "Joker".

During interrogations of the Templars, it turned out that the cards of the Major Arcana were used to convey “heretical teachings”. It also turned out that “Trumps” were somehow connected with the ancient “mystery” (triumph), which told about a deified king (Rex Deus), or hero.

Let's announce the entire list of cards:

0 - Jester - denoted a neophyte, a novice
1 - Mage

2 - High Priestess (Popes) - This card designated the First Pope - Mary Magdalene, and infuriated the Vatican more than others. Although there was a funny incident in the Vatican - one day the Pope... gave birth. He turned out to be a woman. And since then, in the Vatican, when the Pope ascends the throne, he sits on a special chair, and the cardinals examine him, then uttering a ritual phrase in Latin: "He has testicles and they hang properly.". Testiculos alphabet, et bene pendetes

3 - Empress
4 - Emperor
5 - High Priest
6 - Lovers
7 - Chariot
8 - Justice
9 - Hermit
10 - Wheel of Fortune
11 - Strength
12 - Hanged Man
13 - Death
14 - Moderation
15 - Devil
16 - Leaning Tower
17 - Star
18 - Moon
19 - Sun
20 - Last Judgment
21 - World

Let's lay out the cards like this: from 0 to 10 in a circle, clockwise, so that the top of the card is directed inside the resulting circle.
Now, placing card number 21 on card number 10, we will arrange cards from 21 to 11 clockwise, also in a circle, down from what we have already obtained. The cards in the second circle should be face down.

It will turn out to be like an eight. From the middle of the eight we go along its upper half, then we go through the middle again and circle around the second half.

The first circle is called Solar, Masculine. In fact, this is an exoteric part of the teaching and the world, visible to everyone: the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the High Priest, the Lovers, the Chariot, Justice, the Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune. Totally positive.

But the lower circle is the esoteric, hidden part of the teaching, called the Lunar, or Women's circle. There we see: Strength, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Leaning Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Last Judgment, Peace.

In accordance with the precepts of Hermes Trismegistus - “as below, so above” These circles were correlated with numerical values.

Now let's look at the map after the map. We won’t be able to consider everything, and we don’t need to. We’ll just set the direction, and if anyone is interested, they’ll dig it up themselves.

True, modern “Templars” and Freemasons will greatly interfere with the seeker’s path of research. These guys are simply dying to lead them onto the wrong path, or into a dead end, or into a wall. We are now touching on topics that are really important to them. Why they are important, I don’t know. They are obsessed with symbols and semiotics.

Well, for example, here’s a Wikipedia article about Tarot. Well, this is a laugh, read it. There, the word Templars is generally carefully avoided; cards, de, appeared at the end of the 14th century, in Italy, and probably came to us from the Saracens.

In this same article, however, the author has a hard time: Since cards were already banned in 1367 by a special church rule, and this is a fact, the author of the article has to somehow get out. It's funny to watch.

By the way, the Templar Tarot Cards, which they actually spied (as a form) from the Saracens, were banned by the Church immediately after the appearance of the “Shroud of Turin”. Well, it coincides in time.

Okay, let's get down to business now:

The Jester card is a beginner at the beginning of the journey.

Map High Priestess : She has a scroll in her hands, and “Torah” is written on it. She sits between two columns that do not support anything. To the right of it is a black column with the Latin letter "B", to the left of it is a light column with the letter "J". Well, for those who don’t know, I’ll say that the two columns Jachin and Boaz are an indispensable, obligatory and basic condition and design element of any Masonic lodge.

By the letters B and J, by the columns, you can always confidently identify Masons who are not hiding. It's the same as writing: MASONS. Find out the meaning and symbolism yourself, if you like, it’s easy, let’s not pick at the obvious things here.

On the head of the Priestess is a Ball between the horns. This is a message to Egypt and even earlier. Isis - Ishtar. Near the feet - Crescent.

Well, I must say that this symbol was not yet Muslim in those days. The Muslims would adapt it later, at the end of the fifteenth century, when they captured Constantinople and drowned St. Sophia in blood. The crescent moon shone over the Christian Hagia Sophia in Constantinople the Great, and the Muslims took it as a trophy.

This card tells us that women are the guardians of the highest secrets and family.
Simply put, this is Mary Magdalene, a zealot of the Jewish Law, the first Pope of Christians, and heir to the tradition and cults of Isis.

The next Map that you should look at carefully is "Hanged". A young man is hanging upside down on a T-shaped cross. He is tied by one leg, his other leg is bent at the knee and crosses the leg on which he is hanging. It turned out to be an inverted number 4 from the legs. Pepper's hands are tied behind his back.

The same figure of legs is found in the map "Emperor".

And now attention: All high-ranking Templars were buried in this position of the legs.
One version is Tau, the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. The last one because it's fucked up, I think.

Map "High priest" designates the Grand Master of the Templars, in his incarnation as the “High Priest of the Temple of Jerusalem”, in other words, the High Priest of Judah, the heir of Zadok and Jacob...

Well, the rest, I think, can be sorted out on your own.

Here is another clue: Cards from the solar circle have a paired card from the lunar circle. They need to be correlated like this: The sum of the numerical values ​​of the two cards should be equal to 20.

For example: 5 (High Priest) - 15 (Devil). 5+15=20
2 (High Priestess) - 18 (Moon) 2+18=20

And so on. On the tombstones, the legs of the knights of the Order are always crossed in a similar way. Please make sure.

Where only belief in a Supreme Being is required, regardless of religious affiliation, the Templars are one of several additional Masonic orders in which membership is open only to Freemasons who profess only the Christian faith. One of the oaths of members of the order is a mandatory declaration that they will henceforth protect and defend the Christian faith. The full name of this order is “The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta.” Word united in this name indicates that more than one historical tradition and more than one actual order are jointly controlled within this system. Within the framework of this system, the orders are “united”: the Knights of the Temple (Templars), the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St. Paul, and only within the limits of the York Charter - the Knights of the Red Cross. The Order took its name from the historical Templars, but does not claim direct inheritance in a line from the original Templar Order.

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✪ N.V. LEVASHOV... TEMPLIERS AND MASONS

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The earliest documented connection between Freemasonry and the Crusades was in 1737, in a speech by Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay. Ramsay argued that European Freemasonry arose from the interaction between the Freemason Crusaders and the Knights Hospitaller. Also, a similar connection is found in the earliest known rituals Modern, in a Bernese manuscript written in French between 1740 and 1744.

In 1779, the High Templars of the Irish Lodge received a charter from their mother lodge, Kilwinning. The Kilwinning Lodge began issuing charters to other lodges for the right to confer the degree of Knight Templar. Around 1790 the Grand Camp of Ireland was formed, which began to establish Templar lodges and became the Supreme Grand Camp in 1836. At first the great camp annexed several Scottish camps, one of which, being annexed in 1805 as "Edinburgh Camp" No. 31, then became the "Grand Assembly of the Templars of Edinburgh". The Templar degree even leaked into the lodges Ancient in Ireland about 1780, of which there is a record in York, about the same time. In the five degree system developed by the York Freemasons, the Templar degree was placed between the Master Mason degree and the Royal Arch degree.

Templar Freemasonry in England entered a new era in 1791 with the formation of its first Grand Conclave, of which Thomas Dunkerley became Grand Master. At that time there were eight known Templar camps in England, the oldest of which was the "Redemption Camp at York", and the "Baldwin Camp" at Bristol, at whose request Dunkerley began his mission. Under his leadership, the number of camps grew steadily until his death in 1795. Stasis was then Grand Master until 1805, when their royal patron, the Duke of Kent, became the new Grand Master, who was able to give a second wind to the development and growth of the camps. Dunkerley laid the groundwork for this not only by broadly representing the order, but also by standardizing the ritual and insisting on proper record-keeping.

Templars as part of the York Rite

Templars- the last order included in the York Rite. Unlike its other divisions, which require simply faith in the Supreme Being for membership, regardless of religious denomination, for membership in the Order of the Templars you must be exclusively a Christian who has completed all the degrees of the Royal Arch, and in some jurisdictions also the degrees of the crypt. This order is modeled after the historical Order of the Knights Templar in the hope of preserving the spirit of that organization. For a long time it was believed that Freemasonry was founded by the Templars or, after their persecution, they found their refuge in it. The great state of the United States acknowledges the existence of such theories, but admits that there is no evidence to justify them. A separate division of the Templars is called a commandery and in each state it operates under the jurisdiction of the great commandery, and at the country level (in the United States) - under the jurisdiction of the great camp. This subordination is unique among all Masonic divisions, as they are usually subordinate only to the senior division of the state. In contrast to the standard system of degrees that exists throughout Freemasonry, the Order of the Templars consists of three more orders, plus one “passing” Order:

• Illustrious Order of the Red Cross
• Passage Order of St. Paul(or Mediterranean route)
• Order of the Knights of Malta(or simply Order of Malta)
• Order of the Temple

Templars as an independent order

The official name is the United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, but the order is commonly known as the Templars. Individual units of the Templar Order are called preceptories; Knights of St. Paul - chapters; Knights of Malta - priories; all work under the jurisdiction of the Grand and High Priory, often through the intermediate level of the Provincial Priory. Although some jurisdictions are separately included in both the Grand Priory of the Temple and the Grand Priory of Malta (for example, this is the case in England), the Grand Master and other great officers occupy equal positions in both divisions. There are three degrees in this system:

• Templar(Order of the Temple)
• Knight of St. Paul(represents the Mediterranean Route)
• Knight of Malta(Order of Malta)

Membership is by invitation and candidates must be a Master Mason, have attained the Holy Royal Arch degree and accept the principle of the holy and indivisible Trinity.

Templar degrees in DPSHU

History and legend regarding the historical Templars also played an important role in the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, particularly in the 30th degree, which is called Knight of Kadosh. Other degrees of the Scottish Rite also have overlaps in their names with the history of the Templars. The 27th degree is called - Knight Commander of the Temple, the 29th degree - Grand Knight of St. Andrew, the 32nd degree - Supreme Prince of the Royal Secret, and the 33rd and last degree -

The desire to use some sensational materials to increase ratings lies at the heart of all media, from Internet blogs to respected television channels with multimillion-dollar budgets. Against the backdrop of the commercial success of Dan Brown’s “revealing” books and their film adaptations, all kinds of and some “historical discoveries”. Historical objectivity becomes a victim of their popularity. This is exactly what happened in the case of the claim that the Masonic organizations of the New Age originated among the Templars. In the popular consciousness, the Templars and the Masons are firmly connected by some mysterious connection. But is this really so?

Four centuries difference?

So, to begin with, the version according to which the motley Masonic lodges, which began to appear throughout Europe in the 18th century like mushrooms after rain, had as their immediate “ancestors” the famous Templars, the Order of the Temple. In fact, supporters of this hypothesis argue that the Templars of the 13th-14th centuries were the first Masonic organization. And in this case, we can say that the authors of this hypothesis follow the best traditions of Dan Brown: take historical facts and slightly correct them so that, on the one hand, it doesn’t turn out to be outright absurdity like the “New Chronology” of Fomenko and Nosovsky, on the other hand, it turns out a completely different story.

In France itself, many Templars remained free, and in the rest of Europe, especially in England, Portugal and Spain, the Templars seamlessly joined the ranks of other knightly orders. Moreover, on completely legal grounds, the Templars were supposed to receive a lifelong pension from the rulers of the countries where they lived. From this historical fact, which has never been a secret to anyone, a profound conclusion is now being made that the Templars allegedly preserved their knowledge and customs until the 16th-17th centuries.

The second thesis concerns Freemasonry and has also been recognized by everyone for a long time: despite the fact that the first Masonic lodges took shape organizationally only at the beginning of the 18th century in England, the existence of groups of people who can be considered the predecessors of the Freemasons (“freemasons’ lodges”) can be documented trace back to the middle of the 17th century. Most likely, the first lodges appeared at least half a century earlier. From this it is now concluded that the Masonic movement is older than its official date of birth and can even be dated back to the 16th century.

The Templars had nothing to give to the Masons

Consequently, supporters of the theory of Templar-Masons, the heirs of the Templars and the first Masons are rubbing their hands could chronologically intersect in the 15th-16th centuries - and this supposedly automatically means their family ties. There is also a great many small “evidence” of the Templar heritage in Masonic philosophy and, especially, in the organization of the activities of Masonic lodges. At the same time, the traditional version that the predecessors of the Freemasons were craft unions of masons is dismissed as ridiculous, and some ancient analogies are also invented in the views of the Templars and Freemasons.

First of all, you need to pay attention to certain alternative Christian, that is, heretical, mystical views and rituals attributed to the Templars, which could then be used in Freemasonry.

The topic of Templar ideology is indeed of great interest to historians from the point of view of studying the trial of the Templars, searching for an answer to whether the Templars were really guilty of the heretical sins of which they were accused. The problem is that there is no credible historical evidence that the Templars had any special ideology that differed from the tenets of the Catholic faith. Accusations of heresy and witchcraft rituals were confirmed only by the testimony of the Templars themselves, extracted under torture, who were ready to confess to anything. In fact, nothing has yet been discovered that the Templars could pass on to the Masons as a special spiritual heritage.

In flights of fancy there is no need for proof

As for the Masons themselves and arguments of this kind that the structure of their secret organizations was clearly borrowed from the Templars and could not have been generated by any masons, then such arguments are generated by ignorance of the issue. First, the Templars were no more secret organization than other similar spiritual-military orders of that time and subsequent eras (Hospitaliers, Jesuits, and so on). Therefore, it is incorrect to attribute to them the creation of the structure of the secret society. Secondly, the structure of medieval craft guild organizations corresponded much more to secret societies: these were closed societies into which only initiates were accepted, who kept the secrets of their craft from outsiders and decided the internal affairs of their communities in the same secrecy.

And in this regard, such organizations of masons, that is, builders and architects, have all the signs of kinship with subsequent Masonic lodges. In the Middle Ages, during the era of large-scale stone construction, masons were the most popular and prestigious profession; they traveled throughout Europe, from one construction site to another, and therefore developed a special universal system of signs by which they recognized each other and could communicate. Therefore, communities of masons, gradually replenished with thinkers opposed to secular and ecclesiastical authorities, are much more suitable for the role of “ancestors” of Masonic lodges than the Templars. And the main thing is that there is not a single documentary, even indirect, evidence of the connection between the Templars and the Masons.

Alexander Babitsky

In the name of the Father. and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

It seemed that after the liquidation of the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon by the joint efforts of the French crown and the papal tiara and the burning at the stake of the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay along with other members of the supreme leadership of the destroyed Temple order on the Parisian Jewish Island in 1314, the history of the Templar brotherhood (whose possessions once stretched from Portugal to Rus' and from Germany to Palestine) ended once and for all. However, it soon became clear that, despite the dissolution of the Order of the Templars as a military-monastic institution officially recognized by the spiritual and secular authorities of the West by the Vienne Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church, the great idea of ​​the Templars turned out to be impossible to erase from the collective historical memory of Europeans by a simple church-administrative act.

The fact is that medieval Christian piety sometimes took on very bizarre, from our modern, “lukewarm” in matters of faith, point of view, form - just remember the children's crusades, brotherhoods of self-flagellation flagellants and even heretical associations like the Paulicians, Masilians, Bogomils, Patarens, Waldensians or Albigensian Cathars. The origins of all these movements were rooted primarily in the extremely intense desire of the people of the Middle Ages to be as close to God as possible. Part of this world was the piety of the Knights Templar, which it seems to us correct to consider precisely from this angle.

In France, the Order of the Temple went underground, remaining under the leadership of secret Grand Masters. The first of them is considered to be Jean-Marc Larmenius (Larmenius, Larmenius), successor of Jacques de Molay (1314–1324). According to traditional ideas, Larmenius was appointed to this position by Jacques de Molay himself, who was in prison and therefore was unable to convene the order's highest council - the General Chapter, which was supposed to elect a new Grand Master, as required by the order's charter. On this basis, the legality of Larmenius's appointment was disputed by many. His supporters pointed to the extraordinary circumstances that prompted Jacques de Molay, who was languishing in prison awaiting execution, to act in the manner described above. It is also not clear whether the master-prisoner appointed a successor to himself in the presence of the latter in prison, or transferred his powers to him through faithful people - his secret supporters or fellow members of the order - from among the prison guards. Since the entire controversy regarding the appointment of Larmenius was conducted among the surviving Templars who had gone deep underground, one can only guess about certain circumstances surrounding the appointment. The water is dark in the clouds, as our ancestors said in such cases... At the same time, it is known that many members of the Templar Order outside the Kingdom of France managed to avoid persecution by the inquisitors and secular authorities greedy for templar money and lands. This particularly applies to the Templars of the Iberian Peninsula, Germany, England and Scotland.

In France, Castile and in some areas of England, the possessions and property of the Order of the Temple were confiscated by the crown. In Aragon they were transferred to the military-spiritual order of Calatrava; in Germany, as mentioned above, to the Johannite Hospitallers and the Knights of the Teutonic (German) Order of the Ever-Virgin Mary.

In Portugal, where the Templars provided the king with significant military assistance in the fight against the Muslim Moors, and especially in the construction of fortresses, their order was renamed the Order of Christ and continued (and continues to this day) to exist under this name, which cannot even be considered new, because the Templars were originally called Knights of Christ.

In Scotland, the Templars, who provided King Robert the Bruce (excommunicated, like the Templars, by the Pope from the church for the murder of his rival right in the temple during mass) with armed support (in particular, in the decisive battle with the English at Bannockburn) and spiritually nourished him with the forces of their order clergy, survived under the name of the Knights of the Order of the Thistle (also known as the Order of St. Andrew), later transferred by Emperor Peter the Great to Russian soil as the highest order of the Russian Empire (St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called), restored in 1998 in the Russian Federation (via 10 years after the establishment of another, the church order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called in 1988 by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church). Thus, the highest order of the Russian Empire and the highest state award of modern Russia are also associated with the Order of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.

Since then, many secret and semi-secret organizations, including modern Masonic lodges, which have declared themselves the spiritual heirs of the medieval Knights of the Temple, have used the red-white and black-and-white banners of the Templars in their rituals.

According to the assumptions of many researchers, the surviving Templars who went deep underground actually managed to preserve the Order of the Temple, albeit in a modified form. So, for example, the successor to the Order of the Temple was considered to have arisen in the 16th century. the Rosicrucian brotherhood (the Order of the Rose and Cross, and later the Golden and Rose Cross), in whose ranks most of the free-thinking intellectuals of Western Europe united, in particular, such famous thinkers as the Frenchman Descartes (Cartesius) and the German Leibniz.

Probably, the ideas of the Rosicrucians (Knights of the Rose and Cross) were especially attractive due to the aura of some ancient mystery that surrounded their brotherhood (which prompted, for example, even the famous playwright and poet of the Silver Age of Russian literature, Alexander Blok, to name his famous historical drama not something else, but namely "Rose and Cross").

In any case, it is impossible to deny the influence of Rosicrucian ideas on the formation of the ideology of the European Enlightenment and, in particular, on the founding of the English Royal Society, where stars of the rank of Sir Isaac Newton, Elias Ashmole and many others shone. Nevertheless, in fact, all this, in the opinion of many, was quite far from the real restoration of the Templar Order. At least, there is no reliable evidence from contemporaries on this matter yet.

Subsequently, numerous, in particular Masonic and para-Masonic, but also non-Masonic, organizations took the name Templars or Knights of the Temple. So, for example, in England there was a Masonic order of the Templars, the St. Petersburg branch (lodge) of which, called “Capitulum Petropolitanum”, included such famous political figures of the Russian Empire as Count A.K. Razumovsky and I.P. Elagin. In general, at the beginning of the 18th century. a kind of “Templar Renaissance” took place. It was in this century that the ideas of the Templars were, as it were, rediscovered and experienced a period of rapid development that occurred against the backdrop of the decline of late feudal society, the beginning of the collapse of absolutist orders, which took on increasingly acute forms of conflict between the ideas of the Enlightenment and orthodoxy, as well as secularism and pietism, as a protest against official guidelines of the Catholic Church. During these years of great spiritual change, the Templar cross again came into fashion as a symbol of a powerful ideological “reunification”.

Jesuits from the Clermont College of the Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu) near Paris tried to gradually introduce “Templar ideas” into Freemasonry, with the goal of returning to this organization, lost to Catholicism, ideas that were ultimately Catholic (probably the Jesuits themselves did not believe in the official papal version that the Templars were condemned in the 14th century for apostasy from Catholicism!).

The first step towards the implementation of this attempt at the “ideological infiltration” of Freemasonry is considered to be a mysterious document, the authorship of which is attributed to the Scottish knight Andrew-Michael Ramsay (Ramsay, Ramsay, Ramsey, Ramsay) - the so-called “Discours”, “Speech” "or "Discourse", which became a kind of cult document of Freemasonry of the so-called higher (Templar) degrees (or degrees).

The “Discourse” gave a condensed outline of the history of the Templar Order, which, according to Ramey, survived its official abolition by King Philip the Fair and Pope Benedict V (called by the Grand Master of the Temple, brother Jacques de Molay from the flames of the inquisitorial fire to God’s judgment and actually died during years - the father either from dysentery or from stomach cancer; the king - either from poison, or from a fall from a horse, or from the tusks of a wild boar or the antlers of a deer during a hunt). After the disaster of 1314, the surviving Knights of the Temple, according to the Discourse, fled to Scotland, where they continued to secretly preach Templar ideas.

In the historical Battle of Bannockburn for the fate of Scotland in the same fatal year for the Templars in 1314, just three months after the death of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay in the flames of the Inquisition fire, we mentioned above, not recognized by the Pope for the murder of his rival David Comyn the Red ( Red) in the temple during communion (!), the self-proclaimed Scottish king Robert the Bruce, at the head of only 6,000 Scots, fought with the almost 20,000-strong army of the English king Edward II Plantagenet.

The numerical and material superiority was clearly on the side of the British. However, in the midst of the battle, when the scales began to tip towards Edward, the English were struck in the rear by an ambush detachment of Robert the Bruce - a column of unknown knights, which, like a hurricane, swept away the English archers, overturned and sent the English king and 500 of his heavily armed men to a stampede. horsemen Many of the English who fled in horror from the battlefield later claimed that they saw a black and white banner - the famous Templar Beaucean - fluttering over the unknown knights who put them to flight.

Meanwhile, just a few years earlier (before the condemnation and abolition of the Order of the Temple by the French crown and the papal curia), the English Templars took part in hostilities against the Scots on the side of the king of England (who had not yet subjected “his” templars to repression under the pressure of his father-in-law, King Philip IV of France Beautiful from the house of the Capetians - and the papal throne).

According to Ramsay's "Discourse" (as well as a number of other sources), during the reign of Robert the Bruce in Scotland there was a unification of the surviving Templars with their traditional rivals - the Knights Hospitallers (unlike other countries where the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, later known as the Order of Malta order, or the Order of Malta, inherited the lion's share of the possessions and property confiscated from the Order of the Temple), into a single order of the Knights of the Temple and St. John (also called the Order of the Temple and the Jerusalem Hospital).

The consequence of this unification that took place in Scotland was the subsequent introduction of two special degrees into the lodges of Freemasonry of the “Scottish Rite” - the Knight of St. John (later the Knight of Malta) and the Knight Templar (Knight of the Temple), who stood in the hierarchy of the Masonic order a step higher.

Little of! In some structures of free masons, for example, in the St. Petersburg lodge “Capitulum Petropolitanum” (“Petrograd Chapter”), which we have already mentioned, which spun off from the Masonic Order of the Templars located in the British Isles, which included, in particular, famous Russian statesmen and political figures Count A.K. . Razumovsky, I.P. Elagin and others, as mentioned above, these two degrees were even combined into one. The Grand Master (Master) of this lodge, upon initiation into this degree, said to the initiates:

“I present you as a Masonic knight hospitalist (hospitalist - V.A.) of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, and likewise a knight of the Temple.” In addition, the rituals and oaths of this Masonic Order of the Templars were built around the image of the Honest Head John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller:

“... this skull on... a platter will serve as a memory of St. John of Jerusalem, this first faithful warrior and martyr of our Lord and Savior.”

The membership of Prince B.A. in this Templar lodge also seems very characteristic. Kurakin, a friend of Emperor Paul I and, moreover, a real Knight of St. John (a member of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the 72nd Grand Master of which the All-Russian Emperor himself was elected by the Knights of Malta). The Order of Malta transported the relics of St. John the Baptist to Russia. The memory of the transfer from Malta to Gatchina of part of the tree of the Holy Cross, the gum (right) hand of John the Baptist and the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God is still celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church on October 1 (25 according to the new style). Without a doubt, such a mood of Masonic-Templar ideas and the real events of the reign of the Tsar-Knight Paul I turned a considerable “God-seeking” part of the Russian aristocracy to the church. It is also significant that in the initial period of the reign of the Tsar-Knight, even before the white octagonal Maltese cross appeared on the chest of the Russian state eagle (included in the state heraldry of the All-Russian Empire after the election of Paul I as Grand Master of the Order of St. John), on the coat of arms, decorating the chest of the sovereign eagle of Russia, was depicted... the clawed cross of the Templars.

However, even before Paul I, in the era of Catherine II the Great, in the Russian Empire there was a real Order of the Temple (also known as the Melissino System), established in 1765 in St. Petersburg. Its founder and Almighty Priest of the Templars (Latin: Magnus Sacerdos Templariorum) was a Russian officer, artillery colonel Pyotr Ivanovich Melissino (1730–1797). The names of the degrees of initiation in his Order of the Temple were distinguished by a special romantic sophistication that would have done honor to any Masonic system. For example, the lowest level was called “Knight of the Dark Cave.” Colonel Melissino claimed that his ancestors retained a secret continuity from the medieval Order of the Temple and that he, Melissino, was the rightful Master of the Templars by birthright. It must be said that the Greek family of Melissinos (Melissino), truly noble and ancient, played a significant role in the history of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, in which they gained fame starting in the 10th century. The Melissines were relatives of the Byzantine Imperial families of the Comneni and Angeli. After the capture of Constantinople by Western Catholic crusaders (“Latins”) in 1204, “on a tip” from the Byzantine prince Alexei Angelos, who refused to pay the promised salary to the “Western barbarians” he actually hired for his enthronement, and their creation of the Latin Empire (representing (actually a conglomerate of autonomous feudal estates), the principality of Melissino in the Greek region of Achaia bordered on the possessions of the Order of the Templars - vassals of the “Latin” Duke of Achaia Godfrey (Godfroy), who granted many lands to spiritual knightly orders. In 1454, Ricardo Melissino, a Venetian knight of Greek origin, moved from the island of Crete (which by that time had become a colony of Venice) to the island of Cephalonia. There the Melissinos were accepted into the brotherhood of the Knights of the Temple that remained in Cephalonia. A direct descendant of the Knight Templar Ricardo Melissino was the Russian Colonel Pyotr Ivanovich Melissino. Among the modern inhabitants of the island of Kefalonia, there are still legends about mysterious knights in white (Templar) robes who lived on the island near the monastery of St. Gerasimos.

However, the knightly brotherhood of the “Byzantine Templars” P.I. Melissino briefly outlived its founder.

Let's return to Scotland. After the Battle of Bannockburn, a secret commandery of the Order of the Temple was founded there - Herodom (Heredom) - Kilwinning, in English: Herodom (Heredom) - Kilwinning, which underlies the modern "Scottish Rite" of Freemasonry, but the Templars who were part of it, fearing new persecution, carried out their activities under the cover of the “screen” of the Order of Free Masons.

Subsequently, among the brothers of the Templar Lodge "Geredom" there were many prominent representatives of the British establishment, for example, David Lloyd George, leader of the Whig Liberal Party, speaker (rhetorician) of the English Lodge of the Scottish Rite, Prime Minister of Great Britain and the British representative in the "Big Four" at conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, who, with accuracy rare even for a professional predictor, declared after its signing: “Wonderful! This peace treaty guarantees us a new world war in twenty years!”, and in response to the reproach thrown at him regarding the conclusion of a trade agreement with the USSR, he objected that “you can trade with cannibals,” etc.

In the Battle of the Boyne (1689), which took place more than 399 years after the Battle of Bannockburn, the troops of Irish Catholics and Scots who rebelled for the cause of the overthrown Stuart dynasty (Scottish in origin, but also ruled England for a long time) clashed with the Anglo-Dutch army of King William - Dutch stadtholder (stattholder) William of Orange, declared after the overthrow of James (James) II Stuart - by the way, who was the stadtholder's uncle! - as a result of the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688, at the same time by the English king.

After the Battle of the Boyne, which ended in the crushing defeat of the Irish-Scottish army of Catholics, on the body of its leader John Graham Claverhouse, who fell in battle (incidentally, introduced by Sir Walter Scott in one of his best historical novels - “The Puritans”),... a commander’s vest was discovered Cross of the Order of the Knights of the Temple!

By the way, it was this victory of English Protestants over Scottish and Irish Catholics that marked the beginning of the existence of the main support of English rule in Ireland - organized according to the Masonic model of the Grand Orange Lodge (Orange Order or Orange Order), named after King William - William III of Orange.

Since then, every year in Dublin (and after the liberation of Ireland from the British colonial yoke - in Ulster) on the day of the anniversary of the victory of the Protestants, solemn processions of Orangemen with orange order ribbons and other para-Masonic regalia took place, led by their Grand Master riding on a white horse, wearing a top hat , in an orange cuff apron with gold fringe, with a silver hammer in his hand, loudly proclaiming (if you believe, for example, the memoirs of the English writer Archibald Cronin in his famous dilogy “Childhood. Shannon’s Way”):

Hey dogs! Hey, dogs baptized by water!

Hey, dogs, sprinkled with holy water!

King William is all the papist rabble

Threw him into a whirlpool at the Massacre!

Usually the procession of the Orangemen on this day collided with the procession of the Irish Catholic organization the Holy Order of Hibernians (Hibernia or Hibernia - the ancient name of Ireland) under green banners with the image of the Irish national symbol - the golden harp, preceded by a trumpeter orchestra with bags of green (national Irish) color over their shoulders, and the clash turned into bloody street battles.

All the Freemasonic organizations (lodges), which were constantly increasing in number during the period after the composition of the “Discourse” by Cavalier Ramsay, included in their composition the so-called system of higher degrees, which should be an attempt to indicate the continuity of Templar traditions.

Thus, the ritual of admission to the degree of “Knight of Kadosh” (“Kadosh” in Hebrew means “saint”) of Freemasonry of the Scottish Rite to this day includes the indispensable utterance by the candidate for admission of curses addressed to the perpetrators of the defeat of the medieval order of the Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon - Pope Clement V and King Philip IV of France.

At initiation into the highest degree of this system, candidates are still shown a skeleton holding in his left hand a white and red cross or black and white Templar banner, and in his right hand a naked dagger. Their motto is “Nekama!”, which means “revenge” in Hebrew (revenge on the altar and throne for the defeat of the Temple Order).

As mentioned above, in 1754, the French Jesuits from Clermont made the first attempts to revive the Templar Order as such, which, however, were ultimately unsuccessful.

The main idea underlying the restoration of the Order of the Temple planned by the Jesuits (as, by the way, with the above-mentioned almost simultaneous attempts of the Russian Emperor Paul I to establish in his state - on a new basis! - another spiritual knightly order, St. John of Jerusalem!), was the idea of ​​preserving chivalry as “the main nerve of society and the state.”

Among the non-Masonic Templar organizations, the Order of the Temple of Bernard-Raymond Fabray (de) Pal(l)apra, now called the Supreme Military (Knightly) Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (or the Supreme Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem), became the most famous. It comes from the Order of the Temple, which was revived (or, more precisely, came out of hiding) in 1705 in France.

In 1705, the General Council of the Order of the Temple in Versailles elected Philippe Duke of Orleans (who later became regent of the Kingdom of France) as the 41st Grand Master of the Order of the Temple. As Regent of France and 41st Grand Master, Philip of Orléans reaffirmed the legitimacy (legitimacy) of the Order of the Temple, but no longer as a spiritual knightly order, but as a secular knightly order. Under Grand Master Bernard-Raymond (de) Fabre-Pallapret, the Order of the Temple was recognized by the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I Bonaparte, in 1808.

In 1738 in Paris (just at the time when the Pope publicly made threats against the Freemasons), the above-mentioned rhetorician (orator, or speaker) of the Masonic Grand Lodge of France, Knight Andrew-Michael (André-Michel) Ramsay, made his a remarkable speech, immediately translated from French into English and known as “The Apology of the Free (Freemasons) and Accepted Masons (Masons).” Emphasizing that the main goal of the Masonic order is to transform the human race into respectable citizens, obedient subjects of their sovereigns, unwavering in fulfilling their promises, devoted worshipers of the God of Love, supporters of possessing virtues and not receiving awards, etc., Ramsay declared the Freemasons to be the spiritual heirs of the knights -Templars.

Ramsay stated that the Templars were Freemasons, that the words full of secret meaning adopted by the Freemasons of his time came from the passwords used in the military camps of the Templars, who protected pilgrims during the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. According to Ramsay, by the end of the era of the Crusades, several Masonic lodges had already been opened on the European continent. Prince Edward, the son of the English king Henry III, took pity after the last Crusade over the troops of the Knights of Christ defeated in Palestine and in the 13th century. (that is, even before the defeat of the Order of the Temple by Philip the Fair and the Pope!) gave them refuge in England. According to Ramsay, the prince (who later became King Edward I of England) created a society of faithful brothers from them in his fatherland, giving them the name Freemasons (free masons).

Such a “pedigree” should have been of interest to the French and (albeit to a lesser extent) the British. However, some Masons considered it not very consistent with historical facts and therefore developed a different scenario. They put forward the assertion that the Freemasons (free masons - builders of stone structures) actually existed in some form even during the era of the Crusades, but their acquaintance with the Knights Templar took place not in the military camps of the crusaders, but during the construction of fortresses and hospitals for the latter , monasteries and temples. With such close communication, such qualities of the Templars as courage, generosity, etc., were passed on to the Freemasons.

Among the Templars was, for example, the Versailles Masonic “Lodge of St. John the Simple-Hearted for the glory of the Great Builder (Architect) of the Universe under the auspices of the Most Serene Grand Master 5775.” The Grand Master of this Templar lodge, which included the noblest nobles of the French kingdom, was Duke Louis-Philippe-Joseph of Orleans, the king's cousin. Here is what we borrowed from the book of a 19th century French historian. Montjoie's "History of the Conspiracy of Louis-Philippe d'Orléans" describes the ceremonies to which he was subjected to the initiation into the Masonic degree of "Chevalier (Knight) Kadosh."

“Louis-Philippe-Joseph was led into a dark hall by five Freemasons who called themselves brothers. In the depths of this hall there was a grotto, and in it a skeleton illuminated by a lamp. In one corner of the hall stood a mannequin decorated with royal regalia, and in the middle was a double staircase.

When Louis-Philippe was introduced by the five brothers, he was ordered to stretch out on the ground as if he were dead; in this position, he had to list all the ranks he had received and repeat all the oaths he had taken. Then they described to him in pompous terms the rank (degree or degree - V.A.) that he was preparing to accept, and demanded from him an oath that he would never reveal it to any Knight of Malta (memory of the Templars' hostility to the Knights of St. John, or the Hospitallers, who were called from 1530, after they took possession of the Mediterranean island of Malta, the Knights of Malta, due to the fact that the Johannites, after the defeat of the Order of the Temple, received most of the possessions of the Templars. - V.A). At the end of these preliminary ceremonies he was ordered to rise and climb to the very top of the ladder; when he reached the last step, he was ordered to fall; he fulfilled this, and then they shouted to him that he had achieved pes plus ultra (Latin: “nowhere further,” i.e., in this case, the highest degree. - V.A.) of Freemasonry.

Immediately after this fall, he was armed with a dagger and ordered to plunge it into a mannequin crowned with a crown, which he did. Bloody liquid sprayed from the wound and flooded the floor. In addition, he was ordered to cut off the head of this figure and hold it in his raised right hand, and the bloody dagger in his left; he did this too.

Then he was told that the bones he saw in the grotto were the remains of Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and the man whose blood he shed and whose head he held in his right hand was Philip the Fair, king of France. In addition, he was informed that the sign of the rank to which he was elevated was to place his right hand over his heart, then extend it horizontally and drop it on his knee as a sign that the heart of a Kadosh knight was ready for vengeance. It was also revealed to him that, as a greeting, the Kadosh knights took hands as if to stab each other with a dagger.”

Can anything more strange be imagined than the sight of this prince of the blood slaying the king of France with a dagger, and holding his bloody head in his hand? Meanwhile, during the French Revolution, Duke Louis-Philippe-Joseph d'Orléans became a prominent revolutionary, renouncing his ducal title and rank of nobility, becoming Citizen Philippe Egalité ("Equality"), and voting for the execution of his cousin, King Louis XVI (shortly after whose execution he he himself fell under the guillotine on charges of “counter-revolutionary conspiracy”; however, the son of Philippe Egalité, Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, subsequently became the king of France for eighteen years, from 1830 to 1848 - the only king of the Orléans dynasty). When King Louis XVI was beheaded, a huge man climbed onto the scaffold, dipped his hand in the blood of the executed man and sprinkled this blood on the crowd crowded at the foot of the scaffold, shouting: “I baptize you in the name of Jacques de Molay!”, after which he disappeared without a trace. in a raging crowd.

According to many conspiracy theorists, it was the Order of the Temple, during the period of its existence “underground”, before the official recognition of the French by the Emperor, that inspired Napoleon Bonaparte (then a general of the French Republic) in 1798 to seize the island of Malta and the actual liquidation of the sovereignty of the Order of Malta. John of Jerusalem (as revenge - albeit belated! - of the Templars on the Johannite Hospitallers, who received a considerable part of the possessions and other property confiscated from the Templars after the defeat of the Order of the Temple by King Philip the Fair and Pope Clement V at the beginning of the 14th century).

Here is the end and glory to the Lord our God!

NOTE

In the title of this miniature we have placed a rare portrait image of the Emperor and Autocrat of the All-Russian and 72nd Grand Master (Grand Master) of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta) in Grand Master Maltese vestments and at the same time in a Masonic apron-apron.