The Big Question 69: Where Can You Find The Holy Grail?
May 18, 2021 1844
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Where can you find the holy grail?
The so-called holy grail is the stuff of legends. Literally. It’s history’s greatest treasure hunt. King Arthur’s knights went on quest to look for it and so did Monty Python. So what is the holy grail?
Well, the holy grail is meant to be a cup. But not just any cup. It’s meant to be the actual cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper and that was later supposedly used to collect his blood at his crucifixion.
In the Bible the cup that Jesus drank from barely rates a mention so it can’t have been that important. And there’s no mention of it being used to collect the blood of Jesus anyway. The holy grail only really makes an appearance in the legends of the middle ages in connection with King Arthur which doesn’t say much for its authenticity.
Regardless, the existence and the location of the holy grail has fuelled countless alternative histories and conspiracy theories. And what has inspired its search has been the grail’s supposedly miraculous powers such as its being able to grant eternal youth, happiness and incredible wealth. Yeah I’d like to find it too.
There have been more than 200 different cups across Europe that have been suggested as being the actual holy grail. Some people say that the grail is buried somewhere under Jerusalem. Some think that the Knights Templar took it from Jerusalem to the new world during the last 100 years.
The media has announced the discovery of the grail several times. First it was supposedly discovered near Glastonbury Abbey in England. Then in the ancient city of Antioch and then in Toledo’s Museum of Art in Spain.
More recently researchers discovered medieval Egyptian parchments in the basilica of San Isidoro in Spain. They traced the chalice’s journey from Jerusalem to Cairo from where it was given to an emir who ruled in Islamic kingdom in Spain. The emir in turn gave the chalice to the Christian king Ferdinand and the goblet has been in the basilica since the 11th century. And it’s been on display in the basilicas museum since the 1950s but many historians are sceptical of this latest discovery.
The reality is that it would be impossible to prove that any ancient cup had been actually used by Jesus, let alone at the last supper. And there’s a reason why the Bible hardly mentions it because as fascinating as it is it’s not important anyway. It probably doesn’t exist anymore.
What is important is the person of Jesus. He really does exist and it’s not the things that belongs to him that are important. It’s who he is and what he has done. No cup can save us. But Jesus – he is the saviour of the world.
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