In 1307, the writing was on the wall for the Poor Knights of Christ, also known as the Order of Solomon’s Temple, better known as the Templars. Their leaders were arrested on the order of King Philip IV of France and charged with blasphemy and heresy. Not just that, they were also accused of many other offences like fraud, secrecy, and financial corruption.
Stories started to come out about the strange practices hidden at the heart of the order. They were accused of worshipping a mummified severed head of John the Baptist, described in vague terms: it was the fount of wisdom, it was forbidden, it was terrible.
Where did the Templars get these ideas? Who taught them these hidden, occult practices and what secret treasures did they have?
The Templars
The Knights Templar started out in the same way as almost all Catholic military orders, with the crusades. With the Pope legitimizing military service as penance for earthly sins, orders arose which put aside their own possessions and positions in return for a life of holy piety and violence in the name of God.
One of the first and one of the most powerful of such orders, they were also known as the wealthiest Western Christian military order. The Templars were effectively the inspiration and model for other military orders. The main rationale for founding the Templar order was to ensure the protection of the Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land.
Granted a wing of the Royal Palace on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Templars became extremely rich with astonishing rapidity. Many have speculated that they tunneled under their headquarters during their time there, and many have wondered what they might have found, and whether there is a link between this and their meteoric rise.
By the start of the 12th century, the order had far greater military duties than its original remit. The Templars were often described as the men whose souls were clothed with the breastplate of faith and bodies protected by iron.
The Templars and the Mandaeans
So much for the external history of the Templars, but why were they suddenly arrested and from where did they learn their rumored occult ceremonies. Many have speculated that this worship came from the Mandaeans.
This group of ethnoreligious people native to southwestern Iran and southern Iraq were the followers of a religion called Mandaeanism. It has a lot of similarities with Gnostic faith, an abortive branch of Christianity which taught a different interpretation of the gospels and was fixated on the search for “sophos”, or “gnosis”, essentially divine wisdom and enlightenment.
- Ancient Secret Order of the Mystical Rosicrucians
- Mithras, the Soldier’s God: A Roman Secret Society?
A number of scholars believe that the Mandaeans appeared at the same time as Christianity, and that some of the practices even predate Jesus Christ. Their teachings, and their search for wisdom, may have come to be associated with Jesus, but there may be something far older at its core.
During the Crusades, the Mandaeans were popular as skilled goldsmiths. This trade is most likely to have brought the Templars in contact with the Mandaeans. The Templars often depended on local trade in order to survive. So, they might have been connected with the Mandaeans through such interactions.
The Mandaeans were also known to worship John the Baptist, believing him to be the true Saviour of the world. According to the Gospels, John the Baptist was a man indeed sent from God. His main purpose was to prepare the people for the Messiah’s coming.
Like so many of the figures in the New Testament he came to a bad end. He was decapitated and presented to the step-daughter of Herod Antipas, the vicious Salome. Is this the head that the Templars were said to worship, either taught by the Mandaeans or found by themselves under Temple Mount?
A Secretive Order
Hugues de Payens was known as the first grand master of Knights Templar. After receiving the Johannite lineage, Hugues de Payens, along with his Knight Templar, gained access to a number of scrolls and documents that revealed alternative teachings and hinted at ancient mysteries that were hidden, destroyed or lost owing to their heretical content.
Some of those documents showed that John the Baptist was born within the Essene sect of Nazarenes. They got to know that John the Baptist was the principal teacher of Jesus and great prophet of the Mandaean-Essenes. John was also considered by this sect to be a co-messiah with his student.
The Essenes are today best known for their cache of documents hidden in a cave in Palestine known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls also stated that the Essenes were expecting two messiahs instead of one. As per the prophesies, the Messiah was to be born in the Tribe of David. The other messiah, or the Priest Messiah, was to be born in the Tribe of Levi.
The King Messiah was manifest in the person of Jesus. However, the Priest Messiah was believed to be John the Baptist.
There is some evidence that the Essenes considered John the Baptist a higher authority than Jesus. As the Knights Templar had adopted these traditions, they also placed John the Baptist in a higher position in comparison to Jesus.
- The Albigensian Crusade: Why did the Catholics start a Civil War?
- Did Knights Templar Hide the Holy Grail in Iceland?
They were believed to have initiated a rite that involved spitting on the cross in order to renounce Jesus and embrace John as their Saviour. The initiation rite was said to be performed before the severed head of John the Baptist.
As the Templars possessed a number of religious relics, there is a possibility that the Templars had what they really believed to be the severed head of John the Baptist as an object of guidance and devotion. Alternatively, they may have worshipped some sort of representation of the head.
Blasphemy?
In 1307, Philip IV of France ordered the mass arrest of all the French Templars. They were accused of trampling and spitting on the cross and being a part of illicit sexual acts. They were also accused of engaging in secretive beliefs and ceremonies that were considered to be sacrilegious and perverted.
The main accusations against the Knight Templars were spitting on the cross, worshipping idols, and kissing one another during the induction ceremonies. In the induction ceremonies, the prospective member used to present himself before the other fellow Templars. The prospective member was inducted into the military order with a “Kiss of Peace”. The practice was not inappropriate but was misinterpreted by people as evidence of homosexuality.
While there was no strong evidence against the Templars, but they were made to face trials in 1307. Under torture, many of the Templars confessed all the charges that were made against them. In the year 1308, the Templars were declared free from the guilt of heresy.
However, by then, the reputation of the Templars had been damaged. In the year 1312, the Templars as an organization were disbanded by Pope Clement V, the head of the Catholic church. The members of the military order across Europe were arrested. After two years, the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, was burned in Paris after being accused of relapsed heresy.
Was this a righteous response to hidden blasphemy? It is not so clear as all that. Philip IV was heavily indebted to the Templars, and he saw the order as a powerful political influence in his country, one which could rival the throne. This was a position he likely shared with other leaders of Christian Europe.
Were these stories true, or were they a convenient fabrication designed to bring about the collapse of a political threat? Did the Templars spit on the cross, and had they followed Mandaean teachings as to the primacy of john the Baptist?
Today, the preserved and ruined buildings of the Templar can still be found in Europe and different parts of the Near East. The era of the original Knight Templars has ended. However, a number of other groups have made an attempt to revive the military order. Are there still those who, in secret, still worship an embalmed head?
Top Image: Templar worship of a severed head and search for gnosis had many parallels with the Mandaeans. Source: Naeblys / Adobe Stock.
By Bipin Dimri
References
