The Phoenician Code

by Karim El Koussa

  “Thank you, Brother John.” Dr. Bechara gave a brief smile, and returned to his serious demeanor, to proceed, “Despite the fact that the Jews of France did not mention such an odd story in their recorded history, they surely considered Mary Magdalene sacred because of her kinship with the Jewish Royal blood. In fact, most of the stories that have mentioned the Holy Grail, tried to hide its real meaning. Holy Grail, they said, is nothing but a distorted English word, deriving from the original French word, which means Sangreal, Sang Royal, or Royal Blood. Hence, in their tale, the Templars narrated how Mary Magdalene carried the Royal Blood of Jesus in her womb, from which Sarah was born, and the secret bloodline of Jesus evolved from her.”

  “Ah… now I see,” Nabil uttered with a quick glance in Paul’s direction. “According to the Templars, the Holy Grail was not the Holy Cup used by Jesus at the last supper, which later was filled with his dripping blood on the cross, but rather, Mary Magdalene, Sarah, and their subsequent generations. What a luxuriant imagination!” his ironic tone lingered, but the brothers did not share his grin. On the contrary, their faces remained serious, and Paul understood that the dramatic consequences of all this must be the reason.

  “Well… they claimed it,” Dr. Bechara conceded in a grave tone that erased the smile from Nabil’s face. “Please note that the word Grail might have derived from the word Gratalis, an offshoot of the Latin word Crater, which means the cup. In addition, there are no historical references, which say that Joseph of Arimathea lived in France. It was in England where he spread the word, and fulfilled his mission. However, Cardinal Baronius—the Vatican librarian—wrote that Joseph first arrived in 35 AD to Marseilles, France, and headed, immediately thereafter, to Britain. Without doubt, Joseph might have gone there with some disciples of Jesus.”

  Another moment of silence passed… a moment to think.

  Dr. Bechara explained that medieval thought and religious aspirations had changed into a strange but practical mixture of Christian faith and, what had wrongly been called, Pagan philosophies. “In England,” he added, grabbing his cigar back from the ashtray on the table, “the Celtic Tradition coordinated primarily with Christian Religion. Joseph of Arimathea founded Christianity, and built his monastery in Somerset, at Glastonbury, where a Celtic monastery remains from as early as the 4th century BC,” he paused for a moment, and then continued, “At any rate, the Templars insisted they should protect Sarah—being the purported holder of Jesus’ secret bloodline—from a presumed continuous danger!”

  “A continuous danger?” Paul reacted. The tale sounded interesting to him, and he needed to know what kind of threat had hovered over that imaginary persona. “From whom?” he asked.

  “From the Church,” Dr. Bechara answered, curt and brief.

  “From the Church?” Nabil spoke in outrage. “Now, wait a minute! Were they really trying to say that they were the true protectors of the faith and, hitherto, expect us to believe it? It’s outrageous, not to mention, insane, to assume that they had cared enough to protect Jesus’ bloodline from the Church that he himself had established!”

  “Yeah, right, the Templars: protectors of the faith,” Paul said mockingly. “What a joke!”

  There was general laughter in the Dining Room for a minute or two, followed by a calm moment of reflection that Professor Michel decided to break, “After they weaved up that tale, and spread it around, the Templars worked on exhibiting their adoration to John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene, and John the Evangelist—the beloved disciple of Jesus,” he began. “They even built churches all over France, the most famous were those built in Provence, Languedoc, Champagne, and Rennes-le-Château, in honor of St. John and Mary Magdalene. Most probably, they did so in hopes of misleading Christians and, most importantly, to mollify Rome’s suspicions. However, doubts remained, for none of their churches had endorsed the name of Jesus, or even his mother Mary.” He halted on that central thought. “They even claimed that the Church feared the secret of the family—Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Sarah—would one day be disclosed to the people, and endanger the doctrine of the Church and its teachings on the divinity of Jesus Christ.”

  Professor Michel stood, and walked over to the buffet, poured some hot tea on his cup, added a splash of red wine to the infusion, and turned to the attentive Keepers around him. Their eyes met his, as he took a slow, long sip then stared outside—watching the playful game of the wind on the trees—and pursued his narration, “Eventually, they had to keep their story alive, in spite of its incongruity. And, in consequence, they fabricated and circulated a new tale, stating that the sacred bloodline had secretly spread and grown in France, intermingling, in due course of time, with the blood of the French Royalty, hence, the existence of the Merovingians, and the establishment of the city of Paris!”

  Nabil leapt to his feet, “The Merovingian bloodline?”

  “Yes. They even say that Godefroi De Bouillon, one of their nine founders, as I mentioned earlier, was of the same Merovingian bloodline, and that it was he who found the documents of the Royal Blood,” the Professor added.

  “I don’t understand!” Obviously confused, Nabil sagged in his seat, lifted his hands, and dropped them down noisily on the arms of his chair. “Why did they invent—yet another—imaginative story?”

  “Not for Religious purposes, that’s for sure,” Dr. Bechara answered evenly from his seat near the chimney. “Obviously, all serious researchers who tackled this particular topic in History believed that the Knights Templar, the Jews of France, and the Priory of Zion had never cared about Jesus Christ, or were ever concerned with his bloodline.”

  Paul gazed at him, through the heavy smoke of his cigar, which scented the Room. “How is it so?” he asked. “I mean, isn’t that contradictory?”

  “Exactly! They probably wanted to give their story additional credibility, and claimed that, as stated in the documents of the Royal Blood, Jesus was not divine but an ordinary man. Ultimately, this pretended kinship holds no trustworthiness, whatsoever, since the New Testament often states that Jesus and the Jews were in constant conflict and divergence.”

  They all nodded in agreement. The statement stood valid for all of the five Keepers, sitting at the table. Paul bent forward for what was coming up from Dr. Bechara, as he seemed to have more to reveal. He disposed of his cigar on the crammed ashtray in front of him, and stood out of the cloud in which he had surrounded himself with his continuous smoking.

  He looked at the Historian and said, “In order to add up to the confusion, and generate another problem, they intertwined another misleading story out of diverse ideas. They claimed that the Sicambrian Franks, the tribe from which the Merovingians descended, were of Jewish origin—a tribe that migrated to Greece and, later on, to Germany. According to their allegations, this tribe was the lost tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Germany, they became known as the Sicambrians,” he concluded, as he went to the window, and pushed it fully open, to the patent relief of everyone in the Dining Room.

  Paul leaned back on his seat… and, even more, on his thoughts. The lost tribe of Benjamin… the Sicambrian Franks… the Merovingian line of Kings who founded Paris, the capital of France! Total nonsense…

  Professor Michel took over, “History relates that Merovee or Meroveus, the founder of the Merovingian Kings, ruled from 448 to 457 AD. Hence, the name Merovingian was endorsed by the first race of Frank Kings, who were of the Germanic race of the Sicambrian Franks. However, they were not at all of Jewish origin! Moreover, Paris took its name from a Celtic tribe called Parisii, a tribe appearing in history, some time around 50 BC, the time when Caesar began reuniting the people of the Gaule in order to launch a war against revolutionary movements. Some of the Parisii settled in Great Britain, while others found shelter in Île-de-France, originally called Lutèce. They later founded the city of Paris that became their capital, later known as the capital of France—a name derived from the Franks.” He paused and took a breath.
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br />   “Merovee; his son Childeric I—King of the Franks, in the year 458 AD; and Clovis I—son of the latter; were all adepts of the cult of Diana. In 496 AD, Clovis I—King of the Franks, since 481 AD—converted to Christianity. It would be illogical, and completely out of Historical context, to assume that his conversion befell on the lost Jewish tribe of Benjamin, or on the Jewish community that protected the Grail: Magdalene and her daughter.” He grinned at the absurdity of the Templar’s claim before he added, “Clovis I received his Christian baptism at the hands of St. Remi. Ever since that time, he became the protector of the Catholic faith. He even reunited and presided over Church Council in Orleans, in 511 AD. Many Merovingian Kings followed after that, until Childeric III—who reigned over the Franks from the year 742 until 751 AD—he was the last of the Merovingians.” The way he uttered this last sentence gave the impression that he had finished.

  Paul stretched out his legs and then stood up, and walked to the window, to gaze at the world outside. Some things remained unclear to him. He veered, and glanced around at the brothers, who seemed drawn in their thoughts, all but Dr. Najem, whose sympathetic eyes met his. Paul decided to address him, “What was the true aim of the Priory of Zion, since they never cared about Jesus and his bloodline?”

  Dr. Najem looked at his watch. It marked 10:37 PM. “Tomorrow we’ll talk about that. It’s late and I intend to have some time for a quiet meditation in my room. Good night, Gentlemen,” he bid them, and took his leave.

  “Good night…”

  Outside, the stars moved along their curved paths and twinkled, as they danced through the sky above. Tired now, Paul went up to his room, to get some sleep. As the minutes passed, his mind lost its awareness of time, and entered the emptiness of the night, falling into oblivion. His senses were lost in the deepest recesses of his body.

  .28.

  The Priory of Zion

  Thursday, November 4, 05:00 PM

  The morning following the revelation, concerning the Templars and their strange version of the Grail, was soothing to Paul. After breakfast, he took a short walk outside the Fortress, and then sat on a bench under a Cedar tree, overlooking the small valley below. Although the information he received from the Keepers was new to him, as a Historian, he felt at ease in the company of those erudite men. He felt safe. He smiled. There still was one topic he needed to understand: the Priory of Zion, but that had to wait until their meeting in the afternoon. A meeting scheduled at five in the Living Room, and Paul just couldn’t wait to hear what they would reveal.

  Time flew by and the clock, hanging on the wall, marked 05:00 PM.

  “Yesterday night, you were wondering about the true aim of the Priory of Zion, right?” Dr. Najem began, addressing Paul.

  “Yes,” Paul confirmed.

  “Very well, their only goal was not entirely religious in nature, it was rather political,” he explained in an even tone of voice. “They wanted to legitimize their right to the Throne of France, by pretending that they were the ones who had founded Paris.”

  “Throne of France!” Paul exclaimed, his mind at work. “Priory of Zion… What does the name mean?” he asked, leaning back on the window frame, as he slid his hands into his pants’ pockets, focusing on Dr. Najem’s coming reply.

  “The Priory of Zion was a religious and military Order, initiated by Rashi, in the city of Troyes, in Champagne, France. It means: the Superiors of the Religious House of Zion. In opposition to their claims, Our Lady of Zion is neither the Black Virgin, nor Isis—denoted as Mary Magdalene, by the Templars. It is Jerusalem—the feminine principle of Zion. Therefore, the Priory of Zion led the Templars, at the time of the Crusades, in order to govern Zion, the ancient citadel of Jerusalem, which they believed should be ruled by the Messiah, the promised deliverer of the Jews: Rashi!”

  “Rashi! Who was Rashi?” Paul asked impatiently.

  “Well, here’s the story. As early as the beginning of the Crusades, in 1095 AD, a certain man by the name of Solomon Ben Isaac, in Troyes, made contact with Hughes, Count of Champagne. Solomon, also known as Rashi, became one of the most famous Jewish sages of France, after establishing, in Champagne, a rabbinical kabalistic school based on the Talmud. More than likely, Hughes, the Count, and his friend, Godefroi de Bouillon, had a special relationship with Rabbi Rashi and his school of Kabala. It was, precisely such a connection, which made Godefroi de Bouillon—Duke of Lower Lorraine—First Master of the secret Order of Notre Dame de Sion or Our Lady of Zion—the Priory of Zion.” He paused for a moment, and took the cup of tea in his hand. In the silence that followed, thoughts whirled in Paul’s mind.

  “Rashi had earlier revealed to Godefroi de Bouillon, and to him alone, the existence of the Sacred Cup and of the Ark of the Covenant, both hidden in the ruins of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem,” Dr. Najem continued. “He notified him, as well, that the Ark would confer amazing support and power to those who found it.

  “Now, when Rashi—old and sick, on his deathbed, in Troyes—sent for Hughes, the Count, this man rode expeditiously with his cousin, to meet the dying man. That night, he came to know about the Temple, the Ark, and the Sacred Cup, and about the fact that the Cup was not concealed in Jerusalem but in a different place, where Joseph of Arimathea might have taken it, long ago.

  “Godefroi became the First Master of the Priory of Zion, in the year 1099 AD, the same year that Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Christian Crusaders, led by Peter the Hermit, Godefroi de Bouillon, Hughes—Count of Champagne, and Raymond de Saint Gilles—Count of Toulouse,” Dr. Najem explained, and added, “However, during his single year of reign, which he spent in Jerusalem, Godefroi failed to find the Cup Rashi had talked about, despite his intensive search. No one knew of a relation between Pope Urban II of Champagne and Master Rashi, other than the one that took place through the Count, as intermediary between them. And it is quite certain that there was no connection between Pope Paschal II, successor of Pope Urban II, and Rashi.” Dr. Najem halted for a breath, and said, “It appeared, however, that all those who masterminded the campaign were from Champagne. Was it a mere coincidence?” he then asked, and looked over at Paul and Nabil, who stood quietly still.

  “Well, no. We do not truthfully deem it as such. A very vital question remains imminent in our minds. Did Rashi and his Kabalistic School plot to form a cabal in order to restore back Jerusalem through the Christian Crusades? After all, Rashi’s real name was Solomon, the name of the King of Jerusalem in the Old Testament. He might have planned to construct a Temple since he probably considered himself a profound Talmudist, a Jewish Messiah, and ruler of Zion,” he concluded.

  Aha… It was Rashi then. Rashi was the other Solomon… Paul acknowledged, in relief. Outside, the wind rose, whisking the branches of trees in a rowdy rhythm, and lifting particles of debris into the air, blurring most of the view from the window.

  “And so it happened,” Professor Michel stated in a grave tone, taking over the narration where Dr. Najem had left off, “that Rashi ruled over Jerusalem for one year, through Godefroi de Bouillon, the First Master of the Order of Zion, and for another five years before he died, through King Baldwin of Boulogne (Baldwin I), Godefroi’s brother, and Second Master of the Order of Zion.” He took a short breath, and then added, “In fact, Godefroi tactically declined the title of King of Jerusalem, and chose instead the title of Principle or Duke. He might have endorsed the name of Solicitor of the Saint-Sepulcher; an edifice built in the IV century AD, by St. Helene, the mother of Emperor Constantine. A smart move, indeed, since the Saint-Sepulcher hosted the Tomb of Christ, as per the official Christian tradition. In truth, his only purpose was to conceal his political interest in Jerusalem in order to reign, secretly, through the Order of Our Lady of Zion.”

  “There is something confusing here,” Paul interrupted him. “Why did the Templars endorse the name of ‘Poor Knights of Christ’ if they held no adoration for Him? They only venerated John the Baptist, Mary, and Sarah!”
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br />   “True. Let me explain this,” Dr. Najem answered with a nod. “The Templars were also called the Knights of the Temple of Solomon. It seems they had only wished to restore the lost Jewish faith of the teachings of Rashi or Solomon Ben Isaac. However, when the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple of Solomon did not materialize, they switched their search to the Holy Grail, hence, the Royal Blood story, most probably invented by Rashi.”

  “Why, in your opinion, would he do this?” the Historian probed.

  “It seems that, in order to protect the Jews, in Jerusalem and Europe, during the early years of the Crusades, Rashi invented the story of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their child: Sarah. He probably convinced the Count that the Jews in France had protected Mary and her, yet-to-born infant, once they had settled with Joseph of Arimathea, in France, after their escape from Palestine.” Dr. Najem clarified, and uttered, “In fact, the Jews had enjoyed a particularly strong protection under the power of the Templars.” He then took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

  “Rashi might have told them that the secret of the presumed family of Jesus was hidden, yet reachable, within the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. This secret, known as the Sangreal documents, allegedly proved the kinship lineage of Jesus to the Jewish kings—David and Solomon—and provided some information, regarding the assumed wife and daughter and other Jewish religious doctrines. Obviously, the Church fiercely rejected the existence of such defamatory documents, which claimed Jesus’ humanity as absolute, and thus, denied the divinity of his teachings. In fact, the Templars reduced his importance to that of a simple teacher and a prophet, like any other prophet.” He smoked his cigarette.