Masons and Templars. Freemasonry - a secret catalyst The connection between the Templars and the Masons

Despite the pope's ban, the Jacobite branch of Freemasonry continued to go its own way, remaining devoted to the Stuarts and the cause of their restoration to the English throne. More openly than before, the Jacobites began to use Freemasonry and the expanding network of lodges throughout Europe, first to recruit supporters and, after defeat, to support distressed brothers. In 1746, the English Jacobites arrived in France with letters containing a request for help addressed to all Freemasons.

The Jacobites not only used Freemasonry for political purposes, but also openly combined it with those elements of its origin and heritage that were “weeded out” by the Grand Lodge. Under the influence of Fenelon, Ramsay returned the mystical character to the Jacobite branch of Freemasonry. More importantly, in his Oration he emphasized the chivalric aspect of the order, emphasizing the role of the “crusaders.”

Subsequently, he called the campaign for the restoration of the Stuarts nothing less than a “crusade.” The letters exchanged between the lodges at this time spoke much of “innovations... which were aimed at transforming the fraternity from a “social organization” into an “order of chivalry.” In pamphlets and even police reports words appeared about “new knights” and “about this order of knighthood.”

If the Grand Lodge became the glue of society, the Jacobite branch of Freemasonry aspired to something more dramatic, romantic and grandiose - the creation of a new generation of mysterious knights and warriors entrusted with the noble mission of reclaiming the kingdom and restoring the sacred dynasty on the throne. The parallels with the Templars were so obvious that they could not be ignored, and it was only a matter of time before the Knights of the Temple were declared the predecessors of the Freemasons.
It is not known exactly when the connection between the Masons and the Templars was first openly acknowledged, since the secret documents of the lodges, if they ever existed, were long lost.

It is quite possible that this happened as early as 1689, when David Claverhouse arrived in France with a Templar cross allegedly taken from his brother's body, and then gave this cross to Abbot Calmet. One can only speculate about this, but there is no doubt that in the 30s of the eighteenth century, with the assistance of Radcliffe and Ramsay, continuity with the Templars was actively promoted. In 1738, shortly after the appearance of Ramsay’s “Speech,” the Marquis D’Argent published an article on Freemasonry.

This work argues that Jacobite lodges attempted to appropriate the legacy of the Templars. Over the next decade, the Templars - at least for all forms of Freemasonry not associated with the Grand Lodge - attracted increasing attention. For example, in 1743, the so-called degree of “revenge”, or “kadosh”, was introduced in Lyon. This refers to Freemasonry's revenge for the death of the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay. We have already noted how important this topic will subsequently acquire.

The main responsibility for publicly announcing Freemasonry's connections with the Knights Templar rested with a German nobleman, Baron Carl Gottlieb von Hund. Hund, who became a member of the Masonic lodge in Frankfurt, was a socialite and moved in various Masonic circles. From December 1742 to September 1743 he lived in Paris. In the early 50s, he began to vigorously promote a “new” form of Freemasonry, which, according to him, was the heir to the traditions of the Templars.

To prevent his statements from appearing unfounded, Hund announced that during a nine-month stay in Paris he had been accepted into the brotherhood of the Templar Masons. He arrived in the French capital three months before Ramsay's death and three years before Radcliffe's death. Hund claimed to have been initiated into the "higher degrees" and made a "Knight of the Temple" by an unknown head of the order, who was addressed as the "Knight of the Red Feather."

At this ceremony, Hund said, Lord Clifford (probably the young Lord Clifford Chudley, who was related to Radcliffe by marriage) and the Earl of Kilmarnock were present among others. Shortly after his initiation, Hund was granted a personal audience with Charles Edward Stuart, whom he considered one of the “unknown elders,” if not the secret master of all Masons.

The form of Freemasonry that Hund introduced became known as the "Strict Obedience" system. This name is associated with the oath that is required of the brothers - the oath of unquestioning obedience to "unknown elders." The main tenet of Strict Obedience is that this system is a direct descendant of the Knights of the Temple. Members of the fraternity believe that they have the legal right to call themselves “Knights Templar.”

When pressed for more information and evidence, Hund was unable to back up his claims. Therefore, many of his contemporaries considered him a charlatan and accused him of fabricating the story of his initiation, meeting with the “unknown elders” and Charles Edward Stuart, as well as his powers in spreading the system of “Strict Obedience”. To all these accusations, Hund only sadly replied that “unknown elders” abandoned him. He said that they promised to contact him again and provide further instructions, but did not do so. To the end of his life he continued to swear by his honesty, insisting that he had been abandoned to his fate by his patrons.

Now it is clear to us that Hund was a victim not so much of deliberate betrayal as of circumstances that were beyond his control. He was dedicated in 1742, when Jacobite stock was still quite high, when the Stuarts were respected and influential in continental Europe, and when there was a possibility of Charles Edward's restoration to the English throne. Three years later, circumstances changed radically.

On August 2, 1745, “good Prince Charlie,” without the French support that was originally promised to him, landed in Scotland. At a council of war it was decided by vote to move south, and the Jacobites began a march that would take them to London. They occupied Manchester and reached Derby on 4 December. However, only a few volunteers joined them - just 150 in Manchester - and the spontaneous uprisings they had hoped for never broke out.

After staying in Derby for two days, the Jacobites realized that their only option was to retreat. Pursued by troops loyal to the Hanoverian dynasty, the Jacobites withdrew, and over the next four months their situation continued to deteriorate. Finally, on April 16, 1746, they were surrounded in the vicinity of Culloden by the army of the Duke of Cumberland and were completely destroyed in less than thirty minutes.

Charles Edward Stuart again went into humiliating exile and spent the rest of his life in complete oblivion. Some Jacobites, including the Earl of Kilmarnock, were executed. The same fate befell Charles Radcliffe, who was captured on a French ship near Dogger Bank. The Jacobite dream of restoring the Stuart dynasty to the British throne was ended forever.

In light of these events, it is not surprising that Hund's "unknown elders", who were prominent Jacobites, did not contact him again. Most were dead, in prison, in exile, or in hiding.

There was not a single person of influence left to corroborate his claims, and Hund was forced to propagate the system of "Strict Obedience" at his own peril. However, he was clearly not a charlatan and did not invent his own story about initiation into “Templar Freemasonry.” Only recently has significant evidence in its favor come to light.

There are a large number of large organizations in the world, the nature of which most people know almost nothing about. And, as we know, everything unknown or known, but not completely, always causes a lot of rumors and speculation. Therefore, secret societies that prefer to remain in the shadows are credited with organizing universal conspiracies and communicating with otherworldly forces.

In fact, most of these “interest circles” are much more harmless than they are trying to make us believe, although among them there are some that actually influenced world history. We decided to study the history of the 10 most famous and powerful secret organizations to figure out when they finally appeared and why and whether they still exist.

Illuminati

The Illuminati most often refers to the “Order of the Illuminati” of Professor Adam Weishaupt, which existed in the 1700s. His task was the comprehensive improvement of the church and the achievement of general prosperity. The ruler of Bavaria, Karl Theodor, called the Illuminati one of the branches of the illegal community of Freemasons and announced criminal prosecution of members of the society, putting an end to history in 1787. Officially, the order ceased to exist, but it is believed that its remaining members did not abandon their cause and simply went underground. The Illuminati is credited with organizing the French Revolution, the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, and influencing world politics in the modern world.

Opus Dei

The organization was founded in 1928 by Catholic priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. From Latin, the name of the society is translated as “The Work of God,” and what they do is help them find the path to holiness without renouncing everyday life. Most of its members are ordinary people: businessmen, workers, teachers, housewives, who in appearance are no different from their colleagues. And although the organization does not hide the location of its headquarters, it receives a wide variety of criticism. Due to the closed nature of the community, some Catholic priests consider it dangerous; in addition, Opus Dei is often associated with the use of practices that are characteristic of sects. All this creates a certain aura of mystery around the society, due to which it is often attributed to some kind of secret Catholic society. Adding fuel to the fire of speculation and rumors was Dan Brown, who portrayed Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code as a secret sect hiding important information.

Templars

The official name of the order is “The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta.” This is a modern offshoot of Freemasonry and is not related to the Poor Knights of Christ, founded by a group of knights in 1119. But the order was made following his example in order to preserve the spirit of this organization. The Order is part of the York Rite and for membership it is necessary to be exclusively a Christian who has completed all the degrees of the Royal Arch, and in some jurisdictions also the degrees of the Crypt.

Black hand

The South Slavic secret nationalist organization appeared in 1911. According to one version, it arose as an offshoot of the People's Defense group, which sought to unite all Slavic peoples. The organization's goal was to fight for the liberation of the Serbs who were under the rule of Austria-Hungary. It included Serbian army officers and some government officials. The Black Hand was associated with a group of terrorists who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose death sparked the outbreak of the First World War. In 1917, by order of the King of Serbia, Alexander I Karageorgievich, the organization was liquidated, and its head, Colonel Dragutin Dmitrievich, and his entourage were shot.

Assassins

The Neo-Ismaili Nizari organization was formed in the 11th century. The society was founded by Hassan ibn Shabbat. Their internal system was built on a strict hierarchy, where the transition to the next level was accompanied by mystical rituals. In the ideology of the sect, the main role was given to anti-feudal, communist and national liberation motives. The assassins have firmly established the reputation of hired killers without fear or reproach, always carrying out their orders. It is believed that the sect ceased to exist in 1256, after the fortresses of Alamut and Meymundiz were taken. According to other sources, some assassins managed to escape and founded a caste of hereditary killers in India. The traditions of assassins were most clearly preserved in the actions of terrorist Muslim sects such as Jihad and Hezbollah, and especially in the fidayeen units.

Thule Society

This occult political German society included all those who later became Hitler's closest advisers. The official name of the organization was the Group for the Study of German Antiquity. They were engaged in researching the origin of the Aryan race. Thule, a mythical northern country from ancient Greek legends, was considered by Nazi mystics to be the capital of ancient Hyperborea. All participants in society considered the Aryans as a superior race that had lived since the prehistoric era and Atlantis, and the inhabitants of that same Thule were the descendants of the Aryans who managed to escape from Atlantis. Another part of society, which did not believe so much in all sorts of mystical tales, was more interested in the fight against Jews, communists and freemasons. In 1919, Thule members created a political organization, the German Workers' Party, of which Adolf Hitler became a member. The Thule Society existed until 1933.

Knights of the Golden Ring

In the 1850s and 1860s, a paramilitary organization, the Knights of the Golden Ring, operated in the Midwestern United States. The society was created by Southern sympathizers who wanted to create states where slavery would be legal. The intended areas of action were to be Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands. The most famous members of the organization were Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth and the outlaw Jesse James. After the arrest of the leaders and the confiscation of weapons by the government in 1864, the organization ceased to exist.

Sons of Liberty

The organization was founded in 1765 by Samuel Adams. The goal of the society members was to fight for self-determination of the North American colonies. Their motto was “No taxes without representation.” The policy of public resistance included the distribution of thematic pamphlets, protests and open violent actions against the British authorities, for which their activities were equated with criminality and began to be persecuted. After the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, the organization dissolved itself.

Skull and Bones

This is one of the oldest student secret societies in the United States. It arose in 1832 at the instigation of Yale University Secretary William Russell, who decided, together with 14 like-minded people, to create a secret fraternity. They accepted into their club only people from the American aristocracy, Anglo-Saxon origin and Protestant religion. Rumor has it that the only requirement for entry these days is that the candidate must be a leader in his or her own campus. The society included US presidents, senators, and Supreme Court judges, which is why it began to be considered a kind of underground group uniting the political elite. Meetings of the society are held twice a week, but what is discussed and done at them remains a secret behind seven seals.

Masons

The official date of the emergence of Freemasonry is considered to be 1717, but there are documents dating back to 1300 years in which Freemasons are already mentioned. Masonic meetings are held in a ritual form, and candidates for regular Freemasonry must believe in a Supreme Being. The Masons themselves say that their goal is moral improvement, the development and preservation of fraternal friendship and charity. It is believed that the community strives to achieve political influence throughout the world. The most famous members of the society were Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, James Buchanan, Bob Dole, Henry Ford, Ben Franklin and many others. In total, about 5 million people around the world are members of the society.

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 it all happened, 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.

Chapter seven. Freemasonry and the Templars

Nowadays, there are thousands of Masonic lodges in the world with customs and rituals that are different for each country, and even within one country, each lodge has its own characteristics. Equally numerous are the versions of the origins of the society of free masons and the interpretation of its role in history. One of the reasons for this diversity is the myth created by the Freemasons of the eighteenth century, according to which the history of society and its traditions goes back to ancient times. Nowadays, these versions are mostly not recognized as true.

The myths created by the Freemasons themselves, as well as the stories that others tell about them, are generated by the same reason: lodges jealously guard their secrets and especially the rules for admitting new members. In the nineteenth century, one of the Freemasons wrote on this subject: “Connection with newly admitted members has always been considered a very important element in the life of secret societies... Freemasonry occupies a prominent place among the secret organizations fascinated by the exotic life hidden from the uninitiated and secret activities.”

The connection between modern Masons and the ancient craft of masons is still not fully understood. The custom of people of a certain profession uniting in groups for mutual support has existed since the times of the late Roman Empire. Such associations had different names, but the most common name was the word “collegium”. The colleges performed both social and economic functions. Merchant boards agreed with the government on monopoly rights to trade in certain goods. If these goods were vital for the state, the corresponding board received tax and other benefits. In addition, the colleges organized festivals in honor of the deity who patronized this craft.

Members of such collegiums could be not only workers of a certain profession, but also noble citizens, “who used their influence in the state for the benefit of the collegium in exchange for the public prestige associated with the title of patron.” This circumstance may shed light on the further development of Masonic lodges, in which there are practically no masons left.

By the time of the reign of Constantine the Great, membership in many colleges, especially bakers' associations, had become hereditary and compulsory. The colleges lost their independence and came under state control. Now all the benefits that members of these boards could receive were reduced to zero by the need to provide services to the authorities.

We have almost no information about whether the colleges managed to survive the period of invasion by the Gothic and Germanic tribes. From the sixth to the ninth centuries, most of the cities of the empire were deserted, so that it is unlikely that enough workers of one profession remained in the communities for there to be any talk of creating professional associations. By the time they reappeared, they were called by the Germanic word "guild" - perhaps the same root as the word "gelt", that is, "money".

In the Middle Ages, guilds of workers of the same profession arose first as funeral societies. Weavers, coopers, tanners, even prostitutes wanted to be sure that they would be buried according to Christian rites, that prayers would be said over their graves and that masses would be celebrated for the repose of their souls. Over time, such guilds began to issue licenses for the profession. Degrees of skill were established - student, journeyman, master.

Each guild had a patron saint and held a feast on this saint's day. The patron saint of masons was Saint John the Evangelist, whose feast day falls on December 27. Upon joining the guild, the student took an oath to keep the secrets of the profession. In addition, masons may have been assigned a secret code so that guild members could recognize each other. The fact is that people of this profession often moved from place to place, working on the construction of temples and castles, and the master heading such a construction site wanted to be sure that he was hiring a worker of the proper qualifications. A secret password could provide such confidence. Although I have not found documentary evidence that such a custom existed among masons before the end of the sixteenth century, such passwords could have appeared much earlier.

The emergence of modern Freemasonry

It seems that modern Freemasonry has borrowed a lot from the Scottish guilds of stonemasons. In Scotland, masons not only united into communities in their cities, as their fellow professions did in other places, but also formed close-knit groups in places of temporary residence, “lodges,” when they worked on some construction site. In such lodges, closer ties were established between members than in ordinary guilds, where people spent only part of their time together and the rest with families and friends belonging to other professions.

In the Middle Ages, it was common for noble families to invent mythical genealogies for themselves. They traced their history back to the legendary Troy, or King Arthur, or a patron saint, or even some demon. The Scottish Guild of Masons did the same. As a result, the “Ancient Commandments” appeared - the history of the emergence of the mason craft, compiled from biblical texts, apocrypha and folk tales.

According to the Scottish version of the Ancient Commandments, the art of masonry, which goes hand in hand with geometry, was initiated by the sons of Lamech, who wrote down the secrets of their craft on stone pillars. After the Flood, these pillars were found by Noah's great-grandson named Germarius and thus discovered the secrets of masonry, geometry and other sciences. He passed on this knowledge to the builders of the Tower of Babel. Later, Abraham, who lived in Egypt at that time, told the secrets of geometry to his student Euclid, who went to Greece and passed on this knowledge to the residents there. Then masons appeared in Jerusalem, where they built Solomon's Temple. Upon completion of construction, they dispersed throughout the world. One of them showed up in France and entered the service of Charles Martell, the grandfather of Charlemagne. Another mason, Saint Alban, brought his craft to Britain. Over time, the British masons were taken under the wing of Prince Edwin, the son of the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan (Edwin is not mentioned in other sources). The prince was so fascinated by the art of masons that they accepted him into their ranks. It was this mythical Edwin who ordered the “Ancient Commandments” to be written down.

Another legend about the builders of Solomon's Temple is associated with the name of Hiram of Tire, the chief master builder of temples. According to the apocrypha "Wisdom of Solomon", Hiram supervised the construction of the temple and personally erected two copper pillars, which he named Jachin and Boaz. However, Hiram was killed by other masons who tried to force him to give them the secrets of a certain secret sign - the “Masonic Word”. In 1851, a manual for free masons was published, which stated that the founders of Freemasonry were Solomon and Hiram, here called the “King of Tyre.”

Created among the so-called “working” Freemasonry, that is, in guilds that included real masons who mastered their craft, such legends also became part of the traditions and symbolism of “speculative” Masons, or lodges that unite people from other walks of life.

But how did it happen that an ordinary professional guild became the basis of an organization that included many artists, composers, titled people, corporate executives and heads of state?

Scotland, William Shaw and the Lords of Rosslyn

At the end of the sixteenth century, Scotland was ruled by King James VI, son of Queen Mary of Scots, who was soon to become King James I of England. One of the government positions at that time was called "master of works", and people of good birth were appointed to it; The duties of such a person included monitoring the financing and organizing all construction work. In 1583, this post was taken by a certain William Shaw.

Shaw was a Catholic in a now Protestant country, but he seems to have managed to hide his true faith without anyone suspecting anything at court. It was Shaw who, in 1598, first drew up a set of rules that “all master masons in the kingdom” had to follow. These rules, mainly concerning the admission of students and the chain of command within the lodge, received the approval of the masters. In addition, some individual marks were documented, and the “Masonic Word” was mentioned for the first time - a system of signs by which Masons could recognize each other.

A year later, Sho expanded his set of rules, stipulating in it the duties of masters to teach students not only the craft, but also “the art of memory and related knowledge.” This meant that in addition to mechanical cramming, the mason had to master special memorization techniques.

We are not clear about the reason why Shaw so insistently introduced this unified charter. Apparently, he realized the need to unite independent lodges within one organization. In addition, he believed that masons needed a patron similar to those that the Roman guilds had in their time. He chose William Sinclair, Lord Roslin, to play the role of such patron. William was a descendant of the earl who built Rosslyn Chapel. Perhaps Shaw transferred to Sinclair some of the respect for his ancestor, who had once bestowed such an honorable and complex order on the masons. However, William Sinclair himself was a Catholic and did not shine with high morality; he could not even tell the local Protestant authorities whether his last son born out of wedlock had been baptized; however, he definitely baptized one son in his chapel according to the Catholic rite. Sinclair stubbornly resisted the authorities' attempts to destroy the ornamentation inside the chapel. He did not show much zeal in defending the interests of the lodges in the courts, however, in 1601 a treaty was drawn up, according to which William Sinclair became the patron of the masons.

A copy of this treaty is in Rosslyn Chapel, where I was able to read it. It is clear that in drawing up the agreement, the masons departed from established traditions: they were not simply asking for the patronage of Lord Roslin, but were suggesting some new form of cooperation. However, there is no indication in the document that the masons' request contained anything other than a desire to receive protection from a representative of a noble family for a group of people with virtually no political influence.

It seems that this William did not provide any noticeable benefit to the masons. But his son, also William, took his responsibilities much more seriously. He drew up a new agreement, according to which he gained control over the Freemasons legally. By 1697, the Lords of Roslin received the right of initiation into the secrets of the “Masonic Word”.

It remained, however, still to make the leap from the lodges of professional masons to the ritual gatherings of intellectuals of the Enlightenment.

The transformation of guilds of professional masons into Masonic lodges took place under the influence of a number of social and political forces that coincided over time. Throughout the seventeenth century, representatives of Scottish noble families applied to be admitted to Masonic lodges. These requests were met favorably: either in anticipation of a glorious feast on the occasion of the initiation of a new rich member, or some of the Masons liked to communicate closely with titled persons. For a time it was a fashionable fad among nobles, but most of them soon abandoned Freemasonry. It is possible that they joined the lodges with the hope of joining some esoteric knowledge, but were subsequently disappointed.

In society there are always, at all times, people obsessed with the thirst to learn ancient secrets. It appears, however, that between 1580 and 1750 the number of such people exceeded the normal norm. It was a time of unusually intense intellectual efforts aimed at comprehending both spiritual truths and the real, material world. The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation left many people in doubt about the truth of both religions. The growing confidence in the harmfulness of witchcraft had a downside: it gave rise to a desire to obtain truth from divine sources, but not necessarily Christian ones. If someone can gain power from Satan, then there must be other ways to understand the secrets of the Universe that do not require selling one's soul.

During this period, Rosicrucian books appeared, and scientists such as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle conducted chemical and alchemical experiments, making little distinction between them. Even the Royal Society in England began with a group of friends who discussed alchemical problems in secret meetings.

It was in this atmosphere that the first Masonic lodge in England appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century. To the original myth of the origins of Freemasonry and the many traditional Masonic symbols, the British soon added rituals based on alchemical research, Neoplatonism and the occult sciences. By 1720, Freemasonry had spread to France, and then to Germany and throughout Europe. "Rather than attributing the origins of Freemasonry to the masons' guild, it should be said that scholars wishing to work together and exchange ideas adopted the symbolism and organizational structures that had previously been used by mason workers."

The Templars appear on stage

The reader may have noticed that I have not yet mentioned the connection between the Masons and the Templars. I'm tempted to explain this away by the simple fact that it doesn't exist, but that would be unfair. In fact, the idea that the Templar Order could serve as a kind of example for the Freemasons first arose only in 1750, when Baron Karl von Hund created his system of “Strict Templar Obedience.” In order to legitimize his brainchild, the baron stated that we are talking about “the inextricable connection of this system with the Order of the Knights Templar, the existence of which secretly continues to this day.”

Von Hund based his conclusions on Scottish Templar connections, although the sources of his information on this matter remain unknown. “It is believed that before his execution the last Grand Master of the Templars Jacques de Molay instructed Canon Hugo von Salm to secretly remove important documents of the order to Scotland.” Apparently, Hugo von Salm is a templar who came to defend the order in Poland. We have no evidence that he ever visited France, but it is quite obvious that during the ban on the order’s activities he could not have been there, since he was in Poland. There is also no evidence of his travel to Scotland.

Be that as it may, the Templars were gaining popularity in Protestant Europe in the eighteenth century. They were no longer treated as stingy scoundrels who either were or were not heretics, but whose fate no one particularly regretted - now they became cruelly persecuted keepers of lost secret knowledge. The logic is simple: if they were persecuted by the pope, then, therefore, they were quite worthy people. The fame of the templars was gaining strength.

This image of the Knights of the Temple fit perfectly into the mystical secret societies that appeared in abundance during the Age of Enlightenment (as he called himself). The conditions for such a perception of the Templars turned out to be excellent - after all, many written sources of the era were lost, and therefore no inexorable facts could restrain the development of the legend. In the same way, secret societies based their philosophy on their own interpretation of hieroglyphics. When the Rosetta Stone was discovered in Egypt and hieroglyphic writing was finally deciphered, these societies experienced a terrible embarrassment.

Nowadays, not a single self-respecting historian would claim that Freemasonry was founded by the Templars or the builders of Solomon's Temple. Moreover, most Masonic lodges support serious research into the history of Freemasonry. "The results of such research may upset some Masons, but it is completely inconceivable that any member of a lodge should be expelled from his organization for studying the Masonic degrees and ranks and believing that they were all of relatively recent origin."

The problem is that many people who are not Masons have no idea about this. They write pseudo-historical works.

Masonic symbolism

The most common symbol of the Freemasons is the compass and square, two tools commonly used by builders. Another symbol that can be found in any Masonic lodge is the two pillars from King Solomon's temple, Boaz and Jachin. These names are considered the original "Masonic Word". According to the York Lodge (USA), the temple pillars were hollow, and archives and other papers were stored in them.

All Masonic lodges are characterized by one more symbol - three columns, signifying wisdom, strength and beauty. The mason's apron and mittens are also very common.

Among the many plants that have symbolic meaning in the Masonic tradition, acacia, rose, lily and olive are often found. A star and a pentagram are not uncommon. In fact, it is difficult to find an object that cannot be allowed into the department of Masonic symbols. “The rite of initiation into the first stage, that is, into disciples, includes the saying: “Everything is a symbol.”

On the other hand, the Templar character set is very sparse. The only one that I have no doubt about is the image of two riders on one horse. Some seals of the order also depict the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Even the banner of the order is simply two rectangles - white and black. The Templars clearly didn't care about symbolism, they were just doing their job.

Modern Freemasonry

Modern Freemasons can profess any religion, including Catholicism (despite the Catholic Church's ban on membership in a Masonic lodge, dating back to the eighteenth century), or none at all. There are lodges that include both men and women, and lodges where all members are of the same sex. Women were first admitted into Masonic circles (an auxiliary organization of "adopted Masons") in France in 1740.

Just the list of famous Masons would fill a whole book. It would include most of the American presidents, the kings of England, Sweden and other monarchs, Winston Churchill, Tomasz Massaryk, Voltaire, Goethe, Kipling, Mark Twain, Davy Crockett, Duke Ellington, Harry Houdini and many others. There are a lot of Masonic allusions in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.

Like the Templars, the Freemasons were accused of subversion, rigging elections, and influencing politicians for personal gain. In some cases, these allegations may have had some basis. In 1922, in Oregon, the Scottish Lodge worked with the local Ku Klux Klan to promote legislation to abolish private schools and advocate for compulsory public school attendance for all children. The real target of the bill was the Catholic school system, which educated the children of immigrants from Catholic countries. State Governor Walter Pierce agreed to take their side in exchange for support of his candidacy by the Masons and the Ku Klux Klan - these organizations had many common members. The law was passed but challenged, after which the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

In this case, the Masons, who were also members of the Ku Klux Klan, spoke on behalf of the entire lodge and were actually able to influence the elections in the state. These days, most Masons would be horrified to be associated with the Ku Klux Klan.

They would certainly have pointed out that such behavior is not typical of a Mason, or even stated that such a thing is simply impossible.

It is quite difficult to confirm or refute such accusations against the Masons. Any groups of people that accompany the admission of new members with a special ritual and surround their activities with a veil of secrecy inevitably arouse suspicion in society. Masons are prescribed secret rituals and ceremonies, but instead of insisting on their connection with the ancient knowledge of the Templars, they should pay attention to what their secret ceremonies of admission into the order ultimately led the Templars to.

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Chapter Nine Freemasonry Freemasonry (translated from French as a freemason - “freemason”) is a religious and ethical movement that arose at the end of the 18th century in Great Britain and spread (in bourgeois and noble circles) in many countries, including Russia. Name,

From the book Evil Writhing. Book 1. The Invisible Fire of Death by Absentis Denis

Chapter 6 Genevieve and the Templars The weather was magnificent - this means that they will not endure the shrine of Saint Genevieve, as in 1551, in order to stop the rain. It had already rained the day before yesterday, which means they won’t bring out the shrine of Saint Genevieve, like in 1556, to pray for rain. Not

by Newman Sharan

Chapter ten. Templars and money “The whole country in the East would have already been conquered if not for the Templars, Hospitallers and other orders that call themselves spiritual... But the Templars, Hospitallers and their associates, fattening on immoderate profits, fear that they will lose power over