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The Face of the Master Jesus and the Five Grail Hallows
. Initiates follow the Path of Christhood or the Imitatio Christi. The Master Jesus is like a Sacred Flame that can help us ignite our own interior flames. By drawing near to His presence we "take darshan," so to speak, or experience directly the Christ forces and energies within us. Thus, the relics and images of saints have always been considered to be powerful ways of connecting with them and the higher worlds. We have such a relic of the Master Jesus surviving into modern times. It is an image of the historical Face of the Master Jesus.
The Master Jesus is our Elder Brother in Spirit, the First-Born of a New Humanity. He has opened the Gate of Christhood to humanity by achieving it Himself
The Shroud of Turin
The Shroud image is one of five extant historical relics or other physical contacts with the Master Jesus that we designate as Grail Hallows. They help Initiates to take darshan of the Master Jesus, who is a living Master. Initiates often do a special practice using the Shroud image to strengthen their communion with the Master and the Christ, which will be described later in this chapter.
The medieval Knights Templar used a similar practice. Their most sacred object was what was described at their Inquisition trial as a "head" on a cloth that they "worshipped" and used for magical purposes. It was portrayed by the Inquisitors as a representation of Baphomet, Satan, an heretical survival of Druidism, or some kind of an Anti-Christ. But history shows us that it was the most sacred of all relics, known today as the Shroud of Turin, which has miraculously preserved a full-body and facial image of the Master Jesus.
The image of the Master’s Face seen by the Knights Templar, however, was a blurry, indistinct, brownish smudge studied for centuries by church artists to make their images of Christ. It was not the striking image we know today, which is produced by making a photographic negative of the Shroud image.
History of the Shroud
Mary Magdelene picked up the cloth when she found the empty tomb. In the period soon after the crucifixion of Jesus, legend tells us that it was sent to the King of Edessa. He had formally requested a meeting with Jesus, so his disciples sent him the Shroud instead. At Edessa the relic performed many healings and miracles. As a result, Edessa was the first kingdom converted to Christianity.
Later the relic was moved to Constantinople, capital of the emerging Holy Roman Empire. The burial Shroud of Jesus was for many centuries kept in Constantinople folded in such a way as to show only the face. It was called the Mandylion, and the image was faint, fuzzy, and blurred, having apparently been somehow "fixed" onto the linen burial cloth by radiant energy of the so-called Resurrection event. Many centuries later, after a sack of Constantinople by Christian knights during a Crusade, the Mandylion disappeared. It became the property of the Knights Templar. We know this because this is the point in history where all mention of the Mandyion ends, the "head" worshipped by the Templars appears, and the history of the Shroud as a Templar relic begins—in the possession of a Templar family after the destruction of the Order.
In AD 1356 in France, Geoffroy de Charny deposited a long linen sheet in the church he founded. His uncle, after whom he was named, had been a high officer of the Knights Templar before their martyrdom some forty-five years earlier. On this linen sheet it was possible to see what was considered to be the imprint of the face and body of Jesus after crucifixion.
It is recorded that the ruling family of Turin, Italy, bought the Shroud for a huge sum from the widow of de Charny
. Apparently he had hidden and protected it after the matryrdom of Grand Master Jacques DeMolay and the attempt by the Pope and Philip the Fair of France to destroy the Order. History records debates from this era about the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.
From this date forward the Shroud’s history is well documented and we know that it arrived in Turin in 1578. Ceded by the last descendent of the Templar de Charny line to the Savoy family in 1453, the Shroud was eventually placed in the Guarini Chapel in 1694. There it remained for some three hundred years as Savoy family property until 1983, when it was willed to the Holy See by Umberto II.
First Photographs of the Shroud of Turin
In 1898 the Shroud was allowed to be photographed for the very first time. The photographs taken that day changed forever the way people viewed the Shroud. When the photographer developed his negative, he was astounded to see the image of the face of Jesus that we now associate with the Shroud. As an image on the cloth it was just a blur. But as a photographic negative image, it was visible in graphic detail. Why? Because the image on the Shroud is, itself, like a photographic negative image. When a negative of the image was made, the actual positive image could appear to human eyes. For the first time, the face of the Master Jesus could be seen by the world. Now, little over a century after the photograph was taken, the Shroud has become the most studied religious artifact in human history.
Many relics of saints are medieval fakes. There had been a thriving business in fraudulent finger bones and skulls for the reliquaries of medieval churches, and until recently many scholars had assumed the Shroud was a medieval forgery. Today, however, nearly all scholars and scientists who have studied the relic conclude that it is the authentic burial shroud of the Master Jesus. Complete results of Shroud research are too lengthy to fully describe here, but a summary of some of the more important findings are listed below. Additionally, two Internet web sites are listed at the end of this chapter which provide exhaustive information, resources, and suggestions for further research.
Shroud Research Findings on the Linen Cloth
The cloth linen is made from materials native to Palestine in the ancient weave native to the period of Jesus.
Shroud Research Findings on Blood Stains and Wound Patterns
The blood stains match biblical accounts given of the torture and crucifixion, i.e., crown of thorns, spear wound in the side, scourging on the back, etc.
Blood stains are visible from nail wounds to the wrists (not hands) which medical research has shown would be necessary to support the weight of a human body. This contradicts what was assumed in all medieval iconography—that Jesus was nailed through the hands.
Blood patterns and shape of wounds on the back of the body image exactly match patterns which would be made by the archeologically recovered Roman first century tri-tipped Roman whip (an instrument of torture).
Blood and water from the heart cavity whose drip paths show the exact positions the agonized body turned on the cross over several hours, and much more. Also, his heart and lungs were pierced by a Roman spear, releasing both blood and water (the result of death by crucifixion, which is a form of suffocation that causes water to collect in the heart cavity).
Wound near the side of torso near fifth rib matches Roman lance.
The blood tested on the weave of cloth was found to be human blood, type AB.
John 20: 6-7 states there was a second cloth, possibly a face cloth. This relic exists today, is well documented, and is kept at the Cathedral of Saint John in Oviedo, Spain. It can be dated back to at least A.D. 614 in Jerusalem. Bloodstain patterns are similar to those on Shroud. Blood type of the face cloth is type AB—same as on Shroud.
Shroud Research Findings on the Image of a Human Body
The image was fixed onto the inside of the cloth only by some little-understood radiant process (not by painting or any other known process).
The image on the Shroud is holographic, not flat. That is, it was made by radiant energy from a three-dimensional source, rather than painted onto the linen.
The image is like an x-ray in that it reveals internal structures of the body.
The blood stains present soaked through the linen cloth and were plainly visible on the back side of cloth, but the image of the human body was not visible on the back side proving the image could not be a painting as painting would have soaked through like the blood.
The image of the body clearly shows that the thumbs are folded in as they would be from a major injury to the area of nerves around the wrist.
The stains which make up the image of the body are incredibly complex, i.e., one fiber is discolored while another adjacent fiber is not, the stains are often only the thickness of 1/10 of human hair.
The Shroud was tested with special Ultra-Violet instruments and it was determined the body image was not made by scorching.
A VP8 Image Analyzer used by NASA to interpret images from space was used to discriminate two-dimensional images from three. The photo of the Shroud is from a three-dimensional image. This established that the image was formed while draped over a three-dimensional object. By means of a complex series of tests—involving spectroscopy in reflected light, x-ray fluorescence and ultraviolet rays, thermography, radiography, etc.—they confirmed the absolute absence of pigments and dyes on the Shroud.
All of the evidence shows that the Master's body was far more violently abused than medieval paintings show, and yet his face is completely serene and majestic. This would not have been possible except for a true master.
Shroud Research Findings on Flowers and Pollen Samples
There are several images of flowers on the Shroud. Research has determined the type of flowers present bloom in March or April, the time the crucifixion is said to have taken place.
One of the identified plants on the Shroud is known to exist only in Jerusalem.
Botanical leaf and flower shadows from the mysterious radiant energy that made all of the shroud imprints reveal funery flowers native only to Jerusalem that were placed on the body.
Pollen samples show a predominance of specimens that grow only in Palestine, and several from only Jerusalem.
Using state-of-the-art technology which identifies exact pollen types, the type of pollen most present on the Shroud, especially near the head of the image, is from Thistle native to Jerusalem. This was the "Crown of Thorns" that was crushed onto the Master's head.
Other Shroud Research Findings
Computer analysis compared the face imprinted on the Shroud and some of the principal icons of Jesus’ face dating back to the first millennium AD. Work by Giovanni Tamburelli and Nello Balossino in 1989 suggest it is very likely that the face of the man of the Shroud was the prototype of Christian iconography at least since the sixth century.
images from coins struck in AD 695 appear nearly identical to the facial image on the Shroud. The inscription on these coins translates as "Jesus Christ, King of Kings."
Certain caves near Jerusalem contain amounts of a rare type of limestone. On the under side of the Shroud cloth, this rare type of limestone indigenous to area outside of Jerusalem can be found.
In 1978 Giovanni Tamburelli obtained three-dimensional high definition images from the face of the Shroud highlighting details that would otherwise not be visible. These details included particular traces over the right eyelid. These markings were left by an object identified as being a Roman coin. Coins were used in burial to hold the eyelids shut so that when rigor mortis set in, the eyes would not be frozen in the open position. Certain characters of the coin establish a mint date from the first century.
Controversy Over Carbon-Dating Results
In 1988 carbon dating tests concluded the Shroud was no more then 600 years old. Since that time serious doubts have been raised about the accuracy of the carbon-dating results. Most scholars feel that this anomaly—in the face of all the other evidence for antiquity and authenticity—can be explained in one of two ways.
First, is by the radiant energy that created the image in the first place. Was it the Resurrection-event, which occurred in the tomb while the body was wrapped in the Shroud, that radiated or etched the image onto the linen holographically from every part of the body, somehow producing an unknown kind of radiation that contributed to a higher-than-normal C-14 count in the cloth? Or was it some other kind of radiation-producing phenomenon that occurred in the dead body of Jesus? In any case, the radiation that created the image on the cloth could have radically boosted the C-14 percentages in the Shroud linen. Over the centuries, the percentages would have been reduced by half-life to a much higher than normal level, creating the illusion that the Shroud is more than a thousand years younger than it really is.
The other scientific explanation for excess C-14 is that the living mold and bacteria in the linen has kept the C-14 percentages high through its processes of metabolizing carbon from the atmosphere. Normally when a living piece of wood or cloth goes "dead" or is manufactured into something, it stops exchanging gases with the atmosphere and the natural C-14 isotope count slowly decomposes away by half-lives. But when living micro-organisms growing in the linen remain alive, they keep the C-14 percentages significantly high and totally skew radio-carbon dating.
In 1996 fibers from the Shroud were tested and found to have enough of this bio-coating to significantly skew carbon dating results. The linen of the Shroud has been found to be encapsulated in microscopic mold and bacteria that the scientists who did the original radio-carbon dating did not know about and had no effective way to remove.
Physicist Dr. Harry Gove, the inventor of the modern technique of radio-carbon dating stated, "This bacterial contamination is something that the people who did the carbon dating were not aware of," and he recommended a new effort to find ways to remove the bio-coating and do a new radio-carbon dating test.
Currently the Shroud has been sewn to a new backing and placed into a sealed vessel of inert gases, while scientists research ways to remove biological organisms from a sample of the linen that can then be properly radio-carbon dated.
Whatever the case, the face image on the Shroud of Turin was regarded by the Knights Templar to be the Face of the Master, and it is regarded to be so by Initiates as well. Anyone who gazes upon the Shroud image recognizes intuitively that it is not the face of a crucified criminal, but of a great Master. Those who have the spiritual sensibilities to recognize the Master’s Face are able to derive deep communion in the practice we call the Face of the Master. What is more, the image is not copyrighted. Through modern technology, it is readily and freely available to all who recognize and venerate it.
Other Grail Hallows
The second Grail Hallow is the linen cloth that was placed over the face of Jesus before he was wrapped in the burial Shroud. It has a continuous and well-documented history and is currently housed in a Roman Catholic sanctuary in Italy as previously mentioned. The relic is under the protection of a chivalric order.
The blood on the cloth has been found by scientists to be authentic, and it is of the same rare type AB as the blood found on the Shroud. Moreover, the blood stains on the linen perfectly match the positions of the same stains on the head image of the Shroud. This is because even though his heart was no longer beating, the wounds of Jesus continued to weep after the linen was removed and the shroud placed over his face and body. There is no image on the linen cloth, but its other evidence strongly validates the Shroud of Turin as authentic.
The Spear of Longinus
The third Grail Hallow is known as the Spear of Longinus, but it hasn’t the documented authenticity of the Shroud. It is kept on exhibit at the Austrian National Museum and is
supposed to be the spearhead used to pierce the heart of Jesus by the Roman soldier Longinus. It has been reconstructed from what is supposed to have been a nail of the True Cross that was plated in gold and tied to a replica of a Roman spear. This relic is reputed to have been held by many of the great Roman generals including Marcus Aurelius and Constantine, later by Charlemagne, then the leaders of the Teutonic Knights. It was believed that whoever had possession of this relic would triumph in battle and worldly power.
Adolph Hitler, while still an unknown German soldier, sat transfixed before this monument in the Museum and formulated his dreams of world conquest. Later he and his generals constructed a huge retreat center with rooms dedicated to German war heroes to contain this relic, which he had replicated in a detailed copy. When he finally took over Austria in a bloodless coup, his first act was to confiscate the Spear of Longinus and enshrine it in his retreat center.
Years later when Hitler was on the verge of being defeated, he ordered the replica to be hidden in a vault that he knew the Allies would eventually discover in their invasion of Berlin, and the authentic Spear to be hidden elsewhere. However, his curator got the directions wrong in the panic of the invasion and put the authentic Spear into the vault. American soldiers discovered the relic, and eventually it was returned to the Austrian government, where it now remains.
The Terra Cotta
A fourth Grail Hallow was supposed to have been the terra cotta kiddush cup of the Last Supper held by the aging Templar master in England. You will remember that it was stolen and crushed into the ground. Also stolen were the two subsidiary "grails" or silver chalices that had, by centuries of contact and incubation, assimilated the powers and energies of the original. There is really no way this can be verified. The Chalice of Antioch now on view at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is supposed to be one of the two subsidiary chalices, and there is a notation on its description that some have claimed it is the true Holy Grail. The other silver chalice is lost.
The Hidden Grail Hallow
There is a fifth and hidden Grail Hallow that provides sacred physical contact with the Master. Jesus laid hands upon the heads of his apostles with oil "chrismation" to initiate and ordain them for divine service. They, in turn, laid their hands upon those chosen and trained to succeed them in the work, and they upon the heads of their successors. The sacred lineage of hand-upon-head ordination is a dynamic, potent, and essential Hallow to the Priesthood as it was to the Knights Templar, whose Episcopal successions have been passed down. The historical lineage of the Master’s initiation into Apostolic service has been in possession of Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, and many other churches for two thousand years, but its esoteric properties have rarely been understood or tapped. It is known as the Apostolic Succession.
Apostolic Succession is the lineage of ordination originating with the Master Jesus and his Apostles. It has been carried down through history by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. As opposed to Protestant ministry, which is not a true Priesthood, it can be transmitted only by Bishops who are historical successors of the Apostles. It is also known as the Priesthood of Melchizedek.
This is the Priesthood that was privately received and carried through history by the highest officials of the Knights Templar, who were also Bishops. It provides a subtle physical line of connection with the Master Jesus—from his hands to our heads in sacred ordination.
FACE OF THE MASTER INITIAL PRACTICES
Several times daily observe the image of the Master’s Face from the Shroud of Turin. Locate a photograph or use the one presented in this chapter.
Get to know each of the details of the Master’s Face. It might help to draw the image or work with it on a computer. In any case, begin the process of memorizing the image. Meditate upon the Face of the Master with your eyes open, viewing the image. Then close your eyes and try to reconstruct the image. When you can do this fairly well, try the following exercises:
In your morning meditation, lovingly gaze upon the Shroud image, then close your eyes. Evoke the White Light. When this is stabilized, visualize your Monadic Heart Center as a radiant field of golden energy extending in a sphere about two feet in all directions. When this has been made stable in your mind, visualize the Face of the Master about fourteen inches in front of you contained within the golden radiance of your Heart. Visualize the Face as being about the size of a silver dollar. Be aware that you are in the Master’s presence and hold that consciousness in meditation without wandering or losing focus. When you are done, place your right palm upon your left shoulder and cross your left hand over, with left palm upon the right shoulder. This is called the nacham position or mudra, which dynamizes submission to the higher worlds. Bow slightly and give thanks before leaving the conscious presence of the Master.
Do the same kind of meditation on the exact time of a full moon. Start about five to ten minutes before the exact time of the full moon and meditate until about five minutes after the exact time. Listen, remain totally alert, and keep focused upon the Master’s Face. Do nacham and give thanks.
References
Shroud of Turin
La Sindone
Sir Timothy Storlie's OTG Commandery, Sanctus Sophia, is located in Camas, WA
you can find him at: http://www.arimatheainstitute.org
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