Finding the Holy Grail: Part Two, Where is the Holy Grail Now?

In my previous post, I described how evidence from the New Testament and other ancient sources allows us to conclude that the original grail was very probably a silver goblet, comparable in size to a Kiddush Cup. In this video, I will explore the evidence from ancient sources and the New Testament itself concerning what likely happened to the Grail and where it may be found today. 

Earliest References to the Grail 

The earliest witness to the veneration of an object that people believed was the original Grail comes to us from the travelogue of a man named Antoninus of Piacenza, describing Jerusalem in approximately AD 570. He writes about the Church at the site of Golgotha in this way: 

Also there is that reed and sponge concerning which it is read in the Gospel, with which sponge we drank water. And the onyx Chalice, which the Lord blessed in the dinner, and many other worthy things. 
[Etiam ibi est canna et spongia de quibus legitur in Evangelio,  cum qua Spongia aquam bibimus, et Calix onychinus quem benedixit Dominus in cena, et aliae multae virtutes.]
Antoninus of Piacenza, Itinera Hierosolymitana 20.

The problem with the testimony of Antoninus is that, by his own admission, his memory of the things he saw and experienced is hazy. And some of what he describes elsewhere is simply incorrect. 

For example, a bit later in his account he writes that at another church he saw: 

The Chalice of the Apostles (calix apostolorum), with which, after the resurrection of the Lord, they were doing masses. and I saw many other wondrous things, which I do not remember (quae non recolo).
Antoninus of Piacenza, Itinera Hierosolymitana 22.

The fact that he admits he saw things he has forgotten implies that some years have passed since his visit and the time when he was writing these things down. 

Antoninus further reports that at the Dead Sea: 

Neither sticks nor straw can float there. Nor can a human swim there (neque homo ibi natare potest). But whatever is thrown in there, sinks to the bottom.
Antoninus of Piacenza, Itinera Hierosolymitana 10.

It is common knowledge that the exact opposite of what Antoninus reports regarding the Dead Sea is true. I personally have swum there, in fact floating on my back with my arms and legs out of the water, held afloat by the extreme buoyancy produced by the high salinity of that water. What Antoninus relates here casts serious doubt on his value as a witness to anything he describes during this trip to the Holy Land. 

About a hundred years after Antoninus, around the year AD 680, a Frankish bishop named Arculf visited the Holy Land. He also described having venerated the Chalice of the Lord as follows: 

Also between that basilica of Golgotha and the Martyrium, there is a certain hall, in which is the chalice of the Lord (calix Domini)...The chalice is silver (argenteus calix).
Reported in Adamnanus, De Locis Sanctis 8

The problem with believing either of these accounts is that they are both at least 500 years after the resurrection of Jesus. And these two accounts are clearly not describing the same object at all. 

There was a nun named Egeria who wrote a detailed account of the Holy Land, describing what she saw while living there for three years around the year AD 380. She describes the Church built on the location of the crucifixion and tomb of Jesus. But she makes no mention of the Holy Grail in her account. I believe the reason she does not describe venerating the Holy Grail is that there was no Holy Grail being venerated there while she was visiting. So let’s jump back to the arrest of Jesus and examine what very likely happened to that object. 

The Grail after the Arrest of Jesus 

After the Passover meal, Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there, Jesus was arrested. And the following day, he was crucified and died. There is no New Testament evidence that the disciples, who were now in fear for their lives, went back to that same Upper Room where they had been the previous night. In Acts 1:13 we read, in English bibles, that the Apostles were later staying in an upper room, but the word for upper room there is different from the one describing where they were on the night in which Jesus was betrayed.. 

After Jesus and the disciples left that room to go to the garden of Gethsemane, it is very likely that the table was cleared and the implements washed and put away by the people who had furnished and prepared it before they celebrated the Passover supper. 

So what became of that original chalice? It was probably a silver cup in the private collection of a man asked to prepare a Passover meal for Jesus. Even if that man himself became a Christian later, and learned that the Eucharist had been instituted at the meal he prepared that night, he did not put any thought into which of the cups in his cupboard was “the Grail.” 

Because that specific object was never believed by the early Church to hold any particular power. Rather, from the first moment the Apostles were fulfilling the charge to “Do this in memory of me,” they understood that what within their communion vessels held immeasurable value and power, not the vessels themselves. 

In fact, the evidence of the New Testament and other ancient sources teaches us that, from the very beginning, the early Church believed something even more wonderful than an original Holy Grail invested with mystical and miraculous powers. 

St. Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus had said, “This cup, in Greek, touto to poterion, is the new covenant in my blood.” (1 Cor 11:25). Then he tells them that “for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, to poterion touto, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor 11:26) 

This cup! With those words, he is telling them that the cup they use to celebrate the Eucharist in Corinth, is no less important a cup than the one that Jesus held at that first Eucharist. 

He also told them, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16). The blood of Christ is of infinitely greater value than silver cups. 

The Latin Eucharist prayers of the ancient Roman Church even go so far as to say that every chalice is somehow mystically that original poterion of Jesus. As the priest lifts the chalice for the consecration of the wine he prays: 

Taking also this precious chalice (hunc praeclarum calicem) in his holy and venerable hands, again giving thanks to you, he blessed it and gave it to his disciples. 
Tridentine Mass

This cup. This chalice. It is as if Jesus, when he lifted that original poterion, was mystically lifting every chalice that would ever be used to celebrate a Eucharist in the future. 

A final word on the Holy Grail. The original cup was very probably recycled for its precious metal at some point. There’s a reason we don’t have a hundred thousand gold and silver goblets from the ancient world. Whether they knew its history or not, someone fell on hard times and sold that cup. That cup was melted down and turned into something else. But it doesn’t matter. 

Because the Holy Grail survives to this very day. In the video you can see  a picture of it. This is the cup of blessing that we bless at my little Russian Orthodox Church. This cup is the Holy Grail. And from the rising of the sun to its setting, this cup is on thousands of altars around the world.

Finding the Holy Grail: Part One, What was the Holy Grail?

  The Quest for the Holy Grail has captured people’s imaginations for centuries. It was the subject of the third Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In that movie, Dr. Jones locates the original Grail amidst dozens of more attractive and extravagant chalices because of his assumption that Jesus, a simple carpenter from Galilee, would not have used a cup of gold encrusted with jewels. 

The search for the Holy Grail has tended to focus on enigmatic clues contained in various medieval legends. 

But in this post I will demonstrate that key evidence from the New Testament itself and other ancient sources can tell us everything we need to know about what the original grail probably was and also where the Holy Grail may be found today. 

Now, before I go any further, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a practicing Eastern Orthodox Christian. I actually believe in Jesus and the institution of the Eucharist, the event that created what is known as the Holy Grail. I am also a PhD scholar of ancient languages and literature. And in the interest of scholarly integrity, I will be giving you full references to everything I assert, so that you can confirm the accuracy of my claims. 

The Grail in the New Testament 

In all of the New Testament references to the cup Jesus used when he instituted the Eucharist, (the Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul’s 1st Epistle to the Corinthians), the object in question is called a poterion (ποτήριον; Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:23, Luke 22:17, 1 Cor 11:25). 

Now the word poterion itself tells us absolutely nothing about the shape and composition of the item in question. For instance, in Matthew 10:42, Jesus uses that word when describing a cup of cold water (ποτήριον ψυχροῦ).  This would seem to make a poterion a fairly ordinary vessel. On the other hand, the word poterion translates the Hebrew word kos in Genesis 40:11, when the cup in question was the Pharaoh of Egypt’s own drinking glass. It’s safe to assume he drank from something a bit more elegant than that cup of cold water. 

In Classical Greek itself, poterion is a relatively rare word and denotes a drinking vessel within a primarily religious context. For instance, Herodotus describes, among the religious customs of the Egyptians, that: 

They drink from cups of bronze (ek chalkeon poterion; ἐκ χαλκέων ποτηρίων), which they clean out daily;
Herototus, Histories 2.37.1 

Elsewhere Herodotus describes, among the possessions of Maeandrius: 

...cups both silver and gold (poteria argurea te kai chrusea) ; ποτήρια ἀργύρεά τε καὶ χρύσεα) 
Herototus, Histories 3.148.1 

While there did exist earthenware poteria, they were apparently for only common use and even potentially held a social stigma. Note the following quote: 

But let us pass on the subject of earthenware cups (τὰ κεράμεα ποτήρια); for Ctesias says, “Among the Persians, the one whom the King dishonors uses earthenware cups.” 
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 11.464a 

The Poterion of Jesus 

On the night in which he was betrayed, according to the gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal together. And during that event “Jesus took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” 
(Mark 14:23-24)

Some clues from the New Testament tell us more about what the poterion used that night was like.  First off, notice that it is apparently large enough for him to give it to 12 men and each of them to have a drink from it. Now, granted, they may have taken just a tiny sip, but, even so, this can not have been a small glass or cup. 

As I said earlier, the word poterion itself will not tell us what it was made of. But the available evidence from ancient times allows us to make a very good guess. And the first question to consider is, where did that particular poterion come from? 

Jesus had told his disciples that they would meet a man and he would lead them to “a large upper room, furnished, ready." (ἀνάγαιον μέγα ἐστρωμένον ἕτοιμον) Mark 14:15. 

This strongly implies that the poterion was already on the table when they arrived. It, along with the other dishes, was provided by whomever it was that prepared the large upper room for this Passover dinner. 

Jesus and his disciples did not celebrate a Passover Seder as we know it today. The Passover Seder evolved over time following the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the Passover Seder certainly preserves elements and traditions that would have been current in the Passover meal celebrated by Jesus. Passover implements can be earthenware, glass, or metal. But there is a strong tendency, if one’s budget allows it, to prefer the use of silver. This preference may derive from the Silver Cup (גביע הכסף ) of the Patriarch Joseph, described in Genesis 44. The ancient preference for silver is also in keeping with the principle known as Hiddur Mitzvah, The Beautifying of the Commandment. In other words, while an earthenware vessel is permitted, a silver vessel is preferred when possible to provide the rituals with dignity. The source text supporting this idea is Exodus 15:2, zeh eli, ve-anvehu. This is my God and I will beautify him. In other words, if I have the means to fulfill the commandments and also infuse them with aesthetic beauty and dignity, I should do so. 

Description of the Grail 

My conclusion is as follows. The man who furnished and prepared that large upper room knew it was for Jesus and his disciples. And he would have furnished it with his best implements. And for the reasons I just explained, that cup was very probably made of silver. We will never know one hundred percent, but the available evidence from the New Testament and other ancient sources allows us with some confidence to describe that original poterion as a silver goblet comparable in size to a traditional Kiddush cup still used today at a Passover Seder. 

In my next post, I will demonstrate that evidence from the New Testament and other ancient sources tells us definitively where the early Church believed the Holy Grail could be found.