The Instruments of the Passion are valuable Christian relics that, according to legend, were related to the death of Jesus Christ. One of them is the famous Holy Grail, the sacred cup in which the blood of Christ was collected. Medieval knights have been looking for this goblet for many centuries, and in the 19th century, several European cathedrals announced their storage at once.
The holy grail in history
The Holy Grail is one of the Instruments of the Passion, among which there was also a sword, a crown of thorns, a cross, and a spear. The cup from which Jesus Christ drank during the Last Supper was later used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect his blood after the crucifixion. This relic is first mentioned in Celtic myths associated with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Although there is no Christian justification for the origin of this bowl in them, many Celtic legends are associated with the worship of the local goddess and have a pagan character, and the relic itself is described as a sacred dish. The name of the cup has several translation options: "true blood", "royal blood", "basket of abundance".
Later, these myths developed and spread, the Norman variants appeared. The famous adventures of the knights of King Arthur took on a more Christian character: they devoted their lives to the search for the holy cup, confident that Joseph of Arimathea had brought it with a spear to Britain.
Later, the motive for the search for the cup appeared in medieval novels: Perceval or the Legend of the Grail, The History of the Holy Grail, The Cycle of the Vulgate and others. In some versions, it is not a bowl, but a stone or sacred relic in a different shape.
In the 19th century, the Holy Grail suddenly appeared in several cities at the same time. About seven cathedrals in Europe have announced that they are keeping a sacred relic. And many believe that it is located in Turin: in front of the Christian temple there is a statue of Faith, which holds a bowl, symbolizing, according to local residents, the Holy Grail. It is believed that you need to look for it in the direction where the statue's eyes look. Possible bowls are found in Rome, New York, Genoa, Valencia and other cities. And many Britons believe that the cup rests with the remains of King Arthur and his wife in Glastonbury.
The holy grail in a figurative sense
The Holy Grail was such a coveted target of many medieval knights and relic seekers that today this expression has come to mean any passionately desired but elusive object, the search for which you can devote your whole life. In some cases, it symbolizes spiritual search and personal improvement, in others - an almost unattainable, impossible goal. In any case, the search for the Grail in any sense is associated with many difficulties, both physical and spiritual, since in all versions of the legend about the chalice, seekers had to fight evil.
