"Great. And one final question. How many
wineglasses are on the table?"
Sophie paused, realizing it was the trick question. And
after dinner, Jesus took the cup of wine, sharing it with His disciples. "One
cup," she said. "The chalice." The Cup of Christ. The Holy
Grail. "Jesus passed a single chalice of wine, just as modern
Christians do at communion."
Teabing sighed. "Open your eyes."
She did. Teabing was grinning smugly. Sophie looked
down at the painting, seeing to her astonishment that everyone at the
table had a glass of wine, including Christ. Thirteen cups. Moreover, the cups
were tiny, stemless, and made of glass. There was no chalice in the painting.
No Holy Grail.
Teabing's eyes twinkled. "A bit
strange, don't you think, considering that both the Bible and our standard
Grail legend celebrate this moment as the definitive arrival of the Holy Grail.
Oddly, Da Vinci appears to have forgotten to paint the Cup of Christ."
Now let us
start at the beginning. Close your eyes. Consider yourself as Leonardo Da
Vinci. You are about to paint your masterpiece- The Last Supper, an iconic
painting which is going to make you one of the greatest painters in history. So
how would you paint it? What will be the most important factor? Will you give preference
for beauty? Or will it be accuracy?
In such a
sensitive topic, accuracy is of prime importance. An inaccurate painting could
bring the ire of the Church. Then what would be your reference? The four
Gospels, of course. After all it is the most widely accepted source.
So, now we
have a starting point. Let us now see what the Bible tells about the Last
Supper. It tells us that our Lord, Jesus Christ, instituted the Eucharist
during that eventful supper. It was at this supper that the Lord took the Holy
Grail and shared it with his disciples.
Let us start
painting. We have Christ at the center. He is surrounded by the twelve disciples.
Before them is a table prepared for the Passover. The Holy Grail is at the
center of the table radiating its glory.
Now, open
your eyes and look at The Last Supper. Where is the Holy Grail? There are
thirteen ordinary cups but no Holy Grail.
Before you
come to any fast conclusions, take a deep breath. Open the Bible. Take the
passage in the Gospel of Mathew.
“Then
he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying,’ Drink from
it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins.”’
The passage does mention ‘a cup’,
but where is the Holy Grail?
Let us go on to the next Gospel,
that of Mark.
“Then
he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them
drank from it.”
No Grail again. What about Luke?
“Then
he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ’Take this and divide it among
yourselves;’”
The first three Gospels do not
say anything about ‘the Cup of Christ – The Holy Grail’. Surely, the last
Gospel must be the one which led to the Grail legend. Let us examine the Gospel
of John.
Here also you will find no
reference to the Holy Grail.
Also to be noted is the lack of
significance given to the ‘cup’, spelt with a small letter ‘c’.So where did the Holy Grail
legend orginate?The Holy Grail legend, unlike the
Holy Chalice, has its origins in Arthurian legends. The knight Galahad was the
first to begin the Quest. It would be strange if an Italian painter would base
his paintings on an old English myths ( which he may never have heard).If the Bible does not mention the Holy Grail,
would it then be appropriate for Da Vinci to include the majestic Grail to
please the public?
Was the grail really a precious
object? Even Indiana Jones knew better. Jesus was brought up by Joseph, a poor
carpenter. How could he afford a magnificent Grail. Or did the precious gem
studded golden Grail fall from heaven? Gold and gems are of the world. And it
is the world which looks for things of the world.
St. John Chrysosthum’s words
regarding the grail are enlightening.
“The table was not of
silver, the chalice was not of gold in which Christ gave His blood to His
disciples to drink, and yet everything there was precious and truly fit to
inspire awe.”
The Holy Chalice is not
holy because of what it is made of. It is holy because of what it holds. Our
ignorance makes us look only for the worldly wealth. We become blind and fail
to see God’s Love.
“Blinding
ignorance does mislead us.
O!
Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”
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