The Holy Lance (also known as the Spear of Destiny, Holy Spear, Lance of Longinus, Spear of Longinus or Spear of Christ) is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus's side as he hung on the cross in John's account of the Crucifixion.
THE MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT SPEARHEAD
Everyone knows that Jesus was pierced in the side with
a Spear of some sort. It is usually assumed that it was
just an ordinary Roman soldier's spear that just happened
to be available at the time. Later, it passes into many
hands, arriving--supposedly--into Hitler's possession at
the start of the Second World War. Near the end of that
war, the story goes, General Patton discovers the Spear in
a bunker under Nuremberg, realizes what it is, and at that
very moment, Hitler commits suicide and the U.S. succeeds
Germany as the new World Power...because it now holds the
Spear.
Well, not so fast... That Spear--seen above--has been
kept in Vienna, Austria, where Hitler obtained it back in
1938, since shortly after the War. Is Austria now a World
Power? It used to be--before the First World War, but no
longer. But, of course, some people insist that Austria's
Hapsburg family secretly runs the world from behind their
gilded walls in Vienna.
Maybe. But not very effectively. The fact is, this may
not be the true Spear. It could be one of several copies
made at various times throughout the centuries. The real
Spear--if the legend of it always being in the possession
of the current ruling World Power were true--ought to be
in the United States, for the U.S. has emerged as the very
greatest World Power in modern history. And what about
Judea? The Spear was in Jerusalem for centuries and it
does not appear to have made the Jewish people dominant
in the ancient world. In fact, they were overrun by just
about every one of their neighbors. Come to think of it,
Nazi Germany was also conquered when it had the Spear. So
was Austria in 1938 and again when the Spear was returned
after the war. It may be that having this Spear is a way
to get your nation conquered by its neighbors...
So is it possible the Spear has a different function
than this notion of designating the current World Power?
Is there a deeper, darker secret behind the Spear?
Just where did it really come from?
THE FIRST SPEAR
The Bible mentions several mysterious spears. One is
hurled at David by King Saul. Another is carried by the
giant Goliath and taken by David. Another is used later
to kill Zachariah between the Altar and the Holy Place.
And what about those prophecies about beating spears
into pruninghooks?
"...and they will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruninghooks..." [Isaiah 2:4]
"...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruninghooks..." [Micah 4:3]
Apparently a spear and a pruninghook were so similar a
pruninghook could also be turned back into a spear again:
"Beat your plows into swords and your pruninghooks
into spears: Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"
[Joel 3:10]
Just what is a pruninghook?
A pruninghook was a spear-like pole with a sharpened
blade on the end used to slice off dead branches. Later
blades were curved and sharp on the inner curve only; to
make them spears, the outer curve was straightened and
sharpened as well.
But originally, a pruninghook was probably formed as
a v-shaped or fork-ended device to break off branches or
to remove fruit easily from a tree in an orchard or a
garden. The end might have looked a bit like the Spear
shown at the top of this page--except without the point
added to it.
Why does the Bible keep drawing our attention to the
idea that someone might want to convert a fruit-tree tool
used in a garden into a pointed device--a Spear--that one
could use to kill a man?
Genesis tells us that Adam was placed in the Garden of
Eden to "dress it and to keep it" [Gen 2:15]. How could
Adam do this if he could not reach the fruit or the limbs
on the upper parts of the trees? Obviously he had to make
a tool: The first pruning fork.
But then Adam got "fired" as a tree-pruner and had to
take up a new occupation: A "tiller" of the soil.
There he was with this long pole and its forked end,
when what he really needed was a long pole with a sharp
pointed end to till the soil with and poke holes in the
ground for planting seeds. It is quite likely he simply
added a point to the end of his pruning fork to make it
into a spear-like tool for tilling the soil.
And when Cain grew up and came of age, Adam gave him
the Tiller, for Genesis says Cain became "a tiller of the
ground" like Adam [Gen 4:2]. The text does not indicate
that Adam was sharing this task with Cain or that there
were now two tillers. Adam had tilled the soil for some
13 years or more by this time; he was probably delighted
to hand this job over to someone younger who could labor
"by the sweat of his brow" in Adam's place.
Abel seemed to have a more leisurely occupation. Abel
could sit under a cool tree and "watch" his sheep all day
while Cain sweated in the heat of the sun. Maybe Adam's
decision to hand the Tiller over to Cain was a vengeful
act. If Adam thought Cain was not his own son, because
he was not in Adam's image and likeness as Seth would be
[Gen 5:3], then Adam might have wanted to "punish" Cain
by forcing him to do the hard labor of tilling the soil.
Perhaps Cain resented his hard life and sensed Adam's
rejection. When God also rejected his offering, Cain may
have considered the Tiller the instrument of his torment.
Abel was the more beloved son and the beneficiary of his
labors, because Abel ate the food Cain produced. Abel's
offering was accepted by God. Cain grew to hate Abel.
One day, out in the field where Cain was planting the
new crop (having just offered up some of the grain of his
harvest), Cain rose up from his back-breaking work to see
Abel before him. Cain then used the Tiller to kill Abel,
turning it effectively into a Spear.
So what had begun as a pruning fork was now a Spear.
And what had once been the symbol of Adam's status in
the Graden of Eden--when he had shared dominion over the
earth with Eve--had become the symbol of Cain's rebellion
and of his triumph over his supposed enemies.
Stained with the grapes of Eden, the sweat of Adam and
Cain, and perhaps with the blood from Abel's sacrificial
lamb and Abel's own blood, the Spear had been transformed
into a sacred relic and a talisman of Royal Power.
IS THIS THE TRUE SPEAR?
Look again at the so-called "Spear" at the top of this
page. Would any sane man carry this "weapon" into battle?
Note how flimsy it is, compared to a real spear. This is
hardly the sturdiest blade a smith could make. A little
"sleeve" joined the two parts together in order to hold
the point on the forked end. Would any warrior want such
a crude weapon in his hands, staking his life on it not
breaking? Note that it is in fact broken, if it was not
originally made as two parts.
Again, recall that many copies were made of the 'true'
Spear. We do not know if this is the real Spear, a copy,
or even an accurate copy. We cannot be sure the Spear was
made of the same materials (which in this case include the
use of silver and gold).
But if this spear bears any likeness to the original,
then the forked end, strange construction, and the rather
un-military "look" of the device might be reflections of
the genuine Spear. These would not be qualities one would
add to the design of a copy.
There is no point at the moment in debatng whether or
not this is the genuine Spear. What we do know is that
it was at the very least intended to have been a copy of
the true Spear. Historical tradition of this Spear was
quite clear on that point. Therefore, its design surely
was based upon an earlier, and likely more genuine, relic.
FROM CAIN TO CHRIST
How could the Tiller of Cain have ended up piercing
the side of Christ?
Jesus gave a major clue about just exactly where this
Spear might have been during the interim:
"...behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men,
and scribes; and (some) of them you shall kill and
crucify...that upon you may come all the righteous
blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of the
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, the son
of Barachias, WHOM YOU SLEW BETWEEN THE TEMPLE AND
THE ALTAR...All these things shall come upon this
generation." [Mt 23:34-36]
Only priests and their fellow Levites were allowed in
this space, and then only during the performance of their
ofiicial duties. The only weapon known to have been left
in this precise location was the ritual Spear that served
as the symbol of authority of the Captain of the Temple,
who was second only to the High Priest himself.
Could it be that Jesus was indicating that the very
Spear used to kill Abel was kept between the Temple and
the Altar? Was this Spear considered so sacred that it
was used only for special occasions?
Indeed, there was an offically-required act that this
specific Spear had to be used for. It involved members
of the family of Jesus, as was prophesied, carrying out a
ritual under the Law of Moses...
How did Cain's Spear get into the Temple? What role
did Jeremiah play in restoring it? If this was the Temple
Spear, was it used to kill Jesus? How did it leave Judea?
Where has it been since the Crucifixion? And what has the
Spear to do with the End Times? Can it help identify the
two witnesses?
There are a myriad of questions swirling about this old
relic, which has witnessed the whole pageant of our human
history.
Relics claimed to be the Holy Lance
There have been three, or four, major relics that are claimed to be the Holy Lance, or parts of it.
Vatican lance
No actual lance is known until the pilgrim Antoninus of Piacenza (AD 570), describing the holy places of Jerusalem, says that he saw in the Basilica of Mount Zion "the crown of thorns with which Our Lord was crowned and the lance with which He was struck in the side".[2] A mention of the lance also occurs in the so-called Breviarius at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The presence in Jerusalem of the relic is attested by Cassiodorus (c. 485 - c. 585)[3][4] as well as by Gregory of Tours (c. 538 – 594), who had not actually been to Jerusalem.
Holy Lance of Rome
In 615 Jerusalem and its relics were captured by the Persian forces of King Khosrau II (Chosroes II). According to the Chronicon Paschale, the point of the lance, which had been broken off, was given in the same year to Nicetas, who took it to Constantinople and deposited it in the church of Hagia Sophia, and later to the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos. This point of the lance, which was now set in an icon, was acquired by the Latin Emperor, Baldwin II of Constantinople, who later sold it to Louis IX of France. The point of the lance was then enshrined with the Crown of Thorns in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. During the French Revolution these relics were removed to the Bibliothèque Nationale but subsequently disappeared.[5] (The present "Crown of Thorns" is a wreath of rushes.)
As for the larger portion of the lance, Arculpus claimed he saw it at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre around 670 in Jerusalem, but there is otherwise no mention of it after the sack in 615. Some claim that the larger relic had been conveyed to Constantinople in the 8th century, possibly at the same time as the Crown of Thorns. At any rate, its presence at Constantinople seems to be clearly attested by various pilgrims, particularly Russians, and, though it was deposited in various churches in succession, it seems possible to trace it and distinguish it from the relic of the point. Sir John Mandeville declared in 1357 that he had seen the blade of the Holy Lance both at Paris and at Constantinople, and that the latter was a much larger relic than the former; it is worth adding that Mandeville is not generally regarded as one of the Middle Ages' most reliable witnesses, and his supposed travels are usually treated as an eclectic amalgam of myths, legends and other fictions. "The lance which pierced Our Lord's side" was among the relics at Constantinople shown in the 1430s to Pedro Tafur, who added "God grant that in the overthrow of the Greeks they have not fallen into the hands of the enemies of the Faith, for they will have been ill-treated and handled with little reverence."[6]
Whatever the Constantinople relic was, it did fall into the hands of the Turks, and in 1492, under circumstances minutely described in Pastor's History of the Popes, the Sultan Bayazid II sent it to Innocent VIII to encourage the pope to continue to keep his brother and rival Zizim (Cem) prisoner. At this time great doubts as to its authenticity were felt at Rome, as Johann Burchard records,[7] because of the presence of other rival lances in Paris (the point that had been separated from the lance), Nuremberg (see "Vienna lance" below), and Armenia (see "Echmiadzin lance" below). In the mid-18th century Benedict XIV states that he obtained from Paris an exact drawing of the point of the lance, and that in comparing it with the larger relic in St. Peter's he was satisfied that the two had originally formed one blade.[8] This relic has never since left Rome, where it is preserved under the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica, although the Church makes no claim as to its authenticity.
Echmiadzin lance
A Holy Lance (in Armenian Geghard) is now conserved in Ejmiadzin, the religious capital of Armenia. The first source that mentions it is a text "Holy Relics of Our Lord Jesus Christ", in a thirteenth century Armenian manuscript. According to this text, the spear which pierced Jesus was to have been brought to Armenia by the apostle Thaddeus. The manuscript does not specify precisely where it is kept, but the Holy Lance gives a description that exactly matches the lance, the monastery gate, since the thirteenth century precisely, the name of Geghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance).
In 1655 the French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was the first Westerner to see this relic in Armenia. In 1805, the Russians took the monastery and the relic was moved to Tchitchanov Geghard Tbilisi (Georgia). It was later returned to Armenia at Ejmiadzin, where it is always visible to the museum Manougian, enshrined in a reliquary of the seventeenth century.
This Ejmiadzin Lance has never been a weapon. Rather, it is the point of a sigillum, perhaps Byzantine, with a diamond-shaped iron openwork Greek cross. Is this the Holy Lance of Antioch discovered by Pierre Barthelemy? That is a certain assumption: the relic of the Crusaders lost chronicles a century before the Geghard appears in Armenian sources.[9]
A Holy Lance (in Armenian Geghard) is now conserved in Ejmiadzin, the religious capital of Armenia. The first source that mentions it is a text "Holy Relics of Our Lord Jesus Christ", in a thirteenth century Armenian manuscript. According to this text, the spear which pierced Jesus was to have been brought to Armenia by the apostle Thaddeus. The manuscript does not specify precisely where it is kept, but the Holy Lance gives a description that exactly matches the lance, the monastery gate, since the thirteenth century precisely, the name of Geghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance).
In 1655 the French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was the first Westerner to see this relic in Armenia. In 1805, the Russians took the monastery and the relic was moved to Tchitchanov Geghard Tbilisi (Georgia). It was later returned to Armenia at Ejmiadzin, where it is always visible to the museum Manougian, enshrined in a reliquary of the seventeenth century.
Vienna Lance (Hofburg spear)
The Holy Roman Emperors had a lance of their own, attested from the time of Otto I (912-973). In 1000 Otto III gave Boleslaw I of Poland a replica of the Lance at the Congress of Gniezno. In 1084 Henry IV had a silver band with the inscription "Nail of Our Lord" added to it. This was based on the belief that this was the lance of Constantine the Great which enshrined a nail used for the Crucifixion. In 1273 it was first used in the coronation ceremony. Around 1350 Charles IV had a golden sleeve put over the silver one, inscribed "Lancea et clavus Domini" (Lance and nail of the Lord). In 1424 Sigismund had a collection of relics, including the lance, moved from his capital in Prague to his birth place, Nuremberg, and decreed them to be kept there forever. This collection was called the Reichskleinodien or Imperial Regalia.
When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796 the city councilors decided to remove the Reichskleinodien to Vienna for safe keeping. The collection was entrusted to one "Baron von Hügel", who promised to return the objects as soon as peace had been restored and the safety of the collection assured[citation needed]. However, the Holy Roman Empire was disbanded in 1806 and the Reichskleinodien remained in the keeping of the Habsburgs. When the city councilors asked for the Reichskleinodien back, they were refused. As part of the imperial regalia it was kept in the Imperial Treasury Schatzkammer (Vienna) and was known as the lance of Saint Maurice.
During the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed to Germany, the Reichskleinodien were returned to Nuremberg and afterwards hidden. They were found by invading U.S. troops and returned to Austria by American General George S. Patton after World War II.
Dr. Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested the lance for a documentary in January 2003.[10] He was given unprecedented permission not only to examine the lance in a laboratory environment, but was also allowed to remove the delicate bands of gold and silver that hold it together. In the opinion of Feather and other academic experts, the likeliest date of the spearhead is the 7th century A.D. - only slightly earlier than the Museum's own estimate. However, Dr. Feather also stated in the same documentary that an iron pin - long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into the blade and set off by tiny brass crosses - is "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st century A.D. Roman nail. According to Paul the Deacon, the Lombard royal line bore the name of the Gungingi,[11] which Karl Hauck[12] and Stefano Gasparri[13] maintain identified them with the name of Odin’s lance, Gungnir (a sign that they probably claimed descent from Odin, as did most of the Germanic royal lines) Paul the Deacon also notes[14] that the inauguration rite of a Lombard king consisted essentially of his grasping of a sacred/royal lance. Milan, which had been the capital of the Western Roman Empire in the time of Constantine, was also the capital of the Lombard kings Perctarit and his son Cunipert, who became Catholic Christians in the 7th century. Thus it seems possible that the iron point of the Lombardic royal lance might have been recast in the 7th century in order to enshrine one of the 1st century Roman nails that St. Helena was reputed to have found at Calvary and brought to Milan, thus giving a new Christian sacred aura to the old pagan royal lance. If Charlemagne’s inauguration as the King of the Lombards in 774 had likewise included his grasping of this now-Christianized sacred or royal lance, this would explain how it would have eventually become the oldest item in the German imperial regalia. We might also note that the Iron Crown of Lombardy (dated to the 8th century), which eventually became the primary symbol of Lombardic kingship, takes its name from the tradition that it also contains one of the holy nails. Alternately, since Gregory of Tours in his Libri Historiarum VII, 33, states that in 585 the Merovingian king Guntram designated his nephew Childebert II his heir by handing him his lance, it is possible that a royal lance was also a symbol of kingship among the Merovingian kings and that a nail from Calvary was in the 7th century incorporated into this royal lance and thus eventually would have come into the German imperial regalia.
Hitler and The Spear of Destiny
oOverview
oRelated
oThemes
xSymbolism
oAlchemy
oInterpretations
oPoster Offer
oAppeals
oMiscellaneous
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Both Guernica and the 1934 drawing conceal references to a mystical battle between Picasso and Hitler in connection with the Spear of Destiny. This hidden pictorial narrative, set in the context of Wagner's opera Parsifal, reveals some uncanny associations with events in Hitler's life and with his quest to dominate Europe.
Vienna 1909-1913
According to the account of Dr Walter Stein, the young Hitler whilst living as a down and out in Vienna undertook a penetrating study of the Occult meanings underlying Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Thirteenth Century Grail Romance, 'Parsival'. Stein through various contacts with Hitler became convinced that he was deeply involved with the Occult and had an experienced spiritual mentor, possibly linked to the infamous 'Blood Lodge of Guido Von Liszt.
Hitler later claimed in Mein Kampf, that these had been the most vital years of his life in which he learned all he needed to know to lead the Nazi Party.
Stein got to know Hitler because of their mutual interest in the Spear of Destiny - a relic on display in the Hapsburg's treasury at the Hofmuseum in Vienna.
The relic was said to have phenomenal talismanic power having once been used at the Crucifixion to wound the side of Christ. According to legend, possession of the Spear would bring its owner the power to conquer the world, but losing it would bring immediate death. The relic had been owned by a succession of powerful European rulers down through the centuries and eventually came to be in the possession of the Hapsberg Dynasty.
Hitler confided to Stein that the first time he saw the Spear he had witnessed extraordinary visions of his own destiny unfolding before him.
In 1923, on his deathbed, Hitler's mentor Dietrich Eckart, a dedicated Satanist and central figure in the Occult Thule Society and a founder member of the Nazi party, said:
'Follow Hitler ! He will dance, but it is I who have called the tune !'
'I have initiated him into the 'Secret Doctrine', opened his centres in vision and given him the means to communicate with the Powers.'
'Do not mourn for me: I shall have influenced history more than any other German.'
On 12th March 1938, the day Hitler annexed Austria, he arrived in Vienna a conquering hero. He first port of call was to the Hofmuseum where he took possession of the Spear which he immediately sent to Nuremberg, the spiritual capital of Nazi Germany.
At 2.10 on 30th April, 1945, during the final days of the war, after considerable bombing of Nuremberg, the Spear fell into the hands of the American 7th Army under General Patton. Later that day, in fulfilment of the legend, Hitler committed suicide.
© Mark Harris 1996
Further Reading: The Spear of Destiny, by Trevor Ravenscroft, Published by Neville Spearman, London, 1974.
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