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Despite being officially established in 1956 as a trans-Catholic initiatory order dedicated to the revival of chivalry in the European Union; Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, in their book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, claim that the Priory of Zion has a long and illustrious history dating back to the First Crusade including the creation of the Knights Templar as its military front, that it is devoted to returning the Merovingian dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from 447 to 751 C.E., to the thrones of Europe as well as the Holy See and Jerusalem, and that the order protects these royal claimants because they are the literal descendants of Jesus and his wife Mary Magdalene.
The ultimate goals of the Priory of Zion are suspected to be 1) the founding of a 'Holy European Empire' that would become the next hyperpower and usher in a new world order of peace and prosperity; and 2) the reunification of Judaism and Christianity into one religion by exhibiting lost Second Temple scrolls and relics, including the Holy Grail, that would prove Desposyni claims and Ebionite views, and eventually grooming and installing the messianic king of a Greater Israel.
It is interesting to note that some fringe Christian eschatologists view the Priory's master plan as a fulfillment of prophesies found in the Book of Revelation and further proof of an anti-Christian conspiracy of epic proportions.
Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln also claim that the Priory had, at the very least, a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of esotericism," the Alph, in Medieval Europe, with Rennes le Château as its source.
Historians who specialize in the area do not accept their work as a serious contribution to scholarship.
Alleged Grand Masters of the Priory of Zion
External links and references