Jesus of Nazareth it split the story in two, literally. The time line in much of the world is measured before and after Christ. And yet about his life there is still a lot of mystery, beyond what the Gospels say and what we see in the movies and series of Easter.
Among historians there is a premise: one was Jesus, another was Christ. Jesus is the real character, the human being, the son of Mary and Joseph crucified under Roman law. Christ is the anointed, the so-called Son of God, miracle worker and risen on the third day.
Jesus became Christ. Or his followers converted him.
Throughout time, practically since Christianity was forged as a religion, the relics of Jesus became an obsession for the powerful. Having something close to the Master would mean having unlimited power, not lightning and wind, nor miraculous elements, but dominance over the faithful of the character. Faith.
Thus, we compile the 5 most sought after relics related to Jesus.
The Holy Grail
It is the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, whose commemoration during Holy Week corresponds to Holy Thursday. Possibly the most sought after relic of all, being an important part of the stories of King Arthur and other characters from medieval Europe.
According to a 12th-century account, the risen Jesus appears to Joseph of Arimathea to give him the Grail and order him to take it to Britain. With the cup not only the Last Supper was performed, but also that the blood and water emanating from the wound opened by Longinus’s spear were collected.
Currently there are goblets that have been linked to the tradition of the Holy Grail, such as one in Valencia (Spain), another in Genoa (Italy), O Cebreiro (Spain), Ardagh (Ireland) and Nanteos (Wales), among other locations.
Jesus crown of thorns
Mentioned in the Gospels of Saint John, Saint Mark, and Saint Matthew, Roman soldiers placed the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. SHis goal was not only to torment him more, but to make fun of his status as “King of the Jews.”
Since the 5th century, some leaders of the church, such as Paulino de Nola, They touched on the theme of the crown of thorns. They would have taken her from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and then to France.
Over time, various European churches claimed to have the true crown of thorns: there are two in the Vatican, one in Paris, others in Madrid, Barcelona and Valladolid, among many.
The spear of Longinus
In the Gospel of Saint John we can find the reference to the spear that pierced Jesus during his crucifixion. “One of the soldiers he pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out.” says John in chapter 19, verses 33-34.
The apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, dated around the fourth century, tells that the soldier was called Longinos, besides mentioning that the thieves crucified together with Jesus had the names Gestas and Dimas.
Over time it was said that, of the holy spear, as it is also known, only the tip survived. Even Adolf Hitler sent for the real one, believing that he would dominate the world with it.
In the medieval wars it would have been lost, but with the expansion of religion, many churches claimed to have the real one, which persists to this day. There is one in St. Peter’s Basilica (Rome); another in Echmiadzin (Armenia); one in Vienna (Austria); and two more in Krakow (Poland) and Hungary.
The True Cross (Vera Cruz de Jesus)
Tradition, embodied in the paintings, shows that Jesus carried a unified cross, with its two pieces of wood together. But in reality, the prisoner carried the horizontal wood and was hung with it vertically, raised by ropes.
Helena (Saint Helena), mother of Emperor Constantine, would have found the Holy Cross around the 3rd century. This story was prompted by writings by Gelasio de Cesarea and Jacobo de la Vorágine, as the BBC explains.
The Golden Legend of Jacobo de la Vorágine, written in the 13th century, tells that Helena found three crosses, and doubting which one was the real one, she brought a sick woman. This healed by touching the real one, that of Christ.
However, it is said that the pieces of wood broke, spreading their followers all over the world. Thus, there is no true cross, but several pieces, distributed in various churches and monasteries.
In reality, it is difficult to specify that a piece of wood belonged to the cross of Christ. It is most likely that the Romans have reused it with other convicts, losing the object of torment in time.
The remains of Jesus
The Gospels indicate that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven after showing himself to his disciples. But it is more a matter of faith than reality. What happened to the remains of Jesus?
There is a hypothesis that says that the tomb was empty because his followers had stolen the body of the crucified. The Gospel of Saint Matthew raises it, but to refute it, saying that it was a lie invented by the Jewish priests.
Another says that the remains of the Master they were taken away by grave robbers: there are imperial edicts against this situation in general. And one more than the body it was stolen by the religious leaders of the time, to avoid veneration by his faithful.
Today no one talks about having remains of Jesus, but yes of elements used as a shroud, such as the Shroud of Turin, in which the supposed face of the crucified is reflected. However, science confirmed that this sheet was a medieval creation.
It is another element that will remain a mystery: where are the remains of Jesus?