Priory of Sion

History?

There are many opinions on what the Priory of Zion, Priory of Sion, Prieuré de Sion or Sionis Prioratus is. It may be the most powerful secret society in Western history, an ingenious modern Rosicrucian-like ludibrium, an imposter royalty hoax motivated by political ambition, an element of many New Age books, or simply one of the greatest conspiracy theories.

The Priory of Sion was officially established in Paris in 1956 as a trans-Catholic initiatory order dedicated to the revival of chivalry in France and in a future European Union. However, research in the Rennes-le-Château mysteries led Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, in their book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, to claim that 1) the Priory has a long and illustrious history dating back to the First Crusade starting with the creation of the Knights Templar as its military front; that 2) it had a large role in partaking in and promoting the "underground river of esotericism," the Alph, in Medieval Europe; that 3) it is devoted to returning the Merovingian dynasty, that ruled the Frankish kingdom from 447 to 751 C.E., to the thrones of Europe and Jerusalem; and that 4) 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 Sion 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 revealing 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.

Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln's most controversial claim is that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic forgery but that it was actually based on an aristocratic, Hermetic and Masonic manisfesto of the Priory of Sion.

Historians do not accept their work as a serious contribution to scholarship.

The Priory of Sion, portrayed as more of a Goddess mystery religion, plays a large part in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code.

Cryptic motto

Et in Arcadia ego... is supposedly the official motto of the Priory of Sion. Et in Arcadia ego is a Latin phrase, that most famously appears as the title of a painting by Nicolas Poussin, which literally means, "And I in Arcadia." However, the addition of three dashes is suggestive of the missing word Sum in order for the phrase to be grammatically meaningful: "And I am in Arcadia." Futhermore, it has been theorized by Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger that the completed phrase Et in Arcadia ego Sum is an anagram for Arcam Dei Tango which means "I touch the tomb of God."

Alleged Grand Masters of the Priory of Zion

External links and references

Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood Holy Grail, 1982 (ISBN 055212138)
Steven Mizrach. Priory of Sion: The Facts, the Theories, the Mystery
Richard Andrews and Paul Schellenberger. The Tomb of God: The Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2,000-year-old Mystery, 1996 (ISBN 0316879975)