First and the Last
Guardianship of the Holy Grail had been given to Joseph of Arimathea.
Joseph was one of the early disciples of Our Lord (the Bible confirms that
the apostles at Jerusalem referred to Joseph as being a disciple of Christ),
but he nevertheless needed to be properly ordained by the laying on of hands by
one of the original apostles for him to begin his apostolic appointment as
first bishop of the Grail Church. Joseph bade farewell to Philip and the
faithful in Gaul [where he had arrived, having been expelled from Palestine in
an oarless boat with other disciples] and set off with his company of twelve
for the Sacred Isle of the West. Reaching the shores of the most hallowed
ground on earth the small band of disciples sailed the waterway until they came
in sight of a lofty green hill ~ Glastonbury Tor.
Following their arrival the
travellers made their way up a hill in sight of the Tor and Joseph, weary from
his journey, stopped to rest. He thrust his pastoral staff into the ground
whereupon it immediately took root and eventually blossomed.
The task of
rebuilding the first Church was completed in AD 39. It was sixty feet in length
and twenty-six feet wide, akin to the pattern of the Tabernacle. Joseph
installed a shrine for the Holy Grail at its central altar where the Last
Supper was celebrated in memory of Christ. The Grail Church, then, was founded
in Britain in AD 36, having been consecrated by Christ Himself [taking three
years to rebuild]. It was catholic (universal) and apostolic, but never Roman
Catholic. Christ is the sole Head of the Church. The Roman Catholic Church has
a pope as its head. This the Grail Church would have never recognised.
Roman Catholic is a late and misleading neologism. We cannot tie our
Catholic Faith and Catholic theology simply to the ingrown Roman absolutist
claims from the Middle Ages and later times. Certainly, there must be
development in doctrine and practice, but only on an evolutio secundum
evangelium, or a development in accordance with the Gospel. But an evolutio
contra evangelium, a development contrary to the Gospel, must be
resisted.
Joseph of Arimathea, the first apostle of Britain, lived within four
years of the second expulsion of the persecuting Romans. Imperial Rome had
failed to crush the Church of the New Covenant ~ the Grail Church. Not once had
the foot of the invader marched on the sacred soil of Glastonbury. Only John,
of the original apostles of Christ, outlived Joseph. Fifty years after he had
placed the Body of Our Lord in the tomb, Joseph went to his immortal reward and
joined the saintly company that had preceded him on July 27th, AD
82.
The Foundation Head and Supreme Pastor and Bishop of the Grail Church
is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself from whom all bishops and pastors derive their
spiritual powers and jurisdiction. The New Testament shows that we may believe
in the living Christ only if we believe in His Bodily Resurrection. Life
without a body is not human life. This is what we are told. We are free to
reject it, but not to modify it or pretend that the New Testament tells us
something else. We may accept or refuse the message, but we may not change it.
Our Lord did not commit rule and authority within the Church to all the
faithful indiscriminately, but only to the apostles and to their lawful
successors in due order.
First Apostle of Britain was Joseph
of Arimathea who was also the first appointed bishop in the Grail Church. But
the first and the last Bishop and Supreme Head of the One Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church ~ of which the Grail Church is but a small part ~ is Jesus
Christ who, therefore, is truly the Bishop of the Grail Church.
To unveil the beginning is to discover the Grail and its secret which
is that the end is the beginning and the beginning the end. The scourged and
crucified Body of Our Lord was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.
The cup sealed with His Precious Blood is the ultimate symbol of our union with
God as Christ is the only way to the Father.