Holy Lance

[[File:Weltliche Schatzkammer Wien (180)-3-2.jpg|thumb|165px|The alleged Holy Lance, part of the imperial regalia of the Holy Roman Emperors.]]{{Christianity}}
The '''Holy Lance''', '''Holy Spear''', '''Spear of Longinus''', or '''Spear of Destiny''' is an alleged [[relic]] from the [[crucifixion]] of [[Jesus]]: a spear used to puncture his torso to determine that he was dead.  It makes its brief appearance in the Bible at {{bible|John|19|34}}:
{{Ctransquote|But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.|Ancient Greek|Άλλ’ εἷς τῶν στρατιωτῶν λόγχῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευρὰν ἔνυξεν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ.|||}}
None of the synoptic gospels mention this incident.  But, as with the [[True Cross]], the many nails apparently needed to crucify Jesus, and just about any artifact mentioned in the several accounts of Christ's passion, it was [[Miracle|miraculously]] multiplied by the [[medieval]] relic industry.  

"Longinus" is a name given by Christian [[folklore]] to the soldier who wielded the lance.  He appears first sometime around the middle of the fourth century in the [[apocrypha]]l ''Gospel of Nicodemus'', although he really isn't given a speaking role there either:<ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_suppressed_Gospels_and_Epistles_of_the_original_New_Testament_of_Jesus_the_Christ/Chapter_5 Gospel of Nicodemus], ch. 7.</ref>

{{cquote|Then Longinus, a certain soldier, taking a spear, pierced his side, and presently there came forth blood and water.}}

Other Christian folklore identifies Longinus with the unnamed soldier who says "Truly this man was the son of God"<ref>{{bible|Matthew|27|34}}</ref>, so the legend of "[[Saint]] Longinus" was started.  Longinus probably was named after the Greek word for ''spear''  used in the text, ''λόγχῃ'' (''lonchē''), also cognate with [[Latin]] ''lancea'' and [[English]] ''lance''.

==Versions==
[[File:Sainte Lance de Rome.jpg|thumb|165px|right|The Roman version of the Holy Lance.  The point was broken off and sent to Constantinople, where it was incorporated into an icon, now lost.]]
[[Rome]] is home to one such Holy Lance.  This one is at least reported since around 570 CE, if you believe the report of Antoninus of Piacenza that he saw both the lance and the crown of thorns preserved in [[Jerusalem]]. This one has a complicated history.  It was captured by the king of [[Persia]], then sent to Constantinople, and then captured by the [[Turks]] at the fall of the city. It was ultimately given as a bribe by the Ottoman [[Caliph]] Bayezid II to [[Pope]] Innocent VIII because the Pope had Bayezid's brother prisoner and Bayezid was best pleased that he be kept that way.<ref>Eamon Duffy, (2006). ''Saints & Sinners – A History of the Popes.'', p. 196. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11597-0.</ref>  This version is now in Rome.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08773a.htm The Holy Lance], ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref>  

Another relic claiming to be the Holy Lance is preserved in Echmiadzin, [[Armenia]].  This one has been reworked to form a cross. It's attested from the 13th century forward. 

Yet another was recovered during the 11th century siege of Antioch during the First [[Crusade]], in which a vision came to one Peter Bartholemew telling him where to look. Its discovery rallied the Crusaders and enabled them to break the siege.<ref>Steven Runciman (1987). ''A History of the Crusades, Volume 1: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.'' Cambridge University Press. pp. 241–245. ISBN 978-0-521-34770-9.</ref>  

There's also supposed to be one in Krakow, [[Poland]] that's a copy of the chief one in Vienna, [[Austria]]. King Athelstan of [[England]] is said to have had one, but it has been misplaced.

==The Vienna lance==
None of these other Holy Lances are '''''the''''' Holy Lance. The Holy Lance that everybody makes a fuss over is the one kept in Vienna, where it formed part of the regalia of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman]] and Austro-Hungarian Empires. This one appeared first at the coronation of Emperor Otto I in the late 10th century. The [[Roman Empire|Roman emperor]] [[Constantine]] I is supposed to have owned it earlier, and Constantine also bound a nail from the Crucifixion in it. Later Holy Roman Emperors had a silver sheath attached to better bind the nail to it, and then a [[gold]] sheath to attach the silver sheath better.<ref>It appears duct tape had not yet been invented.</ref>

Metallurgical tests performed on this lance suggest that it dates to the 7th century CE.<ref>Maryann Bird (2003), "Piercing An Ancient Tale", ''Time'', June 08, 2003</ref>  This has fueled speculation that this lance was once the lance of the Lombard kings, and represented [[Odin]]'s spear Gungnir. [[Charlemagne]] may have converted Odin's spear into a Christian relic when he was crowned king of the Lombards in 774.  

==Its magical powers==
No particular healing legends or other powers were ascribed to this relic, which rather served as a symbol of imperial power among the [[German]] and Austrian emperors. It acquired them in much later, and post-Christian, folklore.

===''Parsifal''===
[[File:Fra Angelico 027.jpg|thumb|right|The Holy Lance in use.  Painting by Fra Angelico.]]
The Holy Lance, as an occult relic, figures in the plot of [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''Parsifal'', which is ultimately based on a poem by the 13th century ''Minnesinger'' Wolfram von Eschenbach.  

In the opera, King Amfortas (based off of the Fisher King of [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] lore) has been wounded by the Lance<ref>He appears not to have realized that it was sharp.</ref>, resulting in a [[magic]]al wound that will not heal.  The lance is then stolen by the evil wizard Klingsor, and it of course becomes the task of the titular hero Parsifal (Sir Percival, from Arthurian legends) to go on a quest to fetch it back. After the typical travails involving seductive flower maidens, dead swans, and mysterious hermits, Parsifal succeeds in recovering the Lance. When he touches Amfortas, he is both healed of his wound and absolved of his sins.

[[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] absolutely hated this; Wagner's use of Christian symbols and values was something he considered a betrayal:

{{cquote|''Parsifal'' is a work of perfidy, of vindictiveness, of a secret attempt to poison the presuppositions of life &mdash; a bad work. The preaching of [[chastity]] remains an incitement to anti-nature: I despise everyone who does not experience ''Parsifal'' as an attempted assassination of basic ethics.|||''Nietzsche Against Wagner''}}

Others have asserted that the opera ties into Wagner's [[anti-Semitism]] and that the villain Klingsor is a [[Jewish]] caricature.  These claims also seem rather far-fetched; nothing in the libretto itself directly supports them.<ref>Bryan Magee  (2002). ''The Tristan Chord''. Owl Books, NY. ISBN 0-8050-7189-X. pages 371-380.</ref>  The Christian and un-Teutonic themes in ''Parsifal'' allegedly also made it [[Hitler]]'s least favorite among Wagner's operas. The opera, which was by Wagner's intention only supposed to be performed at Bayreuth, was not performed there during the [[Third Reich|Nazi regime]], though it was staged at Berlin.<ref>Frederic Spotts (1994). ''Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival.'' New Haven and London: Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-05777-6. page 212.</ref>

On the other hand, some people make Hitler obsessed with the lance. This is somewhat common, despite him being one of the few of the Nazi leadership not obsessed with the [[occult]] and Ariosophy.

===The Spear of Destiny===
Trevor Ravenscroft's 1973 book ''The Spear of Destiny''<ref>Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-547-0.</ref> placed the Holy Lance in a [[New Age]] [[conspiracy theory]].  This theory gives mysterious powers that supposedly come with possession of the lance.  Hitler, according to Ravenscroft, was obsessed with the lance, and the actual point of [[World War II]] was to enable Hitler to capture it.  

Losing the lance, however, results in the downfall of the former owner. Ravenscroft asserts that Hitler fell as a result of losing the lance. Later, the lance allegedly came into the possession of [[American]] General George S. Patton after the end of the war. His death following an automobile accident was the result of giving away the lance, having returned it and the rest of the Imperial Regalia to Austria.

According to Ravenscroft, the lance is actually an ''unholy'' lance, and serves a malevolent spirit (spirits?) who may be the [[Antichrist]], though Ravenscroft dances around the issue rather daintily. In other sources such as the [[Theosophist]] [[Alice Bailey]], this idea is linked with the Theosophist belief that the Antichrist is not a person but forces of destruction that occasionally manifest to fuck shit up for the [[Evil|evulz]].

===The spear in Antarctica===
Dr. Howard Buechner, a medical professor at Tulane, builds on Ravenscroft's themes with his two books on the lance, ''Adolf Hitler And The Secrets Of The Holy Lance'' and ''Hitler's Ashes &mdash; Seeds Of A New Reich''.<ref>Thunderbird Press, 1988 and 1989 respectively</ref> 

Buechner claimed to have been contacted by a U-Boat captain, who affirmed that the Lance in Vienna was a fake. As to where the Spear actually was? Why, spirited away with other Nazi treasures by U-Boat to [[Antarctica]] along with a mountain of Nazi gold, of course! Afterwards, the Spear was supposedly recovered (improbably enough) by a Nazi secret society and hidden away in Europe somewhere.

==Pop culture references==
The Holy Lance, typically under the name of Longinos, is featured in a number of pop culture works that include Neon Genesis Evangelion, where it can both penetrate the shields used by "Angels" and immobilize beings of god-like power,<ref>[http://evangelion.wikia.com/wiki/Spear_of_Longinus Spear of Longinus]</ref> a way to explain why Superman and other superheroes were unable to go to either Berlin or Tokyo to defeat the [[Axis]] after [[Pearl Harbor]],<ref>[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Spear_of_Destiny Spear of Destiny]</ref> or echoing the Biblical origin as well as being, er, inspired by Evangelion a weapon that is -unexpectedly- used to kill the local equivalent of a Messiah, a living god himself. All-American hero B.J. Blaskowicz, the player character in the ''[[Wolfenstein]]'' series of video games, once stole it from the Nazis.

==See also==
*[[Shroud of Turin]]
*[[True Cross]]
*[[Holy Foreskin]] - A cover for a different kind of lance.

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

[[Category:Christian mythology]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Jesus-related hoaxes]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Nazism]]

Categories: Christian mythology, Conspiracy theories, Jesus-related hoaxes, Folklore, Nazism