The Guilt of the Gnostic Knights Templar: The Chinon Parchment

The recently discovered Chinon Parchment of the Vatican Library in 2001 has brought a level of redemption to the Knights Templar. It does not discount their “heretical” activities, which were entirely gnostic in nature and reveal Johannite and Sufi influences on the Knights. But it does absolve them of these “crimes.”   

The History of the Parchment

When Pope Clement V summoned many of the accused Knights Templar to his residence in Poitiers, France to determine the truth of the heretical allegations against them, some of the highest ranking knights, including Grandmaster Jacques de Molay, were diverted to Chinon, where they were met by three cardinals.

Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. (Public Domain)

Their subsequent meeting in Chinon—including confessions by the Knights and an ensuing absolution of their crimes by the Church—comprise the text of the Chinon Parchment.