"If the Priory of Sion does exist, then I do not understand why they would feel the need operate with such secrecy. I very much doubt that their claimed blood lineage is likely and anyway without them holding any real political, spiritual or intellectual high-ground it counts for naught anyway. Whether true or false, the Cathar, KT & Rennes-le-Chateau mystery theories all stand alone without their involvement. They add a little spice to the "saga" and no more.

It is the same for Freemasonry, there are existing documents which indicate we could have humble craft origins, and yet there are aspects of our workings that are distinctly mystical and which have existed in our rituals for 300 years. The Baal Bridge "brass square" (building tool) is dated 1507 and clearly states on it that it is to be used for moral and not operative purposes, which contradicts the Craft theory somewhat."

well, what do you think? Does "Priory of Sion" exist?

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http://www.mystery.tv/secret_societies/priory_of_sion/articles/sops_00_contents.jsp

"Modern hoax or the most powerful and secretive cabal in history? Opinions on the mysterious Priory of Sion - in its native French, the Prieuré de Sion - are polarised between these two extremes.

If the Priory of Sion's claims are true, it has existed for almost 1,000 years and has counted some of the greatest names in history - Nostradamus, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and, nearer our own time, Victor Hugo and Jean Cocteau - in its ranks. It claims to have been behind some of the most momentous events in European history, from the First Crusade to the rise to power of General de Gaulle – and is now working behind the scenes to fulfil its ultimate goal, the creation of a United States of Europe.

On the other hand, critics argue that the Priory of Sion does not exist outside of the imaginations of a handful of French mythmakers - either eccentric fantasists or confidence tricksters - who have invented the Priory and all its works.

The Priory of Sion first became known on the international stage in the phenomenal bestsellers by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) and The Messianic Legacy (1986). The Priory is most often associated with the mysteries centred on the French village of Rennes-le-Château - but, as Mystery.TV's Priory of Sion files hope to show, there is much more to the story of this most elusive secret society."

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I found out that some people have difficulties to separate "Priory of Sion" and "Elders of Sion" - these two has nothing to do with each other.

"Sion" or "Zion" is the name of Israel, both the land and the people, and Jerusalem. It was originally the name of a stronghold captured by King David. The stronghold was demolished, and the temple was build on place, and Jerusalem was grown around it.

THERE IS NOTHING ANTI-SEMITIC IN THE WORD

Zionism or Sionism is a national movement for the return of the Jewish people to Zion - Israel - and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in Israel - and now it stands for KEEPING Israel Israeli - some Zionists dream of "Great Israel" - making Israel as big as it ever has been - and it is these, who have given a bad name to Zionists. Dreams of grandness at the cost of others' lives, space and happiness are never ok. It wasn't ok when Germany did it, and it isn't ok, when Israel does it.

But there is nothing bad in Zionism itself - just the extreme nationalist Zionists.

"Elders of Zion" has only one connection - "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (or Wise Men of Zion) is an anti-Semitic booklet, written to look as if it was a protocol of a real meeting.

IT IS A FORGERY with only evil intentions.

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/protocols/protocols_intro.asp

Priory of Zion - Prieuré du Sion - has nothing to do with the Jewish people, but with Israel, the Holy Land. 
A man, who wanted to be a king, made himself royal bloodline, and happened to touch an old legend of the royal bloodline of the Merovingian kings being more than royal; that of Jesus... and the brotherhood of Zion would have been loyal Xians protecting the bloodline of Jesus.
There's a lot of documents to "proove" this claim, but they are forged as well. The man who would be a king found out that he would be of Jesus' blood and got shocked, as the idea was sacreligeous to him, so he blew the hoax off, and got his friends - who made the forgeries - to confess.

The reason to why I write this is that someone thinks that Da Vinci Code - the book and this group - are anti-Semitic, as they talk about the Priory of Sion, as if it was a real organization, and confuse it with "Elders of Zion". I hope I have cleared out some misunderstandings and confusion.

Hugs,
Ket

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"It has been seven years since I wrote my first article on the Priory of Sion/Rennes-les-Chateau mystery. At the time, I was heavily under the influence of the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and Lionel Fanthorpe's work. Since then, there have been a number of books released, some better, some worse, than these original influences. I have revised some of my theories, challenged some of my own assumptions, learned some new things, and encountered a great deal of contrary data. Now, I am no longer sure that the hypothesis presented at the end of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the best for explaining the data, nor am I sure that a Priory of Sion with the characteristics ascribed to it (an 800-year uninterrupted history, 9000 members internationally) really exists. I also am not sure that what is presented as "orthodox" with regard to the Sauniere saga can really be trusted. Still, although I have encountered the work of the debunkers, I am sure of two and only two things:

1. the Sauniere saga cannot be explained away simply by a mass-trafficking pyramid scheme and a bad taste in décor.
2. Something called the Order de Sion existed in the Middle Ages up until, at the latest, the 17^th century; something called the Prieure du Sion existed from at least 1956 to 1984; whether these two things have any actual relationship to each other, I am still trying to figure out."

To read the rest of this VERY interesting article, go to:
http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/poseur3.html

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