The Grail Church

The Grail Church (Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ) has been described as the last pure branch of early Christianity; known also as the Old Church (Ecclesia Vetusta), the Celtic Church, and the British Church. Its Holy Orders were restored via the Old Catholics who seceded from Rome in 1724 ~ which manifestation in Great Britain from April 1908 provided a resting-place for discontented Roman Catholics who were not prepared to join the Church of England. The renewed flowering of this early Church ~ since its demise twelve centuries ago ~ took place on a hilltop at Easter 1973, England, when disciples gathered.

Our Lord knew that the Sanhedrin and its following would reject Him, so it had to be to others ~ the lost sheep ~ that the new covenant would pass. Guardianship of the Holy Grail had been given to Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph bade farewell to Philip and the faithful and set off with his company of twelve for the Sacred Isle of the West.

In 597 St Augustine of Canterbury wrote to Pope Gregory: In the Western confines of Britain there is a certain royal island of large extent, surrounded by water, abounding in all beauties of nature and necessaries of life. In it the first Neophites of Catholic Law, God hath beforehand acquainted them, found a Church constructed by no human art, but divinely constructed by the hands of Christ Himself, for the salvation of His people. The Almighty has made it manifest by many miracles and mysterious visitations that He continues to watch over it as sacred to Himself. The new covenant, superseding the old covenant of the Jews, was inaugurated by Our Lord in the words which referred to the chalice that became known as the Holy Grail. The Passover Supper ended with His injunction which Christians have ever since observed as the Last Supper when the Lamb of God replaced the paschal lamb.

The true Sangreal is the cup sealed by the Holy Blood of the Saviour which was entrusted along with its sacred mysteries to Joseph of Arimathea, who, clothed with the virtues of the risen Christ and the Holy Grail, was sustained spiritually and physically. The Holy Grail became a sign of saving grace and wonder to that company which he was elected to take westward. The cup contained the Saviour's Blood and unlimited powers of healing were attributed to it, but it was also an outward symbol of unity with God as well as an inward means of transmitting a direct apprehension of God. While the established Church became absorbed into the pagan pantheon of the Roman Empire, the Grail Church and its episcopacy with a super-apostolic succession and extra-valid form of consecrating Eucharistic elements, took root in Celtic Britain.”

By preserving the Body of his Master after the Crucifixion, Joseph became an instrument of the Resurrection. On Ascension Day the arch-natural Body was removed from the world, but there remained the Holy Grail into which the Precious Blood of the natural Body had been received by Joseph. Later chroniclers would employ the word Sangreal within which lies the words Saint Gréal (Holy Grail) and Sang Real (Royal Blood). The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was of royal blood.

William of Malmesbury was the only historian of repute who saw the wattle Church before the fire in 1184. William offers his own description: In it the bodily relics of many saints are preserved, some of whom we shall note in due course; nor is there any space around the shrine which does not contain the ashes of the blessed. Indeed, the tessellated pavement of polished stone, yes, even the sides of the altar, and the very altar itself, both above and below, are piled with the crowded relics. In places also one may note in the pavement on either side stones carefully placed, in alternate triangles and squares, and sealed with lead; beneath which, if I believe some holy secret to be held, I am doing no harm to religion. This same wattle Church once held the Ark of the New Covenant: the Holy Grail. That was its holy secret. And the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail was the stone which the builders rejected.

The year 597 witnessed the beginning of the end of the autonomy of the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail in Britain. The end was in sight when representatives of both the Roman and British Church met in 664 at Whitby to discuss the future of the indigenous people. Lindisfarne and Northumbria surrendered, but by no means did all the Christians in Britain submit to the hierarchy connected with Rome. By the beginning of the eighth century all trace of the Grail Church had disappeared. The Apostolic Church of Britain with its divine authority and faithful reflection of scriptural doctrine and piety died as the ambitions of Gregory and his successors were realised. The legacy of the Church founded by Christ Himself and lovingly restored by Joseph and his companions was now lost and would remain so for the next twelve centuries.

The Church founded by Christ in these Isles that disappeared without trace for twelve centuries to be restored on the summit of a green hill at Eastertide 1973, is the Grail Church. The seed of the Holy Grail had nevertheless been sown in the folk memory of those who dwelt in the Sacred Isle of the West. Mystics speak a truth which imagination alone can grasp and the original Apostolic Church of Britain put an emphasis on such things as imagination and compassion and loving one another. Rome only knew how to conquer and when it reached these shores to establish its succession at Canterbury, it was to the detriment of Christianity. By then the Holy Grail had long since disappeared and the Christian community who traced their authority direct from the risen Christ and whose predecessors had arrived with the sacred vessel, were soon themselves to pass into legend and become the stuff of future dreams and lost innocence of childhood. They are the stray sheep of our imagination which, if found, we rejoice over more than anything. Discovery of the Holy Grail ~ and thereby union with God ~ confers immortality, eternal life in heaven. Yet unless we turn round and become like children we shall not achieve this supreme gift. The Grail Church truly was ~ and shall ever be ~ the Guardian of the Most Precious Blood in which we are saved.

According to tradition the eighteenth century mansion of Nanteos, just outside Aberystwyth in Wales, became the repository of an olive wood bowl brought by seven monks who had fled from Glastonbury Abbey at the time of the Dissolution. They first went to the Abbey of Strata Florida and thence to Nanteos, bringing with them what was said to be the sacred cup of the Last Supper. In the sixteenth century members of the Powell family became the cup's guardian. In 1855 Richard Wagner, composer of the Grail opera Parsifal, made a pilgrimage to behold the Nanteos Cup. It was widely believed to possess miraculous healing powers and water poured into it was sent around the world to those afflicted with various diseases and ailments. The fragile cup turned into little more than a sliver as the edges became worn away by people drinking from it in the hope of a cure.

Also called the Order of the Sangreal, it is best known today as Ordo Sancti Graal.

The Order is a tripartite fellowship of disciples comprising of (1) lay members dispersed far and wide in like manner to that experienced in the early Church, (2) lay members and clergy in Britain, and (3) brothers, deacons and priests in permanent residence, or in close proximity, to the Bishop & Primate.

A spiritual journey had led us to that summit beneath a darkening sky where the echoes of yestercentury mingled with a portent for tomorrow. It was the vision of the Holy Grail we experienced that Easter. Hence the name of our fellowship: Ordo Sancti Graal. And on that fateful day an inner voice told us that the renewal had begun. This became our central quest: to rebuild the ancient Grail Church and restore its sacred orders so woefully broken down when Rome succeeded at Canterbury. Brothers of Ordo Sancti Graal wear only white. This has been so from the beginning. However, those who enter holy orders are recognised by a red cross on their vestments. The Order's symbol is the Grail Cross (a chalice at the centre of an equidistant cross) which would later be incorporated into our episcopal coat-of-arms.

Like the Celtic Christians, St Francis of Assisi appreciated the beauty and wonder of Creation and he was certainly no stranger to supernatural experiences. It is therefore not too surprising to learn that, in his youth, St Francis sought the Holy Grail itself.

There is a delightful painting by Giotto of St Francis preaching to the birds. An astonished friar looks on and is witness that the event is true just as a nearby tree serves to set the picture in the real world. The saint is unsmiling and serious in his address to the fowl of the air. They ~ the least disciplined of creatures ~ nevertheless form attentive ranks before him and, though they might not understand his utterances, they seem conscious of a holy presence. Perhaps St Francis is preaching to the birds because he cannot make himself heard by the men and women of his time. St Francis, more than anyone, interprets Christ's challenge to all aspiring disciples with a freshness and a vitality. Christ, the only way to God, is our Master and gentle Francis is a fellow-disciple guiding us along the often difficult path all Christians must follow. The little saint suffered silently and painfully for the Church of the Middle Ages with its abuses, thinking he could change the proud prelates with their clerical pomp not by criticism but by holy humility and reverence. Undoubtedly, some were transformed by his Christ-like example.

Also known as Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi, the Grail Church, the Celtic Church, and the British Church.

Access to the Grail Church is not by way of the establishment within organised religion. Its symbol ~ the Holy Grail of the Last Supper ~ has never at any time received ecclesiastical sanction from the major institutions. That the ultimate sign of union with God through the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ has gone unrecognised by the Church establishment since adoption of the Faith by the Roman Empire in the fourth century, making Christianity the state religion of a military dictatorship, is perhaps not without reason. The early Church in the Apostolic Age had a profound sense of the sanctity of human life. The earliest Church of Christ existed in Britain when the Church in Jerusalem was continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and in breaking bread from house to house (Acts 2: 46). To the native Celts the Grail Church became known as the British Church; so as to distinguish it from the Anglo-Saxon English Church. When the Anglo-Saxons adopted Roman Christianity the British Church receded until it eventually vanished. Yet the memory of the Holy Grail could not be eradicated.

The Grail Church represents that which has been lost to Christianity. But on Good Friday 1973 it was found. Literally hundreds came from far and wide to strengthen the Light that burned within us. Some carried torches as darkness fell across the heath and tiny flames could be seen flickering for miles around. … We all felt it. It was a moment that cannot be forgotten by those who experienced it. And because it cannot be forgotten, it will live for ever.

By the end of the seventh century the Grail Church ceased to exist when its apostolic succession was broken down and ended in favour of the Roman Catholic succession of Canterbury. An historic continuity passing backwards in time to the apostles and Our Lord Himself was nevertheless restored to the spiritual heirs of the ancient Grail Church on the feast of St Francis of Assisi 1991. Archbishop Bertil Persson of Scandinavia sent his congratulations and reminded us that the Grail Church has received apostolic ecumenical lines through Archbishop Thomas, whom he conditionally consecrated, including a line back to the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Archbishop Persson is Missionary General to the Philippine Independent Catholic Church. Archbishop Williams, the original consecrator of Archbishop Thomas, passed on the Syrian and Greek Melkite lines; also the Syro-Gallican and Old Catholic lines of succession. A letter signed by the then Vatican Archivist, Cardinal Mercati, [dated 21 July 1952] to Archbishop Irenaeus dEschevannes ratifies the holy orders of the Syro-Gallican line as being entirely valid [in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church]. The Roman Catholic line is followed from the apostles of Our Lord to Cardinal Barberini on whom depends the historical line of succession of the Dutch Old Catholics. The irony of reclaiming a valid succession from a line whose source, the Roman Church, was responsible for its disappearance some twelve centuries prior, is not lost on those within the present-day Grail Church. The English Old Catholic line continues through Arnold Harris Mathew … consecrated on 28 April 1908 as Regionary Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain and Ireland [via] Illtyd Thomas [to] Seán Manchester [who] has the equivalent dignity of the office of archbishop as it is described in some other jurisdictions.

Archbishop Persson, in a letter dated 6 December 1991, confirmed that his particular line (inherited by the Grail Church via Archbishop Thomas) is accepted by the Utrecht Old Catholic Communion. In his Foreword to The Grail Church book, Br Keith Maclean informs that Bishop Manchester only employs the three ministerial titles of deacon, priest and bishop whilst holding the equivalent office of archbishop. The Grail Church does not ordain women to the priesthood; though, like the early Church, it accepts women deacons. There is clear evidence that women were properly received into the diaconate, but nothing exists anywhere to suggest that any proceeded to become priests. Women did not assist at the Eucharist where bread and wine is transformed into the true Body and Blood of Christ, but were still validly made deacons both in the early Church and today in parts of the Catholic Church.

The episcopate, as embodied in the office of bishop, is one of the essential forms of the Body of Christ. We must not be discouraged from our Faith by any faults and failings of the members of the Church or by our own; for the act of Faith is directed not to the human element in the Church but to the divine. Nor must we be too concerned by the variety of autocephalous jurisdictions. St Cyprian of Carthage (192-258) remarked: There are many churches, just as there are many rays of the sun, but only one source of light. The Grail Church inherited the Old Catholic line, the Chaldean Catholic line, the Armenian Catholic line, the Russian Orthodox line, the Syrian Orthodox line, the Assyrian line, the Greek Melkite line, the Syro-Gallican line, the Anglican and Non-Juring lines of succession. The historic continuity of the apostolic succession thus imparted cannot be questioned. The Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail therefore traces its restored continuity of succession back to the Old Catholic Church of Holland and to the Orthodox Churches of the East. This historic relationship with both East and West derives from the fact that its holy orders stem from a bishop who, in an endeavour to promote Church Unity, received conditional consecration from bishops of different jurisdictions. Having this historic ministry, the Grail Church holds the Faith of the Undivided Church prior to the Great Schism. Its standards of doctrine are founded on the Bible, the Creeds and the teachings of the early Fathers. The additions of Rome and the subtractions of the Protestant World are rejected.

From the Latin gratia, favour, assistance freely given by God to man with a view to his eternal life and sanctification. Habitual grace is the gift of God conveyed in the Sacraments. Grace is a supernatural act of divine aid and goodwill, unconditional, unearned and free, but given for our salvation.

The fundamental ordinances of the Gospel, instituted by Jesus Christ as special means of conveying divine grace and influence, which are commonly called mysteries or sacraments, are seven in number; namely baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, holy orders, matrimony, penance and unction. The sacraments derive their power to impart grace from the merits of Our Lord's Precious Blood. Each is an outward sign of inward grace bestowed on those who receive them worthily. Without baptism no other sacrament can be validly received. In baptism we promise to renounce the devil and all his works. This sacrament is absolutely necessary for salvation. Confirmation is a sacrament in which the baptised person receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Eucharist is the sacrifice of the new covenant between God and man because it is the perpetual commemoration of the expiatory Sacrifice offered once and for all by Our Lord on the Cross. The Most Holy Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. It is the life and food of our souls. The full presence of Christ is in the Host under the appearance of bread and equally in the Precious Blood under the appearance of wine. Holy Orders is the sacrament by which bishops are consecrated, priests ordained and deacons made, in which the Holy Spirit, through the laying on of hands of the bishops, imparts to them special grace to administer the sacraments. A bishop in the apostolic succession is the only minister of holy orders. Holy Matrimony is the sacrament which sanctifies the contract of Christian Marriage and gives grace for their state to those receiving it. Penance is a sacrament in which the Holy Spirit bestows the forgiveness of sins, by the ministry of the priest, upon those who, having sinned after baptism, confess their sins with true repentance and grace is given to amend their lives thereafter. Holy Unction is the sacrament whereby the sick are anointed with oil and receive the laying on of hands with prayer by a priest for the healing of the infirmities of their souls and, if it should please God, those of their bodies also. It is a corruption of the practice of the Apostolic Church to reserve this sacrament solely for those who are in danger of death and to refer to it as Extreme Unction. The Scriptures are writings inspired by God and given to the Church for her instruction and edification. The Church is therefore the custodian of Holy Scripture.

Our Lord Jesus Christ founded on earth One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, His Mystical Body, of which the Grail Church is part. The Visible Church exists wherever His Word and sacraments are rightly administered by ministers in the apostolic succession. The Invisible Church is the company of all the faithful who have had, have, and shall have faith in Christ and have become His children through baptism for the remission of sins. The Grail Church perseveres in professing the Faith of the primitive Church as formulated in the ecumenical symbols and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the seven ecumenical Councils and of the Fathers of the Church. All teachings that have no substance in holy writ and were not accepted by the Apostolic Church are not received nor held as Articles of Faith by the Grail Church. Those who proclaim God's truth as revealed in the Bible and follow the apostolic doctrine of Christ rather than a diluted form will discover a strong enemy in both state and modern churchianity. Christians who dare to speak out against apostate teachings and errors within their congregation run the risk of being forced out and even excommunicated. Paul tells us that ‘the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. That time has now arrived. The moment of decision has arrived. Are you able to drink the cup that is offered and share in the blood of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick,and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

Divine healing should not be confused with faith healing or spiritual healing. Divine healing is the effect of the Holy Spirit upon our natural beings. When the sick, suffering and demon possessed touched Our Lord Jesus Christ, virtue went out of Him ~ the power of the Holy Spirit flowed from the Saviour. Divine healing can be experienced through the following means:

Establishing a proper relationship with God and asking for forgiveness of sin. Recognising that Christ bore your sickness and afflictions. Pray and believe. Give glory to God for your cure.

Paul was stranded on the island of Melita (Malta). Unable to travel, God revealed to him the ministry of blessed cloths. The blessed prayer cloth is a point of contact, but the healing power derives from the risen Lord. In 1997 the Nanteos Cup was revealed to British television viewers, and in 1998 to an American television audience, in two separately made documentary films about the Holy Grail. The precise location of the Nanteos Cup nevertheless remained guarded. Both television programmes featured the Reverend Peter Scothern and the Bishop of Glastonbury, the Right Reverend Seán Manchester OSG, Primate of the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail. Prayer cloths anointed with chrism and immersed in water poured into the Nanteos Cup, an olive wood bowl thought by some to be the vessel used by Our Lord Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, was demonstrated by the Reverend Scothern. Bishop Manchester, filmed at Glastonbury Abbey for the American documentary, provided the genesis of the Holy Grail from Palestine to England, and, in the English film, spoke from the chapel in the Holy Grail Retreat Centre of the supernatural healing properties attributed to the Sacred Cup of the Last Supper.

Members of Ordo Sancti Graal provide the ministry of healing through the laying on of hands and prayer. Those in the sacred priesthood also visit and provide the Eucharist to those who are unable to leave their home or bedside. Apart from prayer, the presence of a minister is naturally essential to administer the Holy Sacrament or to heal through the laying on of hands. Where this is not practical, owing to sheer distance, blessed prayer cloths can be sent through the post. The sick may nevertheless have their intentions included in the Eucharist celebrated in their absence.

The apostle James said to the Christians of his own time: "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him" (James 5: 14).

Divine healing is a gift of God's grace made available to us through the atoning ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, predicted this when he wrote: With His stripes we are healed. Before Our Lord was crucified, He was savagely scourged ~ receiving many stripes. Christ suffered and He Himself took away our infirmities, and carried away our diseases (Matthew 8: 17). ~ He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross … for by His wounds you were healed (1 Peter 2: 24). Jesus paid the price for our salvation and healing. Divine healing is the children's bread, ie the right of every true believer in Jesus Christ. Do not lose heart if you are not healed straight away. The nobleman's son in John's Gospel began to recover from the hour the Lord spoke the word of healing. The son was not instantly made whole. The blind man from Bethsaida was blessed twice by the Lord. He was not immediately restored. Naaman the Syrian leper washed seven times before he was eventually cured. Do not confuse healing with a miracle. To heal means to recover.

Some mention ought to be made of the ministry of exorcism on which the Grail Church places much importance. Our Lord Himself was an exorcist throughout His earthly ministry and many of the healings in the Gospels are indeed exorcisms. The Primate of the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail was an exorcist for many years prior to taking holy orders (the exorcistate being a minor order). The duty of the exorcist is to cast out demons, to administer water at the sacred functions, and to lay hands upon the possessed. By the imposition of the exorcist's hands, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the words of the exorcism, the unclean spirits shall be cast out from the bodies of the possessed. An exorcism should not be carried out in normal circumstances without the permission of a bishop. Sadly, this essential ministry has been seriously neglected of late, and even abandoned in some quarters, by mainstream churchianity which, by doing so, has rendered itself virtually defenceless against the wiles of the devil. Holy Scripture instructs us to put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness of this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6: 12). A monumental struggle against the powers of darkness pervades the whole history of man. The battle was joined from the origins of the world and will continue until the last day, as the Lord attests.

Where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side (Romans 7: 21). Our frailty, whether bishop or priest, makes us one with those whom we serve, and we are saved from any suggestion of smugness or self-satisfaction. We view those who work with us as friends, in the same way that Christ calls His disciples servants no longer but friends. The ministry of exorcism especially requires those chosen to be marked by piety, prudence, knowledge and holy humility.

He who was healed did not know who it was; for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place (John 5: 13).

In the New Testament the representative appointed by the apostle for each local church is the overseer or bishop. The distinction in function between these and the deacon is absolute. The deacon can preach and convert, but the transmission of sacramental grace from the divine comes through the apostles. When the apostles handed their power to successors these were called overseers (episcopi) or bishops. The priesthood in the fullest sense rests with the bishop who alone retains the power of transmitting orders. The repository of this authority, appointed by Jesus Christ Himself, was the Apostolic Church. Since apostolic times ecclesiastical authority has been transmitted in three degrees throughout the Church: deacon, priest and bishop.

The Grail Church represents that which has been lost to Christianity. But on Good Friday 1973 it was found; wearing white robes and carrying a nine-foot-high wooden cross, he plans to set off from Hampstead Heath next week on a pilgrimage of peace. Walking all the way with him will be a group of twelve young supporters, who want to spread the simple, spiritual ways of life originally taught by Christ (Hampstead and Highgate Express, 4 May 1973). A spiritual journey had led us to that summit beneath a darkening sky and on that fateful day an inner voice told us that the renewal had begun. This became our central quest: to rebuild the ancient Grail Church and restore its sacred orders so woefully broken down when Rome succeeded at Canterbury. I could not help but recall how St Francis of Assisi had been inspired to begin his own fellowship. While he was walking near the Church of San Damiano a voice from within his soul bade him to enter the building and pray most devoutly. A tender, compassionate voice then spoke to him: Francis, do you not see that My house is falling into ruin? Go, and repair it for Me. Trembling and amazed Francis replied: Gladly I will do so, O Lord.

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 27^th, 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.

whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter. Matthew 5: 19-20

The Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail adheres to the revealed truth in Holy Scripture and the tradition and Faith of the early Church as formulated in the Ecumenical Symbols and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils and of the Fathers of the Church. All teachings that have no substance in Holy Writ and were not accepted by the early Apostolic Church are not received nor held as Articles of Faith by the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail (hereafter referred to as the Grail Church) whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction (an entirely non-stipendiary ministry) is confined to the British Isles with missions to the rest of the world.

The Grail Church holds fast to all seven sacraments, including the doctrine of the Real Presence. The presence of Christ is held to be in the Host under the appearance of bread and equally in the Precious Blood under the appearance of wine. (For the remainder of sacramental definitions see the Divine Grace page). The Grail Church, whose Primate is a representative of Pax Christi, does not subscribe to the pagan doctrine of a just war (justum bellum) in contrast to most of the remainder of mainstream churchianity. Our Lord's words (Luke 6: 27-36) make the prohibition clear. Augustine laid down the just war theory which was then built upon by Thomas Aquinas. Churches would thence become the great offenders in war and bloodshed over the centuries, making a mockery of Christ's teaching to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The Grail Church is not simply an alternative to mainstream churchianity, but a living sanctuary for Christians who cannot reconcile their Faith with the drift into modernism, revisionism and error by the established institutions. Even some Old Catholic jurisdictions, in England and on the Continent, have grown weak and fallen by the wayside. The larger institutions, eg the Anglican and Roman folds, have certainly embraced modernism to the detriment of Christianity and with the inevitable decline in their number. At the time of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Ottaviani, one of the ablest members of the Curia, asked: “Are we seeking to stir up wonder, perhaps scandal, among the Christian people, by introducing changes in so venerable a rite, that has been approved by so many centuries, and is now so familiar? The rite of Holy Mass should not be treated as if it were a piece of cloth to be refashioned according to the whim of each generation. But that is exactly how it was treated in the succeeding years. From its pagan origins the Roman Church has returned to a more pagan religion than obtained even in the dark ages. Its rite today is akin to a service in the Church of England which itself, after the decision to accept women into its priesthood, has now been relegated to the status of a sect, as predicted by Bishop Seán Manchester (on a series called The Hidden Spirit, transmitted by BBC Radio Four, 8 August 1993).

On 11 November 1992, the General Synod of the Church of England voted in favour of creating priestesses, an act that ended any notion of the Established Church belonging to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Grail Church, in common with the Latin (Roman Catholic), Uniate (Eastern Catholic) and Eastern Orthodox Churches, permits only men to be ordained in the sacred office of the priesthood. The tradition of only ordaining men to the ministerial priesthood goes right back to the time of Jesus Himself, who chose only men to be His apostles. The priest, especially in the Eucharist, represents Christ, who is God become Man, not God become Woman. This does not mean that women are not important in the Church. On the contrary, apart from Christ Himself, we believe that the most important role of all in God's plan was given to a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of God in her womb; a role, indeed, which no man could have fulfilled.

However, the Grail Church opposes the definition, held by many Roman Catholics, of the Virgin Mary as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate and asserts that such mediation belongs exclusively to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither does the Grail Church accept the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Corporeal Assumption of Mary (1950) as Articles of Faith necessary to salvation. Neither dogma is explicitly contained in Holy Writ. The Roman Church, therefore, cannot add to the depositum fidei for even the Vatican is emphatic in proclaiming that there can be no new revelation of divine truth.

Decrees promulgated by the Roman Church in 1870 concerning the Infallibility and Universal Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the Pontiff or Pope, are rejected by the Grail Church. The term pontiff formerly applied to any bishop, but became corrupted when adopted by the supreme pontiff as Pontifex Maximus, an exclusively pagan title. Many bishops employed the title pope (meaning father) in the early Church. Pope Leo in the fifth century was the first to use it officially. Pope Gregory in the eleventh century, by decree, reserved the title for the Bishop of Rome.

Enforced celibacy (foretold and warned against by Paul in 1 Timothy 4: 3) is unacceptable to the Grail Church. It was introduced by the Roman Church in 1139 for those in holy orders. Peter, on whom so much importance is placed by Rome, was married ~ as were the first thirty-nine popes. Priests and bishops naturally had families of their own, so the rule of celibacy was imposed to prevent Roman Church property being inherited by anyone other than the Roman Church itself. Holy Scripture warns against those who will forbid marriage.

The ordination of homosexuals is forbidden within the Grail Church. Whilst acknowledging a need for pastoral care of homosexual people, the Grail Church fully recognises that homosexual acts must be unequivocally opposed by all who follow Christ, observing what is set down in Holy Scripture as a prohibition. Paul makes it quite clear (1 Corinthians 6: 9) that practising homosexuals, along with other sinners, are excluded from the Kingdom of God. This applies to both male and female homosexuals, a condition contrary to nature (Romans 1: 26-27).

Freemasonry's intrusion into Christendom is not acceptable to the Grail Church. Many bishops and clergy in the Anglican Communion have been Freemasons. Even some Old Catholic jurisdictions in the past have been infiltrated. The Roman Church did once resist Freemasonry and Canon 2335 made it clear that such membership incurred instant excommunication. However, in 1983 the new Code of Canon Law deposed the anti-Masonic Canon 2335 and replaced it with Canon 1374 which makes no mention of Freemasonry. It is now believed by a number of respected Roman Catholics that Freemasons have significantly infiltrated the Roman hierarchy, a process thought to have begun in earnest after the Second World War. Freemasonry is unacceptable owing to it being a pantheistic religion which embraces occult ceremonies that are incompatible with Christianity.

The Grail Church is the spiritual continuity of the Apostolic Church founded at Glastonbury by Christ and developed by Joseph of Arimathea and those who accompanied him with the Holy Grail after the Passion from Palestine to the western confines of England. Its restored continuity is via the Old Catholic succession (and subsequently others, notably Uniate Churches) which, unlike the Anglican Communion, possesses holy orders and sacraments that are recognised as being entirely valid by most of Christendom, including the Roman Catholic Church. All Old Catholic jurisdictions in Britain are autocephalous. The Grail Church, therefore, is independent of all other jurisdictions and shall foreseeably remain so in order to retain its doctrinal and spiritual integrity. Its ministry is fully sacramental, putting emphasis on the Eucharist, baptism, healing and exorcism. Much more information about its early origin and latter-day restoration can be found in The Grail Church book.

At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him, and saying, He saved others; He cannot save Himself. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabachthani?

And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.