PREFACE

du Temple concerning the "Johannite" origin of the Templars' secret doctrine, is, however, not deceived by these professions of Christianity, and boldly asserts that the Sovereign Pontiff Theoclet initiated Hugues de Payens "into the mysteries and hopes of his pretended Church, he lured him by the ideas of sacerdotal sovereignty and supreme royalty, he indicated him finally as his successor. So the Order of the Knights of the Temple was stained from its origin with schism and conspiracy against Kings." Further, Lévi relates that the real story told to initiates concerning Christ was no other than the infamous Toledot Yeshu* described in the first chapter of this book, and which the Johannites dared to attribute to St. John. This would accord with the confession of the Catalonian Knight Templar,