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City Engineer Researching Knights Templar in France

By Frank Parlato

The Knights Templar were warrior
monks.
The Holy Grail is said to be the cup which Jesus drank from at the last supper. It was used again by Joseph of Arimathea to catch the blood of the crucified Christ. According to legend, the Knights Templar possessed this sacred relic.

According to sources at city hall, Jeffrey Skurka, Niagara Falls’ city engineer, is in Paris this month. He is planning to write a book on the Knights Templar and he traveled to Paris, sources said, to research his topic, presumably using vacation time.

Skurka once came to a city hall Halloween party dressed as a Templar, complete with a white surcoat emblazoned with a red cross, a white mantle and a sword. He was mistaken by some at the party for a member of the Klu Klux Klan, according to complaints made to this publication.

Last month, the city council cut Skurka’s salary from $96,000 to $78,000. Prior to Mayor Paul Dyster’s administration, the city engineer’s salary was $68,000.

The Knights Templar was a Catholic monastic order that existed in the 12th and 13th centuries. Some of its monks fought as knights in full armor, astride warhorses, in the Crusades. The support of the Knights Templar order was among the leading causes of charity during the holy wars. The monks of the order also managed large farms and businesses, and built churches and castles with certain geometric principles carefully weighing in their design.

The Knights Templar arguably formed the first multi-national corporation, and were originators of modern banking practices as they managed significant amounts of assets in trust. They had a fleet of ships and owned the island of Cyprus at one point. They were not subject to government – being a de facto state within a state - and had their own standing army. As monks, the Knights Templar made a lifelong vow of chastity and poverty and, if possible, to die as martyrs for Christ.

The Knights Templar have become associated with many legends concerning their rites and mysteries, and for being the custodians of various secrets handed down from ancient times. They were also said to be the possessors of relics, such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Shroud of Turin. When the Holy Land was lost, the Knights Templar lost much of their prominence, and Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 at the behest of King Philip IV of France, who had been engaged in a five-year campaign of torturing and eliciting confessions of heresy from the Templars, in a concerted effort to discredit the group to whom his kingdom was heavily indebted.

The Catholic Church has admitted that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust.

Some researchers suggest that Christopher Columbus may have been the recipient of the some of the Knights Templar secret knowledge, and he has been referred to by some scholars as the “Last Templar.”

A connection to the Freemasons, as the direct heirs of the Knights Templar, has been disputed. The Freemasons, however, use some of the same mystic symbols as the Knights Templar.

Skurka has gone on record in the past as being especially interested in the research into the authenticity of the “Shroud of Turin,” a linen cloth now kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin. Some believe the shroud is associated with Jesus Christ, his crucifixion and burial. The origins and the faint image on it are the subject of debate among scientists, theologians, historians, and researchers as to whether it is the Holy Face of Jesus that is imprinted on the cloth.

Skurka, the Reporter has been told, went to Paris to take certain “sacred geometric measurements” associated with the Knights Templar, and that certain of these measurements have to be made during the full moon, which is Sunday, Jan. 27, around 5:39 am.

Last month, Skurka took sick leave; at the same time his salary was cut by the city council, blaming the council for being abusive, and saying he had to suffer insubordinate behavior by his staff in the engineering department. He said he was experiencing anxiety, chest pains, and high blood pressure.

Skurka called his time spent as city engineer his “worst nightmare.”

Considering the lore and mystery of the Knights Templar, popularized by fictional books from Ivanhoe to the Da Vinci Code, movies like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and video games like Assassin’s Creed. If Skurka offers a well written and compelling book, or brings the world new and important discoveries, he may be able to escape his job at city hall and join the ranks of best-selling authors and lecturers.

The Niagara Gazette reported that Skurka is indeed seeking a new job.

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Jan 22 , 2013