02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS AND OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS
Baptist and this idea is supported by the fact that the cathedral
at Amalfi was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St John the
Baptist.
In more recent years the author Keith Laidler, in his book
The Head of God, and other writers have speculated that the
legendary military order of the Knights Templar may have
been part of what is termed as the Johannite Heresy. Some religious
groups believed that John the Baptist was not simply
the prophet of the coming of Jesus Christ, but was himself the
messiah. Fuel for this speculation was the accusation levelled
at the Templars, during the trial for heresy that led to their
dissolution, that they had worshipped various sacred heads in
their rituals and ceremonies. It has recently been suggested
that a number of the round churches built by the Knights
Templar during the Middle Ages, which have a design supposedly
based on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
are in fact aligned to the point of sunrise on the morning of
the feast day of the saint to whom the church has been dedicated.
It has also been suggested that the famous London
Temple may be aligned to the position in which the sun rises
on 29 August, the feast day of the death of St John the Baptist
who was an important and much venerated saint within the
order. Another example of the remains of a Templar church
that apparently corresponds to this particular alignment can
be found at Dover.
The Ummayad Mosque
The shrine of St John the Baptist is today located in the
Ummayad Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of
Damascus in Syria. It is a fascinating example of how a sacred
site with ancient origins has continued to serve an important
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