The one and only Spear of Destiny. Again.

When given an audience by the count, and the Bishop of Le Puy, he explained that St Andrew had a appeared to him in a vision and had told him where the Holy Lance was – the very spear that had pierced Christ’s side on the cross – could be found in the cathedral of St Peter in Antioch.

Myths tend to run together and overlap. This results, as much as anything, from their repetition over prolonged periods of time and wide-ranging geographical areas by many different people. The source of the legend of the Holy Lance or, more commonly, the SPEAR OF DESTINY, is the Gospel of John. At the Crucifixion, with the Sabbath approaching and Jewish law forbidding that a dead body be left hanging on the cross, a Roman soldier stabbed Jesus in the side to make sure He was dead. A brief mention, but from this tiny mustard seed of lore arose an occult tradition. Sometimes the soldier who wielded the Spear, which took on supernatural powers after its “baptism” in holy blood, is called Longinus, and was for his action cursed to “walk the earth until Christ’s return.”

Here’s where the legend overlaps with that of the “Wandering Jew.” In some versions of that respective myth, a surly Jewish man refuses to help Jesus bear the cross to Golgotha, and it is HE who is cursed with immortality and restlessness. It’s a short step, though, from these source stories to interpreting that curse, the curse of immortality, as vampirism, as indeed several fiction writers have suggested. Did Longinus become a vampire?

By TheCheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS, specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced, and directed (and occasionally acted in) over two dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and True Crime genres. He obtained a doctorate in Occult Studies from Miskatonic University and is an active paranormal investigator. Is frequently told he resembles Anton Lavey. And Ming the Merciless. Denn die totden reiten schnell!

1 comment

  1. There was an episode of Witchblade, a tv show that was based off a comic book that aired from 2001-2002. In that episode there was a guy who was cursed with immortality because he was a roman centurian who insulted Jesus as he was carrying the cross. I ,you were talking about the same character, but I just looked that episode up and he’s not the same person. I remember reading one time that Judas Iscariot was believed to be the first vampire (and I am not getting this from the movie Dracula 2000). I read this in this book called The Vampire Encyclopedia by Mathew Bunson. It said that he was was the first vampire for betraying Jesus and that he started a clan of vampires known as “The Children of Judas Iscariot”. Supposedly they had red hair and left an XXX mark on the victim’s neck after they had fed on them as opposed to the classic two puncture wounds we’ve all seen in movie, tv shows, and read about in books. I have no idea where this all comes from. In college I took a class called “History of the Occult” and I wrote a paper on vampire mythology for it. But I just wrote about ethe myth, not really my own opinion because I don’t believe in vampires. And therefore I don’t agree with your theory that Longinus was the first vampire.

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