Symbolism Theory Of The Vatican And Hagia Sophia

One popular topic to write about nowadays is conspiracy theories. Many writers have claimed to uncovered the identity of the supposed "second gunman", who really shot John F. Kennedy. Others have identified the "real" Jack the Ripper, the serial killer in the Whitechapel district of London in the Autumn of 1888. So today, we have dozens of people who "really" shot John F. Kennedy, and a whole gallery of Jack the Rippers. Another popular topic for writers is the supposedly "hidden" meanings of artwork in the Vatican.

I would like to present my theory, involving symbolism and secret societies. Unlike many theories involving secretiveness, hidden meanings, and the Vatican, this theory is not fictional and can be seen in photos. However I intend it only for educational, making history a little bit more interesting, and entertainment purposes.

THE FREEMASONS

Let's begin with the semi-secret society that most readers would probably have some familiarity with, the Freemasons. The Freemasons are not directly involved with my theory here, but I want to use them to illustrate the power of secret societies and the symbolism that they typically use.

A so-called "secret society" actually cannot be completely secret simply because it has to have new members joining. No one will seek to join it if they have never heard of it. My understanding of Freemasonry is that it began in either England or Scotland, in the time before the Reformation. Like many secret societies, it's activity revolves around secret rites and symbolism.

A central legend of Freemasonry is that of Hiram Abiff, believed to be the architect of Solomon's Temple who was murdered for refusing to divulge masonic secrets. Other legend has Freemasonry going back to ancient Egypt, before being taken to countries like England and France.

Freemasonry began, as the name implies, in medieval guilds of stone workers. It's main symbol is the compass and the square, around the "G", which stands for the Grand Architect of the Universe, which is God. Freemasonry is not believed to be primarily a religious organization, but it's members are supposed to express belief in a supreme being. This may not be a requirement of all Masonic Lodges, such as for those in France:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#/media/File:Square_compasses.svg

One important image associated with the Freemasons is the Eye of Providence, a reminder to Masons that God was watching everything that they did:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence#/media/File:MasonicEyeOfProvidence.gif

The Eye of Providence is a very important symbol to the United States, being on the country's Great Seal, and is seen today on the U.S. one-dollar bill, atop a pyramid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence#/media/File:Dollarnote_siegel_hq.jpg

One thing that no one doubts about the Freemasons is their power. We won't go into all of the influential persons known to be Freemasons here, but many of the founders of the United States and every significant figure in the French Revolution are believed to have been Freemasons. Lists of prominent Freemasons read like a who's who of much of the world. Five British kings, as well as Winston Churchill, were supposedly among them, as were many U.S. presidents.

Here is George Washington in his Masonic Lodge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#/media/File:Washington_Masonic_print.jpg

James Hoban, the designer of the White House, was a Freemason. Frederic Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty, was another Freemason.

One of the most prominent pieces of architecture in Washington D.C. is it's Masonic Lodge, The House of the Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Temple#/media/File:House_of_the_Temple.JPG

The reaction against Freemasonry shows the power that it had. The Catholic and Anglican Churches were very concerned about their influence. The Nazis thought that they had to eliminate them. There was once an anti-Masonry political party in the U.S., intending to curb their power.

Batavia, New York, between Buffalo and Rochester, is my one-time sales territory and as nice of a place as there is anywhere. It once gained national attention, with regard to Freemasonry, when a local resident, William Morgan, who claimed to have belonged to other lodges, was denied admission to the Masonic Lodge in Batavia. Morgan then threatened to write a book detailing the secret activity of the Masons. He was soon arrested, on questionable criminal charges. Shortly afterward, he vanished and was presumed murdered. These events around Batavia set off a national backlash against the power of Freemasonry.

Do you want another example of a powerful "secret society" that, in this case, wasn't so secret? Tammany Hall, otherwise known as the Columbian Order, virtually controlled all politics in New York City for 150 years. Regardless of the processes of democracy, little could be done in New York without the approval of the reigning "boss" of Tammany Hall.

This cartoon from 1899 illustrates, in astronomical terms, how the operation of New York City really revolves around the "boss" of Tammany Hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall#/media/File:New_York%27s_New_Solar_System2.jpg

THE VATICAN

Let's move on to another place where symbolism is very important, the Vatican. It is centers of power that tend to also become centers of conspiracy theories. Much has been written about the supposedly "hidden" meanings of Catholic artwork in the Vatican, but we do not need to get into that here.

The Vatican itself is designed around the shape of a key. In the Gospels, Jesus told St. Peter that he would be given the keys to the kingdom of God, meaning that he would be the leader of the church. St. Peter was a leader of the apostles, and was eventually martyred in Rome.

The Jewish religion was protected under Roman rule, Jews were exempt from both otherwise-mandatory emperor worship and military service. But when the early Christians became distinct from Judaism, the same protection did not apply to them. The Romans were concerned about the religious conflict within the empire between Christians and Jews and, according to another theory, the Emperor Nero set fire to part of the city of Rome himself, because he wanted to rebuild it as something else, and then blamed the fire on the Christians.

The grave of the martyred St. Peter was said to have been marked by a red stone. When the Roman Empire later became Christian, a church was built over St. Peter's Tomb. When that church fell into disrepair, the present St. Peter's Basilica was built on the spot.

St. Peter's Basilica and the adjoining St. Peter's Square are in the form of a key, with St. Peter's Square being the handle of the key:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_(lock)#/media/File:Standard-lock-key.jpg

This is starting in St. Peter's Basilica, and around the Vatican. Remember that the Vatican is actually an independent country, and the buildings in the gardens behind St. Peter's Basilica are the administration buildings:

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9003853,12.4529437,3a,75y,295.55h,92.3t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-9nfe69UJ5RM%2FVej4Ct1xD_I%2FAAAAAAAAF10%2FB2Lo3rH-Ld8!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-9nfe69UJ5RM%2FVej4Ct1xD_I%2FAAAAAAAAF10%2FB2Lo3rH-Ld8%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i8704!8i4352

One popular theory about the alleged symbolism in the Vatican concerns the interior paintings of the adjoining Sistine Chapel, where new popes are chosen by ballot. The Sistine Chapel was constructed as a copy of the inner chamber of Solomon's Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel#/media/File:Sistina-interno.jpg

Beginning in 1508, the artist Michelangelo spent several years painting the interior of the chapel. The popular conspiracy theory is that Michelangelo did not want the job of painting the chapel. He had earlier completed sculptures, like the Pieta, and would rather be doing sculpture than painting. After completing a sculpture like the Pieta, spending several years on scaffolding painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel must have seemed like some kind of punishment.

According to the theory, Michelangelo got revenge on Pope Julius by subtly painting hidden meanings into the scenes in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo supposedly was a practitioner of the Jewish Kabbala, and a close look reveals Kabbalastic symbolism in the paintings. Jewish rabbis on a visit once noted that, while the paintings are of biblical scenes, the shapes formed by various figures and cloaks in the paintings form letters of the Hebrew alphabet, standing for concepts in Kabbala, as well as other symbolic shapes such as the right hemisphere of the human brain.

Michelangelo was from Florence, which he supposedly believed to be culturally superior to Rome. In the Sistine Chapel painting of the Great Flood it has been noted that, on one side of the painting, the head of a donkey or mule is seen against the background of red and golden yellow, which were the colors representing Rome at the time. One the opposite side of the painting, two of the antediluvian sinners have washed ashore, and both are wearing the same red and golden yellow colors of Rome.

ORDERS OF KNIGHTS

In the Middle Ages, orders of knights were formed to protect and assist Catholic pilgrims to the Holy Land. Some of these orders of knights ended up gaining great power and influence and becoming, in effect, the world's first multi-national corporations. Some of these orders remain in existence today. But as with all secret, and semi-secret, societies, the question is about how much of their activity is of a social and charitable  and medical nature, and how much is about exerting unseen influence and control?

There is the Knights Templar, also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple. Solomon's Temple is, of course, also very important to Freemasons, with the legendary Hiram Abiff being it's architect. Coincidentally, the Sistine Chapel that we have seen was based on the inner sanctuary of Solomon's Temple. So, we can see that Solomon's Temple is something that tends to be held in common among secret societies. Knights Templar, aside from being an organization, is also the name of an order of Masonry of the York Rite.

The Knights Templar are so named because when they reached Jerusalem, they renamed the Moslem buildings on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock which is the former site of Solomon's Temple, as Solomon's Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar#/media/File:Temple_mount.JPG

Another order of knights, The Knights Hospitaller now headquartered in Rome, is also known as the Soveriegn Military Order of Malta, and is an international medical organization. They are known as the Order of St. John and as the Knights of Malta. They used to own the island of Malta, and are recognized as a landless sovereign state. So great was their influence that today, across the world, a building in which the sick and injured are cared for is referred to as a hospital.

These are only two of the orders of knights which formed in medieval times primarily to protect and assist pilgrims to the Holy Land. Many of these orders gained tremendous power, money and, influence, and still exist, in some form, today. These orders were Catholic, often formed with the blessings of the pope. Their heyday was the time of the Crusades, in the Thirteenth Century, the attempt to regain the Holy Land from the Moslems.

BRIDGING THE REFORMATION

My theory is that, when the Reformation happened, beginning in 1517, these Catholic societies suffered a great loss of territory and influence as Europe was split into Catholic and Protestant. They were not able to stop the Reformation, but they did what they could to bridge the gulf between the two halves of Europe, and we can see evidence of that in the symbolism of important places today. If they would react to the loss of the Holy Land to the Moslems, wouldn't they also react to the loss of much of Catholic territory to the Protestants?

In the article "Knights Hospitaller", on www.wikipedia.org , it is made clear how the organization was affected by the loss of influence and territory brought on by the Reformation. I find the Freemasons to be significant in this bridge because they were based primarily in the part of Europe that split away and became Protestant.

The de-facto "flag" of the crusaders, and the orders of knights, was the red cross on a white background. I find this to be the symbol of the attempt to bridge the gap brought about by the Reformation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar#/media/File:HPIM3597.JPG

The red and white cross of St. George is named for the widely-revered saint of that name. St. George was believed to be a commander in a Roman legion, who was martyred for his Christian faith. The flag of England (but not of all of Britain) is the George Cross:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Cross#/media/File:Flag_of_England.svg

This red cross on a white background, dating from the days of the Crusades, is to be seen in many places associated with England, such as the Order of the Garter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

Why did the cross of a Catholic saint remain the flag of a country like England, which went overwhelmingly Protestant in the Reformation?

Scotland joined England, along with Wales, to form modern Britain in 1707, mainly because the two countries had ended up on the same side during the Reformation. The fiery sermons of John Knox turned his native Scotland from a bastion of Catholicism into one of the most Protestant of nations. Scotland's Cross of St. Andrew was superimposed onto England's Cross of St. George, in a process that resembles the Scottish tartan method, to create the flag of Britain, known commonly as the Union Jack:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan#/media/File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack#/media/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack#/media/File:Union_Flag_and_St_Georges_Cross.jpg

But have you ever noticed that there is a perfect British flag imposed on the very center of Catholicism, St. Peter's Square? The Basilica of St. Peter is included in the following image. If you press the (-) button, to go up a step in altitude, you can see how the dome and the transepts of the basilica form the shape of a key, with St. Peter's Square being the handle of the key:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9023136,12.4571096,271m/data=!3m1!1e3

Could this British flag in St. Peter's Square represent, at least to the influential secret societies who lost such influence in the Reformation, an attempt to pull the former domain of Catholicism, where they had such great influence, back together? Along with the fact that the symbol of a Catholic saint remained the flag of England, despite the split during the Reformation? This location of the British flag in St. Peter's Square fits perfectly with the symbolism of the surrounding Collonades representing the all-embracing "arms" of the Catholic Church.

Considering how important symbolism is to the Vatican, as well as how vital symbolism is to secret societies, I consider this as very plausible. I cannot see that the lines which form the British flag in St. Peter's Square serve any essential purpose and, seen from the surface of the square, the British flag is not apparent unless viewed from above. The obelisk in the middle of St. Peter's Square acts as a sundial, but the time is indicated by markers on the Collonades, and does not involve the lines which form the British flag.

As a parallel example of this use of a pattern of lines in a prominent square in Italy to signify some kind of alliance, look at the pattern of interlocking squares and rectangles in Piazza San Marco, in Venice. Remember that Marco Polo, who visited China, was from Venice. This pattern is commonly seen in China, and I have seen it at a number of Chinese restaurants.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4339152,12.3384387,133m/data=!3m1!1e3

Much has been written about how secret societies like to link themselves, not only to Solomon's Temple, but also to ancient Egypt. This Egyptian obelisk, in the center of St. Peter's Square, brings the Vatican into the link also.

There was plenty of effort to stop the split of the Reformation or, failing that, at least to bridge it. Considering their power and what they had to lose by the Reformation, secret societies must have had a hand in this effort. The Catholic Queen Mary I of England tried to bring the country back by force. When her successor, Elizabeth I created the Anglican Church, the pope had the Catholic King Phillip of Spain dispatch his armada. The Anglican Church does happen to be one of the branches of Protestantism that retained much of the Catholic liturgy.

I am surprised that no one has noticed this, but a Google search of "British flag St. Peter's Square Rome" turns up nothing. Remember that there is a place called St. Peter's Square in London also.

Isn't it interesting that the symbol of the Knights Hospitaller is the Maltese Cross?:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller#/media/File:Cross_of_the_Knights_Hospitaller.svg

While the flag of Malta today has the George Cross, on a red and white background. Remember that Malta was once owned by the Knights Hospitaller and that red and white is the primary colors of the orders of knights which protected and assisted pilgrims to the Holy Land. The George Cross is Britain's highest award for valor, after the Victoria Cross. Malta was a British island in the wartime and it was awarded to it's people for their resistance to relentless air raids and naval blockade. The George Cross is named, of course, after the red and white Cross of St. George which is England's flag:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cross#/media/File:Flag_of_Malta.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cross#/media/File:George_Cross_Malta_P1440218.jpg

As far as red crosses on white backgrounds go, today we have the International Red Cross which undergoes humanitarian missions across the world. This makes it a direct descendant of the medieval orders of knights which provided protection and medical assistance to pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The Red Cross certainly does not engage in any violence, but the principle is the same:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement#/media/File:Flag_of_the_Red_Cross.svg

SYMBOLISM AND THE HAGIA SOPHIA

In 1453, the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire city of Constantinople, which was renamed Istanbul. Byzantium had been weakened by the earlier conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders, who apparently digressed from their stated mission of liberating the Holy Land from Moslem control.

The very old Hagia Sophia, the House of Holy Wisdom, which had been the largest church in the world for nearly a thousand years, was re-purposed into a mosque and four minarets were built around it. To show that they too were capable of such a building, the Ottomans built the Blue Mosque, facing the Hagia Sophia.

The Ottomans were responsible for a lot of important building that remains today. They built the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem, which has some really attractive gates, particularly the Damascus Gate and the Jaffa Gate. This does not include the retaining walls of the Temple Mount (or Noble Sanctuary to Moslems), which is within the Old City. The Ottomans also built the minaret at the Tower of David, within the Old City of Jerusalem.

But look at the Hagia Sophia. Three of the four minarets are made of white stone, while the other is made of red brick.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia#/media/File:Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia#/media/File:Hagia_Sophia_2017.jpg

Whoever heard of a mosque with four minarets, one at each corner, but where one was a different color than the others, particularly one of the most historic and famous buildings in the world? I can find no satisfactory answer as to why three of the minarets at the Hagia Sophia are white, while the fourth is red. I can see no other examples of important mosques, with four minarets, where one is a different color than the others.

This brings us back to the red and white flags of the Crusaders and the medieval orders of knights. The Ottomans would be considered as a rival, but perhaps there were other factors that brought the red and white symbolism of some kind of alliance.

It was the weakening of Byzantium by the attack of the Crusaders which made it possible, or at least easier, for the Ottomans to conquer it.

Maybe the red minaret among the white ones represented some kind of agreement to allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, which would come under Ottoman control.

The worst thing that ever happened to the Islamic religion took place around the time of the Crusades. But it wasn't the Crusades, it was the Mongol siege and destruction of Baghdad in 1258. The vast library, containing the records of the knowledge that the Abassid Caliphate had built up, during what is known as the Golden Age of Islam, was destroyed.

During the Golden Age, Moslems made great advances in knowledge. About 70% of the stars in the sky now have Arabic names for this reason. The numbers that we use: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are referred to as Arabic numerals (although the vital concept of zero is an Indian invention). According to many accounts, Moslems ever since then have been seeking to regain what was lost in the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate capital of Baghdad, and this Golden Age is what IS is seeking to bring back.

The Mongols would slaughter the inhabitants of any city that resisted them, Moslem or Catholic. The Mongols had passed by the time the Ottomans took over, although they had earlier inflicted a nasty defeat on the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara. But could this red minaret among the white ones represent a "secret society" agreement with the Catholic orders of knights to join together if another threat from the east, such as the Mongols, reappeared? How much of a coincidence is it that the primary symbolism of the all-powerful medieval orders of knights was red on white, and these minarets are three white, and one red?

Once again, this theory is intended for education and entertainment purposes.