There has always been a sharp disconnect between the Templar Knight of fame and power and the authentic Templar Knight representation passed down from antiquity. The oft-utilized image we have received from their own hands from centuries ago is a seal that exhibits a pair of Templar Knights sitting atop a single horse. Along with that stamp is their proud signature: “Poor Soldiers of Christ.”
The idea that thus enshrines one of the most essential attributes the warrior monks wanted to bequeath to us is one of humility and real poverty – so much so that a true Templar Knight could only afford half a horse. Hmmm… how do we, their descendants, in our time reconcile the Poor Soldier of Christ with the modern images of individual, well-armed and shielded knights on the battlefield riding fearless beasts also girded with their own armor?
The answer is one that many have never known, or that people simply block from their consciousness because it is just so alien to the modern fictional Templar that so many aspire to. Why do we do this? Because people in our culture would rather emulate Hollywood Templars and not the real deal. Why? Because who in our culture really wants to follow down the rugged road of poverty and commitment?
What should we know about the seal of the Poor Soldiers of Christ? What does its diminutive, poorly illustrated story tell us about the authentic Templar whom we all claim to be our forerunner? It whispers something important to us from another age, nearly a millennium in the past.
But we should stop and listen.
What it says is crucial for this current chapter in history if we are to carry their true legacy forward.
The Holy Scriptures always describe poverty as the twin companion of authentic humility. Thus, the call of the Poor Soldiers of Christ is the call to genuine humbleness. Therefore, fellow Templar, we have each been called by our forefathers to this state of real, unfeigned humility. They took a vow of penitent ascetic poverty – we have not. And yet our relative wealth does not disqualify us as true Templars if we learn and incorporate the lessons of the Poor Soldiers of Christ into our modern lives.
It seems oxymoronic to watch rich people wear the mantle of the Templar emblazoned with the cross of the martyr and sit at splendid banquet tables. Indeed, it should evoke an honest, slightly uncomfortable smile every time. Our forefathers owned nothing. They lived lives of cloistered, communal monks. Their food was tightly restricted, and they fasted weekly.
And yet, as very wealthy migrants from Europe to a land they did not even know existed, we do have a legitimate claim to their heritage. In no respect are we usurpers to positions we can never honestly inherit. Why?
Because we claim the Mantle of Christ as Jesus passed it to us, just as surely as Elijah passed his mantle of authority to Elisha. We have the authority to accept it because we are indwelled, as were they, with the Spirit of God. And as Christ followers, we have been granted all authority to act in His Name while we live. (Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19)
We think with the Mind of Christ, just as did the Templar monks. Therefore, we have the full capacity to live lives of supernaturally empowered humility.
We have been blessed with wealth and historically significant prosperity – more so than any other generation in all of human history. And yet, we also have the supernatural spiritual capacity to live as truly humble servants of our Lord Master, just as our Templar forefathers did. Thus, we can mirror the attribute that became the central theme of their actual power – authentic spiritual humility.
Two on a single horse. These Poor Soldiers of Christ became the most formidable fighting force and economic power on Earth for centuries, bowed to by monarchs and feared by royal armies. All because their humble lives were blessed by God, as all truly humble lives have always been.
That will always be the true image of the greatest human power on Earth – lived by the most humble and the most grateful, filled with the Hope of all the ages, men of love, joy and peace even as they carried the sword of justice, two on a single horse.