the “symbol of religious perfection, visible only to the spiritually and morally worthy.”
“Called a chalice… it is taken to be the cup of the Last Supper and the cup in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood of Christ on the cross…. the cup of salvation…. In Christianity the Grail is also the Sacred Heart of Christ. The loss of the Grail represents the loss of the Golden Age, Paradise, man’s primordial spirituality, purity and innocence. In Christian legend the Grail was given to Adam but was left in Paradise after the Fall. It is at the centre of Paradise and must be refound…. The quest for the Grail is the return to Paradise… the search for the Lost Word.”
- Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols