1. What the Code hides Author : Santiago Vela (Málaga, Spain) English translation: Claretian Publications, Macau, China The Da Vinci Code

2. Dan Brown, the author of the novel, says: “All descriptions about art, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are real.”

3. Dan Brown, author of the novel, declares: “The secret that I reveal has been whispered for centuries. …the information is not new. My sincere hope is that The Da Vinci Code might become useful to begin its investigations.”

4. The time has come to reveal the falsehood of the Catholic Church. – D. Brown

5. Sir Leigh Dr. Teabing, the expert historian on the Holy Grail, an important figure created by Brown to help unmask the secret, says: “The version of the history of Jesus as presented by the Church is not exact; the greatest history ever told is in reality the greatest history ever invented.”

6. The eminent doctor in History created by Brown to help unmask the secret, further says: “…if those documents are made public the Vatican will face up its greatest faith crises in its two millenia of history.”

7. The Catholic church has hidden and destroyed all documents about the secret and the real gospels about Jesus. Jesus married Mary Magdalene and a girl was born. She is the Holy Grail. Jesus was never considered God by the first Christians. The apostle Peter opposed the leadership of Magdalene given to her by Jesus, so she had to flee to France, where Jesus’ offspring was born. THE GREAT SECRET The Emperor Constantine imposed Christianity and declared that Jesus be considered God.

8. Da Vinci, Great Priory Master, passed on the codified secret in his paintings. The Catholic church has persecuted and killed millions of women to protect the secret. To defend Jesus’ descendants, the Priory of Sion codified the secret. THE GREAT SECRET The Church and Christianity are a great invention born of a great lie.

9. Is what The Da Vinci Code saying true?

10. The answers we are giving here to the questions that “The Da Vinci Code” presents are taken and can be verified from any family Encyclopedia, books about Universal History, History of Art, Archaeology, History of Religions, Biblical and Theological Studies written by professors of any university independently of any religious affiliation… and available to anybody in libraries and bookstores. It is interesting to note that to sustain the thesis he defends in his novel, Dan Brown does not even quote a single and serious scientific, historical, art study endorsed by any university.

11. LET US ASSUME THAT IF YOU’D SPENT TIME READING THE NOVEL OR WATCHING THE MOVIE, YOU CAN THEN EASILY AFFORD TO SPEND 15 MORE MINUTES IN CONTINUING YOUR SEARCH FOR WHAT THE CODE HIDES TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH TRUTH IS FREE

12. Is it true, as TDVC says, that the first Christians did not believe Jesus was God, but was only a human prophet, and it was only at the Council of Nicaea in 325 when Jesus was considered God? Not true. Since the beginning of the apostolic preaching that begins at the Resurrection, Jesus was considered Son of God: God made man. The TDVC hides documents from the 1st and 2nd century. There are written documents from the first Christian communites as well as from NON-CHRISTIAN writers mentioning that Jesus was considered God after the Resurrection experience.

13. WRITERS, CHRISTIANS FROM THE FIRST CENTURY (that TDVC silences): The first Hymn about Jesus proclaimed by the early Christian communities and quoted by Paul in the year 50 in his letter to the Philippians: “Though he (Jesus Christ) was in the form of God, … he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death …on a cross.” The Gospels Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn, written between the years 60 and 90 AD have more than 40 references to Jesus as God. The letters of Paul and Peter, written from the year 55 onward, also have many references to Jesus as the Son of God.

14. Pliny the Younger, Roman Governor of Bythinia, writing to the Emperor Trajan (ca. 60 to 90) about the persecutions fo the Christians, says in his report X,97,98: “It is not possible to dissociate Christians from their alliance with Christ, who they consider their God in their early morning meetings.” NON-CHRISTIAN WRITERS FROM THE FIRST CENTURY (that TDVC hides): ALL THESE DOCUMENTS WERE WRITTEN ABOUT 250 YEARS BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA AND THEY ALREADY PROCLAIMED JESUS AS GOD. Why does TDVC hide these documents?

15. ◆ Ignatius of Antioch (year 107) ◆ Justin (year 165) ◆ Clement of Alexandria (year 190) ◆ Iraeneus (year 200) ◆ Tertullian (year 210) ◆ Origen (year 254) …and others WRITERS from the 2nd and 3rd centuries (that TDVC hides): These writers are considered the Church Fathers who wrote about 100 to 200 years before the Council of Nicaea and they all proclaimed that Jesus is God. Why does TDVC hide these documents?

16. 1. It is true that Constantine convoked the Council, and facilitated the transportation and lodging of the 300 participant-bishops at Nicaea. 2. The Council was convoked to debate on the doctrine of the priest Arius, claiming that Jesus was not human, but only appeared as a man; he was a superior being created by God, so not of the same nature as God. 3.- The Nicaean Church tried to express in Greek philosophical categories of the time what the Church has believed since the beginning: Jesus – true God and true Man. Is it true that Constantine convoked and manipulated the Council of Nicaea to impose that Jesus was God?

17. 4. Constantine did not take part in the theological debates since he was not even a Christian, neither did he have theological training, besides the bishops would not have let him. To cap it all up, he was a friend of Arian bishops. (Let’s recall that majority of the bishops, as well as many Christians, had been under persecution for 300 years for refusing to collaborate with the Empire and therefore would not let a non- Christian emperor tell them what to believe.) 5. The Council elaborated the formula (Creed) to express in Greek categories what it has believed from the beginning: Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father…”

18. Is it true, as TDVC says, that the Gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn), were manupulated and adopted at Nicaea (325) under orders from Constantine to erase the texts that say Jesus was simply a man and not God? It is true that Constantine ordered 50 copies of the four Gospels. But TDVC hides the existence of copies of the Gospels of Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn even before Constantine. We have complete copies of the Gospels of Luke and John in codices dating from 175 and 225 (more than 100 years before Constantine and Nicaea).

19. TDVC hides that from the year 125 AD (200 years before Nicaea) we have aside from the New Testament: * 4,500 manuscripts in Greek * 67 papyrus * 2,578 scrolls * 1,603 lectionaries. ALL THESE MANUSCRIPTS BEFORE THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA ARE THE SAME WITH THOSE THAT APPEARED AFTER THE COUNCIL BY ORDER OF CONSTANTINE AND ALL OF THEM HAD REFERENCES TO JESUS CONSIDERED GOD BY CHRISTIANS.

20. The most important codices are in museums at the Vatican, London, Paris, Cambridge and Washington. BUT DO WE HAVE ACCESS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS (before the Council of Nicaea in 325)? Why does TDVC hide the existence of these documents?

21. Is it true, as TDVC claims, that there was a selection of gospels made by the Church at the Council of Nicaea (325)? 2. Among other reasons it was the assurance that they had been written based on the preaching and under the supervision of the first witnesses and disciples of Jesus, and for being the oldest and closest to the life of the Master. But why these only 4 gospels and not others that existed in the 2nd and 3rd century? 1. It is true that there was a selection, but not in the 4th century (in Nicaea and by Cosntantine as TDVC says). The selection was done by the Christian communities much earlier. Towards the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd, the Gospels of Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn were accepted as reliable by all the communities.

22. DID THE CHURCH MANIPULATE THE GOSPELS? Is it true, as TDVC says, that the 4 Gospels that the Church considers authentic (canonical) were manipulated and adopted at the Council of Nicaea to hide the human condition of Jesus? If so, the Church did a very poor job because the Gospels are full of references to the human condition of Jesus. Jesus in the Gospels is terribly human: He gets excited, is afraid, laughs, goes to parties, eats and drinks, gets mad, plays with children, in touch with and let women touch him, perspires, is tired, cries, bleeds, hesitates, is desolate on the cross… and dies in agony. What a way to hide his humanity!

23. Is it true that the Vatican tried to hide other Gospels called “apocrypha” (hidden), many of them discovered at the Qumram and Nag- Hammadi caves? 1. The Qumram documents date before Jesus and speak of a Jewish sect, the Essenes; some papyrus containing the prophetic books of the Old Testament were found there. 2. Documents found at Nag-Hammadi are copies of apocryphal gnostic gospels. Experts have studied and published them, not the Vatican. Transcripts of these can be found in any bookstore, even in Catholic ones. DID THE CHURCH HIDE OTHER GOSPELS?

24. 4. The writings quoted by TDVC (Gospel of Mary and Gospel of Philip) are gnostic sect (pseudo-Christian) documents of the 2nd and 3rd century. They present the philosophies, doctrines, the situation and the problems of the 3rd century, very different from the 4 canonical Gospels (1st century), which give a proper historical account of Palestine in the time of Jesus. 3. Many of these non-gnostic apocryphal gospels (from the 2nd century) are collections of sayings of Jesus and anecdotes of his life that are also in the 4 canonical Gospels. In this way Christian tradition came to know about some minor information on Jesus, like the names of the Wise Men or the parents of Mary, Joachim and Anna, or the woman Veronica that we recall in the Way of the Cross.

25. Is it true, as stated by Teabing in TDVC, that the Church has hidden the apocryphal Gospels of Mary Magdalene and Philip because they contained human and emotional aspects about Jesus? 1. These documents were written in the 3rd century by the gnostic sect. 2. It is true that the so called gnostic “Gospel of Philip” tells that Jesus kisses Mary Magdalene (“in the mouth” is only an inference since there is a hole in the existing manuscript). But to interpret them correctly one has to know who the GNOSTICS were, a fact that TDVC seems to ignore.

26. Who were the GNOSTICS and what was their belief? 1. They were groups whose doctrines already existed even before the time of Jesus; they mixed Judaism, Platonism, Pythagoreanism with beliefs in oriental religions (Egyptians). 2. They look down on the body and sexuality. For them the body was a prison where the soul was subject and that only true knowledge (gnosis) of divine revelation can liberate it. 3. According to the gnostics, only a few privileged ones have access to that saving and liberating knowledge (gnosis). If one has no knowledge, there is no salvation. Their writings were secretive and hidden, to be shared only among themselves, who called it “apocryphal” writings.

27. 4. With the arrival of Christianity, gnosticism will see in Jesus a spiritual being of great purity with “human appearance,” with a body he had to get rid of to liberate himself from by means of the crucifixion (the theme of the Gospel of Judas). 5. Christianity fought gnosticism because of its rejection of the body and of sexuality, because it did not consider Jesus a full human being and because salvation was reduced to a privileged few who possess divine knowledge. The gnostics were considered by the Church as a non-Christian sect. 6. There are now esoteric sects that have inherited this philosophy and have mixed it with Christianity, Buddhism, and oriental Egyptian religions, like the “Rosicrucians.” Dan Brown relied on this kind of books in his novels. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONSULT ANY HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY BOOK

28. Did Jesus have an amorous relationship with Mary Magdalene as Teabing reads in the Gospel of Philip, that even Jesus kissed her in the mouth and that the apostles felt envious and criticized Jesus for his relationship with her? 1. What Teabing reads from the Gospel of Philip is true where it says that Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene (in the mouth?). “… companion [-------------------] Magdalene. [---------------] more than [-- --] the disciples (---) he kissed her in [-- --------] times. The rest [...] told him: “Why [--------] more than to all of us?” The Savior answered and told them: “Why is it that I don’t love you as much as I love her?” (Gospel of Philip, v. 55)

29. 2. What Teabing does not say, or TDVC, is about the rest of the text of the Gospel of Philip where it previously says that all kissed in the mouth. “… by the mouth will become perfect. The perfect ones are fecundated by a kiss and they breed. That’s why we also kiss each other (and) receive the breeding by the common grace.” ( Gospel of Philip, v. 31) THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP

30. Kissing in Gnosticism In the “Gospel” of Philip – a document of the gnostic sect – kissing was a sign, a metaphor to express communication of a knowledge that liberates the gnostic from his jail in the flesh, where they feel imprisoned, and can get rid of that through the “knowledge” (gnosis) of the revealed truths to the imprisoned soul. Were all, then, bisexuals: Jesus, his disciples, the women, etc.?

31. But is it true that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that they had a daughter named Sarah, as TDVC says? 1. THERE IS NO PROOF. a)Neither in the canonical Gospels nor in any document of early Christianity is there a reference to such a matrimony or to a son or daughter descendant of Jesus. b) There are references in the apocryphal Gospel of Mary Magdalene or in the Gospel of Philip, quoted by TDVC, that Mary Magdalene was married or was made pregnant by Jesus.

32. 2. If that were the case, that Jesus married Mary Magdalene or any other woman from among his followers, the Gospels would have mentioned it in the same way as they talk about his family, parents and relatives, called in the Gospels by the generic term “brothers.” If there are references to the family of Jesus, in the canonical Gospels, as well as in the apocryphal, why is it that they make no reference to “his wife”?

33. But TDVC says that the normal conduct was for Jesus to be married because celibacy or being unmarried was condemned in Judaism, right? 1.It is not true that celibacy was condemned in Judaism. Great prophets like Jeremiah, some rabbis and, in the time of Jesus, the Jewish group of the Essenes, were celibates. 2. It is true that the normal practice in the Jewish culture was to get married, therefore it would have been normal also for Jesus to get married. Not doing that, without being recognized by official Judaism as a rabbi, would be a motive for suspicion, gossip and criticism.

34. 3. But there is a text in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus seems to be defending himself from criticisms and giving reason for his more than probable “bachelorhood” (see Mt 19:12): But he said to them: …. There are eunuchs so from their mother’s womb. Some have been made that way by others. But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it, accept it.” Think! What could they have been criticizing Jesus for for him to answer in this way?

35. Is it true, as TDVC says, that the Church has demonized Mary Magdalene and identified her with a prostitute as part of a malicious plot to stop any suspicion of leadership of Mary Magdalene in early Christianity? False. 1.- The role of Mary Magdalene in the canonical Gospels is very important: a)They point out that she was one of the women who continuously followed Jesus. b)She is the only disciple who, along with John and Mary, his mother, follows Jesus until the foot of the cross. The rest of Jesus’ disciples hid or denied him, like Peter. c)She is the first one to see and announce that Jesus is Risen, even ahead of Peter. For this reason the Church calls her “The Apostle to the Apostles.”

36. Is it true, as TDVC says, that the Church has slandered her by considering her a prostitute? 1. In no place of the canonical Gospels does she appear as a prostitute. 2. It is in a sermon of Pope Gregory in 591 that he erroneously identified Mary Magdalene with the prostitute – no name given – who in Luke’s Gospel washes Jesus’ feet and dries them with her hair while Jesus was eating in the house of a Pharisee. 3.- The Catholic and Ortodox Church look at Mary Magdalene as the example of a perfect disciple of Jesus and canonized as a saint. Churches have her as their patroness and miracles have been attributed to her intercession. Can this be considered demonizing Mary Magdalene?

37. Is it true, as TDVC says, that the Catholic Church burnt at the stake millions of women accused of witchcraft? 1. Those who practiced witchcraft had been persecuted and punished by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, Vikings; it was therefore nothing new in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 2. Kings, nobles, and feudal lords persecuted witches in the name of religion, who condemned them without trial or defense, but only listened to the accusations, oftentimes made out of revenge.

38. 3. The purpose of the Ecclesiastical Tribunals created by the Church during the Inquisition was to restrain the abuses of kings and nobles and to guarantee that the accused would be heard and could defend themselves; and when found guilty, have the chance to repent and to do penance by pilgrimages, fasting, prayers, etc.

39. 3. Some Tribunals fell under the hand of nobles and princes, as in Germany, where during a peasants’ revolt, Lutherans and Calvinists executed about 25,000 people (men and women). 4. Experts say that between 1400 and 1800, no more than 50,000 or 60,000 people were executed (half of them in Protestant Germany). WHERE ARE THE MILLIONS MENTIONED BY TDVC? Is it true, as TDVC says, that the Catholic Church burnt at the stake millions of women accused of witchcraft?

40. Is it true, as TDVC says, that Leonardo da Vinci in his masterpiece “The Last Supper” left obvious signs that: * Mary Magdalene is the one closest to Jesus? * He does not paint the chalice of wine/blood because Mary Magnalene is the Holy Grail carryingin her bosom the blood of Christ? * Peter is threatening Mary Magdalene with a knife in an aggressive posture?

41. 1. It is important to know that Leonardo da Vinci is not painting the institution of the Eucharist, but the moment, according to the Gospel of John, when Jesus tells the disciples that one will betray him and the disciples begin to ask who that person is. “Jesus was distressed in spirit and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray me.” The disciples then looked at one another, wondering who he meant. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; so Simon Peter signaled him to ask Jesus whom he meant.” (Jn 13:21-24)

42. 2. It is also important to know that Leonardo da Vinci, like many other painters and artists, painted John without beard because he was the youngest among the apostles and the beloved disciple of Jesus; that’s why Leonardo used to choose models of beauty with a feminine look. Take a look at another of Leonardo’s painting of an “effeminate” John

43. Is it true that Peter theatens Mary Magdalene with a knife? 1. It was already stated before that it is John and not Mary Magdalene. 2. It was already stated that Peter is telling John to ask Jesus who the one who will betray him is. THERE IS NO THREAT AT ALL. 3.- The dagger that Leonardo da Vinci paints is the symbolism to recognize Peter. Let’s recall that further down the same Gospel of John, it narrates the story of the arrest at the Garden, and there Peter, to defend Jesus, takes the dagger and hurt the High Priest’s servant cutting his ear.

44. 3. If John is not John, but Mary Magdalene, where is John, then, during that supper? Went out to buy cigarettes?

45. Is it true that Leonardo da Vinci does not paint the chalice of wine/blood of Christ so as to tell that the Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene? It seems that the author of TDVC is blind because 13 glasses or cups can be seen on the table. The fact that the main chalice is not there is because Leonardo is painting the scene in the Gospel of John that IS NOT THE MOMENT OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST.

46. 1. The name Priory of Sion was given to the group of priests who took care of the church, “The Priory of Our Lady of Sion” in Jerusalem. This priory was established in 1099. Priests were there until 1217 when the Muslims destroyed the church during the reconquest of Jerusalem. The Priory priests went to Sicily. It was but one more institution of the Church. Their last members joined the Jesuits in 1617, and the Priory ceased to exist. 2. There is no historic document connecting these priests with the Templars, even if they were contemporaries. There are legends without proof in France towards the middle of the 19th century. Is it true, as TDVC says, that there exists an organization called THE PRIORY OF SION that defended the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and that their warriors were the Knights Templar?

47. 3. In 1956 Pierre Plantard, a French antisemitic eccentric, invented a new Priory and wrote many articles in the National Enquirer, where he tied up his invention with the medieval priory. 4. It was an extreme right organization with the objective of throwing down the French republic and to install a monarchy whose king, a descendant of the Merovingians, would be Plantard. 5. At the beginning of 1970, one of Plantard’s collaborators confessed that he helped him fabricate the data, inclusive the genealogical trees that showed Plantard as a descendant of the Merovingians.

48. Is it true that the Templars hid the secret of the Holy Grail and that the Pope condemned them because they had a cult to Mary Magdalene as their “goddess”? 1. The persecution, judgment and condemnation of the Templars was devised by the King Philip IV of France, accusing them of heresy, homosexuality, idol worship, witchcraft, etc. 2. The persecution of the French King Philip IV was done in a time of economic crisis of the monarchy and it was a vengeance because he could not get the Templars to cancel the heavy debt he incurred with the Knights for the ramsom of his father.

49. 3. Friday 13th, 1307, 140 templars were thrown into the fire by the King of France without the authorization or knowledge of the Pope. 4. Upon receiving this news, Pope Clement V condemned this decision of King Philip because the knights who could save themselves declared that they confessed under torture. 5. The investigation of the Pope that followed found no fault with the Templar Knights and they were exonerated by the Church from the accusations of wichcraft, heretic cult, etc. Another false judgment, error or manipulation of Dan Brown… How many already?

50. These are some of the facts that Dan Brown hides, manipulates and changes as factual historical truths in his fictitious novel, “The Da Vinci Code.”

51. One can ask: If we can discover the truth in any history book, why does Dan Brown manipulate history? “ ”

52. Besides a sale of 50 million books and breaking box-office records, besides becoming a millionaire, what other hidden motive does Dan Brown and the defenders of TDVC have?

53. To discover the real intention of Dan Brown and his defenders, it is enough to see who are and have been lying, corrupting, and manipulating the history that Dan Brown invents.

54. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE “HOLY GRAIL” IS?

55. If you want to know where the HOLY GRAIL is, do some research about this cup that is at the Cathedral of Valencia in Spain. Numerous historical and archeological present-day studies done by experts coincide in saying that this is the cup that has more probability of being the one used by Jesus in the Last Supper before his death.

56. DO YOU WANT TO KEEP ON DECODING “THE DA VINCI CODE”?

57. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE FOOTSTEPS OF THAT CERTAIN JESUS “THE NAZARENE” HIDE?

58. Cordial greetings from SANTIAGO VELA (santiagovela@hotmail.com)santiagovela@hotmail.com