<P> There were five initial charges lodged against the Templars . The first was the renouncement and spitting on the cross during initiation into the Order . The second was the stripping of the man to be initiated and the thrice kissing of that man by the preceptor on the navel, posteriors and the mouth . The third was telling the neophyte (novice) that unnatural lust was lawful and indulged in commonly . The fourth was that the cord worn by the neophyte day and night was consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard, and that this idol was adored in all chapters . The fifth was that the priests of the order did not consecrate the host in celebrating Mass . Subsequently, the charges would be increased and would become, according to the procedures, lists of articles 86 to 127 (3) in which will be added a few other charges, such as the prohibition to priests who do not belong to the order . </P> <P> The incontrovertibility of the evidence that the Templar priests did not mutilate the words of consecration in the mass is furnished in the Cypriote proceedings by ecclesiastics who had long dwelt with them in the East . </P> <P> Debate continues as to whether the accusation of religious heresy had merit by the standards of the time . Under torture, some Templars admitted to sodomy and to the worship of heads and an idol known as Baphomet . Their leaders later denied these admissions, and for that were executed . Some scholars, such as Malcolm Barber, Helen Nicholson and Peter Partner, discount these as forced admissions, typical during the Medieval Inquisition . </P> <P> The majority of the charges were identical to other people being tortured by the Inquisitors, with one exception: head worship . The Templars were specifically charged with worshipping some type of severed head; a charge which was made only against Templars . The descriptions of the head allegedly venerated by the Templars were varied and contradictory in nature . Quoting Norman Cohn: </P>

What is the story of the knights templar