The Order was published by Harper in 2020. Pope Paul VII — the reformist pontiff who appeared in earlier Allon novels — dies suddenly. His private secretary believes the death was not natural and asks Allon to investigate. The investigation leads to a lost gospel, hidden for centuries by a secret order within the Vatican, that could fundamentally alter the relationship between Christianity and Judaism by revealing that the Gospels’ anti-Jewish passages were later additions rather than authentic accounts.
The novel returns to the territory of The Confessor — Vatican intrigue, institutional secrecy, the intersection of faith and power — but raises the stakes to a theological level. The lost gospel, if revealed, could eliminate the scriptural basis for two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism. The forces within the Church that want it suppressed are willing to kill to prevent its publication.
The Lost Gospel
Silva’s fictional gospel — a first-century text that provides an alternative account of Jesus’s trial and execution, one that exonerates the Jewish people of responsibility for the crucifixion — engages with real biblical scholarship. The question of whether the anti-Jewish passages in the Gospels (particularly John) reflect historical events or later theological agendas has been debated by scholars for decades. Silva takes the most radical scholarly position and makes it a thriller premise.
The Pandemic Context
Written during 2020, the novel is notably set in a pre-pandemic world — an authorial choice that keeps the focus on Vatican politics rather than the disruption that overtook every other aspect of global life. The novel’s enclosed institutional setting (the Vatican, Swiss boarding schools, London art galleries) makes the absence of pandemic reference less jarring than it might otherwise be.
Collecting The Order
First edition (Harper, New York, 2020): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $15–$25
- Signed first edition: $40–$120
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest. Signed copies should reach $80–$250.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the lost gospel real? No. While scholarly debate about the Gospels’ anti-Jewish passages is real and well-documented, Silva’s specific manuscript is fictional.
How does this connect to The Confessor? Both novels deal with Vatican conspiracies to suppress historical truths about Christianity’s relationship with Judaism. The Order can be read as a thematic sequel to The Confessor, though the plots are independent.