The testament / Eric van Lustbader.

After Braverman "Bravo" Shaw's father is tragically killed in an accident, his uneventful life as a risk management consultant is quickly turned upside down. Bravo's dad, it turns out, is a high-ranking member of the Order of Gnostic Observatines, a secret sect of monks believed to be long extinct. For centuries, the Order has diligently guarded civilization-altering artifacts (including the Secret Gospel According to Mark, which discredits Jesus' divinity, and the Quintessence, the fabled fifth element that is rumored to have the power to raise the dead and bestow immortality) from an opposing sect bent on crushing the Order and exploiting its secrets. Bravo's father has concealed the cache, and with its location hidden in numerous cryptograms the race is on -- and so is the countdown to Armageddon.