IN OLDEN DAYS
(from 1050 to 1798)
Jerusalem : The Order started about 1050 in Jerusalem
to cure and defend, in the name of Christian Faith, the pilgrims and the sick,
whatever might be their nations or religions.
Cyprus : After Jerusalem was taken by the Saracens (1187), and after the fall of Saint-John of Acre (1291),
The Order stopped by temporarily in Cyprus, and then conquered the Isle of Rhodes (1310).
Rhodes : 1310 : Setting up in Rhodes. The Order becomes sovereign and get organized into Grand Priories and Priories. Everywhere in Europe, its Commanderies and Homes cure the pilgrims and the sick.
The Order expands a powerful war navy, appropriate for defending Christiendom in the Mediterranean Sea, and that will serve as the Naval School of Christian Europe.
1480 : first Turkish great siege of Rhodes.
1522 : second siege : that ends by a forced departure.
Malta : 1530 :The Emperor Charles V gives the Isle of Malta as a refuge for the Order, that establish itself there in 1530.
At the end of the olden days : the French Revolution confiscates all the Order's possessions in France (1792) and also in nearly all Europe, that practically ruins all charity and hospitaller works of the Order.
In 1798 June, Bonaparte, on going to conquier Egypt, grabs the Isle of Malta and the Order is scattered.
Russia : October 1798 A large numbers of Knights of Saint-John take refuge in Saint Petersburg, at the court of Csar Paul I.
THE MODERN PERIOD
( SINCE 1798 )
THE SIGNIFICANT DATES
1798 (June 12) : Bonaparte takes Malta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch hands in to him, without any fight, all the rights on Malta. The Order is scattered and loses (definitively) its territorial sovereignty. The Csar Paul 1 of Russia is elected as Grand Master of the Order (Nov. 1798) and Hompesch resigns officially.
N.B. Since 1113, the Order was acknowledged and many times confirmed as totally independant in matters of establishing its Rule and electing its Grand Master (cf. Pastoralium nobis Bull, June 10, 1779). Grand Master Csar Paul 1 founds the Orthodox Grand Priory of Russia for the Orthodox and Protestant Knights : the Order becomes organically "Ecumenical".
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1805 : Pope Pius VII, influenced by Napoleon 1 and contrary to all rights, opposes against the election of a Grand Master for the Order and, taking under his control the Italian Priories, founds the Papal Order of Malta (that is strictly Roman Catholic) and appoints a Lieutenant Grand Master to head it. The Order said "of Malta" will be authorized by Pope Leo XIII to elect its first Grand Master in 1879.
From 1805 there are no more legal bonds between the Order of Malta, which does not exist in Russia, and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Russian and Ecumenical Branch) which will go on its existence in Russia until the 1917 Revolution. Its spirit and values will all the same be perpetuated through the Corps des Pages Institution and the Chevaliers Gardes.
1917 : the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem disappears from Russia, and takes again the roads of exile, sometimes isolated groups, to Europe and the United-States where its headquarters are first established, before being transfered in France.
1959 : OSJ founds the present Priory of France.
1967 : foundation by
the Priory of France of the Bretton Priory and alliance with the Danish Order
of Malta (Den Danske Malteserorden) witch becomes the OSJ Priory
of Danemark.
1999 (June 5) : Further to Order of Malta proceedings, and to avoid any confusion, OSJ adopted, for the Priories of France and Bretagne, the name of THE REGULAR ORDER OF SAINT JOHN OF HOLY LAND - OF THE RUSSIAN TRADITION OF THE CHRISTIAN ECUMENICAL KNIGHTS HOSPITALLER, as well as a specific Emblem : a white Greek eight-pointed Cross, that was used of old by the Order in the Holy Land and Rhodes times.
2000 (June) : A Charter of Alliance of the Christian Ecumenical Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem is signed by the OSJ according to the eight demanded criteria :
Christianity, ecumerism, internal democratic rules, historic lineage, strict accounting transparency of hospitaller and charity works, legal status, christian chivalry, exemplary nature of the Members' way of life.
The OSJ,
international Order, articulated in Priories (see OSJ Organisation)
December 2005 : on December 27th 2005, the Priories of Brittany and
Denmark decided to split from the Regular Order of Saint John of the Holy
Land, and created a new Order the supremus ordo domus hospitalis sancti
johannis hierosolymitani
Today : the Regular Order of Saint John of the Holy Land consists of the
sole Priory of France.
N.B. : OSJ has no bonds with :
- The Communauté Saint Jean
- The Fraternité Monastique de Jérusalem
- The Most Venerable Order of Saint-John
- The Johanniter Orden (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
- The Papal Order of Malta
- The Ordre de Saint Lazare de Jérusalem
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