Во дела творятся... The Most Sacred Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers.
The Order was founded in December 1972 by His Beatitude
Makarios III, the Cypriot Archbishop and Ethnarch. Makarios was also the first
President of the Republic of Cyprus (1960-1977). As Archbishop and President,
Makarios decreed that the Grandmastership of the Order should always be vested
in the Archbishop of, and Ethnarch in, Cyprus, and that the office of Temporal
Protector should be vested in the President of the Republic of Cyprus.
The
original conception of the Order was a revival of the Russian tradition of the
Order of St John. In its early days, the following introduction was produced by
the Order;
"The specific and continuing Hospitaller tradition with which
the Order associates itself is derived from the initiative of Pope St Gregory 1
in founding a hospice in Jerusalem in 603 A.D. Upon this foundation, revived in
the 11th century by monks from Amalfi, then but lately under Byzantine rule,
grew up a great hospice and hospital whose brothers quickly evolved their
community into the great Order of St John of Jerusalem, of which, at the end of
the eighteenth century, the Orthodox Russian Emperor Paul I was elected Grand
Master, at which time a Graeco-Russian Grand Priory of the Order was
established, Although the Emperor Alexander I suppressed the Order in the
Russian Empire and the Grand Mastership reverted to a Catholic, the spirit of
the old Graeco-Russian Grand Priory lived on and now finds a new form and
expression in the present Order of Orthodox Hospitallers exemplified by its
activities in the area of medical help, care for refugees, relief and general
social concerns in respect of which it is registered as a National and Overseas
Charity in the United Kingdom and in membership of the U.K. National Council of
Social Services.". - [duplicated sheets, 'The Most Sacred Order of the Orthodox
Hospitallers', n.d., 8 sides]
Makarios made the headquarters of the Order, the Monastery of
St. Barnabas, Famagousta, in the Republic of Cyprus, and the Order did retain
its Seat there with the permission of the Turkish authorities after the
occupation of the Monastery by Turkey during the civil war in 1974. The Historic
Order of St. John, had its seat in Cyprus 1291-1310, after losing their home in
the Holy Land, and before gaining Rhodes.
Membership is restricted those of the Orthodox faith. Other
forms of association with the Order have been opened to Heterodox Christians
(non Orthodox). Makarios instituted a Decoration which may be conferred on
non-Orthodox persons for services rendered to the Order, and conferred in three
classes: Companion, Companion First Class and Companion with Star, and very
rarely with Cordon. Companionships do not imply membership of the Order of the
Orthodox Hospitallers. Makarios decreed that the Apostolic Pro-Nuncios to Cyprus
and to Great Britain, the Vicar General of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in
Cyprus, and the Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf should be offered the
Decoration with Star on their appointment. He also recommended that other
religious leaders and public figures, especially in countries with large
Orthodox communities, should be honoured with a Companionship to further good
ecumenical and inter-faith relations.
To be a pan-Orthodox Order and able to
operate outside Cyprus, the Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers obtained
canonical recognition from the Representatives of other autocephalous
Patriarchs, including the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates. The
Patriarchs of Alexandria, Nicholas VI, and Diodros I of Jerusalem, became High
Spiritual Protectors of the Order within their Canonical Territories, a right
which can be claimed by all Metropolitans within the territory of their
jurisdiction.
The appointment of Brother Serge Baron von Bennigsen, O.H., as
Grand Chancellor and Megas Domesticos of the Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers
by His Beatitude Archbishop Makarios was confirmed by his successors, the new
Archbishop of Cyprus and the newly elected President of Cyprus.
Archbishop Makarios III was not only the Head of the Orthodox
Church in Cyprus but also the democratically elected (and twice re-elected)
President of the Republic of Cyprus. The Order has continued to enjoy the
Patronage of the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, and the Patronage of the
President of Cyprus; therefore Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers is in every
respect an unquestionable Chivalric Order which is endowed with all the
privileges of an Order instituted by a Head of State. The Decorations and the
Companionships conferred by the Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers have
therefore the same standing in the World Community as have other decorations
conferred by an Chivalric Order recognised by a Nation State.
According to Prince Sergei Troubetzkoy (ex-King Peter Order -
King Peter had died and his "Sovereign Order of St John" had split into several
factions, one of which was led by Troubetzkoy), in 1974, some discussions took
place with a meeting at Capri between Prince Sergei Troubetzkoy, Baron Eric de
Kolb, Wartenberg, Count A. Orssich, Prince Kyril Scherbatow of the ex-King Peter
Order and Baron Sergei von Bennigsen, who was Chancellor of the Most Sacred
Order of the Orthodox Hospitallers. At that time H.I.H. Prince Dimitri
Alexandrovitch Romanoff of Russia (1901-1980) was the Grand Prior of the Most
Sacred Order. Count Nicholas Bobrinskoy was brought into the picture just after
the meeting. At the time he appears to have been the Prior of the ex-King Peter
Order's New York Priory. It appears that as a result of this encounter, Count
Nicholas is listed as the Lieutenant Grand Prior of an alliance of Orders
consisting of his Priory, other King Peter II units under Troubetzkoy and the
group, which made up the Most Sacred Orthodox Order.
Baron Sergei von Bennigsen (1940-2005) had already gained the
Protection and Blessing of the Orthodox Church in Western Europe (Moscow
Patriarchate) 20th January 1974, and of the Orthodox Church in France, 30th
January 1974. The wording on the Blessing from he Orthodox Church in Western
Europe is as follows;
"Considering the Sovereign authority and the Canons of the
Holy Orthodox Church, and also the aims and the Constitution of the Hospitallers
of the Orthodox Tradition of the Russian Grand Priory of the Sovereign Order of
Saint John of Jerusalem, the Orthodox Hospitallers of Saint John, I,
Archbishop Anthony, Metropolitan of Sourozh and Exarch of the Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russias in Western Europe, bestow my Blessing and spiritual
Protection upon, and grant Canonical Recognition to, this truly charitable and
hospitable Orthodox Order of Chivalry, and accredit His Excellency the Baron
Sergei von Bennigsen Plenipotentiary Minister, extraordinary envoy and Charge
d'Affaires of the Orthodox Hospitallers of Saint John as Diplomatic
Representative to My Exarchal See in London."
etc...