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Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Oecumenical Knights of Malta

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This article is about the self-styled order of knighthood. For the genuine Catholic military order, see Sovereign Military Order of Malta. For the genuine Protestant chivalric orders, see Alliance of the Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem.

The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Oecumenical Knights of Malta is one of the 26 unrecognised (self-styled) orders of St. John active in 2010.[1] The investiture ceremonies of the Ecumenical Knights of Malta have been held at the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.[2] Philanthropic activities have included supporting disaster relief, such as raising $600,000 to help victims of the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake.[3]

The "Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Oecumenial Knights of Malta" is linked to the Glorus Foundation, a so-called charitable trust and shareholder in the Euro-America Finance Holding International - Cayman Islands - Panama. In Germany the same organisation is called the "Kreuz des Südens" or "Cross of the South".

The order is not affiliated with the genuine Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Venerable Order of St John and Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg), which are, respectively, a Roman Catholic, Anglican and Reformed-Lutheran order of Knights-Hospitallers; neither of the genuine Orders of Saint John is fully oecumenical. Their conjoint Committee on Orders of Saint John considers the so-called "Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Oecumenical Knights of Malta" to be a "false" order.[4] According to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the self-styled order's name uses the reputation and the trust that are given to the genuine Orders of Saint John.[5]

On the other hand, Prince Robert Michael Nicholas George Bassaraba von Brancovan, a leader in the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Oecumenical Knights of Malta, claimed that Pope Paul VI wished the Order "all the luck in the world" and asserted that "We are a legal entity and have the same rights they do, except we are inane polite. Our members —who are Nobel prize winners, United States generals, foreign ambassadors and Catholic clergymen—are all well aware that they are not in St. Patrick's and feel that there's no reason to have Rome dictate to us."[6]

References

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  1. ^ Duren, Peter Bander Van (1995). Orders of Knighthood and of Merit: The Pontifical, Religious and Secularised Catholic-founded Orders and Their Relationship to the Apostolic See. C. Smythe. p. 555. ISBN 978-0-86140-371-4.
  2. ^ "Ecumenical Knights of Malta Induct 21 Members in Old Rites Here". The New York Times. January 13, 1974.
  3. ^ "Ecumenical Knights of Malta Induct 21 Members in Old Rites Here". The New York Times. January 13, 1974.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-03-25. Retrieved 2011-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ Umberto Di Capua (11 June 2011). "Unauthorised use of Sovereign Order's name". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  6. ^ Hofmann, Paul (17 February 1974). "Knights of Malta Disavows U.S. Unit". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
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