Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem
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The Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani, Latin for the "Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem", and often shortened to the initials OSMTH or SMOTJ, is an ecumenical Christian society based on the traditions of the medieval Knights Templar and principles of chivalry. OSMTH/SMOTJ is a contemporary Knights Templar Order which is a reconstitution of the former religious/military order founded after the first crusade, not having a head of state as sovereign (obsolete concept in the age of democratic republics where the people are sovereign). SMOTJ was created in 1804 and is dedicated to the preservation of the holy sites in and around Jerusalem, charitable works, and antiquarian research. In 2001, the largest governmentally registered (Swiss registration: CH-660-1972999-4) association of the SMOTJ was recognized by the United Nations as a non-governmental organization.
[edit] Contemporary Orders
Originally, any order, whether it be religious, military, or chivalric, was defined by its fons honorum or source of honor. Religious orders can and still do draw patronage and/or supreme leadership from centrally administered churches as a "fount of honor." A religious order, therefore, does not take the form of a multidenominational or ecumenical order. However, the antiquary concept of fons honorum no longer applies to chivalric or military orders.
Using the outdated concept of fons honorum, chivalric or military orders can only be defined by the swearing allegiance to a national sovereign in the form of a person holding that office. This concept became obsolete the moment that constitutional democracies came into existence because democracies of any classification derive their power and sovereignty from the people of the nation as a whole unit. Even a democratic constitutional monarch cannot be sovereign because democracy implies, by definition, the sovereignty of the people.
In the time before democracies, one rule had to be applied to chivalric and military orders; that no order could have multinational full membership. This is because swearing loyalty to one monarch inherently meant disavowing loyalty to any other monarch. Even today American citizens cannot swear allegiance to either a monarch or a foreign government without the risk of losing American citizenship.
The Templars lost the patronage of the Catholic Church in the beginning of the 14th century and ceased being a religious order. But the Templars did not cease to be a military or chivalric order. Conversely, it also didn't mean that they were chivalric or military under the conditions of those times. Nevertheless, without exception, contemporary Templar groups are multidenominational. Some Templar groups strive to be ecumenical, swearing only to uphold the ideals of chivalry, confessing belief that Christ is the Messiah and but one supreme God.
However, with the advent of democracies in the Age of Enlightenment, the Templars were the first order, owing to the opportunities afforded by reconstitution, to accommodate this shift in governmental philosophy with a change in the concept of fons honorum. Furthermore, the world economic explosion that began with the Industrial Revolution shifted the need for patronage FROM organized religion and national government which monopolized the sources of support for these types of organizations before 1700, TO individuals who gained the capability of independently accumulating large sums of equity.
To that end, the largest Templar organization today is the Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani or Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. OSMTH is the international association of many autonomous national Grand Priories. Technically, SMOTJ is the Grand Priory of the United States. "Supremus" in this context is translated to "Sovereign" merely for tradition and it is well understood by all that one's first loyalty is to his or her nation. "Military" is yet another of the obsolete titles because neither SMOTJ or OSMTH have a military mission. One of the central objectives of both OSMTH and SMOTJ is humanitarian service, with a traditional emphasis on the Levant but not exclusively.
OSMTH officially began its existence as an order in 1804. The central figure behind this revival was Fabre-Palaprat, a French citizen who took a keen interest in the history of the Knights Templar. OSMTH allows full membership to females as well. Males are termed "Knights" with the republican honorific of Chevalier and females are termed "Dames" with the republican honorific of Chevalesse.
Masonic affiliation is forbidden by only a few Templar organizations rejecting esoteric ceremonies and fraternity with non-Christian belief systems. Masonic affiliation is not relevant to OSMTH or SMOTJ as long as the member upholds the ideals of chivalry, confesses belief that Christ is the Messiah and but one supreme God.
The contemporary Templars, therefore, democratized their administration, membership, and patronage long before any other order. The practice of true "sovereign" military and chivalric orders died a natural death with the Age of Enlightenment. However, there are Templar organzations outside of SMOTJ and OSMTH that have reverted back to the practice of heritary and/or pseudo-sovereign leaders, and even use the name of SMOTJ and OSMTH or some variation thereof. They are pseudo-sovereign because in reality, there is no recognition as a sovereign nation either in the United Nations or by any other constituted nation. They simply cannot conduct business in that arena. The same reality applies in non-Templar orders as well.
[edit] References
Stephen Howarth. The Knights Templar. Barnes & Noble. 1991. ISBN 0-88029-663-1
