WONM Foundation Canada, Toronto community outreach project is endorsed by the World Organization of Natural Medicine (WONM) and the Sovereign Order of the Orthodox Knights Hospitaller (OSJ), Dames and Knights Canadian group
Hon. Dr Sheila McKenzie being knighted in service to humanity
“Dame of Merit”
The Order of Saint John is one of the great treasures of Christendom and is one of the world's oldest, continuing knightly institutions. The development and expansion of the Order has influenced the course of world history and bridged the disparate cultures of the Christian East and West. The Order began in the eleventh century as a local charitable institution, a hospital, in Jerusalem. Founded by a group of pious men, led by Brother Gerard the Blessed, it rapidly gained world fame for its spiritual and temporal care of pilgrims traveling to and in the Holy Land. In time, the Order also protected them. This is the reason it developed its military arm, which soon transformed this devout group into a great military-religious brotherhood.
Many of the finest families of the period sent their sons to serve the Order, which prospered and became organized into eight tongues or national groups. The Order continued to serve the sick and the weak, for all knights and brothers were required to administer to them, as their masters. Many famous hospitals were constructed for this purpose.
When the Muslims destroyed the Christian Kingdoms in the Holy Land, the knights and brothers of Saint John moved briefly to Cyprus, then to Rhodes. On Rhodes, they created a splendid, fortified city, complete with an outstanding hospital. Since Rhodes is an island, the Order built a great navy which served as the principal power against the Ottoman Turks for the next three hundred years. The Order remained on Rhodes for two centuries, from 1310, to 1522.
Eventually, the Ottoman Turkish power, directed against Rhodes, proved too great. The Order, after a heroic, defense of Rhodes, departed honored by their enemies. They turned once more to the seas during a period of exile. In order to secure the western Mediterranean Sea, the Emperor Charles V gave the knights the islands of Malta., Comino and Gozo, where they created an even more splendid and brilliant base than on Rhodes. Shortly after their arrival on Malta, they successfully defended the island in the famous siege of 1565. In the Mediterranean Sea, they remained the main bulwark of Christendom against Islam. On Malta, the Order constructed a new city, Valletta, which became an international center for medicine, education and the arts. Today, one may still see the great monuments created for and by the Order on both Rhodes and Malta.
By the end of the eighteenth century, a new and more serious threat descended: the rise of Napoleon. He coveted the Order's wealth and seized Malta in 1798. The enormous treasury accumulated by the Order for their charitable and educational endeavors was confiscated. The Order would have been doomed if not for the almost miraculous intervention of Emperor Paul I of Russia.
In 1797, the previous year, the Emperor Paul had accepted the role of the Order's Imperial Protector. In assuming this office the Emperor, by mutual agreement with the Order, created the Grand Priory of Russia. This new all powerful protector and patron immediately and unreservedly supported the knights and the Order against the designs of Napoleon. He was their only hope. For this reason the knights elected him their Grand Master to replace Baron Ferdinand von Hompesch, who had lost the impregnable city of Valleta to Napoleon. With the Emperor's election, the Order accepted Orthodox and Catholic single and married men and women. The Order was re-established in Saint Petersburg at the Worontzov Palace. It was divided into separate chapters for the Emperor's Orthodox and Catholic subjects. Two chapels were constructed in the Palace, one Orthodox, and the other Catholic. By 1800, the Orthodox Grand Priory of Russia had over four hundred knights and dames, while the Catholic Grand Priory of Russia had almost two hundred knights and dames.
The death of Emperor Paul in 1801 threatened the brief prosperity of the Order. His son, Emperor Alexander I, did not wish to become the Order's Grand Master but remained steadfast as its Imperial Protector. While the Order, declined rapidly in the West, it remained strong in Russia. The Emperor attempted to restore a permanent seat for the Order in the West, but that never happened.
Emperor Nicholas I, at his own expense, restored the Orthodox and Catholic chapels in the Worontzov Palace. Meanwhile, the Grand Priories flourished in Russia. In 1844, the heraldic history, Orders de Chivalries ET Marques d'Honneur were recorded. The Order is also recorded in Russian sources: membership in the Order is confirmed in the Imperial Court Almanacs of 1829, 1835, 1847, 1853, 1856, and 1914. As other Almanacs and sources become available, the roster of membership and activities will grow. Emperor Alexander II was photographed wearing the Grand Cross of the Order and, as Head of the Russian Grand Priories; he raised Prince Alexander Vassilievitch Troubetzkoy to the rank of Hereditary Commander on October 19, 1867.
Emperor Alexander Ill used the crown of the Grand Master which was created for Emperor Paul at the funeral rites of his father, Alexander II, as well as at his own coronation. Emperor Nicholas II was equally involved with the Order. He honored family members, including the Empress Alexandra
And the Grand Dukes Sergei and Paul, with the Bailiff Grand Cross. Officers graduating from the Corps Imperial des Pages, whose seat was in the Order's Palace, were given the right to wear a Cross of the Order on a round gold plaque.
The Order flourished in Russia until the Revolution of 1917. After World War I and the destructive rise of Bolshevism, all Imperial institutions, including the Order of Saint John, were abolished. The Order's buildings, possessions and other properties were seized and used for other purposes. In 1928, the surviving Hereditary Family Commanders met in Paris where they re-established the Orthodox Russian Grand Priory. The group remained active in their French exile through the sixties, during which time it received the protection of the Romanovs: Grand Dukes Cyril, Alexander and Andrei.
In the seventies, the Russian Grand Priory was moved to the United States. At the meeting of the Hereditary Family Commanders, presided over by Prince Serge S. Belosselsky-Belozersky (who took part in the 1928 revival), Count Nicholas A. Bobrinskoy (illustration 1), great-great- great grandson of Empress Catherine the Great, was elected Grand Prior. The Order was registered and incorporated as a non-profit charitable institution and received the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States. The Romanov protection continued through Prince Andrew, Prince Vassily and, at present, Prince Michael of Russia. The Order's membership has supported charitable and educational endeavors for over fifteen years.
In 1992, after a period of seventy-five years of the Order's exile from Russia, His Holiness Aleksy II, the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (illustration 2), sanctioned the Russian Grand Priory (see document) under Count Bobrinskoy and permitted its spiritual return to its ancient homeland. The Order is currently re-establishing a physical presence in Russia and will reclaim its former glory and its role as a great charitable and educational institution of Russia.
Paul J. Cardile, K.S.J.
The Order has a Constitution and By-Laws and is a non-profit, charitable organization incorporated in the state of New York. It is governed by a Grand Prior, His Excellency Count Nicholas Bobrinskoy and is sanctioned by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia The International Headquarters and Secretariat are located in Mount Vernon, New York
The Order is a religious, knightly, chivalric and noble Order.
The formation of spiritual elite, vigorously promoting (without distinction of race or creed)
a. The dignity and worth of the human being. The ideal of peace in the observance of human rights
b. The practice of works of charity and humanity
The Order is Sovereign, but subject to International law. It will be always registered as a charitable organization.
True to Divine Commandments, the Knights and Dames will profess the virtues of charity and fraternity, practice the works of mercy, and help the sick and the suffering, the refugees, exiled and immigrants, homeless and abandoned children, the poor and the aged, assisting them both physically and spiritually.
To this end, professional members will be called upon to render such physical, medical, spiritual, legal or other services when necessary.
The Order will award medals and certificates, recognizing special merit and services to humanity.
Dames and Knights should attend (to the best of their abilities) all functions and meetings of the Grand Priory, Priory, and Commandery.
They should participate in the charitable and humanitarian work of our ecumenical Orthodox Hospitaller of Saint John, in a personal, professional or financial capacity.
A Dame or a Knight can be promoted to a higher rank or be granted a special distinction by reason of special meritorious deeds or services, and after her/his acceptance, will assume the higher responsibilities of the new rank.
The Investiture is a religious and honorary service at a special place, usually a church, conducted according to procedures traditional to the Order.
Following the precepts of the Blessed Gerard, the Order in America encourages its membership to do good and charitable works, especially for the ill, children, the old and the destitute. It also serves as an educational source, maintains and preserves hospitals and Christian institutions. The Order will promote the continued improvement and understanding among Christian Churches, while preserving and sharing the traditions of Orthodoxy. It will also actively seek to enter into an understanding and cooperation with all other legitimate branches of the Order of Saint John.
In the immediate future, the Order will re-establish itself in Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. It will seek permission to use the ancestral chapels in the Worontzov Palace in Saint Petersburg, the Order's original seat. As interest is expressed in other suitable locations, the Order will establish Commentaries and Priories. The Order seeks outstanding individuals with proper, qualifications from all strata of Russian society. Aside from its Hospitaller work, the Order will pursue a fourfold program: (1) to support the Church and its undertakings; (2) to help the youth of Russia seek meaning to their lives through Christian education and moral virtues; (3) to inculcate in all people the true ideals of Christian chivalry and the nobility of spirit; (4) to promote the cause of peace and goodwill among all the people of Russia.
The Order is an active organization. Membership requires individuals to support actively to the best of their ability in word and deed, both actual and financial, the good and charitable work of the Order