Patriarchal Order of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem

[3] The order was founded by Patriarch Maximos V Hakim of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church on 14 September 1979, originally based in Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, Italy.

Ever since, it has enjoyed the protection of the subsequent Patriarchs of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as Grand Masters.

[...] [T]o bring in the greatest measure possible, brotherly help to peoples living in The Holy Land and to the entire Christian East.Under the Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East as Grand Master, the order is organised by a Governor International and served by a Grand Prior, the Vicar Apostolic of Jerusalem.

Apart from the Middle East, the order is active in Italy (2006), Germany (1988), Belgium (1986), France (2014),[6] United States and Canada.

Nevertheless, the Commission accepts that these Ecclesiastical Decorations possess full validity as awards of merit or honours within the respective Churches which have instituted them.

The founder of the order, Patriarch Maximos V Hakim (right), together with David Ben-Gurion , first Prime Minister of Israel , 1960.
Former Grand Master Patriarch Gregory III Laham (left) with the former Grand Prior of the order, Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey , Vicar Apostolic of Jerusalem , 2009.
The seat of the Order, seat of the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem