Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller
In gratitude the Knights declared Ferdinand von Hompesch deposed[citation needed] and Emperor Paul I was elected as the new Grand Master.
[2] From 1772 to 1773, Grand Master Pinto sent Baillif Sagramoso as an ambassador to Russia, with the aim of maintaining the Order's cordial relationship with the northern giant.
In 1789, Bailiff Count Giulio Renato de Litta, while on an official visit from the Knights of Malta, assisted with the reorganization of Russia's Baltic Fleet, and later served as a commander with the Russian Imperial Navy in the war against Sweden.
In 1798, following Napoleon's taking of Malta, the Order was dispersed, but with a large number of refugee Knights sheltering in St Petersburg, where they elected the Russian Emperor, Paul I as their Grand Master, replacing Ferdinand Hompesch then held in disgrace.
Proponents of the view that a separate Russian order existed, see this as if a fiscal and legal separation of the Russian tradition of St John from the main Roman Catholic HQ was created (The main motive of these decrees was financial as Alexander sought to reduce his father's lavish expenditures and build up a war chest for his struggle against Napoleon.
There is also no evidence of any Russians fulfilling the requirements for membership of the order and succession to a commandery set out in the statutes issued by Emperor Paul.
No such decree was ever issued concerning members of the non-Roman Catholic Russian Grand Priory, and in fact the reverse was true.
[9] One of the leading French Bailiffs of the Military Order of Malta, who had studied the Russian tradition provided a footnote in his book; "Nevertheless, the Tsars have exceptionally authorised the eldest sons of the descendants of hereditary commanders to wear the decorations.
96803 permission is given to Count Alexander Vladimirovitch Armfeldt to wear the insignia of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, with the transfer of that right, after his death, to his son.
They were supported by three other Russian Nobles who were aspirants and admitted as Knights, and a Hereditary Commander of the Catholic Grand Priory of Russia.
On 9 December 1953, the Hereditary Commanders held a reunion in Paris and drew up a Constitution for the Russian Grand Priory in exile.
Prince Nikita Troubetzkoy became the remaining member of the council, which effectively signalled the end of the formal Paris group.
Although by 1975, with the death of the secretary, the original leadership had died out and the jurisdiction of the Paris Group came to a definite legal end; it is asserted that the tradition has been maintained by the Priory of Dacia, (which was acknowledged as a legal part of the Union) together with a number of descendants of the Hereditary Commanders associated with the Russian Grand Priory Association.
[15] In 1977, however, Count Nicholas Bobrinsky, along with several of the Hereditary Commanders, also claimed to maintain this tradition and became what is now known as the Orthodox Order of the Knights of St. John, Russian Grand Priory.
[16] This international philanthropic and chivalric group in the Russian tradition is based in New York, and has over 600 members including descendants of hereditary Russian nobility including several of the original Hereditary Commander families, as well as descendants of the House of Romanov and other Royal Houses, and has recognition as an NGO/DPI by the United Nations.
The large passage fees (alleged in some cases to be in the region of $50,000) collected by the American Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the early 1950s[citation needed] may well have tempted Charles Pichel to create his own "Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller" in 1956.
[citation needed] In truth, the foundation of his organisation had no connection to the genuine Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller.
