| False Orders Committee |
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| The "False Orders Committee" (FOC) is an independent
Committee, established by the initiative of the Sovereign Military Order
of Malta in 1974. The four recognized Orders of St John in the Alliance
are represented on this Committee. In the context of the wider scene
of unrecognized orders of Chivalry, the FOC is charged with preventing
the misuse of the names, emblems and official documents of its Member
Orders, and to forestall unlawful acts arising from the imitation of
those names and emblems. In September 2000, the False Orders Committee issued the following declaration, endorsed by members of the Alliance: |
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| Self-Styled Orders of St John |
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| The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of
Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, generally known as the Order of Malta,
and the four Orders of St John of Jerusalem which co-operate in the
Alliance of the Orders of St John are united by a common historical
tradition and a unique vocation: the care of the sick and the poor.
These Orders have established a joint committee to investigate and deal
with the ever increasing number of organizations which misuse the symbols
and emblems of the orders of St John, causing confusion in the minds
of the public and impeding the welfare and Hospitaller activities of
the national and international bodies of the Order of Malta and of the
Alliance Orders. |
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| The Sovereign Order of Malta is unique in combining the
nature of a Religious Order with an Order of Chivalry and is widely
recognized as a sovereign entity of International Law. Confraternities
were created after the Reformation which have legitimately conserved
the institutional aims and emblems of the Order in their different Christian
traditions and which the Sovereign Military Order of Malta recognizes: The fours Order of St John of Jerusalem associated in the Alliance are recognized by the sovereign authorities in the countries in which they are based. Ther are: |
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| The Orders of St John in the Alliance are Orders of Chivalry
and are distinguished from other national Orders because of their Christian
faith and their traditions as religious confraternities of Christian lay people. |
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