![]() ![]() ![]() After the fall of Acre and the expulsion of all Christians from the Holy Land, the Order moved its headquarters to France, where it came under the protection of the Royal House. In the 13th century, the Order of Saint Lazarus transferred its activities from Jerusalem to Acre in preparation for the final defence of the Holy Land. In order to protect these victims of disease from maltreatment and to defend their leper hospices against the infidels, the Order assumed a military role. Known as Lazarists or Lazarites, members of the Order specialised in caring for lepers and ministering to those afflicted with other contagious diseases, as well. The Order of Saint Lazarus was the only chivalric organisation caring for the needs of lepers, outcasts who roamed the Near East and Europe throughout the Middle Ages. A leprosarium, the infirmary was located outside the walls of Jerusalem -near the legendary home of Saint Lazarus, where it had been long maintained by an ancient hospitaller brotherhood according to tradition founded by Saint Basil the Great in the 4th century. ![]() One of the oldest and most deeply respected confraternities of chivalry in Christendom, the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem was established at the Infirmary of Saint Lazarus in the year 1098, during the First Crusade. The Order sees itself as an oecumenical Christian order whose genesis goes back to the Holy Land, to the crusades and to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is made up of approximately five thousand members in the five continents. With the exception of the present Teutonic Order (“Deutscher Orden”) the Order of Saint Lazarus is today the smallest of the orders of Christian chivalry. Its aim is to preserve and defend the Christian faith, to guard, assist succor and help the poor, the sick and dying, to promote and maintain the principles of Christian chivalry and to follow the teachings of Christ and His Holy Church in all its works. It is both a Military Order of Mercy and a Hospitaller Order dedicated to the care and assistance of the poor and the sick. Traditionally it is organized as a Christian Chivalric Order. Its international membership consists of Roman-catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Orthodox, United, Old Catholic, New Apostolic and other Christians, upholding with their lives, fortunes and honour the principles of Christianity. According to the said Constitution the Order is nonpolitical, oecumenical or nondenominational, as its membership is open to all men and women being practicing members of the Christian faith in good standing within their particular denomination. Today the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is an international self-governing and independent body, having its own Constitution it may be compared with a kind of electoral kingdom. From its foundation in the 12th century, the members of the Order were dedicated to two ideals: aid to those suffering from the dreadful disease of leprosy and the defense of the Christian faith. At the very least it dates back to the time of the Crusader knights. ![]() The Order of Saint Lazarus – OSLJ, is one of the most ancient of the European orders of chivalry. In theory the Order remained a military one, but with the exception of a brief period in the 17th century it played no military role after 1291. The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus is one of the orders of chivalry to survive the downfall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the attempts by the Crusader knights to win control of the Holy Land from the forces of Islam. ![]()
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