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The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem (in German, the ''Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens Sankt Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem''), or simply the Order of Saint John (''Der Johanniterorden''), is the German Protestant branch of the Knights Hospitaller, the oldest surviving chivalric order, which generally is considered to have been founded in Jerusalem in the year AD 1099. The Order is led by its thirty-seventh ''Herrenmeister'' ("Master of the Knights"), Prince Oskar of Prussia (born in 1959, he is a great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II). Each of its knights, about four thousand men worldwide, is either a Knight of Justice (''Rechtsritter'') or a Knight of Honor (''Ehrenritter'').〔''Verzeichnis der Mitglieder der Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens St. Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem''; Berlin: Johanniterorden, September, 2008; page 88.〕 Membership in the Order is by invitation only, and individuals may not petition for admission; it is not limited to German citizens or German speakers, and knights include citizens and residents of most major nations.〔''Verzeichnis der Mitglieder der Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens St. Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem''; Berlin: Johanniterorden, October, 2011; ''passim''.〕 The Order comprises seventeen commanderies in Germany, one each in Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, and Switzerland, and a global commandery with subcommanderies in twelve other countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Italy, Namibia, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela).〔''Verzeichnis der Mitglieder der Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens St. Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem''; Berlin: Johanniterorden, October, 2011; pages 22-23.〕 Together with the London-based Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (of which, the British monarch is Sovereign Head), the Swedish ''Johanniterorden i Sverige'', and the Dutch ''Johanniter Orde in Nederland'', the Order forms the Alliance of the Orders of St. John of Jerusalem. With the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the "SMOM"), these four "Alliance orders" represent the legitimate heirs of the Knights Hospitaller. They consider other orders using the name of Saint John to be merely imitative, and the Alliance and the SMOM have jointly formed a False Orders Committee (now renamed and reorganized as the Committee on Orders of St. John), with representatives of each of the five orders, for the purpose of exposing and taking action against such imitations.〔Sainty, pages 63, 108-112, 145.〕 The Order and its affiliate orders in the Netherlands and Sweden, which became independent of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg after the Second World War, in 1946, are Protestant. The SMOM, headquartered in Rome, admits only men and women of the Roman Catholic faith.〔Joint Declaration of SMOM and the Alliance of the Orders of St John of Jerusalem, Rome 22 October 2004〕 The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, a revival of the mediaeval English ''Langue'' of the Order of Saint John, was chiefly Anglican at its formation in the nineteenth century but has since opened its membership to men and women of any faith.〔As explained in the article of this Wikipedia on "the Venerable Order", citing the ''Pro Fide'' report for 2005 of the Grand Council of that organization, profession of the Christian faith is "not () an essential condition of membership" in it.〕 ==Charitable works== Through its Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe ("Saint John Accident Assistance"), its hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and other institutions, the Order today is a major provider of medical and rescue services in Germany and, to a lesser extent, of comparable services elsewhere in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. These services are similar to the St. John Ambulance in many Commonwealth nations, and to various organisations affiliated with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. All are carried out under the auspices of the Christian faith. Additionally, spiritual retreats and other activities of the Order concentrate on the spiritual formation and development of Christian citizens in the modern world.〔(Johanniter.de ); (), viewed on November 5, 2011; Clark, pages 62, 70-105. As of 2011, the ''Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe'' counted 1,200,000 members in Germany alone; the ''Johanniter-Schwesterschaft'' (Saint John's nursing sisterhood) had about 600 nurses, all trained in the Order's nursing schools and most working in the hospitals and other institutions of the order in Germany; the annual financial turnover of the Order and its associated institutions exceeded a billion euroes.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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