The Brotherhood of the Holy Cross

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The Brotherhood of the Holy Cross (The Sovereign Order of Knights named The Brotherhood of the Holy Cross Sacred Calvary Guard) is an independent international religious and sociopolitical organization which positions itself as an entity similar to a state.
As to 2011 The Brotherhood has its departments (so-called centuries) in Russia, in Ukraine and in USA. As religious organization it unites Catholic and Orthodox Christians in its ranks. Herewith, The Brotherhood doesn’t affiliate the Roman Catholic and other local Orthodox Church as an administrative unit. At the same time, The Vicar and a number of The Brotherhood priests are clerics of Bessarabian Metropolis in Romanian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan , the manager of Romanian Orthodox Church verified, when The Brotherhood had been created, that his metropolis takes The Brotherhood under canonical protection and ecclesiastic patronage.
As political organization The Brotherhood belongs to the ultra right-wing camp. The Calvary Guardians are consistent anti-communists, opponents of Islam, of Judaism and other religions. The doctrine of The Brotherhood justifies The Crusades and inquisition activities.
The Brotherhood proclaims by its existence the possibility of reconciliation for Orthodox Christians and Catholics at the present time.
History
On January 6, 2005 on the founding congress in Moscow The Statute (The Charter) was adopted and The Vicar and members of The General Chapter were elected. The investiture of the first knights was made by priests of The Brotherhood. The holy martyr Longin - the first Calvary Guardian - and the Russian Emperor Paul II were elected by common consent the higher patrons of The Brotherhood. In 2005 delegation of The Brotherhood made the pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher. In Jerusalem The Calvary Guard gave to the Church of the Resurrection and its Calvary Altar some church utensils brought from Russia.
The year 2006 brought to The Brotherhood worldwide recognition. The Brotherhood Vicar presented Knighthood Crosses to Grand Master of Maltese Order and to Grand Master of Teutonic Order during his visit to Rome and Venice. In august 2006 delegation of The Brotherhood visited Constantinople and was honored with an audience by Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch. The Brotherhood was the initiator of returning the Saint Apostles Peter and Paul’s home church in Saint Petersburg Mikhailovsky Castle (where the Russian Emperor Paul II was murdered) to Moscow Patriarchate. On June 16, 2008 The Brotherhood was given with the piece of the Holy Cross, which was placed into Akhtyrskaya Blessed Virgin Mary icon- the main icon of The Brotherhood.
In 2009 The Brotherhood pilgrim groups delivered to Holy Land and France a consignment of humanitarian aid and of church utensils. The Brotherhood Vicar visited South Korea and countries of Oceania (Fiji and Tonga). In Tonga The Vicar presented the Knighthood Cross to George V Tupo, The King of Tonga. On February, the 1st, 2010 in the embassy building of Vatican in Moscow the Knighthood Cross of The Brotherhood was handed over Pope Benedict XVI. In summer 2010 The Vicar of The Brotherhood visited Tavolara Kingdom near the Sardinia Island. On June 17, 2010 The King of Tavolara Antonio I Bertoleoni and The Vicar of The Brotherhood signed an agreement on establishing diplomatic relations between Kingdom of Tavolara and The Brotherhood. The end of 2010 was marked by completion of the second Brotherhood’s temple. In 2009 The Calvary Guardians adopted The Declaration of their own sovereign. According to The Brotherhood, a reason for this step was in precedent set by Order of Malta.
The Vicar
The Vicar of The Holy Cross Brotherhood The Sacred Calvary Guard, protopresbyter Alexander Sergeev-Zarnadze, citizen of Russia and Georgia, was born on the 20th of January 1961. On the invitation of Metropolitan Vitaliy, The First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Alexander visited USA in 1989, where he was ordained by the First Hierarch sub deacon and entered the Holy Trinity Seminary (extramural studies) in Jordanville, New-York. From 1989 to 1994 Alexander was Metropolitan’s representative in Russia.
On the 22nd of May 1995 subdeacon Alexander was ordained deacon, and on the 6th of January 1996 he became a priest. In 2002 protopresbyter Alexander became a member of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church clergy. In September 2003, with the permission of the Montenegrin clerics, protopresbyter Alexander went to Romanian Orthodox Church and was appointed the Authorized Representative of Bessarabian Metropolitan Church in Russia. In January 2005 protopresbyter Alexander established and took the direction on a military and spiritual Order of The Brotherhood of The Holy Cross. On June 7, 2007 a DECR communication service of Moscow Patriarchate announced that protopresbyter Alexander is not a priest of Romanian Orthodox Church anymore.
On the 15th of March, 2009 Peter, the Archbishop of Kishinev and Metropolitan of Bessarabia presented to protopresbyter Alexander an order of Romanian Orthodox Church - Bessarabian Cross of the 1st grade.
The General Chapter
The General Chapter is the government and the supreme court of The Brotherhood. It is composed of four positions - The Chancellor, The Logofet, Strategist and The Treasurer. All members of The General Chapter are appointed and dismissed of their posts by The Vicar’s decree. The General Chapter accepts responsibility of The Regent Council and holds The Vicar elections in case of The Vicar’s death. Herewith, if votes of The General Chapter members during The Vicar elections would divide equally, then The Vicar would be elected by draw.
Links
* http://www.bratstvokresta.ru/index2.html
* http://www.mospat.ru/archive/36513.htm

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