CHAPTER OF PROVINCIAL PRIORY 6TH OCTOBER 2007

The ninety seventh annual Chapter of the Provincial Priory of Lincolnshire was held at Lincoln Cathedral on Saturday 6th October 2007 .

The meeting was preceded by a Service in the St Hugh’s Choir this being the twenty ninth consecutive year that the Dean and Chapter had allowed us to hold our service in the Cathedral and the service was attended by one hundred and forty Knights from this and other Provinces plus their ladies. The St James School Boys Choir sang during the service and the preacher was the Sub Dean Rev Canon Alan Nugent and a copy of his address follows on from this article.

The Dean, the Very Reverend Philip Buckler (pictured right) and the Sub Dean joined us for the meeting and together with the Knights then processed out of the Choir to the Chapter House where the meeting took place.

During his address the Provincial Prior R E Kt Gordon Walkerley Smith KCT welcomed the Dean and Sub Dean and thanked the Dean and Chapter for once again allowing us to use the Cathedral for our service and meeting. He went on to welcome all of our visitors and the various Heads of Orders and thanked his officers and welcomed those taking up office for the first time. He reminded every one that whilst the number of Knights in the Province had decreased by three we still had to be cautious who we put forward as members and that we needed to be selective in who we admitted to this very special Order.

He reported that we had again made donations to the St John Eye Hospital totalling £1100 00 and to the Cathedral £980 during the past twelve months and he thanked all of the Knights for their support.

He concluded by reporting on the very successful Christian Orders Service which this Order had organised at The Church of the Holy Trinity at Tattershall and reminded the Brother Knights that the Great Priory Family Service would again be held in Lincoln at the Cathedral on Saturday 9th August 2008.

The meeting was then closed and one hundred and seventy Brother Knights and their ladies lunched at the Assembly Rooms.

A Service held in Lincoln Cathedral for the
Provincial Priory of Lincolnshire of the Order of Knights Templar on Saturday 6 October 2007 at 10:30am
Preacher: Canon Alan Nugent, Subdean of Lincoln (below ight)

'...such are they whom God chooses for himself and gathers from the furthest ends of the earth, servants from among the bravest in Israel to guard watchfully and faithfully his Sepulchre and the Temple of Solomon, sword in hand, ready for battle.'

Words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux the great theologian of the 12th century, the powerful defender of the Christian faith - who has been described as 'the greatest moral force of his day' and he was speaking of the Knights Templar.

In 1127 Bernard met Hughes de Payens, founder of the Knights Templar. The Templars had been founded to give new direction and spirit to the impetus of the Crusades. The first crusade had ended in division, acrimony and jealousy. Its leaders had set up petty kingdoms throughout the Middle East which warred on each other. It was a mess.

True, forces led by Godfrey de Bouillon had in 1099 captured Jerusalem and Godfrey had set himself up as Ruler of Jerusalem. But after his death the rivalries and battles between the various rulers grew worse and the threat that the Muslims would recapture Jerusalem was very real. So Hugh de Payens and eight companions bound themselves by a solemn vow to defend the Holy City. They lived simply in a house near the site of Solomon's Temple - hence their name. They remained thus, in relative obscurity for 10 years, indeed the new order was near to collapse, until Hughes de Payens met Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux in 1127.

Bernard had already revived the monastic life of Europe. He had transformed the Cistercian order creating many new abbeys and preparing a new rule of living for the order. All his reforms though were focused on the image of the Crucified Christ. We are used to crucifixes, painting of the passion of Christ; images of the dead Jesus. But that only began to be significant in the life of the Church from the 12th century onwards. Even though Paul in 1 Corinthians1 verse 23 had said 'But we proclaim Christ crucified' it was only really in the 12th century that this entered deeply into the life-blood of the Church; transforming its devotional life. It is in this context that we see the powerful significance in the early 13th century of St Francis, his life of sacrifice, even to his receiving the marks of the stigmata of Christ.

Bernard led this movement of sacrifice, self denial even a high valuing of suffering and death - focusing it all in the image of Christ crucified. It was all this that Bernard brought to his meeting with Hughes de Payens in 1127. Bernard saw the possibility of these Templars being both Soldiers and Monks: dedicated to the religious life but living under military discipline. In a special way they would fight the battle of the Lord and also be Soldiers of Christ. Monk and Soldier it was a powerful combination.

Bernard drew up a rule of life for the Templars - they became in effect military Cistercians. A new vocation had been defined Monk and Soldier and men flocked to it from all over Europe. Its Churches, houses and Castles were to be found all over Europe and the Middle East. Its hierarchy of Masters, Seneschals, Marshals was soon recognised. New brothers joined the order not just to fight but also to pray. They were committed to a life of contemplation and also fighting for Christ. It is a heady combination. Difficult for us to understand.

For us today the only current expression of St Bernard's view that 'killing for Christ' was not homicide but malecide - it was the killing of evil people, the eradication of evil - and the promise by several Popes that those who died fighting for the Church would inherit the Kingdom of God and go straight to Heaven - the only thing comparable to that in our society are Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers. Their language is reminiscent of this.

I hope that Christianity in our day has sufficiently matured not to speak in such ways - which would be contrary to the way of the Cross.

So has this sermon just been a history lesson. I hope not. In a time of crisis and uncertainty in the life of Christendom there came together Bernard and the Templars and the Church was transformed right up until the brutal repression of the Templars by Philip the Fair in the early 12th century.

What as I hope I have shown in that what was significant about the Templars as influenced by Bernard was that special combination of spiritual discipline, of a commitment to the life of prayer and devotion with a commitment to soldiery.

Today the Christian faith in Britain is at a time of crisis. A few years ago a very powerfully argued book, with a persuasive thesis had as its title "The Death of Christian Britain.' There are many evidences to support this view. Most of all the privatisation, the marginalization of the Christian faith, I give two instances:

Polly Toynbee of the Guardian on Radio 4 recently said that religion should have no place in public policy and life - it was and had to be kept in the private reserve; what an individual does with their private life.

Very able young people have told my wife, an RE teacher, that they admire Muslims because they believe in something are deeply committed. By contrast they say Christianity stands for nothing - except being nice.

Put those two scenarios together and you see the problem we face.

Somehow I look for a renewal of faith in which men and women in business, in commerce, in the law, in education and other professions will publicly profess their faith and are bound together in a devotion to the Christian faith: a new order of Christian men and women bound by a rule of life, who will resist all attempts, even by senior politicians of all parties, to relegate the faith to the margins. For be clear; our values, those that created our civilisation are built upon the Christian faith and without the faith our civilisation is empty.

In very different ways the challenge of Bernard and the Templars remains and so I come to my text which for me captures my concerns and my hopes.

From Ephesians 6 verse 10

'Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.
For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness.
Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. '

Knights Templar

Although referred to as Knights Templar, the correct title of this wonderful Order is:

The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta, of England and Wales and Provinces Overseas

The Order was first worked in England in 1777, having probably originated in France. There are two Degrees: Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, these being joined by a 'passing' Degree of Knight of St Paul.

A candidate for the first Degree is in the position of a pilgrim travelling symbolically through hardship and dangers until he is received as a Knight. It teaches humility and urges the candidate to live his life as a Christian Knight, learning that penance and meditation play their vital part in preparation for Christian knighthood.. Whilst no claim is made for any connection with the medieval Military Orders, the degree of Knight of the Temple commemorates the actions of a band of knights who were granted a place of habitation within the sacred precincts of King Solomon's Temple by Baldwin, the King of Jerusalem in 1118.

The second Degree recounts the history of Knights of Malta and their long struggle against the infidel. It traces the period when the Knights left Jerusalem and travelled to their final home on the island of Malta, emphasising their Christian virtues.

The regalia of the Order is most impressive, being based on that of the medieval Templars, consisting of a mantle, tunic, cap, sash, star, belt, sword and gloves. The Knights of Malta regalia is different but not obligatory.

Candidates for installation must profess the Christian faith and be both Master Masons and Royal Arch Companions

Seal of the Knights Templar showing two knights sharing one horse.