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The
Declaration of Atlanta
By
the Confederation of Scottish
Knights Templar
This Declaration Being Drafted on the 682d Anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath as a Lasting Memorial to the Knights Templar, Indefeasible, and Setting Forth the Governing Principles of the Order, to be in Force Until the Second Coming of Our Lord.
Drafted
on April 6th and approved on September 11th of the
Year of Our Lord 2002 A.D., commissioned under the Authority of the Grand
Prior General, Confederation of Scottish Knights Templar, Senior Officers
and Chivalry of the Non-Masonic Scottish Knights Templar:
A New Message drafted in the New World for a New Millennium of
Service to our Lord.
We, the undersigned Scottish Knights Templar, acting on accord of
the worldwide Confederation of Scottish Knights Templar, do hereby ratify
and ordain this Declaration of Atlanta as binding upon ourselves, our
Sovereign Priories, our Confederation, and our spiritual heirs and
descendants, from this day forward, until the Second Coming of our Lord.
By the grace of our Lord, we proclaim ourselves to be true Knights Templar, and affirm our unbroken lineage from the nine knights who founded the Order in 1118 A.D., and also from those last true Christian Templars who fled persecution in France in March of 1307 A.D. We forever declare the innocence of our Grandmaster Jacques de Molay and our Order, who along with the Order he headed was vindicated by the Council of Bishops at Vienne, and by other dioceses and archdioceses and monarchs throughout Europe.
We
hold that King Robert the Bruce of Scotland became a Grandmaster of the
Scottish Knights Templar in legitimate election and succession.
We also hold that King Robert the Bruce, acting fully within his
rights as the lawful Sovereign of the Scots, did ordain by royal decree,
for all perpetuity, the right of our Order to exist in S
We
honor and memorialize forever those Knights Templar who fought at the
Battle of Bannockburn on June 24th, 1314 A.D., and who not only
helped to secure a victory for the Scots, but independence for Scotland. We forever honor Chevalier James Graham, 5th Earl of
Montrose, who gave his life to uphold our Templar principles of freedom of
worship for all Christians. We
pay forever homage to Chevalier Viscount Bonny Dundee, who fell at
Killiecrankie while wearing the Templar Knights Grand Cross. We also forever honor and memorialize Grandmaster Bonnie Prince
Charlie and those Scottish Knights Templar who fought under his command at
the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1745 A.D., and who, although they did
not prevail in battle, nonetheless wrote another chapter in the history of
Templar valor and gallantry, and inspired the highlander Templars to never
give up their hopes or aspirations for a sovereign Scotland.
From Bannockburn to the present day, the history of the Scottish
Knights Templar has been inseparable from that of Scotland, and through
the will of our Lord, the future of our Order will be inseparable from
that of Christendom.
We hereby set forth the following guiding principles of the
Scottish Knights Templar, in order to reaffirm the charter of our
founders, and to ensure that our Order is never corrupted or compromised
in its principles. As the
Scottish Knights Templar enter the Third Millennium after the advent of
our Lord, we hold the following articles indefeasible and central to the
legitimacy and continued survival of the Order:
We forever dedicate ourselves to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the universal, Holy Christian Church that He founded. Originally ordained as a Catholic Order before the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Scottish Knights Templar is now and henceforth an ecumenical Christian Order, with admission open to all professing Christians, regardless of church affiliation or denomination. We look forward to the day when all Christian churches are once again unified, and until that time pledge ourselves to act as a bridge between the various denominations and congregations of the universal Christian church.
As a Christian Order, we singularly worship and serve our Lord
Jesus Christ. We believe in
God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy
Ghost, as professed by our Lord and preached by His Apostles. We therefore restrict entry into the Order to baptized Christians,
eighteen years of age or older, except that the sixteen-year-old or sons
and daughters of Dames and Knights may also be granted full membership. We similarly do not accept Freemasons into the Order, or those who
practice pagan or occult beliefs and practices, or other apostates as
defined by the Order in the future, as we will not and cannot hold any
deities of other religions as equal to our Lord, nor grant membership in
the Order to those who do.
We decry all occult beliefs and practices, declaring them to be
anathema and forbidden to all Scottish Knights Templar. Any Templar who engages in other than Christian worship is
automatically excommunicated from the Order, and will be formally
expelled.
As an Order, we will never
embrace any sectarian cause or political party, other than concerns oaths
of fealty or allegiance to Scotland and those countries hosting our
priories. While individual knights and dames are free to hold
their own opinions and to take part in the political process, they must
never associate the Order with any sectarian or political cause, no matter
how noble, lest the Order be identified with that cause and it detract
from our holy purposes. The
Scottish Knights Templar are dedicated to fostering the rights of
Christians in all lands to worship freely, and we consider activities in
support of this cause to be more spiritual than secular, as outlined in
Article XII.
No officer or official in the Scottish Knights Templar will ever
order a subordinate knight or dame to perform any act or duty that
violates his or her conscience, or religious beliefs, to include the canon
law of his or her church, or the laws of his or her country, or applicable
international law.
We are bound to uphold all just and moral oaths, such as oaths of
fealty, and marriage or sacerdotal vows, but no secret oath shall ever be
required of a Scottish Knight Templar. Nor will blood oaths ever be required of a Scottish Knight Templar,
for our Lord is the ultimate Judge of whether or not a just and moral oath
has been truly kept and fulfilled. All oaths taken by a Scottish Knight Templar will be taken on the
Christian Bible.
We hold, now and forever, that neither titles nor ranks shall ever
be for sale, nor will entry into the Order ever be dependent upon any
person’s financial or social status. Nor will any knight or dame ever be dismissed from the Order or
held in contempt for the inability to pay dues or oblations. Neither shall any priory nor other Scottish Knights Templar
governing body ever levy involuntary assessments on any knight or dame. As the true and spiritual descendants of the original “Poor
Knights of Christ,” we will never value money or other material things
over humble service to our Lord.
All priories in the
Confederation of Scottish Knights Templar shall remain autonomous, but
shall recognize and honor those officers elected to serve as the governing
body of the Confederation, insofar as no magistral decrees or other orders
issued by the Confederation may conflict with this Declaration, the
statutes of the Confederation, the laws of the land, or applicable
international law.
In the case of any priory that violates this Declaration, the
statutes of the Confederation of Scottish Knights Templar, or the bylaws
of the priory itself, in that such a priory may have departed from Templar
principles and operates in such a manner as to bring dishonor and
discredit upon the Scottish Knights Templar, the Secretary General of the
Confederation may call for a vote of expulsion by all the member priories,
and may expel the offending priory from the Confederation, and declare it
no longer part of the Order, upon a unanimous vote by all the Grand Priors
of the other member priories.
We recognize all other
legitimate Knights Templar Orders, and we seek to ally ourselves with
other true Knights Templar Orders, but we hold that due to Scotland’s
preeminent position within Templar history, we do not recognize, nor admit
the existence of, any Templar Order with a superior claim to that of our
own.
The Scottish Knights Templar may, from time to time, select a
spiritual protector for the Order, and shall pay homage to the same;
however, the selection of a spiritual protector will not imply or express
an elevation of the protector’s church over any other church body. We also hereby ordain that all Scottish Knights Templar shall
render the proper respect to all Christian churches and their lawful
clerics and leaders, and will never seek to cause division or schism in
the Order due to theological differences between the various churches and
their congregations. We
also give grateful thanks to the Celtic Church and other Christian
churches that have succored the Order in its time of need.
Whereas the Knights Templar were originally founded to protect the
Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, we hold as one of our most
sacred duties to be an advocate for the right of Christians to worship
freely wherever they may reside or travel, and we will not rest until all
Christians are accorded this basic God-given right. We hereby pledge our knightly honor as defenders of the faith, as
we pray that our Order may once again fulfill its charge to guard the
sacred places in the Holy Land.
The Scottish Knights
Templar will never reject any postulant on the basis of race, sex, ethnic
origins, nationality, social, economic, or educational status, political
creed, or Christian tradition. We hold that in addition to being a baptized Christian and a person
of good character, the chief criterion for acceptance will be the
postulant’s willingness to serve the Order faithfully and without
thought of recompense. We similarly hold that no postulant has an
automatic right to join the Order, but must be accepted by the membership
of the priory to which he or she has applied, and meet the standards
established for membership in the Order.
We hold that beneath our white mantles that we are all humble
servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we forever mandate that all knights
and dames shall be co-equal in the Order, and that no office, title, or
rank shall ever be debarred a Knight Templar on the basis of sex,
ethnicity, social or financial status, or Christian tradition.
As we remember the brave and valorous Knights Templar who were
martyred in the name of our Lord, and who were unjustly imprisoned,
tortured, and burned at the stake on the orders of an Unchristian King, we
will continue to seek redress within the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
church for the wrongs we have suffered, until such time as our most
earnest prayers and suppliant hearts prevail upon the Holy See and the
judgment of history to restore our Order’s holy honor and position in
the communion of saints.
The Scottish Knights Templar will forever hold sacred the five
indefeasible and indefectible rules of our Order:
(1) The Temple and Service thereof, for we are the spiritual
descendants of the original Nine Knights of the Order, who first held
their conclaves in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and we look forward to
its rebuilding; (2) the Love of Meditation, for we must continually look
into our own souls, and ask ourselves if we are truly following in the
footsteps of the Master; (3) Discipline, for the principles laid down for
the Order by our patron saint, Bernard of Clairvaux, are still valid
today, and we must remember that we are standard bearers for our faith,
and never forget that in all personal choices we set an example, whether
good or bad; (4) Knightly
Combat, for the Blood Red Cross that we wear reminds us that sacrifices
are often required of the faithful, and we must always be willing to
battle the forces of evil, whether in the temporal or spiritual realms,
whether in this life or in the next; and (5) Brotherhood and Sisterhood,
in that each day we must help our brethren, for one day our Lord shall ask
us, “Where is thy brother and thy sister?”;
and on that day we shall have to give account of ourselves.
We must not accept reward, but always be pillars of the Temple, for
all the Order holds for us is the opportunity to flee the sins of the
world, to live charitably, to be penitent, and above all, to be the humble
servant of Almighty God.
In this, our Holy Crusade to further the aims of Christianity and
our Order, and in particular to enable the Holy Christian Church to carry
out the Great Commission, we pledge our lives, our souls, and our knightly
honor.
We, the undersigned Scottish Knights Templar, representing all the
priories in the Confederation of Scottish Knights Templar, hold that this
indefeasible Declaration will henceforth serve as the guiding principles
of our Order, and we declare that any Templars, priories, or governing
bodies that depart from them have forfeited their knighthoods and right to
be known or called Scottish Knights Templar.
Let those who violate these principles and bring dishonor to the
Order be summarily expelled, but let those who hold these principles dear
and who wish to glorify our Lord be forever known as faithful Knights
Templar, and may our Lord give them strength and courage to endure to the
end.
Therefore we, the chivalry of the Scottish Knights Templar,
dedicate this Declaration of Atlanta to our most holy Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and no secrets hidden.
We hereby submit ourselves to our Lord, and pray that He will
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love and faithfully serve Him, and worthily magnify
His greatness and holiness, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost.
We also pray that we Scottish Knights Templar may find our
inheritance in the Kingdom of God with all the holy knights and saints who
have found favor with our Lord in ages past.
O God, the protector of all who trust in You, without Whom nothing
is strong, nothing is noble, nothing is holy:
Increase and multiply upon us Your mercy; that, with You as our
Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal; that we lose not
the things eternal; that we be Knights Templar worthy of our charges and
oaths, and that we fearlessly battle evil in both the temporal and
spiritual realms; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.