Celebrating 900 Years!

We are a modern Christian Order of Knighthood dedicated to:

• Seeking God in our lives and promoting love and respect for our community.
• Increasing understanding between religions, helping pilgrims visit holy places, and maintaining a Christian presence in the Holy Land.
• Supporting the poor, sick, and unjustly accused; standing against oppression, and protecting freedom of speech.
• Encouraging the noble ideas of Chivalry; maintaining the monuments, archives, and history of the Knights Templar.

In short, we are the Modern Knights Templar, an Ecumenical Christian and Chivalric charitable Order. We do not claim a direct linage to the original Knights of the Temple, but we do seek to emulate their positive attributes in our daily lives today. We have adopted two of the original Templar missions of Protecting Christians at Risk particularly in the Holy Land and the Middle East and in Keeping the Road to Jerusalem open to all people as our own.

Our guiding lights are the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, through which members aspire to serve faithfully as Knights of God's Temple. The motto of the Order, "Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam" is the Latin version of Psalm 115, verse 1 -- "Not unto us, Oh Lord, not unto us, but to Thy Name be given glory."

If you are interested in joining in our good works especially at this exceptional time in the history of the order and you would like to be contacted by an officer of SMOTJ, please provide a letter of introduction to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to begin the process of determining whether your membership is in our mutual interest.

Abraham's Tent
A SMOTJ Web Magazine dedicated to better understand the beliefs, customs and perceptions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity in the Mideast.

The Goal
The Grand Priory of the United States, SMOTJ, has long held as our principle goal the objective of assisting Christians at Risk, primarily in the Holy Land and Mideast. A corollary concern, supportive of the first, is that we strive to build bridges between the three great Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In the Mideast, some perceive the Christian communities there as a bridge between Jewish and Muslim peoples, helping to overcome historic antagonisms.