20 years of the Order

Remarks by the Grand Master General of the Order, the Very Respectable Brother Didier Pestel on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the awakening of the Templar Strict Observance

To the glory of God, universal creator of the world and Great Architect of the Universe

Very Respectable and all of you, my brothers and sisters, in your ranks and qualities,
Last year we in Andorra commemorated the 700th anniversary of the death of the last Grand Master of the Templars. Perhaps it is wise to admit today that the flames of the stake, which tortured Jacques de Molay, were an element of purification and a support for the spirit of the Temple. Indeed, thanks to these two elements, it has been perpetuated through the centuries and is still and still relevant at the start of the 21st century.

What remains of the martyrdom of the last Grand Master? All.
Would the fire have wanted to purify faults and errors, but which ones? At the start of the millennium, there remains the glory, the example and the legacy of what is beautiful, good and honorable.
The impetus was given for a great permanent renewal:

By Karl von Hund, in the 18th century, with the constitution of the Templar Strict Observance;

By Jean-Marie Auzanneau-Fouquet, here present today who, with a few other brothers, awakened the Templar Strict Observance on September 3, 1995.

Even in the secular world, the spirit of the Order of the Temple has continuously inspired historians, writers, filmmakers, researchers, journalists, etc. for centuries.
This fire nourishes with surprising vigor the intellect, but also the attitude of the FF and SS of the Scottish Grand Lodge of Stricte Observance / SOT.
It makes some people feverish and inspires others. He can do and undo.
This fire remains always and again, it is this fire that animates those who approach the courts of our Temple.
Should we therefore consider the Templar epic as one historical fact among others?
Certainly and logically yes! If we only objectively consider the facts which are identical to all the facts of history: Politics, conquests, victories, defeats, decline, disappearance etc …

However N.V.I.O. ; Nulla vi invertitur ordo: by no force will the Order be overthrown.

Thus, the Templar Order, leaving no one indifferent, still continues to burn in the 21st century between adoration and hatred, between call and fear.
This large flame from the woodshed of 1314 has turned into a sharp fiery dart. It burns or warms those who approach it and illuminates everyone according to criteria still unknown.

What could be this element that justifies these differences?
How to measure this need of beings to engage in the light of this fire?
It is only with experience of the journey that the answers can appear. As in a labyrinth, the path is not marked.

Intuition and predestination must play a big part in this. Only the brothers and sisters already on the path, can, like stars, which one could describe as new, bring, through example, the vision of a landmark.
It is in this fraternal attitude that part of the solution of the quest lies.
In this area too, there is strength in unity.
It is this union, our union, which brings out again the Templar cohesion which gave so much victory to the Order of the Temple.
It is part of that fire that spreads with such intensity that one can advance in its light over the entire surface of the earth and, over time, experience the adventure of the Templar of modern times.
How many and different are the reasons for this attraction!

The attraction of the violence of the permanent fight of man here below: Lord, I do not ask you for Strength and Wisdom to rise above other men but to fight against my worst enemy, which is me -even.

The conquest of discipline… indispensable in our Order.

The exemplarity that we must achieve … so difficult to achieve.

Spirituality to live …

The possible sacrifice …
All of this, supported by an element still unknown to some who have not yet been dressed in the white coat marked with the cross pattée mouth.
This path was shown to them when they received them into the Order, when the speaker introduced them to our nine-point rule.

But also by drawing their attention particularly to the ninth point: “Every brother or sister of Strict Observance must endeavor to practice with great honesty the seven works of mercy which were first established so great and so beautiful for love. of God and of the poor:
1- Treat the sick,
2- Dress those who are naked,
3- Give drink to those who are thirsty,
4- Give food to those who are hungry,
5- Welcome pilgrims,
6- Bury the dead,
7- Visit the prisoners

This path is traveled more easily by the exercise of the Templar virtues:

  • The charity
  • Temperence
  • Brotherhood
    We find them with force in the message left by Bernard de Clairvaux which contains within him all the quintessence of the teachings he left us as a legacy.
    These virtues are now complemented by duties:
  • Communicate
  • Transmit
  • Obligation to protect the weak
  • Willingness to generate new goodwill, that is to say to be a godfather in order to be able to transmit and that this chain, therefore this force, this fraternity, this flame endures and does not go out.

The Templar heritage, this real treasure, made up of knowledge and lessons drawn from the four cardinal points of the world is still there, bequeathed by our illustrious predecessors, by those who went in search of it and whose main concern was to transmit it. so that we don’t end up like the Essenes, and make the best use of it.
Membership of G.L.E.S.O. is the first large leaf in which everyone can enter, but the doors on our path will be increasingly narrow, and will only allow their passage to those who have had the strength to transform.
Too often, we hear it said that masonry “we live it for ourselves”: what a demonstration of selfishness! … because those or those who are among us, and who pronounce these words, have indeed been proposed to the Order by their sponsor.
How can a Freemason worthy of this qualifier be content to receive and not share his progress on the path to knowing the truth?
Without sharing, like the Essenes, our Order will not be able to live and will return to the oblivion from which it just emerged just twenty years ago!

Like Jesus, our illustrious predecessors did not like the lukewarm. (I did not come to earth to bring peace)

The Templar Strict Observance, through the GLESO, should help us acquire an attitude of awareness and self-assertion that is essential for our edification.
It is our duty to make it available to deserving laymen. We do not have the right to leave them by the wayside, that would be to not have understood anything in the deep meaning of Christian charity.

In the secular world, healthy behavior and control over our ordered actions, in accordance with what is right, in accordance with the laws of the universe (rules not dispensed in our apprentice ritual) and in the performance of divine love, whose duty is daily through the practice of chivalrous and Templar principles, will allow us to evolve on this path where purity will be victorious over evil and will allow us to wear with dignity, without usurpation, the white mantle stamped with the cross of mouth.
Our Order must be united, and its chivalrous virtues will allow us to preserve this unity which is essential to its sustainability.

A Knight of SOT, like our illustrious predecessors, must be armed with patience, humility and charity.

  • Of patience: this is the shield he wears, and protects him from the trials of adversity.
  • Of humility: it is the breastplate that preserves his intimate depths, because his fight has no personal end.
  • Of charity: it is both his spear and his fight.
    Thus, wearing the helm of salvation, protecting his head, he will carry high and far the hope of the soul, “the fine point of the spirit” (of Saint Augustine and Saint Teresa of Avila). He will proudly wear the sword of the word of God, and spread it with the mount “of good desire.”
    This is how the brothers and sisters of the Scottish Grand Lodge of Stricte Observance learn all these values, and when they enter the Inner Order of Stricte Observance Templar, they possess them: their job is to put them daily working in order to be examples for others; Therein lies the work of the Templar Strict Observance for the good of Humanity.

I said
Didier