The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (, OSMTH, , OSMTJ) are a group of self-styled chivalric orders of common descent. In 2020, OSMTH and SMOTJ were recognized by the Augustan Society as a religious confraternity of knights. OSMTH and OSMTJ are often referred to simply as the Knights Templars. They make a moral and ethical claim to follow in the same spiritual path as the original Order of the Knights Templar. OSMTH and OSMTJ, which are open to Christians of any denomination, operate as a charity and an order of chivalry. History The l'Ordre du Temple was made public in France in 1705 by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and claimed to be the continuation of the medieval Knights Templar, using the Larmenius Charter as evidence of its pedigree. The order was officially reconstituted in 1804 by Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat. The modern groups claim that it was recognized as an order of chivalry by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805, who organized a public parade and ceremony for the Order. The Ordre du Temple was then under the administration of the KVMRIS lodge beginning in 1894 until it was registered as OSMTJ in 1932. In 1970, a schism occurred within the Order when General Antoine Zdrojewski was unexpectedly elected as the new Grand Master at the Convent of Paris in September, 1970. Zdrojewski's following retained the French translation: "Ordre Souverain et Militaire du Temple de Jérusalem", until his death in 1989. Zdrojewski was succeeded by Georges Lamirand as the new head of the OSMTJ until his death in 1994. George Lamirand was succeeded by Nicolas Haimovici Hastier as OSMTJ International, who was succeeded by BG Ronald S. Mangum. The faction which remained with de Sousa Fontes after the 1970 election used the Latin acronym OSMTH. In 1997, OSMTH voted to expel Grand Master Fernando de Sousa Fontes from the order. This resulted in another schism with those loyal to Fontes forming a new organization presently known as OSMTH-Regency while the remainder of the organization continued on as OSMTH. While OSMTH/OSMTJ rituals and traditions are based upon those of the historical Knights Templar, there is no hard claim of direct historical lineage claimed by the current orders and the 12th century Templars. However, the OSMTJ embraces the possibility of direct descent from the medieval Templars. In 2001, OSMTH was accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a non-governmental