Bishop +Kyrill, CGKR
                       Chaplain-General, Christian Knights of the Rose

                 CHIVALRY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

When I was a boy growing up in the 50’s, there were many examples of Hollywood Chivalry available to us at the movies and on early television. We had Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, King Richard and the Crusades, even Bing Crosby as a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. The image of the knight was there before us. We also talked about knights and chivalry in school, and used to play at being knights during recess and after school. An old chenille bedspread, a bent colander for a helmet and a couple of sticks tied together became beautifully shining armour in our eyes. More importantly than the games we played, we spoke of and understood that knights were the good guys who stood up for the purity of maidens and the welfare of the weak. Sure we would vanquish the occasional dragon or joust to the death with the Black Knight, but we knew that we were defending the good. I am hopeful that there exists inside of us still that boy or girl who really believed in those ideals and that we who have been drawn to modern day chivalry will allow ourselves that moment of innocence to express those same ideals today.

There are certainly older and more established Orders of Chivalry than the Knights of the Rose, in fact we may be one of the youngest such orders. There are Orders with attachments to Royal and Nobles Houses, with very specific works that define the Order, with unimpeachable descent from the Medieval past. And with all these choices we came to pledge ourselves to this small Order of Knights of the Rose. Why? I tend to believe that most of us have been drawn to the Order because there is some intangible inkling in our hearts that this is the place wherein we can observe and truly express those wonderful attributes of Chivalry that we admired so as innocent children. Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us in the Holy Scripture that unless we become like the innocent little children we will not be allowed to enter the Kingdom of God. That is what our childlike hearts have shown us with regard to this Order.

Surely valour, honour, truth and faithfulness are all major virtues of Knighthood, but so is purity. I know that most of us will admit to not being paragons of purity in our lives, but I wish to remind all that there is a purity abiding in all of us that the harshness of the world cannot and has not touched. The purity of the childlike heart, the purity of the truly Christian heart is at the center of our vocation as Knights and Dames. All else aside, whatever our talents may be if we do not maintain a certain innocent trust of heart that what we are doing is a good work, then it will become like the clashing cymbals the Apostle Saint Paul warns us of. But with that tender and trusting core alive within us, whatever great work we do, or whatever humble task we undertake; we do so as Knights of Light and Grace.

At the First International Investiture in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and few years ago we had the great honour of the presence of the Lieutenant Governor of the Province, the Honourable Lois Hole. I had the added honor of being seated to her right at table for the evening, which afforded a great deal of wonderful conversation. One of the most pointed things she offered to this new Order on its first wobbly legs was the suggestion that we do a good work by making it a focus of the Order to collect and provide books on Knighthood and Chivalry to schools. Here was that core the Lieutenant Governor, the formal Head of State and the official Representative of the Crown in Alberta, recognized as so vital to true Chivalry; and hopefully that she felt present in us in that room. I would like to think that this is what happened. I would also like to think that this is was is about to happen again as we gather once again to Invest worthy Knights and Dames in our Order and to the purpose of representing Christian Chivalry in this new world, not so far removed as one might think from those innocent days of my own callow youth. I pray this for each of us.