General Information
Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon was founded on Vidovdan (St. Vitus Day), June 28th, 2011, by His Royal Highness the Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, on the proposal of Mr. Srdjan Stanisic and Mr. Dejan Damnjanovic. This order, in historical terms, is based on the old Order of the Dragon. HRH Prince Aleksandar has accepted to be the founder, patron and the Grand Master of the newly established Order, and by signing the founding charter, which took place in Paris, he declared Mr. Srdjan Stanisic a knight and the Chancellor of the Order, and Mr. Dejan Damnjanovic a knight and the Commander of the Order. HRH Prince Aleksandar, with this charter, which is the most important document of the Order, authorized Mr. Stanisic and Mr. Damnjanovic to implement the necessary procedures regarding registration and organization of the Order, and in the founding charter he designated that the headquarters of the Order will be in Belgrade, Serbia. Considering that the old Order of the Dragon was for the most part of its existence, most influential in Hungary, Serbia and Romania, and since the nobility from these countries participated in the founding of the Order, it is irrefutably the historical right and basis of honor, that the prospective founder of the new Order of the Dragon is a nobleman, exclusively from one of these three countries. HRH Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic accepted the responsibility of this great historical task. Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon is organized as a military hierarchical organization. It consists of the Supreme Command, as the highest body whose members are the Grand Master of the Order, the Chancellor of the Order and the Commander of the Order, of the twenty four knights, who represent the inner circle of the Order, and of unlimited number of infantry soldiers, representing the outer circle of the Order.
Since 2016, and passing away of HRH Prince Aleksandar, HRH Prince Vladimir is the patron and leader of the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon.
Basics and Objectives
The starting point and goal of the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon is to help those in need. The second important point is that any member of the Order is provided with a specific methodology in the function of self-improvement and of achieving a quality spiritual state. The third important point and goal is that on the collective plan, the whole society is provided with the methodology to establish a harmonious and organic society based on the notion of unity. In this endeavor, the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon attempts to become, in the modern context, a relevant and important social force, spiritually, educationally, but also politically. Unfortunately, a large number of chivalric orders today has no real aspiration to become a significant social force and is satisfied by providing people who feel alienated, with some abstract affiliation through gatherings, ceremonies, progress in some imaginary hierarchy and so on. It is always necessary to bear in mind that the medieval chivalric orders were very serious and important social and political factors of their time. If this is wanted today, a multi-layered strategy is required, with the selection of tactical moves that correspond to the present time. In doing so, it is necessary to constantly bear in mind that the essence of chivalry and the basic starting points of the Order remain completely preserved. The first starting point or purpose, help to anyone who needs it, refers to various aspects of humanitarian work. Humanitarian activities of the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon consist of planning and implementing of humanitarian projects, in which the Order has no profit. The second starting point or goal of the Order, refers to the fact that each member of the Order is subjected to work or to self-discipline himself, in all three areas of propagation of the human being – the spirit, the body and the intellect. It is the obligation of each member of the Order to regularly and actively participate in the spiritual, liturgical process, to be regularly and actively improving physically, and to regularly and actively improve his intellectual knowledge, primarily through theoretical sources. It should be emphasized that the process of self-discipline is a duty solely of the knights of the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon. The infantry soldiers are not obliged to implement all the elements of the process of self-discipline, but they should be inclined to. If any of the knights has a problem in the process of implementing self-discipline, the Supreme Command and the other brothers should help him to overcome his temptation and problem, and not to immediately apply sanctions, such as removal from a position or the expulsion from the Order. The third starting point or goal of the Sovereign Military Order of the Dragon is creation of a harmonious, organic and unified society, that is political activity. It should be noted that the Order has no aspirations for political activities in the strict sense, as a political party. The Order wants to be involved in politics in a broader sense, acting as a symbol, a conscience, an authority and a guidance to the society. In this respect, there are several basic goals of the Order:
- Welfare state
- Protection of the working man
- Strengthening the function of professional associations in the government
- Commitment to free and quality education
- Advocate for state social security
- Unification in the function of synthesizing of the atomized society
- Strengthening of the political, economic and territorial sovereignty of the country
- Traditionalism