The Gnostic Knight Templar lineage of the IOGT originated two thousand years ago with John the Baptist, founder of the Johannite lineage of Gnostic Grand Masters in the West. The Grand Masters of this gnostic line were all given the title of John, which denoted “He of Gnostic Power and Wisdom.”

John the Baptist passed the lineage to Jeshua ben Joseph (Jesus Christ), who as John II passed it to his two closest disciples, Mary Magdalene and John the Divine, who subsequently assumed the title of John III. Following John the Divine the lineage of Johannite Grand Masters passed down a centuries-long lineage of Johns until the time of the First Crusade, when the presiding Grand Master became Theoclete, John LXX. In 1118 CE Theoclete passed the Grand Mastership of the Johannites to the first Grand Master of the Knights Templars, Hughes de Payen, who then became known as John LXXI in the gnostic line. From that time onwards the Knights Templars were the official representatives of the Johannite tradition and all their Grand Masters were simultaneously Grand Masters of the Johannite lineage.

Leading up to their arrest on Friday, October 13, 1307 in France, many Knights Templars sailed to Scotland, where they were able to preserve their ancient secrets of gnosticism, alchemy, yoga, & their unbroken lineage of Johannite Gnostic Grand Masters from the East. In Scotland, King Robert the Bruce founded the Royal Order of Scotland, a Freemasonic organization designed to preserve the gnostic and alchemical secrets of the Knights Templar. King Robert then placed himself, along with the future monarchs of Scotland and members of Clan Sinclair, as the Grand Masters of the new organization. The two initial degrees of the Royal Order, that of the Knight of the Rose Cross and Knight of Heredom, eventually expanded to become the 25 degrees of the Rite of Heredom, and, finally, the 33 degrees of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

During their early years, when the Templars left Palestine after nine years of excavating under Solomon’s Temple, the Knights brought to Scotland four trunks full of Jewish temple treasures they had excavated and a cache of Johannite scrolls that authenticated their Johannite heritage. These four trunks were subsequently given over to Clan Sinclair and then stored in the crypt under Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. Many of the Johannite secrets they contained came to life by Earl William Sinclair, who was himself a distinguished gnostic, as hundreds of images attached to the interior and exterior walls of the chapel. Rosslyn Chapel thus became an official headquarters of the Johannite tradition.

When Freemasonry was gradually infiltrated with Christians and their patriarchal ideology, much of the ancient gnostic and alchemical wisdom once possessed by the Knights Templar was lost although the Craft continued to retain John the Baptist and John the Divine, two ancient Grand Masters of the Johannite line, as its patron saints.

Our Knight Templar lineage was passed to Grand Prior Mark Amaru Pinkham and Grand Prioress Andrea Mikana-Pinkham by the late International Grand Prior Sir Ian Sinclair, who was both a distinguished member of Clan Sinclair and a ranking member of the Royal Order of Scotland. 

The goal of the IOGT Grand Priors is to resurrect the Johannite Gnostic Lineage and Tradition which has been lost or misunderstood for hundreds of years.

Grand Prior SE Sir Mark Amaru Pinkham, KGCTpl
Commander and Initiator

Grand Prioress SE Dame Andrea Mikana-Pinkham, KGCTpl
Commander and Initiator