In the late 18th century the revolution against God and man was growing throughout Europe. Freemasonry was on the rise, and the forces responsible for the French Revolution were at work. The Protestant revolt had shaken the foundation of the Church and destroyed its historic unity commanded by Christ. The fall of monarchies and the numerical decline of royalty and nobility had decreased the number of young men available to enter the Order. In this growing turmoil, Grand Master Paul I envisioned the Sovereign Order as the vehicle to bring together the best and most dedicated minds and hearts in Europe for the preservation of culture, Christianity and the Church. He also believed the holy and much admired Order could be the catalyst to reunite the Eastern and Western Churches. (These hopes and plans would ultimately bring about his assassination by subversive and revolutionary forces in 1801.)

Fortunately, within the Order, the foundation for its perpetuation already existed. As early as the 1500's there were Family Commanderies in Europe particularly in Italy. In addition, Hereditary Knights and Hereditary Knight Commanders had existed in France from the 1600's. Paul utilized this concept for the perpetual preservation of the Order by markedly increasing the number of Hereditary Family Commanderies, which would in turn produce Hereditary Knights to protect the Order and guarantee its continuity.

Consequently, beginning with the Treaty of 1797 between the Order (then on Malta) and the Grand Priory of Poland (subsequently renamed the Grand Priory of Russia), during the reign of Grand Master Paul (1798-1801), and continuing to our present time, the Order has been protected and preserved by the Family Commanders and other Hereditary Knights of the Order, who are, as is noted on every diploma of the Order, "...the guardians of the Sovereign Order and the foundation of its government, to ensure forever the succession and survival of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem."

Thus the Government of the Sovereign Order is established by the supreme authority and direction of the Hereditary Knights, whose duty it is to promulgate the traditions, history and continuity of the Order. Accordingly, and through this means, the Order of Saint John was preserved for the next century during which time the headquarters of the Order, its school the Corps de Pages, and the conventual Catholic chapel of the Order were in Saint Petersburg, Russia.