Today, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital is a centre of excellence providing ophthalmic care of expert quality to the people of the Holy Land regardless of ethnicity, religion, social class, or ability to pay. Throughout it's history in a region which has suffered extreme turmoil it has moved from Jerusalem where it was establihed as a hospice in about 1070 by Benedictine monks to care for Pigrims making the journey to the holy city.
The Order of St John was driven from Jerusalem in 1187 when in order to survive it moved through Cyprus and then Rhodes where it remained until 1530 when it moved to Malta where it governed until expelled by Napoleon in 1798.