Den Autonome Gejstlig Ridderlige Malteserorden i Dacia Following discussions in 1938 between the Russian Grand Priory in Paris and the Council of the Order of the Priory of Dacia of the Ecclesiastical Knightly Order of Malta, Grand Duke Andrei, then Grand Prior of the Russian Grand Priory, authorised the formation of the Priory of Dacia which began its formal life on April 10th 1939. It was later to be known as  The Autonomous Priory of Dacia of the Order of Malta . The Priory of Dacia had been declared to be "under the name of The Grand Priory of the North, in all respects be the legal successor of the Grand Priory of Russia."1 This legal recognition of Dacia, was also echoed in the Constitution of 1953: "The admission to the fold of Russian Grand Priory or taking under its protection of similar foreign associations as well as the recognition of their legal existence as autonomous branches of Russian Grand Priory, subjecting them to follow the same regulations as those that manage the election new members of the Priory, and under such or other special conditions that can be put on them." more, including full documentation The official site of Den Autonome Gejstlig Ridderlige Malteserorden i Dacia Note: 1. Letter to the Dacia Priory from Baron Michael de Taube 8th June 1939.