The symbol of the order is a gold-edged cross with a red or blue interior. Its vertical inscription is ΦΩC ("light"), and its horizontal inscription is ΖΩΗ ("life"), together forming the order's motto in Greek: Φως και Ζωη (Fos kai Zoe), meaning "Light and life". Prominent feast days include Saint George's Day and the Feast of the Cross.
The order has a seat in the Old City of Jerusalem, at the seat of the Melkite Patriarchate, yet the seat of the Grand Master is situated in Damascus, Syria, along with the seat of the Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
Although recognised as a legitimate ecclesiastical decoration, part of the order's terminology has been a subject of criticism by the ICOC:
It is to be clearly understood that the decorations listed below are not considered by the Commission to be Chivalric in nature even though several may use the term “Order” in their styles and imitate Chivalric titles. We invite these Authorities to use more proper terms for any future creations of awards. Nevertheless, the Commission accepts that these Ecclesiastical Decorations possess full validity as awards of merit or honours within the respective Churches which have instituted them.
—International Commission on Orders of Chivalry (2006)
AA.VV., Ordine patriarcale della Santa Croce di Gerusalemme. Luogotenenza della lingua italiana. Calendario storico per il 2007; Edisiòn Il Pomerio, Lod, 2006, ISBN8871214498
Guy Stair Sainty and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Burke's Peerage & Gentry: World Orders of Knighthood and Merit, vol. II pagg. 1969–1970, Burke's Peerage, 2006, ISBN0-9711966-7-2