Generic empire
14-04-2005, 21:16
The Generian Orthodox Church was an odd beast in that it had never existed under a particular doctrine set in stone, but had instead followed a loose set of beliefs based on Imperial edicts over the years, and the theories of several noted Church patriarchs. The primary reason for this was the fact that even the most important of the Patriarchs, Bishops, and Archbishops remained subordinate to the Emperor, the ceremonial head of the Church, and though in recent years the Emperor had been content to exist merely as the figurehead and patron of the Church, over the centuries, the various ideals and beliefs of the Imperators had created subsequent Church theologies that became a convoluted mass of contradictory statements and theologies.
So it was that the Church had always played a very indirect role in the lives of the people, and though Generians remained Godly, moral (for the most part) people as a rule, they had never seen themselves particularly as Generian Orthodox in the sense that they were part of a movement of unified belief. For example, the central Generians interpreted the word of God through the Bible in a largely symbolic sense, whereas those of the Alberian steppe, the nomads and the tribesmen, were of a literalist perspective, and also took the writings of their early chieftains and Bishops as stemming directly from God himself by way of the mortal figure.
However, despite lack of direct influence in the lives of the people, the Orthodox Church had always been the pet of the Emperor, and so was an extraordinarily wealthy organization because of it. So it came that the various Bishops decided that in all their wealth and status, they were in desperate need of a doctrine, and thus set in motion plans to host the first ever Churchwide conference to establish a set of codes by which to govern the Church and its followers.
Oddly it was that this conference found sponsorship not in the form of the Church leader, Emperor Antonius I, but in his nephew, Lord Varus Tiberius Alexei, a prince of Spartan lifestyle, considering himself more a soldier than an aristocrat. As he and the Bishops decided, the conference would begin three months from the time of their meeting, on the eve of the anniversary of the ordination of the first Bishop of the Generian Orthodox Church. It was further decided that key representatives from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches would also be invited to aid in the formulation of a doctrine by which to unify Generia.
((OOC: Basically, I’m going to sort out Generia’s official stances on moral and social issues through this. Any nations that want to send religious representatives may do so.))
So it was that the Church had always played a very indirect role in the lives of the people, and though Generians remained Godly, moral (for the most part) people as a rule, they had never seen themselves particularly as Generian Orthodox in the sense that they were part of a movement of unified belief. For example, the central Generians interpreted the word of God through the Bible in a largely symbolic sense, whereas those of the Alberian steppe, the nomads and the tribesmen, were of a literalist perspective, and also took the writings of their early chieftains and Bishops as stemming directly from God himself by way of the mortal figure.
However, despite lack of direct influence in the lives of the people, the Orthodox Church had always been the pet of the Emperor, and so was an extraordinarily wealthy organization because of it. So it came that the various Bishops decided that in all their wealth and status, they were in desperate need of a doctrine, and thus set in motion plans to host the first ever Churchwide conference to establish a set of codes by which to govern the Church and its followers.
Oddly it was that this conference found sponsorship not in the form of the Church leader, Emperor Antonius I, but in his nephew, Lord Varus Tiberius Alexei, a prince of Spartan lifestyle, considering himself more a soldier than an aristocrat. As he and the Bishops decided, the conference would begin three months from the time of their meeting, on the eve of the anniversary of the ordination of the first Bishop of the Generian Orthodox Church. It was further decided that key representatives from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches would also be invited to aid in the formulation of a doctrine by which to unify Generia.
((OOC: Basically, I’m going to sort out Generia’s official stances on moral and social issues through this. Any nations that want to send religious representatives may do so.))