Spirit & Stone

[Emp 209]

A Thesis:
On the relationship between the Faithful
and the structures within which they practise.
~
Allaesandro of Karovia,
Faithful Acolyte of the Church of the Canon

 

___________________________

 

 

“So Horen went out of his
tabernacle, and he found that
in their wrath and wickedness,
the unholy had slain each other.”

Horen,
Scroll of Gospel

 

“And I am the Lord God without peer,
and My order is the only order, and My law is the only law,
and the highest reaches of heaven shall be
open to the virtuous, king and servant alike.”

Canticle of Fidelity,
Scroll of Virtue

 

 

Before civil war tore our realm apart, turning brother against brother, and lord against liege, I lived on the streets of Brelus, amongst the Raevir folk, who are as stubbornly devoted to their faith as they are to survival in the midst of tribulation. Today, manifesting their piety, stands Saint Lothar’s Cathedral; its majestic design and vibrant colour seeing it, even in such a short lifetime, host to many events - momentous marriages, treaties and religious ceremonies, but also tragedies - assassinations, suicides and funerals.

However, I vividly recall a time preceding these aforementioned. In fact, I partook in the communal construction of the monument. The experience was critical in shaping a personal conceptualisation of a Faith diligently taught and left to me by my father, who now watches me put quill to paper from the Seven Skies. The experience was not only an earthly demonstration of a community, convergent in common faith and complementary talents, but simultaneously an earthy vision of the spiritually synergetic nature of what I am partial to referring to as the ‘Congregation of the Faithful’. For, as the structure rose, stone by purposeful stone, it was revealed to me that so, too, the Church is comprised of many different ‘stones’, each with their own purpose.

From such a revelation I became aware of what my own purpose might be - that is to say, as a member of His clergy, that I might share this perspective to my fellows in the Faith. It is a reflection upon the nature of such a congregation, and its relationship with structures - physical, ritual, and societal, that I shall present in this work.

 

Some will understate the importance of the physical structures within which we practise our Faith - often of an exaggeration, if not misconception, of what might be regarded as the ascetic element of our Faith. One might speculate that an excessive denial of a physical reality speaks of a self-righteous attempt to present oneself in a position of spiritual transcendance. The reality is that the Faith does not exist in the mind of any one man, but rather, as fairly established in ‘A Thesis on Church and Community’, by then-acolyte Lorina Carrion, exists in the physical Congregation of the Faithful. Churches accommodate the Congregation of the Faithful as places not only of ritual, but of holistic worship - wherein all facets of life are subject to the Creator. It is right that births, deaths and marriages - all integral elements in the fabric of Human existence, pass through the Church, for such is an expression of an all-encompassing Faith.

Just as we consider the reflection of the Church on our own communities, we may consider how these established traditions serve as an expression of civilisation and primacy in comparison to the heathen.Where it is an achievement for savages to stack any stone atop another, one may expect that the community nurtured in the shadows of our cathedrals, if not the awe-inspiring sight of the structures themselves, can only confirm to them the existence of an all-powerful Creator, ready to bless those who are obedient to his commandments.

In speaking of blessings, we may consider the part of the physical church in affecting the individual’s relationship with his Creator. For what better expression of divinely-bestowed talents in art and architecture can one find than in the meticulously-measured stonework, the depictions of the miraculous deeds of our Saints, and the ethereal sensation as light passes through coloured glass, transformed into mesmerising scenes of the Seven Skies? There is no greater stage for the skills with which the Creator blesses his creation.

 

Having addressed the image of ‘church’ most readily available to the mind’s eye,we may delve deeper into established ‘structures’. As such, we shall consider those not of stone and mortar, but of action, symbolism and tradition - structures of a ritual nature. In the liturgical process, we are ever-sure of a source of direction. Divorced from ritual, creation is deprived of peace - left to a world of savagery, confusion, and arrogance, wherein the creation, rather than the Creator, is worshipped. Such is demonstrated to us in the canonical history of the Exalted Horen I in the Scroll of Gospel, with which I have preceded this thesis - for it was in leaving the holy tabernacle that Horen was witness to the chaos of a lawless world. It is thanks to ritual, law, and engrained tradition that we are spared from an unchecked reality of savagery. It is in the Church’s provision of rites and guidance that the individual may walk unfettered by worry. It is in a confidence in eventual ascension to the Seven Skies that we, as Horen’s sons, need not be tormented by our curse of mortality, and driven to frustrated violence, as the uruk does. Rather, we have peace amidst chaos.

I would contend, however, that there is a purpose greater than the individual, when we speak of ritual. For, having attended mass a few or many times, one might feel that they have divined sufficient meaning from it, and that further observation of such ritual is unnecessary. The heart, as I humbly speculate, behind the establishment and standardisation of the liturgical process by High Pontiff Daniel I ‘the Reader’ (1471-1512), was not the immediate benefit of a contemporary Church, but rather, was an expression of selflessness and generational fidelity. Our following of tradition expresses a respect and appreciation for our forebears. Our maintenance and perpetuation of tradition stands as a similar expression of foresight and love for our descendants. It is of personal reassurance, then, when I am challenged by claims that  the rituals of the Church seem unsatisfying and irrelevant, if not banal - for it reminds us all of the need to look beyond ourselves, and realise that we are diligently faithful not for immediate sensory reward, but for an eternal reward. Ritual is the most effective way of fulfilling our duty to introduce future generations into the Congregation of the Faithful.

 

Inviting further exploration is what might be regarded as ‘societal structure’. The sophomoric cynic may regard the structure of society as one which sees the exploitation of an all-burdened peasantry by an inactive nobility, born into privilege by fortunate chance. He would continue to advocate a violent overturning of such a system. However, the reality is that, whatever system we may claim exists, it works. Furthermore, the fact that Horen’s children may exist in a functioning society composed of various classes is comforting, as it is proof that our current state is an expression of, and in adherence to the commands of the Exalted Horen regarding fidelity, as laid out in the Scroll of Virtue’s Canticle of Fidelity, from which I have selected a pertinent excerpt to precede this thesis. Some might regard society as a collaboration of different classes, but, more spiritually compelling to me is the notion that our society sees a canonical expression unity, regardless of rank - we are all creations, cognisant of this fact and our own fundamental equality, in both mortal flesh and eventual judgement.

Having “ordered the estates of the men of the earth”, the Creator has made us aware not only of their separation, but of their synergy; we are one Faith - a body made of different parts. Such a realisation renders my introductory, architectural anecdote apropos; the Congregation of the Faithful, I put it you, may be analogised as a building made of many stones. Some, shiny, soft and decorative, demand admiration and glorification. It is to these that we attribute the beauty of the structure as a whole. Other stones are purposeful and specifically carved for service; such as the lintel stones that allow entrance into the structure. These, though few, give sense and meaning to the space, guiding life through its walls. The overwhelming majority of the stones that we fail to appreciate are foundational, supportive, and unseen to the eye that does not care to look. It is to these that we are ultimately indebted for both effectively making and holding up the structure as a whole. Ultimately, in the cooperation of these materials, the structure stands. In their synergy, the Creator is glorified.

 

“...But the halls of Faith are supported by community.”
Sister Lorina of Vekaro,
On Church and Community

 

 

BY THE CREATOR’S GRACE:
Written by Acolyte Allaesandro of Karovia, and
Published in Felsen, 5th of Snow’s Maiden, 1520

Edited September 8, 2015 by l'Empereur

[Daisy 9734]

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