GODFREY: A THEOLOGY OF VIRTUOUS UNITY

[Piov 2643]

 

GODFREY:

A Theology of Virtuous Unity

 

By Bishop Benedict, O.W.F.

 

 

---

 

Table of Contents 

1.   Introduction
2. The Call to Serve
3. The Institution of Holiness
4. Redemptive Governance
5. Conclusion

 

 

---

 

Introduction

 

The story of Godfrey crosses the minds of every generation since his reign. As in the story of the other prophet, this son of the spirit became hallowed for what he represented. However, there is much to revere about the person that would embody the Imperial profile. In this work, I shall draw from the events as foretold in the Scroll of Gospel. Permit me, O God, that I might recall the testament of your prophet with fullness to the truth. The importance of Exalted Godfrey demonstrates the realness of human faith and the providence of God. As such, I argue for the principle of divine historicism, or the providence of God in the real historical events of human life. As Exalted Horen pierced through the divine life, Godfrey brings the closeness of God in the temporality of time. 

Bless those who bear the weight of the Crown,
Fill them with compassion and prudence,
Justice and Truth,
Strength and Resolve.
Bless the nations of the world,

And enkindle in them the spirit of virtue.
Rebuke with the scepter all malice,

And return the lost toward grace. Amen.

 

Chapter I. The Call to Serve

In the collective conscience of humanity, the ubiquity of Exalted Godfrey’s image is that of an auspicious ruler. However, I argue that this is not the possessing quality that most defines the prophet. Rather, it is his resignation to carry on the work of his lineage in full faithfulness to God (Gospel 6:15-16). The story of Godfrey inaugurates the notion of prophetic succession, or the unbreaking institution of the sacred faculty of men called by God to carry out His divine Will. In such a way, it is the ever present reminder of our own obligations in our worldly pilgrimage to serve with prudence, fidelity, and resolve to uplift our fellow man.

Our profound reflection of this calling reminds us of the duty to serve one another. As we recall from the days of Horen, total rejection of God and the adoption of hubris constitute the unforgivable. In the Scroll of Gospel, it is the deterioration of fidelity to God and the patrimony of Oren, put asunder by unvirtuous men that prompts the Lord to call upon Godfrey (Gospel 6:4-6;11-14). Akin to Horen’s obedience, Godfrey devoted himself to reinstitute the dominion of man toward holiness.

Chapter II. The Institution of Holiness

 

As the Scroll of Gospel unravels the beginnings of creation and the story of faith, we see a closeness to this linear narrative to that of our own reality. In the age of emergent ideologies and the peculiar development of state institutions, the question of human welfare arises. What, then, constitutes human prosperity? The narrative of Exalted Godfrey offers the realness of this question. It compels man to reassess the prudence of authority and the role anointed monarchs and heads of state must play in the prosperous development of their subjects. In following our previous commentary on service, we must occupy ourselves with the question of how such service must be directed.

The calling of Godfrey recenters the eminent dilemma of the worldly experience: a fight against good and evil. As noted by the aengul Eshtael, God names the pure and the impure (Gospel 6:20). Without equivocation, Godfrey devotes his reign in promotion of purity. However, it is not simply moralism that we must engage in this discussion. Rather, it is both what purity represents and what Godfrey intended purity to do for his people. Firstly, purity represents the fullness of God’s salvation that was first revealed in the Horenic Virtues. Moreover, in accordance with the wisdom of the Godhead, Exalted Godfrey employed purity as the driving force to unify the land and uplift them in virtue. In virtue, then, we become ensconced in the pure love and compassion to improve the welfare of creation. What is more powerful than the virtue of charity in an impoverished society? What is more powerful than faith in a hopeless society? Virtue returns the individual and collective consciousness back to God who is perfect, pure, and total compassion.

 

Chapter III. Redemptive Governance

The wisdom of Godfrey resides in his total resignation to the divine. As a model of governance, Godfrey did not seek temporal power, selfish desire, or conquest. If not these, what is the goal of rulership? Redemption. Recall that in the days after Horen, the lands of humanity were in disarray. The mandate of Godfrey’s anointing was to return the people back to holiness. Godfrey is said to have united mankind in virtue throughout all of mankind’s domain (Gospel 6:33). The role of leadership is to redeem their subjects, devoting themselves to their full realization. Exalted Godfrey united man in the wisdom of God which enabled man to prosper.

What we realize in this notion of redemptive governance is a twofold principle. First, when man is separated from God, nothing can take the place of the divine creator. Nothing fulfills man’s aspirations, ideals, and destiny. The Exalted show us that mankind’s plight is interconnected with that of the providence of God. This unites us in a divine historicism, relating our experiences of moral and virtuous conscience with the material reality of existence. The way to sustain man is to continue the prolific preaching of the holy word. The Canon and its divine revelation must reserve a permanent place in the life of human civilization, in the governance of the state, and the reimagination of the human character in society.

Second, the story of Exalted Godfrey teaches us that the political and secular realms are not mutually exclusive to the religious devotion that one owes to their salvation. Many thinkers of contemporary time, and even throughout history, have sought to disregard or even diminish the role of the spiritual life of the Church. As we have previously conveyed, Godfrey did not pursue the laurel and scepter with the sole intention to pursue grandeur among men and rule in the vanity of the throne. Rather, he reserved the throne for God, and for God alone (Gospel 6:36). Look in awe at those who pursue ambition for ambition’s sake, foregoing God and thus condemning oneself to eternal shame. We need not look far but to Iblees, whose sole purpose in the sacred narrative was to show that vanity and ambition result in spiritual death. 

 

Conclusion 

 

Upon the institution of holiness under one banner under God, Godfrey’s work was fulfilled in bringing virtuous unity. In the Book of Godfrey, the unfolding of providence rests in the unyielding commitment to safeguard fellow man from the vices of evil. Devotion to holiness presents the important work of the human pilgrimage, being in total service to uplift each other. Virtue stands as the highest ideal, ordained by God, and affirmed by the prophets who obediently heeded His word. In the age of a new order where the many nations of man and of all creation reside, the model of Godfrey as the epitome of prophetic obedience and of selfless resolve to unite man in the spirit of God cannot be more pertinent. The dilemma of good and evil, of selfless and selfish desire, and of the temptations of ambition serve to test the durability of our conscience. 

 

 

Published 1790.