Arnaudine Teachings

[Sander 3157]

ARNAUDINE TEACHINGS
or
The Interpretation Of The Canonist
Faith By Cardinal Arnaud of Albarosa

Written by Cardinal-Archbishop Arnaud of Albarosa

 

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FOREWORD
 

For quite a few years now, I have been educating people in the ways of the Church and raising them up from acolytes and laymen to priests and deacons. In my teaching and mentoring I try to include not only the doctrine and catechism, but also my personal beliefs and my interpretation of the Scrolls. In an effort to lay these out clearly and hopefully inspire more good souls, I write down these thoughts.

 

I: FINAL COMMAND
 

While I do not consider myself a follower of the Ruskan Rite (nor the Owynist Rite for that matter), at the core of my personal interpretation of the faith is a line of scripture stemming from the Scroll of Auspice. In the Vision of Paradise, passage 11 reads: “Now the final command of GOD, which is the perfection of the world”. It is my belief that this passage is to be taken literally, and that a command from GOD cannot be stalled until the end of times comes about. After all, God, in His infinite wisdom, must have made sure to inform us of this command of His’ in advance through the Scroll of Auspice instead of us only learning of His final command when the time comes. Thus instead of stalling on answering His command, we must begin to work on perfecting the world already through ways of architecture, art, natural beauty and promotion of virtue. This strife towards perfection must be led by Mankind as the people bound by Horen's Covenant, but it is then also our duty to involve the other descendants in this Holy mission, for no perfection is incomplete. This idea of the pursuit of the Final Command is central to my interpretation of the Faith, as will become apparent in several follow-up tenets.

 

II: THE DUALITY OF MAN

 

One question central to philosophy is what one's purpose is in life or existence more broadly. Some might say that Canonist scripture sheds light on this to an extent, but leaves room for discussion. I believe however that, as far as humans in particular and the other races in extension are concerned, the Scrolls can be interpreted to outline quite clearly what our purpose is. In relation to God, His Creation and His struggle with Iblees, we serve a dual purpose. I call this purpose the Duality of Man. One the one side there is a purpose for mankind that I briefly hinted at already when elaborating on the Final Command, namely our purpose and our duty as moral leaders. It is our purpose to work on perfecting the world and promoting and instilling virtue in our fellow descendants. Thus we are God's chosen moral leaders, beacons of virtue, builders of perfection. The second purpose we have can also be clearly found in Scripture and is essential to the central point of contention of our Faith; the struggle between good and evil, virtue and sin, God and Iblees. God gathers the souls of the virtuous in the Seven Skies not merely as a reward for a good life, but so to as a means of amassing an army, as is revealed also in the Scroll of Auspice. When the end of times comes and Iblees falls upon the world with his harbingers of all that is unholy, it is all God's might that pours forth and descends upon the world from the Seven Skies as an army composed of the virtuous dead. God's Kingdom lies in the Seven Skies, and those who ascend to there are His kingdom's soldiers, warriors for the Lord, vanquishers of Iblees' evils. Thus our second purpose is to be soldiers of the Kingdom of God, and we must remember this.

 

III: BODY AND SOUL

 

In order to fullfill the roles that come with our duties as soldiers of the Kingdom of God and moral leaders striving for perfection, we must work on ourselves first, perfecting our body and soul respectively. For you cannot perfect the world around you without working first on perfecting yourself. Therefore I hold the belief for one, that man must strive to be 'whole of body' to be able to serve their purpose as a soldier of God, for what use is a fat, weak man as a soldier? One must train their body and live a healthy life without excess and gluttony, living by the virtue of temperance instead. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who lets himself be corrupted by the vices of glutton, inebriation and intoxication. For that is a man who lets their body be ruled by Iblees. Mirroring this strict disciplining of the mortal body, is the disciplining of the immortal soul. In order to be a paragon of virtue, a moral beacon, one must first find stability within and inner peace. One must awaken this inner peace, this feeling of holiness buried within each person, through training, much like one would train the body. This is done for one through prayer and confession, but also through fasting and less common means such as meditation and self-restraint - practices our farfolk and easterling brethren are more experienced in. Through nurturing and training both the Body and the Soul with means like this, a person becomes truly able to fulfill the Duality of Man GOD has set out for them, and thus I believe them to be as central to our Faith as reading the Scripture or attending Mass.

 

IV: BREAD AND ROSES

 

I believe that just having faith alone means little, instead one has to act on their faith. Since we have a role to play for the Lord, for His Creation and for one another, we must put words to action in pursuit of fulfilling this role. My interpretation of the Faith is meritocratic in that sense: those who put words into action should be seen and I think are seen by GOD as better Canonists than those who simply keep their beliefs to themselves. The main pursuit which Canonists ought to act on then is enabling others in their quest for personal growth and perfection - or, in other words - good deeds. Mirroring the perfection of Body and Soul discussed prior, I would dub these efforts to be a pursuit of 'Bread and Roses' as the old Sanoist saying goes. Providing Bread and Roses being the providing of what is needed for the Body and Soul respectively, yes, but also a simplified synonym of what Canonists need to share on a deeper level: Charity and Love. Doing acts of charity and love to help others in their personal growth is, in my interpretation of our faith, the best way a Canonist can show their devotion and dedication. It is at the very core of what we must do on a day to day basis to bring about the perfection of the world and the rescuing of souls. And in my belief, perhaps it is time we shed more light on these sorely needed acts of kindness, taking a more active approach to our beliefs.

 

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[_RoyalCrafter_ 3301]

The Whitewood Marquis would read over the teachings of his cardinal, to better understand the man who he shall come to work with soon. Despite being of Owynist rites, Ser Sterling would find himself nodding along to some parts. "Ea can tell he will be interesting to talk to, ea should prepare some questions" He pondered his own interpretations of faith.