JUSTITIA IN PACE
JUSTICE IN PEACE
1st of Sigismund’s End, 1789
1st of Joma and Umund, 342
Dear Lauritz,
I am glad to hear that an old admirer of my work still holds office, this time in the Haenseti courts ensuring that justice prevails and criminals are brought to justice. Naturally I understand it is your duty to bring those to court who you believe have broken the law and I understand your hand was forced in this. I bare you no ill-will and hope that perhaps after this we might still be friends. I will refute the crimes to which you have stated in your summons piece by piece, I understand that I may still be brought to court regardless but I wish to make my position known to the public regarding this. I do not believe that anything written in the forty one theses constitutes heresy or blasphemy nor does it contravene the teachings of the church.
The first change that you have levelled against me is going against church teachings and doctrines in regard to my writings relating to non-human descendants entering the skies. I wrote that only humans can enter the seven skies due to a misunderstanding of parts of the scripture. I misunderstood and believed that Horen and Julia were the first man and woman, this was something that was taught to me at a very early age: that they were the first coupling. Once I realised my mistake I retracted my writings in a reply to a letter addressed to me, naturally I will write a letter to address very soon to clear this up.
The second charge that has been levelled against me is slander of the Holy Canonist Church, one must understand that the Holy Canonist Church is an institution created by GOD, led by fickle mortal men. I did not directly accuse the Pontiff of blasphemy merely that to change accepted precedent and doctrine that had been established for centuries would constitute blasphemy. An insult to a mortal man is not an insult to our institution and values.
As I have stated above this was due to a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the scrolls and proves that all men are capable of mistakes and misinterpretation and I retracted this as soon as I realised my mistake, unlike some I could mention.
The forth charge you have levelled against me is that I have conducted heresy. The topic of non-humans ascending to the seven skies has been rather a controversial one and I am always open to discussion on this particular subject, however to push the assertion that it is heresy is simply wrong for High Pontiff Daniel III once declared that it was impossible for non-humans to enter the seven skies and based off the Pontiffs statements regarding infallibility, no pontiff can be fallible and what Daniel III said was truth, lest we cast the whole notion of infallibility to the wind, which this charge would do. It is also true that catechisms often change and are fallible so it is wholly unreliable to use this as evidence in court.
The fifth charge that you have levelled against me that I am going against church teachings where I state that the church has been pulled away from its original purpose. I do wholly believe this to be true. It is true that the church as an institution can not be corrupt for its purpose is clear for all, yet men can be corrupt and misuse the church for their own gains. I ask you dear Lauritz, when was the last time you saw mass being performed in the city of Reza, a very long time I bet and this simply proves that the church is not what it once was, this is due to mortal men not the institution itself.
You have accused me of trying to turn the faithful against the accepted hierarchy of the church and I refute this. I have never once called for schism, anti-pontificates or for the pontiff to be overthrown, only requesting that he resign if he is unable to fix the wrongs that have been done. I urged the faithful to join me in requesting the Pontiff to resign and requesting a pontiff to resign is not going against the church hierarchy nor is it blasphemy or heretical it is a simple request. I do understand the sentence provided can confuse people and that is something I regret, I often fail to pick up these types of errors when proof-reading my missives and for that I can only apologise but I do not mean that the public will be condemned if they did not join me in urging James to resign. I meant that if James is unable to recognise the error of his ways and fix the wrongs done to his church he could be condemned for it, as I believe it to be a grave sin to allow our church to fall into such a disillusioned way.
To conclude, I am happy to see that religion has made its way into the Haensetic laws, better religious laws than the Holy Orenian Empire at that. However I refute all allegations made against me, I hold no ill-will towards you Lauritz and hope that this summons might be retracted for I have disproved the allegations however I understand if you wish to take this to court and look forward to seeing you there.
With kind regards,
Boniface.