thesmellypocket

"Long live the Orenian Empire and the Principality of Savoy." Proclaims Father Petrus the Akritian.

These are a few notes and reflections on my pastoral experience as an assistant Priest in Savoy. "Before the mountain, the ant and the aurochs are equally small."-Virtue 7:7. I have been living for the past year in the Principality of Savoy. Fortunately, it does not suffer from many of the problems occasioned by modern times. Most people, if they do not love God, at least have some kind of servile fear toward Him, which, whilst inferior and imperfect compared to the filial fear and loving reverence of the Saints, is at least better than the self-wise tranquillity of many modern persons. Nevertheless, I have noticed a very dangerous spiritual tendency, which has the potential to drag thousands of souls into the Void. Yes, it is very wretched indeed. The faith of the people seems to lack joy. Everything is austerity and the only form of popular piety that exists is executions. A lack of spiritual joy is usually caused by spiritual pride. This deadly sin, contrary to the Commandment of Virtue ch. 7, seeks to exalt itself above others. It glories in ignorance, revels in rash judgement, and seeks not to uplift our brother if he should fall into a serious sin, but rather to grind him into the dust by raving on in spiritual beratings and beatings. This can be spiritually ruinous and the cause of despair in others, the opposite vice to the virtue of Faith according to Saint James II as was recently published by HIH Josephine Augusta. Spiritual pride is often more deadly than other forms of pride because it sees itself as pious - at least other pride is free of that delusion. Hence it is potentially ruinous to the sinner who is berated into despair, but positively destructive to the spiritual life of the man who berates pridefully, because he will do evil and rash judgement and congratulate himself for the act. Not only the Scrolls, but scores of the Saints warn us against this kind of behaviour. The Angelic Doctor, St. Jude, thundered against it: "In the end, we are all below one great Being and we will all be judged differently. Just because you may have been a pagan or nonbeliever once doesn’t mean that you are not a brother or sister of the Creator now. We are all equal and should love each other the same. Now I leave you to think upon this: If you are someone who believes converted heathens, pagans, or heretics, are below you, how would you feel if you were in their shoes?” (On Conversion and Humility.) Furthermore, St. Pius of Sutica, FSSCT, wrote: "I have since learnt this: that any man who refuses to pity his brother when he falls into a serious fault, shows himself to be in great danger of an imminent fall himself. For pride refuses to admit weakness, and hence, as a hot-headed general is easily lured into ambushes, so Iblees can easily overcome those who are assured of their own strength. I do not mean we should not punish transgressors because we ourselves are guilty; but even there we should say: “Thank God I have not done worse”, and punish as men who hate sin, but love sinners. Even when the order of society necessitates the death penalty, Confession should on no account be neglected to be offered to the criminal, so that he who was failed according to the justice of men, might triumph according to the mercy of God - Thy mercy, which endureth forever." (Confessions, I.IX.) This spiritual pride is manifested in contempt for our neighbour. We are constantly on the look out for the faults of others, and will rashly judge them. We will seek reason to persecute them, rather than making reasonable excuse for them as we ought, always giving the most uncharitable and mean interpretation of their actions. I saw this in the square the other day. There was a man, - half-orc, half son of Horen by the flesh (but 100 percent a son of Horen through Baptism) - who was being questioned by a mob in the town square. I will admit that I arrived late to the scene and perhaps something was said which I did not hear. Nevertheless, the people gave him no chance whatsoever to say anything in his own defence. And when he professed his Canonism boldly, men accused him, without basis, of being a liar. One of these gentlemen accused the half-breed of being "born into sin." At this I became angry. It was not this gentleman's sin which made him a half-orc, but his parents. He is not to be held responsible. So I said "Sir, we are all sinners. Leave off from this man." And he said: "I am, but I go to Confession to Father so-and-so." He said this as if some kind of great achievement and excuse to persecute others. For a start, the man he was persecuting himself professed to be a regular churchgoer, and that means probably with a Confessor also. Going to Confession means you must be frail and in need of God's forgiveness. Why, then, refusing to be merciful, do we expect mercy? What do we have which we have not received? And if we have received, why do we glory as if we have not so done? Confession is the pure mercy of God to a poor sinner. When a patient is cured from a bad disease, does he not thank the physician? Would the man say: "How great I must be, I am cured! Those uncured persons are idiots!" Of course not, he owes it to the physician, not to himself. And so remember this: all your progress in the spiritual life is the gift of God, not your own achievement. Without His grace we have nothing to call our own but sin, evil and death. St. Pius said: "Better wine drunk with humility than water with pride." It is better to be faithful in small devotions and remain small in our own estimation than to do many great penances and think how great we are, and how sinful and weak our brother who does less must be. We must therefore kindle in ourselves great distrust of self. We should recognise our pride and therefore our tendency to act in a contemptuous fashion. You know our mortal lot. For some irrational reason we dislike someone who may be perfectly innocent. And then, to feed our hatred, the evil one pours into our ear all kinds of ridiculous fancies. Our sinful self seeks any reason to exalt itself about this person and kindle hatred against him. We must fight this with tooth and nail. When assaulted by such irrational thoughts, we must not entertain them, but batter them down like the minions of iblees they are. If we had not pride, we would rejoice that even from sin, God can bring good. Even from the kinslayer Owyn, he created His great Prophet and the Captain of His heavenly hosts. Even from the product of an illicit marriage, He can bring out a baptised and practising Canonist. But we are so tainted by spiritual pride that we are blind to His universal love of all men. Remember that every person we are speaking to may themselves be a potential Saint-in-waiting. The great Ven. Bishop Benedict received Pius of Sutica with courtesy even before he became a Canonist, and this helped him on the road to conversion. The man, too, you are berating, could one day be your great superior in holiness - assuming he is not already. We should not shrink from stamping out injustice and blasphemy. We should not cower from confrontation and having to use harsh words. This would make us cowards. We should not shrink, but nor should we leap to judgement and meanness as our first resort rather than our last. Our inclination, our default stance, should be gentleness, kindness, courtesy and good will. Departing from these things should be a burden which we are forced by necessity to take up. For, O my sweetness, my God, when shall we see that it is blasphemy to call Thee 'Father' when despising our brother? Too long have we done this blasphemy! Too long have we treated our neighbour with contempt! How dare we proclaim to acknowledge Thy primacy whilst exalting ourselves! How dare we proclaim we love Thee whilst hating what Thou lovest! Open our hearts, O Lord, and there engrave the Law which Thou didst formerly implant in the hearts of all the descendants. Plant there the root of all virtue: humility. And let there grow from her bounty the glorious red rose of charity, which is Thy very heart, for Thou Thyself art Charity. (Proverbs 5:1) And, acknowledging Thee as Father, let us call our neighbour brother: congratulating him when he triumphs, pitying him when he falls, and desiring the good of his immortal soul with all the fervent desire of our hearts, let us all advance as pilgrims back to our true home, Thy kingdom forever and ever. Amen. N.B. It is very important for Confessors to stay away from this tendency. It takes humility and faith to come to the confessional. Admonish sinners, yes, but not in the Confession-booth. For the repentant sinner should always be received with utmost sweetness. Only if beration is the only reasonable means to deliver a man from habitual sin should it be used. NOTE TO CARDINAL PROVIDENCE. Your Eminence, I have completed a thesis, I am familiar with the Mainland Church, and I now can speak Common quite fluently. Fr. Paul can attest to these things. I earlier made you a promise to refrain from using the powers of my ordination - viz., administering the Sacraments. I now ask that such an impediment be removed and I be given full power to exercise my Priestly faculties and celebrate public liturgies. I remain your humble servant, Fr. Petrus the Akritian.

"The opposite of Faith is despair, that is an interesting take...But I do not know if we can accept the proposition that He is Faith, Humility, etc. - it would only be possible for God to show these virtues if He...somehow united Himself to a lower nature, such as that of an Angel or even...A man." Says Petrus.

The Akritian Church had not yet received news of Saint Pius' canonisation. The Bishop, a friend of Bl. Seraphim, prayed most fervently for the canonisation of the pair. He decided to dedicate a church to them, but had no idea where a suitable side would be. He consulted many man of high rank and great wisdom. He even established a commission who argued and argued about it. "You can't place it near the river, it's a flood plain!' One said. "And those hills are too inaccessible to the people - and too accessible to the Turkins!" Another countered. "Let us ask Pius of Sutica where he would like the church to be. He is just waiting for an excuse to give us a miracle for his canonisation." At that moment, in the middle of summer, snows fell down on a precise spot within their sight. Not only had snow in summer not been seen in generations in Akritos, but it was also seeming to fall down as if a beam of light indicating that location. "This is a miracle. No doubt about it." The sight was found to be perfect. A temporary outdoor shrine was first to be set up there whilst the church was being built. And there, by the icon of Pius of Sutica, there have been said to be dozens of miraculous healings. Soon the little village became a place of pilgrimage for those dedicated to Pius of Sutica, Akritian and Turkin, and even foreigners. "I need to tell Father Petros to send word to the High Pontiff, whoever he is - Tylos, isn't it? He must be canonised at once!" Petros reads the Bull at the same time as the letter from his old Bishop came onto his desk. "Errrr...." He hesitated for a moment, before bursting into laughter. "If this isn't a sign we need to reform the FSSCT, what is?" Saint Pius, looking down upon him, says: "Now, I know I took my time...But when I did it, I did it in style." Then the Akritian Priest sniffed. That's odd...The smell of roses! He checked his pockets...

"Wow, a system in which a king can be declared a 'coward', deposed by force and murdered, I am sure this is a very stable system with no potential for civil wars.'" Comments some smug nerd.

"Your sentry duty is over, brave soldier. Now you join an army without hard drill or long marches." Proclaims Pius of Sutica happily, welcoming the venerable clergyman into company of the holy ones. A heavenly 'Te Deum' sounds from the heavenly choirs of Angels and Saints in jubilee. "Jubilate Deo!" shout the Pontiffs in chorus. "Servite Domino in laetitia" respond the holy Confessors. "Laudate Dominum Deum Saboath!" Cry the holy militants. "All these choirs covet you as their own..." explains Pius.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

"We don't need an apparition to tell us that God has not abandoned His people. We don't need to see Owyn to know that he intercedes for us." Replies Br. Williams. "It is a weak faith that says unless such a manifestation has happened, we cannot know these things."

"An apparition of a Prophet or a Saint is not impossible, for example, legend holds that St. Julia appeared to Saint Kristoff, but it could never be integral or fundamentally change the Faith or the constitution of the Church as the Prophets left them, and if it tries to do so, we know it to be false or a deception. For everything necessary for the Church to know was given to the Church in the lifetimes of the Prophets; revelation was complete and ended with the death of Siegmund. And the Church was set up as the guardian of this sacred deposit of faith until the end of time. Hence a true apparition of Owyn would seek to enkindle devotion in the people by teaching them how to live the faith and practise devotion, not manifest and claim a public authority." Writes Brother Owyn FSSCT.

Blessed Pius of Sutica, FSSCT, laughs. He looks to Saint James II: "75% of the clergy have to be present for an ecumenical council? How did you manage to get that law past us?"

((Thanks so much for your interesting reply. When I started with Pius he was already a Canonist living in Oren, so it was very interesting to go back to his past and explore it. I found the authors on purity and so on exceedingly interesting. I really had no clue High Elves had such amazing lore and unique ideology. Stayed tuned for Book II!)) That same night, Malgath's father reads Book I of the Confessions of Pius. "My son, my son, why did have to be like this!?" He cries.

((Inspired by St. Augustine’s Confessions, St. Therese of Lisieux’s A Story of a Soul, and St. John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Also the writings of F.J. Sheen.)) IMPURE: BEING THE CONFESSIONS OF MALGATH of HAELON’OR, MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS BLESSED PIUS OF SUTICA. ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Blessed Pius of Sutica (1610-1803), known before his conversion as Malgath, was an High Elven philosopher who converted to Canonism and later became a Canonist Priest, founding the Priestly Fraternity of SS. Jude and Kristoff. He was the author of many influential spiritual works. Disowned by his natural family as “impure”, High Pontiff Saint James II called him “An example of humility whom I wish to emulate and a teacher to whom I submit”; he was beatified for the greater glory of God by High Pontiff Jude II in 1807. PREFACE. Pius of Sutica never intended that these words be published - of that the archaic style bears witness, for Pius usually wrote in modern Common, but used this older style in his own private writings. He is also more unreserved in his praise of High Elven ideals than in his public writings. They were read only by his former Confessor, Fr. Griffith of Gwynon, FSSCT and the Metropolitan of Providence, his Eminence Cardinal Gawain, FSSCT. In his last testament (Book XII), he wrote that it was his desire for these words to remain unpublished, but that, if either the Provost of the FSSCT, his former Confessor, Fr. Griffith, or the Bishop of Providence, who at the time of my writing these words is Cardinal Gawain, should judge it to be useful for the Church for them to be published, then so it shall be. Three months ago we received that very order from his Eminence, and so this work, part-autobiography, part-philosophy; wholly prayer, we eagerly present to the public eye, knowing it shall be, with God’s help, of no small profit to them. I remain your humble servant, -Br. Williams, FSSCT. NOTE TO FR. GRIFFITH. Dearest child, Long have you required of me this little book, and long have I delayed. I hope all is well in Gwynon. Although separated by the raging seas, you are always pressed very close to my heart. I should just like to say that, though my life is short by Elven standards, by those of men, I am very old indeed. I am currently engaged with works related to the life of the Church, so, for brevity’s sake, some decades I will pass over quickly. Do not expect a detailed autobiography but a work more reflective in nature. Your loving father in grace, Pius. BOOK I - CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE. Chapter I - Introduction and Doxology. I.I WILL PRAISE THEE, O my God, my one Creator, my sole Shepherd, my singular Refuge, one and only King enthroned in the lowly tabernacle of my heart. My pen shakes, Lord, and the hand that holds it trebles. How shall it render fitting praise to the One who fashioned it out of nothing? How shall I pine after Him in Whom I live, and move, and am? In whatsoever order I narrate things, still I find the thing wholly inadequate, utterly unable to recount Thy innumerable mercies unto me. O glad, how glad am I that Thou hast promised eternal life, wherein “I shall sing the mercies of the Lord forever” (Attr. Ven. Humbert), for I shall need an eternity to do such a thing. But since Thou hast been pleased to shower such abundant blessings on one so unworthy of them, do not suffer inadequate praise, O Lord, but rather lead me on the way of eternal life, in order that I might have that eternity wherewith I can praise Thee worthily. But as for now, open my mouth; enlighten my intellect; inflame my affections, casting me without reserve into the furnace of Love, that this little work might avail for my salvation and Thy glory. And since I have not yet that eternity wherewith to praise the Good God, might I lend thine, O my patron, blessed Jude the Saint? Unite this prayer with that of the Angels and Saints, that it might be a tiny cymbal in that awesome orchestra of love, giving praise and glory to Almighty God forever and ever, Amen. II.`The fool shall say: What need hath God of praise?” (Proverbs 3:2) Modern scoffers do not understand why we praise Thee, O Lord. They imagine Thee as a kind of despot sitting hatefully on a throne unless we sing his praises. But it is not so; Thou art all-blessed and complete within Thyself; indeed Thou art the cause of the completeness of all complete things and the blessedness of all blessed things. No, rather, Thou hast said: “I am thy Father, and the Father of all things.” (Virtue 1:6) One day, I saw some little girls gathering up daffodils to give to their mother. Did the mother have any need of the daffodils? No. Did the girls have a need to give them? Certainly! Simply put, O Lord, Thou art the Source and Fount of all life and goodness, and the love of Thee, therefore, is the sole remedy for all our ills. We must love Thee - the Eternal - and thus live the life of eternity, or, loving things temporal, thus die with the death of temporality. As the little girls remained in the bosom of their mother, the source of their life, so we must ever dwell in the bosom of Thy love, if we are to live. And what is more conducive to love than praise? If in loving Thee we live, and in praising Thee we love, then in loving Thee not we die, and in praising Thee not we love Thee not. Therefore to praise Thee is life; to neglect Thee is death. That is why Thou art jealous for the praise of Thy Name, O Lord. Not as for an insecure tyrant, but a true Father seeking what is best for His child. III.Therefore, O my hand, still thyself, and tremble no more. Calm thyself, O my soul, like a ship unfurling her snow-white topsails in serenest weather, and play the man; do thou manfully, and render thou the sacrifice of praise. Be still, and see that He is God. Do not worry about the inadequacy of thy expression. Pen of my hand, fear not. Thou dost not write a panegyric for a fearful despot, but a love letter to a doting Father. He does not care that thy scribbles are inadequate, he cares only for the intent behind the pen. I assure thee, O my soul, that thy God is much better than thou believest. He is content with a glance; a sigh of love. Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of so good a Father. Do all that thou canst do with love, and the rest is in His hands. I will love Thee, O Lord, by the small things: here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word, always choosing the smallest good and doing it all for love, for in the eyes of a father the littlest thing is precious. (c.f. Ven. Humbert, Maxims II.XI.) I am little, O Lord, and “to him that is little, mercy is granted, but the mighty shall be mightily tormented.” (Ibid II.V.) Therefore let no more false humility still my hand. I will praise Thee, O Lord, with the boldness and bravery of a princeling. And I will here recount Thy mercies and the story of how Thou raised me up to be a Canonist Priest, as Thy representative hath required me to do. Chapter II - Conception, Birth and Parents. IV.Almost two centuries ago, Thou didst breathe life into my heart, (Virtue 1:5), pouring out of Thy infinite bounty the caresses of Thy love, by placing into it an abundance of virtue. (Virtue 2:5) For although I was a babe in my mother’s womb, nourished by the beating of her heart, and later by suckling of her breasts, yet it was Thou that didst suckle me through her. For Thou Thyself art the Nourisher of the mother who nourished me. The milk she gave me was from Thy creation: for Thou hast created for me “a garden of abundance.” (Virtue 2:7) Thus from my mother’s womb and in the years I could not speak and walk properly, Thou didst protect me, nourish me and cuddle me with maternal tenderness through the Elfess Thou hadst created. V.Thou didst give me loving parents, an attentive mother and an honourable father, a patriotic man from a well-off family jealous for the traditions of our race. Yes, I do acknowledge it as a true gift that Thou didst count me among those fairest of skin, agile of mind and tall of ear, the High sons of Malin, and of the purest bloodline am I. Our race is expert in scientific matters beyond all the sons of Man and Malin, careful and discerning in character; guarding our purity with a fiery craving. My father - the representative Thou didst choose to shew forth Thy fatherhood in my childhood - used to take me on his knee, showing me the whole of the great city of Taliyna’maehr, and calling me his little prince; telling me stories of the wars and tales of heroism and statesmanship from our great forebears, such as the noble Larihei. My childhood was normal and happy. The racial patriotism and sense of honour my parents taught me are still with me to this day, since I recognise them as Thy gifts through them. Whilst I now consider other races my equal brethren formed in the image of a common Father rather than “lesser beings'' (Eos Sinruil, On Purity), and I consider my racial gifts an occasion of humility rather than pride, seeing as they are gratuitous gifts and inheritances from Thee rather than anything of which I am deserving, still I have never ceased to love the sons of Larihei with a great longing for their highest good. And although my conversion to Thy Church would later tear my family away from me, I still do not fail to love them. They were Thy agents, unknowing though they be, and I pray unceasingly for the conversion of my race and family to Thee, the God who made our race great among men and blessed our family so abundantly. Often I have considered returning to my country; doubtless I would be killed as an Impure. My Confessor has forbade me from seeking such a martyrdom. Chapter III - Education and Intellectual Pride. VI.Of course, to believe in Thee or anything beyond the scope of reason was seen as inherently irrational. Hence when my father sought the ‘best’ for me, it was worldly advancement and a good education that he sought, and provided through his contacts within the Silver State. A good tutor employed by the Silver Library taught me literacy in Common and Ancient Elven, and later I attended his small classes of rhetoric and foreign languages. I was given a blissful freedom to explore that vastest range of tomes, which served as kindling for the fire of learning which burned in my young heart. I also studied some of the scientific disciplines. I worked very hard in these things and was an attentive and quiet student, finishing top of my tutor’s classes in all but science. Mankind, even then, took my fancy, although I was trained to - and did - look upon them with disdain as irrational fanatics who lacked our intelligence, purity and refinement, I investigated them simply because they have so many languages compared to us. Hence I even made my own private studies in Flexio and Akritian which later Thou wouldst use to bring me into Thy fold. Such studies were permitted and even encouraged by the Silver State, because although some considered the Lessers so beneath us so as to not be worth real consideration [Editor’s note: c.f. Othelu Orrar, Enumerated Distinctions of Purity], others have considered them at least worthy of study and experimentation. I was of the latter opinion; I studied the languages of men with the detachment and contempt with which one might observe the barkings of a dog. [Editor: C.f. Doctrine of the Pure, “The Lesser Question.”.] VII.But as adolescence progressed, these gifts of intellect and will which enabled me to progress so well, puffed me up like air does a balloon, for I considered myself the sole origin of my success. Time came when my declaimations far exceeded even those of my father, but at that time I was not mindful of the fact that before Thee, the author of our intellectual capacity, “The ant and the aurochs are equally small.” (Virtue 7:7) Hence I began to consider myself the superior of my superiors, arguing with my tutor, questioning the State, and being ungrateful for the food placed on my table. I fear this is a consequence of the way in which Haelon’or exalts personal intellect as the highest gift, instead of wisdom. Wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing. A man of great scientific knowledge can be a fool, whereas an humble farmer who knows only his plough can possess the wisdom of the greatest philosopher. For example, when one of my fellow countrymen wrote to me (presuming me to be a human because I had written to him in an Orenian journal), he patronised me by highlighting my “inferior mind.” (Irulan Elibar’acal, Man’s Discourse.) Doubtless he was correct that my mind was inferior, but his manner of conduct was exceedingly foolish. Haelon’or leaves itself open to the scourge of Liberalism because of this exaltation of personal intellectual capacity, ignoring the need for humility and a sound will in order to become truly wise. Hence, submission to an ideology or creed based on the authority of intellectual and moral superiors such as Purity or Maehr’sae Hilyun’ehya [Editor: Progress and Health] cannot be maintained in the long-term, because as soon as someone finds what he thinks to be a personal intellectual quibble with that system, he will exalt himself above it. Hence a man who considers personal knowledge and intellectual superiority his highest achievement will find it hard to submit to a communal ideology or standard, especially if he is, as I was, puffed up with pride. VIII.Hence, out of pride rather than love of truth, I became increasingly disillusioned with my studies. I found the rules of Purity extremely hard to keep, and I began to fall into what I would have called “habits of questionable purity” [Editor: c.f. Othelu Orrar, Distinctions], but which I now understand to be sins against Thee alone. I was told by my superiors, by the State and by my parents: “Here are the rules of Purity. Here are the dictates of right reason. Follow thou them.” But they themselves could not follow them. Even my father, an honourable man, would sometimes have the odd irrational tendency, an irritation or an outburst of emotion or lust. Even my mother suffered from jealousy, and, although supposed to be content with plain modesty in the Socialist society, was covetous for possessions and the attentions of others. She even had a secret collection of rare wines and potions, worth thousands of minas, which she kept as a personal show of wealth, a show which she showed to no one. Meanwhile, however, when, in politics, they read of any kind of cause for scandal, they would condemn it in the hottest terms. The women in my family would gossip about those of supposedly questionable Purity, failing to see that such gossiping was a greater poison than the alleged impurities about which they would gossip. I do not say this to denigrate my mother, who loves me so much, I know. We are all weak and prone to sin without Thy grace. She alone did not gossip among the women. Chapter IV - Turning Away from Virtue. IX.It was allegiance to a list of rules, an allegiance which no blessed Mali could completely keep, but which he felt justified in imposing on others in the harshest possible terms. We were unwilling to acknowledge our own mortal frailty; pity for those who fell in the public eye was hence perceived of as Impure within itself. I have since learnt this: that any man who refuses to pity his brother when he falls into a serious fault, shows himself to be in great danger of an imminent fall himself. For pride refuses to admit weakness, and hence, as a hot-headed general is easily lured into ambushes, so Iblees can easily overcome those who are assured of their own strength. I do not mean we should not punish transgressors because we ourselves are guilty; but even there we should say: “Thank God I have not done worse”, and punish as men who hate sin, but love sinners. Even when the order of society necessitates the death penalty, Confession should on no account be neglected to be offered to the criminal, so that he who was failed according to the justice of men, might triumph according to the mercy of God - Thy mercy, which endureth forever. Hence, what could I do when I saw these hypocrisies? In my own intellectual self-justification, I rejected the ideals my parents taught me. I rejected Purity as an unliveable standard used to control me by a group of hypocrites who themselves could not abide its terms. I was wrong to reject Purity. I was right to reject hypocrisy. For of all the Canonist doctrines, this seems to me to be the sanest: that we are all sinners in need of Thy mercy, and without the help of Thy grace we cannot overcome our moral weakness. “For if Thou will be quick to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who would stand it? But with Thee there is mercy, and by reason of Thy law, I have waited, O Lord.” (Little Office of Saint Jude, Psalm 3d.) For even that very Sinruil I quoted earlier, who regarded the other Descendants as “lesser beings”, later himself became a degenerate Liberal (Arelyn Iyathir, Uprooting Liberalism.), being ruled by lusts in a way that most of my so-called “lesser” human friends I now have would not even countenance in the worst of their nightmares. X.Ex reverentia praecipientis procedere debet reverentia praecepti. Viz, Reverence for a law flows from reverence to the lawgiver. Hence why I wrote earlier, Lord, that in loving Thee we live. For if Thou art Thyself Infinite Goodness, then it seems to me that all commandments flow from this one great commandment: Love of Thee. A man who loves someone will do all that is necessary to avoid injuring that person. A man who trusts the advice of another will readily follow that advice. As an apprentice will take tips from an archmage with highest reverence, so from reverence for Thee proceeds reverence for what Thou hast commanded - viz., the Moral Law. Hence, when morality is just a list of commandments without reference to a person, it is bound to fail. But when Goodness is identified with a Person, viz., Thee, from love of Thee proceeds all of the moral life. This I have observed from living in divers places. That in Oren they have a love without sacrifice, whereas in Haelon’or they have a sacrifice without love. Oren claims to love Thee, but hates self-denialism and asceticism. The good things they see, and they praise them, but it is the baser that they follow. Hence what is their love but sentimentalism? Weakness? Effeminacy? On the other hand, among the High Elves there is a culture of self-denial, of modesty and a striving for pure conduct, but without the love of God it is simply tyrannous lists of hard rules, hypocrisy and scorn. This latter tendency I have also noticed among the school known as the Flamenists. (c.f. Fr. Himmler, Clerical Disciplines.) One is the path to weakness, and the other to misery. We must not therefore imitate the Farfolk asceticism which sits on spikes, taking pleasure in pain as pain, but take a filial discipline out of love. It is better to drink wine with humility than water with pride. XI.A man thinks in years; an Elf thinks in decades, and over the decades Thou hast made plain to me, through the will and intellect Thou has given me, the true errors which ought to have caused me to turn away from many of the prejudices I was raised with. Intellectual pride, its negative element, I embraced, and it was even the cause of my rebellion, whereas those truly good and noble things, such as chastity, frugality, diligence, courtesy, loyalty, patriotism, prudence, a sense of justice and honour, and the other splendid virtues which the Mali’aheral can be said to possess to some degree, and with which my parents raised me, I threw out as revolting unto me. For Thou hast planted the seed of virtue in each and every rational creature (c.f. Virtue 2:5), and in revolting against that which was truly good and admirable in our own culture, I was revolting against Thee. And by disdaining those civil authorities which Thou Thyself hast established as agents of Thy Law (c.f. Virtue 6:6), I disdained Thee. Chapter V - Criticism of Some High Elven Ideas. XII.It was not the erroneous High Elven proposition of rejecting Thee because we believe that placing faith in something whose motivations are not rationally explainable is illogical that caused me to turn away from these things. With this proposition my countrymen have poisoned even the great Archives, as shown by the document I found there on the Elven race. This is actually the root of Liberalism, instead of being merely an antithesis to the Purity standards of the Mali’thill as the Silver State now claims. (Arelyn Iyathir, Uprooting Liberalism.) The Silver State claims to uproot Liberalism, but herself hath embraced her chief root: the rejection of mystery - Viz., anything which goes beyond the ability of the Pure Mali to rationally understand it. But we cannot exalt our own reason in such a manner and expect to come to a knowledge of the truth. For our reason is greatly limited, and is far from being able to understand concepts such as infinity. This is not to dismiss or denigrate reason or her true and noble excellence. It is a gift from Thee, and by her natural light we can come to know of Thy existence with certainty from the things which Thou hast made. [Editor: c.f. Pius of Sutica, Fides et Ratio.] But to exalt our own reason as the supreme principle of excellence, viz., to reject anything whose motivations may be above her, is to reject the infinite on the basis that the finite cannot possess it perfectly. The High Elf hence rejects the concepts of eternity on the basis that he can only understand temporality. He therefore makes his own reason the supreme principle of the universe, holding it illogical to believe that anything is above her. But things are above her, and things below her such as lust and anger cloud her and drag her down even to the level of the beasts. And by super-exalting personal reason in such a disproportionate way, the High Elves sow the seed of Liberalism. For if personal reason be the supreme principle, whereby if anything be above her, to acknowledge it as so is considered irrational, does not the suppression of personal freedom constitute the greatest evil, since it inhibits, in some way, the free exercise of a man’s reason? Hence wisdom must not merely consist in this searching of the intellect, but also submission of the will to received truths from above, and acknowledgement of our reason’s own frailty, seeing that there are truths which can be above her comprehension, and not rejecting those truths on the basis that they are so. Thinking itself requires certain assumptions which cannot be proved by reason alone. In logic they are called axioms. To reject these axioms or dogmas is to embrace insanity. Hence the sceptic will sink through floor after floor of a bottomless universe; the spectre of this universal doubt will destroy things that we know are self-evidently good - one social institution after another. Do Thou spare us from this dark path! XIII.Neither was it an objection to their rejection of true humility that caused it, but on the contrary, High Elven pride was itself the cause of my rebellion. For whilst charity is the flower of virtue, humility is the root of it. And hence without the root, the flower cannot flourish; and this is the thing that stops a truly pure charity from welling up inside the breasts of our race. Humility is also the cause of lasting happiness, not only because it is the root of so splendid a flower, but also because it is the scourge of envy, which causes us to resent the success and gifts of others. The High Elves cannot bring ourselves to admit that other races also have great blessings which we do not have to the same degree. For example, it would have been considered questionable [editor: c.f. Distinctions] to praise anything in the race of Men, Orcs or Dwarves. Men, for example, despite their much shorter life-span, are not far behind us in terms of technology or culture, and often it has surprised me that men have often taught me more practical wisdom than High Elves, despite a much shorter life. This is because they have an admirable ability to pass knowledge and wisdom on to the next generation, so that the collective knowledge of the race is as if they lived as long as we do. This passing on of knowledge is called tradition, from the Flexio tradere, meaning to hand down. The traditional nature of men is sometimes looked down upon by some of my race. This shows our capacity for pride and envy. We must be on top, and we would never acknowledge the truth of this matter. We are always looking upon rational creatures, creatures endowed with the supreme dignity of intellect and will, as tools to be exploited and studied for our own gain. [Editor: c.f. Doctrine, “The Lesser Question.] As far as I can tell, this makes us miserable, not the objects of our contempt. For this pride and envy enslaves us to them, by forcing us to constantly compare ourselves. But by this gift, O Lord, Thou dost endow men with a knowledge beyond their natural capacity. We see here how Thou hast blessed Man and Elf alike. The High Elf Thou hast given a superior intellect and length of life, and Man, Thou hast given power to overcome his natural limitations by this ability to hand down. If we acknowledged and rejoiced in the gifts of others rather than raving on about how superior we are, we would be much happier and more blessed. The irony is, by this feigned superiority we poison ourselves with jealousy and make ourselves miserable, becoming the moral inferiors of those whom we envy. Truly, pride is an admission of weakness because it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals. XIV.This prideful attitude was not only present in our attitude to other races, but the day-to-day interactions of our people. I used to know a young female religious, a Novice, still in her adolescence. Despite her tender years, with the exception of Father Seraphim [Editor’s Note: A Priest of the FSSCT, now beatified] she is the only person whom I can say with certainty whom I have met and can call a living Saint. She had an excellent tendency to be able to take very complex theological questions and reduce them to simple analogies about nature, which is the sign of the greatest teacher. But she was best not because she was the teacher, but because Thou wert the teacher through her. She used to compare Thee to a gardener looking upon a garden of flowers which He had lovingly planted. Now, there are very many flowers there: in fact, each flower is unique and special. There are gorgeous roses of pink and red, little lilies of purest white, striking lotuses of loveliest blue, and, among them, a simple poppy who is not nearly as striking as the others, and is very small. Should she envy the glory of the rose, and should the rose tyrannise the simplicity of the poppy? Never. The rose must recognise that she has all that she has solely from the liberality of the sun, and the care of the gardener. Without these, she would wither away very quickly. All her beauty is therefore nothing but an unearned gift from these gracious friends. On the other hand, the poppy should, first of all, recognise her own gifts. She should be mindful of this truth: that if every poppy wanted to become a rose, the garden would lose its splendour. The gorgeous beauty of the rose must go alongside the charming simplicity of the poppy. And so, with souls, some delight Thee by beauty, others, being endowed with fewer or less splendid gifts, charm Thee by simplicity. One of the vindications of this philosophy is the fact that often, childhood is the happiest time in the lives of many, when they were smallest and most simple. This is one of the reasons we celebrate the Saints, acknowledging and rejoicing in their superior gifts. The same Novice used to pray to Saint Julia: “Julia, were thou me and I Queen of Angels, I would wish to be me, that I might see thee Queen of Angels!” Let the rose therefore rejoice in the poppy and the in the rose; and Thou, Divine Gardener, take Thy delight in both. Amen. XV.Lord, I ask Thee to send me a humiliation whenever I try to exalt myself above my fellow man. Chapter VI - Pius Pursues Pleasure. XVI.Whilst I began to reject the ideal of Purity, I knew not the true reason why it ought to be rejected. Not Purity in itself; nor even the jealous guarding of our own racial integrity. The former I rejected, but the latter I retained to some extent. The true error of High Elven Purity was its elevation beyond due proportions to the level of idolatry, so that a good thing, Purity, was the object of inordinate levels of veneration to become the very basis of the State and ideology. For whenever anyone exalts a societal or natural principle, such as race, or the state, or a particular form thereof, beyond its proper proportion and place, however necessary or honourable it may be, perverts that very thing he exalts, and thus is the cause of great chaos and moral injustice. This is a more subtle form of idolatry than the worship of Angels or Daemons, which the Mali’aheral rightly reject. But this subtler form, namely, rooting the superlative good in something temporal and fading, can be more dangerous, in that it is unconscious. The superlative good must not be rooted in any one principle except the superlative good itself, which is Thee, but by exalting not Thee but racial Purity as the highest good, the High Elves cause a great deal of injustice, severity and meanness within their own society and their interactions with other nations. XVII.This was the subject of a public article to which replied a truly despicable Mali, Irulan Elibar’acal. This man wrote a letter zealously persecuting an Elfess for marrying an alleged worshipper of Xan, an action that could have gotten her killed if she was found Impure. (Irulan Elibar’acal, Challenge.) When I wrote admonishing the High Elven error of rooting the Superlative Good in Purity, he replied: “Neither [Superlative Good nor Purity] exist. Both are fictions we tell one another to create networks of cooperation. These are the foundation of bands, tribes, kingdoms, and empires.” (Ibid, Man’s Discourse.) This means this man was literally willing to have a woman killed, burned in the cruel acids, not to satisfy justice, or benevolence, or any other good thing, but on the basis of what he himself calls a convenient lie in order to sustain High Elven society. This man feels qualified to lecture Mankind on her supposed infantilism. And this, O Lord, is what our race supports, supposedly the intellectual and moral superiors of the entire world, wallowing in the filth of pride and corruption and calling it Purity. I thank Thee, O Lord, that Thou gavest me parents who exalted Purity in this fashion as a genuine error and not a cynical excuse to persecute the weak. I thank Thee, O Lord, that I have always sought the truth, and, however sinful I became during my more hedonistic days, I, by Thy mercy, never lived in this despicable manner. Of course, it mattered not to him. It cannot be objectively evil to wrongly kill someone if our hatred of murder is just a “fiction” to sustain ideological co-operation. Nevertheless I raise my arms to Thee on his behalf every night and day. [Editor: For further reading on this controversy, read Bl. Pius’ reply to Uprooting Liberalism and Man’s Discourse in which he argues against Elibar’acal publicly.] XVIII.But the same man reacted with outrage at the atrocities of Oren against the Elven race, lamenting that Elven women were enslaved as “concubines, or worse…” (Man’s Discourse), decrying the woes inflicted on our race by Man. But if morality has no basis in reason or objectivity, and such concepts are just convenient fictions around which Empires are built, he had no reason to become so emotional: a hidden emotionalism hidden behind an outward wall of contempt for a lesser. Perhaps this contradiction - moral outrage combined with nihilism - should lead him, and all Elves, to one of two conclusions. Either 1)We are not the purely rational creatures which we pride themselves on being; morality is just emotional outrage and therefore a manifestation of the fact we are just as emotional and illogical as Men; or 2)Killing babies and enslaving women, the things Elibar’acal decried, truly are outrageous in themselves, because they possess a positive evil, being a violation of a Moral Law; a Transcendent Good. XIX.At the time, I accepted the first of these. I was convinced that Purity was a fiction made up by hypocrites to sustain their own power structures. But unlike the author of Man’s Discourse, I would live a life that would be consistent with my nihilism. Seeking to uphold not only in myself these standards of Purity, but also to persecute others for failing in them would be an evil action, insofar as I did not believe in them. I could not condemn men to death for what, rather than a genuine evil, I believed to be a violation merely of an arbitrary list of rules. Hence I could not remain a respectable member of our society; Thou at least prevented me from that evil course. I was false to Thee, but at least Thou kept me true to myself. Now, straying further from Thee in another, albeit less malicious path, I resolved to live my life based on the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. This I would call “The Pleasure Principle,” and would I be rescued from this dark path?

"This is epic." Says Edmund von Manstein.

"I have to write some kind of big-brained mathematical sum or logical syllogism in order to court a lady? I'll stick to courtly love, thanks." Says an old-fashioned Heartlander. He adds: "There is some virtue in these Elves, however."

Armiger Edmund is honoured that Fr. Ernst drew upon his thesis.

In the crisis, a group of Catholic men form a militia to defend their parish church... Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish Discord: TotusTuusEgoSum #3901 Starting Point Allocation: MP 4, Supplies 4; Weapons 2. (4-4-2 come on ingerland) Starting Location: Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, 270 Elliot Street, Newton, MA

"Pius of Sutica did nothing wrong." A young Canonist man says. "Faithfulness to a moral code proceeds from love of God and neighbour, not a list of rules."

ON HUMILITY "Humility is the root of all other virtues...By pride, Angels become beasts. By humility, men are raised above the Angels."-Bl. Pius of Sutica, The Canonist Commentary on Sacred Scripture. I.Importance of this Virtue. Ill Effects of Pride. "Owyn obeyed the command of God..."-Gospel 5:3. Humility was called by Blessed Pius "the root of all virtues." Its importance is clear from the Holy Scriptures as well as from practical experience. For example, in the Book of Scattering, we are told that it is what separates Exalted Owyn from Harren. "[Harren] did not pray", we are told, "but considered the greatness of his conquest." (Gospel 3:55.) By contrast, Owyn was overcome by the spirit of prayer. (4:20) Owyn and Harren completed the same outward action of fasting and going to the Grotto of Gamesh, but whilst Owyn did it with a sense of humility, Harren was full of pride. Hence it is why the Prophet rebukes us: "Before the mountain, the ant and the auroch are equally small." (Virtue 7:7.) We are amiss if we think we can 'impress' God with any exterior action, He who can do all things by Fiat! If a man should conquer the whole earth in pride, it would be infinitely less worthy a gift to Him than a little child who offers a pin in humility. God, who is above all space and time, cannot be awed by our magnitude, but stoops down to our littleness. The perfection of holiness, then, does not consist in enlarging oneself to rise by stairs of greatness to the Throne of the Holy One, but in staying small: no, growing more and more little, day by day; acknowledging our nothingness and poverty so that He can fill us with His light. Nor does perfection consist in outward actions or great feats of asceticism, but rather inward humility. One day, on the feast of SS. Jude and Kristoff, Bl. Pius was seen feasting with his brethren abundantly. Someone was scandalised at this apparent lack of holiness from Priests: he had heard the Fraternity were holy men, and yet they feast rather than fast? But Pius said: "My son, understand that it is better to drink wine with humility, than water with pride." Humility is called therefore the root of all other virtues, because God is the source of all other virtues; and pride the root of all other sins. Therefore it is impossible to advance in any virtue without first realising one's own littleness and powerlessness to attain perfection in any virtue with the God who is the sole dispenser thereof. Pride has three chief symptoms: 1)A contempt for superiors, 2)A hatred of equals, and 3)A disdain for inferiors. Any one of these three daughters of pride are enough to wreak destruction to one's soul, let alone the sum of them. If any man, therefore, asks me, what is the most important virtue to perfect, I shall say these three: Humility, Humility and Humility. II.Misconceptions About this Virtue. Analogies in Nature. "I am your Father, and the Father of all things."-Virtue 1:6. It is necessary to refute certain false humilities which plague this realm. A great deceit which has ensnared many souls is the belief that humility is based on a lie, a lie to oneself. But humility is truth, since we know that to proclaim lies to be truth is the tactic of the evil one (Auspice 1:29), whereas God desires that all men might know the truth. This false conception of humility essentially consists in beating oneself down, and deluding oneself, not, as outward pride does, in an inflatory way which puffs a man up above his ability, but believing that one has no ability at all. For example, it would involve a beautiful woman trying to convince herself that really, she is ugly, or a clever man trying to convince himself that he is of low intelligence, or a man of good humour convincing himself that no one could possibly find him funny. This is a great weapon of the evil one, for this is not true humility. Humility cannot be based on a lie; humility is truth and thus cannot be incompatible with reality. I mean that, a beautiful woman convincing herself she is ugly would be a false humility essentially rooted in a lie, which would serve only to destroy her happiness and in fact may be the cause of great pride, because on some level she will know it a lie, and thus be ever insecure about herself. She would hence ever be pre-occupied with thinking of herself - a strange form of egotism rooted in a false sense of humility. Humility does mean recognising our weaknesses, but it does not mean denying our strengths. What is the true form of humility that has been delivered unto us? It consists largely in this recognition: "I am Eternal, you are transient." (Virtue 7:5) Or, from our perspective: He is eternal, and I am transient. There is no pride in a beautiful woman recognising her own beauty, an intelligent man recognising his own intelligence, or an humorous man knowing his ability to make men laugh. Humility is exercised when we realise that we do not, in an absolute sense, possess any of these qualities, but rather they are a gift to us. To be prideful is to glory in these gifts as if we possessed them independently; humility is a recognition of our weaknesses but also the knowledge that even the good qualities we do possess are gifts from above, unearned and gratuitous. That is why it is necessary for us to sing the praises of God, thanking Him for all the gifts He has given us. Do you think God has any need of your praise? Of course not: but you do. (Ven. Humbert of St. Jude, Maxims.) My elder Sister Therese (God rest her soul), who was among the holiest monastics, used to explain humility using the book of nature. For God often uses nature to speak to us, as He Himself did to Horen: "I created the metals of the earth, etc." (Virtue 2:4.) Hence our Creator has left buried in nature treasures of secrets which can teach us all about His goodness. You will indulge if these analogies seem a little "girly", but they are quite brilliant. The first analogy she used was that of a little flower. A flower, however little, is beautiful. But she does not boast of her own beauty, because she owes her goodness entirely to the liberality of the sun. If the sun ceased to shine upon her, if she were to turn her petals in on themselves and stay out of the sun's light, she would die. Hence she spreads out her little petals and sings a hymn to the liberality of the sun who nourishes her, and to whom she owes everything. So it is with the soul and God. The soul possesses no goodness of its own, but as, by the liberality of God, she is filled and nourished, she ought not to be possessed by a false modesty in denying His filling and nourishing of her, but acknowledge Him as the Filler and Nourisher. Nor does the flower care whether she is great or small, or whether other flowers are greater and more beautiful than her. For indeed, if every flower wished to be a beautiful red rose, wouldn't nature lose its wonderful diversity? She is content therefore in being merely a daffodil if this is what God wills. Hence humility does not beget insecurity and anxiety, but contentment, peace and confidence in God. It is certain that God grants greater gifts to some men then to others. For example, the Saints received extraordinary graces and were given power to do extraordinary things, but we, by contrast, appear rather mediocre. But when, God willing, we reach our Heavenly Home, we shall sing without envy, for our delight shall be merely participating in that orchestra of praise. You may be only tiny and altogether less brilliant in the garden than the gorgeous roses that awe. But that smallness is a gift of its own, for the humble soul rejoices in the gifts given to others, and so we shall find equal joy in the gifts of a Saint Julia, as if we ourselves had received them. My Sister said before her death: "Saint Julia, If I were Queen of Mankind, and you Therese, I should wish to be Therese, that I could see you Queen of Men." Moreover, we can rejoice in our smallness because we know not that, if we were given greater gifts, for example, if we were given greater intelligence, it would be the cause of vanity and pride. Therefore we can thank the Good God in giving us weaknesses to keep us humble. Pride is the root (And perhaps my Sister would not have agreed) of the modern, hateful and revolutionary spirit that hates Monarchy and Aristocracy. "How can anyone possess by inheritance?" We hear. "What did they do to deserve their position?" But we know that the Lord is sweet to all and desires the good of all; and therefore if it were for our benefit that we be in a higher place, He would have given it. Hence the virtues of humility and fidelity are related: "Aspire not to greatness among men, but to My glory." (Virtue 6:8.) Hence humility is the root of contentment and hapiness, whereas pride begets envy. The second analogy we can use is that of standing in the sun. According to the so-called wisdom of atheistic thinkers, if we have the sun that is above us, we should develop an inferiority complex, which is when we develop an insecurity and personal sense of inadequacy, and then have to over-compensate for this. But when the sun is above us, we cast no shadow. But if we place the sun behind us, then we have a massive shadow. We think how big we are, we appear so tall and so magnificent. Why? Because we have placed the rays of truth, we have placed God, behind our back. But when the sun is above us, there is no falsity. We see ourselves as we truly are. Those who possess false humility can often succumb to a very dangerous form of pride. For they reckon themselves so bad, that they place their finite badness above the infinite goodness of God. The Church has us pray: "Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, Lord, and I shall be cleansed, Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." (Miserere.) Humility, then, is like a pattern-wielded sword. Iron is too soft and bends; steel too brittle and breaks. Therefore the two must be combined to create the ultimate sword. The iron is confidence in God, and the steel is self-recognition of nothingness. Without either the sword is deficient, without either the soul is in danger. Confidence alone becomes presumption, and self-recognition alone despair. We cannot place our badness above God's ability to heal us. Therefore any type of humility which leads to despair is false, because humility should raise the soul to God and leads us to, recognising our utter weakness, place ourselves in His arms. The fruit of humility should be confidence and trust in divine mercy. III.Prayer for Humility. "You shall not judge your own virtue, be it great or small, for all fall short of Me."-Virtue 7:8. When receiving any gift or ability, we should always attribute it to God. And when we perceive any fault in others, however grievous, we should attribute our lack of fault to the goodness of God. This is what Ven. Humbert of St. Jude meant when, upon seeing a criminal go up to the scaffold, he said: "Thank God I have not done worse." This little tract is an exploration of this virtue in my own way, and I do not claim it to be exhaustive. I submit it all for the consideration of Holy Church. I remain your humble servant, -Edmund Brunswick Olivier von Manstein, Armiger. P.S. Absent-minded as I am, I forgot to add that humility is important to faith. Faith aids humility, and humility begets faith. For humility recognises that we are not the centre of our own existence, but that Someone else is. In this way, it also inflames charity, because we seek the love of God in the other. Below I attach a prayer for humility. The words are inadequate to express the whole truth of it, but they may be useful and I know even the attempt is pleasing to God. "Lord, Thou art eternal; I am transient. Thou art infinity; I am finity. Thou art utter goodness; I am lowly wretchedness. Thou art wholly complete; I am utterly impoverished. Thou art the generous Almsgiver; I am the poor beggar. Thou art the skilful Physician; and I am he who is sick. Without me, Thou art complete, without Thee, I am nothing. Grant me the grace, O Lord, to know myself as I truly am, and keep me from vanity and pride. Make me entirely conscious of my own smallness in the sight of Thy divine majesty. And if I should attempt ,at any time ,to raise myself above another, I beseech Thee to send a humiliation to put me down; if I should seek anything that is above me, bring me down to earth. I plunge myself, on the wings of confidence and love, into the unfathomable depths of Thy infinite goodness, imploring Thee to grant me this virtue by the intercession of SS. Edmund and Catherine. And now that soon I am to consummate my knightly vocation, I ask Thee, Lord, that Saint Catherine might knight me, not with the sceptre of worldly honour, but with the pattern-wielded sword of confident humility, that I love Thee age unto age, Amen."

"Venerable Jurgen of Peremont, pray for us." Says a man.

"How can the 'zealous convert' mete out eternal damnation? Surely this is God's perogative alone?" Says a man.

"Dear SNOWFLAKE, If Socialism is so good, why do High Elves move to Oren, but almost no Orenians to Socialist countries? OWNED, LIBERAL." A man smiles, having just destroyed the LIBTARD with FACTS and LOGIC. ((Very well written post

"Dear Pseudo-Clement, I do not wish to labour the point much further, and I also must write hastily. The Norlander does not possess Faith insofar as he follows a false religion. In the sense that we understand the term "God", Norlanders are basically atheists, because they reject what we call God, viz. Absolute Being, instead basically believing in a very powerful creature, which even an atheist can believe in. The arguments in the Summa do not prove such a "god." They are not worshipping God in any sense, but the Enemy, eager to deceive sinful man, substituted the one true "Father of All Things" for this false creature, and seducing them by this category error. You will see clearly proven in the next Summa articles the properties of God. Hence sin and error cloud man's judgement, and leave him open to such deceit. For whilst the one true God can be known (Not in His ineffable glory, but the fact of His existence and excellence), yet does man possess perfect reason? Does not pride cloud his judgement? The faculty of reason in the intellect and love in the will is supressed. Revelation is necessary to repair the damage of sin, because it allows men to know as revealed truths even those things which reason proves, but which pride clouds. Now this Primordial Man was created without sin. And hence, there would have been nothing to cloud his judgement, in respect of those natural truths which can be known by reason. Nothing would also have inhibited his LOVE of God, even without Divine Revelation. Now, whilst the religious expressions of idolaters are not exercises of Faith but self-deceit, nevertheless they do reveal a religious instinct that is natural to man. Man could even be called an inherently religious being, so universal are these expressions. There is also the truth that the Man was very proximate to God, not being removed by a natural world which appears to be self-sufficient, and having no human parents. He could not, then, have fallen into the errors of materialism, atheism, pantheism, polytheism, or other false philosophies. I do not see, therefore, how the Man would not have naturally expressed this religion. Without the sin of pride, he would be totally humble and conscious of his own nothingness before God. He would known God as the source of all his gifts and as being deserving of all worship. He would have known God as the fount of virtue, which must needs be adored if man is to gain perfection in any virtue; and the only Source of life, without which a man must perish everlastingly. This universal religious expression would finds its true and natural end in the Primordial Man, who knows God intellectually, loves Him wilfully, and expresses that love worshipfully. Basically, there are several premises: I.Man has been given the capacity of will and intellect. II.These capacities enable him to love and to know God. III.Man has a natural religious expression which happens independently of revelation. IV.This religious expression is twisted and directed towards idols, or the "creature-god" of the Norlanders, on account of sins, especially pride and carnality. V.The Primordial Man was not thus inhibited, and moreover knew God intimately as his Creator. VI.Hence he would have used his capacities properly to know and love God. VII.Hence this religious instinct in man would express itself toward its proper end. VIII.Therefore, it was possible for the PM to worship God in some way by expressions independent of Revelation. However the cloudings of sin created the need for Revelation to teach even those truths accessible to Man. Furthermore, there are also inaccessible truths beyond rational understanding which would need to be revealed from above; beyond, but not contrary to human reason. I remain your humble servant, Br. Thomas."

"Most noble Clement, I appreciate your good intentions and note much truth here previously unappreciated. Your knowledge of the Holy Scriptures indeed does you great credit. I feel that, if, in accordance with your good wishes, the Primordial Man were more openly venerated, loved and known, then all Descendants might embrace one another as the co-heirs of a single man; of an original Covenant. And then might all of us be blissfully gathered under the motherly mantle of the Church, to love and praise God forever and ever. It is therefore with deepest respect that I wish to put forth a criticism: not to refute your argument, because I see its end is good and want to see it win, but to improve and refine it. You argue that the worship of God, striving to be faithful to Him, and worshipping Him in manners like the Tabernacle reveal an unwritten Revelation, something handed on (tradere, to hand on), but this is not necessarily the case. First of all, as you yourself noted, God has planted a wealth of virtue into the hearts of every rational creature, viz., will and intellect: the ability to know and love Almighty God. (Vir. 2:5, etc.) And note, mark you, that when the Primordial Man was created, he was without sin. There was, therefore, nothing inhibiting his ability to know God intellectually, and to love Him wilfully. This capacity to know and love God is not necessarily the product of Revelation. As I demonstrated by scriptural and rational proofs in the first Article of Summa Theologica, God's existence is knowable with certain by the natural light of human reason. God has placed within the heart of every man reason and will by which he may strive to live by the moral law. For indeed, all creatures are expected to live by the Virtue: "These moral laws reflect the will of God, which must be obeyed by all sapient creatures." (Catechism of the Canonist Church.) And one of these virtues is Faith. Now Faith must necessarily precede Divine Revelation, or else how could those without Revelation be expected to live it; how could that virtue be binding unto them? It must be, therefore, that Faith has a natural and a supernatural expression. The natural expression is the striving to know and love God and worshipping Him by some means. The supernatural expression is the assent of the intellect to divinely revealed truths. Could it not be, then, that this is an expression of natural law, and not Divine Revelation? For how can any of us be so far from Him? As one philosopher said, in Him we live, and move, and have our being. I leave this little point open for your consideration. I remain your humble servant, Brother Williams, FSSCT."

"Pharisaical non-sense," says Edmund von Manstein.

"Based and Judepilled", says an FSSCT novice.