The Reformationist's Manifesto
From LanceaSanctum
Contents |
[edit] Preface
In the pursuit of truth of the word of God given to the centurion Longinus by God through the archangel Vahishtael, we look to the five books of the Testament of Longinus and the thirteen canons of the Sanguineous Catechism. Nearly two millennia have passed since the Monachus was anointed as Longinus’ successor, and committed his unlife to penning his sire’s words and spreading the truth of kindred existence.
Somewhere along the way those words became corrupted, filtered through the hearts of Damned with weak convictions. Somewhere, the path of the Sanctified became difficult to follow, as if God himself lifted the clarity of sight that was given to Longinus after being splashed with the blood of Christ. The Damned, supposedly touched by God’s wrath and given undeniable divine purpose, faltered in their faith and feared for their fleeting existences. They turned to worldly and temporary things like temporal power and pleasures of the flesh.
These faltering Sanctified used the lessons of the Catholic church, enforcing controls and limitations unto the flock, so that their lust for the material could be masked with a veneer of devoutness and worship. They looked to the rites of Christian mysticism, lacking the conviction to develop and maintain ritae appropriate for the Longinian faith.
Christianity crept into the heart of the Sanctified, forever tainting the divine purpose given to all Damned by the Lord Almighty. Weakness is permitted to exist under the premise of sin for sin’s sake, that we are Damned and no action we take in this Kingdom of Man matters.
I cannot accept this. My faith is of stronger stuff. I choose service, and belief, because the Lord commands it. Weakness is not tolerable. Straying from the truth and from purpose is unthinkable.
I am the Grandeur. I am Sanctified. Let none stand in the way of the Lord’s will.
Truth in God, and in all things,
-Rt. Rev. Luther Fried
-Bishop of the Diocese and Parish of Boston, MA
-So empowered by the flock of the faithful, and by God Almighty Himself
[edit] The Reformationist's Creed
(adapted from the Westminster Creed and Exotheist’s Manifesto)
I believe in the one true God, the Lord Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth, who is infinite in being and perfection, who works all things according to His immutable and most righteous will, who is most just and wrathful in His judgments forever lasting, and who hates all sin.
I believe that God has most sovereign dominion over all creatures, and that He is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.
I believe that Longinus did pierce the side of Jesus Christ as He hung upon the Cross, and in so doing revealed the divinity of the Son of God in fulfillment of the prophecies, and that Longinus was Damned for his blasphemy, which itself is part of God's Holy Plan.
I believe that the Damned are the agents of God's Holy Will, chosen by the Embrace to test the faithful and drive them unto Him, as wolves drive sheep to the shepherd.
I believe that I sinned and became one of the Damned to act upon God's Holy Will, and though I am destined for Hell and wholly accept this destiny, I will strive to find my purpose through God's Holy Plan.
I believe that every Damned has the undeniable right to seek out God’s will and enact upon his own individual divine purpose. No force other than the Will of God Himself shall stop him from finding, and serving, his divine purpose.
I believe in a church governed by the needs of the faithful and not by lust for secular power. I believe that every Damned has a personal connection with the Almighty, and that no other Damned has the right or the capacity to dictate the outcome of that Damned’s Requiem.
Amen.
[edit] The Reformationist's Theses
As I commit these ninety-five theses to paper, I am inspired by the mortal figure whose name I took upon my Embrace and Damnation. Charles Fried became Luther Fried forever after until the Judgment Day. The name was chosen due to the imposition of favete linguis of the court of Portsmouth, NH; I, nor any other Sanctified, was permitted to preach or to refute the secular law of the Ordo Dracul Prince. My faith commanded that I defy him and speak out, but I was cautioned both by sire and by Cardinal that the Lord had other plans for me.
How small I was. How insignificant my death to the hands of that Prince would have been. How God would have wept at my failure of purpose.
Now, I see the truth, for the Lord has made my path clear. Martin Luther defied the authority of his church not because he sought fame or recognition, but because he saw failure within the clerical authority above him and his faith commanded he reject it and speak out against it.
I, Luther Fried, defy the Theocracy of the Lancea Sanctum. The Damned shall have their faith returned to them.
1. The structure of the Lancea Sanctum does not permit for the emerging Theocracy that has become overtly visible.
2. The Lancea Sanctum is religious in nature. Secular concerns involving the temporary Kingdom of Man are trivial in comparison to the will of Almighty God.
3. By their very nature, the Damned are a divine extension of God’s divinity as they have been touched by His ultimate wrath.
4. The path that the Lord Almighty has set before the Damned is simple: to spread truth of his divine responsibility to his fellow Damned, and to bring fear to the sheep that would choose sin over Salvation.
5. Those that seek to bring glory to God and follow the path that He has set before them are blessed, for they have recognized and embrace the burden and divinity of their Damnation.
6. He who seeks to limit the divinity of his fellow Damned is truly a sinner against God’s holy plan, for God wills it that all Damned recognize their divine purpose.
7. Those that reject control and limitation and preach the Testament of Longinus are blessed, for they are following God’s divine plan despite the dangers to themselves.
8. Despite the Testament stating that our bodies are not our own, there are Damned who still fear for their existence.
9. There exists those within the Lancea Sanctum that do not devote their existence to furthering the will of the Lord, but dally in politics and secular matters of Domain, Praxis, and the Requiem.
10. Service to the Lord is all that is required, as according to the Testament, “our purpose is to serve.”
11. In our Damnation, all that matters is that we obey the Lord Our God in His divine will that we follow our purpose and help others do the same.
12. Yet there are those who have carefully cultivated their status in Damned society and use the Testament to further their own ends.
13. Within the Sanctified exists a hierarchy; priest below Bishop; Bishop below Archbishop and Cardinal; Cardinal below Curia Cruentes.
14. The only true relationship that a Damned has is servant to God Almighty.
15. “An ordained hierarchy exists”, as the Testament says. “As man is above beasts, so are the Damned above men.” At a glance, priest serving Bishop serving Archbishop serving Cardinal serving Curia seems to reflect an ordained hierarchy.
16. That ordination is controlled by the Theocracy, where the merit of any individual divine predator is secondary by manipulating the political web that snares and controls our society.
17. If every Damned is touched by the divine wrath of the Lord Our God, and by extension has a piece of the divine within him, it stands to reason that every Damned has the capacity to be a priest and Bishop unto himself.
18. Yet there are those Damned who clearly subjugate themselves to higher authorities within the Theocracy.
19. The power that any Damned allows over himself is dictated by fear and faith. Both fear and faith are directly complimentary; a Damned without faith is truly a fearful, lurking, slavering thing, whereas a Damned without fear has embraced the divinity within him and knows his purpose to be in God’s plan.
20. There is no fear for the faithful, for the faithful serve God Almighty and know the truth of their existence.
21. Those who have fear, have lessened faith. Those who have fear seek to alleviate their fear by any means necessary. The predator, afraid for its life, will run, skulk, gnash its teeth, and do whatever is necessary to regain the upper hand.
22. The Theocracy is sustained by fear.
23. Fear exists within the highest echelon of our church because Admired plot against other Admired.
24. Fear exists amongst the youngest, for they are on uncertain ground, still finding their faith, afraid to speak out against those elder and more powerful lest their Requiems come to a quick end.
25. Modern Sanctified are too afraid for their Requiems to throw off the yoke of oppression and directly challenge that which controls them on a secular level.
26. We should not fear. Every time we allow fear to creep into our hearts, we allow weakness to enter our faith.
27. Every time we are weak, the temptations of the Adversary become all the easier to take root in our souls.
28. Every time the Adversary wins a piece of our souls, the closer we approach becoming the ravenous, unthinking beasts that existed before the time of our revealed divine purpose.
29. Every time we crave that which is not service to the Lord Our God, we invite our faith to grow weak, and thus allow fear, and the Adversary, to poison our path.
30. The Lord, infinite in all things, knows this and allows us to be tested.
31. Layers of secular control are disguised by faith, governing the church of Longinus through subtle manipulation, councils, backroom deals, Synods, and above all else, the will of paranoid elders.
32. Our covenant is governed by fear, by a promise of the Lord’s wrath and vengeance should the body of the faithful step out of line.
33. The ordained hierarchy that the Testament speaks of cannot be this blind to the possibility of the temptation of secular power.
34. And yet, the majority of Cardinality that have ascended to power within the last century gained status within the church by seizing praxis – two events that have no connection to one another. Their faith may be great, but their power base – their control – is based on secular power.
35. Therefore, two possibilities exist: that the ordained hierarchy mentioned in the Testament of Longinus does not mean for the Damned to emulate the hierarchy of the ordained clergy in the Catholic church, or that the Testament is wrong.
36. as the Testament of Longinus is divinely inspired, and God is infinitely wise and infallible, the only way that the Testament could be incorrect is that revisionist versions have emerged over the centuries.
37. Revision of the Testament to allow for the political controls of the Theocracy to take root with the validity of scripture (“Ipse Longinus id dixit.”) is blasphemous at the very least.
38. If the Theocracy has made minor revisions to the Testament over the centuries in their desire to exert subtle control over the Requiem, then the assumption shall be that Longinus did not mean for an ordained hierarchy to mirror Catholicism.
39. Indeed, the Monachus expounds upon this ordained hierarchy in the Ninth Canon of the Sanguineous Catechism.
40. Therefore, no organization in the church exists beyond the individual parish. To acknowledge authority beyond the parish is akin to blasphemy.
41. The organizational limits of the church are clearly outlined in the Testament and the Catechism. Somehow, the Theocracy exists on a global scale. There is no “world parish”.
42. Therefore, the organizational and secular nature of the Theocracy is blasphemous at the very least, and possibly heretical if truth of a Revisionist’s Testament can be found.
43. It is every Damned’s responsibility to identify scripture as changed by the Theocracy and to cast its lies into excoriating sunlight and purifying fire.
44. If the Testament itself is unaltered, then it is the unwritten rule – or traditions – of the Theocracy to allow for poor interpretations to persist and be taught to subsequent creations and converts.
45. Traditions dictating behavior, ritae, and the laws of God are contained within the Testament of Longinus, and there only.
46. The laws contained within the Testament are solemn and unbreakable, as they are the word of God to Longinus as penned by the Monachus.
47. Yet, there exist ritae that only facilitate control over the body of the faithful. This supports the supposition of revisionism.
48. The Anointing, as it exists in modern nights, is clearly a means of secular control as applied by the upper echelon of the Theocracy.
49. If a Damned ascends in strength of faith, strength of body, and strength of will and acknowledges the will of God that he become Bishop, Crusader, Paladin, Inquisitor, Priest, or Deacon, then it is the responsibility of those around him to offer the Anointing.
50. Instead, the Anointing is used to restrain those of strong faith whom the Theocracy views as damaging to their secular goals. Only those who adhere to the will of the Theocracy and are its subjects are given the Anointing.
51. The Testament itself tells us that Longinus anointed the Monachus. The Monachus was to continue spreading the word as Longinus had given it to him – whether or not the ritae of Anointing was to be performed, that was his place in God’s holy plan.
52. Therefore, the Anointing is a celebration before God, and not a means of control.
53. Clearly, the Anointing’s role is detailed within the Testament; Therefore, the Theocracy either chooses to go against scripture, bears revisionist scripture that changes the role of Anointing, or has established tradition that is subtle in its blasphemy.
54. All Sanctified should reject Anointing that seeks to restrain a Damned from realizing his place within God’s plan. All Sanctified should reject the Theocracy’s corrupt ritae.
55. Gran Ballo is yet more corruption by the Theocracy, encouraging the Damned to stray from their divine purpose in the guise of celebration.
56. A wolf never dons a sheep skin in order to be like the sheep.
57. If the Theocracy did not exist, and if weakness in the Lancea Sanctum did not exist, then the Gran Ballo would be a solemn celebration celebrating the predator’s cause.
58. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Theocracy exists to fill the void where piety should be, to chase away fear in the company of other fearful individuals with faltering faiths and unclear purpose.
59. All Sanctified should reject Gran Ballo in its current impure and decadent form. The taste of all sustenance other than Vitae is as ash upon the tongue, as the Testament commands.
60. Rencontre, an Ecclesiastic rite, is elevated to the importance of Apostolica in these corrupt nights.
61. Rencontre is often used as an excuse by the physically stronger predator to intimidate other weaker, less potent Damned into obedience.
62. Yet martial prowess does not entirely define a superior predator’s nature. He who is most correct could be a simple-minded, weak-bodied ascetic who does not seek confrontation with his fellow Damned, and yet has the wisdom and faith within him to guide all Damned to God’s glorious will.
63. He who states that Longinus was not cast into damnation by his final act of sin of prodding Christ on the cross is clearly wrong, and should that Damned win Rencontre by axe against the entire church, he is still wrong.
64. Therefore, it stands to reason that the ritae of Recontre was developed in error, crafted by those who sought to intimidate lesser Damned, and should be rejected by all Sanctified of orthodox belief and rational thought.
65. The Lancea Sanctum are divine predators, one and all, but we are not controlled by the Beast. The Beast is our Damnation made flesh. If the Beast were in control, we would be as the unthinking beasts from Longinus’ time.
66. The Eulogy shall be reserved for Damned who die in service to their faith and the church.
67. Damned should not be spoken of fondly if they have met ultimate failure in the eyes of the Lord, for they burn in Hell before Judgment Day.
68. If the Damned dies for his faith, and is made a martyr for all to see, then truly the Damned can rejoice for him and his death, for his martyrdom will resound for all of the faithful.
69. The Sixth Canon is contradictory, and likely a result of Theocracy revisionist editing in an attempt to obfuscate the true meaning therein.
70. The Sixth Canon states that the purpose of ritae is not to demonstrate the Sanctified’s belief, but instead to demonstrate piety and devotion to their holy purpose.
71. The belief of any Damned should be piety towards God and adherence to the Testament, and to devote their unlife to their holy purpose in servitude to the Lord Almighty’s will.
72. Celebration in ritae does not accomplish this; acting on the Lord’s will does this. Evangelizing, and being the lurking nightmare of sinners, is the Lord’s will for the Damned.
73. A Damned who has accepted his divine purpose does not require the Apostolica and Ecclesiastica of other Damned who have come before; his relationship with the Almighty is personal and unique, and as such Apostolica and Ecclesiastica should be discarded or rewritten as necessary to reflect the need of the individual or the parish.
74. Therefore, the Sixth Canon is to be rejected as lost in Theocracy revisionist confusion.
75. The Seventh Canon properly states that the Theban miracles are uniquely and directly connected to the grace of God through the angel Amoniel.
76. If a Damned is devoted to the Testament, the blessing of the divine should not leave that Damned, regardless of his perceived political standing within the church.
77. If a Damned is pious and devoted to the word of God, then the miracles of Thebes should come as easily to him regardless of whether or not he bears standing as one of the church’s priesthood.
78. This is not to say that outsiders to the priesthood should bear the miracles of Thebes, but rather those priests who have asserted their rejection of the Theocracy and continue to do the Lord’s work should not have the miracles of Thebes stripped from them by the divine.
79. Those who reject the Theocracy, and become unable to call upon the Dark Miracles, should remember that the Lord Our God is infinite and infallible in all things, and that in this He has a plan. Do not falter in your faith. Do not stray.
80. All suffering is a test by the Almighty to overcome for His glory. We suffer under the yoke of the Theocracy. We will overcome the Theocracy.
81. The importance of the Eighth Canon should be elevated. The kine are not our playthings. The Lord Almighty wishes us to feed upon them in our divine purpose of showing them the wickedness that awaits them should they choose Damnation.
82. Sex, luxury, spirits, drugs, and food are all things of the mortal world, and should be avoided at all costs. To indulge in a mortal’s vices is to be untrue to our Damned existence.
83. The wisdom of the Ninth Canon is to be amended with the truth discerned within these theses, such that the parish is the nuclear social structure of the Damned. One who shows himself to be the eminent predator within that parish shall be anointed Archpriest, as all within the church are priests.
84. A collection of parishes in an area which contains a large number of the faithful shall be called a diocese, led by a bishop, recognized by each member of each parish that holds affinity for one another.
85. The Archpriest is anointed by any Damned within the parish that holds the unanimous assent of each member of the parish. Similarly, the Bishop is anointed by any priest from within the parish(es) that has unanimous assent of every member within the diocese.
86. Should a Damned of most extreme personal power and thickness of blood enter a parish and attempt to wrest control of it from the existing Bishop or Archpriest, he would be sinning against the church unless he convinced the parish members first of his greater manifestation of divine predation.
87. There is no hierarchy above a Bishop except for the Lord God Himself. Should any attempt to call themselves Archbishop or Cardinal or claim dominion over a Bishop, they are guilty of the sin of Pride and are concerned with the secular fixation of the Theocracy.
88. Should any reject the sway of an Archpriest or Bishop, then they stand in their own parish, free to hold communion with the Lord as their faith dictates, as long as they adhere to the truth of the Testament of Longinus. They are encouraged to find other Damned of similar inclinations and bring strength to their branch of the Lancea Sanctum.
89. The Twelfth Canon shall be read, acknowledged, and practiced. The Black Saints are to be venerated, as they truly found purpose in the Lord’s plan. Also, there is seldom greater glory for God than dying for one’s beliefs. If one dies at the hands of the enemies of the church, then his death shall resonate throughout Damned society, as it was obviously a part of the Lord’s plan.
90. The Tenth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Canons shall be discarded, as they are academic discourses on the state of Damned existence and are not important to following God’s plan.
91. We REJECT the Theocracy and its secular goals of control, power, and dominion over other Damned. We REJECT and DESTROY revisionist scripture, that which is not the pure and untainted word of Longinus.
92. Those that REJECT the Theocracy accept the TRUTH of the Testament of Longinus.
93. We HUMBLY turn over secular leadership to the Unconquered, the First Estate, or to the local political body that governs the domain in which a parish resides.
94. Those domains of secular power that reject the truth of the Testament of Longinus are unfit as leaders, and the church shall persevere outside of their jurisdiction under the leadership of their archpriest or bishop.
95. The Lancea Sanctum will return to a state of worship, and a state of evangelism, and a state of spreading the TRUTH of our existence. By shedding the Theocracy and all corrupting influence of secular control, we become as Longinus himself would want us to be: divine predators, following the will of Almighty God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
[edit] OOC Information
Player: Alexander J Skrabut
Cam #: US2003061708
Direct Storyteller: Luther Fried is retired. Contact Matthew Pester, RST for any information regarding Luther.
