Arcadie Neterist Church

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Image of the Église de la Grande Sainte, Gesapsgel

The Arcadie Neterist Church, also referred to in Arcadie as the Église Centrale (Central Church) is a part of the Neterist Faith, being one of the oldest branches of the faith and claiming a position of cultural and political prominence over all other branches, although this claimed dominance is recognized by no other major branches. It is the only Neterist church to have an explicit centralized figure of leadership, the Père of Arcadie, who claims to inherit the role of one of the historical founders of the Neterist Church, Mathias (or ⲙⲁⲑⲓⲁⲥ), who the Arcadie Church claims settled in the region and founded many of the oldest historic churches. ⲙⲁⲑⲓⲁⲥ is not recognized as having historically settled in Arcadie by either the Meridonian Neterist Church or the Seurian Neterist Church.

The first written records of Neterism in Arcadie date back to approximately 980 BCE, with the first disciples of Neter reaching the region during the course of Thiebauz the First's early attempts at unification. The faith would be adopted in fairly notable scale by the descendants of Thiebauz and his immediate supporters, in an attempt to create a new state religion to replace the need to appease the devolution-favoring followers of the Foi de l'Aube (Dawn Faith). This effort would be vaguely successful, and Nesterist principles would become entrenched throughout many of the contenders in post-collapse Arcadie. Historically, Neterism would be in an awkward position with the Republic of Arcadie - with the intellectual and mercantile classes which compromised much of the leadership of such being ambivalent at best towards supporting the faith - although it would proliferate greatly amongst the lower classes thanks to charity efforts and the provision of social aid.

This aid would make it popular amongst the same population group who would rise to overthrow the state - and thus, the military state formed in the wake of the Red Winter would come to seek an accommodation with the church, allowing for it to continue its practice and maintain many of the privileges it had historically accumulated in exchange for it providing official support to their utilization of Jeanne d'Ay de Gesapsgel as a figure of national and state strength, something the church agreed to.

In the modern day, approximately 72-81% of the population identify as members of the Arcadie Church, approximately 13,500 priests serve within the state, and approximately 200 priests are ordained every 8 months. Over 80,000 chapels and church structures are spread across the country amongst an approximate 28,000 towns, cities, and villages, although some are no longer utilized for religious purposes. Notable cathedrals and structures within Arcadie include the Église de la Grande Sainte, the Église de la Fierté Nationale, and several others - with a cathedral being located in almost every settlement of over 30,000 people. Notable saints include Jeanne d'Ay de Gesapsgel, Godard Roussel, and Gautzelin II.

History

Early Neterism

Neterism has historically been associated with Arcadie for a large span of history - with many of the disciples of Nester Philotheos being believed to have first fled to Arcadie after the death of the man himself, before leaving to continue their ministry elsewhere. It is specifically believed they first came and spread the faith to the southern city of Lorda, where it is believed they first came to prominence in the eyes of the local ruling class, including Thiebauz the First. It is believed that Thiebauz met and spoke with them for seven days, before finally converting after being convinced of their moral strength. Historically, it is more likely that Thiebauz heard of them from local leadership and adopted the faith without meeting them as an extension of his attempts at centralization.

In the wake of the collapse of Thiebauz's attempt at unification, Neterism would be gradually adopted by more and more indiviudals involved in the running of the state, due to its pro-unification stance within Arcadie at this point. This would eventually lead to it becoming the state religion of several early kingdoms, allowing for the first productions of philosophical treatises on the faith to begin being made by monks and other such figures.

Occupation

Neterism would spread in a widescale fashion to Seuria through their occupation of Arcadie, with the leaders of such using it as another means of hybridizing the two cultures and therefore extending their power over the territories they conquered. This would work for a time, although the depredations of the period would damage the relation between the primarily-Arcadie worshippers of the faith and the state itself - which would lead to a large extent to the religious efforts undertaken by Gautzelin II to expand the capacity for his movement in opposition to the Arcadie rulers of the state entity. His association with Jeanne d'Ay de Gesapsgel would be especially notable in this regards, with the saintess being crucial to mobilizing the population of the state and encouraging them to revolt.

It was around this period that the role of Père would first be noted as existing, with the central leader of the Sanctuary of the Faith in Lorda, Josias I being raised to power by Gautzelin II to represent the needs of the religious population of the state. His unwillingness to raise Jeanne to the role would be noted, and lead to some popular discontent with him - although Jeanne herself worked to defuse such despite her own irritation, having been convinced by Gautzelin that the matter would be resolved through her gathering a greater role after the occupation of Seuria. This promise would not be fufilled due to her death during the Invasion of Seuria, and Gautzelin's attempts to reduce her role in his seizure of power would lead directly to his overthrow and the formation of the Conseil des Grands Clans du Pays, the body of collective clan-based leadership which ruled the state until the formation of the Republic.

Organization

The Arcadie Church is split amongst three tiers of land-based prominence, starting at the lowest tier with the Adeptes, generally younger figures risen from the Rassemblement by Conférenciers. Adeptes administer local structures in towns of below 10,000 people and, in the case of larger towns or cathedrals, work to upkeep and support the works of the Conférenciers, who administer churches in large towns, train the Adeptes to eventually succeed them, and are sometimes engaged in larger scale religious education. The Conférenciers are appointed by the Véritécuteur, who are risen from amongst the ranks of the Conférenciers by the Père. The Véritécuteur administer to cathedrals and other recognized "hearts" of the faith, and elect the Père from amongst themselves upon the death of the previous holder of the role.

A number of religious orders exist within the Arcadie Church, who work to focus upon and fulfill certain aspects of the faith, and to embody such through their own actions in everyday life or oration. The orders favored by a Père are crucial to their running of the church, and it is expected at the baseline that they are to favor both the one they originate from and one directly opposed to such in some fashion - in order to prevent the rise of a lineage of Père descended from a single ideological line of thought. The current Père is Lawrence XIII, or Père Lawrence the 13th.

Doctrine

Nature of God

The general belief of the Arcadie Church is that there is one eternal god, who is split into three mutually-divine beings of an equally revered nature, known as the Triplicité. The Triplicité is comprised of God-as-the-Père, who represents God in the role of commander of the faithful and ruler of the earth as a whole, God-as-the-Beloved (or God-as-Philotheos), the segment of the Triplicité which bears the role of accepting and purifying the sins of man, alongside ensuring that they are granted wisdom and that prayers are received and answered, and God-as-the-Incarnation, or the segment of the Triplicité which creates saints and invests them with a portion of God's own wisdom, alongside being the segment of the Triplicité which brought life to Nester Philotheos. The Philotheos himself is believed to have been an ordinary person who had divinity equally-invested into his form by all three members of the Triplicité as a young man, thus allowing him to become sinless and die for the sake of allowing God-as-Philotheos to finally eliminate the original sin possessed by all living things.