Christianity in Themiclesia

Christianity in Themiclesia is the most popular organized religion, with over 3 million registered parishioners across several ecclesiastical bodies, the largest of which are the Apostolic Church of Themiclesia, the Sylvan Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church of Themiclesia.

Terminology

• 泰示 (qlād-gris), lit. "great god"
• 帝示 (tīg-gris), lit. "legitimate god" = monogenēs,
• 神 (smlin), lit. "spirit"

Church architecture

In the 15th century, the solitary cathedral belonging to the Apostolic Church was built in 1465 with viceregal patronage in Kien-k'ang as a large hall twelve bays long and five deep (one spanned) in the local style. It did not have a cruciform shape until it was rebuilt after the fire of 1541. As opposed to Buddhist temples which tend to use their side parallel to the ridge as the front, churches were built with the orientation of royal palaces, i.e. with the direction of veneration towards the west. This is contrary to the usual eastern orientation in other countries. While other architectural forms were introduced to Themiclesia, there occurred a period of intermixture of forms owing to rapidly shifting affiliations during the 16th and 17th centuries, with the result that most Themiclesian churches are architecturally similar until the modern period.

Themiclesian churches of any size, save the smallest, were typically divided into more or less even halves, with the west side as the chancel and the east side the nave. Depending on the scale of the church, the chancel side may include several chapels, but the nave is typically left open and undivided. In the chancel side there is a sanctuary containing a high altar and room for the clergy, surrounded by a wall or curtain if it does not occupy the entire chancel. The sanctuary is divided from the nave by means of a rood screen, where the great rood or crucifix was mounted, and there may be further screens to partition the chancel for various groups, such as a ritual choir or a cathedra (episcopal throne). The altar may be enclosed by a screen, canopy, or baldachino, with the canopy the more common in churches with royal patronage.

The rood screen (象屏, sghang-bing; lit. "screen of images") is one of the defining features of the Themiclesian church, as it is the furthest part of the church associated with the laity and is in full view of the congregation. The rood screen could be richly decorated even if other parts of the church lack ornaments, as lay parisoners may, at their own expense, improve the screen and demonstrate their affluence within the context of religious devotion. It is not uncommon to see rood screens adorned with painting and sculpture of both sacred figures and lay donors, and there was no objection as long as the donors are depicted in an appropriately religious state. It is likewise common for donors to use their own images under the names of saints, unless they contradict the church's artistic canon. There may be a rood loft to access the rood and the statue of Saint Mary, and where more painting and statuary are located.

This screen and its loft are a focal point for lay worship, as earlier Themiclesian worshippers equated it with the pedestal containing the images of deities in other religious structures. This is because the largest image of the crucified Christ was invariably located above the screen, surrounded by the saints and other figures in supplication. Commentators and diarists of the 15th century called the interior of the chancel the "concealed chamber" (宓), in which priests performed magic; except for the consecrated eucharist, the great rood was usually the physical object to which prayers were said and reverences oriented. During lessons, scriptural readings were proclaimed and the gospel displayed from the rood loft. Communicants typically knelt at the screen, below the rood, to receive the eucharist; this position is understood to cast the communicant in the light of a person at the crucifixion, and in the embrace of the saints.

Within the rood screen lies the choir (the architectural term), where a ritual choir sat when services were conducted. A dedicated ritual choir was necessary as its members needed extensive training in both the language and music imported from Casaterran states, and surrounding this knowledge eventually appeared a religious community of hereditary providers of ritualistic music. The ritual choir was often but not always monastic, and their members could belong to multiple churches at the same time, offering their services for lay hiring. The presence and privilege of this community was often justified on the basis of the Old Testament, which referred to singers in the archaic temple. Where the church possesses a pipe organ, it is typically located on the choir wall or on an organ loft. The organ loft may be independent or joined with the rood loft.

The organ loft could be quite deep, up to 5 m, to accommodate an expanding musical instrument. The bottom of the organ loft was probably open in early centuries but often later fitted with doors. These are called "triple doors" (參戶, s.rum-ga), required to span the width of the organ loft, though in wide chancels there may be as many as five. The doors are invariably opened during services where a congregation was present in the nave but could be closed otherwise, especially at weekday services when only priests were present. Members of the ritual choir, as members of a religious order second to priests, were given the privilege of communication prior to the laity, at the triple doors where they are present and within the rood screen where they are not.

Beyond the organ loft was the sanctuary, where the high altar and seats for priests are located. Where the organ was located on the rood loft and triple doors absent, the presbytery was divided from the choir by an additional screen, which was typically much plainer than the rood screen. This screen came only to waist height and was not superimposed with a scalable loft.

See also

• Themiclesia
• Religion in Themiclesia