Apolitan Church
 Apolitan Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
 Cathedral of Kartha, the mother church of the Apolitan Church | |
| Classification | Western Sotirian |
| Orientation | Apolitan Catholicism |
| Theology | Apolitanism |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Holy Synod |
| Head | Karekin II the Patriarch of Austeria |
| Region | Austeria |
| Language | Ecclesiastical Solarian |
| Liturgy | Austerian Rite |
| Headquarters | Kartha, Austeria |
| Founder | Gregory the Illuminator |
| Separated from | Episemialist Church (1441) |
| Separations | Open Communion |
| Members | 3,000,000 (self-reported) |
| Other name(s) | Austerian Church |
The Apolitan Church, officially the Apolitan Catholic Church, is the national church of Austeria. It traces its history to the early Sotirian church established in the Solarian province of Austeria in the 4th century CE. Following the events of the Lesser Schism of 1385, the church in Austeria became an autocephalous church of the Episemialist Church.
The Apolitan Church formally broke communion with the rest of the Episemialist churches in 1441 at the conclusion of the Iconoclast Wars due to a dispute over the church's bishopric succession and the accusation that the Apolitans allowed open communion with Irfanics. Initially the split was limited to political reasons, but the Church's theology began to diverge following the Apolitan Reaction in the early 16th century, culminating in the Apolitan Declaration that sought to reconcile the region's religious diversity as well as the doctrinal differences between Western and Eastern Sotirianity.
The bishop of Kartha, known as the Patriarch of Austeria, heads the church and possesses apostolic succession through James the Less, according to sacred tradition.