Lemovician Episemialist Church

Lemovician Episemialist Church
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Topagunea, 2012
Classification	Episemialism
Scripture	Septuagint, New Testament
Theology	Arcilucan Episemialism
Polity	Episcopal
Primate	Tomas, Archbishop of Sechia and Metropolitan of Lemovicia
Eparchs	12 eparchies
Exarch	1 exarchy
Language	Lemovician
Headquarters	Holy Trinity Cathedral, Topagunea
Territory	Lemovicia
Possessions	Lemovicia, Lemovician Churches abroad
Founder	Makrino Kruszka
Origin	20 December, 1976 Topagunea
Separated from	Miersan Episemialist Church
Members	274,013

The Lemovician Episemialist Church (Lemovician: Mendiluŕa eliza zoragaŕija), historically known as the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church, is a partially-recognised Lemovician Episemialist church that operates in Lemovicia. Governed by a Holy Synod, and overseen by the Metropolitan, the Lemovician Episemialist Church serves the Episemialist community in Lemovicia.

Created in December 1976 by Makrino Kruzska following his anathematisation from the Miersan Episemialist Church for his leadership of the Lemovician Cultural Alliance as the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church, the church's creation was to ensure that Lemovicians would be able to have "a Lemovician Church for the Lemovician people," while remaining true to the principles of Episemialism. The church was banned in 1977 as a front organisation for the Lemovician Cultural Alliance, and Kruszka would be sentenced to death for sedition against the West Miersan government in 1978.

In 1980, following Lemovicia's independence from West Miersa as a result of the Miersan War, the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church became the Lemovician Episemialist Church, and an agreement was signed with the Lemovician government that transferred all churches owned by the Miersan Episemialist Church to the Lemovician Episemialist Church, in exchange for the church's land to be given to the state. During the Lemovician War, two of its heads, Lukulo Iĺarduja and Pabel Alzusta, would die in battle serving as church chaplains for the Revolutionary Defence Forces.

Since the conclusion of the Lemovician War in 1992, the Lemovician Episemialist Church has been confined to the areas controlled by the Lemovician Section of the Workers' International and among Lemovician diaspora communities. To this day, the relationship between the Miersan and Lemovician Episemialist Churches remains antagonistic, although in 1994, the Lemovician Episemialist Church was placed under the temporary jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Arciluco, pending a decision made by a synod.

History

Miersan Episemialist rule

File:Lev and Ksenia Pokrovsky with Fr. Alexander Men (cropped).jpg

Makrino Kruszka, 1974

After the division of the Lordship of Lemovicia in 1491 between the Miersan Commonwealth and the Unio Trium Nationum, the Llorlainists would face increasing persecution from the Miersan government. These persecutions generally lasted through the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with the Miersan Episemialist Church moving in to supplant Llorlainism in Malomiersa. While these policies were mostly successful in suppressing Llorlainism among the Lemovicians in Malomiersa by the time of the Partition of Miersa in 1638, with only the most isolated mountain valleys maintaining Llorlainism until the mid-eighteenth century, these persecutions would have a profound impact as many Lemovicians grew to distrust Sotirianity completely.

Following the independence of West Miersa from Soravia in 1936 as part of the Godfredson Plan which saw Miersa be divided into a Soravian-influenced west and a socialist republic in the east, West Miersa engaged in an aggressive policy of Miersanisation, seeking to transform ethnic minorities such as the Vedmedis, Savaders, and Lemovicians into ethnic Miersans. One of the key aspects to this policy was promoting the use of the Miersan language in civil society, and in day-to-day governance, over other languages such as Soravian, Vedmedi, Savader, and Lemovician. To this end, the Miersan Episemialist Church made Miersan a liturgical language alongside Church Slavonic in 1942 under Patriarch Szymon VII.

As the usage of Miersan increased and Lemovician declined in Malomiersa, the Miersan Episemialist Church played a key role in suppressing the Lemovician language, with Lemovician-speaking priests being replaced with Miersan-speaking priests, and with church-run schools punishing children from speaking Lemovician, many Lemovicians within the Episemialist Church began to be critical of the church, viewing them as being part of the "oppressive Miersan regime."

As Malomiersa suffered industrial decline from the 1970s onward, the few remaining ethnic Lemovician clergymen, such as priest Makrino Kruszka in Mistózburó became more involved in politics, with Kruszka establishing the right-wing Lemovician Cultural Alliance in 1972 to advocate for a revival of Lemovician culture while opposing socialism. Kruszka's political advocacy would lead him to being anathematised by Patriarch Jozef VI in 1976, which led to Kruszka organising with like-minded Episemialists in Malomiersa who sought a "Lemovician church for a Lemovician people."

Formation and early years

Ruin of a church near Bidarte, 2015

On 20 December, 1976, the feast day of Saint Ignatius, Makrino Kruszka and his supporters declared the establishment of the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church in Mistózburó, with Kruszka saying that "it is past time for our people to have our own church: to pray in our own language, to preach in our own churches, and not be at the mercy of the northerners." Kruszka and his supporters formed an ad hoc Holy Synod, who elected him as the Metropolitan of Sechia.

The establishment of the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church was met with support from many Lemovicians, who were chafing under West Miersan rule and who in the 1970s had seen a resurgence of Lemovician nationalism in opposition to Miersan nationalism. Likewise, the West Miersan government was alarmed by the establishment of the church, and in February 1977, the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church was banned as a front organisation for the Lemovician Cultural Alliance. Kruszka would be arrested in June 1977, and charged with sedition against the West Miersan government. Makrino Kruszka would be sentenced to death after being convicted, and was executed on January 7, 1978.

Following the death of Makrino Kruszka, the Holy Synod selected Lukulo Ikonowicz to be the next Metropolitan of Sechia, and the next head of the Free Malomiersan Episemialist Church. Lukulo operated the church in a clandestine manner "much like how the Early Church operated" to avoid persecution by the West Miersan government, and was able to evade detection until after the outbreak of the Miersan War in 1979 and Lemovicia's subsequent declaration of independence.

With Lemovicia becoming independent, Lukulo Ikonowicz, having changed his surname to Lukulo Iĺarduja, sought to cultivate a relationship with the governing Lemovician Section of the Workers' International. To this end, in January 1980, the church officially became the Lemovician Episemialist Church, and in December 1980, a kontratua was agreed between the Lemovician Episemialist Church and the Lemovician government, with the Lemovician government agreeing to transfer all churches owned by the Miersan Episemialist Church to the Lemovician Episemialist Church, in exchange for the church giving up all land previously owned by the Miersan Episemaialist Church to the state.

Lukulo Iĺarduja would serve as chaplain to the Revolutionary Defence Forces in the early phases of the Lemovician War, making him popular among many Lemovicians. However, he would die at the Battle of Mostar in 1983, and the Holy Synod selected monk Pabel Alzusta to be the Metropolitan of Sechia, and thus the head of the Lemovician Episemialist Church.

Pabel's tenure was similar to Lukulo Iĺarduja, serving as a chaplain within the Revolutionary Defence Forces. In 1988, with Operation Zemsta leading to Ibaiak Province falling to the West Miersans, Pabel Alzusta organised efforts to get the Lemovicians out of the province and into Lemovician territory: while he was successful in saving countless Lemovicians, Pabel Alzusta was captured in September 1988, and was tried for treason against West Miersa, before being executed in November 1988.

The Holy Synod would go on to elect Mikel Lersundi as the Metropolitan of Sechia to succeed Pabel Alzusta. Under Mikel Lersundi's tenure as the head of the Lemovician Episemialist Church during the Lemovician War, Mikel Lersundi primarily focused his energies on resettling internally-displaced persons within Lemovician territory, although he did serve stints as chaplain in the Revolutionary Defence Forces, most notably during the Battle of Osara.

Modern era

Metropolitan Mikel Lersundi, 1998

With the signing of the Arciluco Agreement in 1992, the Lemovician War concluded, with the front line separating the West Miersan province of Malomiersa from the partially recognised state of Lemovicia.

In Malomiersa, the Lemovician Episemialist Church was cracked down to the extent that according to (some human rights group) in 2007, "the Lemovician Episemialist Church has been effectively suppressed," with the community "numbering no more than 500 people" and without any clergyman, as all of them were imprisoned.

In Lemovicia, on the other hand, while there has been very limited state support in the same way that West Miersa supports the Miersan Episemialist Church, and despite significant decline from its 1980 peak, the Lemovician Episemialist Church has been able to flourish in Lemovicia. In 1994, an agreement was signed with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Miersan Patriarch to temporarily place the Lemovician Episemialist Church under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate until a future decision on its status can be made at a church synod. This led to the Lemovician Episemialist Church officially becoming the Metropolitan of Lemovicia, instead of Metropolitan of Sechia, partially to reduce confusion between the Metropolitan of Sechia affiliated with the Miersan Episemialists, and partially to avoid offending West Miersans with irredentist claims.

Furthermore, Mikel Lersundi also oversaw the completion of the Lemovician translation of the Bible between 1993 and 2009. This translation was completed in 2009, and on 24 December, Church Marolevic ceased to be used for church services, with the Divine Liturgy being conducted entirely in Lemovician for the first time.

In February 2011, Mikel Lersundi died from lung cancer, and the Holy Synod elected Tomas Gorostaŕazu to be the next head of the Lemovician Episemialist Church. Under Tomas' leadership, he sought to improve relations with other Episemialist churches, partially to increase recognition of the Lemovician Episemialist Church among other churches within the Episemialist communion, and partially to "put an end to the terrible conflict which has severed us from our fellow brothers and sisters in Miersa."

Tomas Gorostaŕazu also deepened connections between the Lemovician Episemialist Church and the Lemovician government, although Tomas has stated that "the church must be treated the same like any similar organization that operates in this country: we must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." This improving relationship was demonstrated when, in 2013, Nativity was restored to being a public holiday for the Lemovician government.

Organisation

Metropolitan

Metropolitan Tomas, 2021

The head of the Lemovician Episemialist Church is the metropolitan (Lemovician: metropolitaŕa), officially the Metropolitan of Lemovicia and Archbishop of Sechia since 1994, when it was changed from the Metropolitan of Sechia to reduce confusion with the Metropolitan of Sechia in the Miersan Episemialist Church, and to avoid giving any suggestions of irredentism over Malomiersa. Since 2011, the current metropolitan has been Tomas Gorostaŕazu, following the death of Mikel Lersundi.

Like the Patriarch of the Miersan Episemialist Church, the Metropolitan of the Lemovician Episemialist Church has very little functional power, and serves as a primus inter pares over the Holy Synod. Besides this role of chairing the Holy Synod, the Metropolitan's duties involve representing the Lemovician Episemialist Church "at home and abroad," serving as a "pious role model" for all Lemovicians, and issuing anathema against those who have committed "serious and unrepetent heresy" against the Episemialist Church.

Holy Synod

The governing body of the Lemovician Episemialist Church is the Holy Synod (Lemovician: sinodo santua). Modelled after the Holy Synod in the Miersan Episemialist Church, its main duties are to "supervise the day-to-day operations of the Episemialist Church within All Miersa," including matters of religious doctrine, church property, and funding of the TBD churches under the Miersan Episemialist Church, as well as decisions to create new dioceses, archdioceses, bishoprics, and archbishoprics, in addition to dissolving any one of those.

As of 2021, the members of the Holy Synod of the Lemovician Episemialist Church include the Metropolitan of Lemovicia, and the Bishops of Topagunea, Goikoecija, Burdina, and Zubihaŕa. In addition, the Exarch of Harago is an observer to the Holy Synod, being allowed to attend proceedings of the Holy Synod, but are not permitted to vote on any decisions, except those concerning parishes outside of Lemovicia and Malomiersa, and thus, under his jurisdiction.

Structure

The Lemovician Episemialist Church is organised into one archbishopric, and twelve eparchies in Lemovicia, and one exarchy (the Eparchy of Harago) serves adherents outside of Lemovicia (excluding Malomiersa, which the Lemovician Episemialist Church still claims). Below the bishopric and the eparchies are parishes, of which there are XX under the jurisdiction of the Lemovician Episemialist Church.

• Metropolitanate of Lemovicia and Archbishopric of Sechia
  • Eparchy of Topagunea
  • Eparchy of Bailaŕa
  • Eparchy of Burdina
  • Eparchy of Goikoecija
  • Eparchy of Gotor
  • Eparchy of Haizekaŕa
  • Eparchy of Heŕibeŕija
  • Eparchy of Kocija
  • Eparchy of Lojola
  • Eparchy of Ohikoa
  • Eparchy of Zubihaŕa
  • Eparchy of Zubizurija
  • Exarchy of Harago

List of Metropolitans

Metropolitan of Sechia

1. Makrino (1976-1978)
2. Lukulo (1978-1983)
3. Pabel (1983-1988)
4. Mikel (1988-1994)

Metropolitan of Lemovicia

1. Mikel (1994-2011)
2. Tomas (2011-present)