Holy Church of the Broken Dawn
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| Practices Within | The Macabees | ||||
| Total Worshippers | ca. 3 billion | ||||
| Largest Population Base | The Macabees | ||||
| Seperate Orders | The Order of St. Atmos | ||||
| Official Religion Of | The Macabees | ||||
| Religious Classification | Christian, Catholic | ||||
Although the old Empire, and indeed all regions and Zarbia was fully Catholic, expelling all Protestant and Islamic factions in the year 1876 Anno Domini [the Julian Calendar], the Second Empire's politics after the accension of Jonach I permitted a major religious change. Jonach I accended to the Golden Throne, founding the Second Empire, in 2005, one hundred years after the start of the bloody Great Civil War.
In March 2006, to provide for a better unification factor, Jonach I aboloshed the Catholic Church and founded the Holy Church of the Broken Dawn. After a force conversion the Catholic Church literally ceased to exist within the Golden Throne, and technically, one hundred percent of the country is now Imperial Catholic, as they have begun to be known as.
Tenets
The Broken Dawn dismissed the Edict of Milan, in which Roman Emperor Constantine the Great and the greatest early Christian theologans put their heads together to unify a common faith, as blatant corruption, and in its stead, includes all books within the Bible, the Jonach Version, as well as the forgotten myths. One of the largest inclusions was the myth of Lillith, first wife of Adam, made of the same mud and dirt as Adam, and consequently, equal to him in all respects.
The consequences are huge, including why Imperial culture is increasinly matriarchal, including why empresses continue to remain empresses, even in the even of their husband's death, as illustrated by the fact that Hypolita remained queen of the Golden Throne for almost a year after the death of her husband, Jonach I, even as Fedor I began his own term as Emperor of the Golden Throne. This continues until the new Emperor is married. There's also a greater notion of turth and trust, with less corruption, within the Church, accounting for the inclusion of all books and myths within the Jonach Bible.
Nonetheless, the Church within the Empire is extremist in all views, and although the administration is increasingly liberal the Church is very conservative in the spectrum, and has proved this time and again.
Cathedrals and Churches
All twenty-three major Catholic Cathedrals, built between the years 850 and 1370, all in the Gothic style, were converted to Cathedrals of the Broken Dawn, and their clergy were forced to renounce their allegiance to Rome and reiterate it towards Fedala, where the Grand Cathedral was constructed by Jonach I in 2006, and where Pope Transguff I resides.
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Every church was converted to churces faithful to Fedala. However, no center of worship for other religions, which do reside within the Empire but are not officially recognized, were not forced to convert, due to the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy of the Empire when it comes to other religions.
Organization
The official head of the Church is the Pontifex Maximus, or the highest religious leader. The name comes from the Latin term for the highest religious post, during the Republic appointed by the Senate, and during the Empire pertaining to the emperor, and later to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Broken Dawn has 'borrowed' the term and used it for the name of the post of its own pope. As the Roman Catholic Pope is patriarch of Rome, the Imperial Catholic Pope is patriarch of Fedala, his ecclesiastical jurisdiction being the sancta sede, or the Imperial Provence.
The status and authority of the Pope in the Imperial Church was dogmatically defined by the First Fedalan Council in its Theologan Charter of the True Church of Christ (January 1, 2007). The first chapter of this document is entitled "On the institution of the apostolic primacy in blessed Peter", and states that "according to the Gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the Lord" and that" if anyone says that blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ the Lord as prince of all the apostles and visible head of the whole church militant; or that it was a primacy of honour only and not one of true and proper jurisdiction that he directly and immediately received from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: let him be anathema."
The powers of the Pope are defined by the Theologan Charter such that "he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases which fall under ecclesiastical jurisdiction recourse may be had to his judgement" and that "the sentence of the apostolic see (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgement thereupon."
The Pope has a myriad powers which he can exercise. He can appoint bishops to dioceses, erect and suppress dioceses, appoint prefects to the Imperial dicasteries, approve or deny their actions and reasoning, modify the λειτουργια and issue liturgical laws, revise the Code of Canon Law, canonize and beatify individuals, approve and deny religious orders of the Broken Dawn, impose canonical sanctions, act as a judge and hear cases, issue encyclicals, and issue infallible statements on matters pertaining to faith and morals which, according to the Church, must be believed by all Catholics, regardles of belief of the Roman pope or the Fedalan pope. Most of these functions are performed by and through the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, with the pope simply approving their actions prior to becoming official. The pope is not, however, obligated to approve them, as he alone wields supreme, and only, authority over the Church.
As opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope is not elected by a council of cardinals, but instead instated by the current ruling Emperor sitting on the Golden Throne. Nonetheless, there is a council of cardinals, completed by all cardinals currently referred to as cardinals by official church doctrine, which are all the cardinals that oversee the dioceses. Also, as opposed to the Roman Catholic Curch, although the powers of the pope are exactly the same, the Cardinal's have ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the diocese they are appointed to, and the bishops, although appointed by the pope, are directly subordinate to the cardinals, and oversee a group of subdioceses. Below that the church's jurisdiction is divided into regions and patriarchs and is too complex to fully describe. There are a total of nine dioceses, not including the Holy See, and twenty-eight subdioceses, so far, plus independent Patriarchies abroad, although these don't have many followers.
Popes
Transguff I
Transguff was appointed to the title of Pontifex Maximus of the Broken Dawn on April 2005 by Jonach I, Emperor of the Golden Throne, and official founder of the religion. He immediately worked to strengthen the position of the Church both in the country and internationally. The original goals of Transguff I was to formulate a Church that would make itself the center of everyday life, and it has very much worked, although there is still a great deal of animosity when it comes to religion due to modern media and new ideologies within the youth. Regardless, the faith is still strong within the Empire, that cannot be doubted.
Taking advantage of Jonach Is policy of reuniting under a political ideology, Transguff formulated his own political ideology by tying in Church actions with political actions. The first example of this was Transguff's calling of the Fabian Crusade, which was called after Tyrandis called its own crusade on the nation of Kahta. The following war, always remembered as the Fabian Crusade saw the opening blows against both Kahta and Vote Early that finally overtook them and caused them to collapse under their own weight. Unfortunately, the war also saw the execution of over eight hundred soulds pertaining to the Fabus dynasty in Kahta; one of the first religious inquisitions of the Empire.
After the end of the Fabian Crusade, which ended in a political treaty, Transguff I fell ill and so the Church devolved into a state of isolationism, merely strengthening its ties with the people of the Empire. However, as Jonach I died, leaving the throne to his grandson, Fedor I, and Transguff finally fully recooperated at the age of eighty-three, the Church stirs again.
