Eagle Byzantium

Before leaving, Bernard looked back and looked at the magnificent dome murals and slender stone pillars. Basileus and Basilisa hugged each other amidst the support of believers, monks, and soldiers, seeming to celebrate the birth of a new era. , in the room behind them, three printing presses were still humming and humming. From then on, the Bible was like the cloth woven on the loom, penetrating into the lives of all lay believers.

"The world is about to turn upside down, and power will be returned to the hands of dirty, ordinary, and ignorant lay believers with the help of the devil's power. I feel that sooner or later, this world will exude countless sprouts, sprouts of the devil, From sea to land, from high to high Ridge to plain." Bernard couldn't help but sigh, and then the young cleric turned his head, "But the believers of St. Peter will not perish. As long as I am here, the pillars of the San Angelo Temple will not collapse. Husband and wife, I will fight you to the end.”

Since Bernard and other representatives of the Holy See ended up withdrawing, Gawain directly announced his edict on religious reform:

The clergy organizations loyal to the new royal family, such as the New Rite Orthodox Church, the New Order of Dervishes, and the Monks of the Cave, were merged to establish the unified institution of the "Holy New Orthodox Church of St. Paul's Empire", referred to as the "New State Church".

A new institution, the "Academic Affairs Council", was established within the imperial government to manage the general affairs of the new church. Its highest position was the imperial general secretary, whose rank was equivalent to that of the highest purple noble, and he was eligible to participate in the Privy Council of the Inner Palace;

In addition, the Archbishop of the Academic Affairs Council can not only manage the new state church, but also manage major affairs such as the Catholic Church in the Empire, the Orthodox Old Rite Sect, the Crescent Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Pauline Sect, the Bogomil Sect, etc. These churches can They are independent within the prescribed framework, but major matters still have to be submitted to the Senate for decision. In addition, these churches have to send representatives to the imperial capital every year to listen to the holy edicts, so as to better serve the empire;

The office of Patriarch of Constantinople continues to be retained, but its selection is no longer the power of the Orthodox Church, but is decided by the emperor and the cardinals of the state church through joint discussions, and its responsibility is to manage the personnel of the state church;

Pope Anselm of Bari continued to retain his position, but he changed his name to "Pope of the Italian Roman Diocese of St. Peter". This somewhat nondescript name actually conveyed the message of the empire - Italy, where Rome is located, was once again reduced to a large diocese. , its status is the same as that of the other archdioceses, and it no longer has the previous transcendent status;

The emperor declared that the territory of the empire was divided into the diocese of Constantinople, Rome, the Two Sicilies, Dalmatia, Mosia, Thessalonica, Ephesus, and Amolium. , Seleucia. Diocese of Tarsus, Diocese of Anatolia, Trabzon. The fifteen archdioceses of Georgia, Cyprus, Holy Sea, Antioch and Bellitus (Tripoli) are all under the jurisdiction of the New Church. In addition, the emperor also specifically mentioned that the New Church The Anglican Church also added the Diocese of Kiev-Garich and Vlach The four special jurisdictions of Asia, the New Nicaea Yelen Diocese, and the Alexandria Diocese (excluding Egypt, this area also includes Nubia and Aksum) - the emperor sternly stated at the meeting that the Orthodox Patriarch of Kiev must Originated from Constantinople, whose independent status was later revoked, and The same is true of Alexandria. The emperor ordered the local Coptic Church Patriarch to come to Beijing immediately and swear allegiance. If he refused, he would use force to "annihilate the shameful heresy that has been wandering for hundreds of years and restore orthodox belief here"—— This was Gawain's excuse for declaring war on Egypt;

In terms of doctrine, Gawain made a compromise and reconciliation for the new church. The Bogomilists and Paulists enjoyed independent status, but they were not allowed to participate in any religious debates, nor were they allowed to preach outside the public communities specified in the empire, but they could preach to other non-Christians. Mission in the Empire (Vatican: "mmp!"), the New Church recognizes the worship of icons, and all its clergy can marry Children can inherit property, but the assets of the churches, monasteries and synagogues where they are located are publicly owned, and the benefits must be paid a "tithe tax". In addition to this tax, the New Church must also pay another tenth of its income in peacetime. For the construction of local seminaries, schools, relief shelters, etc., if there is a war, this tax will be used to pay military salaries for the empire;

The religious ceremonies of the state church will strictly put an end to the extravagant Catholic style and the old Orthodox style. Everything will be kept simple and based on the principles of the "Aksumite Bible". This move began to be welcomed by the new aristocrats of the empire. Most of them were promoted by Gawain. The middle and lower-level officials started a war Wealthy soldiers and a large number of imperial royal contractors have realized the importance of wealth accumulation and are unwilling to waste it on meaningless "donations" and "good deeds". "Frugality is the virtue of Jesus", "Frugality is the virtue of Jesus", Return to faith and the Bible itself to be saved” is the latest slogan;

The emperor of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Old Rites and the Crescent Church within the territory pardoned them, but the Catholic churches will be unified under the jurisdiction of the city of Bari, and more taxes will be paid to the imperial government. The more special ones are the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Syrian Church. , they were treated kindly and did not need to pay tithes like the empire, but they had to set up schools and relief homes within their jurisdiction in accordance with regulations.

Finally, amid the cheers of the crowd, at the Adrianople Assembly, Basilius, who would permanently serve as the high priest of the empire, made a victory summary loudly: "My wife told me with her rigorous knowledge that when the empire decided to move from the old Rome to the new Rome, all the elites in the empire, including the senators, generals, artists, big businessmen, architects, etc., came to Constantinople to take root, and only the lower class people remained there, such as bakers, fishermen, slum lepers, etc. Now you go to Rome, where, except for the priests who behaved improperly and forged documents poorly, Besides, it is this group of people who can sell everything from body to soul, regardless of gender! Therefore, the deceased pope even sent a threatening letter to Basilisa, saying that he had granted me a high-level priesthood, but I actually abandoned celibacy and married your young mother. He threatened Basilisa and me to either divorce or give up our faith. "

"Ugly second-rate people, a hydra that sells priesthood, a gangster who forges documents and wills!" There was such a scolding from the stage, and some believers held up the icons of the two emperors of the empire and sang "Marry someone like Basilius".

Basilisa clung to her husband to highlight the ugly intentions of the church.

"Now I want to say that all clergymen should get married, form families blessed by God, and better serve believers of all kinds!" The emperor hugged his wife with his backhand, waved his other arm and shouted, "I have done three things in my life. The first is to revive most of the territory of the Roman Empire, the second is to marry the beautiful and noble Basilisa, and the third is to reform the old religion. I am ashamed to have made such insignificant contributions. Thank you all!"