Eagle’s Glory

After negotiating with Teresa, Aegron took action as always, and immediately began preparations to convert Heide.

In his opinion, there are many MSLs in the Ioannina region, and if Haidai converts to the Orthodox Church, she can cut off her emotional ties with a large number of future subjects, which is equivalent to preventing problems before they occur.

And, for a pagan queen to be "consciously" called by God, it's something to brag about.

This is a political issue as well as a religious issue, so he immediately thought of his advisor, Father Faria, and approached him to discuss it together.

Since Teresa set out to come to Methorongion, Father Faria naturally came with her. This old priest, who has lost consciousness on his right side, supported himself with a strong will and tried to keep himself going. life.

He had nothing to worry about in this world, he was already ready to die, the only thing he could not let go of was his adopted son Edmund Dantes; however, after joining Aegron's hands, he accidentally ignited again With the passion to survive, it seems that he wants to let his remaining wisdom continue to burn for the cause of His Majesty Napoleon II, in order to reflect his life value.

And Aigron was still as polite to him as always, not only let people take care of his life carefully and properly, but also occasionally chat with him. He was also deeply honored by this, and hoped that he could help more.

Under Aigron's order, the entourage pushed Father Faria over in a wheelchair.

Because of the inconvenience, the priest did not bow, but bowed slightly, "Your Majesty, may I ask you anything?"

"There is a small religious question - I think this happens to be your specialty," Aegron replied, "I intend to convert Haide to the Orthodox Church as soon as possible before I officially enter Ioannina, and for this we need to hold a ceremony."

Father Faria was not surprised. As a think tank by Aegron's side, he naturally also knew about Haide's life experience and what she was bought into by His Majesty.

"It's not difficult religiously. We can hold a baptism and conversion ceremony for her. It only needs the presence of an Orthodox priest and a reputable notary." Father Faria replied after a little thought.

The priest took it so lightly because this kind of thing is so rare that it's not surprising at all.

In the more than 100 years since the death of Peter the Great, the Russian Empire has staged many dramas of "foreign princesses converted to the Orthodox Church".

After Peter the Great, the Russian tsars began to look at Europe. They claimed to be noble royal families, and naturally they only wanted to marry the European royal families.

But there is a huge problem in front of them - the Russian Empire is the Orthodox Church as the state religion, but European countries are Catholic or Protestant, according to imperial traditions, the tsar can not marry women from these countries.

Of course, there are always more ways than difficulties, especially when they own an empire. The Romanov royal family used the power and wealth of the empire as bait to find marriage partners from the ordinary princes and nobles in Germany. They were willing to pay a lot of money as a bait. There is only one condition for the dowry - the princess must convert to the Orthodox Church in order to be eligible for marriage with the royal family.

As we all know, there are many princes and nobles in Germany. Those big families spread branches and leaves and married each other for generations, creating countless branches and collateral descendants.

And because these princes and nobles have extremely small territories (or no territory at all), most of them have very meager incomes.

The meager income but the need to maintain the dignity of the princes and nobles makes them very thirsty for money, and the luxury of the Russian imperial family has become a temptation they can't look away from.

Under the temptation of the throne and jewels, there is no psychological barrier for her daughter to convert to the Orthodox Church and then marry into Russia.

Catherine II the Great, the daughter of a little German prince, married Tsar Peter III at the expense of converting to the Orthodox Church, and finally killed her husband and successfully ruled the Russian Empire for decades.

And she used the same criteria when choosing the heir for her own crown prince, Paul - this time she picked a royal collateral family in Hesse-Darmstadt as a marriage partner.

The owner of the family was flattered after hearing about it. He brought his three daughters to St. Petersburg for Crown Prince Paul to choose. In the end, the Crown Prince chose the youngest daughter, Princess Wilhelmine Louise, and asked her to convert to the Orthodox Church. And changed to the Russian name Natalia - Alexeyevna.

It is a pity that although this princess is beautiful, she has no luck to accept this "glory". After three years of marriage, she died of dystocia.

So the crown prince had to find another princess, Maria Fyodorovna, from a side duke of the Principality of Württemberg as his second marriage partner, and the princess later gave birth to four sons for him, including defeating him. Napoleon's Tsar Alexander, and the current Tsar Nicholas I.

There are so many female princes who converted to Orthodoxy in the first place, and the people in the world would not be surprised or disgusted in the slightest by having a mere Haidai convert to Orthodoxy.

Although she is now an msl in theory, there is no difference in essence.

What really embarrassed Father Faria was another question.

"Considering that Miss Haidee will become a nominal ruler in the future, with an honorable title and status, then her conversion ceremony should be a major event, and we should find a weighty baptist for her, currently We don't have such a powerful religious figure in our hands, if we can - we can get one from our allies."

Father Faria, this is of course the truth. Considering that Haidé is the future Grand Duchess of Ioannina, if she converts to the Orthodox Church, she must find a senior religious person to preside over the ceremony for her. The higher the religious status, the legitimacy of her. The higher it is, it can even be regarded as a long-lost victory for the Orthodox Church over the YSL religion. Presumably Greek religious people are also very happy to see this come true.

At this time, due to the flames of the Greek War of Independence, serious turmoil occurred in most parts of Greece, and religious people were naturally unavoidable. Years of blood feuds bred, and ethnic antagonisms immediately turned into religious vendettas. The Greeks massacred msl And ysl religious people, the Turks also returned them as they were. A large number of priests were killed in the vendetta between the two sides, and the rest had to hide in Tibet. The only thing that is well preserved is the Peloponne, which is still under the control of the independent military government. the peninsula.

So, in theory, if you want to hold such a religious ceremony, then the best way is for Aegron to inform his allies, and then find a senior Orthodox priest from the Peloponnese to preside over the baptism and conversion of Haide ceremony.

But Aigron thought the exact opposite.

"No, Father, I don't think we can do this." He shook his head slightly, denying the priest's opinion, "It's not just a religious issue, it's also a political issue, so we can't think about it entirely religiously. .

Heidi will be the Grand Duchess in the future, and her nominal territory is the Duchy of Ioannina that we are going to establish. I bought Haide, I created this country from scratch, and it should be controlled by our people. It cannot have any affiliation with the future Greek kingdom, even if it is a religious affiliation. Neither. If we take an Orthodox priest as a baptist from our ally today, it would be tantamount to acknowledging that Haide was a Greek convert to the feet of God, and the Principality of Ioannina was religiously to the Greek Patriarchate… We cannot give this impression. "

The priest made such a mistake, not because he was not politically sensitive, nor because he was ill-considered, but because he did not know what was going to happen in the future—

At this time, all the Orthodox Christians in the Balkans belonged to the leadership of the Universal Patriarch who remained in Istanbul. However, the Universal Patriarch was willing to be a subject of Sudan, opposed the Greek war of independence, and hoped that the Orthodox Christians under his rule Continue to obey the Sultan and the Empire as you have done for hundreds of years before.

So in the eyes of the Greeks, the ecumenical patriarch betrayed Greece and the Orthodox Church, and they resented it.

At this moment, this resentment has not inspired any trouble. After all, the Greek War of Independence has not ended, but Aigron knows that the break between them is not far away.

In the original historical line, shortly after the independence of the Greek kingdom, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Patriarch who remained in Istanbul were no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the other side, and the two sides were divided.

In order to expand its influence, the Greek Orthodox Church spared no effort to emphasize its orthodoxy and legitimacy.

Because of this, if people from the Greek Orthodox Church were to baptize Heidi, the future Archduchess Ioannina would become a legitimate successor of the Greek Orthodox Church. Politically, Aigron could not accept this.

Although he is now an ally of the Greek Independence Army, and although he leads people to shed blood for the cause of Greek independence, his interests are inviolable, and he does not intend to share the future rights and interests of the Principality of Ioannina with anyone— — at least within his own generation.

Therefore, no matter how reasonable Father Faria's suggestion is, he does not want to adopt it.

Although the old priest could not see Aegron's innermost thoughts, but from Aegron's decisive attitude, he also saw that this was His Majesty's unquestionable will.

As a counselor, he can't defy this will, he can only change his thinking and find a way to make His Majesty's will be implemented.

"If you don't want the priest of the Greek Orthodox Church to baptize Heide, then... we can only find a priest within our control to do this." After thinking for a while, the priest said softly. , "Now that the Greeks are your allies and depend on your help, they should not say much; if the foreigners who are disgruntled with you, such as the Russians, may question the efficacy of such a religious ceremony ."

"They can question as much as they like. I didn't live in this world to please the Tsar." Aegron replied categorically. "The current situation has reached a point where we can no longer consider what other people think. As long as we believe that Haide's conversion is legal, then it is legal - no matter how much other people have opinions, we can pretend not to see it."

Seeing that Aegron's will was so determined, the priest hesitated, but did not dare to persuade him any further.

He turned his old head again, thinking carefully for Aegron.

"If we don't have enough Orthodox priests on hand now, then we might as well make the pomp a bit bigger... There are so many witnesses and enough legal force, I don't think anyone will object to having a Christian duchy born in a land dominated by msl In the lands ruled..."

"That's okay." Aigron nodded and agreed with him, "I will organize a grand ceremony, and I will invite our Greek allies to witness - since they have seen my attitude , you should know what to do."

When he said this, what did Father Faria think of again, "If we can find a significant religious person from Rome, such as a cardinal, to watch the ceremony and serve as a witness, this should be convincing enough. Are you strong?"

Aigron's eyes lit up, but he was a little suspicious, "This is an Orthodox conversion ceremony. What interest do people from the Church of Rome have to participate in?"

"The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are the same family..." Father Faria laughed slyly.

He knew that he was talking nonsense with his eyes open, but as a politician, the most important skill was to talk nonsense with his eyes open, "The Pope and the cardinal took so much money from us, and the cardinal is also a My friends, if we need their help, they'll think about it - besides, it's an honor to be Catholic even for the glory of Christ to inspire a land that was once polluted, right?"

Aegron thought for a while, and felt that there was no problem.

The pope and the cardinal took his heavy gifts and advocated for him many times. If he made a similar request, they should also be willing to come - anyway, just as a witness

And if they were there, no one would have asked any questions. For the church, this was also a victory.

For Aigron himself, he did all this independently, which meant that he let Haidee and Ioannina, who she represented, live according to his own will.

However, the czar's ideas must also be considered.

Although Aigron spoke stubbornly in front of the priest, it was only to strengthen the confidence of his subordinates. Deep down, he certainly had some scruples.

There is no doubt that he has an old and new hatred with the Romanov family, the tsar absolutely dislikes him, and if he falls into the hands of the Russians, it will definitely not end well - but Aigron has never been one to be carried away by hatred. Smart people, on the contrary, he knows how to judge the situation.

In his plan, Haidai should have lost his sincerity with the tsar in the future, and displayed an appearance of deference.

Anyway, the Tsar can't come here, and after the future has given him face, he should also happily accept the victory of the Orthodox Church. If this is the case, the newly-born Principality of Ioannina will climb out of the mother's womb tremblingly, and it will really appear.