Reformed Church of the Black Flame

Reformed Church of the Black Flame
Theology:	Flemic
Polity	Episcopal
Origin	11.II1690 AN
Countries	Nova Caradia
Divisions	5 Episcopii
Leadership	Focrigla Valoroasă I
Members	541,000

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The Reformed Church of the Black Flame is a reorganised and reformed sect of the Church of the Black Flame, which lost much of its influence following the destruction of its seat of power and the deaths of much of its clergy during the Caradian Civil War. The church retains much of the old Black Flame faith’s organisation and hierarchy, but differs on certain doctrinal assertions, on which it tends more toward moderation than the old faith.

Beliefs

The theological beliefs of the reformed church are divergent from the main beliefs of the old faith in small ways. The reformed church continues in the belief in the three main cosmological realms, these being the Sublime Order, Micras, and the Frigid Chaos, and that Godrick I of Caradia was and will be a living god, counterpart to his father and enemy Farthur Selck. However, in the reformed church, the philosophy of the Eight-Edged Way and the doctrine of sainthood came under fire. In particular, leaders of the reformed church challenged the Way’s insistence on nationalism and service to one’s country, emphasising that this could not be tenable with the current situation of the world at large, as adherents should, to prepare themselves and their communities for battle with the forces of chaos, devote themselves to their faith and to order above their country. This was explained in the context of a possible conflict between multiple nations that count Flemics amongst their citizenry; in this instance, Flemics should align themselves with the church itself and its opinions on the matter, rather than automatically devoting themselves to their own country and possibly killing other Flemics in the name of order.

With respect to this dismissal of one of the old faith’s central philosophies, the idea of sainthood was also questioned, mainly due to the fact that the Eight-Edged Way itself was created and codified by a saint, Sfânt Frasin, and, in the doctrine of the old faith, the word of a saint was the spoken word of Godrick himself, and was therefore infallible. In addition to this contradiction, Lacrima Esfețul, one of the founding members of the reformed church and the only surviving bishop of the old faith, provided evidence in the form of records kept of sayings of past saints perceived to be important at the time of saying, many of which were patently false, with the foremost example used by Lacrima being the utterance of the phrase “My King, Saint Godrick VIII, shall never die, and shall lead Caradia on to the Order,” by Sfânt Mircea on his deathbed, a phrase which was proven false three months later when King-Saint Godrick VIII’s life was taken by a seizure. These inaccuracies were used as a basis to deny the divinity of saints. The doctrine leaves room for “messengers” of Godrick, but stops short of calling these people divine.

Use of Sarnechi

As part of the reforms, Sarnechi, the primary language of the old Duchy, and of the new republic, was declared to be a holy language in the church, and a number of terms were officially changed to Sarnechi counterparts. Reference to these terms in the context of the church is only intended to be made in the Sarnechi language.

Istvanistani Term	Sarnechi Term
Reformed Church of the Black Flame	Biserica Reformată a Flăcării Negre (Abbreviated: BRFN)
The Ancestor (Godrick I)	Strămoșul
The Enemy (Farthur Selck)	Dusmanul
The Sublime Order	Ordinea
The Frigid Chaos	Haosul
Spiritual War	Războiul Spiritelor

Organisation

Focrigla Valoroasă I, famous for having hacked down an old Flemic shrine with a hatchet in 1689

The Reformed Church of the Black Flame is organised around a structure based upon that of the old Flemic Church, though it does not retain quite the same degree of rigidness that the old Church did. The church as a whole is headed by the Focrigla, or "Ruler of Fire", who is considered to have spiritual authority over the entirety of all Flemic subjects, including followers that do not consider themselves to be a member of the Reformed Church. The Focrigla is elected for life, and upon their election they are granted a title that they are to be addressed by whenever their position as Focrigla is mentioned. The first Focrigla was name Focrigla Valoroasă I.

Following this high level, the Church typically organises along the lines of the highest national division, granting each of these areas an episcopie, headed by an episcop. The Church does not presently exist outside of Nova Caradia, though it does have provisions for the organisation of the Church should it spread outside of the republic's borders. Foreign nations would be presided over by an episcop peste toate, who would be designated the leader of either the episcopie first organised in the nation, or the episcopie in which the nation's capital is situated. In either case, should a foreign episcopie be established, the Focrigla, rather than being elected by a panel of all Nova Caradian episcopi, as is current, they would be elected by a panel of all episcopi peste tot, as well as the episcop of Palat.

The Focrigla is the episcop of Rorfast. The Focrigla appoints episcopi of Nova Caradia, and episcopi peste tot appoint foreign episcopi.

Beyond episcopii, the Church organises itself locally by stăpâniri, the borders of which are drawn by the episcop that they are in the territory of. Stăpâniri are the most local level of organisation and are the only level of Church contact that most followers will ever have. They are led by clerici, who are themselves appointed from among members of the stăpânire that have attended a seminary school and submitted an application to the episcop. Clerici are the primary ministers of the religion, and are the ones responsible for holding local adunări, or religious services.

Cathedral of the Grand Revival, the seat of the Focrigla

Architecturally, each organisation is based around a particular church, with the offices of episcopii being called cathedrals, and the focus of stăpâniri are known as chapels. Chapels take many forms, though most tend to be smaller structures that contain a large, circular room with an altar at the centre. These altars are always set with a brazier that is lit at the beginning of adunări and ceremonially doused at the end. Chapels' primary purpose is the hosting of adunări and any other religious service, whereas the much larger cathedrals that are traditionally designed in the vein of stone fortresses are mostly used as the office of their episcop, who use the cathedral's office for their administrative duties. Cathedrals are still used for religious purposes, however, and in this respect their design is considered to be very important, as the cathedrals are thought to be a grandiose testament to the glories and beauty of the church. Furthermore, a Flemic tradition born in the old Church, but maintained in the reformed one, holds that Strămoșul uses Flemic cathedrals as spiritual garrisons, and that they need to be ready for combat at all times, which is why they are designed to both resemble and function as fortresses.