College of Levantine Churches: Difference between revisions

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====Lutheran Church of Dericania====

The Lutheran Church of Dericania is the oldest original component of the College of Levantine Churches, being the only part to have been a continually extant pre-[[Great Confessional War]] church. It was the earliest {{wp|Lutheran}} church in the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] and by [[1527]] it was the established church of more than a dozen principalities and polities within [[Dericania]] out of the very first wave of Protestant reformers. As early Lutheran churches, these established churches took on many of the visual aesthetic and daily traditions of the Catholic Church while gradually developing their Protestant theology. These established churches were established in union with eachother as part of an effort to resist the established [[Catholic Church]], and its hierarchy served in diplomatic roles to help organize the [[Protestant Union]].

Following the Great Confessional War, the Lutheran Church was disestablished, its noble adherents removed from power, and its followers persecuted by the [[Dragonnades]]. The Church lost the vast majority of its adherents by [[1590]], but some of its clergy continued to operate underground. Modern adherents of Lutheran theology are divided on the topic of {{wp|Apostolic succession}}, although the College as a whole and the since-established Fraternal Church embrace it. Accordingly, the Fraternal Church believes that the underground Lutheran communities of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries maintained an unbroken chain of Apostolic succession in its underground communities throughout the period of persecution. Unlike [[Urcea]] and the partitioned [[Anglei|Ænglish duchies]], central authority was completely absent in Dericania throughout most of its later history. Accordingly, the underground Lutheran groups used the fractal nature of Dericania to avoid persecution and capture, making efficient use of competing jurisdictional boundaries in many cases and moving from one principality to another to survive.

In the late 1650s, the [[Imperial Inquisition]] was given legal immediacy everywhere in the Empire for the purpose of hunting heretics to solve this problem, leading to the most intense phase of Lutheran persecution between 1660 and 1710, from which few groups remained in tact. Unlike most other components of the College, few Lutherans went abroad, but many did temporarily during this fifty year period. By the early 18th century, it was believed the problem was eradicated and the Inquisition lost significant resources and authority. After 1710, many Lutherans found it easier to gather once again, and many the children of those who fled abroad returned by 1730. During the 18th century, many princes in Dericania who adhered to the new [[Kilikas Enlightenment]] sheltered Protestant groups generally and Lutherans specifically, allowing these communities to largely recover. The [[Treaty of Lariana]] in the 19th century gave legal cover to these princes, leading to many more Deric princes to give shelter to Lutherans. Throughout the 19th century, the Imperial Inquisition weakened significantly as nationalist concerns and other internal fissure points within the Empire lead to a loosening of religious laws. Accordingly, the Lutherans began to come out of hiding. A provisional Lutheran Church of Dericania was established by agreement in [[1869]] between the largest communities. The provisional church took the unusual step of creating a commission of historians and scholars to determine the historic legitimacy and continuation of the various extant Lutheran sects throughout Dericania, with the goal of establishing clear lines of ordination in order to enhance the church's claims. The full Lutheran Church of Dericania was constituted out of those groups the commission deemed historic in [[1873]], and by [[1880]] most of the other groups agreed to merge their communities, if not their clerics, into the Lutheran Church.

Despite their early origin and prestige, the Lutherans had the least political or practical protection during the period between the [[Great Confessional War]] and [[Treaty of Lariana]], and their failure to flee abroad have been a contentious historical point among many modern Collegiate scholars. Accordingly, by 1900, the reestablished Lutheran Church of Dericania had no more than 15,000 adherents.

====Independent Catholic Association of Levantia====

Self-identified independent Catholic groups have a long history in modern [[Levantia]]. Due to the widespread prevalence and social dominance of the [[Catholic Church]] throughout the [[Levantine Union]], many groups who have otherwise separated from the authority of the [[Pope]] have nonetheless retained a self-proclaimed "Catholic" identity. The largest concentration of these groups are "{{wp|Old Catholic Church|old Catholic}}" in nature, that is, individual communities and churches who separated from the Catholic Church over the issue of {{wp|Papal infallibility}} as defined at the {{wp|First Vatican Council}}. The second largest group are the so-called "national" churches which formed throughout Levantia in the 19th century as part of the broader nationalist and Romantic movement. The most prominent of these was the National Catholic Church of the Vandarch, which achieved legal recognition as a minority religion in [[Hollona and Diorisia]] in [[1883]] and espoused national supremacy over union with the [[Pope]] and achieved as much as ten percent of the population as members by [[1900]], though declining thereafter. The "Vandarch church", as a legally recognized organization, held pride of place and prestige within independent Catholic circles, with the national Bishop of Mesellianum assuming an unofficial role as spokesman for independent Catholics. These national groups largely maintained the same theology and {{wp|ecclesiology}} as the Catholic Church, with concerns for political independence driving their foundation. Finally, a smaller number of self-identified "old" Catholic communities existed in rural parts of eastern [[Rhotia]], with most scholars describing their position as {{wp|Jansenist}}.

@@ Line 116: / Line 116: @@
 ====Lutheran Church of Dericania====
+The Lutheran Church of Dericania is the oldest original component of the College of Levantine Churches, being the only part to have been a continually extant pre-[[Great Confessional War]] church. It was the earliest {{wp|Lutheran}} church in the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] and by [[1527]] it was the established church of more than a dozen principalities and polities within [[Dericania]] out of the very first wave of Protestant reformers. As early Lutheran churches, these established churches took on many of the visual aesthetic and daily traditions of the Catholic Church while gradually developing their Protestant theology. These established churches were established in union with eachother as part of an effort to resist the established [[Catholic Church]], and its hierarchy served in diplomatic roles to help organize the [[Protestant Union]].
+Following the Great Confessional War, the Lutheran Church was disestablished, its noble adherents removed from power, and its followers persecuted by the [[Dragonnades]]. The Church lost the vast majority of its adherents by [[1590]], but some of its clergy continued to operate underground. Modern adherents of Lutheran theology are divided on the topic of {{wp|Apostolic succession}}, although the College as a whole and the since-established Fraternal Church embrace it. Accordingly, the Fraternal Church believes that the underground Lutheran communities of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries maintained an unbroken chain of Apostolic succession in its underground communities throughout the period of persecution. Unlike [[Urcea]] and the partitioned [[Anglei|Ænglish duchies]], central authority was completely absent in Dericania throughout most of its later history. Accordingly, the underground Lutheran groups used the fractal nature of Dericania to avoid persecution and capture, making efficient use of competing jurisdictional boundaries in many cases and moving from one principality to another to survive.
+In the late 1650s, the [[Imperial Inquisition]] was given legal immediacy everywhere in the Empire for the purpose of hunting heretics to solve this problem, leading to the most intense phase of Lutheran persecution between 1660 and 1710, from which few groups remained in tact. Unlike most other components of the College, few Lutherans went abroad, but many did temporarily during this fifty year period. By the early 18th century, it was believed the problem was eradicated and the Inquisition lost significant resources and authority. After 1710, many Lutherans found it easier to gather once again, and many the children of those who fled abroad returned by 1730. During the 18th century, many princes in Dericania who adhered to the new [[Kilikas Enlightenment]] sheltered Protestant groups generally and Lutherans specifically, allowing these communities to largely recover. The [[Treaty of Lariana]] in the 19th century gave legal cover to these princes, leading to many more Deric princes to give shelter to Lutherans. Throughout the 19th century, the Imperial Inquisition weakened significantly as nationalist concerns and other internal fissure points within the Empire lead to a loosening of religious laws. Accordingly, the Lutherans began to come out of hiding. A provisional Lutheran Church of Dericania was established by agreement in [[1869]] between the largest communities. The provisional church took the unusual step of creating a commission of historians and scholars to determine the historic legitimacy and continuation of the various extant Lutheran sects throughout Dericania, with the goal of establishing clear lines of ordination in order to enhance the church's claims. The full Lutheran Church of Dericania was constituted out of those groups the commission deemed historic in [[1873]], and by [[1880]] most of the other groups agreed to merge their communities, if not their clerics, into the Lutheran Church.
+Despite their early origin and prestige, the Lutherans had the least political or practical protection during the period between the [[Great Confessional War]] and [[Treaty of Lariana]], and their failure to flee abroad have been a contentious historical point among many modern Collegiate scholars. Accordingly, by 1900, the reestablished Lutheran Church of Dericania had no more than 15,000 adherents.
 ====Independent Catholic Association of Levantia====
 Self-identified independent Catholic groups have a long history in modern [[Levantia]]. Due to the widespread prevalence and social dominance of the [[Catholic Church]] throughout the [[Levantine Union]], many groups who have otherwise separated from the authority of the [[Pope]] have nonetheless retained a self-proclaimed "Catholic" identity. The largest concentration of these groups are "{{wp|Old Catholic Church|old Catholic}}" in nature, that is, individual communities and churches who separated from the Catholic Church over the issue of {{wp|Papal infallibility}} as defined at the {{wp|First Vatican Council}}. The second largest group are the so-called "national" churches which formed throughout Levantia in the 19th century as part of the broader nationalist and Romantic movement. The most prominent of these was the National Catholic Church of the Vandarch, which achieved legal recognition as a minority religion in [[Hollona and Diorisia]] in [[1883]] and espoused national supremacy over union with the [[Pope]] and achieved as much as ten percent of the population as members by [[1900]], though declining thereafter. The "Vandarch church", as a legally recognized organization, held pride of place and prestige within independent Catholic circles, with the national Bishop of Mesellianum assuming an unofficial role as spokesman for independent Catholics. These national groups largely maintained the same theology and {{wp|ecclesiology}} as the Catholic Church, with concerns for political independence driving their foundation. Finally, a smaller number of self-identified "old" Catholic communities existed in rural parts of eastern [[Rhotia]], with most scholars describing their position as {{wp|Jansenist}}.

College of Levantine Churches: Difference between revisions

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