The Marcionite Catholic Church (marsh - uh - night)

Overview

The Marcionite Catholic Church is considered to be one of the "Big Five" religions alongside Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Marcionism started off as a sect of Judaism roughly 2000 years ago. It is more or less the same as the Roman Catholic Church of our world but with one major difference: They believed in two Gods at one point.
The God of the Spiritual, a transcendent being with no physical form is their higher Deity. His name is Elohim.
The God of the Material, a being on Earth who was the one to create man in their image is their lesser Deity. Their name is Adonai.
Elohim is associated with the Christian God, a being that is all knowing, all powerful, and righteous. Adonai is associated with the Jewish YHWH, whom Marcion saw as a vengeful being.

Hierarchy

Title	Description
Pope	The head of the church, a Bishop elected into office
Cardinal	Members of the College of Cardinals, head Bishops of the church
Archbishop	Heads of the Archdiocese, a region of smaller diocese
Bishop	Religious leaders, they uphold the Sacrament of the Holy Order
Priest	Baptized preacher, receiver of the Sacrament of the Holy Order
Deacon	Ordained minister, assistant to Priests. Typically a Seminarian who is studying to become a priest.
Laity	The Congregation, the people who follow the religion

History

Sect of Judaism, started in the early 1st century with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Jesus and his apostles spread the word

Until Jesus was crucified

Later sources say that he was ressurrected, but that was not common knowledge at first

Adonai made sure that no one but the Mother Mary knew about that

After Jesus' death, the apostles separated and started creating churches where they could spread the Word of the Lord

There was much contention in the churches, particularly between Paul and Peter, about whether they should allow Gentiles to convert without following Jewish Law

Peter was willing to allow Paul's gentile converts to disregard Jewish Food Law until missionaries from the Roman church came to visit

Paul confronted Peter only to have all of his allies, including his travel partner and closest friend Barnabas, side with Peter

Paul left his church then

He left to spread word to gentile converts about how they were accepted, left to start speaking of apocrypha, left to spread what he believed the true Word of God to be

This culminated in Pauline teachings and letters

Enter: Marcion of Sinope

Marcion believed in a mix of Gnostic and Pauline teachings

Believed that Jesus Christ was a new, alien deity that was sent to Earth by the Lord his God

Believed that this new Jesus deity was separate from the Vengeful God that created the world

Believed that Paul was the only apostle

Created the first New Testament Canon

As far as we can tell, at least. We do not have evidence of an earlier collection of canon scriptures

Believed in a higher God, on of the Spirit, and a lower God, one of the Earth

For my purposes, these will be Elohim and Adonai respectively

Believed that the Christian Church was completely disconnected from Judaism and went so far as to say that the two were incompatible

Marcion spread his teachings through the Gospel According to Marcion

Believed to be an edited version of the Gospel According to Luke

This is where the history of Desecrate separates from our world

Marcion was not shunned for his beliefs, as heretical as they were

Instead he was believed, the Laity of the proto-orthodox church saw what he was speaking about

Of course there were two Gods, how could God go to the Garden of Eden and ask where Adam was if He did not have a corporeal form and knew all?

His church and teaching quickly spread through what few members of the proto-orthodox church there was

Eventually, his teaching reached the church in Rome, from which he was excommunicated years prior

The Roman Church put up quite a fight in adopting Marcion's teaching, but eventually adopted them

By this time, Adonai had already been captured and imprisoned

In keeping to Elohim's law, the proto-catholics buried all evidence of a second God

This was done in many ways, including:

burning scrolls

destroying art depicting Adonai

stowing them away under the Vatican

altering the text of the Septuagint

labelling those who refused to comply as heretics and shunting them

Marcion then strived to create a 'Universal' church

Lead to the name: καθολικός (katholikos) means universal in Attic and Modern Greek

Now we are back to the history of our world, but the Marcionite Catholic Church has replaced the Roman Catholic Church

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam

Founding Date

July 16th, 1054

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

The Roman Catholic Church, The Church, The Gnostic Catholic Church

Predecessor Organization

• The proto-orthodox Christians

Demonym

Catholics

Leader

Pope Paul Marcion XVI

Ruling Organization

The Marcionite Catholic Church

Leader Title

The Pope

Founders

• Elohim
• Marcion

Parent Organization

The proto-orthodox Christians

Deities

• Adonai
• Elohim