The Imperial Temple
Imperial Temples are where the government begins it’s day with auguries. This standard practice began with the Eternal City, who were ancestor worshipers. The Cult of Ancestors is familial, but the Temple adopted memorialization of those appointed as divine, a power held by the Silentium. They record lives and extract lessons on the values prized by the Empire.
The basileus also uses them to distribute the corn dole, an allotment of food regarded as the right of citizens. Divinity is approved by the Silentium, though those faiths preceding the Empire may still operate (subject to the Imperial ban on human sacrifice), the Imperial Temple worships only the Gods of State properly voted upon by the Silentium. The basileus heads the Temple and holds the title Equal of the Apostles but is not worshiped. He can issue Tolerances, essentially licenses to function within parameters set by the basileus. However, as the basileus worships Helios, titan of the sun, so too is Helios sacred in the temples. His Confessor is administrative and spiritual head of the Temple, but does so in the basileus’s name so can be overruled. The objects of Imperial prayer are those individuals whose actions drove the Silentium to record them for all time in the Temple records. Many of these individuals exemplify Imperial virtues by their actions, and some are revered locally or even across the Empire. Klavdivs, for example, is remembered as a cuckold dominated by women across the Empire save in the Tin Isles, where he is remembered as Lawgiver and Conqueror, with temples as far as the Antonine Wall. Dread Emperor Gaius forced the Silentium to vote him among the ranks of the gods, so great humanitarians as well as the worst fiends are recorded, albeit the latter more as public safety warnings. The basileus pronounced “Those we deserve to remember and those we dare not forget” and this statement worked its way to euphemism then dogma as a ritual address used in public prayer.
Regularly, the basileus convenes synods to pool the grassroots, modify Temple parameters, and update the legal concepts of local gods. Imperial law forbids sentient sacrifice, has strict laws on disposal of animal sacrifices, and the Temple controls the corn dole.
Animal sacrifice is conducted by Promethean rite, basically butchering the animal and giving the meat to the poor and the offal to the gods. Wealthy Imperials often proclaim their sacrifices publicly or promise the Temple a sacrifice if an event occurs then sacrifice promptly.
Local churches build shrines and memorials to notable people, some so prestigious as to become pilgrimage stops.
Maintenance of official temple sites is the duty of the Hestials, a revered all-female order. Molesting one carries a death penalty, even for the basileus. Other, independent religious sororities have formed orders along these lines within the Temple hierarchy, many of them cultists of other deities acceptable to the Empire.
Many of the cities of the Empire had gods who were voted into the Temple roster, but strict ban on sentient sacrifice also created devils that drove these cults underground. Many of these are contained in the Psychomanteum Holy Wisdom, where the basileus bound the gods of the Phoenix Empire in the statues of their worshipers and sealed them up forever, but some few still corrupt the skin of the earth. This monument to Imperial power is the donation of the basileus, where it sanctifies itself for public ritual. It is a sacred site where the priesthoods confer and disseminate information. Public gatherings are held there and the Hall of the Gods holds all the sealed gods on display.
Administration is facility based, and largely independent, but local temples, shrines, and monasteries are cooperative. Imperial monks are strictly ascetic, even their militant orders, with all the benefits of that condition. For all that, many monasteries are productive agricultural concerns providing the community food and medicines as the Temple requires.There are many orders of this nature, with vastly different activities and responsibilities. Every facility receives a charter that defines it's obligation to the Empire and to it's sponsor, with vows of dedication taken with each advance within the sponsoring body, ultimately the Imperial Temple, so names are censored by Imperial sensibilities. Paphos is the great temple of Aphrodite, which sponsors many sororities of vastly different natures, while at the Gorgades, it is the shrine of Hecate that sponsors sororities, often with an endowment of land. Other gods prior to Imperial rule are grandfathered so long as they abstain from sentient sacrifice.
The ranks in the Temple structure vary. Priests tend to the needs of a community, answering to a bishop who coordinates a region, then advancing to the patriarchs, who oversee vast areas. Legacy temples, sites held sacred before the Empire, may have priests acknowledged by the Temple and some of them oversee similar areas with the same titles.
The monastic orders have lay members who take vows as Tenders, some rising to Abbots that head facilities, Masters that hold multiple facilities, and Grand Masters that control entire orders. These monasteries must meet certain requirements to maintain their status, as they are not government adjuncts like the temples save for those designated legates who are the basileus’s eyes and ears in the Temple.
Both monasteries and temples are subordinate to local government, but can demand trials in the Imperial courts rather than local justice.
There are also ecumenical courts. Although the Imperial Temple generally submits to censors, as with Imperial government, the Temple may appeal a censor’s ruling to it’s internal courts. These internal tribunals often overturn censorial pronouncements or transfer the accused to another location. They can perform similarly to transfer a case to a higher ecumenical court all the way to the basileus, but it would have to be a severe matter to be moved so far.
Structure
The temples are headed by the basileus in it's role of pontifex maximus, but most Temple administration is done by the Confessor, who is elected at Basilical synods convened for just this purpose, and a bureaucracy of Messengers provides a postal service to keep the temples in touch. Temple Messengers can speak as the Confessor, though certain rites are limited to those priests that maintain facilities. A Messenger can ordain such offices, but must take any such ordained individuals to trial before the Confessor or the basileus to remove this office.
Temple priests undergo a training process, but only recieve their initial office through popular acclaim of the community they administer.
If a Temple facility is the state church, it's officers are ratified by the local government, which can reassign offices and posts as it wishes. The state churches are where the government begins it's day with auguries and oracles to guide them. Lesser Temple facilities are for public worship and the corn dole, and these will be selected entirely by the public then ordained in a ceremony conducted by a priest from the state church.
These nongovernmental facilities are headed by Tenders who are addressed as Father, a throwback title to the days when the cult was administered in the homes by the family patriarch. Sites dedicated to other than the gods, farms that grow food for the corn dole or medicinal herbs, those that raise animals for sacrifice, copy out the literature the Temple depends upon, etc., are not headed by Tenders but by Abbots/Abbesses who have limited ritual roles, generally only under priestly supervision.
These men and women will oversee facilities strictly segregated by sex and answering to the Temple executive of the region. Large cities will have Patriarchs while rural areas will have Bishops, but the role holds the same authority, with Patriarchs only slightly more esteemed. These offices are elected by the priests and monks from a pool of candidates of proven ability and seniority as the Temple leaves selection of those in power to those ruled by that office, but interrim appointments often occur, but must be ratified by those administered before ordination bestows a post permanently.
The basileus can grant a lucrative post to someone but if that individual is not accepted by the body of those attached to that post, the body will present it's selection for ordination.
Once ordained to a post, the individual may appoint subordinates to oversee whatever operations are conducted at a facility, without requiring ratification or acceptance by those below, but anyone in authority can be reported to their superior for infractions, and the administrator and his appointees will discuss these matters.
The presiding bishop or patriarch can remove an individual from office, but any replacement installed must still be accepted by the body of underlings.
The close relationship between the Imperial Temple and local government further muddies the internal workings of the Temple, but it is largely meritocratic if subordinate to the official government. The heads of the Temple cooperate and correspond heavily, but do not always agree, forcing the basileus to call synods to arbitrate matters, personally conducting one for particularly ardent disputes.
Public Agenda
The Temple upholds and extols the wonder and magnificence that is the Empire. It holds itself as the bridge between the world as it is and the Divine, and leads by example.
The Temple reveres the gods approved by the Silentium, but remain an ancestor cult. Unless a god is in the family tree, they only worship if they want something, even if it serves the god's interest.
Assets
Varies, but the Temple controls vast lands and contributes heavily to the health and well-being of the citizenry. It adores the concept and conceit of Imperial life, and sustains both.
History
The Temple structure arose from the Eternal City casting auguries, seeking divine guidance before weighty decisions. Any government body within the Empire begins it's day at the dominant temple of the region with this same procedure.
As the Empire spread to new lands, foreign gods were worshipped, so a small trusted priesthood traveled with the legions and pacified conquered territory.
When the Eternal City seceded from the Empire, it retained the Temple system, but the Highfather of the Eternal City became head of the Western Temples, who are allied with the Imperial Temple as the Universal Temple, a separate entity sharing Imperial roots.
The basileus and His Confessor lead many regional Temples, largely independent but subordinate, and the great patriarchs tend their flocks with interests laying locally, so there is little interaction.
The original Temple at the Eternal City first encountered foreign gods in the colonies of ancient Hellas. The satyrs always maintained prophets for the public, and the ancestor worshipping Temple employed them for the sessions leading to the Twelve Tables, where the Eternal City rose from being a rape camp.
The members of the Twelve Tables cities eventually copied Eternal policy, so the Temple structure spread through the oracular practices of Hellas. Most of the prophecy temples are far older than the Imperial Temple, but they are maintained without any Tolerance even though they are not part of Imperial doctrine, and oracular sites are held by the Temple but completely independent.
Similarly, many foreign temples exist within the Imperial framework that were absorbed with the adherents, and their priesthoods adapted to Imperial restrictions and obligations.
Satyrs performed sacrifice by Promethian Rite, which the Temple was swift to adopt. (In Promethian Rite sacrifice, the edible portions are removed in the god's honor while the fat, bones, and other inedibles are burned. The meat and hides are used to feed and clothe the community)
The Temples became community centers, and prominent men discovered a large enough sacrifice would provide a workforce.
When Octavian the Lawgiver wrote the Imperial Contract, he included the corn dole-a daily allotment of food that was a right of citizenship. This law enriched Octavian's political allies so they kept the Gaius family in the purple for five generations, and in the aftermath of the first succession war, Domitian, Tyrant of Pax ordered the corn dole an Imperial prerogative and administered it through the Temple, funneling the massive funds through the only person he trusted, a maiden aunt who headed the Vestal Order.
The Vestals maintained the temples and became adept at judging a priest's butchery skills and agriculture. They began farming out the corn dole obligation, building the vast Temple monasticism that dominates the Empire.
The various Temple holdings are all locally run and operated, so the Temple is largely run from the bottom up.
Priests are elected by congregation, abbots elected by workers, etc.
This cell structure allows the Temple to maintain facilities throughout the Known World, even where the Empire does not exist, and as a result, diverse beliefs are tradition in remote locales.
The Imperial Temple accepts the Waset as equals as well as the Eternal City, and these three faiths interact as members and recognize each other's priestly authority.
Type
Governmental, Ministry
Leader
Parent Organization
Divines
Location
Related Ranks & Titles
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments