Against the Helsian Heresy
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~ Exarch Trivein, of Trovin.
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The Helsian Heresy which has to the detriment of so many souls afflicted so much of my nation, also known by some as the materialist heresy, the faronun heresy or the Conclavist heresy fundamentally warps the very essence of the True religion in the fabrication of its perversion of the same into falsitude. For the accidents of their polity, that is to say the conclavist governance, is but a manifestation of underlying errors that strike at the very core of the virtue of religion. In this exegesis, as part of my duty to the faithful of Trovin and to the Church abroad, which has had less contact with the errors of the heretics who have committed that unspeakable act of schism which never before had been contemplated, I shall categorise and refute to the best of my modest abilities the errors of the heretics. I do this so that people may not fall for the words of false shepherds, who speak deceit and through cunning rhetoric lead men astray.
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The first category of these essential errors, can be classified as extrinsic. That is to say they are forthright rejections of certain canons defined in the
Thirty Tenets of the Prophet which the Church has been tasked by the same Prophet to pass down through the ages. For their rejection of the office of the Grand-Patriarchate established by the prophet through their perversion of the fourteenth canon necessarily constitutes a rejection of much of body of faith the venerable Kleo passed down to us. The second category of these essential errors is intrinsic, in the sense that their perversion has consequentially resulted in theological and ontological errors in the field of understanding both the nature of the Church and the Grand-Patriarchate, and the nature of the divine Opporia himself.
To speak of the extrinsic errors foremost, it is important to understand the heretical interpretation of the fourteenth canon, the canon stating...
Canon XIV: In order that the army of light may not be leaderless, by divine establishment Opporia granted authority unto the successors of Kleo, the Grand Patriarchs, to rule and to govern over the Church militant in the war against darkness. To them alone and to no other does ultimate authority over the faith reside.
They interpret this canon to mean not Grand-Patriarchal succession one to the next through time and into the future, but rather as being reference to plural successors. Thus they make many men "grand-patriarchs" and govern their heretical sect via conclave. Yet to hold this view is necessarily to reject canon sixteen, which states that the Church is one, universal and under the authority of the Grand Patriarch, with the term Grand-Patriarch being in the singular. It is clear from this canon that a plural understanding would lead to the contradiction of the canons, whereas a succession of Grand-Patriarchs, which is to say the traditional and orthodox doctrine, renders the canons harmoniously in accord and indeed is well supported by ancient tradition. More manifestly, in upholding that the traditional view proclaimed by the authority of the Church is erroneous, they have rejected Canon XV which asserts that
"The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth, infallible in its doctrine, guaranteed by Opporia who is truth for all time. For the Church is the sword of truth against error, the army of light against the darkness. By it alone is the light of revelation received, and it alone has the authority to discern and proclaim truths of heaven." If the Church was in error with regards to canon XIV, than this canon is necessarily false. By implicitly asserting this, the heretical doctrine constitutes the abomination of denying the infallible word of the Prophet and the revelation granted unto him. This is something the heretics clamour to deny, for indeed they justify their heresy based on appeal to the prophet through his canons and assert totally his primacy. Yet their interpretation also constitutes blasphemy against our god, for to say the Church ever erred in matters of doctrine is to say that Opporia failed in his promise to the prophet to guarantee the Church he commanded established, from all doctrinal error.
In responding to this objection and to the teaching of the true Church to this end, for indeed there can be only one true Church as is clear in canon XVI, they appeal to canons XXIII and XXIV, which assert that the divine law is knowable through nature and reason, and likewise that the two gods, light and dark are knowable by human faculties. They do this likewise to justify their interpretation of canon XIV, using the metaphor of multiple viewpoints of the one object resulting in greater clarity and greater comprehension of truth. Yet the very base assumption that men can of their own contemplation come to greater understanding of the divine mystery (as compared to simple participation in the divine life) and absolute divine truth Is expressed in neither canon, the canons state only that the reality of divine law which governs right and wrong and the existence of the two gods, are truths knowable without recourse to revelation, these realities being self-evidently true as evidenced by the numerous nations which like the true religion comprehend the cosmic duality, and by the existence of universals in human morality. Thus their objection via appeal to these canons is rendered utterly void.
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The canonical contradictions of the heretics doctrine and canonical exegesis, although self-evidently proof of their error, does reveal furthermore intrinsic theological errors. The first of these, being the one at the root of their objection to the office of the unitary Grand-Patriarchate, is one which I mentioned in refuting conclavist canonical theory, namely that divine truth can be known human reason, itself a rejection of the transcendence of Opporia proclaimed in the twelth canon. This translates in theological doctrine into the error that the role of the Grand-Patriarch (or patriarchs in the case of the conclavists) is as an oracle in the sense of receiver of divine messages, as a receiver of revelation who has some infallible authority to interpret truth (with their objection to this false conception which is not taught by the true Church, being as noted previously that many can see better than one). This of course is in opposition to canon XV, which asserts that it is the Church, not the Grand-Patriarch, that has the authority to discern the truths of heaven, this being so because the Church is a total society as expressed in canon XVII.
The Grand-Patriarchs role thus, is not as infallible interpreter, but rather as "commander of the army of light" which is to say the leader in the divine imperative to convert the world and combat error and darkness in the celestial war (canon XIII), to rule and to govern the Church in its earthly operations (canon XIV) and act as final authority on matters of fatih (canon XIV) serving as the final adjudicator of whether something is acceptable in light of the deposit of faith, or heretical. The Grand-Patriarch does not of himself thus define, but rather protects, defends and advocates the faith, ensuring via the grace of Opporia (who ensures that the perfect truth is preserved in the Church) that the body of truth and the words of the prophet are passed down through time to the faithful without deviation. When canon XIV speaks of final authority, it is in this role as protector and guarantor, for it is his task and special charism instituted and safeguarded by the living god to be the final judge on what is acceptable practice or theology in the light of the truth passed down to the Church and which he is tasked with protecting. Thus it is that the Church as a totality receives revelation, building up on the unchanging truth of which the Grand-Patriarch is protector over time, while it is preserved from doctrinal error and the deceit of the dark god by the grace granted to the Grand-Patriarch by the living god, in his capacity as the final authority on matters of faith. This reality of "The Church receives" is why the Grand-Patriarchate in matters of doctrine has focussed not in developing new theology, but in condemning errors (in addition to his separate governmental role within the Church as its ruler) such as heathenism, and of course the heresy about which I am writing. It is why multiple rites are nurtured so long as they express the same truth, why new developments that are not in contradiction to doctrine such as monasticism are permitted and allowed to grow and why the Church allows for theological inquiry which does not contradict the canons (or constitute the abominable intrusion of heathenism at the behest of the dark one) with only the rare incident of censure.
This role reflects the understanding of the Church that Opporia, as the life of the One, is indeed transcendant and a necessary and universal cosmic principle. Our Lord is not some falsely deified human as is Taleldil (for indeed Ardavani doctrine proclaims Taleldil was once a man) or the Aitahs. The divine is not some creaturely material substance subject to change, but rather a universal constant that is entirely beyond the created existence. The heretics, in asserting that truth can be known by men, as a consequence of the corruption of Aitahism and as a legacy of Haiao worship, attest in truth that Opporia is not transcendant, but something that exists within creation. Thus they are materialists in that they vaingloriously presume that Opporia can be known by human material faculties within creation, whereas the Church asserts that it is purely through revelation that knowledge of the divine mysteries can be unfolded. Thus summated, the heretics primordial error is the belief in their own competence (hubris) in matters of the divine, and it is from this that their self-contradictory doctrine, which canonically contradicts itself proceeds.
