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| Gospel of the Pers | |
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Though there are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Gospel on which Armentinism is based, Armentinians share a set of beliefs that they hold as essential to their faith.
Armentine[]
The deity of Armentine, whose gender is unspecified, is the central figurehead of the Church. In the religion, It is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. The One is understood to have a will and personality and is an all powerful, divine and benevolent being. The Creator is represented in Gospel as being primarily concerned with people.
Armentine is believed to be both immanent (meaning that It is with and within all things), and transcendent (meaning that It is outside space and time, and therefore eternal and unable to be changed by forces within the universe). Although the branches of Armentinism believe that they worship the same One, some have differing beliefs about Its nature.
Armentine is usually held to have the properties of holiness (separate from sin and incorruptible), justice (fair, right, and true in all his judgments), omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, omnipresence and immortality (eternal and everlasting).
The Gospel of the Pers[]
The Gospel of the Pers is seen as the "bible" of the Church of Armentine, consisting of several books each written by a Per (the Armentinian equivalent of a Christian saint), which are, as follows:
- The Book of Orsa, by the Almighty Armentine, which describes in two chapters the earliest endeavors of the One, from It's creation of the universe to the creation of the heavens. Orsa is Latin for "beginning."
- The Book of Procedo, by Per Marilyn, a holy woman of the third generation of mankind, and daughter of the first man to walk with the One, Per Guilliumus. Three short chapters describe a brief history of humankind to Armentine's creation of Monii, beautiful creatures; Herbonii, holy angels; and Dreshii, who rebel against the One and form a hell called Ealjaee, where those who do not walk with Armentine will be tortured. Procedo translates as "continue."
- The Book of Nepotis, by Per Gorgantine. In two books, this story describes Gorgantine the Holy's quest for answers to his fall from grace. Nepotis means "grandson", or, more broadly, "descendant", as Gorgantine was the descendant of mankind.
- The Book of Pia, by Per Dierich the Dreshii. Pia is defined as pious, as this book describes the patron Dreshii of mankind, Dierich, as being. In a few chapters, he recounts the tale of saving Gorgantine's soul, until ending with a detailed genealogy.
- The Book of Salus by Per Eoi the Prophet. Since Salus means "salvation", it is a fitting name for the tale of sinful Eoi, who rises to become holy after he kills a man and undergoes proper cleansing through true remorse and justice.
- The Book of Ignotus, by Per Byu the Wiseman. It is, ironically, unknown what this book's Latin title of "unknown" means, but it is written by one-hundred thirty-year old prophet Byu of Mehrgarh, and describes the Fall of Man; in which Armentine recreates the human race using the natural element of evolution, and the birth and execution of the religion's savior, Per Jewel Dikyr.
Jewel Dikyr[]
An early artist's depiction of Jewel.
One of the central tenets of the Church of Armentine is the belief in Jewel Dikyr as the Sister of the One and the Savior.
Armentinians believe that Jewel, as the Savior, was foretold by the Creator as savior of humanity, and hold that Jewel's coming was the fulfillment of prophecies of the First Testimony of the Pers, in the Gospel. The core belief is that through belief in and acceptance of Jewel, humans can become closer to Armentine and thereby are offered rewards and eternal life.
According to the Gospel, Jewel was planted by the Creator into a family (modern interpretation traditionally holds their surname was Dikyr, a name not mentioned in the original text), that worshipped the God of Israel, Yahweh. Little of Jewel's childhood is recorded in the Gospels, however, in comparison, Her adulthood is well documented in the Gospels contained within the Second Testament.
These accounts are attributed to Jewel's first disciple, Per Byu the Wiseman, in about 5,980 BCE. They record a prophecy regarding Her birth, written by Byu himself, and follow up twenty years later, when Jewel is now eighteen, and coming to Byu's own hometown of Mergarh. When She arrived there, he saw Her golden hair glinting in the sun and jumped from his window to see Her, for he believed he, aged one-hundred thirty-one, would finally die upon meeting Her.
He was proven wrong however, but Jewel told him not to weep, for he was blessed among men, and would be Her disciple. As the Two left Mergarh, followed by a large crowd of converts, the fabric of the skies opened up, and a beam of light fell upon Them, bringing praise from Armentine at how well pleased It was with Them. At the same time, Jewel touched Byu on the shoulder, and all the afflictions of his old age vanished. This is Her first recorded miracle.
Next, in the Bolan Pass, Jewel, Byu, and the crowd of worshippers come to a dead garden at a house owned by an atheist named Phillipus. To attempt to prove Her righteousness to him, Jewel fixes the limbs of a crippled man, and brings the dead fetus of a pregnant woman back to life in Her second and third miracles, respectively. Phillipus continues to refuse to believe, so Jewel goes to his withered garden and brings every dead plant there to life. When She came to a dead patch of ivy larger than anything else in the garden, she clapped her hands, and it grew to a humongous size, and became "a forest of ivy." In response to this, Phillipus began to worship Jewel, and She granted him the title of disciple before leaving the Pass. In memory of the miracle at the garden, she earned the nickname "Ivy."
After leaving the area, the followers next come to a land devastated by a plague, so fierce that when Ivy tries to cure them manually, nothing happens. Then, in a fourth miraculous event, she began to sing with "heavenly beauty and power" that cured the ill. When Ivy and Her followers leave this unnamed land, the now cured citizens follow with Her.
Levels of Existence[]
Based on several excerpts from the Gospel of the Pers, Armentinians believe that everything that exists, will exist, or has existed can be classified into groups; That Which Is[1], That Which No Longer Is[2](also, That Which Was[3]), and That Which Is/Was Not Yet[1].
Interestingly, That Which Was Not Yet existed from the beginning of time, before even the Creator. It was an unformed substance within the Void that would later create the first thing; Armentine Itself. The idea that some unformed substance existed before all else is supported by many other religions, as well as modern science. According to the Book of Orsa, this "anti-matter" still exists, and the One uses it to continuously invent new things.
In the beginning, when someone died they became That Which Was, and their essence was taken out to the Void to be free. The Almighty could at any time reuse this essence to create a new person. However, when the devilish Dreshii rebelled from the One, they took all the essences from the Void to torture for eternity in their land. If they had walked with the Almighty, It would take them to the heavens, where they will live in peace.
Temples[]
In the Gospel of the Pers, it has been heavily noted by Armentinist scholars that the Almighty specifically bans the use of temples and churches in his honor, especially grand ones. This has, for many years, prevented the Church from receiving tax exemption within the United States, which holds that for a religion to be properly organized it must have meetings specifically held for worship.
The Gospel also records that, after an unnamed King of the Earth built the grandest and highest temple ever to anger Armentine, the Almighty burned the church to the ground, and one of the falling fiery pieces killed the king. Armentine then proceeded to destroy everyone who dwelled on the earth, and crush all remnants of mankind into powder.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Orsa 1:3 -- "Before the Endless Void was filled with the stars and galaxies and all That Which Is, it was filled with That Which Was Not Yet; unformed matter."
- ↑ Orsa 2:18 -- "But more time passed, and Hywel and Athilda died aged sixty-four and seventy, and their essence flowed back into the Void, becoming That Which No Longer Is."
- ↑ Orsa 1:4 -- "All of That Which Was Not Yet had unique traits to it, and, very rarely, two clouds of what Was Not Yet would meet, and form unto them That Which Was, and this was how I, the Almighty, was created."