Solsday, 24th of Marcia, 470th year of the 5th Era
As the bell rang signalling the start of the liturgical service, the doors to the church opened as to welcome the Sacred procession. In front of the procession was a deacon who held up a large bible that was covered by an ornamented golden bookcase while behind him were three other deacons with the one in the middle acting as a crucifer holding a very ornamented processional cross on a pole marked by Gorga art and imagery while being flanked by two banners, one of the ‘Chi-Rho’ with the Alpha and Omega symbols while the other being a native artwork and rendition of the Risen Christ with his hands outstretched to symbolize God giving His blessings upon the congregation. And behind them were the clergymen and the Priestly candidates who were to be ordained. Bishop Ludwig was at the front of the Clerical contingent as he was garbed in full liturgical vestments including a mitre, chasuble, stolae, and a crozier. He was followed along by about a dozen or so other priests who were all foreigners like him, most of them hailing from the Lowerian Empire being Germanic folk. In fact many of the deacons and other liturgists were the priest's ‘Malaok’ descendants and so while they were born in the Halaklands, they bore many distinct Germanic features such as blue eyes, some having dirty blond hair, and all of them having much lighter complexions when compared to the full blooded Halak. While the base design of the clothes were foreign, as with everything else, Bishop Ludwig had carefully designed all the patterns to have an indigenous flare to them. Even the liturgy was carried fully in the Halak-language.
But regardless, the main items of interest and highlight to the whole service were of course the native priest candidates. There were about half a dozen of them walking at the back of the procession and they were all wearing black cassocks covered by a black colored chimere and pectoral crosses while also adorning black square berets. While most of the young would-be Priests were from the Rapmasari clan, the one who stood at the front was of course the star of the generation, the young Timotheus of the Sigumogo clan.
While the procession was going on, the congregational crowd had been directed to sing a hymn while they were accompanied by the instruments of the musicians. “~Sangap di Debata Ama, sangap di AnakNa i… ( Glory be to God the Father, Glory be to God the Son…)” As the congregation sang brilliantly along with the music, the Procession had reached to the front of the altar as they took turns bowing towards the altar and each of them taking their designated seats that had been prepared with Ludwig sitting on the bishop’s cathedra. As the bishop took his seat, one of the priests under Ludwig, Father Arnulfssen, took his place standing behind the lower lectern as a Liturgist as he held in his hands the book of liturgies used by the church.
As with the usual liturgy, the service had started with the ‘votum introitus’ stated by the Priest as he opened it in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy spirit, and the Divine Liturgy continued on as the Priest who acted as the main Liturgist carried on with the regular motions of the service as of he'd done it a thousand times, expertly directing the congregation step by step throughout the way, though considering it had been drilled into the Gorians - especially into the young ones among the congregants who had gone through the motions since their birth - they had memorised the liturgy and its sequences fairly quickly and easily.
Josias had enjoyed singing the hymns especially when accompanied by marvelously wonderful instruments played by wonderfully talented and gifted musicians. Eventually, the reading of the epistles began as Father Arnulfssen opened the Great Ornamented Bible and started reading from it. The great bible, called the ‘Bibel Nabadia Nabolon’, was Ephorus Ludwig's Magnum opus. It was a complete translation of the Holy Scripture into the Halak Tongue and was completed during the very early days of the Halak Church. It was Ludwig's insistence of incorporating christian beliefs with the local customs that caused it's rapid success - well besides the Great and Miraculous victory during the Parhalian war against the coalition - and as of that moment, many other missionaries were going to arrive in the Halaklands thanks to the Ephorus’ initiative though Ludwig had been careful of warning the Halak of the other christian sects, Particularly those that he described as the more ‘Imperialist’ Catholic nations.
After the reading of the Epistles, the congregation went through the other usual steps, including the Confession of Sins in a more communal manner where the promises of the forgiveness of sins were read from scripture and the congregation would pray inwardly for forgiveness while accompanied by the piano music, as well as the recitation of the Creed of the Apostles which everyone and their mothers already memorised by heart. After that, the church enjoyed listening to the multiple ‘Choirs’ from the community divided between sections. It was a very communal thing as the Halak peoples were renowned singers and the aspect of Worship in the Christian religion which involved singing and chanting was readily embraced by them.
The choirs were divided into the general section, the ‘Koor Ama’ which was made up of the married men of the village, ‘Koor Ina’ for the general older married women, as well as the ‘Koor Naposobulung’ which was made up of the unmarried young adults of the village. When it came to the Naposo choir, Josias and Serena had gotten up and walked over to the area in front of the altar where the other young men and women were gathered. The one leading and conducting the choir being none other than Johannes. The Naposo were arranged so that the men stood behind the women as the man provided the more bass vocals which provided more power to the song.
After the choirs were over and done with and they had returned to their seats, the next section of the liturgy was the ‘Tingting’ as another priest had walked up in front of the altar holding a piece of paper with pronouncements written on it. The Tingting were basically the announcements for upcoming events pertaining to the proclamations of the liturgical calendar, the collection of funds for the church, as well as Church ministries such as Baptisms, Confirmations, marriages, deaths, so on and so forth. However, this time, there was a pronouncement that wasn't made all that common and was a great surprise to many when they heard it.
“Ruhut Parmahanion dohot Paminsangon… (Code of Canon Law on Ministry and Sanctions)” as the Priest read that allowed, the air within the church grew audibly quiet. Josias couldn't help but hang his head low as he had greatly felt that he had played a part within that process. “By the Law of the Church, due to infringement upon the faith and the sin of Apostasy, the following individuals are to be treated as Devil-Worshippers and contemptuous to the Faith…”
As the priest read out the names of those who had been excommunicated one by one - in total of twelve names were read out - many of the congregants were shocked as they shook their heads in disbelief. The most shocking one of all of course being the King's own Son, Lord Partogi. When she heard her parents' names being proclaimed as heretical heathens, Maria couldn't help but lower her head in shame as she wanted to cry all over again while Safira beside her put a hand on her back to comfort her. King Parhal and the rest of his family were no more pleased by such an announcement and would undoubtedly have been enraged to hear of it had they not been the ones to sanction such a proclamation. But of course, the direction where many of the people had been looking was towards a person sitting among the candidates of priests. Timotheos merely steeled his expression as he endeavored to not let any of the whispers or snide remarks get to him.
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“...and with that, we must Pray that the Lord works His Grace always towards the apostates and the reprobates so that they may see the error of their ways and once more return themselves into the hands of our Most Loving God.” The Priest said as he motioned the sign of the cross after.
Next after the pronouncements, a hymn was sung as the Priest, Father Steinmann, had walked up to the high pulpit and gave a quaint twenty minute homily in regards towards the sacred rite of Ordination, but also lightly touching upon the subject of apostasy and that a great reward awaits everyone in Heaven for those who stay true to the faith in the end. But most importantly, the Priest reminded everyone and stressed once more that the most important thing is to pray for such lost souls and to not then have an attitude of guilt by association. After the homily, the congregation sang once more as the collection plates were spread around where the people had thrown in copper and silver coins as offerings.
The currency of Neacordis differed between the states but it was metal coins that prevailed as the main mode of payment in interstate trading. However, even this was a relatively newer development among the Halak as being a collection of tribes within the mountainous inland highlands and being a ways away from the rest of civilized society, the Halak still mostly dealt in barter and trade based on harvests of rice and similar such quantities of food.
After the collections were gathered and received, Reverend Steinmann had blessed it and the liturgy finally got on to the main event of the ordinations as Ephorus Ludwig stood up and went to the front of the altar as holy oil was prepared followed by the other priests who stood behind him. And so he began to read from a plaque held by a deacon as he started the process of ordination and called out to the candidates one by one as they arrived in front of him and knelt with their heads bowed and their hands clasped.
One by one the young priests came, and to each of them Ludwig had placed his hands on them along with the other priests and administered the words of ordination. After the administering of the words, he traced the oil in the sign of the cross on the foreheads of each newly ordained priest. After the last of the new priests had been ordained, Ludwig blessed them all once more before he gave them their first official act as priests. And that was to help in administering holy communion to the congregants of the church.
And with that, Bishop Ludwig read from the sacred scriptures and retold the story of when Christ on the night of his arrest held the last supper. As he held up the communion host and the chalice and pronounced the words of institution, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: Take; eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he also took the cup after the supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, Drink of it, all of you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
As the words were spoken, the congregation immediately got up I. Rows according to their pews as they went up to the priests who were holding the plates of communion hosts and wine. King Parhal and his family were the first to receive communion under two kinds as they had received it from the Ephorus himself. The ones whom were allowed to receive the Eucharist were those believers who have already been confirmed and are not under sanctions or excommunication from the church, thus leaving the children and unconfirmed teenagers on the pews to pray all the while the musicians were playing their instruments to accompany the ceremony.
Josias stood next to his mother and Serena as he received the host on his right hand before he immediately brought it to his mouth and ate it and crossed himself. The same was true for the wine as when he received it he said a small internal prayer before downing it and crossing himself. After they had taken their communion, each row would return to their pews. Finally, after all the congregation had received communion, Bishop Ludwig led the final prayers as he and all the priests lined up at the front of the church and they began the Lord's prayer and after which they held their hands out toward the peoples while giving the final blessings and the doxology. With a final recitation of the great commission and closed by the three Amens, the service had ended and the people had dispersed to go about their daily activities.
As many of the congregants left, many of the Naposo (young adults) had also chosen to stay around and talk to each other. Josias stayed behind as well with Serena as they were talking to the newly ordained Reverend Timotheus.
“...So it's Reverend Father Timotheus now, huh?” Josias said as he nodded and bowed in a teasing manner to which Timotheus laughed “I honestly don't believe the brother Timo who used to regale in stealing the women's garments and peeking on them while they were bathing would now be among the first of our native ministers…”
“Oy oy oy…. Don't say it like you weren't an active participant yourself, brother Josias..!” Timotheus shot back.
“Please stay strong, Abang…” Serena said as she placed a hand on Timotheus' shoulder with an understanding expression “What you and Maria are going through… it's… it's unimaginable..”
“Don't fret about it, sister. The Lord knows and the Lord will always watch out for us all. I believe that, truly I do… even if I have to tell myself that everyday.” Timotheusn said with a self-mocking smile
“Oh, cheer up, bang!” Josias said as he slapped the man's side to reassure him “See, this is why I’ve been telling you that you need to get yourself a girl! I'm sure lots of the young ladies would love some extra ‘bible study time’ with the new priest!-Ow!!! I was joking!” Serena had given her lover a firm slap in the back of the head.
“Pfft, you actual idiot! Hahahah..” Timotheus said
“Oy! You can't say that! You're a priest now!”
“Yeah, and I also am obligated to always speak the truth so…”
“Pssshh… bloody hell.” Josias said as he laughed and shook his head before he gave a glance to the area next to the piano where he saw Johannes was comforting and chatting away with Maria as he was stroking her head that she'd rest on his shoulder “Well, our sister there seems to have the whole ‘comfort’ thing down if you ask me…”
“Huh? What do you mean… What the!!” As Timotheus turned around he saw what was happening between his sister and the leader of the Naposobulung, Johannes “WOY! Where'd ya think you're touching my sister?!”
“Ah, shit!” Johannes said before Maria pinched him.
“No swearing in church!” She said firmly yet adorably but that did little to ease Johannes who was sweating bullets as he saw Timotheus approach with the most terrifying smile he'd ever seen.
“Ab-b-bang! We can talk this through…”
“My dear, beloved, brother Johannes…” Timotheus had held out both his hands as sparks started to appear on them “It seems you've gotten bolder!”
“Dear God, save me!”
Johannes immediately started running away around the church in fear at the mad priest who had started chasing him. Everyone else couldn't help but laugh at the situation especially when Hesekiel with his ever straight face started playing on the piano at a faster pace and an exciting tune as if to give accompaniment to the chase. Ephorus Ludwig could only shake his head and give an exasperated sigh at the sight of the young ones goofing around but deep down it gave him a sense of relief especially after what they had gone through recently.
Ludwig could only pray that despite everything that might come to pass, the Good Lord would still protect these beautiful smiles.