More Malkioni mishmash

From: Peter Metcalfe, CAPE Canty <CHEN190_at_cantva.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 11:45:31 +1300


Seriously debating internally whether this thread should be continued on the daily. To the lurkers: if it gets too boring, say so, and I'll take it offline.

Joerg Baumgartner:


Alex had written:

>> At any rate, the term "Invisible God" is certainly
>> hokey enough to be of GLish origin...

>The history of the Councils mentions the Invisible God already for the
>Third Council (of 453 S.T.), which predates even the earliest God
>Learners. They said that hs truth was supreme, and thereby possibly
>tried to counter the residual illumination spread by Gbaji 75 years
>earlier and still not totally eradicated.

Not quite. All records of the Third Council (And every council before the sixth) are known from later God Learner writings who would see no reason to distinguish between the Creator and the Invisible God. The original document would, IMO, have read something like 'The Inspirations of the Creator is Supreme' with the upholding that there is no god but the Creator (a la New Hrestol Way). Furthermore Gerlant and Talor did not both meet at the Third Council. Only one of the two (I don't know which one) appears to have attended the conference which gives you some idea as to its purported unity (Source from Vadeli memoirs).

>The ecumenical councils _sometimes_ did change the way of the church,
>mainly when cementing battlefield proven truths. Especially the Third
>and Fifth Councils did this.

The Fifth Council was _before_ Miglos launched his invasion of Brithos. The truths arrived at the Fifth Council are likely to be discredited because Miglos was killed in trying to take Brithos. [The God Learners then for some reason tried to save Brithos from Umaliath the Fireberg, probably for a peace treaty?] I think this contributed to the eventual corruption of the God Learners. Perhaps to which the surviving Seshnegi responded to by picking up the Truths of the Fifth Council?

>The Third Council (held shortly after the destruction of Dorastor)
>settled at the Invisible God as holder of the highest truth. This still
>allowed other truths, only that they would be lesser - which most modern
>Stygians happily agree to. Apparently the united Stygian religion of
>Arkat's Dark Empire claimed that there were other truths beyond Creation.
>Some modern Arkat worshippers still seem to think so.
 

And the Creed of the Men of the West is 'that there is no God but the Invisible God and Malkion is his Prophet.' Considering that Malkion expelled the False Gods, there is a strong tendency towards Monotheism in Malkionism which would have been around before the Invisible God became Canon. The Third Council report looks like subtle rewriting to allow for Henotheism among the later God Learners.

>However, IMO one of the most serious problems the Seshnegi had with
>Arkat was that he started to worship _foreign_ gods, not their own
>(Humath, later Zorak Zoran, instead of the native deities of war).

The Seshnegi abandoned paganism circa 200 ST after the rise of the True Malkioni Way. Probably, IMO, by the time Arkat came along, the land was ruled by a fanatical nobilty with a largely (suppressed) pagan peasantry. The Peers of the Realm were united in trying to resist the Lies of the King and Counseller of Tanisor. Arkat converted to the attitudes of the Fanatical Hrestolism (remember, he was a fanatical Brithini before this, so I don't think he went overboard at this time).

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