Theology of the Soul

In the tradition of the
world, there are conflicting claims about the soul.  The soul is defined by all as an immortal,
moral being of spirit.  But a controversy
rages over this one doctrine, important to all: Do mortals have souls?

According to the Saints
of the Ecclesia, all things immortal have souls.  But the controversy is based around whether
mortals have no souls and at what time (if any) they will receive their souls.  According to the teaching of the old Aman
Ecclesia, mortals do not have souls and either receive souls at the moment of
their death, or are denied one and perish forever.  In many monastic traditions, it is believed
that all men exist in two forms: A physical body and man a spiritual self who
is merely an aspect of the godhead.  But
these being are separated by the mortal body’s imperfection.  At the moment of death, you will be united
with your spiritual self if you attain perfection.  Otherwise, you would be banished to oblivion.  However, the belief in the Crespian view
eventually developed that you could become one with your soul by enlightenment
or by purging yourself of your flaws.
This belief system competes with the traditional view and the
controversy has come to a head in the form of the 17th Ecclesiarch
since the saints.  He declared that all
mortals had a soul, separate from the godhead. He also dictated that all men
have souls that can be damned or enlightened.
This controversy remains unresolved as the doctrine had never been
codified before he spoke, and the Ecclesiarch is considered by some to be the word
of the Godhead by many Ecclesians.
Overturning it would lead to the lessening of Ecclesian Authority.  Moreover, the Reya of Laurë and many
Crespianians hold this view, and would object to its overturning.  A civil war is brewing in the Ecclesia and
the best case scenario would be a less controversial Ecclesiarch.

Aveyan taught that all
men were the children of the Godhead and Creator of the Universe.  As a result, all of us have a bit of divinity
bound within us called the soul.  When we
died, this fragment is put through a purging process and assigned to a heaven
that it is fit for or into damnation.
Other traditions (such as the Tarisian Heresy) dictate that all men are
God, and merely deceive themselves into believing that there is a separation
between each other and veil between them and God.  This belief occurs in many of the monotheistic
traditions, and is considered heresy.

The ancients believed
various things about the soul.  Many
believed themselves to be the physical children of divine ancestors and that your
soul was within you and was a fragment of your ancestor.  Others believed that all men were the
shattered remains of the Creator (a belief some Ecclesians hold) and that all
men and gods were different individual aspects of him.  A common belief is that there is no
particular reward or punishment in this life, and that once your body died, it
was freed to do as it wished and wandered the world eternally.

A modern belief, born
from the old Aman Ecclesia is that mortals do not have a soul at all and that
there is no afterlife.  This view is held
by the Seclorum, who are a new philosophy based in the traditions of the Old
Palatinate.  They are a minority among
the nobility of the Palatinate.

The Nature of the
Soul, Adanë Laurë Caerom, Priest of the Ecclesia