Nicaenism

**Nicaenism** is a 21th-century Christian religious-political movement founded by a former Catholic priest Hector Van Reyes. The movement is primarily marked by its militancy towards both other faiths and old establishments of Christian faith, embrace of radical Christian fundamentalism and rejection/modification of many traditional tenets of Christian faith. After involvement in a couple of large recent conflicts in Europe, Nicaenism has spread widely and shook the very foundations of Christianity - currently it is considered to be a major ideological force in Northern hemisphere, where it continues to attract thousands of followers.

## Origins and formation

### Ideological rift between traditionalism and secularism

As typically explained by the Nicaenist ideologists, their beliefs arose from an ideological strife between the so called "**secularists**" and "**traditionalists**". With rise of modern secular democracies and anti-clerical political beliefs (radical leftism being one of the primary root causes) in post-WW2 society, the Church has been gradually losing its status as a dominant moral and value-inspiring institution. As secular politics took hold in many societies, in most of Western civilization millions of people had lost all sense of the sacred, lacked any sacramental meaning, and disdained any transcendental purpose or sense of providence. The "life without God" became a norm in many previously religious societies in west, leading to massive rift between the traditionalists (the faithful still actively adherent in Christian teachings) and secularists (people either irreligious or anti-religious).

The secular thought has immensely profited from unprecedented rise of living standards and status-quo of international politics after the fall of communism towards the end of 20th Century. In minds of many, it was the secular state that provided all needed guidance and sense of security for the modern man, while the Church was actively reduced and even vilified as a cause for most lingering problems, an obstacle to the ever-increasing progress of the society - no matter how obscure, hypocritical and debouched the so called "progress" was in minds of many.

Millions of Christians, particularly in the West, were left stranded as secularists entrenched themselves as prime leaders and ideologists of the modern world. Worse for the traditionalist thought, the secularist ideas were started being implemented by the leaders of the churches themselves as a desperate move to survive and stay relevant in the new ideological landscape. As a result, the Vatican for the Nicaenists has ceased to be seen as an unifying figure, and instead became an institution of greed, corruption and embarrassment after accepting previously heretical changes to the traditional canonical teachings. A new hope and inspiration for the Catholic traditionalists was needed to keep the faith from shrinking, as for Catholics the Papacy continued to march the Church towards destruction.

### Genesis of New Millennium

The approach of 21st Century meant a reform was needed, and it had to come from elsewhere rather than the Church itself. The first push came from a dissenting members of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant clergy that managed to form a solid enough network of like-minded individuals. Though large, majority of members were not very influential or fringe to make any meaningful impact. If it weren't for a single exception - by 1990's a former Catholic priest Hector Van Reyes had finished his ideological treatise-manifesto *Genesis of New Millenium*, which outlined the previously mentioned reasons for decline of faith in the West and called for preparations of active Christian struggle against its ideological opponents to secure a stable and powerful follower base, resistant to forces of secularism. What made Reyes different from other like-minded traditionalists was the fact that Reyes was very wealthy and had deep connections within Vatican that once disavowed him for a number of ideological (and other very peculiar) reasons.

Reyes used his wealth to spread the manifesto around traditionalist circles throughout 90's and managed to gather a large circle of followers. Eventually the ideas were condensed enough to allow for a first official meeting of traditionalists to solidify and lay down the canon of the new movement.

#### Convent of Christ's Blood

Sometime during 90's, as the time was right, Reyes had invited 24 Christian priests of various denominations to his castle-residence of Alcantara in Spain under utmost secrecy as to avoid any unwanted attention from general public. The secrecy was well needed as majority of figures gathered were high profile clergymen. Among these men were:

**Catholic**

* Cardinal Giosuele Trombetta
* Bishop Alexander Till Hössler of Germany
* Bishop Manuel Núñez of Spain
* Bishop Heinrich Schroth of Austria
* Bishop Augustýn Urbánek of Czhechia
* Bishop Florin Manius of Eastern Roman Republic
* Priest Viktor Kraus of Dresden, Germany
* Priest Leon Strasburger of Weimar, Germany
* Priest Luka Bescós of Coimbra, Portugal
* Priest Aureus Demicus of Adrianople, Eastern Roman Republic
* Priest Ernests Zviedrītis of Riga, Latvia
* Priest Joel Montilla of Barcelona, Spain
* Priest Juan Antonio Aisa of Barcelona, Spain
* Priest Cecco Perillo of Roma, Italy
* Priest Orazio Sarni of Palermo, Italy
* Priest Edoardo Picariello of Naples, Italy

**Eastern Orthodox**

* Patriarch Theodoros III of Eastern Roman Republic
* Patriarch Theophilus I of Greece
* Hegumen Demetrios Mysos of Mileseva Monastery, Serbia
* Priest Alexei of Lviv, Tsardom of Volhynia
* *One unknown priest from Russia*

**Protestant/Anglican**

* Bishop Joakim Fornberg of Strängnäs, Sweden
* Priest Patrick Harrett of Manchester, United Kingdom

**Other**

* Patriarch Ayele Eyob Lemuel Merkorios of Ethiopia

During a long 2 week debate it was agreed that most aspects of Christianity are not compatible with some values of modern world and it will completely weaken off in coming 21th Century due to passiveness and growing complete secularism among most countries. Reyes arguments persuaded the members of Convent and they recognized that a change needs to happen - the inevitable armed struggle can be foreseen as one of the potential ways the radical change can be upstarted. For this reason, the whole image of Christ and His pacifist teachings had to be re-evaluated in the context of newly established movement. The meek pacifist doctrine that was wrongly and widely propagated by the old Christian establishment had to be ousted, as the Church had suffered too much in recent age - new martyrs had to be those of valiance in active struggle, not passiveness in face of adversity. Among other agreed ideological changes were several important changes in canon law, eventual mending of Great Schism and finally - complete unification of the Christian faith under one, primary and ecumenical Organization that is fundamental, strongly against secularism and able to survive for many centuries to come.

As such, Reyes, as the originator of the new ideological doctrine and holder of considerable financial power, was elevated to the position of ideological leader of the new movement. As the Convent concluded, the participants then made a defining acclamation towards Reyes - *Axios!* (Greek ἄξιος, "worthy of", "deserving of", "suitable"), declaring him the undisputed leader and visionary of the new movement.

## Ideology

Nicaenism is originally named after the historic First Council of Nicaea, which formally settled the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father. In addition the Council was the first one to promulgate the very first and strict canon law - something the Nicaenists find lacking in modern Christian churches. Due to the impact this historical event had on Christian faith in centuries after, so do the Nicaenists hope their "reforms" will eventually solve many current problems the Christian faith is facing and open up new possibilities for a strengthened church.

### Main principles and tenets

#### "Active Struggle"

Nicaenists believe that for Christian faith to survive and flourish once more, the faithful are required to take up arms when necessary and engage in "active struggle". This is basically a call to wage holy war against heathens, heretics and other designated enemies of the Church.

While a less "enlightened" Christian or a irreligious demagogue would claim that Christianity is a religion of peace and Jesus had prohibited violence by instead calling to "turn the other cheek", a follower of Nicaenism would establish that Christ was never a figure of passive pacifism, but rather of a stern, but merciful father. As such, Christians should spread gospel and invite as many non-believers to the flock as possible, while being always ready to obliterate any forces that threaten or blaspheme against the holy faith. For this reason Nicaenists hold dearly the passage of Bible which describes Jesus confronting the merchants inside the temple - the Nicaenist hand will be strong and ready to punish those who insult the faith.

Even the concept of Christian mercy has changed among Nicaenists, as mercy is supposed to be earned by acts of faith and good, rather than be guaranteed no matter the circumstances. A Christian sinner can be saved, a heretic and a heathen can only be saved by the grace of God Himself. Those who commit most heinous sins and crimes against God shall have no mercy in life and afterlife.