Pope Augustine

Pope Augustine (born in 1947 as Valeri Ghazarian) is a Vanya Apostolic prelate who has been the current supreme pontiff of the Apostolic Church, the Patriarch of Caero-Minachia, and the sovereign and metropolitan of Aurelia since 2020, following the death of Celestine V. Born in Haykavan, Vanya, Ghazarian grew up in a devout Apostolic household, certainly much more faithful than many of his neighbors, who, as was and in many ways still is the case in Vanya, adhered to the native *Gza* faith or a syncretization of the two religions. As he grew older, Ghazarian felt a greater calling to serve God, particularly as he saw the spiritual deprivation of his own countrymen. In 1965 he entered a seminary in Rustveli and was ordained a priest in his hometown in 1971. Ghazarian soon became locally known as an especially fervent preacher and minister, as he believed that the Church’s Great Commission to proselytize should be put above all other worldly concerns; although he never formally entered a religious order, Ghazarian nonetheless subjected himself to a mendicant lifestyle, forgoing any luxuries to focus on his evangelization, and he also took a vow of chastity.

In 1990, Ghazarian was consecrated as the Bishop of Haykavan, but he was soon promoted to the Archdiocese of Balta and Metropolis of the Arzvaghan province and then made a cardinal of the Apostolic Church. During this time, Ghazarian became more harsh in his polemics against paganism in Vanya, becoming a fierce opponent to allowing the unrepentant to partake in communion and an expert in canon law, enforcing the global Church’s edicts with near-extreme prejudice and even writing and updating several areas of local canon law himself. Not even Vanya’s princely family was safe from his condemnation, and this attitude earned him great reputation, rising to overshadow even his superior, the Catholicos of Vanya. Ghazarian also published numerous works of literature espousing his views on the faith and the Church, becoming a prominent opponent to materialism and progressivism within the Church (especially against Liberation Theology), reasserting the ancient and biblical position that the work of the Lord must come before all worldly concerns and desires.

Ghazarian became a close friend and advisor to Pope Celestine V, despite the sheer disparity between the two in terms of attitude; the pontiff’s soft and tender heart of gold, with and utmost desire to help all the world’s poor in the name of God contrasted greatly with the cardinal’s heart which burned with fervent love for the Lord and hatred for the mistakes of the world, which drove him to his outspoken and often hard-to-swallow sermons and writings, even if inwardly he still cared for all people just as much as Celestine. When Celestine fell ill with RRS-CoV-20, Ghazarian was quick to take up most of his duties while urging all the faithful to pray for the pope’s health and swift recovery. After Celestine’s health rapidly declined, leading to his death in April 2020, it soon became clear that Ghazarian was a top candidate to take the Holy See next. After a period of mourning and a series of votes in the College of Cardinals, Ghazarian was elected to be the next pope on May 22, 2020, taking up the name Augustine after the ancient saint and doctor of the Church.

As the supreme pontiff, Augustine has continued to hold much of the same views he has always had, now able to apply them to the direction of the entire Universal Church. While he held great respect and love for his predecessor, he has said that Celestine became too lax about permitting “unacceptable” practices within the Church, and often would capitulate to certain progressivist voices in the clergy; Augustine has been quick to reverse such decisions, reaffirming and refusing to budge on many positions which the Church has always held, and applying to his reign the same “tough love” (as it has been called) which he had when he was but a young presbyter in Haykavan, exhorting all Christians to live virtuous and spiritually-centered lives. Augustine has also come to back Emperor Octavius IV, as the prelate has come to admire his strong faith (which has come to inform much of his reign) and his commitment to be the “defender of Christians worldwide,” which has led to Augustine saying that “he is truly deserving of the title *Fidei Defensor*; likewise, Octavius has praised Augustine’s passionate love for God and his fellow man, and his desire to proselytize all people and bring them to salvation, saying that “His Holiness is exemplary of what all of us Christians ought to do and believe, and I believe, hope, and pray that his reign will be a true blessing to our whole Church.”