On Covenants

It is from the Lancea Sanctum that the kindred meaning of the word covenant arises. Kindred are, of course, prone to endless variations in the structuring of their requiems, in their practices, in their faiths, and in their cultures. In the truly ancient world, blood ruled. The line from which one came was everything. Further, kindred were few and far between due to the generally lower population of kine, leaving what would come to be known as praxis small, general distinct populations, each with their own traditions.

The Lancea Sanctum changed that. The earliest members shared the words of Longinus to other kindred without regard for lineage, without regards for ethnicity as mortal, without regards for the temporary and shifting borders of kingdoms on the map, without regards to whether one had been born male, female, or something more complicated. The Lancea Sanctum offered a Covenant with God. They offered to any who would hear a logical ordering to all things, a purpose and place that transcended anything save commitment. Kindred who were male, female, slave, noble, of any clan or bloodline, all were welcome and all were equal.

It is in response to the Lancea Sanctum that other covenants, in the modern kindred understanding of the word, were formed. The Invictus came to be an understanding of the temporal structure and power of kindred society. The Circle of the Crone came to be a covenant, rather than isolated practitioners and worshipers, in response to the Lancea Sanctum's activities. In more recent centuries, first the Ordo Dracul and more recently the Carthian Movement rose, challenging the assumptions of the natures of each individual and our society respectively. Yet we know each and every one by the common word of covenant, a word that originated in the kindred world with the Lancea Sanctum.

Having said all of this, I will now say that the Lancea Sanctum is more than a covenant in the modern kindred understanding of the word. It is more than a clearly defined and delineated group of kindred, that has no overlap with any other such ordering of kindred. The Lancea Sanctum properly harkens back to the origin of the word. Its members hold a Covenant with God, which is more than a covenant with other kindred. In this distinction, I will use Sanctified to mean part of the Covenant with God and Lancea Sanctum to mean part of the temporal Church of Longinus.

What does it mean to be Sanctified?

There are many answers, but the most common can be found in the five lines that comprise the Monachal Creed, the most traditional understanding of this Covenant with God, and the one to which at least half of the Lancea Sanctum around the world yet adhere to.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth. 

To be Sanctified is to believe in the God who forged and ordered the whole of Creation.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary to redeem Man from Sin through his death and resurrection.

To be Sanctified is to believe in the reality of the Christ, the virgin birth, and that through his sacrifice, mankind was offered redemption.

I believe that Longinus, by piercing the Savior’s side as he hung from the Cross, did reveal the divinity of Christ through fulfillment of the prophecies and that, while Longinus was rightly Damned for his blasphemy, his damnation was itself part of God’s Holy Plan.

To be Sanctified is to believe that the events described in the Testament of Longinus are true; that the spear bearer described in the Holy Bible pierced the side of Jesus Christ with the Spear of Destiny. This act was the culmination of God's Holy Plan for the mortal life of His Son and the deed was both an offering of redemption for mankind and damnation for Longinus.

I believe that for my sins I am damned to Hell and yet through damnation I may find my purpose in God’s Holy Plan.

The Beast beats in our breasts. Hunger threatens to overshadow our intellect. The Sun and the light of God are anathema to us. Each night we rise, we sin in our hearts, in our minds, and in the acts of predation that are necessary for us to survive. To be Sanctified is to know and accept this, that our damnation is eternal. Yet, through our Covenant with God, we have been shown a mercy; that we might continue to play a part in His Holy Plan and steer the living to the eternal salvation offered them by God.

Any who accept these five things can be Sanctified, whether they are a member of the temporal Church of Longinus, the Lancea Sanctum, or not. One need not be a member of the clergy to enter into a Covenant with God. Like Jesus's offering of salvation to all mankind, God offers a place in His Plan to all kindred who would enter into a Covenant with Him. How to do so can be found more fully within the Testament of Longinus, His Prophet sent to reveal this path to kindred society.

Sum Sanctus (I am Sanctified),

Simon Patterson Gloveli

Inquisitor Generalis de Lacus Magni