Our Choice of Prey

This week our reading will look at what the Testament of Longinus has to say about our choice of prey. This is surely our most enduring and persistent of ministrations for the kine, our mortal herd.

I had originally considered that this week's readings would draw from the Torments of Longinus, the second book within the Testament. Upon further reflection I have instead decided to draw from the third book within the Testament, The Rule of Golgotha. Golgotha 3 in its entirety is a tremendous source of information on this subject. I will draw a few short selections from it though and leave it to others to read more on their own.

Thus the Dark Father spake: that what you once were is not what you now are.
As a mortal is a sheep, so are the Damned wolves among them. That role
is defined by nature — wolves feed on their prey, but they are not cruel to
them. The role of predator is natural, even if the predator himself is not.

These words begin Golgotha 3. These words set the stage for what is said thereafter. It begins to offer us the mindset that we must adopt in regards to both ourselves and our prey. The statements that follow are each important, yet it is vital that we understand they spring from this statement.

We are not what we were. We are apart from mortals. That we feed upon them is natural and proper. We must not be cruel though, simply fulfilling our part in God's plan.

Man is like unto the angels with his faculties and compassion. As we were
once men, we have these qualities at hand in every undertaking. We can
show the rich their poverty, we can show the powerful their weakness, we
can show the healthy their decay, and we can show the pious their hypocrisy.
To all men we can show the misery and depredation of the physical
world, so that their souls may yearn more intensely for the kingdom that
may be theirs, through the grace of God.

When we choose our prey, part of our obligation is to offer a reminder of the eternity ahead in exchange for the ephemeral present that we take away. Our predation is not blind, but calculated. Our prey should be chosen with care and the nature of our approach to each fitted to remind them of the temporary nature of this world and of the glory that lays before them if they are but willing to seize it.

You shall not feed on children, for a child may sin but they are sins of ignorance,
not of willful submission to evil. A child must be allowed to grow
to the age of maturity so that his sins will be his own and his responsibility
shall be full.

This is the first of the bans that are laid out in this chapter. It is a logical outgrowth of the purpose of our predation as is the next ban, that against feeding upon the simple or mad. If our predation is to steer our prey to salvation, we can not feed upon those who can not learn from our ministration. Our feeding, while necessary for ourselves, is about the future prospect of our prey and to waive that in feeding upon one who is by their nature ignorant or unknowing, we serve nothing but ourselves. That is not our place.

Thank the Lord your God when you feed, and ask for his blessing on the Vitae

claim to fulfill your anointed purpose.

Feed justly, and with discretion. Feed for hunger and feed for joy. Remember
always you are the hunter and devourer of mankind.

These are the closing words of Golgotha 3. We must always recall, even in the ecstasy of feeding, that we serve a higher purpose. At our best we can but hope to glorify God. The vitae we take is a blessing that allows us to carry on and a task that must always be part of the great duty that rests with each of us. Let us be thankful for that blessing and diligent in our administration of our mandate.

Sum Sanctus,

Simon Patterson

Augustus Inquisitor de Lacus Magni

Our Purpose

This week's reading is once again from the first book of the Testament, the Maledictions of Longinus. Thirty-three years had passed since Longinus became Damned and he had at last gone to the tomb of Christ and seen that it was empty.

6 And there appeared to me a blinding light, and I cowered in the tomb, thinking the sun had risen, but there stood before me archangel Vahishtael, with black wings and the heads of a calf, a serpent and a wolf, and holding a spear like the Spear I still held, and he spoke to me, and said:
7 “Fear me, Longinus. For I am the messenger of your purpose.
8 “The Damned are many, and they are denied salvation.
9 “But the Damned serve as the sign to humanity of the price of sin, and to make mortals fear and to understand that their lives are brief and full of pain, and they can only see the most pitiful reflection of the glories of Heaven, for they do not see clearly, but see as if through a blurred mirror,
10 and the Damned do not see through the mirror at all.
11 “And it is the lot of the Damned to take the blood of mortals, that mortals might know that they will die, and that their only salvation is in the next life.
12 “And it is your lot to go and give this message to all of the Damned, that they might know God’s purpose for them and rejoice.
13 “Now go, Longinus, and spread the Word to all the Damned.”

14 And the angel left me, and I rejoiced, for I knew that I was once lost, and
now I was found, and that I had found my purpose.
15 And I left that place. 

(Mal. 14:6-15)

It is no error that this is the closing chapter of the Malediction of Longinus. In life, a terrible curse lay upon Longinus, for he was born to do what he did and become as he became. In the first thirty-three years of his Damnation though, he was lost and without purpose, blind, even as many of us have been in the past. Though damnation and torment remain after this message from Vahishtael, there is now something more. The malediction, the curse, upon Longinus has ended, for now he has a purpose that is known to him.

Here, in the words of Vahishtael, the messenger of God, we find our own purpose to this very night. We have the duty to steer mortals towards salvation and the glories of Heaven. This world, in which we are ageless, undying, and over which we are given dominion, is but a brief stop for the living. It is our obligation to, through terror and suffering, remind them of the ephemeral nature of this world so that their eyes will remain fixed on the next one.

Sum Sanctus,

Simon Patterson

Augustus Inquisitor de Lacus Magni

An Introduction to the Testament

I have decided to begin a tradition of weekly sharing a reading from the Testament of Longinus. Each week I will pick out a small section of the Testament that I believe is important in some way to events at hand. This week, the first, it seems only fitting to begin at the beginning. While my preference is to use the original language, I have translated the section below into English for the convenience of those not fluent in older tongues.

1 I am God's holy monster. I drink from humanity.
2 I could not see what part I would play for such a long time, because I looked
at it with human eyes, with eyes that would die.
3 So I put forth the truth in this book, for you who seek, just as I have sought.
4 For I am not some Godless beast who hunts beneath the grandeur of sanctity.
5 I am the grandeur; 6 I am sanctified. (Mal. 1:1-6) 

As with the Holy Bible, the Testament of Longinus is separated into several books. The first of these, The Malediction of Longinus, begins with an introduction and an offering to the reader if they seek truth. It is a reminder that in seeking truth, one must first learn how to see.

We are not mortal. We are monsters. We must recognize this about ourselves if we are to find our place and embrace the truth of the world. Without this fundamental assertion, we are left adrift.

Herein also lies the moniker most commonly associated with our covenant: sanctified. "I am sanctified" declares Longinus at the close of the introduction to his Testament. We, too, are sanctified if we learn from the truth shared with us within the Testament.

Sum Sanctus (I am Sanctified),

Simon Patterson

Augustus Inquisitor de Lacus Magni