The Church of Cimera (C of C) is a Cimera-based member church of the vexwide Meritéan Communion. It is a Cruisian church divided into three ecclesiastical provinces. About 633,000 Cimerans attend services on a given Sunday, but the number of baptized members of the C of C is much higher.
History[]
The C of C was the state church of Cimera from independence until 312. The ecclesiastical provinces of Sligomeagh, Amines, and Crairicq, were united as the Church of Cimera, with the Archbishop of Sligomeagh serving as the Primate of All Cimera.
The designation of the monarch of Merité as the supreme governor of the Church of Merité ended with the fall of Merité, but because Cimera was the sole remnant of the Meritéan Commonwealth maintaining a monarchy linked to that of Merité (the Principality of Rosardan restored its pre-Meritéan royal family) many royalists throughout former Merité considered the king of Cimera the rightful supreme governor of the Church of Merité, though in practice, the claim was only ever made to the Church of Cimera more narrowly.
Piecemeal reforms gradually disestablished the C or C as the state church of Cimera prior to the definitive separation of church and state in 312:
- In December 304, the High Council removed the senatorial positions assigned to the archbishops of Sligomeagh and Amines (called Merité-Ville at the time), definitively secularizing the executive branch of government.
- In June 305, King Carl renounced his position as Supreme Governor, severing the direct power of the throne over the church and, in consultation with church leadership, made changes to the way archbishops are appointed.
- In September 306, the High Council passed legislation ending the requirement that the reigning monarch belong to the C of C.
- In July 310, the High Council passed legislation ending state salaries for Church of Cimera priests, but provided for retired priests to continue receiving pensions and for partial pensions to be preserved for active priests.
Schism[]
Alexandre Janot, archbishop of Amines, resisted the secularization of the High Council in 304 and subsequent reforms within the Church of Cimera. By mid-312, when the separation of church and state was implemented, Janot was already in open conflict with the Archbishop of Sligomeagh over structural and policy issues within the church. In 313, with the support of Prince Melville, the Castellan of Comar, and a number of church leaders, Janot declared the independence of the confusingly named Church of Merité in Cimera, the informal name of given to the two ecclesiastical provinces (Sligomeagh and Amines) of the Grand Duchy of Cimera prior to the fall of the Meritéan Commonwealth.