After He Baolu entered the Catholic courtyard, he found that the courtyard was really not that big.
But after getting in touch with the people inside, I found that the standards of this place are really high.
In addition to the priests of this church, there are also the bishops of the entire Diocese of Johor, the Bishop of the Chief Consul of Malacca, and the Chief Bishop of the entire Ming Nanyang region.
He Baolu was led to visit these "brothers" one by one.
Most of these bishops are from the Ming Dynasty. Most of them and the priests and nuns around them do not wear priestly clothes, but wear ordinary Ming Dynasty clothes.
He was also not wearing any obvious religious accessories.
The reason can be guessed almost without asking, so that it is easier to leave the church when necessary.
He Baolu was fortunate enough to meet directly with the chief bishop of the Nanyang region, whose name was Qu Ruowang, an old man in his seventies from the Ming Dynasty.
During the small meeting, Qu Ruowang asked He Baolu how he came here and what he was thinking.
After listening to the explanation, Qu Ruowang said with a smile:
"It seems there are really bad people in the Holy See in Rome."
He Baolu suddenly panicked:
"What are you talking about..."
Qu Ruowang said directly without any hesitation:
“Brother Paul, you don’t know much about the religious customs of the Ming Dynasty, so you were sent directly to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
"Obviously Brother Paul accidentally offended some powerful brothers."
He Baolu didn't think too much at first, but when the other party said this, he suddenly had some thoughts in his mind.
Then Qu Ruowang, who seemed to be very talkative, continued his analysis with He He Baolu:
"You just said that you were hesitant to discuss the theory of original sin with the people at the Religious Management Office.
"Fortunately you didn't say it directly, otherwise the worst consequence might be life-long reeducation through labor.
"Brothers of the Ming Dynasty do not have original sin, but you don't even know this basic common sense."
He Baolu was obviously taken aback:
"My Lord? Ming's brothers are free from original sin?"
Qu Ruowang explained naturally:
"Have you never heard about the Renwu Religion Case? This is a major event that affects the whole world.
"Even if you were not originally assigned to be a priest in the Ming Dynasty, you should know about this, right?"
He Baolu reacted instantly:
"I remembered..."
Something happened in the last years of Renwu's reign.
Before his retirement, Emperor Shizu of the Ming Dynasty went to the church to watch a religious event.
When he returned, he issued an order to close Yingtian Mansion and Shuntian Mansion, all churches in the north and south of Zhili, and arrested all clergy.
Not just Catholicism, but also Orthodoxy and Protestantism, the same series was all thrown into one pot.
A public trial was then instituted, which became known as the Trial of Original Sin.
The internal logic is actually very simple. Since you claim that mankind has original sin, you must provide evidence.
Otherwise, according to the Ming Dynasty law, false accusations will be made.
All church members are born guilty and should all be sentenced to life-long forced labor.
His Majesty Emperor Shizu requires people like Yahweh, Jehovah, Doos, Satan, or other beings to appear in court to testify.
Of course these people can't come.
The Catholic Pope, the Orthodox Patriarch, the Protestant Elders, and the King of England sent people in the name of agents.
Of course, the other party did not come to participate in this so-called trial, but just hoped to negotiate with the Ming Emperor to resolve religious issues.
Emperor Shizu first asked them to issue a power of attorney signed by Jehovah.
Otherwise, they do not recognize their right to express any views on behalf of Jehovah.
After lengthy disputes and contests, several documents were signed by the Pope, the Patriarch, the Elders, and the King of England.
The general idea is this:
First, none of them had direct authority or approval from Jehovah.
Their actual identities are just the leaders of self-organized societies by followers of Jehovah and others.
Including the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the New Church in Britain and other countries, they are all societies of this nature.
The management and service scope of my own society currently and will never include Daming.
Then, all believers of Jehovah and others in the Ming Dynasty should unconditionally accept any management by the Ming Emperor and the court.
All church clergy in the Ming Dynasty need to be appointed by the Ming Emperor and the court before they can take up their posts.
Finally, they admitted that the original sin of the Ming people was a mistake in propaganda and understanding.
Their theory of original sin originally only applied to the Thai people.
From now on, all clergy members are prohibited from using the theory of original sin in the Ming Dynasty.
This document is equivalent to admitting that the Ming people did not have original sin.
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also obtained complete management rights of the church throughout the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Emperor received a higher status than the British King.
The King of England was the head of the British Church, and the Ming Emperor was the ruler above the Church.
The most important thing is that the status of each church was directly downgraded from the official management organization to the official fan association.
Since it is impossible for Yahweh to issue a letter of authorization, they can only be unofficial organizations.
Since it is an unofficial organization, whichever country the organization and members belong to should be managed by the court of that country.
From then on, most of the upper echelons of the church in Ming Dynasty were occupied by Ming people.
Moreover, the doctrines promoted by churches in the Ming Dynasty also began to quickly break away from their original subjects.
The church's clergy and believers also seemed to be becoming less and less religious.
The organizational model of churches in the Ming Dynasty is getting closer and closer to the original Buddhist and Taoist models of the Ming Dynasty.
The church has also completely eliminated all European and Western imprints, and is built directly after the Taoist temples and gardens of the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, it is built directly on the mountain and is not allowed to be placed in the city, nor is it allowed to organize frequent worship activities.
This incident indirectly triggered the second round of religious reform in France.
The royal families of various countries in Europe and the West imitated the methods of the Ming Emperor and wanted to completely break away from the control of the church.
It's just that their environment is different from that of Ming Dynasty.
The power of each church in the Ming Dynasty was weak, but in the European and Western countries, it was universal.
The influence of the original church was completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, although the European and Western countries have achieved certain results, they still have not reached the same level as the Ming Dynasty.
The churches in various countries in Europe and the West still have an influence in the secular world that far exceeds that in the Ming Dynasty.
He Baolu knew this period of history, but it was just like history learned in class and was not immediately connected to life.
After Qu Ruowang's reminder, He Baolu suddenly connected with his own experience.
Qu Ruowang looked at He Baolu's reaction and continued to give him a final point:
“You were obviously exiled by someone you had offended in your original church.
“After the Ming Dynasty came, theories were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Holy See.
“However, as a Taixi person, you may not have the opportunity to stay in Ming Dynasty and serve.
"I may have to travel around the world in the future..."
He Baolu suddenly became anxious:
"Your Excellency, Chief Bishop, what should I do?"
Qu Ruowang stroked his beard and thought for a while:
“Don’t worry too much, my brother.
"Although it is difficult for you to stay in the Ming Dynasty, it is not too difficult to go to the more distant Ming Dynasty vassal country.
“For example, in the Dongyi Kingdom of Yinzhou, the main local population is still Taixi.
“In recent years, Ming Dynasty has been migrating French-speaking people to the area, and the French-speaking people are mainly Catholics.
“In the past few years in the Ming Dynasty, you have worked hard to learn and adapt to the rules of the Ming Church.
"It would be better if you can stay in Nanyang or even the mainland of Ming Dynasty. If not, try to apply to go to Dongyi Kingdom."
He Baolu was immediately surprised:
"What, can I go to Dongyi Country... to take up a teaching position? Even the priests of the Holy See can't go!"
Over the years, the reputation of the Dongyi Kingdom in Thailand and the West has become more and more famous.
The Ming Dynasty vassal state, dominated by Taixi people, regularly held imperial examinations and issued Ming imperial examination titles.
If there was a shortcoming in the past where Protestantism was the dominant religion, now that there is a French-speaking population, it is quickly disappearing.
For the Thai and Western elites who cannot immigrate to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty and the pure Ming-style vassal states, immigrating to the Dongyi Kingdom is a very good choice.
It's just that the difficulty of immigrating to the Dongyi Kingdom is still not small, but it is just lower than immigrating to the mainland of the Ming Dynasty and the pure Ming-style vassal state.
Qu Ruowang smiled and nodded and said:
“Of course people from the Holy See in Rome can’t go, and they didn’t come to Daming Church for training.
"If people from the Roman Holy See go directly to Dongyi Kingdom, will the church in Dongyi Kingdom still be under the control of the Ming Dynasty in the future?
“Of course, even if you receive training from the Daming Church, you may not really be able to go.
“The key is to see if you can truly integrate into the Ming Dynasty. You must first pass the Ming Dynasty General Education Examination.
"It is impossible for Taixi people who have not lived in the Ming Dynasty or the pure Ming vassal state to pass that exam."
He Baolu felt that he vaguely understood.
The appointment of the Ming Church is completely controlled by the Ming Emperor and the court. The senior leaders of the Taixi Church will not get the corresponding status when they come to the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty does not trust them, so they will not come here rashly.
Ordinary priests who come to the Ming Dynasty must also receive a complete "Minghua" education before they can be regarded as one of their own by the Ming Dynasty Church.
However, this kind of education is not 100% successful, because everything Ming Dynasty requires examinations.
It is easy to say that if you pass the assessment, you will truly integrate into the Ming Church and will not consider returning to Taixi.
But once you fail the assessment, you will not be able to integrate into the Ming Dynasty Church, and you will have completely separated from the Taixi Church.
Even if you return to Taixi again, you will have to start from the bottom, and you may be treated as a spy by the Taixi Church to guard against it.
Therefore, even if many priests yearned for the Ming Dynasty, they did not dare to rashly leave the original church organization and come to the Ming Dynasty to take risks.
But He Baolu had no choice now. He could only adjust his mentality and try to integrate into the Ming Dynasty Church.
He Baolu bowed his hands to Qu Ruowang very seriously:
"Thank you, Chief Bishop, for your teachings. I will work hard to learn and adapt to the Ming Church."
After He Baolu thanked Qu Ruowang, the meeting basically ended.
Under the guidance of the priest here, He Baolu went to the guest room arranged for himself.
I rested for a night with mixed emotions, and the next day I was going to put together a pure Ming-style outfit.
As a result, when I first arrived at the restaurant for breakfast, I heard a lot of chatter, as if something big had happened.
He Baolu was surprised. What would be surprising in the "church" in the mountains more than ten kilometers away from the city?
"I really want to hear that it is the Jin Yiwei of Johor Province, and a large group of people went to the Tianfang Sect's courtyard."
"New news has come out. The prefect asked them all to move to a place called absolute freedom."
"Absolute freedom? What's going on?"
"They say they will be completely free once they get there, and the Ming government will no longer interfere in any of their affairs."
"Ignore it at all, it's really terrible."
"It seems that some Jin Yiwei also came and asked our bishop. If our bishop means not to go, will the people from the Tianfang Sect go?"
"They have no choice, they have to go."
"It seems that the imperial court is completely fed up with those guys from the Tianfang Sect."
"If you don't drink a toast, you'll have to drink wine as a penalty..."
He Baolu was a little confused after hearing this, so he found a place to sit down and asked a Ming priest next to him:
"My brother, isn't it good to have a place of absolute freedom? Why do everyone feel terrible..."
A priest in his twenties opposite said with a smile:
“If you think about it, absolute freedom is not absolute freedom for yourself.
“Absolute freedom for all.
“Extreme fundamentalists are also free... but this is actually a minor matter.
“Thefts, robberies, and murders are all completely ignored.
“Everyone is absolutely free.
"No one should interfere with what you do, as long as you can do it, you can do anything.
“No one is going to come out to catch you and punish you.
“The key point is that this so-called place of absolute freedom is definitely not a good place.
“It’s either a Gobi desert, a barren mountain, or a miasma land.
“Since the Ming Dynasty didn’t care about it at all, it naturally didn’t have any cities or infrastructure.
“You have to think about water and food on your own, and electricity… and various machines should be something you don’t have to think about at all.
“To put it bluntly, it is to return to primitive society, and only then can we have absolute freedom.
"Will you accept this freedom, my brother?"
He Baolu finally understood:
"This... is actually exile..."
The priest opposite nodded slightly:
"Absolutely, so our bishop directly stated that he would not go and that he would obey the government's management...
“But we are originally the Ming Dynasty’s own church, so we have the opportunity to make our own choices.
"The Tianfang Sect seems to have no choice..."
After He Baolu had eaten, he asked the priest how to return to the city and that he needed to buy some items.
The answer is that if you are not in a hurry, just wait for the church to go to the city to make purchases.
If you are in a hurry, go and guard the door. If you see visitors coming to the mountains again, go and ride their carriage back.
The cost is not low anyway, and it is very uncontrollable.
This is inside the valley after all.
We do centralized purchasing four times a month, and we subconsciously start purchasing in three days.
After He Baolu hesitated, he finally decided not to rush and wait for the centralized purchase in three days.
In the next few days, I began to devote myself to reading various Ming classics in the church, trying to understand and learn the various traditions, knowledge and rules of the Ming church.
Strive to become a qualified Ming priest as soon as possible.
I used the old hardware at home to set up a backup machine and use it first.
