The Orders of Frostianity — Clergy, Monks, and Rites
The structures of the Frostian community: the priesthood that ministers the sacraments, the monastic orders that pursue the cold to its depths, and the great rites (denominations) into which the one faith is divided.
The Priesthood (the Keepers)
The ordained ministry, called Keepers, in three degrees (see The Frostian Priesthood):
- Frostdeacons — servers of the table and the poor.
- Keepers (Priests) — who minister the The Cold Communion and the The Frostmark.
- Hoarbishops — overseers of a region (a Drift), guardians of doctrine and succession. Above them: Archhoars (archbishops), Patriarchs, and — in the The Hoarfrost Communion — the Rime Pontiff of Wintermere.
The Monastic Orders (the Stillers)
- The Order of the Silent Drift — the contemplatives; the vow of stillness; mystics and exorcists (Stillers).
- The Order of Saint Hagal — the scholar-monks (Hagalites); preservers of learning, theologians, schoolmen.
- The Frostwalker Friars — the mendicant preachers who wander the warm lands “barefoot in the snow,” serving the poor.
- Sisters of the Veil — the great women’s order, founded by Saint Brigida of the Drift; hospitals, schools, and the cold hearth.
- The Order of the Blue Vigil — the militant order of the Crusades (now a charitable order).
The Three Rites (Denominations)
The one faith, three great communions (see The Three Rites (Overview)):
- The Glacial Orthodoxy — the ancient northern/eastern rite; conciliar, mystical, led by patriarchs.
- The Hoarfrost Communion — the great western body, under the The Rime Pontiff of Wintermere.
- The Reformed Frostfast Churches — the churches of the Reformation, after Eilif Vorne.
- The Sublimationist Churches — the ancient eastern churches that rejected the Council of Frosthold.
Vows & Life
The monastic Three Cold Vows: Stillness (obedience and quiet), Bareness (poverty), and Purity (chastity). The daily round is the The Hours of Frost, manual labor in the cold, study, and the The Works of Keeping.