27 March 2022
Matron Excommunicates Entire Akronist Church of Metradan
CRYSTAL COAST, Acronis– Matron Vana Dandreal of the Church of Akrona took the unprecedented step of excommunicating the entire Akronist Church of Metradan on Sunday, a move that means the province of Aponivia’s Akronists are no longer considered to be members of the global community of Akronists. While the Church of Metradan has been associated with corruption and financial misdeeds for decades, the move on Sunday comes in response to a Metradani private security firm holding the Novaran Council hostage on Friday in an attempt to force the League of Novaris to recognize Acronis over Tavaris.
“This is not a move that we make lightly, and it is not a move done only in response to a single incident, but in response to decades of clear defiance of the values that the Goddess Akrona laid out for us to follow,” said the Matron in her statement, which was ratified unanimously by both the Elders—the Church’s highest authority, of which the Matron is the chair—as well as the Synod, the Church’s advisory legislative body composed of representatives from the priestesses of the Church and lay members. The provisional legislature of the People’s Communion of Acronis is expected to affirm the resolution on Monday.
The Church of Akrona has never before taken the step of excommunicating an entire national-level Akronist church organization. The Church of Metradan was granted formal autonomy from the Church of Akrona in 1909, a few years after Tavaris granted independence to what was then the Republic of Metradan. Most countries that have an Akronist presence are under the Church of Akrona, the organization based in Crystal Coast led by the Elders and the Matron, although Iboma—also in Novaris—has had an independent Akronist church for centuries. The move will have far-reaching ramifications for Metradani Akronists, not least of all cutting them off from receiving a share of the revenues the Church of Akrona takes in.
Cut off from the Church of Akrona, the Church of Metradan’s operations will no longer be subsidized by the global church, removing a major source of revenue. Crystal Hoteliers International, the hotel corporation owned by the Church of Akrona, will no longer share profits in Metradan either, leaving the Church of Metradan only with those hotels that it established and funds separately. From a spiritual perspective, Akronists in Metradan will no longer be able to consider themselves true “Akronists” and will not be welcome to receive blessings from Akronist temples anywhere in the world. This will affect ceremonial occasions such as weddings and funerals and will leave Akronists in Metradan without access to the Church’s public cafeterias and homeless shelters unless they change membership to the Church of Akrona and abandon the Church of Metradan.
“We know that this change will leave many well-meaning true believers in Metradan adrift, and I want to take the time to assure those people that they will be welcome in the embrace of the Church of Akrona the moment they reach out to us and denounce the Church of Metradan. The Church of Akrona, as an organization, will also welcome parishes and temples that choose to change their allegiance as well. It is the corrupt governance of the mundane and temporal organization called the Church of Metradan with which the Church today breaks, not the good people of Metradan who seek to dedicate their lives to Akrona,” the Matron said in her address.
“We are incredibly disappointed and saddened that the Matron and the Elders have elected to take this extreme and unprecedented step,” the Church of Metradan said in a written statement on Sunday. “This severance of spiritual relations between Crystal Coast and the people of Metradan will leave millions of souls without guidance, adrift in the sea of chaos and uncertainty, and severely hinders our ability to fulfill the Akronist mission of feeding the hungry and sheltering the exposed. Nevertheless, we will continue on, no matter the hardships. While no mortal being can truly act without mistake, we maintain that we have done no great wrong that would deserve such a harsh action from the Mother Church, and this will leave many Metradani wondering if the Church of Akrona was ever worth allegiance at all.”
“The Church of Metradan as an organization, and all those who consider themselves members of it, are being sanctioned because of their allowance and harboring of violent elements in their ranks, as well as financial misdeeds and active resistance of our efforts to bring them into compliance,” the Matron said. “It has become quite clear that we, as a global Church, have failed in our mission, our sacred calling, to promote the causes of peace and love. We will tolerate these aberrations no longer. The very moment that the Church of Metradan agrees to a nationwide forensic audit of financial records, as well as a review of all priestess and other parish-level leadership, to ensure that no funds are being misspent and no temples are supporting violent, un-Akronist activity is the moment that we welcome Metradan back into the fold with open arms.”