Eagle’s Glory

After agreeing with Teresa, Egron took action as usual, and immediately began preparations for Haiidee's conversion.

In his view, there are many militias in the Ioannina region. If Haiidee is converted to the Orthodox Church, she can sever her emotional connection with a large part of her future subjects, which is tantamount to preventing problems before they happen.

Moreover, having a pagan queen princess "consciously" inspired by God was something for him to brag about.

This is a political issue as well as a religious issue, so he immediately thought of his adviser, Father Faria, and asked him to discuss it together.

Since Teresa left for Messolonghi, Father Faria naturally followed her. This elderly priest who was unconscious on the right side of his body supported himself with a strong will and tried hard to keep himself alive. with life.

He had nothing to worry about in this world, he was already ready to die, the only thing he couldn't let go of was his adopted son Edmund Dantès; however, after taking refuge in Egron's hands, he accidentally ignited the fire again. The passion to survive seems to be to let my remaining wisdom continue to burn for the cause of His Majesty Napoleon II, so as to reflect the value of my life.

And Aigron was still as polite to him as ever, not only let people take care of his daily life carefully and properly, but also chatted with him occasionally, he was also very honored by this, and he wholeheartedly hoped that he could help more.

Under Aigron's order, the entourage brought Father Faria over in a wheelchair.

Because of his physical inconvenience, the priest did not salute, but bowed slightly, "Your Majesty, what do you want to ask me?"

"There is a small religious issue, I think this happens to be your specialty." Aigron replied, "I intend to convert Haide to the Orthodox Church as soon as possible before I officially enter Ioannina. For this, we need to hold a ceremony .”

Father Faria was not surprised. As the think tank next to Aigron, he naturally knew about Haiidee's life experience and the fact that she was bought by His Majesty.

"Religiously, it's not difficult. We can hold a baptism and conversion ceremony for her. It only needs the presence of an Orthodox priest and a prestigious notary." Father Faria replied after a little thought.

The reason why the priest took it so lightly was that such things were not so rare as to be surprising at all.

In the more than 100 years after the death of Peter the Great, the Russian Empire has staged many dramas of "foreign princesses converting to the Orthodox Church".

After Peter the Great, the Russian tsars began to look up to Europe. They called themselves the noble royal family, and naturally they only wanted to marry the European royal family.

But there is a huge problem in front of them. The Russian Empire uses the Orthodox Church as the state religion, but European countries are all Catholic or Protestant. According to the imperial tradition, the tsars cannot marry women from these countries.

Of course, there are always more solutions than difficulties, especially when owning an empire. The Romanov royal family used the power and wealth of the empire as bait to find marriage partners from ordinary princes and nobles in Germany. For the bride price, there is only one condition that the princess must convert to the Orthodox Church in order to be eligible to marry the royal family.

As we all know, there are so many princes and nobles in Germany. Those big families have spread out and married each other for generations, creating countless offshoots and collateral descendants.

And because these princes and nobles have extremely small territories or no territories at all, most of them have very meager incomes.

The meager income but the need to maintain the dignity of the princes and nobles made them very thirsty for money, and the extravagance of the royal family of the Russian Empire became a temptation that they could not turn their eyes away from.

Under the temptation of the throne and jewels, there is no psychological obstacle for her daughter to convert to the Orthodox Church and marry into Russia.

Catherine II the Great, the daughter of the little prince of Germany, married Tsar Peter III at the cost of converting to the Orthodox Church.

In the end, he killed his husband and successfully ruled the Russian Empire for decades.

And she also used the same standard when choosing an heir for her crown prince Paul. This time she chose a collateral family of the royal family in Hessen-Darmstadt as the marriage partner.

The head of the family was flattered when he heard about it. He brought his three daughters to St. Petersburg for selection by Crown Prince Paul. In the end, the crown prince chose the youngest daughter, Princess Wilhelmina Louise, and then converted her to the Orthodox Church. And changed to the Russian name Natalya Alexeyevna.

It's a pity that although the princess was as beautiful as a flower, she was not blessed to enjoy this "glory". After three years of marriage, she died of dystocia.

So the crown prince had to find another princess, Maria Feodorovna, from a branch duke of the Duchy of Württemberg as his second marriage partner, and this princess later gave birth to him four sons, including the defeated Tsar Alexander of Napoleon, and the current Tsar Nicholas I.

There are so many female princes who have converted to the Orthodox Church, and the world will not be surprised or disgusted at all if a mere Haidai converts to the Orthodox Church.

Although she is theoretically an MSL now, there is no difference in essence.

What really troubled Father Faria was another question.

"Considering that Miss Haidee will become a titular ruler in the future, with a distinguished title and status, her conversion ceremony should be a major event, and we should find a baptist with weight for her. Currently We don't have such a powerful religious figure in our hands, we can find one from our allies if we can."

Father Faria's statement is of course positive. Considering that Haide is the future Grand Duchess of Ioannina, if she converts to the Orthodox Church, she must find a senior religious figure to preside over the ceremony for her. The higher her religious status, the more legal she is. It is even higher, and it can even be regarded as the long-lost victory of the Orthodox Church over the Islamic religion. Presumably the Greek religious people are also very happy to see this come true.

At this time, because of the flames of the Greek War of Independence, serious turmoil occurred in most of the Greek regions. Naturally, the religious people could not escape the blood feuds that have been bred for years. The ethnic antagonism immediately turned into a religious vendetta. The Greeks massacred msl and ysl The religious people and the Turks also returned them as they were. A large number of priests were killed under the vendetta on both sides. up.

Therefore, in theory, if you want to hold such a religious ceremony, then the best way is for Aigron to inform his allies, and then find a senior Orthodox priest from the Peloponnese Peninsula to preside over the baptism and convert Haiide ceremony.

But Egron thinks just the opposite.

"No, Father, I don't think we can use this method." He shook his head lightly, denying the priest's opinion, "This is not only a religious issue, but also a political issue, so we can't consider it entirely from a religious perspective. .

Haidee will be the Grand Duchess in the future, and her nominal territory is the Principality of Ioannina that we will establish. Haiidee was bought by me. I created this country from scratch, and it should all be controlled by our people. It cannot have any affiliation with the future Kingdom of Greece, even if it is a religious affiliation It doesn't work either. If we find an Orthodox priest from our allies as a baptist today, it is tantamount to admitting that Haide was converted by the Greeks to the feet of God, and the Principality of Ioannina is also religiously owned by the Patriarchate of Greece... We cannot give that impression. "

The priest made such a mistake not because he was politically insensitive or ill-considered, but because he didn't know what was going on in the future

At this time, all Orthodox Christians in the Balkans belonged to the leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarch who stayed in Istanbul. Continue to obey the Sultan and the Empire as you have done for hundreds of years.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Greeks, the Universal Patriarch is tantamount to betraying Greece and the Orthodox Church, and they harbor resentment about it.

At this moment, this kind of resentment did not cause any trouble. After all, the Greek War of Independence was not over yet, but Egron knew that the break between them was not far away.

In the original historical line, not long after the Kingdom of Greece became independent, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Patriarch who remained in Istanbul were divided into equals, no longer submitting to each other's jurisdiction, and the two sides split.

In order to expand its influence, the Greek Orthodox Church also spared no effort to emphasize its orthodoxy and legitimacy.

Because of this, if people from the Greek Orthodox Church were to baptize Haiidee, then the future Grand Duchess Ioannina would become a legitimate Greek Orthodox missionary, which Egron could not accept politically.

Although he is now an ally of the Greek Independence Army, and although he leads people to scatter blood for the cause of Greek independence, his interests are inviolable, and he does not intend to share with anyone the rights and interests of the Principality of Ioannina in the future at least within his own generation.

Therefore, no matter how reasonable Father Faria's suggestion was, he didn't want to adopt it.

Although the old priest couldn't see what Aigron was thinking deep in his heart, from Aigron's resolute attitude, he could also see that this was His Majesty's unquestionable will.

As a counselor, he cannot defy this will, he can only change his thinking and find a way to implement His Majesty's will.

"If you don't want the priest of the Greek Orthodox Church to baptize Haiide, then... we can only find a priest within our control to do this." After thinking for a while, the priest said softly , "Now that the Greeks are your allies and depend on your help, they shouldn't say much; if, the foreigners who are disaffected with you, such as the Russians, they may question the validity of such a religious ceremony .”

"They can question as much as they like. I don't live in this world to please the Tsar." Eggron replied decisively. "The current situation has reached the point where we can no longer consider what other people think. As long as we believe that Haiide's conversion is legal, then it is legal. No matter how many opinions other people have, we can pretend not to see it."

Seeing that Eggron's will is so firm, although the priest hesitated, he didn't dare to persuade him any more.

He turned his old head again, thinking carefully for Eggron.

"If we don't have enough good Orthodox priests on hand, then we might as well make the show bigger... so that there are many witnesses and enough legal effect, I don't think anyone will object to the birth of a Christian principality in an area created by msl In the lands they ruled..."

"That's fine." Egron nodded, agreeing with him, "I will organize a grand ceremony, and I will invite our Greek allies to be witnesses. Since they have seen my attitude, they should And know what to do."

When talking about this, Father Faria thought of something again, "If we can find a significant religious figure from Rome, such as a cardinal, to watch the ceremony and serve as a witness, it should be convincing enough. Are you strong?"

Aigron's eyes lit up, but he was a little suspicious, "This is an Orthodox conversion ceremony. Why are people from the Roman Church interested in participating?"

"The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are one family..." Father Faria smiled slyly.

He knew that he was talking nonsense, but as a politician, the most important skill is to talk nonsense, "The Pope and that cardinal took so much money from us, and the cardinal is also a My friends, if we need their help, they will think about it, let the glory of Christ inspire a land that was once polluted, even if you are a Catholic, it is an honor, right?"

Aigron thought about it and felt that there was no problem.

The pope and the cardinal took his great gift and advocated for him many times. If he made a similar request, they should also come gladly. Anyway, they are just witnesses

And if they were present, no one would have asked any questions. For the church, this was also a victory.

For Aigron himself, he accomplished all this independently, which means that he let Haidee and the Ioannina represented by her live completely according to his own will.

Still, the tsar's ideas also had to be considered.

Although Aigron spoke forcefully in front of the priest, it was only to strengthen the confidence of his subordinates. Deep down, he certainly had some scruples.

There is no doubt that he has a feud with the Romanovs, the Tsar definitely doesn't like him, and he will never end well if he falls into the hands of the Russians. However, Eggron was never one to be carried away by hatred People, on the contrary, he knows how to judge the situation.

In his plan, Haidee should have lost his sincerity to the Tsar in the future and put on a superficial obedience.

Anyway, the Tsar couldn't come here, and after the future gave him face, he should also happily accept the victory of the Orthodox Church. If this is the case, the newly born Principality of Ioannina will climb out of its mother's womb tremblingly and truly come into being.