Grigory Pronsky was Cao Jian's uncle. As a great nobleman of Ryazan, he was also one of the main people who Guo Kang had learned from Joanna and participated in the Cao clan's conscription plan.

On the way, Guo Kang was ready to simply tell Theodora about this person, but she said that she had known it for a long time, which made Guo Kang a little embarrassed.

In the end, Guo Kang was taught a lesson by Theodora again.

"I've already said it, you need to pay more attention to business." She admonished: "You are now in contact with more and more things, and the level is getting higher and higher, whether it is your uncle and aunt, or me, there will always be places that can't protect you." If you continue like this, sooner or later you will be pitted by these bad women with ulterior motives. ”

Aside from her inexplicable hostility, this statement actually makes sense. Guo Kang had no choice but to nod again and again and respond.

"How did you find this Pronsky? Why did you come to the door at this time? He thought about it, and asked Wu Han next to him first to understand the general situation.

"Today, Master Wang is going to receive the priests from over there, and he probably learned the news in advance, so he came with a few priests from his territory." Wu Han replied: "Now Master Wang and several high-ranking members of the church are entertaining them and chatting with everyone. We still have a lot of work to do in the future, so let's get acquainted with each other now. ”

"Is it the matter of reorganizing the diocese as I said before?" Guo Kang asked.

"Yes." Wu Han nodded: "We plan to include all qualified folk clergy, and the diocese will also adjust its planning." The situation over there is so chaotic right now, I don't care if I can't do it. ”

Guo Kang had heard about this for a long time, and he himself had made suggestions on it, so he didn't think it was strange. Theodora was obviously aware of this, and nodded her head as well.

"What is Pronsky doing here?" Guo Kang continued to ask: "Does he want to install his own people, or does he want to persuade us to change the plan?" ”

"I think he just wanted to get close to him and convince us to support him so that we could get involved in the conscription." Wu Han said what he thought.

Guo Kang nodded, thinking that this should be the case.

Parish allotment is a very important thing. Because the division of dioceses is actually the division of administrative districts. This is true for both the Eastern and Western churches.

The local body of the church is generally divided into three levels, the lowest being called a pastoral or parish. As the name suggests, it is probably the area that a church is responsible for. A pastoral community may have more than one priest, the head of which is in charge of the church, called the parish priest.

A number of neighboring pastoral districts form a parish. The word comes directly from the diocese of Rome, where the head of the diocese was called a bishop.

Above the parish, it is called the Diocese. The word is the Greek word for "province", and its meaning and orientation are also very clear. The head of the province is called the archbishop or archbishop in the Catholic Church; In the Orthodox Church, it is generally called a metropolitan. This is the highest level of local institutions.

But the current situation is that this system is better maintained in the Western church.

As Roman rule in the western Mediterranean gradually collapsed, so did the local administration. However, the ecclesiastical system headed by the bishop of Rome has survived and continues to develop.

By now, the Catholic Church has a very advanced local administrative structure - it has always adhered to a centralized organizational method, and even has a "county-state" structure and subordinate "Tusi Church". For example, some ecclesiastical organizations that are too far away and have their own unique customs can also achieve mutual recognition as long as they recognize the authority of the Roman bishop, confer certain titles on them, and give them courtesy.

The Church, known as the "Holy Order," began to take shape in the fifth century and gradually matured after that. In places full of strong tribal customs, this system is not so advanced that it does not seem to be the same era. In fact, most of the time, it is true that the tribal customs and the feudal system in various places are holding back the church.

Moreover, in the absence of strength to support it, this system can sometimes get in the way. Authoritative kings often did not take the church seriously, and these actions affected not only the local structure of the church, but also the center of the church.

Not to mention the various divisions and antagonistic acts in history, even in later generations there are many examples. At the time when Guo Kang lived, the Catholic Church had always had no way to control the Seris area, so it stubbornly clung to the power of bishopric appointment, resulting in the two sides not being able to recognize each other.

In fact, the right to appoint bishops is not a big deal in the first place. In Europe, those who have never confronted the Pope are embarrassed to say that they are great powers. But any country with a bit of power, who has not fought for this power. Even in Poland, where the royal power was declining and the church was powerful, the kings and nobles appointed a few bishops on their own. As for the more recent ones, they have even appointed their own popes. After so many years, the church has long been numb.

The biggest problem may be that in order to show its achievements, the church has set up a large number of provinces and dioceses in Seris. As a result, dozens of archbishops and hundreds of bishops will rush into the Vatican at once.

From the Church's point of view, it is clear that these people are in the hands of the Celestial government—whether that is true is another matter, but it is not surprising that the Church thinks so, after all, it is really the case in Europe.

And so many people coming in at once will directly upset the political balance within the church, so no one dares to make concessions. This is also an unavoidable problem for an organization like theirs, which places a strong emphasis on centralization.

As for the Orthodox Church in the East, it is a different story. Because the church had long been under the administration of the emperor, the clergy and scholars in the west even directly called it the "emperor-patriarchal system", believing that the church was actually a department of the empire.

The Eastern Romans have always objected to this, citing reasons such as the fact that the emperor himself was not a priest, and that the patriarch had the right to excommunicate the emperor. In practice, however, this rarely happens, and the power of the patriarch only works when other political forces overwhelm an emperor.

Roman theologians, unable to explain this, used the word "harmony" as an alternative to describe the mutual support of religious and political power.

In Guo Kang's view, in fact, the system of Eastern Rome is more perfect, and it should continue to develop in the future and completely incorporate the church. But the biggest problem is that the strength of the Eastern Roman Empire itself is not good.

The new states that emerged in the Eastern Roman homeland and in the sphere of cultural influence re-enacted the situation around Seris: politically against Rome, culturally and religiously against the Orthodox Church, or more precisely with the Patriarch of Constantinople. Therefore, in order to maintain their independence, as long as each country has the strength to maintain its independence, it will immediately find a way to establish its own churches and get rid of the influence of the Patriarch of Kingcastle.

There is not much difference between them, and in Western Europe, they may not be considered ecclesiastical organizations with different lituries, not even that kind of "religious toast". However, if you don't do this, you will never be able to get out of the state of dependence, and sooner or later you will be absorbed back again. Therefore, even if it is created, it has to make some difference.

In short, everyone has their own troubles. And this is the root cause of many of the problems of the church at present.

The geographical divisions of the Catholic Church do not necessarily coincide with the administrative divisions of the countries. The church often lags behind. Outer Mongolia has been divided for decades, and the church still calls it Kulun.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this diocese was also restored. The first bishop was not a local, but a Filipino priest appointed by the Church, Bishop Huang Xudong.

(End of chapter)