After negotiating with Teresa, Aigron took action as usual and immediately began preparations to convert Haidee.
In his opinion, there were many MSL in the Ioannina area, and if Haidee was allowed to convert to Orthodox Christianity, it would cut off her emotional connection with a large part of her future subjects, which would be equivalent to nip in the bud.
Moreover, for a pagan princess to "consciously" be inspired by God was something worth bragging about.
This was a political issue as well as a religious issue, so he immediately thought of his adviser, Father Faria, and approached him to discuss it together.
Since Teresa left for Mesolonghion, Father Faria naturally followed her. This old priest, who had no feeling in the right half of his body, supported himself with a strong will and tried to keep himself alive.
Live life.
He had no worries in this world, and was already prepared to die. The only thing he couldn't let go of was his adopted son Edmond Dantès; however, after taking refuge under Aiglon, he unexpectedly rekindled his passion.
He lost the passion to survive, as if he wanted to let his remaining wisdom continue to burn for the cause of His Majesty Napoleon II, so as to reflect the value of his life.
Aigron was still as polite to him as ever, not only taking good care of his daily life, but also occasionally chatting with him. He was deeply honored by this and hoped that he could be of more help.
At Aiglon's order, the attendant pushed Father Faria over in a wheelchair.
Because of his physical inconvenience, the priest did not salute, but bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, what do you have to ask me about?"
"There is a small religious question that I think is your specialty." Aiglon replied, "I plan to convert Haidee to Orthodox Christianity 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 around Aigron, he naturally knew about Haidee's life experience and the fact that she was bought by His Majesty.
"It's not difficult religiously. We can just hold a baptismal conversion ceremony for her. All we need is the presence of an Orthodox priest and a reputable notary." Father Faria thought for a moment before answering.
The priest took it so lightly because this kind of thing was not so rare that it was not surprising at all.
More than a hundred years after the death of Peter the Great, the Russian Empire has staged many dramas of "foreign princesses converting to Orthodox Christianity."
After Peter the Great, the Russian czars began to look to Europe. They regarded themselves as noble royal families, and naturally they only wanted to marry European royal families.
But there was a huge problem before them. The Russian Empire used Orthodox Christianity as its state religion, but European countries were all Catholic or Protestant. According to imperial tradition, the tsar could not marry women from these countries.
Of course, there are always more solutions than difficulties, especially when they have an empire. The Romanov royal family used the power and wealth of the empire as bait to find marriage partners from ordinary German princes and nobles. They were willing to pay large sums of money as
There is only one condition for the bride price: the princess must convert to Orthodox Christianity in order to be eligible for marriage with the royal family.
As we all know, there are so many princes and nobles in Germany. Those big families spread out and marry each other for generations, creating countless branches and descendants.
And because these princes and nobles had extremely small territories (or no territories at all), most of them had 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 luxury of the Russian Empire's royal family became a temptation that they could not look away from.
Under the temptation of the throne and jewelry, there is no psychological barrier to converting your daughter to Orthodox Christianity and marrying her to Russia.
Catherine II the Great, the daughter of a German prince, married Tsar Peter III at the cost of converting to Orthodox Christianity, and finally killed her husband and successfully ruled the Russian Empire for decades.
She also used the same criteria when selecting the heir for her Crown Prince Paul. This time she selected a royal family from Hesse-Darmstadt as the marriage partner.
The head of the family was so flattered when he heard about it that he brought his three daughters to St. Petersburg for Crown Prince Paul to choose. In the end, the Crown Prince selected his youngest daughter, Princess Wilhelmina Louise, and then converted her to Orthodox Christianity.
And changed to the Russian name Natalia Alexeyevna.
It is a pity that although the princess was as beautiful as a flower, she was not blessed to enjoy this "honor" and died of dystocia three years after her marriage.
So the crown prince had to find another princess, Maria Feodorovna, from a branch of the Duke of Württemberg as his second marriage partner. This princess later gave birth to four sons for him, including the defeated
Napoleon's Tsar Alexander, and the current Tsar Nicholas I.
With so many female princes converting to Orthodox Christianity, the world would probably not be surprised or disgusted at all if a mere Haidee converted to Orthodox Christianity.
Although she is technically an MSL now, there is essentially no difference.
What really troubled Father Faria was another problem.
"Considering that Miss Haidee will become a nominal ruler in the future, with a distinguished title and identity, her conversion ceremony should be a major event, and we should find a significant baptizer for her. At present,
We do not have such an important religious figure on hand, and if possible we can find one from our allies."
Father Faria is certainly right. Considering that Haidee is the future Grand Duchess of Ioannina, if she converts to Orthodox Christianity, she will definitely find a senior religious figure to preside over the ceremony for her. The higher her religious status, the more legitimate she will be.
The higher it is, it can even be regarded as the long-lost victory of the Orthodox Church over the YSL. Presumably the Greek religious people are also very happy to see this come true.
At this time, due to the flames of the Greek War of Independence, serious turmoil occurred in most Greek areas. Naturally, religious people were not immune to the blood feud that had been fostered for years. The national antagonism immediately turned into a religious vendetta. The Greeks massacred MSL and YSL.
The religious people were also returned to the Turks as they were. A large number of priests were killed in the vendetta between the two sides, and the rest could only hide in Tibet. The only one that is well preserved is the Peloponnese Peninsula, which is still under the control of the independent military government.
.
Therefore, in theory, if you want to hold such a religious ceremony, the best way is for Aigron to notify his allies, and then find a senior Orthodox priest from the Peloponnese to baptize Haidee.
ceremony.
But Aigron's idea was exactly the opposite.
"No, Father, I don't think we can adopt this method." He shook his head slightly and rejected the priest's opinion, "This is not only a religious issue, but also a political issue, so we cannot consider it entirely from a religious perspective.
.
Haidee will be a Grand Duchess in the future, and her nominal territory is the Principality of Ioannina that we are going to establish. Haidee was bought by me. I created this country from scratch, and it should also be fully
It is controlled by our people and cannot have any affiliation with the future Kingdom of Greece, not even in the religious sense. If we find an Orthodox priest from our allies as a baptizer today, it will be the same.
Since it is recognized that Haidee is the convert of Greeks to the feet of God, the Principality of Ioannina is also religiously subordinated to the Greek Patriarchate... We cannot give people this impression."
The priest made such a mistake not because he had no political sensitivity or because he did not think carefully, but because he did not know what would happen in the future.
At this time, all the Orthodox Christians in the Balkans were under the leadership of the Ecumenical Patriarch who stayed in Istanbul. However, the Ecumenical Patriarch accepted himself as a subject of the Sudan, opposed the Greek War of Independence, and hoped that the Orthodox Christians under his jurisdiction
Continue to obey the Sultan and the Empire as before for hundreds of years.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Greeks, the Ecumenical Patriarch was tantamount to betraying Greece and the Orthodox Church, and they resented this.
At this moment, this resentment has not caused any trouble, after all, the Greek War of Independence has not ended yet, but Aigron knows that the break between them is not far away.
In the original historical line, shortly after the Kingdom of Greece became independent, the Greek Orthodox Church fought against the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch who stayed in Istanbul and no longer submitted to the jurisdiction of the other party, 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 someone from the Greek Orthodox Church were to baptize Haidee, it would make the future Grand Duchess Ioannina a legitimate successor to the Greek Orthodox Church. Politically, Egeron could not accept this.
Although he is now an ally of the Greek Independence Army, and although he and his people are pouring blood for the cause of Greek independence, his interests are inviolable, and he does not intend to share his future rights and interests in the Principality of Ioannina with anyone, at least
within his own generation.
Therefore, no matter how reasonable Father Faria's suggestion was, he did not want to adopt it.
Although the old priest could not see Aigron's innermost thoughts, he could also see from Aigron's resolute attitude that this was His Majesty's unquestionable will.
As a counselor, he cannot resist this will. He can only change his thinking and find a way to implement His Majesty's will.
"If you are not willing to let a Greek Orthodox priest baptize Haidee, then... we can only find a priest within our control to do this." After thinking for a moment, the priest said softly.
, "Now that the Greeks are your allies and rely on your help, they should say nothing; if there are foreigners who are dissatisfied with you, such as the Russians, they may question the effectiveness of such a religious ceremony
.”
"They can question it as much as they like. I don't live in this world to please the Tsar." Aigron replied decisively. "Today's situation has reached a point where we can no longer consider what other people think. As long as
We believe that Haidee's conversion is legal, so it is legal. No matter how many opinions others have, we can pretend not to see it."
Seeing that Aiglon's will was so determined, although the priest hesitated, he did not dare to persuade him any more.
He moved his old head again, thinking carefully about Aiglon.
"If we don't have enough useful Orthodox priests on hand now, then we might as well make the show bigger... This way there will be many witnesses and enough legal effect. I don't think anyone will object to the birth of a Christian principality in a land composed of msl
In the land they rule..."
"That's okay." Aigron nodded and agreed with his opinion, "I will hold a grand ceremony, and I will also invite our Greek allies to bear witness. Since they have seen my attitude, they should
I also know what to do.”
When he said this, Father Faria thought of something else, "If we can find an important religious figure from Rome, such as a cardinal, to observe the ceremony and serve as a witness, this should be convincing enough.
Are you strong yet?"
Aigron's eyes lit up, but he was a little suspicious, "This is an Orthodox Christian conversion ceremony. What interest does the people of the Roman Church have in participating?"
"The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are originally from the same family..." Father Faria smiled slyly.
He knew that he was telling lies with open eyes, but as a politician, the most important skill is to tell lies with open eyes. "The pope and that cardinal took so much money from us, and the cardinal is still a man."
My friends, if we need them to help with this, they will think twice before letting the glory of Christ touch a land that has been polluted. Even as a Catholic, this is an honor, right?"
Aiglon thought about it and felt that there was no problem.
The pope and cardinals received his heavy gifts and advocated for him many times. If he made a similar request, they would be happy to come. Anyway, they were just witnesses.
And if they were present, no one would have asked any questions. This is also a victory for the church.
As for Aigron himself, he accomplished all this independently, which means that he allowed Haidee and Ioannina, whom she represents, to survive completely according to his own will.
However, the Tsar's thoughts must also be considered.
Although Aigron spoke forcefully in front of the priest, it was just to strengthen the confidence of his subordinates. Deep down in his heart, of course, he also had some scruples.
There is no doubt that he has old and new grudges with the Romanov family. The Tsar will definitely not like him, and he will definitely not end well if he falls into the hands of the Russians. However, Egron has never been one to be dazzled by hatred.
People, on the contrary, know how to assess the situation.
In his plan, Haidee should be sincere to the Tsar in the future and show superficial subservience.
Anyway, the Tsar cannot come here. After giving him face in the future, he should be happy to accept the victory of the Orthodox Church. If this is the case, the newly born Principality of Ioannina will crawl out of its mother's womb tremblingly and truly come into being.