Temple



The Temple (神殿, shinden) is both a place of religious worship and the sole religious institution in Yurgenschmidt.

The people of Yurgenschmidt worship a pantheon of gods, with religious ceremonies held throughout the year as a cornerstone of daily life. Each duchy has a single dedicated temple building located in its capital city. In the duchy of Ehrenfest, the temple is located in city of Ehrenfest.

In Ehrenfest, the temple is located on the border between the Noble's Quarter and the lower city, where commoners reside. Nobles enter and exit through the main gate in the north, which can only be opened using mana. Meanwhile commoners enter and exit through the back gate in the south.

The vast majority of priests live on the temple grounds throughout most of the year, and only leave when they are required to handle religious ceremonies in provinces around the duchy, such as Spring Prayer or the Harvest Festival.

All public religious ceremonies in Ehrenfest are held in the temple's chapel, which has an altar and a dais where the High Bishop stands during ceremonies. There are no pews or seating; attendees are expected to stand. Behind the altar, statues of the Supreme Gods and the Eternal Five are carved out of white stone.

The chapel building is also home to the repentance chamber. Because violence and corporal punishment are forbidden in the temple, priests and shrine maidens are sent to reflect on their actions in the unadorned chamber. Additionally, the orphanage is adjacent to the main chapel.

See Orphanage

Most of the day-to-day work of the temple is done in the larger administrative building, located just north of the chapel and orphanage. It has three entrances: One leading to the Noble's Gate in the north, one front entrance to the east, and one set of doors leading to the chapel in the south. There is also a stairway used by temple attendants.

Blue priests and shrine maidens reside on the second and third floors of the administrative building. Their attendants typically use rooms on the first floor, so they can be available promptly when needed.

In addition to a variety of atria, meeting rooms, and waiting rooms, the administrative building contains:


 * The High Bishop's chambers.
 * The High Priest's chambers.
 * The temple book room.
 * The ceremonial hall where the Religious Ceremonies is held during the winter.

The temple has a large ice house, kept cold using magic, which it uses to store perishable food such as milk. It is typically used only by attendants and those who prepare food. Water is drawn from a well located near the chapel.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 4 Unlike the rest of the Noble's Quarter, the temple does not have toilets in all living quarters. Instead, the priests and priestesses use chamberpots which are emptied in a communal disposal area that uses sanitary slime to destroy the waste.

The High Bishop's and the orphanage director's chambers are fitted with individual sanitary facilities, but it is unclear whether this extends to the rooms for all blue priests. .

see Temple Hierarchy

The temple takes from varies sources and activities that the Blue-robed priest perform. With most of the income to run the temple coming from tithes collected for and during the Harvest Festival. Blue priest can also make money performing Baptism ceremonies at nobles' mansions. Having the High Bishop or High Priest perform a baptism carries the highest cost, but also carries the highest prestige with it and thus any noble who is able to afford this will also attempt to get one of them to perform the baptism for their children.

Recently the temple also gained an additional form in income thanks to the unusual circumstances of Myne's induction in the temple. 10% of the profits made by her workshop are sent to the temple as "donations".

The money a priest gets for noble baptisms seem to go just to the priest in their entirety. The tithes collected during the harvest festival are split between the priest who performed the ceremony in a town or village and the temple. Naturally this makes performing the rituals in the more prosperous provinces highly sought after.

Money and goods that are given to the temple are first used to provide for the running cost of the temple and then what remains is split between the blue priests, with the distribution being entirely up to the High Bishop and not governed by any law or rule. When Bezewanst was the High Bishop he gave himself by far the biggest share and Blue Priests in his favour received considerably more than those who didn't suck up to him to his satisfaction or displeased him in some way. When Rozemyne becames High Bishop, after the cost of running the temple is taken out 50% of the money is split between her and High Priest with the remaining split up evenly between the blue-priests.

Once Rozemyne convinces Ferdinand to train other priests to help him with his paperwork, the few candidates who successfully made it through his harsh training get the chance to earn extra pay for helping him with his work, mainly involving paper-work.


 * The Blue-Robed priests are looked down upon by nobles.
 * Nobles do not want to set foot inside the temple.
 * Ferdinand joined/escaped to the temple to take himself out of Ehrenfest's politics.
 * In the anime the temple is refered to as the church or the cathedral.