Greetings from the Xyphokonic Order and Ordinance. Welcome back to our space. Today, we continue asking and answer questions revolving Xyphoism from reader submissions and our own selection of brainstorming questions and clarifications. For today’s topic, we’re fielding questions regarding the actual Houses of Worship we intend to eventually have constructed. We’ll cover some questions regarding what exactly a Xyphoist House of Worship is and how regular operations go. Let’s begin.

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Question: Where do you intend to build these future Nine Zhourghei Temples?

Answer: Ideally, across the Earth in multiple continents and regions where we feel our presence will be safely tolerated. We’ve all but assured to find space in North America where the Ordinance was founded to build at least 1 of the temples—with a potential for 2 temples to be based in this region along with a physical administrative headquarters here as well. Other likely locations include space in South America—likely in Brazil. Europe where space permits, with the UK as a potential location if permitted. We would like locations in Asia and Africa but do have concerns of acceptance of such temples being build—both based on local laws permitting religious institutional development but also safety from various threats; finally, Australia is a strategic location we’d like to base in as well.

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Question: Why aren’t you prioritizing the physical expansion of these Temples?

Answer: Getting the access to the Philosophy for new followers to find is more important that building ornate Temples to honor the Lords. As we’ve mentioned before, the Lords demand no praise for They are divine and beyond that need, and so our building of these nine temples is entirely a symbolic, religious, and commemorative measure rather than a crucial one. The last step of the Prophecy is the building of the temples, and that shall only happen once we have a system in place to help mitigate worldly suffering through the Sacred Hill Project and building smaller Houses of Worship to act as our Sacred Grounds and Sanctuaries to pray and organize humanitarian efforts from.

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Question: What will a Zhourghei Temple have in it?

Answer: The layout of each temple is actually mentioned in the Xyphokron, but to briefly reiterate, each Zhourghei will have the following rooms or facilities:

• Courtance Hall: A Prayer Room on the lowest level of the temple reserved for the Grandurate officials of the Zhourghei—especially the Arch-Hayle Grandurate of that temple—in which unending prayer and other spiritual meditation shall take place.
• Hall of Principle: Essentially a grand library in which all literature or scripture shall be stored. All records regarding the Philosophy or the Ordinance, including art, musical scores, and other religious artifacts or scriptures shall be stored here and able to be read within the confines of the Hall. The offices of the Prinstedt Grandurate are within this hall, and open door lessons and lectures from various officials can take place here, and all lectures or lessons are entirely open to all attendees in the temple as they are conducted right in the middle of the Hall with no requirement to sign up. This Hall will also hold any scholarly articles or submissions of personal commentary or notes from anyone who wishes to have that submitted; this will include procuring copies of any future research papers or books published by exterior sources such as universities and other theologians of other religions—whether they are positive or critical. The goal of the Hall of Principle is to hold all information regarding or mentioning the Xyphoist Philosophy—internal or otherwise—to encourage all followers to challenge the Philosophy against all information as we believe that Philosophy shall always shine through with confidence.
• Great Prayer Hall: Self-explanatory. This is the central rotunda section in which the actual Prayer and religious ceremony takes place. This is where the Choir performs, where the pipe organ is placed, where nine statues of the Lords are placed in a circular fashion around the circumference of the Hall, and where any murals or stain glass art of other figures shall be placed. In the Zhourghei case, this Prayer Hall is significantly larger than what would be found in a typical House of Worship.
• Residing Hall: A section reserved for the housing of the Zhourghei staff. The 33 Oaundercievals and the 3 Grandurates shall have apartments in this section.
• Ceremonial Hall: A large section that essentially functions as a community center, having space to set up tables for dining, a kitchen, a stage if needed, and other facilities common in most community centers. Group events, receptions, and other more casual ceremonies can be held here, and the Ceremonial Hall is open for reservation for any Zeigadii Xyphoite.
• Resting Hall: An underground section that holds all chambers to hold the remains of the deceased. As mentioned in this earlier commentary, this is essentially a giant underground mausoleum for members of the Ordinance.
• Cleansing House: A more defunct facility mentioned in the Prophecy but a very of its time idea. Essentially, the Zhourghei was to contain a bathhouse for followers to clean up and remove corruption from their vessels prior to entering the Prayer Hall to conduct prayer. Nowadays, people are expected to show up already cleaned up if possible as such amenities are widely available at home. We may replace this with a more modernized spa, sauna, and hot spring meant to cleanse the body and mind, but deliberations on that can wait as they are mostly superfluous and a luxury upon luxuries—not being of great priority.
• Outer House of Spiritual Neutrality: A facility often unique to but not exclusive to the Zhourghei temples. On the grounds of the Zhourghei but not connected to the temple itself is a smaller temple or building that is used to house any non-Xyphoist refugees being persecuted by theigrited adversaries in the event of mass war events. This facility acts as shelter that will cater to all refugees who are not Xyphoites, and all manner of peaceful prayer and accommodations are made for those granted sanctuary in these facilities—included theigrits who are peaceable and seeking sanctuary from imminent threat. The Ordinance reserves the power, however, to expel any refugees who break the peace or become threats to the Zhourghei grounds at any point. Likewise, the changing of various Echelons of Actions can warrant whether the Zhourghei will accept any new refugees or expel any as well.
• Central Courtyard: Self-Explanatory, a large courtyard lush with greenery, wildflowers and other plants native to the region to help promote pollinators populations. This will often be a very bee-friendly zone and manmade beehives will often be housed in the garden portions of this area.

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Question: What do other Houses of Worship have in them?

Answer: Other Houses of Worship, called Lower Houses of Worship or simply “Houses” for short, have many of the same facilities but on a smaller scale. Each House of Worship, assuming funding and location demands, will have a Prayer Hall, Ceremonial Hall, Resting Hall, and other facilities as funding permits.

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Question: If the Arch-Hayle Grandurates and other Grandurate-level officials run the Zhourghei Temples, who runs the Lower Houses?

Answer: All Houses are run by a council of nine officials that mirror the nine Arch-Hayle Grandurates, aptly called a Lower House Council. Each of those nine officials will represent one of the nine Xyphozons, and each council member will have administrative duties that reflect which Xyphozon they are representing. I shall list out those positions:

• Council of Courtance (Community): Represented by a Kyaius Xyphoite, this official is charged with overseeing membership status and communications for the House
• Council of Principle: Represented by a Pharusian Xyphoite, this official is charged with overseeing House recordkeeping and scripture upkeep.
• Council of Prayer: Represented by a Carneiyean Xyphoite, this official is charged with conducting the regular prayer events, such as Sacred Day Prayers and organizing the House Choir; they may or may not also be the conductor for the Choir itself—although that position is often separate.
• Council of Ceremony: Represented by a Saifaosian Xyphoite, this official is charged with organizing most ceremonies and receptions, and managing the Ceremonial Hall. Love Contract Ceremonies and the following receptions are explicitly under the wing of this official. Death Ceremonies are the only ceremony that this official does not organize.
• Council of Administration: Represented by a Caspierrian Xyphoite, this official is charged with running the administrative offices and reception of the House.
• Council of Labor: Represented by a Caishon Xyphoite, this official is charged with dispatching any various employees or contractors of the House to maintain the facilities proper or organize any business contracts of the House.
• Council of Neutralism: Represented by a Nakndsian Xyphoite, this official is charged with maintaining any Neutral Halls or any interfaith interactions with other religious organizations. This position often works closely with the secular Sacred Hill Project efforts.
• Council of Defense: Represented by a Kurakkuian Xyphoite, this official is charged with security at the House and adjacent Sacred Lands.
• Council of Mortality: Represented by a Vuetenexian Xyphoite, this official is charged with organizing specifically Ceremonies of Death, the primary official conducting said ceremonies, and the overseer of the Resting Hall of House of Worship.

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Question: What are the Echelons of Action?

Answer: A set of strict guidelines established for what level of action the Ordinance shall take in regards to handling the Cosmic Struggle. The Philosophy’s tenets demand that we prevent ourselves from committing certain actions pertaining to Preaching and Proselytizing, and so we base out public interactions based on four levels of action based on the current state of the Cosmic Struggle and how corrupted we deem the world to be; these echelons also act as a defense or threat level against the Ordinance itself against any adversarial entities that seek to physically or institutionally harm the Order and Ordinance. The 4 echelons are as follows:

• Hadradthmas: Lowest level, full external suppression of open condemnation of other divergent or theigrited philosophies except cases of sacred defilement. Essentially, the public won’t even notice any Xyphoist presence, and we shall pray in our spaces peaceably.
• Endotithmas: second level, can verbally criticize theigrited philosophies and other outrageous harms to the world, but no materialistic action shall be taken.
• Yrridthmas (We are here now): second highest level, audibly and actively levy criticism on theigrited philosophies and other pressing matters of the world, offering sharp Commentary on current events. Alongside that open Commentary, material action and organization shall be taken in the form of organizing humanitarian efforts to mitigate ongoing worldly suffering.
• Kurathmas: highest level, all restrictions lifted, used only as a final and last resort in events of active war declared against the Order and Ordinance, whether institutionally or physically.

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Question: What does a Sacred Day Prayer look like in a House of Worship?

Answer: I’ve been told that my colleague kyX would like to an in-depth Commentary on this very topic later on in the year, so I won’t spoil their efforts and jump too far ahead of their work, but I can offer a brief summary of the basic format. Sacred Day Prayers held at a House are all-day group or individual prayer events in which the Prayer Hall is entirely open to all who wish to attend.

Musical or group prayer typically brings at 9am, but there is no rush for anyone to be there exactly at that time; this is simply when the doors open for specifically Sacred Day Prayer. The Choir will often be present and practicing hymns from 9am until 12pm in the Hall. At Noon, the House Choir will begin the highlight of the Day’s events, in which they will slowly ascending the circular staircase of the rotund Prayer Hall conducting group vocal harmonization as they walk. At the top, a selection of hymns relevant to the Period of Watching be sung, followed by a descent down the steps and more prayers and harmonization. The choir may sing other hymns after this point but are often dismissed after the high noon ceremony is conducted. During this time, all are welcome to sing and pray along with the Choir or conduct individual prayer.

The Prayer Hall does not have a specific arrangement of rows or seats unless a specific ceremony is being conducted, and so the entire floor of the Prayer Hall is mostly open for people roam or sit in wherever they please and pray. Some people bring rugs or mats to sit on, others shall sit near the statues of the Lords or alongside the edges of the room, others will roam and pray. There is quite a bit of liberty to how one chooses to pray—so long as what they pray for regards mitigating the suffering of the world.

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Question: Are there any common laws, rules, or etiquette one should expect within a House of Worship?

Answer: Yes, while I won’t list out every single rule or expectation, I can rattle off a few key things that come to mind. Attire is important, and the Ordinance provides members religious garbs, typically religious robes or formal suits based on which Xyphozon one is born under. We are likely to do a full Commentary on that later one in the year.

Other rules include the access of the House grounds to persons under the age of 18 without proper supervision or other circumstances—in which case that is mostly forbidden. We don’t allow minors to roam the premises unless properly supervised by a designated adult of their family or family-designated guardian/adult. The Ordinance does not conduct any such youth groups, and this reason is more realist than not.

While we trust all members of the Ordinance and can expel any that we deem unfit to be there, the reality is that trust in humanity, with its Innate Personality Flaws, dictate that one must always keep watch for the safety of children, the only true innocents of this world, at all costs. By observing the unsightly happenings of other religious organizations and the abhorrent crimes against children that have often happened under them, we seek to entirely eliminate any possibility of those hideous circumstances ever happening on our Sacred Grounds.

It’s for this very reason that all practice and rehearsal of the House Choir—which does include children as part of it—are always conducted in either the very open Prayer Hall itself or perhaps the Ceremonial Hall or other open rooms if the Prayer Hall is not available, and individual lessons are done during the mass rehearsals in open spaces. Under no circumstances shall minors be allowed alone, unsupervised, or kept away in unseen spaces of the House, nor shall any youth groups or other organized happenings involving solely minors shall take place.

Other rules include things like maintaining proper hygiene prior to entering the House, always hold respectful demeanor and conduct, other etiquette of the like.

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Question: Can we donate to the Ordinance or Sacred Hill Project?

Answer: Eventually, yes. Due to our legal status being somewhat in the air as we moved operations out of the US, our financial status is not currently established until we find a more permanent base of operations to file for non-profit status and conduct our various efforts. As of now, donations are on pause until those financial systems and legal status are in place. We talk about how some of those finances, funding, and budgets shall be divided out in this Commentary, and would like to expand that into a proper public page or spreadsheet of our operational finances so that the public can review how the Ordinance and Sacred Hill Project operation for transparency purposes.

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And with that, we conclude another round of hefty questions and clarifications. We hope these answers satisfy and inspire future followers to join us in this Ordinance as we prayer for future plans and continue our Prayer. For now, have a blessed rest of your Sacred Day.

—phX