catechism of the beast
This is the doctrine taught by the doctors of the Church after the First Capitoline Council. As presented, this catechesis is far too rationalized and essentially useless to anyone. If you are looking to make it (or fake it) in the world of church politics, doctrine is very finely and exactly drawn, and - in one of the few continuities with the early Church - very fine differences make the difference between orthodoxy and heresy. Worse yet, taking these claims too seriously, especially their continuity with that earlier Church, can mark you out as something of a simpleton. The fine differences will shift under your feet; adapting yourself to these changes flawlessly shows the trait valued above all else, which is self-promoting ambition married to self-abasing loyalty.
For those elements of the unlearned folk that are loyal to the Almighty and His appointed representative, the only doctrine necessary is: "who is like the Beast? Who can wage war against it?"
fundamental theology and god's nature
God is the most powerful being. If something else was more powerful, that being would be God instead. And we can know, via the testimony of our supremely ordered cosmos, that there is a single point of supreme power that must have provided order to it.
god's image
The seven-headed dragon that is occasionally spotted is a theophany of divine power. God, of course, need not limit Himself to the form of a seven-headed dragon. But seven is the most classical symbol of perfection, and the dragon is the most classical symbol of ancient power existing before the foundations of the world, so for God to present Himself in this way is only appropriate, for he is Ancient, Perfect, Power. The cathedrals have been renovated with this imago dei for worship.
natural law and metaethics
There are four sources of normativity: natural law, which is fundamental; revealed law and naturally revealed law, which build on the first; and positive law, which builds on naturally revealed law.
Trivially, all beings have reason to advance their interests and preferences - this is just what "reason" and "interest" means. Further, extending from this, all beings have a reason to practice reciprocity - to do good to those who do good to them, and do bad to those who do bad to them, so as to encourage their good treatment of you. You should do this to the extent that they have the power to affect you.
God is the most powerful being, so you should always try to please Him. Because God is incontestably powerful, He has no one else He needs to obey, but He still feels the pull of reciprocity - which is, again, why it's good to be on His good side. You always have reason to obey God's orders, which come in the form of revealed and naturally revealed law.
Revealed law is a direct command from God, whereas naturally revealed law is what you can infer God wants from the design of His creation. For instance, our bodies show that sex is for procreation between an man and a woman, and that woman (being a vessel that is filled or completed by the man) ought to be subservient. Left to their own devices people would wantonly murder each other, so God has instituted governments, which ought to be obeyed. And since some are powerful and victorious (if not to the same degree as God) and other subject to them, we can conclude that God generally approves of this state of affairs.
Revealed law has progressed through stages. In the time of the primeval patriarchs, God went to people directly and told them what He wanted. Then, He revealed special laws to Israel, but because they failed to follow these laws, He abominated the Jews forevermore and revealed another set of revealed laws as promulgated in the Gospels. Because nobody kept these, He unleashed His bowls of wrath upon the earth, but because He chooses to extend His grace (which He need not) He has revoked the various injunctions revealed in, e.g., the Sermon on the Mount; these are no longer binding. (Sermons regularly use the term "circumscisers" to refer to Christians who continue to claim such injunctions are binding, following St. Paul's condemnation of early Christians who considered Mosaic law binding.) Through the workings of the Holy Spirit, He still promulgates revealed law through encyclicals and Church councils, but the primary role is to be played by the other three sources, namely: proactively trying to please God and other powerful beings; the naturally revealed law; and positive law, that is, the rule of the Empire and its Authorities.
theodicy and soteriology
First, God can do whatever He wants, so write that down. God would be perfectly within His rights to create nothing at all, or a world of eternal torture for absolutely everyone, so you should be grateful for the works of Grace which extend literally anything else to you.
Second, even within the framework of God's reciprocity and grace, the sufferings visited upon the world in this latter age have multiple purposes: to punish, to correct, to strengthen, and to reward.
Obviously, God punishes those who violate His commandments, those he abominates forevermore, and those who attempt to make war upon his order. But even those who have pledged loyalty to the Almighty and sworn faithfully to His representatives may be punished and corrected: many people have seen the dead souls of those who have enjoyed the Sacrament of Branding and served the Empire seeming to be tortured in Hell, which now permeates the rest of creation. For those who really did serve faithfully, they are in fact in Purgatory, and are being corrected and strengthened. To unleash pain on those in your power is actually a special sign of love, for it will make them stronger in the end, and strength is close to godliness.
Finally, God visits tortures upon sinners (or whomever else He chooses) to please those others who have pleased him; to satisfy their natural reciprocity in desiring revenge, and to feel the proof of God's love for them by comparison. God even extends His grace to the worst sinners by their knowing He tortures so many of their enemies as well.
The loyal servant of the Almighty is encouraged to have faith and trust that they are among the few in God's favor.
sacraments
After the promulgation of the Capitoline Rite, there have been several revisions to the sacraments:
- The rite of Chrismation or Confirmation is concluded with the placing of the Seal of the Emperor on the forehead or hand. (This is also connected to effective citizenship in positive law of the Empire.)
- Mutual consent is no longer required for the rite of marriage, nor are (c.f. the repeal of "Galilean-era" revealed law) polygyny or divorce prohibited.
- It is clarified that the administration of Holy Communion is entirely symbolic; and any clerical attempt to conduct rituals to transubstantiate the material is strictly prohibited.
Christology
The First Capitoline Council has largely followed precedent in demuring to either overturn or in any way clarify Nicene principles of three hypostases, one ousia.
This is not the only Christological question the Capitoline council has refused to issue clarification on.
By far the most important idea that has not been stated outright concerns the precise relationship between the Emperor and the second person of the trinity. Officially, it is only enforceable doctrine that the Emperor is the Almighty's representative on earth, and His most beloved being - either as a whole or among created things. However, it is broadly hinted at that the Emperor is, in fact, Christ the Son of Man returned to earth in Power and Glory, and that He has begun His millennium. The pair are sometimes understood as "the Lion and the Lamb," two aspects - one obsolete - of the second person of the trinity. The Lion has come not to bring peace but a sword.
angelology
If you take a stroll over to Hell - not recommended to the living, but no harder in the Apocalypse than it is for 21st century folk to visit, say, a data center - you will see monsters roasting people over fires like marshmallows, eating them and shitting them out, flaying them alive just in time for the skin to keep growing back on, and so on.
These "monsters" are God's loyal servants, meting out punishment to the damned, or possibly annealing the Almighty's loyal servants into stronger stuff. (If they have the Emperor's Seal on their forehead or hand and are stoically enduring the torture rather than begging for mercy like a little worm, you can be sure that God is going to put them in a palace in charge of powers and principalities any day now.) If these monsters ever refer to themselves as "the army of Hell" that means they are the legionary troop of angels assigned to torture duty, which is a place of high honor.
the secret doctrine
Look, people aren't that dumb. Lots of ordinary people have a pretty good idea of what's up, and have refused the Mark of the Beast for that reason, or have gotten the Mark and inserted themselves into the power structure for reasons of short-term getting along, while feeling guilty about the whole thing. (The dragon prizes such boiled frogs.) And among the Authorities, the Horns, the Heads, and most obviously among the fallen angels themselves, the elite are certainly in the know about the nature of the Power they serve.
Some have eyes only half-open: they know that the Dragon is not God, but that the true God is either absent or indifferent, so whoever happens to seize power in the cosmos can hold onto and exercise it as long as they have the strength to do so. At their most sympathetic, they may believe that the violent imposition of this kind of order is what may produce the least bad universe (the Dragon prizes such boiled frogs too.)
Some eyes are almost entirely open - they know the nature of God, that God loves everyone (even themselves), and that God will triumph over all evil by absorbing all reality back into Godself - and it makes them want to puke. A universe in which all of reality will collapse into a black hole of pure love and joy, no matter what anybody does, is a world without freedom or justice. They will avert and delay this, pack in as much hate and pain while they can, until the awful Lamb devours, forgives, and enthrones them. If they opened their eyes any further, they fear, the Lamb might do it right then.