Septentrine

In Hosian theology, especially ecclesiology, the Septentrine tradition refers to the ecclesiological and broader theological tradition of the Bishopal Church of Egelion headquartered at Nordland and its later sister churches with which it forms the communion of the Union of Nordland, in turn part of the wider Bishopal communion.

The tradition takes its name from the traditional Selucian name of the city of Nordland and thereby its archdiocese, Septenterra.

Ecclesiology
The ecclesiology of the Septentrine tradition is a form of branch theory emphasising continuity with the ecumenical (that is, worldwide) apostolic tradition of the Holy Apostolic Church, mother denomination of Aurorian Hosianism. It accepts the Council of Auroria, but rejects the later centralism expressed in the context of an infallible, central Michaelan primacy at Auroria as counter to the spirit of canon law. In this sense, Septentrine Churches see themselves as autocephalous national churches continuing what they see as the restored ecclesiastical tradition of the early Holy Apostolic Hosian Church.

According to the Septentrine tradition, the Holy Apostolic Church never ceased to exist and does not consist in any single body, because it is the "community of the faithful, the one holy apostolic and ecumenical church", with the emphasis of the former. It holds that the four marks of the church (unity, holiness, apostolicity and ecumenism) flow from the fact that it is the community of the faithful, as first established by Eliyahu and his disciples. Septentrine ecclesiology teaches that this can therefore not be exclusive, because the ecumenical community of the faithful consists in the orthodox (Aurorian) Hosian faith and traditions and the institutions of the Sacrifices and apostolic succession. For this reason, Septentrine Churches often characterise themselves as "Ecumenical but not Patriarchal" or (more commonly in the post-Auroria II era) "Aurorian but not Patriarchal".

In contrast to claims of schism from Auroria, Septentrine Churches sometimes hold that it is Auroria (or whichever Archipatriarchate succeeding it) which broke communion with them. This is most clear in the mother church in Egelion, which according to the Aurorian view schismed by electing a Bishop in a suppressed diocese without the approval of the Arch-Patriarch, while the church itself claimed it had an ancient right to elect its Bishop without the involvement of Auroria. At this point the doctrine of archi-patriarchal infallibility had not yet been defined - it was defined by an Ecumenical Council much later as the Holy Apostolic Church tried to brave the waves of the Luthoran Abjuration. To this Council, the Bishops of the Nordland hierarchy were not invited - in the eyes of the Septentrines invalidating the council because it was not ecumenical and thereby forcing a break in the communion between Nordland and Auroria.