This page describes Elisabeth-Maria's relation to her faith

This is a list of actions Elisabeth-Maria undertakes as part of her faith which return with regularity

Elisabeth-Maria makes prayers at least once a day and usually every evening after bed and morning before going to sleep. This is in addition to any prayers for specific purposes (praying for someone, visits to church).

At the table: To save table time, Daily Prayers are included in the time to prepare for / get out of bed.

Elisabeth-Maria participates in the liturgy and receives communion every Sunday as well as during the 12 major feast days in the Orthodox Calendar. As a member of the church community, she also receives the Holy Unction during the Holy Week (after Orthodox Easter).

Beyond these days, Elisabeth-Maria also visits the church on other occasions such as the saint days of her loved ones, or when she feels in need of guidance.

At the table: on Sundays and any major feast days that do not fall on a Sunday (several always do), as well as on certain other occasions, Elisabeth-Maria will visit the church to attend service or pray. To save table time, this does not need to be played out.

At least once a year, preferably more often, Elisabeth-Maria gives confession to a spiritual guide. This can be a priest or a starets (such as Rasputin). In it she confesses her sins in word, deed and thought and asks for forgiveness.

Certain sins are easier to confess than others. The taking of blood for feeding is not something easily confessed, so a confessor with knowledge of

At the table: Elisabeth-Maria will attempt to find a confessor to confess her sins to, preferably without violating the masquerade. This can be problematic and requires roleplay. The actual confession itself is probably less important and can probably be summarized to save table time.

Elisabeth-Maria fasts (does not eat or feed) during the fast days of her religion. There are four longer periods of fasting, and Wednesdays and Fridays are also fast days throughout the year. Certain weeks are exempted from fasting, while certain other special days are extraordinary fast days.

Because Elisabeth-Maria cannot go for extended periods without blood, she does feed on weekends during longer fasting periods, when the rules are not as stringent, preferably only on Sunday.

As a special note, the rules for fasting make an exception for emergencies such as illness or injury. As such, Elisabeth-Maria may feed during a fast if an emergency calls for this.

At the table: Elisabeth-Maria won't feed or otherwise take blood on fast days. The exact days are marked in the campaign calendar.

Elisabeth-Maria tries her best to follow a certain moral code based on her faith. As a baseline for her moral code, she follows basic Orthodox Christian values, including the ten commandments, the seven virtues and seven sins and the lessons of Jesus Christ.

She is not perfect, and as such sometimes steps slightly over the line. When she does, she confesses her sins and makes penance for it later.

Description of possible things that would challenge Elisabeth-Maria's faith.

While at a conscious level, Elisabeth-Maria accepts that there could, in theory, exist priests who are corrupt, in general the singular fact that a person is an Orthodox priest generally clears that person of moral doubt - after all, why would they become a priest if they weren't pure?

Discovering the corruption of a Church Patriarch, of a priest she knows closely or of her confessor (a person whom she'd rely on for advice) would challenge her faith in the Holy Church as an institution.

While the Orthodox Church does not claim infallibility (barring some complexities), a loss of faith in the church would make it difficult to practice her religion, as by its doctrine, a priest is necessary for interactions with God, and membership of a church community is a requirement of faith.

Elisabeth-Maria has little experience with vampire hunters, owing to the benefits of always having lived close to the centre of power, which is usually better protected from such incursions.

While a vampire hunter would be traumatic in and of itself, if such vampire hunters were motivated from a religious perspective and founded in Christianity, this would certainly provoke some soul searching.

Notably, in order for this to effectively challenge her faith, the vampire hunters cannot just be raiders who attack a member of the community - there'd need to be some level of interaction between them which shows that their beliefs are not mere show.

Since Elisabeth-Maria is a vampire, and the hunters would probably kill her on sight, this may not be a feasible encounter at least in the short term. Once True Faith is present and its powers manifest, the encounter may offer a challenge of faith on both sides, however.

A deeper consideration of the position of the vampire, especially surrounding Cain and biblical history might challenge Elisabeth-Maria's world-view significantly, as she never examined this in detail.

As such, interaction with the Sabbat religious beliefs, as well as encountering details regarding the story of Cain and the Antediluvians may demand that ideas about the origin of the world, and thereby the details of the Holy Bible be reconsidered.

Notably, a confrontation with scientific evidence for the big bang, evolution, etc. would not offer a challenge to Elisabeth-Maria's faith at all. Any scientific theory that denies or trivializes the existence of God is obviously wrong, because of the undeniable fact that God exists and plays a central role in daily existence. Likewise, any theory that denies the existence or relevance of gravity because obviously there is gravity.

The truth of God is so omnipresent and obvious, to Elisabeth-Maria, that it cannot be challenged on the basis of “no no, this doesn't exist at all” - however, the idea that parts of the story are missing (especially given the fact that vampires aren't mentioned in the bible at all) is another matter entirely.