Ceros, the Giver of the Light

Ceros lived in the distant past, and little reliable history of his life survives. What remains is a mixture of fragmentary record, oral tradition, devotional teaching, and legend. He is remembered as a healer and teacher whose extraordinary works were understood by those around him as miracles of the Light.

As generations passed, the historical man receded behind the figure remembered by the Faith: Ceros, the Giver of the Light. The Church does not require the Faithful to reconstruct every detail of his mortal life; it preserves the teachings and traditions believed to have descended from him.

Jahassa and Receiving the Light

Lake Jahassa became one of the great sacred places associated with the early Faith. The tradition of Receiving the Light grew from the oldest accounts surrounding Ceros and remains among the defining rites of Cerosian belief.

The oldest traditions tell that Ceros came at last to Lake Jahassa after a long journey, drawn to the remote waters that would become sacred to the Faith. There, amid the cold clarity of the lake and the volcanic warmth beneath the land, the rite now known as Receiving the Light took form. Those who undertake it first enter the geothermally warmed Baths of Purification, then plunge into the icy waters of Jahassa before emerging to don simple clothing and receive the Light of Ceros. The Church regards that Light as a sacred Blessing of the Giver rather than arcane magic. The rite may be undertaken by Cerosians and by converts entering the Faith.