Lectitio Divinitatus
"Rejoice, for I bring glorious news. God walks among us."
- – First line of the text.
"I'm not the Messiah!"
"I say you are, Lord, and I should know, I've followed a few!"
Outside of the Codex Astartes, the Lectitio Divinitatus is the most IMPORTANT book in the entirety of Warhammer 40,000. This fucking Lorgar fan-fic caused everything either directly or indirectly; from the Destruction of Monarchia, to the Horus Heresy, to the creation of the Imperial Cult, which led to the Age of Apostasy, all the way to Robo Guilitan being revived and reading the OG copy. It's one hell of a fan-fic.
Overview[edit]
The Lectitio Divinitatus (also Lectio Divinitatus) was originally penned by Lorgar Aurelian after his vision of the Emprah gave this choir boy a sexual awakening during the Great Crusade and before his fall to Chaos.
It postulated the worship of the Emperor of Mankind as a divine being. The following of the Lectitio Divinitatus became an underground cult, believed to be the precursor of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor and the Imperial Cult, the basis of the modern Adeptus Ministorum. During the Great Crusade such cults were frowned upon by the Emperor and the Council of Terra, and most especially by the Astartes and those serving them. The Emperor downplayed his power but those who believed in the Emperor's godhood were of the opinion - as Titus Cassar once put it - that "only the truly divine deny their divinity".
In the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet, commanded by Warmaster Horus himself, the cult was most prevalent. Horus took steps to try to extinguish the cult, as he perceived it as a threat to his power. The remembrancer Euphrati Keeler — who was attached to the 63rd - became a major figure, venerated as a living saint and prophet of the Emperor. As a result, she was the target of Horus' assassins at some point before she escaped from the Vengeful Spirit. Even some Astartes - such as Nathaniel Garro, the Death Guard loyalist who led the Eisenstein escape - became part of the cult at one point.
The Sisters of Battle, the Red Scorpions, the Fire Angels and the Black Templars treat this thing as holy writ and parade them inside a warzone. Lorgar then penned Book of Lorgar for Chaos.
