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The '''Imperial Cult''', also called the '''Cult Imperialis''' in [[High Gothic]], is the cult based on the worship of the [[Emperor of Mankind]] as Master, Defender and Father of Mankind, developed following his internment in the [[Golden Throne]]. In the 41st millennium the Imperial Cult has almost unrivalled power and influence within the [[Imperium]]. [[Heresy]] against it is punished severely. The religion is administered by the [[Ecclesiarchy]].

In By [[M41]], the ordinary Imperial citizen believes that the Emperor has always been venerated as an immortal and omnipotent god, but this is inaccurate. At the beginning of the Emperor's [[Great Crusade]], there was no Ecclesiarchy; on the contrary, the Emperor had deliberately outlawed organised religion in any form, declaring it the source of much of the strife and ignorance that had prevented humanity from achieving its potential.{{Fn|4a}} {{Fn|14}} The idea of worship was anathema to the Emperor's vision of a secular empire of man, ruled by reason and science. The official Imperial doctrine was that the Emperor was an extremely powerful being, the rightful ruler of all mankind, and the perfect image of humanity, but no matter how supreme, still a human being. This doctrine -which also denied the existence of [[Chaos]]- was called the "Imperial Truth".{{Cite ThisFn|4a}}{{Fn|13}}

During the Great Crusade however, many ordinary Imperial citizens found that the light of reason and truth brought by the Emperor was not enough, and they took to worshiping him as a deity. The Emperor himself did not wish to be considered a deity, but his deeds during the Great Crusade and the very fact of his existence - an immortal man, and the most powerful [[psyker]] in the history of the [[galaxy]] - gave rise to a cult, known as the [[Lectitio Divinitatus]],{{Fn|4b}}, based on a tome written by the [[Primarch]] [[Lorgar]], postulating that the Emperor was in fact a divine being.{{Fn|5}} The early central figure of the Imperial Creed was the [[Remembrancer]] and later first [[Saint]], [[Euphrati Keeler]]. Keeler along with the former [[Iterator]] [[Kyril Sindermann]] become became early proponents of the Emperor's divinity and oversaw the spread of the Cult as the Heresy unfolded. By the time of the [[Siege of Terra]] , cults such as the [[Lightbearers]]{{Fn|9}} and [[Empire of Divine Valour]] had gained strength across the Imperium. However, the cults' growth did not go unopposed, and occasionally resulted in open war between cultists and supporters of the Imperial Truth even as the Horus Heresy raged, such as on [[Argarops]].{{Fn|912}}

The Emperor became an object of general veneration following the [[Horus Heresy]] and his internment within the Golden Throne on [[Terra]]. Over the following decades many individual Imperial cults sprang up throughout the Imperium, with their central theme being the redemption of humanity through the Emperor's self-sacrifice. After a few hundred years, a single cult known as the [[Temple of the Saviour Emperor]] was formed from the unification of a number of smaller cults, which gradually absorbed the main body of believers. In [[M32]] , this cult became the official religion of the Imperium, gaining the title of Adeptus Ministorum. Remaining cults were persecuted and mostly destroyed.{{Fn|1b}} The dominance of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor was broken during the [[Age of Apostasy]] in [[M36]], when [[Sebastian Thor]] and his "Confederation of Light" reformed the Imperial Cult. After this point, the Ecclesiarchy took the form it would keep until M41. The Temple was subsequently declared heretical,{{Fn|15}} and its remaining followers were hunted just like other unorthodox cults. Despite the continued dominance of Thor's version of the Imperial Cult over the next millenia, minor Imperial cults would continue to rise and fall across the Imperium.{{Fn|15}}{{Fn|16}}

**{{Endn|4a}}: Part One, Chapter Three, pgs. 58-59**{{Endn|4b}}: Part Two, Chapter Six, pgs. 327-330