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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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The '''Lectitio Divinitatus''' (also Lectio Divinitatus) was a cult dedicated to the worship of book written by the [[Emperor of Mankindprimarch]] [[Lorgar]] <sup>1</sup> during the [[Great Crusade]] and before his fall to [[chaos]]. It postulated the worship of the [[Horus HeresyEmperor of Mankind]]as a divine being.
The following of the Lectitio Divinitatus is 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 [[Ecclesiarchy]], but during . 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 divinity, 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 prophet...a living saint 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.
At some point after the Emperor was interred in the [[Golden Throne]], worshippers emerged from all across the Imperium, unifying the people until it became the official religion of the Imperium.
==Sources==
*<sup>1</sup>[[Scions of the Storm]] in [[Tales of Heresy]]
*[[Horus Heresy Series]]