The Early Era of Tolerated Hero-Veneration
In the first few millennia after the Horus Heresy, the Ecclesiarchy permitted limited saint-analogous worship of the Primarchs — provided it remained framed as veneration (honor of Imperial exemplars), not worship (divine adoration).
Sanguinius, the “Angel of Baal,” was the most beloved of these figures. His martyrdom aboard the Vengeful Spirit became an archetype of self-sacrifice, courage, and angelic beauty.
Shrine worlds across the Segmentum Obscurus carved angelic monuments and frescoes representing his purity as a symbol of Imperial virtue — particularly where Imperial Creed had yet to solidify.
Veneris’ early settlers, descended from artisan guilds and miners, found in Sanguinius the perfect patron saint of suffering made sublime.
The Schism of the Wings (M35-M36)
In time, however, the Cult of the Angel began to blur the line between admiration and deification.
Pilgrims prayed to Sanguinius rather than through him; depictions grew increasingly divine — haloed, radiant, often with twin suns or hearts as symbols of salvation.
Across multiple sectors, winged saints and angel-forms began replacing the Imperial Aquila in devotional art.
The Schism of the Wings erupted when several shrine worlds declared Sanguinius the “True Incarnation of the Emperor’s Mercy,” while others maintained that no Primarch may be worshipped.
The Ecclesiarchy, fearing the return of Primarch-cult idolatry, responded brutally.
The Edict of Baal’s Shadow (M36)
During the Age of Apostasy, the Synod Ministra issued the Edict of Baal’s Shadow, decreeing that:
“The image of the Angel shall not eclipse the image of the Master; his wings shall be clipped from our altars, his visage from our prayers.”
All planetary cults dedicated solely to Sanguinius were to be dissolved or refounded under proper Imperial saints.
Sanguinius could still be invoked as a saint under the Emperor’s light, but not worshipped as a semi-divine redeemer in his own right.
Most shrine worlds complied; a few resisted and were purged.
“The Angel henceforth represents Every Saint’s Sacrifice, not the Angel himself.”
— Ecclesiarchal Proclamation 118.6.VEN
Survival as Heresy Beneath Stone
Centuries later, the memory of the Angel’s cult endured among hermits and penitents.
To them, Sanguinius symbolized a beauty of martyrdom the Ecclesiarchy had become too bureaucratic to understand.
Thus, reverence survived underground — first as secret songs, later as hidden fraternities, and finally as the Escatological sects: those who believed the Angel would rise again at the Dies Irae, not as a saint but as the Emperor’s avenging spirit.
Modern Ecclesiarchal Position
Officially, the Calixian Synod regards open Sanguinian devotion as “theological error tending toward angelolatry.”
Public images of Sanguinius are restricted to approved Imperial murals showing his death beside the Emperor — never alone, never enthroned, never radiant.
To restore the Angel to worship is to invite accusation of heresy of divided divinity — one of the oldest and most dangerous schisms in the Creed.
Summary Table
| Era | Ecclesiarchal View | Reason / Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Early Post-Heresy (M31–M33) | Tolerated | Sanguinius venerated as heroic martyr of the Emperor. |
| Mid-Imperium (M34–M36) | Contested | Spread of “angelolatry” causes the Schism of the Wings. |
| Age of Apostasy (M36) | Condemned | Edict of Baal’s Shadow forbids separate Angel cults. |
| Modern Calixis (M41) | Tolerated relic, forbidden faith | Only historical imagery allowed; active worship punished as heresy. |
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 