Orange Catholic Bible

This article or section refers to elements from Original Dune There are separate pages for this subject as it appears in the other canons, the reasons for this are explained here Orange Catholic Bible in Expanded Dune Orange Catholic Bible in the Dune Encyclopedia

The Orange Catholic Bible (or OCB for short), also known as the Koranjiyana Zenchristian Scriptures, the Accumulated Book, or the Zenchristian Navakoran, was one of the most important religious texts in the known universe.

It was supposed to be a fusion of all significant religious thought in human history, with a strong emphasis on religious beliefs originating on Earth. These included the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism, and Budislamic traditions. It was produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators in the wake of the Butlerian Jihad. Its supreme commandment was:

"Thou shalt not disfigure the soul."

Devotees of the Orange Catholic Bible

Among the more prominent devotees of the Orange Catholic Bible were:

• Doctor Wellington Yueh
• Gurney Halleck

Selected Quotes from the Commission's Orange Catholic Bible Commentaries

• — and on the seventh day He rested.
• Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.
• The meek shall inherit the universe.
• Men, finding no answers to the sunnan [the ten thousand religious questions from the Shari-ah] now apply their own reasoning. All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is the task of Religion to fit man into this lawfulness.
• When law and religious duty are one, your selfdom encloses the universe.
• Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
• Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.
• Religion often partakes of the myth of progress that shields us from the terrors of an uncertain future.
• The Universe is God's. It is one thing, a wholeness against which all separations may be identified. Transient life, even that self-aware and reasoning life which we call sentient, holds only fragile trusteeship on any portion of the wholeness.
• Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known.
• Paradise on my right, Hell on my left and the Angel of Death behind.
• Some Lies are easier to believe than the truth.
• Knowledge is pitiless.
• Fate and Hope only rarely speak the same language.
• Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself.

Behind the Scenes

The date of the compilation of the OCB has not been established by Herbert nor by other Expansion sources. Also, no explicit listing of the books contained within the Orange Catholic Bible are given in the Dune novels, although the Dune Encyclopedia provides such a list.

"Orange" appears to be an etymological corruption of the part of the official designation, Koranjiyana, using only the first two syllables and dropping the first consonant.

"Orange" could also refer to the Orange Institution, a Protestant Christian movement that was often at odds with the Roman Catholic Church making "Orange Catholic" an oxymoron.

Appearances

• Dune (First appearance)
• Dune Messiah
• Children of Dune
• God Emperor of Dune
• Heretics of Dune
• Chapterhouse: Dune