Book of Paap
The Book of Paap is a Greek-language religious text written by Martinos Nikolopoulos. It records the vision from which the Paap family took its hereditary surname and contains the prophecy that became the basis of early Paap religious tradition. The Great Paap served as the hereditary guardian of the book.
Composition
[edit | edit source]Martinos wrote the book after a vision in which he heard the unfamiliar word "Paap". He understood the word as a name connected to the future of his descendants. After the Nikolopoulos household settled in the Dutch Republic, Dutch people used the same word in connection with the family's conspicuous Christianity. The family treated this agreement as confirmation of the vision and gradually adopted Paap as its surname.
The book used biblical language and themes. Its treatment of light and darkness drew on John 1:5. The cost of gaining the world reflected Matthew 16:26, while its description of overcoming evil followed Romans 12:21. Its final struggle also drew on Ephesians 6:12 and the apostasy described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Prophecy
[edit | edit source]The principal prophecy described two future members of the Paap family. The Paap of light was "the one who had lost it all", while the Paap of darkness was "the one who took it all". Martinos wrote that a battle between them would decide the fate of the world.
Martinos stated that the Paap of light would bear the name Hugerinus. He also required every Hugerinus bearer to have a four-letter first name. The first bearer was Aris Hugerinus Paap, whose father chose the name because of the book.
The book contained a warning later applied to Jan Paap:
"When the next Paap rejects the book, the darkness begins its final crusade."
Later Paapists identified Mark Hugerinus Paap as the Paap of light and Eef Paap as the Paap of darkness.
Guardianship
[edit | edit source]Melchior Paap, the eldest child of Martinos, became the first known Great Paap. He inherited custody of the book and protected it for later generations. The Great Paap also passed its teachings to later Paaps.
Custody followed automatic primogeniture through Melchior's direct line. The active religious importance of the office weakened over time, but the title and responsibility for the book continued.
Belief and rejection
[edit | edit source]Most relatives respected Martinos without expecting the prophecy to happen literally. The book survived through family inheritance and the duties attached to the Great Paap.
Jan Paap rejected the book because he did not believe the prophecy and did not want the Paap name governed by the old tradition. He also rejected the succession expected of him. Paapists later interpreted his actions through the warning recorded by Martinos.