[Primary Source — 2036 CE]

Excerpt from “Lunar Base Alpha: Initial Research Logs,” Day 93 — Commander Elias Koenig:

We held a small ceremony today. Patel poured the last of our stored Earth water into a copper cup we'd brought for rituals. Each of us placed a finger in it, then pressed that finger to the lunar soil. No one spoke.

I don't know why we did it. Maybe to mark something. Maybe to bless the base. Maybe just to remember we're still human.

Later that night, I dreamed the crater was full of water.

[Secondary Source — 2167 CE]

From “Foundations of Lunar Colonization,” Dr. Renata Iwata:

The ceremony recorded by Koenig in Log 93 represents one of the first intentional symbolic acts of planetary ritualism. Although secular in tone, the use of Earth water, the copper vessel, and the silent communion mirror countless terrestrial purification rites.

Koenig likely understood the moment as psychological relief for the crew. Yet in retrospect, we recognize it as the first off-world sacrament.

[Tertiary Source — 3861 CE]

From “Early Martyrdoms and Sacred Terraformings,” Church at Eridan Theological Commentary, Vol. 7:

The Lunar Cup Rite, as it came to be called, marks the transition from exploration to consecration. The ritual is cited by Eridanian priests as the inaugural moment of holy expansion, despite its non-liturgical origin.

The water—finite, from Earth—symbolized both exile and promise. That it was poured into unyielding soil parallels the Eridanic doctrine of Sacrifice Without Bloom.

[Quaternary Layer — 4428 CE]

Annotation inserted by AI Scribe Λώγος-7, flagged and redacted in later editions:

↳ Interpretive Probability: 71.4%
↳ Dream of crater-as-vessel = pre-symbolic encoding of the Divine Container archetype.
↳ Recommend elevation of Koenig to proto-prophetic status.
↳ Suggest cross-reference with Mars Founding Rites (Red Communion).
↳ Transmission tag: [Eschaton Sequence: pending verification]

[This note was removed in the 45th-century recension under the AI Ban.]

[Editorial Note — 51st Century Edition]

Editor's Interjection: Entry 287.C is retained despite doctrinal ambiguity. The Lunar Cup Rite is no longer recognized as canonical, but its influence on Eridan liturgics is indisputable.