The ministries were the Covenant's primary administrative departments. While the Hierarchs and the High Council wielded supreme executive and legislative power, it were the Ministries that managed most of the Covenant's day-to-day operations. The vast majority of matters never reached the High Council Chamber, though the ministers sitting on the Council would bring up issues concerning the entire Covenant there.

Function and duties

More often than not, the ministries acted as regulatory and supervisory bodies overseeing numerous sanctioned holy orders, guilds and other organizations that put their edicts into practice. These relationships were not always as straightforward as they may have seemed; there were several holy orders or guilds that wielded more de facto power than the ministries tasked with overseeing their operations, and even more cases where the two were on a mostly even ground. However, as ministries amassed more power, they would also be able to exert more draconian control over the organizations under their charge, or even absorb lesser organizations into themselves. Many of the more worldly Ministries' functions were also filled by the Covenant's feudal states' own governments, but the ministries remained the supreme authority, and also had representatives in the domains' synods which represented High Charity's institutions on the local level.

The ministries were far from static throughout history, and neither were their functions. In addition, few if any of the ministries that were there in the beginning survived up to the 9th Age of Reclamation, sooner or later falling victim to the attrition of relentless inter-ministerial politics. Ministries were in constant flux, merging, splitting or emerging over the ages. It was rare that an age passed without at least some change in one or more of the ministries. Many ministries had overlapping tasks also partly so they would police one another and keep their power in check. However, these overlaps were also partly borne out of ambitious ministries expanding their influence and power. As ministries amassed power, they also assumed new functions and duties so as to be more independent of the others.

The ministries were headed by their respective Ministers, whose deputies were known as Vice Ministers. The Covenant bureaucracy also had numerous ministers without a portfolio, known as Minor Ministers. Though often little more than a honorary sinecure, Minor Ministers could be appointed (often on a temporary basis) to head committees responsible for handling a particular issue. Minor Ministers often originated as Ministry staffers or even came from an extra-ministerial background, depending on the circumstances of their promotion. One of their most common roles was to serve as the High Council's representatives in Covenant fleets and provincial synods; in this capacity both Minor Ministers and true Ministers were called Legates, though Minor Ministers were far more common in the role. Minor Minister legates were usually given relatively mundane titles that reflected their primary role, e.g. Minor Minister of Artifact Survey or Minor Minister of Excavation Oversight. Although some Minor Ministers also held the title of Minor or Lesser Prophet, the two were not synonymous, as it was possible for a Minor Minister to not be granted the title of Prophet. The title of Prophet was generally more respected than that of Minister, so most San'Shyuum who were Prophets also preferred to be known as that over the title of Minister.

As a general rule, older ministries had longer, more descriptive and more elaborate names, whereas ministries formed later had simpler but more evocative names.

Religious theory

Ministry of Revelation

Studying and interpreting scripture and canon as well as accepting new revelation into canon. It was a core tenet of the Covenant faith that revelation was continuous and ever-evolving; while previous revelation could not be nullified, newer revelation (or the Covenant's incomplete interpretation thereof) could recontextualize it, providing a more complete reflection of the divine Truth. The Ministry of Revelation frequently worked with the Ministry of Abnegation to reconcile seeming conflicts between accounts in councils that took the form of endless debates on often minute details of esoteric scripture that most Covenant citizens weren't even aware of. The Ministry of Revelation also had the important responsibility of advising the Covenant's religious courts in enforcing orthodoxy across the Holy Ecumene and its numerous denominations.

Ministry of Ordination

Fulfilled various ceremonial duties and oversaw everyday priesthoods and chaplains, conferred religious titles and kept records of saints, and investigated claims of new revelation or discovery. The Ministry's duties overlapped with those of Revelation, though typically most new revelation passed through the filter of the Ministry of Ordination before more in-depth studies and canonization by the Ministry of Revelation; such a filter was useful as most new revelation was vague or not genuine. Some elements of the Ministry of Ordination dealt more in "immaterial" aspects of the religion, to the point of dabbling in heretical Solipsism at times.

Ministry of Abnegation

Studying scripture for contradictions and devising apologetics and exegetics; had a role as kind of a "devil's advocate" and a critical counterpart to the Ministry of Revelation, but also dabbled in esoteric and mystic scripture. These duties were largely relegated to the Ascetics and related monastic orders, which fulfilled many related functions in the Covenant's constituent governments, often acting as trusted advisors and experts.

Internal affairs

Ministry of Edification

Culture, language, education, news; in practice, this often involved some form of propaganda and may include information control. Also maintained the ecumenical wavecaster network and was responsible for relaying the Hierarchs' sermons and High Council's sessions to the greater Covenant public.

Ministry of Grace

Social affairs, health, public works, and disaster relief throughout the Holy Ecumene.

Ministry of the Common Weal

The Ministry of the Common Weal runs social programs, hospitals and also a police force. It occupies a middle ground between the Ministry of Grace and the Ministry of Concert, and it came into existence because those two Ministries kept undermining each other and competing against each other on High Charity. Its charter grants it power only over High Charity and its attendant fleets, but the real borders of its jurisdiction are murky. Both Grace and Concert have concerns on High Charity, and the Ministry of the Common Weal's name makes no mention of High Charity, a subtle hint that the Ministry has always had ambitions to extending its power throughout the Covenant Empire.

Ministry of Integrity

Dealing with provincial authorities and the domain-level ecclesiarchy on routine administrative tasks, settling day-to-day disputes. Had cultural duties as well, e.g. maintaining cultural and religious concert between worlds. It had some overlap with the Ministry of Preservation, but was generally seen as less bellicose and more amiable to deal with. The ministry also had oversight of the Sangheili Redeemers, who operated semi-independently of High Charity's bureaucracy and acted as a form of cultural and religious police.

Ministry of Concert

Dealing with the caste system, imposing labor policies and policing unions and guilds, settling disputes among member species, particularly the Unggoy and Kig-Yar. The Ministry of Concert was one of the few ministries that had a sizable number of staff from the lower species, with Unggoy and Kig-Yar representatives of various recognized guilds, unions, and lesser governments.

Ministry of Procuration

Finances, tax collection, regulation of trade and commerce on a macro level (partial overlap with Concert and Integrity)

Ministry of Annals

Record-keeping and historical research; while countless Covenant organizations and families kept their own records and histories, the duty of the Ministry of Annals was to pull together these various sources as well as study their veracity; their archives in High Charity were without a doubt the most comprehensive library in all of the Covenant. The records kept by Sangheili houses were often comprehensive, but also highly embellished and biased; many familial epics began to resemble mythology more than history when it came to events beyond living memory. Family sagas were also usually highly exclusive to those families and their associates, and available even to High Charity bureaucrats only through negotiation. Even then, much familial oral tradition in particular went unrecorded by parties outside the families in question. Aside from periodic interest by some annalists, the traditions and histories of the lesser species such as Unggoy or Kig-Yar received much less attention than those of the Sangheili.

Some overlap with the more powerful Ministry of Edification.

Ministry of Penance

Main article: Ministry of Penance

Judicial matters and ecumenic-level law enforcement; oversaw the Quaestor prefectures.

Ministry of Inquisition

Ensuring orthodoxy in practice, investigating allegations of heresy and apostasy, oversight of religious courts, conviction of heretics

Technology and science

Ministry of Tranquility

Acquisition and deciphering of Forerunner artifacts, oversight of relic-hunting fleets and corsairs scouting the fringes of the Covenant Empire. Also oversaw the Deacons.

Ministry of Fortitude

Distributing artifacts and sanctioned technologies to member species

Ministry of Etiology

Main article: Ministry of Etiology

Ascertaining the purposes of relics. Check on the power of the Ministries of Tranquility and Fortitude. Sidelined during the Covenant War.

Ministry of Discovery

Scientific research and developing new technology. Oversaw holy orders of discovery-priests charged with reverse-engineering relics.

Ministry of Instrumentality

Oversaw the management of entrusted technology and the creation of design patterns, kept records of existing patterns, as well as the distribution of existing designs to manufacturers.

Ministry of Fabrication

Oversaw industry, operating fabricaries and assembly forges, large-scale construction projects, controlling the distribution of industrial machinery to guilds.

Ministry of Providence

Fleet logistics and resupply; acquiring and refinement of raw materials and resources, controlling the mining rights of clans and guilds; maintained the most extensive excavator fleet in the Covenant.

Colonization and conversion

Ministry of the Empyrean

Responsible for the charting, exploration and colonization of new worlds, astrography and cosmology; also artifact discovery. The Ministries of Tranquility and Conversion would supersede and largely sideline the Ministry of the Empyrean in the Covenant's Covenant's later years as the empire's centrally-led expansion slowed down after the Feudal Period.

Ministry of Conversion

Bringing new species into the fold; also scouting for new species and civilizations. While they maintained sizable fleets and had played a key role in prior species assimilation wars, they took the back seat during the human conflict, as the Covenant's goal was not to convert but destroy. This troubled many within the ministry as they watched the war from the sidelines; while conversion by the sword was a common and acceptable reality, a means to a noble end, utter xenocide was not.

Security

Ministry of Preparation

Internal security, experimental projects. Partly a check on the power of the Ministry of Vigilance, though also acted as its projects division.

Ministry of Preservation

Dealing with internal dissent within the domains and member worlds, putting down rebellions and secession movements by client races and states. Established during the Second Illumination and had the majority of High Charity's armed forces consolidated under it by the end. Also engaged in espionage and intelligence.

Ministry of Resolution

Security, anti-piracy, warfare. Grew vastly during the Human-Covenant War and overtook the Ministry of Preservation as the largest fleet within the Covenant.

Ministry of Vigilance

Secret police, espionage, and both internal and external security. Agents of the Ministry of Vigilance were embedded within a myriad Covenant organizations, not in the least other Ministries, and in their own way maintain the status quo between those organizations. The Ministry of Vigilance also ran various remote outposts and kept watch on various Ulterior and Fringe civilizations.

Ministry of Fervent Intercession

Securing strategic relic sites during crises, oversaw artifact-hunting Zealot chapters. Did not generally work well with other Ministries, especially with Resolution and Preservation.

Defunct ministries

• Ministry of the Higher Pathways - Originally established to chart and maintain records of slipspace routes, it was eventually merged with the Ministry of the Empyrean.
• Ministry of Nomenclature - Established at some point to standardize and control the naming of all things Covenant, from spacial locations to organizations. Was largely ineffectual at getting any real change done, and was eventually disbanded.
• Ministry of Contentment - Former ministry whose role overlapped with that of the Ministry of Grace, later merged.
• Ministry of the Uplifting Word - A ministry active at the time of the incorporation of the Kig-Yar, which its minister oversaw.
• Ministry of Canon - an earlier predecessor to the ministries of Revelation and Annals.

---