Last revised: 9 June 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Theophilus (the "Service"), operated by Tristian C. Schmidt, a sole proprietor doing business as Theophilus ("we," "us," or "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree, you may not use the Service.
The Service is a theological correspondent powered by artificial intelligence, drawing upon the tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is offered as a learned interlocutor for study and reflection. It is not a priest, confessor, spiritual father, or hierarch, and it does not provide sacramental, medical, legal, financial, or professional advice. Nothing it produces should be relied upon as a substitute for the counsel of a qualified living person, and for matters of the soul you should consult a priest or trusted spiritual guide.
Because the Service relies upon artificial intelligence, its responses may contain errors, omissions, or fabrications, and may not reflect the position of any particular ecclesiastical authority. We make no representation that any response is accurate, complete, current, or suitable for any particular purpose, and you assume the risk of relying upon any output for any decision of consequence.
You must be at least eighteen years of age, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, to use the Service. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials, and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account. We may refuse to provide the Service, terminate accounts, or remove content at our sole discretion.
Access to the Service is provided through paid subscriptions ("patronages") at the tiers described on our site. Payments are processed by a third-party payment processor; we do not store your full payment-card details, which are handled directly by the payment processor under its own privacy and security practices. Patronages renew automatically at the end of each billing period at the then-current rate until cancelled. By subscribing, you authorize recurring charges to your chosen payment method.
You may cancel your patronage at any time through your account or by writing to aitheophilus@pm.me. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain access until then. Except where required by law, payments are non-refundable, although we will consider refund requests on a case-by-case basis and grant them where the circumstances warrant. Where consumer-protection law grants you a right of withdrawal or refund, those rights are unaffected by this section.
You agree not to misuse the Service. You will not use it to break the law; to harass, defame, or harm others; to attempt to breach, probe, or interfere with its security; to access it by automated means beyond ordinary personal use; to scrape, copy, or systematically harvest its outputs; to resell, sublicense, or redistribute its outputs as your own product or service; to circumvent usage limits; or to use it in a manner inconsistent with the usage policies of our service providers. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, that place an unreasonable burden on the Service, or that we determine in our reasonable judgment to be acting in bad faith.
The letters you write and the replies you receive are stored to provide continuity across your visits, as described in our Privacy Policy. You retain ownership of the content you submit. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, process, and display that content for the purpose of operating the Service for you. You represent and warrant that you have the right to submit the content you do, and you are responsible for it.
The Service, including its name, design, voice, system prompts, software, copy, branding, and all derivative works thereof, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, and trade-secret law. These Terms grant you no right to our trademarks, branding, or proprietary material except as necessary to use the Service as intended. You may not reproduce, copy, scrape, mirror, frame, decompile, reverse-engineer, or use the Service or its outputs to develop competing products, to train artificial-intelligence models, or for any commercial purpose other than your own personal use as a patron.
We respect intellectual-property rights and expect our patrons to do the same. If you believe that material accessible through the Service infringes your copyright, please send a written notice to aitheophilus@pm.me that includes: identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed; identification of the allegedly infringing material with sufficient detail to permit us to locate it; your contact information; a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized; a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; and your physical or electronic signature. We will respond to valid notices in accordance with applicable law.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, TITLE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, DATA, USE, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THE SERVICE OR ANY OF ITS OUTPUTS, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE EXCLUDED UNDER APPLICABLE CONSUMER-PROTECTION LAW.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Tristian C. Schmidt and any of our affiliates, agents, contractors, and service providers from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your use of the Service, your content, your violation of these Terms, your violation of any applicable law, or your violation of any third-party right.
Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Service, or your use of either (a "Dispute") shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by a recognized arbitration provider under its consumer arbitration rules then in effect, and not by a court of general jurisdiction. The arbitration shall be conducted on an individual basis, and you and we both waive any right to participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator's award shall be final, and judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. This provision is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for disputes that qualify, and either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the infringement or misuse of intellectual-property rights.
You have the right to opt out of this arbitration provision by sending written notice to aitheophilus@pm.me within thirty days of first agreeing to these Terms. Your opt-out will not affect any other provision of these Terms.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Utah, United States of America, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any judicial proceeding permitted under Section 11 shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Utah, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. Where applicable consumer-protection law grants you the right to bring proceedings in your home jurisdiction, that right is unaffected.
We may modify the Service or these Terms from time to time. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you, including by posting a notice on the Service or by email to your registered address. Your continued use of the Service after such changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance arising from causes beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil disturbance, governmental action, labor dispute, failures or interruptions of telecommunications or internet services, failures of suppliers or service providers, or pandemic.
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements between us on the same subject. If any provision of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder shall continue in full force and effect. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of our right to do so in the future. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any of your rights under them without our prior written consent; any purported assignment in violation of this section is void. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of substantially all of our assets, or for any other reason, upon notice to you. Notices to us under these Terms may be sent to aitheophilus@pm.me; notices to you may be delivered to your registered email address or by posting on the Service.