Apostolic Succession

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION: According to the theory of supporters of the episcopal form of church polity, the uninterrupted succession, from the apostles to the present day, of bishops and priests set apart by the laying on of hands. The Greek, Roman Catholic, and Anglican Churches maintain that this succession is essential to the validity of sacramental ministrations, and allow no one not thus ordained to minister in their churches. The last-named body asserts its possession by all three; the Roman Catholic concedes it to the Greek but not to the Anglican; while the Greeks regard its possession by either of the other two as at best exceedingly doubtful. See Episcopacy; Ordination; Polity.

Bibliography: A. W. Haddan, Apostolical Succession in the Church of England, London, 1869; E. McCrady, Apostolical Succession and the Problem of Unity, Sewanee, 1905.