Apostolic Successions
The Apostolic
Succession is the means by which sacramental validity is assured in all
Catholic churches: it means that a valid bishop is one who
is consecrated by
the laying on of hands in an unbroken tactile line that stretches back to the
twelve Apostles and to Jesus Christ Himself. The Apostolic Succession
is as important spiritually as it is historically.
Tertullian writes, "Let
them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold
the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the
beginning in such a manner that [name of first bishop of theirs] bishop
shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the
apostles or of apostolic men." For the Old
Catholic Apostolic Church, these original records reside with the historic
Churches of the East and and West and with the Roman Catholic Church, since our
descent from those churches occurs as recently as the
twentieth-century.
The value of the union of the different strands of the Apostolic
Succession as they have been transmitted to various churches is
considerable in ecumenical terms, since it transcends differences in
theology and belief, and acts to unite the Church as the Body of
Christ.
Our Apostolic Succession Document is here.
Our Apostolic Succession Document is here.