View source for Apostolic succession

{{Short description|Continuous succession from the apostles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

[[Image:Consécration-de-Déodat.jpg|thumb|The [[episcopal consecration]] of [[Deodatus of Nevers|Deodatus]]; {{Ill|Claude Bassot|fr}} (1580–1630)]]
'''Apostolic succession''' is the method whereby the [[Christian ministry|ministry]] of the [[Christian Church]] is considered by some [[Christian denomination]]s to be derived from the [[Twelve Apostles|apostles]] by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of [[bishop]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Frank Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&q=the+oxford+dictionary+of+the+christian+church+1997 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |last2=Livingstone |first2=Elizabeth A. |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 |pages=91 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416202132/https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&q=the+oxford+dictionary+of+the+christian+church+1997 |archive-date=16 April 2024 |access-date=1 February 2024 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> Those of the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox]], [[Church of the East]], [[Lutheranism|Scandinavian Lutheran]], [[Anglicanism|Anglican]], [[Moravian Church|Moravian]], [[Czechoslovak Hussite Church|Hussite]], and [[Old Catholic Church|Old Catholic]] traditions maintain that a bishop's orders are neither regular nor valid without consecration through apostolic succession.<ref name="GuidryCrossing2001">{{cite book|last1=Guidry|first1=Christopher R. |last2=Crossing|first2=Peter F.|title=World Christian Trends, AD 30 – AD 2200: Interpreting the Annual Christian Megacensus|date=1 January 2001 |publisher=William Carey Library|isbn=9780878086085|page=307|quote=A number of large episcopal churches (e.g. United Methodist Church, USA) have maintained a succession over 200 years but are not concerned to claim that the succession goes back in unbroken line to the time of the first Apostles. Very many other major episcopal churches, such as the Catholic, Orthodox, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Scandinavian Lutheran, make this claim and contend that a bishop cannot have regular or valid orders unless he has been consecrated in this apostolic succession.}}</ref><ref name="Konečný1995"/><ref name="Goeckel2018">{{cite book |last1=Goeckel |first1=Robert F. |title=Soviet Religious Policy in Estonia and Latvia: Playing Harmony in the Singing Revolution |date=3 August 2018 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-03612-4 |language=en|quote=Among Lutherans there are also different positions: Scandinavian Lutheran churches claim apostolic succession, but German Lutheran churches (many formed from Prussian-mandated unions with Reformed Churches which reject this belief) do not affirm this element of doctrine. The Latvian and Estonian Lutheran churches had exchanged mutual recognition of this succession with the Anglican Church before WWII. They should be considered among the Scandinavian group rather than the German group, explaining theological motivation for consecration by a sitting bishop (Melton, ''Encyclopedia'', 91).}}</ref><ref name="Podmore1998">{{cite book |last1=Podmore |first1=Colin |title=The Moravian Church in England, 1728-1760 |date=1998 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-820725-2 |page=121 |language=en|quote=The Moravian Church was heir to an ancient, episcopal Church (the Unitas Fratrum) ... its bishops were believed to stand in the apostolic succession, and theri discipline an simple lifestyle were reminiscent of the primitive Church. All these features were vital in winning approval from Anglican bishops, particularly High Churchmen, and of John Wesley, who did not join the Moravians, but they were mentioned by none of those who did.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barrett |first1=David B. |last2=Kurian |first2=George Thomas |last3=Johnson |first3=Todd M. |title=World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507963-0 |page=234 |language=en|quote=...the [Czechoslovak Hussite] church reintroduced the apostolic succession of bishops in 1935 and has tended towards greater orthodoxy in recent years.}}</ref> These traditions do not always consider the [[Episcopal polity|episcopal]] consecrations of all of the other traditions as valid.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/apostolic-succession |title=Apostolic succession |date = 4 January 2007|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

This series was seen originally as that of the bishops of a [[Apostolic see|particular see founded by one or more of the apostles]]. According to historian [[Justo L. González]], apostolic succession is generally understood today as meaning a series of bishops, regardless of see, each consecrated by other bishops, themselves consecrated similarly in a succession going back to the apostles.<ref name=ETT/> According to the [[Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church]], "apostolic succession" means more than a mere transmission of powers. It is succession in a church which witnesses to the apostolic faith, in communion with the other churches, witnesses of the same apostolic faith. The "see (''[[cathedra]]'') plays an important role in inserting the bishop into the heart of ecclesial apostolicity", but once ordained, the bishop becomes in his church the guarantor of apostolicity and becomes a successor of the apostles.<ref>{{citation |title=The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in the Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity |chapter=II,4 |chapter-url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19820706_munich_en.html |year=1982}}</ref><ref name=Finland1988>{{citation |title=The Sacrament of Order in the Sacramental Structure of the Church with Particular Reference to the Importance of Apostolic Succession for the Santification and Unity of the People of God |chapter=Apostolic succession |chapter-url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19880626_finland_en.html |year=1988}}</ref>

Those who hold for the importance of apostolic succession via episcopal [[Christian laying on of hands|laying on of hands]] appeal to the [[New Testament]] which, they say, implies a personal apostolic succession, from [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] to [[Saint Timothy|Timothy]] and [[Apostle Titus|Titus]], for example. They appeal as well to other documents of the [[early Christianity|early Church]], especially the [[Epistle of Clement]].<ref>Adam, Karl. ''[[The Spirit of Catholicism]]''. Doubleday, 1957 p. 20</ref> In this context, Clement explicitly states that the apostles appointed bishops as successors and directed that these bishops should in turn appoint their own successors; given this, such leaders of the Church were not to be removed without cause and not in this way. Further, proponents of the necessity of the personal apostolic succession of bishops within the Church point to the universal practice of the [[Great Church]] and [[Roman imperial Church|state church of the Roman Empire]], up to AD 431, before it was divided into the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the Roman Catholic Church.

Some Christians, including many [[Protestants]], deny the need for this type of continuity and severely question the [[Historical episcopate|historical claims]] involved;<ref name="ODCC">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=apostolic succession |dictionary=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=F. L. |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 |editor2-first=E. A. |editor2-last=Livingstone}}</ref><ref name="Webb2005">{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Jim |title=Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America |date=11 October 2005 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-7679-2295-1 |page=115 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/apostolic_succession.jsp|title=Apostolic Succession|encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia|edition=sixth|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2004|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=4 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604100120/http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/apostolic_succession.jsp|url-status=dead}}</ref> Anglican academic [[Eric Jay|Eric G. Jay]] comments that the account given of the emergence of the episcopate in Chapter III of the [[dogmatic constitution]] ''[[Lumen gentium]]'' (1964) "is very sketchy, and many ambiguities in the early history of the Christian ministry are passed over".<ref>Jay, Eric G. ''The Church: its changing image through twenty centuries''. John Knox Press: 1980, p.316f</ref> Still, others (primarily African-American [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostals]] within North America) teach and claim the importance of apostolic succession through individuals such as [[J. Delano Ellis]] and [[Paul S. Morton]] of the [[Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Silliman |first=Daniel |date=2020-09-21 |title=Died: J. Delano Ellis II, Bishop Who Promoted High Church Pentecostalism |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2020/09/delano-ellis-black-pentecostal-episcopal-bishop-high-church/ |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Christianity Today |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=J. Delano |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JMuxEE63BUC |title=The Bishopric: A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church |date=2003 |publisher=Trafford Publishing |isbn=978-1-55395-848-2 |language=en}}</ref>

== Definitions ==
[[Michael Ramsey]], an English Anglican bishop and the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] (1961–1974), described three meanings of "apostolic succession":
# One bishop succeeding another in the same see meant that there was a continuity of teaching: "while the Church as a whole is the vessel into which the truth is poured, the Bishops are an important organ in carrying out this task".
# The bishops were also successors of the apostles in that "the {{em|functions}} they performed of preaching, governing and ordaining were the same as the Apostles had performed".
# It is also used to signify that "grace is transmitted from the Apostles by each generation of bishops [[laying of hands|through the imposition of hands]]".
He adds that this last has been controversial in that it has been claimed that this aspect of the doctrine is not found before the time of [[Augustine of Hippo]], while others allege that it is implicit in the Church of the second and third centuries.<ref name=":3">Ramsey, Arthur Michael. ''The Gospel and the Catholic Church'' (translated from the Spanish edition published in the Dominican Republic: 1964, pp.134ff)</ref>

In its 1982 statement on [[Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry]], the [[Faith and Order Commission]] of the [[World Council of Churches]] stated that "the primary manifestation of apostolic succession is to be found in the apostolic tradition of the Church as a whole. ... Under the particular historical circumstances of the growing Church in the early centuries, the succession of bishops became one of the ways, together with the transmission of the Gospel and the life of the community, in which the apostolic tradition of the Church was expressed."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry-faith-and-order-paper-no-111-the-lima-text|title=Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Faith and Order Paper no. 111, the 'Lima Text')|publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=23 January 2012|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404233443/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/commissions/faith-and-order/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry-faith-and-order-paper-no-111-the-lima-text|url-status=dead}}</ref> It spoke of episcopal succession as something that churches that do not have bishops can see "as a sign, though not a guarantee, of the continuity and unity of the Church" and that all churches can see "as a sign of the apostolicity of the life of the whole church".<ref>''Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry'', 38</ref>

The Porvoo Common Statement (1996), agreed to by the Anglican churches of the British Isles and most of the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia and the Baltic, echoed the Munich (1982) and Finland (1988) statements of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church by stating that "the continuity signified in the consecration of a bishop to episcopal ministry cannot be divorced from the continuity of life and witness of the diocese to which he is called".<ref name=Finland1988/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.porvoochurches.org/whatis/output03.php |title=The Porvoo Communion |access-date=2012-09-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305095653/http://www.porvoochurches.org/whatis/output03.php |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.porvoochurches.org/whatis/resources-0201-english.php |title=The Porvoo Communion |access-date=2012-09-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305094958/http://www.porvoochurches.org/whatis/resources-0201-english.php |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}, sec. 49</ref>

Some Anglicans, in addition to other Protestants, held that apostolic succession "may also be understood as a continuity in doctrinal teaching from the time of the apostles to the present".<ref name=Armentrout>Donald S. Armentrout, Robert Boak Slocum (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=y_RpbmWNfHcC&pg=PA25 ''An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church'']. Church Publishing. {{ISBN|9780898692112}}. p. 25</ref> For example, the British Methodist Conference locates the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission".<ref name="autogenerated229">Jay, Eric G. ''The Church: its changing image through twenty centuries''. John Knox Press: 1980, p.228f</ref>

The teaching of the [[Second Vatican Council]] on apostolic succession has been summed up as follows:<ref>essentially ''[[Lumen gentium]]'', 19–21</ref>

{{Blockquote|Bishops have succeeded the apostles, not only because they come after them, but also because they have inherited apostolic power. ... "To fulfil this apostolic mission, Christ ... promised the Holy Spirit to the apostles&;...". [These were] "enriched by Christ the Lord with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit ... This spiritual gift has been transmitted down to us by episcopal consecration".<ref>{{cite book|last = Wells|first= David F.|title = Revolution in Rome|publisher = InterVarsity Press|date= 1972 |page = 40 |isbn = 9780877849100}}</ref>}}

==In the early Fathers==
According to [[International Theological Commission]] (ITC), conflicts could not always be avoided between individuals among the New Testament communities; [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] appealed to his apostolic authority when there was a disagreement about the Gospel or principles of Christian life. How the development of apostolic government proceeded is difficult to denote accurately because of the paucity of relevant documents. The ITC says that the apostles, or their closest assistants or their successors, directed the local colleges of ''episkopoi'' and ''presbyteroi'' by the end of the first century; while by the beginning of the second century the figure of a single bishop, as the head of the communities, appears explicitly in the letters of [[Ignatius of Antioch]] ({{circa}} 35-107).<ref name=ITC1973/> In the ''Epistle to the Smyrnaeans'', Ignatius wrote about three degrees ministry:
{{blockquote|See that you all follow the ''bishop'', even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the ''presbytery'' as you would the apostles; and reverence the ''deacons'', as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop.<ref>{{citation |chapter=The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans |author=St. Ignatius of Antioch |title=Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1 |editor1=Alexander Roberts |editor2=James Donaldson |editor3=A. Cleveland Coxe |location=Buffalo, NY |publisher=Christian Literature Publishing Co. (retrieved from New Advent) |edition=1885 |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm}}</ref>{{rp|Ch.8}}}}

Ramsey says that the doctrine was formulated in the second century in the first of the [[#Various meanings|three senses given by him]], originally as a response to [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] claims of having received secret teaching from Christ or the apostles; it emphasised the public manner in which the apostles had passed on authentic teaching to those whom they entrusted with the care of the churches they founded and that these in turn had passed it on to their successors.<ref name="ETT">{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Gonz%C3%A1lez+%22succession+originally+an%22 |first=Justo L |last=González |title=Essential Theological Terms |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-664-22810-1 |page=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Early Christian Doctrines| last=Kelly| first=J.N.D|publisher=A&C Black|location=London| year=1965| page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Elwell+%22each+bishop+as+a+true+successor%22 |first=Walter A |last=Elwell |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology |publisher=Baker Academic |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-8010-2075-9 |page=89}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Harrison+%22regards+the+apostolic+office%22 |editor1=Merrill F. Unger |editor2=Roland Kenneth Harrison |title=The New Unger's Bible Dictionary |publisher=Moody |date=1988 |isbn=978-0-8024-9066-7 |chapter=Apostle}}</ref> Ramsey argues that only later was it given a different meaning, a process in which [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (Bishop of Hippo Regis, 395–430) played a part by emphasising the idea of "the link from consecrator to consecrated whereby the grace of order was handed on".<ref>Ramsey, Arthur Michael. ''From Gore to Temple''. Longmans (1959)</ref>

Writing in about AD 94, [[Clement of Rome]] states that the apostles appointed successors to continue their work where they had planted churches and for these in their turn to do the same because they foresaw the risk of discord: "Our Apostles, too, by the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ, knew that strife would arise concerning the dignity of a bishop; and on this account, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed the above-mentioned as bishops and deacons: and then gave a rule of succession, in order that, when they had fallen asleep, other men, who had been approved, might succeed to their ministry."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-hoole.html|title=First Clement: Clement of Rome|website=www.earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref> According to Anglican [[Eric Jay|Eric G. Jay]], the interpretation of his writing is disputed, but it is clear that he supports some sort of approved continuation of the ministry exercised by the apostles which in its turn was derived from Christ.<ref>Jay, Eric G. ''The Church'', John Knox Press (1978). p.31ff citing ''Ad Cor. xliiff''</ref><ref name=ODCC/>

According to [[John Zizioulas]], the ''[[Didache]]'' portrays bishops and deacons as successors to the earlier charismatic leaders, prophets and teachers, who originally led the community in teaching and in celebrating the Eucharist. By linking their ordination directly to the Eucharistic context, the text indicates that bishops and deacons inherited the same ministry once exercised by the prophets, rather than replacing it. This reflects an early stage in the Church’s development where charismatic leadership evolved into an ordained structure, maintaining continuity in function and preserving the unity of the local Church through the Eucharist.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.oodegr.com/english/biblia/episkopos1/perieh.htm |last=Zizioulas |first=John |author-link=John Zizioulas|title=Eucharist, Bishop, Church: The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop During the First Three Centuries |date=2001 |publisher=Holy Cross Orthodox Press |pages=123}}</ref>

[[Hegesippus (chronicler)|Hegesippus]] (180?) and [[Irenaeus]] (180) introduce explicitly the idea of the bishop's succession in office as a guarantee of the truth of what he preached in that it could be traced back to the apostles,<ref name="kjw1">Woollcombe, K.J. "The Ministry and the Order of the Church in the Works of the Fathers" in ''The Historic Episcopate''. Kenneth M. Carey(ed) Dacre Press (1954) p.31f</ref> and they produced succession lists to back this up.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Prusak+%22Irenaeus+brought%22 |first=Bernard B |last=Prusak |title=The Church Unfinished |publisher=Paulist Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-8091-4286-6 |page=125}}</ref> That this succession depended on the fact of ordination to a vacant see and the status of those who administered the ordination is seldom commented on. Woollcombe also states that no one questioned the apostolicity of the See of Alexandria despite the fact that its popes were consecrated by the college of presbyters up till the time of the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]] in 325.<ref name="kjw1" /> On the contrary, other sources clearly state that [[Mark the Evangelist]] is the first bishop of Alexandria ([[Pope of Alexandria]]);<ref name="OSVESp401">{{cite book
|last1=Bunson |first1=Matthew |last2=Bunson |first2=Margaret |last3=Bunson |first3=Stephen |title=Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints |publisher=Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division |year=1998 |place=Huntington, Indiana |page=401 |isbn=0-87973-588-0}}</ref> then he ordained [[Pope Anianus of Alexandria|Annianus]] as his successor bishop (2nd pope)<ref>{{cite book |title=Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity |url=https://archive.org/details/twothousandyears00mein_784 |url-access=limited |author=Otto Friedrich August Meinardus |publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |year=2002 |isbn=9789774247576 |page=[https://archive.org/details/twothousandyears00mein_784/page/n37 29]}}</ref> as told by [[Eusebius]].<ref>''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'' 2.24.1</ref>

James F. Puglisi, director of [[Centro Pro Unione]], made a conclusion about Irenaeus' writings: "the terms ''episkopos'' and ''presbyteros'' are interchangeable, but the term ''episkopos'' [bishop] is applied to the person who is established in every Church by the apostles and their successors".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Process of Admission to Ordained Ministry |author=James F. Puglisi |publisher=Liturgical Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780814661284 |page=20}}</ref> According to Eric G. Jay, Irenaeus also refers to a succession of presbyters who preserve the tradition "which originates from the apostles"<ref name="jay1">Jay, Eric G. ''The Church'', John Knox Press (1978). p.47f citing ''Adv. Haer. III.ii.2'' and IV.xxvi.2 respectively</ref> and later goes on to speak of their having "an infallible gift of truth" [''charisma veritatis certum'']. Jay comments that this is sometimes seen as an early reference to the idea of the transmission of grace through the apostolic succession which in later centuries was understood as being specifically transmitted through the laying on of hands by a bishop within the apostolic succession (the "pipeline theory"). He warns that this is open to the grave objection that it makes grace a (quasi) material commodity and represents an almost mechanical method of imparting what is by definition a free gift. He adds that the idea cannot be squeezed out of Irenaeus' words.<ref name="jay1" />

{{rquote|right|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 [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm |title=The Prescription against Heretics: Chapter 32|publisher=Newadvent.org |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref>|[[Tertullian]]}}
Writing a little later, Tertullian makes the same main point but adds expressly that recently founded churches (such as his own in Carthage) could be considered apostolic if they had "derived the tradition of faith and the seeds of doctrine" from an apostolic church.<ref>Jay, Eric G. ''The Church'', John Knox Press (1978). p.51 citing ''De Praescr. xx,xxi''</ref> His disciple and [[Neophyte|recent convert]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Cyprian of Carthage |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04583b.htm |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=Catholic Encyclopedia |quote=Cyprian was certainly only a recent convert when he became Bishop of Carthage c. 248 or the beginning of 249, but he passed through all the grades of the ministry. He had declined the charge, but was constrained by the people. A minority opposed his election, including five priests, who remained his enemies; but he tells us that he was validly elected "after the Divine judgment, the vote of the people and the consent of the bishops".}}</ref> [[Cyprian]] ([[Bishop of Carthage]] 248–58) appeals to the same fundamental principle of election to a vacant see in the aftermath of the [[Decius#Persecution of Christians|Decian Persecution]] when denying the legitimacy of his rigorist rival in Carthage and that of the anti-pope [[Novatian]] in Rome.<ref name="auto">Jay, Eric G. ''The Church'', John Knox Press (1978). p.67f</ref>

The emphasis is now on legitimating Cyprian's episcopal ministry as a whole and specifically his exclusive right to administer discipline to the lapsed rather than on the content of what is taught.<ref name="auto"/> Cyprian also laid great emphasis on the fact that any minister who broke with the Church lost ''ipso facto'' the [[Sacramental character|gift of the Spirit]] which had validated his orders. This meant that the minister would have no power or authority to celebrate an efficacious sacrament.<ref>Woollcombe, K.J. "The Ministry and the Order of the Church in the Works of the Fathers" in ''The Historic Episcopate'' Kenneth M. Carey(ed) Dacre Press (1954) pp. 56–7</ref>

==As transmission of grace==
For the adherents of this understanding of apostolic succession, grace is transmitted during [[Consecration (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecrations]] (the [[ordination]] of bishops) by the [[laying on of hands]] of bishops previously consecrated within the apostolic succession. They hold that this lineage of ordination derives from the [[Twelve Apostles]], thus making the Church the continuation of the early [[Apostolic Age|Apostolic Christian community]]. They see it as one of [[Four Marks of the Church|four elements]] that define the true Church of Jesus Christ,<ref>Oskar Sommel, ''Rudolf Stählin Christliche Religion'', Frankfurt 1960, p.19</ref> and legitimize the ministry of its clergy, since only a bishop within the succession can perform valid ordinations and only bishops and [[Priesthood|presbyters (priests)]] ordained by bishops in the apostolic succession can validly celebrate (or "confect") several of the other [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]], including the [[Eucharist]], [[Confession (religion)|reconciliation of penitents]], [[confirmation]] and [[anointing of the sick]]. [[Everett Ferguson]] argued that [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], in ''Apostolic Tradition 9'', is the first known source to state that only bishops have the authority to ordain; and normally at least three bishops were required to ordain another bishop.<ref>[[First Council of Nicaea]], ''can''. 4</ref> [[Cyprian]] also asserts that "if any one is not with the bishop, he is not in the church".<ref>''Ep.'' 66.9</ref><ref name=Ferguson>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Volume 1 |author=Everett Ferguson |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1998 |isbn=9780815333197}}</ref>{{rp|184}}

This position was stated by [[John Henry Newman]], before his conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, in ''[[Tracts for the Times]]'':
<blockquote>We [priests of the Church of England] have been born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His Spirit to His Apostles; they in turn laid their hands on those who should succeed them; and these again on others; and so the sacred gift has been handed down to our present bishops, who have appointed us as their assistants, and in some sense representatives. ... we must necessarily consider none to be {{em|really}} ordained who have not {{em|thus}} been ordained.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_tgUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR10|title=Tracts for the Times: Nos. 1-46. Records of the church, nos. I-XVIII|first1=John Henry|last1=Newman|first2=John|last2=Keble|first3=William|last3=Palmer|first4=Richard Hurrell|last4=Froude|first5=Edward Bouverie|last5=Pusey|first6=Isaac|last6=Williams|date=28 October 2017|publisher=J.G. & F. Rivington}}</ref></blockquote>

Ferguson, in ''Encyclopedia of Early Christianity'', says that example of [[James the Just|James]] and the elders (presbyters) of the Jerusalem Church (Acts 21:18) may have provided a model for the development of 'monepiscopacy', in which James' position has figured conspicuously in modern theories about the rise of the monepiscopacy.<ref name=Ferguson/>{{rp|183}} [[Raymond E. Brown]] says that in the earlier stage (before the third century and perhaps earlier) there were plural bishops or overseers ("presbyter-bishops") in an individual community; in the later stage changed to only one bishop per community. Little is known about how the early bishops were formally chosen or appointed; afterwards the Church developed a regularized pattern of selection and ordination of bishops, and from the third century on that was universally applied. Brown asserts that the ministry was not ordained by the Church to act on its own authority, but as an important part to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ and helps to make the Church what it is.<ref name=Brown101>{{cite book |title=101 Questions and Answers on the Bible |author=Raymond E. Brown |publisher=Paulist Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780809142514 |pages=119–122}}</ref>

Raymond E. Brown also states that by the early second century, as written in the letters of [[Ignatius of Antioch]], in the threefold structure of the single bishop, plural presbyters, and plural deacons, the celebration of the Eucharist is assigned to the bishop alone; the bishop may delegate others when he goes away. At the [[Last Supper]], Jesus says to those present, who were or included the [[Twelve Apostles]], "Do this in remembrance of me," Brown presumes that the Twelve were remembered as presiding at the Eucharist. But they could scarcely have been present at all the Eucharists of the first century, and no information in New Testament whether a person was regularly assigned to do this task and, if so, who that person was. After all the Church regulated and regularized the celebration of the Eucharist, as that was an inevitable establishment if communities were to be provided regularly with the 'bread of life', since it could not rely on gratuitous provision.<ref name=Brown101/>

===Objections to the transmission of grace theory===
According to [[William Griffith Thomas]], some Protestants have objected that this theory is not explicitly found in Scripture, and the New Testament uses 'bishop' and 'presbyter' as alternative names for the same office.<ref name="gt">Thomas, Griffith. ''The Principles of Theology''. Church Book Room Press:1963, p.357</ref> Michael Ramsey argued it is not clearly found in the writings of the Fathers before [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] in the fourth century and there were attempts to read it back as implicit in earlier writers.<ref>Ramsey, Arthur Michael. ''The Gospel and the Catholic Church'' (translated from the Spanish edition published in the Dominican Republic: 1964, p.136)</ref>

For example, [[C. K. Barrett]] points out that the pastoral epistles are concerned that ministers of the generation of Timothy and Titus should pass on the doctrine they had received to the third generation. According to Barrett, teaching and preaching are "the main, almost the only, activities of ministry". He argues that in [[Clement of Rome]] ministerial activity is liturgical: the undifferentiated 'presbyter-bishops' are to "make offerings to the Lord at the right time and in the right places" something which is simply not defined by the evangelists. He mentions the change in the use of sacrificial language as a more significant still: for Paul the Eucharist is a receiving of gifts from God, the Christian sacrifice is the offering of one's body.<ref>Romans 12:1</ref><ref name=Barrett>Barrett, C.K. ''Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament'' Paternoster Press: 1993</ref>{{rp|92f}} 

Moving on to [[Ignatius of Antioch]], Barrett states that a sharp distinction is found between 'presbyter' and 'bishop': the latter now stands out as "an isolated figure" who is to be obeyed and without whom it is not lawful to baptise or hold a love-feast.<ref name=Barrett/>{{rp|94f}} He points out that when Ignatius writes to the Romans, there is no mention of a bishop of the Roman Church, "which we may suppose had not yet adopted the monarchical episcopate".<ref name=Barrett/>{{rp|95}} Jalland{{who |date=August 2015}} comes to a similar conclusion and locates the change from the "polyepiscopacy" of the [[house church]] model in Rome, to monepiscopacy as occurring before the middle of the second century.<ref>Jalland, Trevor Gervaise. ''The Church and the Papacy''. SPCK: 1944, pp.80ff</ref>

Similar objections are voiced by Harvey A.E. who comments that there is a "strong and ancient tradition" that the presence of an ordained man is necessary for the celebration of the Eucharist. But, according to him, there is "certainly no evidence for this view in the New Testament" and in the case of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch the implication is not that it {{em|cannot}} be celebrated by anyone else, but that it {{em|ought}} not. Harvey says in the third century this "concern for propriety" begins to be displaced by the concept of 'power' to do so which means that in the absence of such a man it is "literally impossible" for a Eucharist to be celebrated.<ref>Harvey, A.E. ''Priest or President?''. SPCK:1975, pp.45f</ref>

==Apostolicity as doctrinal and related continuity==
Some [[Protestant]] denominations, not including Scandinavian Lutherans, Anglicans and Moravians, deny the need of maintaining episcopal continuity with the early Church, holding that the role of the apostles was that, having been chosen directly by Jesus as witnesses of his resurrection, they were to be the "special instruments of the Holy Spirit in founding and building up the Church".<ref name=Litton>Litton, E.A. ''Introduction to Dogmatic Theology''. James Clarke & Co: 1960, p.388-389</ref> Anglican theologian E. A. Litton argues that the Church is "built upon 'the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles',<ref>Ephes. ii. 20</ref> but a foundation does not repeat itself"; therefore he says that when the apostles died, they were replaced by their writings.<ref name=Litton/> To share with the apostles the same faith, to believe their word as found in the Scriptures, to receive the same Holy Spirit, is to many Protestants the only meaningful "continuity". The most meaningful ''apostolic succession'' for them, then, is a "faithful succession" of apostolic teaching.

[[Max Thurian]], before his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1988, described the classic [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]]/[[Presbyterian]] concept of apostolic succession in the following terms. "The Christian ministry is not derived from the people but from the pastors; a scriptural ordinance provides for this ministry being renewed by the ordination of a presbyter by presbyters; this ordinance originates with the apostles, who were themselves presbyters, and through them it goes back to Christ as its source.".<ref>quoted by Thurian from a report to the 1911 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland</ref> Then he continued:
<blockquote>"it does not guarantee the continuity and faithfulness of the Church. A purely historical or mechanical succession of ministers, bishops or pastors would not mean ''ipso facto'' true apostolic succession in the church, Reformed tradition, following authentic Catholic tradition, distinguishes four realities which make up the true apostolic succession, symbolized, but not absolutely guaranteed, by ministerial succession."<ref name="Thurian">Thurian, Max. ''Priesthood & Ministry''. Paula Clifford (tr) Mowbrays: 1983, pp.167f</ref> At the same time Thurian argued that the realities form a "composite faithfulness" and are (i) "perseverance in the apostolic doctrine"; (ii) "the will to proclaim God's word"; (iii) "communion in the fundamental continuity of the Church, the Body of Christ, the faithful celebration of Baptism and the Eucharist"; (iv) "succession in the laying on of hands, the sign of ministerial continuity".<ref name="Thurian" /></blockquote>

According to [[Walter Kasper]], the Reformed-Catholic dialogue came to belief that there is an apostolic succession which is important to the life of the Church, though both sides distinguish the meaning of that succession. Besides, the dialogue states that apostolic succession "consists at least in continuity of apostolic doctrine, but this is not in opposition to succession through continuity of ordained ministry".<ref>''Ref I'', 100</ref><ref name=Kasper>{{cite book |title=Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue |author=Walter Kasper |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781441136817}}</ref>{{rp|85}} While the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue distinguished between apostolic succession in faith (in substantive meaning) and apostolic succession as ministerial succession of bishops, it agreed that "succession in the sense of the succession of ministers must be seen within the succession of the whole church in the apostolic faith".<ref>''Ministry'', 61; cf. ''Malta'', 48</ref><ref name=Kasper/>{{rp|84}}

The [[Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church]] asserts that apostolic succession means something more than just a transmission of authorities; it witnesses to the apostolic faith from the same apostolic faith, and in communion with other churches (attached to the apostolic communion). Apostolic tradition deals with the community, not only an ordained bishop as an isolated person. Since the bishop, once ordained, becomes the guarantor of apostolicity and successor of the apostles; he joins all the bishops, thus maintaining ''episkope'' of the local churches derived from the college of the apostles.<ref name=Finland1988/>

==Churches claiming apostolic succession==

Churches that claim some form of [[historical episcopate|episcopal apostolic succession]], dating back to the apostles or to leaders from the apostolic era,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01648b.htm Apostolicity] [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] article</ref> include:
* the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]]
* the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
* the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox Churches]]
* the [[Church of the East]]
* the [[Moravian Church]]
* the [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]
* many [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] churches {{see below|[[#Lutheran churches|below]]}}
* [[Old Catholic Church|Old Catholics]] and other [[Independent Catholicism|Independent Catholics]] (those incorporating the term "[[Catholic (term)|Catholic]]")
* [[True Orthodox church|True Orthodox]] and [[Old Calendarists]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hotca.org/pdf/TrueOrthodoxOppositionEcumenism.pdf|title=The True Orthodox Church and the Heresy of Ecumenism|date=June 2014|quote=The Episcopal structure that is dogmatically necessary for the constitution and continuation of the local True Orthodox Churches was ensured, by the Grace of God, either by Hierarchs from among the innovators (New Calendarists) joining them, following a confession of Orthodoxy, of course, or by the Consecration of Bishops by a True Orthodox ecclesiastical authority in the diaspora, having indisputable Apostolic Succession, and thus the Apostolic Succession and canonicity of the True Orthodox Church is proven and assured, unquestionable and incontrovertible, and confirmed by signs from God.|pages=14–15|work={{ill|Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece (Chrysostomos Synod)|de|Kirche der wahren orthodoxen Christen Griechenlands (Chrysostomos-Synode)}}, {{ill|Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (Agathangel)|ru|Русская православная церковь заграницей (Агафангела)}} & [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania]]}}</ref>
* the [[Continuing Anglican movement]]
* the [[Convergence Movement]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Convergence Ecclesiology {{!}} Addendum 4: Apostolic Succession |url=https://www.cec-na.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Convergence-Ecclesiology-Addendum-4-Apostolic-Succession.pdf |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=Charismatic Episcopal Church |quote=A summary of Apostolic Succession may be described as Three Streams coming together to make one river including: Apostolic Faith/Doctrine (the Evangelical Stream); Apostolic Authority (the Liturgical/Sacramental Stream) and Apostolic Anointing (the Charismatic Stream). Using these categories, we note that the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey summarized the essential elements of Apostolic Succession as including: "First of all, the succession of Bishop to Bishop in office secured a continuity of Christian teaching and tradition in every See. Each followed the teachings of his predecessor, and so the succession of Bishops was a guarantee that everywhere the Christians were taught the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Having no such succession, the Gnostics had no claim to be the authorized teachers of the faith....Thus the succession of Bishops is a safeguard of continuous teaching...."}}</ref>

Those Lutheran churches, as well as the [[Anglican Communion]] and other Anglican denominations {{see below|[[#Anglican Communion|below]]}}, that claim apostolic succession exclusively practice episcopal ordination. While some Anglicans claim it for their communion, their views are often nuanced and there is widespread reluctance to 'unchurch' Christian bodies which lack it.<ref>Ramsey, Arthur Michael. ''From Gore to Temple'' Longmans: 1960, pp. 119–24</ref> After the English Reformation, Anglicanism "followed the major continental Reformers in their doctrine of the true church, identifiable by the authentic ministry of word and sacrament, in their rejection of the jurisdiction of the pope, and in their alliance with the civil authority ('the magistrate')".<ref name="Avis2018">{{cite book |last1=Avis |first1=Paul |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-108138-5 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Church of England]] historically recognized as true churches the [[Continental Reformed church|Continental Reformed churches]], participating in the [[Synod of Dort]] in 1618–1619.<ref name="Avis2018"/> 

Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the apostolic successions of the bishops, and therefore the rest of the clergy, of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Old Catholics (except the ordination of women), and [[Polish National Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usccb.org/news/2006/polish-national-catholic-roman-catholic-dialogue-adopts-joint-declaration-unity|title=Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic Dialogue Adopts a ""Joint Declaration on Unity"" {{pipe}} USCCB|website=www.usccb.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholic.com/qa/the-validity-of-old-catholic-church-sacraments|title=The Validity of Old Catholic Church Sacraments|website=Catholic Answers}}</ref> The Orthodox generally recognize Roman Catholic clerical orders as being of apostolic lineage, but have a different concept of the apostolic succession as it exists outside the canonical borders of the Eastern Orthodox Church, extending the term only to bishops who have maintained communion, received ordination from a line of apostolic bishops, and preserved the catholic faith once delivered through the apostles and handed down as [[Holy Tradition|holy tradition]]. The lack of apostolic succession through bishops is the primary basis on which Protestant denominations (barring some like Lutherans and Anglicans) are not called ''churches'', in the proper sense, by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, the latter referring to them as "ecclesial communities" in the official documents of the [[Second Vatican Council]].<ref name="vatican.va">"[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.htmlResponsesto Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church]", published 10 July 2007.</ref>

[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] also claims apostolic succession.<ref name="lds.org">{{cite web|url=https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/restoration-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng|title=Restoration of the Priesthood|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|website=ChurchofJesusChrist.org|access-date=18 January 2022|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118183049/https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/restoration-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Latter-day Saint tradition, in 1829, [[Joseph Smith]] and [[Oliver Cowdery]] received the [[priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood]] from a visit from heaven of [[John the Baptist]], conferring the [[Aaronic priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Aaronic priesthood]], followed by Jesus' apostles, Peter, James, and John, conferring the [[Melchizedek priesthood]].<ref name="Restoration of the Priesthood"> >{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/restoration-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng | title=Restoration of the Priesthood }}</ref> After its establishment, each subsequent prophet and leader of the church have received the authority passed down by the [[laying on of hands]], or through apostolic succession.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Catholic and Mormon : a theological conversation|last=Webb, Stephen H., 1961-2016|others=Gaskill, Alonzo L.|isbn=9780190265939|location=New York|oclc=911034093|date = 31 July 2015}}</ref>

Within the [[Black church|African-American Christian tradition]], some [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostals]] (primarily [[Oneness Pentecostalism|Oneness Pentecostals]]) claim apostolic succession through the teachings of [[J. Delano Ellis]] and the [[Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> According to Ellis in ''The Bishopric – A Handbook on Creating Episcopacy in the African-American Pentecostal Church'', he claims a "western stream" of succession through the Church of England, [[John Wesley]], [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]], [[Francis Asbury]], the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] and the [[Church of God in Christ]]; and he claims an "eastern stream" of succession from the [[Syro-Chaldean Church]].<ref name=":2" />

==Apostolic founders==
{{main|Apostolic see}}
[[File:Peter_as_Pope_.png|thumb|180px|Saint Peter portrayed as a Pope in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'']]
An early understanding of apostolic succession is represented by the traditional beliefs of various churches, as organised around important [[episcopal see]]s, to have been founded by specific apostles. On the basis of these traditions, the churches hold they have inherited specific authority, doctrines or practices on the authority of their founding apostle(s), which is understood to be continued by the bishops of the [[apostolic throne]] of the church that each founded and whose original leader he was. Thus:
* The [[Holy See|See of Rome]], the head see of the Catholic Church, states that it was founded by [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]] (traditionally called "Prince of the Apostles" and "Chief of the Apostles") and [[Paul the Apostle]]. Although Peter also founded the See of Antioch, the See of Rome claims the full authority of Peter (who, according to Catholic doctrine, was the visible head of the church and the sole chief of the Apostles) exclusively for itself, because Peter died as the Bishop of Rome, and not of another see.
* The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]], the primary patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church, states that [[Andrew the Apostle|Apostle Andrew]] (elder brother of Simon Peter) was its founder.
* Each [[patriarchate of Alexandria]] (the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]], the [[Coptic Catholic Church]], and the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]]) states that it was founded by [[Mark the Evangelist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greekorthodox-alexandria.org/index.php?module=news&action=details&id=20 |title=Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria Official Website |publisher=Greekorthodox-alexandria.org |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110726131528/http://www.greekorthodox-alexandria.org/index.php?module=news&action=details&id=20| archive-date= 26 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/mark.html |title=website of the Coptic Orthodox Church Network |publisher=Copticchurch.net |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110610120103/http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/synexarion/mark.html| archive-date= 10 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
* Each [[patriarchate of Antioch]] (the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]], the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], the [[Maronite Church]], the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]], and the [[Syriac Catholic Church]]) states that it was founded by Simon Peter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sor.cua.edu/Intro/index.html/ |title=Syriac Orthodox Resources |publisher=sor.cua.edu |access-date=18 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405162625/http://sor.cua.edu/Intro/index.html |archive-date=5 April 2013}}</ref>
* The [[Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]] states that it was founded by [[James the Just]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xii.xx.html |title="Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine" at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=Ccel.org |date=13 July 2005 }}</ref>
* Each Armenian church (the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], based at [[Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin|Etchmiadzin]], and the [[Armenian Catholic Church]], whose patriarchal see is [[Patriarchate of Cilicia|Cilicia]] but is based at [[Beirut]]) states that it was founded by the Apostles [[Bartholomew the Apostle|Bartholomew]] and [[Jude the Apostle|Jude Thaddeus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://66.208.37.78/index.jsp?sid=1&id=2342&pid=5 |title=Official Website of the Armenian Church |publisher=66.208.37.78 |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705194048/http://66.208.37.78/index.jsp?sid=1&id=2342&pid=5 |archive-date=5 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The following bodies state they were founded by the [[Thomas the Apostle|Apostle Thomas]]: the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the [[Ancient Church of the East]] and the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], originating in or around [[Mesopotamia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smcim.org/ |title=Syro Malabar Catholic Church |publisher=Smcim.org |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref> and churches based in Kerala, India having Syriac roots and generically known as the [[Saint Thomas Christians]]: the [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]], the [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]], the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]], the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/ |title=Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church |publisher=malankaraorthodoxchurch.in |access-date=18 August 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721162720/http://www.malankaraorthodoxchurch.in/| archive-date= 21 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> and the [[Mar Thoma Syrian Church]].
* The [[Orthodox Tewahedo|Orthodox Tewahedo churches]] (the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] and the [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]) state that they were founded by [[Philip the Evangelist]] and [[Mark the Evangelist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/ethiopian/prechristian.html |title=Ethiopian Orthodox Official website |publisher=Ethiopianorthodox.org |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110611103832/http://ethiopianorthodox.org/english/ethiopian/prechristian.html| archive-date= 11 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
* The [[Georgian Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church of Georgia]] states that the Apostles Andrew and [[Simon the Zealot]] were its founders.
* The Orthodox [[Church of Cyprus]], based at Nova Justiniana ([[Erdek]]), states that it was founded by the Apostles Paul and [[Barnabas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.churchofcyprus.org.cy/article.php?articleID=89 |title=Cyprian Orthodox Church Official Website |publisher=Churchofcyprus.org.cy |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723150729/http://www.churchofcyprus.org.cy/article.php?articleID=89 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*The [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] states that it has a connection with Andrew the Apostle.
* The [[Russian Orthodox Church]] states that it has a connection with the Apostle Andrew, who is said to have visited the area where the city of [[Kyiv]] later arose.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://russian-crafts.com/customs/russian-church-history.html |title=History of the Russian Church |publisher=Russian-crafts.com |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715214954/http://russian-crafts.com/customs/russian-church-history.html |archive-date=15 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" sortable width="auto" style="text-align: center"
|+ Apostolic founders
|-
! Church !! [[Andrew the Apostle|Andrew]] !! [[Saint Peter|Simon Peter]] !! [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] !! [[Barnabas]] !! [[Philip the Evangelist|Philip]]  !! [[Mark the Evangelist|Mark]] !! [[Simon the Zealot|Simon]] !! [[Thomas the Apostle|Thomas]] !! [[James the Just|James]] !! [[Jude the Apostle|Jude Thaddeus]] !! [[Bartholomew the Apostle|Bartholomew]] !! Notes
|-
| [[Latin Church]] || || x || x || || ||  || || || || || ||
|-
| [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] || x || || || || ||  || || || || || ||
|-
| [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] || || || || || || x || || || || || || via [[Patriarchate of Alexandria|Alexandria]]
|-
| [[Coptic Catholic Church]] || || || || || || x || || || || || || via [[Patriarchate of Alexandria|Alexandria]]
|-
| [[Coptic Orthodox Church]] || || || || || || x || || || || || || via [[Patriarchate of Alexandria|Alexandria]]
|-
| [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]] || || x || || || ||  || || || || || || [[Patriarchate of Antioch|via Antioch]]
|-
| [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] || || x || || || ||  || || || || || || [[Patriarchate of Antioch|via Antioch]]
|-
| [[Maronite Church]]|| || x || || || ||  || || || || || || [[Patriarchate of Antioch|via Antioch]]
|-
| [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]] || || x || || || ||  || || || || || || [[Patriarchate of Antioch|via Antioch]]
|-
| [[Syriac Catholic Church]] || || x || || || ||  || || || || || || [[Patriarchate of Antioch|via Antioch]]
|-
| [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] || || || || || ||  || || || || x|| x ||
|-
|  [[Armenian Catholic Church]] || || || || || ||  || || || || x || x ||
|-
| [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
| [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || || 
|-
| [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
| [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
| [[Assyrian Church of the East]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
| [[Ancient Church of the East]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
| [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] || || || || || ||  || || x || || || ||
|-
|| [[Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]] || || || || || ||  || || || x || || ||
|-
|  [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] || || || || || x || x || || || || || ||
|-
| [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] || || || || || x || x || ||  || || || ||
|-
| [[Georgian Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church of Georgia]] || x || || || || || || x || || || || ||
|-
| [[Church of Cyprus|Orthodox Church of Cyprus]] || || || x || x || || || || || || || ||
|-
| [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] || x || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
| [[Russian Orthodox Church]] || x || || || || || || || || || || || via [[Kyiv]]
|-
| [[Orthodox Church of Ukraine]] || x || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
|}

==Teachings==
Teachings on the nature of apostolic succession vary depending on the ecclesiastic body, especially within various Protestant denominations. Christians of the [[Catholic Church]], [[Church of the East]], [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]], and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] teach apostolic succession. Among the previously mentioned churches opinions vary as to the validity of succession within [[Old Catholic]], [[Lutheran]], [[Anglican Communion|Anglican]] and [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] communities.

===Catholic Church===
{{rquote|right|Wherefore we must obey the priests of the Church who have succession from the Apostles, as we have shown, who, together with succession in the episcopate, have received the mark of truth according to the will of the Father; all others, however, are to be suspected, who separated themselves from the principal succession.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103426.htm |title=Adversus Haereses (Book IV, Chapter 26) |publisher=Newadvent.org |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref>|[[Irenaeus]]}}

In Catholic theology, the doctrine of apostolic succession is that the apostolic tradition—including apostolic teaching, preaching, and authority—is handed down from the college of apostles to the college of [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]] through the laying on of hands, as a permanent office in the Church.<ref>{{cite book|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|date=2002|publisher=Catholic Church|location=Vatican City|pages=77, 861}}</ref> Historically, this has been understood as a succession in office, a succession of valid ordinations, or a succession of the entire college. It is understood as a sign and guarantee that the Church, both local and universal, is in diachronic continuity with the apostles; a necessary but insufficient guarantor thereof.<ref name=Finland1988/><ref name=ITC1973>{{citation|publisher=International Theological Commission |title=Catholic Teaching on Apostolic Succession |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1973_successione-apostolica_en.html |year=1973 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004010314/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1973_successione-apostolica_en.html |archive-date=4 October 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Priestly ordination.jpg|thumb|Catholic ordination ceremony]]
[[Papal primacy]] is different though related to apostolic succession as described here. The Catholic Church has traditionally claimed a unique leadership role for the Apostle Peter, believed to have been named by Jesus as head of the Apostles and as a focus of their unity, who became the first Bishop of [[diocese of Rome|Rome]], and whose successors inherited the role and accordingly became the leaders of the worldwide Church as well. Even so, Catholicism acknowledges the papacy is built on apostolic succession, not the other way around. As such, apostolic succession is a foundational doctrine of authority in the Catholic Church.{{Blockquote|text=If the very order of episcopal succession is to be considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we number them from Peter himself, to whom, as to one representing the whole Church, the Lord said, 'Upon this rock I will build my Church'....|author={{bibleverse|Matthew|16:18}}}} Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement, Clement by Anacletus, Anacletus by Evaristus..."<ref>St. Augustine; Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412]</ref> The Catholic position is summarised this way: "The Lord says to Peter: 'I say to you,' he says, 'that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it ....'<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt.|16:18}}</ref> On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep,<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|21:17}}</ref> and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity.... If someone [today] does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?"<ref>(Cyprian of Carthage; The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; first edition [A.D. 251]). [http://www.catholic.com/tracts/peters-successors Peter's Successors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920072354/http://www.catholic.com/tracts/peters-successors |date=20 September 2015 }}. Catholic Answers.</ref>

Catholicism holds that Christ entrusted the Apostles with the leadership of the community of believers, and the obligation to transmit and preserve the "deposit of faith". The experience of Christ and his teachings contained in the doctrinal tradition handed down from the time of the apostles and the written portion, which is Scripture. The apostles then passed on this office and authority by ordaining bishops to follow after them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.shtml#861 |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, #861–862 |publisher=Old.usccb.org |date=14 December 1975 |access-date=18 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729121143/http://old.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.shtml |archive-date=29 July 2012}}</ref>

Catholic theology holds that the apostolic succession affects the power and authority to administer the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] except for [[baptism]] and [[matrimony]]. Baptism may be administered by anyone and matrimony by the couple to each other. Authority to so administer such sacraments is passed on only through the sacrament of [[holy orders]], a rite by which a priest is ordained. Ordination can be conferred only by bishop. The bishop must be from an unbroken line of bishops stemming from the original apostles selected by Jesus Christ. Thus, apostolic succession is necessary for the valid celebration of the sacraments.<ref name=ITC1973/>

====Views concerning other churches====
{{multiple image
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 | image1 = Saint Raphael Catholic Church (Springfield, Ohio) - stained glass, Upon this Rock, detail - St. Peter's Basilica.jpg
 | caption1 = Stained glass window in a Catholic church depicting [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in Rome sitting "Upon this rock," a reference to [[:s:Bible (King James)/Matthew#Chapter 16|Matthew 16]]:18. Most present-day Catholics interpret Jesus as saying he was building his church on the rock of the Apostle Peter and the succession of popes which claim Apostolic succession from him.

 | image2 = AugsburgConfessionArticle7OftheChurch.jpg
 | caption2 = A 17th century illustration of [[:s:Augsburg Confession#Article VII: Of the Church.|Article VII: Of the Church]] from the Lutheran ''Augsburg Confession'', which states "...one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." Here the rock from Matthew 16:18 refers to the preaching and ministry of Jesus as the Christ, a view discussed at length in the 1537 ''[[Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope|Treatise]]''.<ref>[http://bookofconcord.org/treatise.php#para22 ''Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, paragraph 22''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924092620/http://bookofconcord.org/treatise.php#para22 |date=24 September 2008 }} and following</ref>}}

In the Catholic Church, [[Pope Leo XIII]] stated in his 1896 [[Papal bull|bull]] ''[[Apostolicae curae]]'' that the Catholic Church believes specifically that Anglican orders were to be considered "absolutely null and utterly void".

His argument was as follows. First, the ordination rite of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] had removed the language of a sacrificial priesthood. Ordinations using this new rite occurred for over a century and, because the restoration of the language of "priesthood" a century later in the ordination rite "was introduced too late, as a century had already elapsed since the adoption of the [[Edwardine Ordinal]] ... the Hierarchy had become extinct, there remained no power of ordaining." With this extinction of validly ordained bishops in England, "the true Sacrament of Order as instituted by Christ lapsed, and with it the hierarchical succession." As a result, the pope's final judgment was that Anglican ordinations going forward were to be considered "absolutely null and utterly void". Anglican clergy were from then on to be ordained as Catholic priests upon entry into the Catholic Church.<ref name=Neill/>{{rp|105}}

A reply from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York (1896) was issued to counter Pope Leo's arguments: ''[[Saepius officio]]: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull Apostolicae Curae of H. H. Leo XIII''.<ref name="Saepius_officio">[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/saepius.htm]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090807095328/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/saepius.htm|date=7 August 2009}}</ref> They argued that if the Anglican orders were invalid, then the Roman orders were as well since the Pope of Rome based his case on the fact that the Anglican ordinals used did not contain certain essential elements but these were not found in the early Roman rites either.<ref name=Saepius_officio/> Catholics argue, this argument does not consider the sacramental intention involved in validating holy orders. In other words, Catholics believe that the ordination rites were reworded so as to invalidate the ordinations because the intention behind the alterations in the rite was a fundamental change in Anglican understanding of the priesthood.<ref>Franklin, R. William. "Introduction: The Opening of the Vatican Archives and the ARCIC Process" in Franklin, R. William (ed)''Anglican orders'' Mowbray:1996</ref>

[[File:Leo XIII.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pope Leo XIII]] rejected Anglican arguments for apostolic succession in his bull ''Apostolicae curae''.]]

It is Catholic doctrine that the teaching of ''Apostolicae curae'' is a truth to be "held definitively, but are not able to be declared as divinely revealed", as stated in a commentary by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.<ref name=CDF1998>{{citation |chapter-url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM |chapter=Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei |author=Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith |title=L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English |edition=15 July 1998 |pages=3–4 |publisher=EWTN |access-date=24 September 2007 |archive-date=29 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429153305/http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM |url-status=dead }}</ref> Cardinal [[Basil Hume]] explained the conditional character of his ordination of [[Graham Leonard]], former Anglican bishop of the Diocese of London, to the priesthood in the following way: "While firmly restating the judgement of ''Apostolicae Curae'' that Anglican ordination is invalid, the Catholic Church takes account of the involvement, in some Anglican episcopal ordinations, of bishops of the Old Catholic Church of the Union of Utrecht who are validly ordained. In particular and probably rare cases the authorities in Rome may judge that there is a 'prudent doubt' concerning the invalidity of priestly ordination received by an individual Anglican minister ordained in this line of succession."<ref name="ewtn">{{cite news | title = Statement of Cardinal Hume on the Ordination of Anglican Bishop Leonard as a Roman Catholic Priest | url = http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/LEONARD.TXT | work =  The Catholic Resource Network | publisher = Trinity Communications | year = 1994 | access-date = 22 February 2015 }}</ref> 

At the same time, he stated: "Since the church must be in no doubt of the validity of the sacraments celebrated for the Roman Catholic community, it must ask all who are chosen to exercise the priesthood in the Catholic Church to accept sacramental ordination in order to fulfill their ministry and be integrated into the apostolic succession."<ref name="ewtn"/> Since ''Apostolicae curae'' was issued many Anglican jurisdictions have revised their ordinals, bringing them more in line with ordinals of the early Church.

Timothy Dufort, writing in ''[[The Tablet]]'' in 1982, attempted to present an ecumenical solution to the problem of how the Catholic Church might accept Anglican orders without needing to formally repudiate ''Apostolicae curae'' at all. Dufort argued that by 1969 all Anglican bishops had acquired apostolic succession fully recognized by Rome,<ref name="dufort">Timothy Dufort, ''The Tablet'', 29 May 1982, pp. 536–538.</ref> since from the 1930s [[Old Catholic]] bishops (the validity of whose orders the Vatican has never questioned)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur395.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=17 December 2018 |archive-date=22 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622191447/http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur395.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> have acted as co-consecrators in the ordination of Anglican bishops. This view has not yet been considered formally by the Holy See, but after Anglican bishop [[Graham Leonard]] converted to Catholicism, he was only reordained in 1994 {{em|conditionally}} because of the presence of Old Catholic bishops at his ordination.

The question of the validity of Anglican orders has been further complicated by the Anglican ordination of women.<ref>R. William Franklin(ed). ''Anglican Orders''. Mowbray 1996 pp.72,73(note 11), 104</ref> In a document it published in July 1998, the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] stated that the Catholic Church's declaration on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations is a teaching that the church has definitively propounded and that therefore every Catholic is required to give "firm and definitive assent" to this matter.<ref name=CDF1998/> This being said, in May 2017, Cardinal [[Francesco Coccopalmerio]], President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, has asked whether the current Catholic position on invalidity could be revised in the future.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7068/anglican-orders-not-invalid-says-cardinal-opening-way-for-revision-of-current-catholic-position-|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303152817/http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7068/anglican-orders-not-invalid-says-cardinal-opening-way-for-revision-of-current-catholic-position-|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 March 2018|title=Anglican orders not 'invalid' says Cardinal, opening way for revision of current Catholic position|website=The Tablet}}</ref>

===Eastern Orthodox===
[[File:Cheirotonia Presbyter 2.jpeg|thumb|Ordination of an Orthodox priest by laying on of hands. Orthodox Christians view apostolic succession as an important, God-ordained mechanism by which the structure and teaching of the Church are perpetuated.]]

While Eastern Orthodox sources often refer to the bishops as "successors of the apostles" under the influence of Scholastic theology, strict Orthodox ecclesiology and theology hold that all legitimate bishops are properly successors of Peter.<ref>See Meyendorff J., Byzantine Theology</ref> This also means that presbyters (or "priests") are successors of the apostles. As a result, Eastern Orthodox theology makes a distinction between a geographical or historical succession and proper [[Ontology|ontological]] or ecclesiological succession. Hence, the bishops of [[Pope|Rome]] and [[Bishop of Antioch|Antioch]] can be considered successors of Peter in a historical sense on account of Peter's presence in the early community. This does not imply that these bishops are more successors of Peter than all others in an ontological sense.<ref name=Cleenewerck>Cleenewerck, Laurent. His Broken Body. Washington, D.C.: EUC Press, 2007 {{Self-published source|date=June 2015}}</ref>{{rp|86–89}}

The Eastern Orthodox have often permitted non-Eastern Orthodox clergy to be rapidly ordained within Orthodoxy as a matter of pastoral necessity and [[Economy (Eastern Orthodoxy)|economia]]. Priests entering Eastern Orthodoxy from Oriental Orthodoxy and Catholicism have usually been received by "vesting" and have been allowed to function immediately within Eastern Orthodoxy as priests. Recognition of Catholic orders by the Russian Orthodox Church was stipulated in 1667 by the [[Moscow Sobor of 1666–1667|Synod of Moscow]],<ref name="Cleenewerck" />{{rp|138}} but this position is not universal within the Eastern Orthodox communion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oca.org/questions/romancatholicism/validity-of-roman-catholic-orders|title=Validity of Roman Catholic Orders|year=1996|publisher=[[Orthodox Church in America]]|language=en|access-date=3 March 2016|quote=Some Orthodox would say that Roman Catholic priests do possess grace; others would say that they do not.}}</ref> 

For example, Fr. John Morris of the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]], states that "Apostolic Succession is not merely a historical pedigree, but also requires Apostolic Faith. This is because Apostolic Succession is not the private possession of a bishop, but is the attribute of a local Church. A bishop who goes in schism or is cast out of office due to heresy does not take his Apostolic Succession with him as a private possession."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antiochian.org/node/17076|title=An Orthodox Response to the Recent Roman Catholic Declaration on the Nature of the Church|last=Morris|first=John|date=October 2007|publisher=[[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]]|language=en|access-date=4 March 2016|archive-date=2 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802015235/http://antiochian.org/node/17076|url-status=dead}}</ref> The validity of a priest's ordination is decided by each autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs {{!}} Ordination Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, 1988|url=http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723002517/http://www.usccb.org/seia/ordinati.shtml |archive-date=23 July 2011 |date=23 July 2011 }}</ref>

In 1922 the Eastern Orthodox [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] recognised Anglican orders as valid, holding that they carry "the same validity as the Roman, Old Catholic and Armenian churches possess".<ref name="WrightDutton2006"/><ref name="Franklin1996">{{cite book|last=Franklin|first=R. William|title=Anglican Orders: Essays on the Centenary of Apostolicae Curae 1896-1996|date=1 June 1996|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|language=en|isbn=9780819224880|page=117|quote=In 1922 the Ecumenical Patriarch and Holy Synod of Constantinople were persuaded to speak of Anglican orders. They did so in Delphic terms by declaring that Anglican orders possessed "the same validity as the Roman, Old Catholic and Armenian Churches possess". Jerusalem and Cyprus followed in 1923 by provisionally acceding that Anglican priests should not be reordained if they became Orthodox. Romania endorsed Anglican orders in 1936. Greece was not so sure, arguing that the whole of Orthodoxy must come to a decision, but it spoke of Anglican orders in the same somewhat detached un-Orthodox language.}}<!--|access-date=3 March 2016--></ref> In the encyclical "From the Oecumenical Patriarch to the Presidents of the Particular Eastern Orthodox churches", [[Meletius IV of Constantinople]], the Ecumenical Patriarch, wrote: "That the Orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/patriarc.htm|title=Encyclical on Anglican Orders from the Oecumenical Patriarch to the Presidents of the Particular Eastern Orthodox Churches, 1922|year=1998|publisher=[[University College London]]|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020125091106/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgbmxd/patriarc.htm|archive-date=25 January 2002}}</ref> Following this declaration, in 1923, the [[Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]], as well as the [[Church of Cyprus|Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus]] agreed by "provisionally acceding that Anglican priests should not be re-ordained if they became Orthodox";<ref name="WrightDutton2006">{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=John Robert|last2=Dutton|first2=Marsha L.|last3=Gray|first3=Patrick Terrell|title=One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: Studies in Christian Ecclesiality and Ecumenism |year=2006|publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing]]|language=en |isbn=9780802829405|page=273|quote=Constantinople declared, cautiously, in 1922 that Anglican orders "have the same validity as those of the Roman, Old Catholic and Armenian Churches", an opinion echoed by the churches of Jerusalem, Cyprus, Alexandria, and Romania. Heartened, Labeth bishops broadened the dialogue, sponsored the translation of "books and documents setting forth the relative positions" of the two churches, and asked the English church to consult "personally or by correspondence" with the eastern churches "with a view to ... securing a clearer understanding and ... establishing closer relations between the Churches of the East and the Anglican Communion."}}<!--|access-date=3 March 2016--></ref><ref name="Franklin1996"/> in 1936, the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]] "endorsed Anglican Orders".<ref name="Franklin1996"/><ref name="Parry2010">{{cite book|last=Parry|first=Ken|title=The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity|date=10 May 2010|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|language=en |isbn=9781444333619|page=202|quote=The Orthodox Church resumed its former links with other Christian Churches. Delegates from Romania participated in the pan-Orthodox conferences in Constantinople (1923), Mount Athos (1930), the first Conference of the Professors of Theology in the Balkans (Sinaia, 1924) and the first Congress of Theology Professors in Athens (1936). It also took part in the incipient ecumenical movement. Professors and hierarchs participated in several conferences of the three main inter-war branches: 'Practical Christianity' held in Stockholm (1925) and Berne (1926), 'Faith and Organization' in Lausanne (1927), and 'World Alliance for the Union of Peoples through the Church' in Prague (1928) and Norway (1938), with subsequent regional conferences held in Romania (1924, 1933, 1936). The links with the Anglican Church were consolidated soon after the Anglican orders had been acknowledged by the Holy Synod, and subsequent to Patriach Miron's visit to Britain in 1936.}}<!--|access-date=3 March 2016--></ref><ref name="Ware1977">{{cite book|author=Kallistos Ware|title=Anglican-Orthodox dialogue: the Moscow statement agreed by the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission, 1976|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KM9AAAAYAAJ|year=1977|publisher=[[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]]|isbn=9780281029921|language=en|quote=As a result of the Conference, the Romanian Commission decided unanimously to recommend the Romanian Holy Synod to accept the validity of Anglican Orders, and this the Synod proceeded to do in March 1936.|author-link=Kallistos Ware}}</ref>

Succeeding judgements have been more conflicting. The Eastern Orthodox churches require a totality of common teaching to recognise orders and in this broader view find ambiguities in Anglican teaching and practice problematic. Accordingly, in some parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican clergy who convert to Orthodoxy are reordained, rather than vested.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodox.clara.net/orthodoxy_and_anglicanism.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071126115409/http://www.orthodox.clara.net/orthodoxy_and_anglicanism.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Orthodox Web Site for information about the faith, life and worship of the Orthodox Church|archive-date=26 November 2007}}</ref>

Other Eastern Orthodox groups claim apostolic succession, but these churches are not recognized as "canonical" by the main communion; and thus their claim is often disputed though each autocephalous Eastern Orthodox body determines the validity of another.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Universalist Orthodox Church celebrates inclusion|url=https://www.toledoblade.com/news/religion/2019/07/01/the-forgotten-faith-Universalist-Orthodox-Church-celebrates-inclusion/stories/20190629004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717194934/https://www.toledoblade.com/news/religion/2019/07/01/the-forgotten-faith-Universalist-Orthodox-Church-celebrates-inclusion/stories/20190629004|archive-date=July 17, 2019|access-date=February 15, 2021|website=The Blade|language=en|quote=It would fall to her, then, she decided. She sought a bishop to ordain her in the Independent Sacramental Movement, a network of self-sustaining faith communities that operate outside the structures of mainstream churches, but that retain the same apostolic succession of these same mainstream churches. As with the Rev. Bingle, the mainstream church hierarchies generally do not recognize the ordinations of clergy in the Independent Sacramental Movement, even though the lineages of these clergy – who ordained whom ordained whom ordained whom – can be traced back to the same foundational ministers.}}</ref> The [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] denies the apostolic succession of the [[Old Calendarists]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://omhksea.org/archives/2301|quote=The excision from the Church and the unapproved by a pertinent Holy Synod, improvised “ordination of bishops” did not solve the problem of the schism which had now been wrought: the Old-Calendarists had, as a tragic result, now placed themselves far outside the Church and lacking in Apostolic Succession – an important element, along with the Upright Faith.|title=The Origins of the Old Calendar Schism|date=7 May 2012|access-date=8 November 2025|work=[[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]]}}</ref> The ordination of [[Miraš Dedeić]] of the [[Montenegrin Orthodox Church]] by the [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod]] is not recognized by the mainline Serbian Church.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rts.rs/lat/vesti/region/3823383/rat-i-miras-ko-je-i-sta-prica-prvi-covek-nepriznate-cpc-.html|title= Rat i Miraš, ko je i šta priča prvi čovek nepriznate CPC|quote=„Zamislite, raščinjenog popa rukopolažu neki raskolnici! Kad su se to crnogorski mitropoliti rukopolagali kod nekih raskolnika, i to u bugarskoj? Šta to znači, to je smejurija", kaže episkop budimljansko nikšićki SPC-a Joanikije. |date=23 January 2020|lang=sr|author=Stevan Kostić|work=[[Radio Television of Serbia]]|access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://rtcg.me/vijesti/drustvo/45232/spc-mihailo-nije-mogao-biti-hirotonisan.html|title=SPC: Mihailo nije mogao biti hirotonisan|date=18 March 2014|lang=cnr|work=[[Radio and Television of Montenegro]]|access-date=7 November 2025|quote=„Dedeić nije među njima. Jer je on u vrijeme tog ”rukopoloženja” već bio raščinjen od strane Vaseljenske Patrijaršije, tako da je bilo potpuno nevažeće i nekanonski da bude rukopoložen za episkopa od bilo koje pravoslavne crkve na svijetu, ponajmanje od strane raskolničke bugarske grupacije, koja je nastala u Bugarskoj pravoslavnoj crkvi, koja i sama niti je ikad imala, niti danas ima bilo kakve kanonske nadležnosti u Crnoj Gori“, navode iz SPC-a.}}</ref> The [[Abkhazian Orthodox Church]] reportedly only has an "interim bishop"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eurasianet.org/abkhazia-breakaway-church-confronts-its-own-breakaway-bid|title=Abkhazia: Breakaway Church Confronts Its Own Breakaway Bid|author1= Dean C.K. Cox|author2=Paul Rimple |date=Sep 16, 2011 |work=[[Eurasianet]]|access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref> as it lacks apostolic succession because of its isolation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jam-news.net/abkhazia-government-selects-church/|title= Abkhazia: Government selects church? |date=16 March 2016|work=JAM News|access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>

There are, however, also historic instances of canonically disputed or canonically-unrecognized clergy being recognized and/or received into the Eastern Orthodox churches without need for conditional ordination (e.g., [[Joseph Žuk|Joseph Zuk]] of the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA]], Alexander Turner of the [[Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate]], and [[Christopher Contogeorge]] of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria]]; who were members of the briefly mainstream [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]]).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Namee |first=Matthew |date=2011-03-15 |title=Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181036/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2011/03/15/bishop-joseph-zuk-a-brief-biographical-overview/ |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.uocofusa.org/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307181610/https://www.uocofusa.org/history |archive-date=2025-03-07 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA |quote=In 1928 a second group of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful in the USA initiated a movement toward Orthodoxy. Because of the questions surrounding the status of Archbishop John, the group hesitated in affiliating itself with his already established jurisdiction even though it was thriving. The first Sobor of this group met in Allentown, PA in the spring of 1929 and established itself as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America. Rev. Dr. Joseph Zuk was elected as administrator to organize the diocese and at its second Sobor of 1931 in New York City he was elected as its first Bishop. Two hierarchs of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the USA consecrated Bishop Zuk in 1932 at St. Volodymyr Cathedral, on 14th Street in New York City. Unfortunately, Bishop Joseph lived less than two years following his consecration.}}</ref><ref name="Anson2006">{{Cite book |last=Anson |first=Peter F |author-link=Peter Anson |url={{GBurl|lTD_PAAACAAJ}} |title=Bishops at large |publisher=Apocryphile Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-977146-18-5 |edition=1st Apocryphile |series=Independent Catholic Heritage |location=[[Berkeley, California]] |pages=504–506 |oclc=72443681 |orig-year=1964 |lang=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Damick |first=Fr Andrew Stephen |date=2009-07-18 |title=From Aftimios Ofiesh to The Satan Seller |url=https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/07/17/from-aftimios-ofiesh-to-the-satan-seller/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250308020702/https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2009/07/17/from-aftimios-ofiesh-to-the-satan-seller/ |archive-date=2025-03-08 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Orthodox History |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Oriental Orthodox Churches ===
The [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], which is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches, recognises Catholic episcopal consecrations without qualification.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roberson |first1=Ronald G. |date=2010 |title=The Dialogues of the Catholic Church with the Separated Eastern Churches |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40731267 |journal=U.S. Catholic Historian |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=135–152 |issn=0735-8318 |jstor=40731267 |access-date=7 February 2021}}</ref>

===Lutheran churches===
Lutherans universally believe that "no one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called".<ref>[[Augsburg Confession]], [https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-ecclesiastical-order/ ''Ecclesiastical Order'']</ref> The Lutheran churches in Scandinavia, and those established in other parts of the world as a result of Scandinavian Lutheran missionary activity (such as the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya]]), practice ''episcopal'' succession in which the bishop whose holy orders can be traced back for centuries performs ordinations.<ref name="Melton2005">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW3sXBjnokkC&pg=PA91|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816069835|page=91|quote=Martin Luther seemed personally indifferent to apostolic succession, but branches of the Lutheran Church most notably the Church of Sweden, preserve episcopal leadership and apostolic succession.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Catholic Movement in the Swedish Church |url=http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/crhale/rosendal.html |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=anglicanhistory.org}}</ref><ref name="Omwanza2025">{{cite journal |last1=Omwanza |first1=Walter Obare |title=Choose Life! |journal=[[Concordia Theological Quarterly]] |date=2005 |volume=69 |issue=3–4 |page=309-326}}</ref> On the other hand, certain Lutheran theologians, such as Arthur Carl Piepkorn, have held to the conception of a succession of presbyters in contradistinction to a succession of bishops.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fenn |first=Matthew |title=The Validity of Lutheran Orders - Piepkorn |date=26 June 2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7466978}}</ref> German Lutheran churches and their subsequent offspring in the United States practice succession of presbyters in which another priest is the one who confers the priesthood onto another. This low view results from [[Prussian Union of churches|the Prussian state-ordered union]] with Reformed (Calvinist) churches in 1817.<ref>Christliche Religion, Oskar Simmel, Rudolf Stählin (Frankfurt 1960), at 164.</ref>

====Lutheran claims to apostolic succession ====
[[File:Ärkebiskopsvigning.jpg|thumb|[[Nathan Söderblom]] is ordained as archbishop of the Church of Sweden, 1914.]]

In Scandinavia and the Baltic region, Lutheran churches participating in the [[Porvoo Communion]] (those of Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Faroes, Estonia, and Lithuania), as well as non-Porvoo membership Lutheran churches in the region (including those of [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia|Latvia]], and Russia), and the confessional [[Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses]], believe that they ordain their bishops in apostolic succession in lines stemming from the original apostles.<ref name="König2010">{{cite book|last=König|first=Andrea|title=Mission, Dialog und friedliche Koexistenz: Zusammenleben in einer multireligiösen und säkularen Gesellschaft : Situation, Initiativen und Perspektiven für die Zukunft|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BnP3x8joQDUC&pg=PA205|year=2010|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9783631609453|page=205|quote=Having said that, Lutheran bishops in Sweden or Finland, which retained apostolic succession, or other parts of the world, such as Africa or Asia, which gained it from Scandinavia, could easily be engaged to do something similar in Australia, as has been done in the United States, without reliance on Anglicans.}}</ref><ref name="Obare"/> ''The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History'' states that "In Sweden the apostolic succession was preserved because the Catholic bishops were allowed to stay in office, but they had to approve changes in the ceremonies."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Benedetto|first1=Robert |last2=Duke|first2=James O. |title=The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History: The Early, Medieval, and Reformation Eras |date=13 August 2008 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0664224165 |page=594 |url=http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0664224164/page-1/ |quote=In Sweden the apostolic succession was preserved because the Catholic bishops were allowed to stay in office, but they had to approve changes in the ceremonies.}}</ref>
{{blockquote|What made the Church of Sweden an evangelical-catholic church was to [[Nathan Söderblom|Archbishop Söderblom]] the fact that the Reformation in Sweden was a 'church improvement' and a 'process of purification' which did {{em|not}} create a new church. As a national church, the Church of Sweden succeeded in bringing together medieval Swedish tradition with the rediscovery of the gospel which the Reformation brought with it. Archbishop Söderblom included the historic episcopate in the tradition-transmitting elements. The Church of Sweden was, according to Söderblom, in an even higher degree than the Anglican Church a ''via media''. —Together in Mission and Ministry: The Porvoo Common Statement<ref>{{cite book|title=Together in Mission and Ministry: The Porvoo Common Statement, With, Essays on Church and Ministry in Northern Europe: Conversations Between the British and Irish Anglican Churches and the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JubvAqggjL8C&q=Anglican+branch+theory+Church+of+Sweden&pg=PA59|year=1993|publisher=Church House Publishing|isbn=0715157507|quote=What made the Church of Sweden an evangelical-catholic church was to [[Nathan Söderblom|Archbishop Söderblom]] the fact that the Reformation in Sweden was a 'church improvement' and a 'process of purification' which did ''not'' create a new church. As a national church, the Church of Sweden succeeded in bringing together medieval Swedish tradition with the rediscovery of the gospel which the Reformation brought with it. Archbishop Söderblom included the historic episcopate in the tradition-transmitting elements. The Church of Sweden was, according to Söderblom, in an even higher degree than the Anglican Church a ''via media''.}}</ref>}}
The Lutheran [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland|Church of Finland]] was at that time one with the Church of Sweden and so holds the same view regarding the see of Åbo/Turku.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gassmann|first1=Günther |last2=Larson |first2=Duane Howard|last3=Oldenburg |first3=Mark W. |title=Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Htz8M1Xlqi4C&pg=PA23|year=2001|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0810839458|quote=In addition to the primary understanding of succession, the Lutheran confessions do express openness, however, to the continuation of the succession of bishops. This is a narrower understanding of apostolic succession, to be affirmed under the condition that the bishops support the Gospel and are ready to ordain evangelical preachers. This form of succession, for example, was continued by the Church of Sweden (which included Finland) at the time of the Reformation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Alan Richardson |author2=John Bowden John |title=The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PN7UMUTBBPAC&pg=PA182|year=1983|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=0664227481|quote=The churches of Sweden and Finland retained bishops and the conviction of being continuity with the apostolic succession, while in Denmark the title bishop was retained without the doctrine of apostolic succession.}}</ref> The [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria]] claims succession through the Finnish Church and cites as a non-member the Porvoo Communion but emphasizes that "the succession of faith" is more important than the apostolic succession.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elci.ru/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Apostolskaya-sukcessiya.doc|date=9 February 2020|lang=ru|quote=В 1992 году в г. Порвоо была подписана уния («Декларация Порвоо») между англиканской церковью и рядом лютеранских церквей. В тексте этого документа есть подтверждение того, что в Финляндии апостольское преемство восстановлено. // Апостольское преемство в Церкви Ингрии // Евангелическо-лютеранская Церковь Ингрии сохраняет апостольское преемство, поскольку хиротония (рукоположение) предстоятеля Церкви Ингрии епископа Арри Кугаппи была совершена 20 января 1996 г. обладавшими successio apostolica епископами из Финляндии и Швеции. […] Но стоит еще раз подчеркнуть, что наиболее важным для нас является не столько преемство мануальное, сколько преемство веры, сохранение того драгоценного наследия церковного учения, какое мы приняли, и проповедь Евангелия Господа Иисуса Христа.|work=[[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria]]|author1=Daria Shkurlyatieva|author2=Dmitry Rozet|title=Апостольской сукцессией|access-date=7 November 2025|pages=3–4}}</ref>

In 2001, Francis Aloysius Sullivan wrote: "To my knowledge, the Catholic Church has never officially expressed its judgement on the validity of orders as they have been handed down by episcopal succession in these two national Lutheran churches."<ref>{{cite book|last=Sullivan|first=Francis Aloysius|title=From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the Early Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rn4PIZYLCskC&q=church+of+sweden+apostolic+succession&pg=PA4|year=2001|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=0809105349|page=4|quote=To my knowledge, the Catholic Church has never officially expressed its judgement on the validity of orders as they have been handed down by episcopal succession in these two national Lutheran churches.}}</ref> In 2007, the Holy See declared: "Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century [...] do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church."<ref>{{cite web|author1=Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith|title=Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the church|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2007/07/10/0385/01035.html|publisher=La Santa Sede|date=10 July 2007|quote=...those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century [...] do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church.}}</ref> This statement speaks of the Protestant movement as a whole, not specifically of the Lutheran churches in Sweden and Finland. The 2010 report from the Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Group for Sweden and Finland, ''Justification in the Life of the Church'', states: "The Evangelical-Lutheran churches in Sweden and Finland [...] believe that they are part of an unbroken apostolic chain of succession. The Catholic Church does however question how the ecclesiastical break in the 16th century has affected the apostolicity of the churches of the Reformation and thus the apostolicity of their ministry."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sakasti.evl.fi/sakasti.nsf/0/DA1B501CC09E109FC22577AE002A3DD8/$FILE/Report%20Justification%20in%20the%20Life%20of%20the%20Church.pdf|title=Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Group for Sweden and Finland, ''Justification in the Life of the Church'', section 297, page 101}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Emil Anton interprets this report as saying that the Catholic Church does not deny or approve the apostolic succession directly, but will continue with further inquiries about the matter.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Anton|first1=Emil|title=Mitä ajatella Suomen ev.-lut. kirkosta? Osa 2: katolilaiset|url=https://hyviauutisia.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/mita-ajatella-suomen-ev-lut-kirkosta-osa-2-katolilaiset/|website=Hyviä uutisia|location=Apostolinen suksessio|language=fi|date=1 September 2014|quote=Kuten Vanhurskauttaminen kirkon elämässä -asiakirjasta kävi ilmi, omasta mielestään Suomen ev.-lut. kirkolla on apostolinen suksessio. Katolinen kirkko ei sitä suoraan myönnä eikä kiellä, vaan esittää lisäkysymyksiä.}}</ref>

Negotiated at [[Järvenpää]], Finland, and inaugurated with a celebration of the Eucharist at [[Porvoo Cathedral]] in 1992, the [[Porvoo Communion]] agreement of unity includes the mutual recognition of the traditional apostolic succession among the following churches:<ref>{{cite web | url=https://porvoocommunion.org/porvoo_communion/members/ | title=Members }}</ref>
* Lutheran churches: [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland]], [[Church of Norway]], [[Church of Sweden]], [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland]], [[Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church]], [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania]], [[Church of Denmark]] and [[Lutheran Church in Great Britain]].
* Anglican Communion: [[Church of Ireland]], [[Scottish Episcopal Church]], [[Church of England]], the [[Church in Wales]], the [[Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church]], and the [[Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church]].

At least one of the Scandinavian Lutheran churches in the Porvoo Communion of churches, the Church of Denmark has bishops, but strictly speaking they were not in the historic apostolic succession prior to their entry into the Porvoo Communion, since their episcopate and holy orders derived from [[Johannes Bugenhagen]], who was a pastor, not a bishop.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anglicanhistory.org/lutherania/denmark.html |title=The Church of Denmark and the Anglican Communion |publisher=Anglicanhistory.org }}</ref> In 2010, the Church of Denmark joined the Porvoo Communion, after a process of mutual consecrations of bishops had led to the introduction of historic apostolic succession.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} The Lutheran Church in Great Britain also joined the Porvoo Agreement, in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.porvoocommunion.org/porvoo-communion-grows-as-two-churches-signed-the-porvoo-agreement/|last=Sjogreen|first=Jenny|title=Porvoo Communion grows as two Churches signed the Porvoo agreement|website=The Porvoo Communion|date=19 September 2014|access-date=31 July 2021}}</ref> The [[Church of the Faroe Islands]] (itself an offspring of the Church of Denmark) joined in 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2025/10/08/welsh-church-hosts-service-welcoming-newest-member-of-porvoo-communion/|title=Welsh church hosts service welcoming newest member of Porvoo Communion|date=Oct 8, 2025|access-date=Nov 8, 2025|work=Episcopal News Service}}</ref>

In Scandinavia, where [[High Church Lutheranism]] and [[Pietist Lutheranism]] has been highly influential, the [[Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland]], [[Missionsprovinsen|Mission Province of the Church of Sweden]], and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway]] entered into schism with their [[national church]]es due to "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countries involving matters of both Christian doctrine and ethics"; these have [[altar and pulpit fellowship]] through the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses and are members of the confessional [[International Lutheran Council]] with their bishops having lines of apostolic succession from other traditional Lutheran churches, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.<ref name="Block2019">{{cite web |last1=Block |first1=Mathew |title=Swedish Lutherans consecrate new bishop |url=https://ilc-online.org/tag/mission-province-in-sweden/ |publisher=[[International Lutheran Council]] |access-date=7 May 2021 |language=English |date=13 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="Obare">{{cite web |author1=[[Walter Obare]] |title=Choose Life! |url=https://media.ctsfw.edu/Item/GetFullText/498 |publisher=[[Concordia Theological Seminary]] |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Ross2016">{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Paula Schlueter |title=Nordic Lutheran churches seek ILC membership |url=https://reporter.lcms.org/2016/nordic-lutheran-churches/ |publisher=[[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] |access-date=7 May 2021 |language=English |date=28 January 2016}}</ref>

Similarly, in the High Church Lutheranism of Germany, some religious brotherhoods such as [[Hochkirchliche St. Johannes-Bruderschaft]] and [[Hochkirchlicher Apostolat St. Ansgar]] have managed to arrange for their own bishop to be re-ordained in apostolic succession. The members of these brotherhoods do not form into separate ecclesia.

The [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]], North America's largest Lutheran body, gained apostolic succession through Lutheran bishops in the historic episcopate; this allowed for [[full communion]] with the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] in 2000, upon the signing of ''[[Called to Common Mission]]''.<ref name="VelikoGros2005">{{cite book |last1=Veliko |first1=Lydia |last2=Gros |first2=Jeffrey |title=Growing Consensus II: Church Dialogues in the United States, 1992-2004 |date=2005 |publisher=USCCB Publishing |isbn=978-1-57455-557-8 |language=English |quote=In order to receive the historic episcopate, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pledges that, following the adoption of this Concordat and in keeping with the collegiality and continuity of ordained ministry attested as early as canon 4 of the First Ecumenical Council (Nicea I, AD 325), at least three bishops already sharing in the sign of episcopal succession will be invited to participate in the installation of its next Presiding Bishop through prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit and with the laying-on of hands. These participating bishops will be invited from churches of the Lutheran communion which share in the historic episcopate.}}</ref> By this document the full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church was established.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations|url=http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Office-of-the-Presiding-Bishop/Ecumenical-and-Inter-Religious-Relations.aspx |publisher=Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|access-date=27 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110727014408/http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Office-of-the-Presiding-Bishop/Ecumenical-and-Inter-Religious-Relations.aspx| archive-date= 27 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> As such, "all episcopal installations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America take place with the participation of bishops in the apostolic succession."<ref name="Mulhall">{{cite book|title=The Ecumenical Christian Dialogues and The Catechism of the Catholic Church |publisher=Paulist Press|author1=Jeffrey Gros |author2=Daniel S. Mulhall|year=2006|isbn= 9781616438098 |page= 143}}</ref> The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is headed by a presiding bishop who is elected by the churchwide assembly for a six-year term.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.elca.org/About/Churchwide/Office-of-the-Presiding-Bishop |title=Office of the Presiding Bishop |website= Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191011023835/https://www.elca.org/About/Churchwide/Office-of-the-Presiding-Bishop| archive-date= 11 October 2019 | url-status= live}}</ref>

The [[Evangelical Catholic Church (Lutheran)|Evangelical Catholic Church]], a Lutheran denomination of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship based in North America, taught:<ref name="ECC2008"/>
{{blockquote|''The Evangelical Catholic Church'' sees Episcopal administration and Apostolic Succession as analogous to the formulation of the doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, Grace and the sacraments, i.e., a divinely willed, Spirit-directed development within The Church, the character of which is really and truly ecumenical because it took place uniformly both in the East and in the West. In the tripartition of the priestly office (deacon, priest, bishop) vibrates the triadic rhythm of the eternal divine life; in the monarchial bishop the ascended Christ, the invisible Head of The Church, becomes visible; and in the chain of bishops, consecrated by episcopal imposition of hands, the unbroken continuity is visualized, which unites The Church of the 21st Century with The Church of The Apostles. Thus the bonds of ''The Evangelical Catholic Church'' with those first days in Nazareth and Galilee remain unbroken, assured both by its faithful proclamation of The Gospel in all its apostolic purity and by its regular episcopal ordination of Bishops in ''Apostolic Succession''. ''The Evangelical Catholic Church'' claims both a valid Apostolic Succession and a faithful transmission of The Gospel in all its truth and purity.<ref name="ECC2008">{{cite web |title=The Church: What We Believe |url=http://www.apostle1.com/barwin-ev-cath-church/the-church-what_we_believe.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613152001/http://www.apostle1.com/barwin-ev-cath-church/the-church-what_we_believe.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2010 |publisher=[[Evangelical Catholic Church (Lutheran)|Evangelical Catholic Church]] |language=en |date=2008 }}</ref>}}
A number of Lutheran churches of the [[Evangelical Catholic]] and High Church Lutheran churchmanship based in the United States of America possess apostolic succession, with lineage generally being from the [[Independent Catholic Churches|Independent Catholic churches]].<ref name="pastorzip.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.pastorzip.org/uslutheranlinx.html |title=Pastor Zip's US Lutheran Web Links – Evangelical Catholics |publisher=Pastorzip.org |access-date=26 July 2011 |archive-date=27 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727164653/http://www.pastorzip.org/uslutheranlinx.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> These include:
* The [[The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church|Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (LEPC)]] were some of the earliest Lutherans in America. They have autonomous and congregationally oriented ministries and consecrate male and female deacons, priests and bishops in apostolic succession with the laying on of hands during celebration of Word and Sacrament.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gcepc.us/ |publisher=Lutheran EPC |title=Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (LEPC) |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> 
* The [[Lutheran Church - International]] is another North American Lutheran church that possesses and teaches the doctrine of apostolic succession.<ref name="pastorzip.org"/><ref>{{cite web |title=A Note on the Citation of Apostolic Succession by the Lutheran Church-International |url=http://nebula.wsimg.com/4b4ecdc8ad06090b3b43ee221d9bd804?AccessKeyId=359D0854B4F4C0D65DEF&disposition=0&alloworigin=1 |access-date=25 May 2022 |language=English |quote=As with all gifts of Christ to His Church, the ability to trace links to the apostolic age and missions is a blessing that is useful in the work of the Christian Church Universal. As an Evangelical Catholic body confessing Holy Scripture and the guidance of the Lutheran Book of Concord, the Lutheran Church – International is grateful to God for the ability to participate in these lines of succession. They are for us in our ministries a sign of the unity and continuity of the Christian Church through the power of the Holy Spirit.}}</ref>
* The [[Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church]] recovered the apostolic succession from Old Catholic and Independent Catholic churches, and adopted a strict episcopal polity. All of its clergy have been ordained (or re-ordained) into the historic apostolic succession.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christalcc.org/files/Constitution_ALCC_3_.pdf |title=ALCC Constitution, Article V, Section 4, lines 3,4 |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110725164729/http://www.christalcc.org/files/Constitution_ALCC_3_.pdf| archive-date= 25 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> This church was formed in 1997, with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christalcc.org/ALCC.html |title=Christ Lutheran Church ALCC |publisher=Christalcc.org |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110725165126/http://www.christalcc.org/ALCC.html| archive-date= 25 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
* The [[Lutheran Orthodox Church]], founded in 2004 traces its historic lineage of apostolic succession through Lutheran, Anglican, and Old Catholic lines.<ref>The lineages include the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), Anglican/Episcopal, and Old Catholic.</ref>

====Indifference to the issue====
Many German Lutherans appear to demur on this issue, which may be sourced in the [[Church Order (Lutheran)|church governance views]] of [[Martin Luther]].<ref>Martin Luther, ''An Appeal to the Ruling Class of German Nationality as to the Amelioration of the State of Christendom'' (1520), reprinted in Lewis W. Spitz, editor, ''The Protestant Reformation'' (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall 1966) at 51–59. E.g., "When a bishop consecrates, he simply acts on behalf of the entire congregation, all of whom have the same authority." ... "[T]he status of priest among Christians is merely that of an office-bearer; while he holds the office he exercises it; if he be deposed he resumes his status in the community and becomes like the rest. ... All these are human inventions and regulations." ''Ibid.'' at 54, 55.</ref> Luther's reform movement usually did not abrogate the ecclesiastic office of [[bishop]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_13_ecclesiasticalorder.php |title=Defense of the Augsburg confession, Article XVI, lines 24 |publisher=Bookofconcord.org |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110719173007/http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_13_ecclesiasticalorder.php| archive-date= 19 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>Cf., Roland H. Bainton, ''The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century'' (Boston: The Beadon Press 1952) at 67–68.</ref> An important historical context to explicate the difference regarding apostolic succession among between the Scandinavian Lutheran churches and the German Lutheran churches is the [[Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)|Prussian Union]] of 1817, whereby the civil government directed the Lutheran churches in Prussia to merge with non-Lutheran [[Reformed Church]]es in Prussia. The Reformed (Calvinist) churches generally oppose on principle the traditional doctrine of ecclesiastic Apostolic Succession, e.g., not usually even recognising the church office of bishop.<ref name="Goeckel2018"/><ref>Cf., [[Jean Calvin]], ''Ecclesiastical ordinances'' (Genève 1541, 1561), reprinted in Lewis W. Spitz, editor, ''The Protestant Reformation'' (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall 1966) at 122–129, 122.</ref> 

Later in the 19th century, other Lutheran and Reformed congregations merged to form [[United and uniting churches|united church bodies]] in some of the other 39 states of the [[German Confederation]], e.g., in Anhalt, Baden, Bremen, Hesse and Nassau, Hesse-Kassel and Waldeck, and the Palatinate.<ref>The [[Evangelical Church of Anhalt]], [[Evangelical Church in Baden]], [[Evangelical Church of Bremen|Bremian Evangelical Church]] (union of Lutheran and Reformed in 1873), [[Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau]], [[Evangelical Church of Hesse-Kassel and Waldeck]], and the [[Evangelical Church of the Palatinate]].</ref><ref>In 1866 the [[States of the German Confederation|German Confederation]] dissolved; in 1871 most of its former member states joined the German Empire led by Prussia. [[Hajo Holborn]], ''A History of Modern Germany 1840–1945'' [volume 3] (New York: Alfred A. Knoft 1969) at 187–188, 194–199 [1866]; at 223–227 [1871].</ref> Yet the partial nature of this list also serves to show that in Germany there remained many Lutherans who never united with the Reformed.<ref>E.g., the current umbrella federation of German Protestant churches known as the [[Evangelical Church in Germany|EKD]] has as members 22 Church bodies: 9 regional Lutheran, 11 united Lutheran and Reformed, and 2 Reformed.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}</ref>

Other Lutheran churches are indifferent as a matter of doctrine regarding this particular issue of ecclesiastical governance. In America, the conservative [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] (LCMS) places its church authority in the congregation rather than in the bishop, and ordinations are typically performed by another pastor, although its founder, [[C. F. W. Walther]], while establishing congregational polity for the LCMS, considered polity (a church's form of government) to be a matter of adiaphora (something indifferent).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziecfwwaltherandthelcmstoday.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mackenziecfwwaltherandthelcmstoday.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=C. F. W. Walther and the Missouri Synod Today}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs/doctrine/brief-statement-of-lcms-doctrinal-position|title=Brief Statement of LCMS Doctrinal Position - The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod|website=www.lcms.org}}</ref>

===Anglican Communion===
{{Main|Historic episcopate (Anglican views)}}

[[File:Seaburytablet.JPG|thumb|right|Tablet dedicated to the consecration of [[Samuel Seabury (bishop)|Samuel Seabury]] as the first Anglican bishop in the Americas]]
The Anglican Communion "has never officially endorsed any one particular theory of the origin of the historic episcopate, its exact relation to the apostolate, and the sense in which it should be thought of as God given, and in fact tolerates a wide variety of views on these points".<ref>Jay, Eric G. ''The Church'' John Knox Press(1980), p.291 quoting the Anglican-Methodist Unity Commission Report 1968 p.37</ref><!-- According to ''The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology'', The Anglican Communion "retained episcopacy, believing it to be not merely an administrative expedient of contingent historical origin but an essential part of the church as founded by Christ".<ref name="RichardsonJohn1983">{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=Alan|last2=John|first2=John Bowden|title=The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PN7UMUTBBPAC&pg=PA182|year=1983|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=9780664227487|page=182}}</ref>--> Its claim to apostolic succession is rooted in the [[Church of England]]'s evolution as part of the Western Church.<ref>{{cite web |author=Brian Reid |url=http://www.anglican.org/church/ChurchHistory.html |title=The Anglican Domain: Church History |publisher=Anglican.org |date=26 August 1998  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725010717/http://anglican.org/church/ChurchHistory.html |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Apostolic succession is viewed not so much as conveyed mechanically through an unbroken chain of the laying-on of hands, but as expressing continuity with the unbroken chain of commitment, beliefs and mission starting with the first apostles; and as hence emphasising the enduring yet evolving nature of the Church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/pmreview/pmrappendix1.doc |title=Document Library |publisher=Cofe.anglican.org |date=11 July 2011}}</ref>

When [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] broke away from the jurisdiction of Rome in 1533/4, the English Church ({{lang|la|Ecclesia [[Anglicanism|Anglicana]]}}) claimed the episcopal polity and apostolic succession inherent in its Catholic past. [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] theology gained a certain foothold,<ref name=Neill>Neill, Stephen. ''Anglicanism'' Pelican (1960)</ref>{{rp|49,61}} and under his successor, [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] what had been an administrative schism—as the church under Henry was separated from Rome but remained essentially Catholic in its theology and practice—became a {{em|Protestant}} reformation under the guiding hand of [[Thomas Cranmer]].<ref name=Neill/>{{rp|67}} 

Although care was taken to maintain the unbroken sequence of episcopal consecrations—particularly in the case of [[Matthew Parker]],<ref name=Neill/>{{rp|131}} who was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559 by two bishops who had been ordained in the 1530s with the Roman Pontifical and two ordained with the Edwardine Ordinal of 1550—apostolic succession was not seen as a major concern that a true ministry could not exist without episcopal consecrations: English Reformers such as [[Richard Hooker]] rejected the Roman position that apostolic succession is divinely commanded or necessary for true Christian ministry.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Archer |first1=Stanley |year=1993 |title=Hooker on Apostolic Succession: The Two Voices |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=67–74 |jstor=2541798 |doi=10.2307/2541798|s2cid=159634928 |quote=While he argues that the rank originated with the Apostles, enjoyed divine approval, and flourished throughout Christendom, he rejects the view inherent in the Catholic position that the office is divinely commanded or is a result of divine law. }}</ref> American Episcopal theologian Richard A. Norris argues that the "''foreign'' Reformed [Presbyterian] churches" were genuine ones despite the lack of apostolic succession because they had been abandoned by their bishops at the Reformation.<ref name=Norris>Norris, Richard A. "Episcopacy" in ''The Study of Anglicanism'' Sykes, Stephen & Booty, John (eds) SPCK(1988)</ref>{{rp|304}} 

In very different ways both [[James II of England|James II]] and [[William III of England]] made it plain that the Church of England could no longer count on the 'godly prince' to maintain its identity and traditions and the 'High Church' clergy of the time began to look to the idea of apostolic succession as a basis for the church's life. For William Beveridge (Bishop of St Asaph, 1704–8) the importance of this lay in the fact that Christ himself is "continually present at such imposition of hands; thereby transferring the same Spirit, which He had first breathed into His Apostles, upon others successively after them",<ref name=Norris/>{{rp|305}} but the doctrine did not really come to the fore until the time of the [[Tractarian]]s.<ref>Webster, John B. "Ministry and Priesthood" in ''The Study of Anglicanism'' Sykes, Stephen & Booty, John (eds) SPCK(1988), p.305</ref>

In 1833, before his conversion to Catholicism, [[John Henry Newman|Newman]] wrote about the apostolic succession: "We must necessarily consider none to be {{em|really}} ordained who has not been {{em|thus}} ordained". After quoting this,<ref name="Ramsey1960">Ramsey, Arthur Michael (1960). ''From Gore to Temple'', Longmans.</ref>{{rp|111}} Michael Ramsey continues: "With romantic enthusiasm, the Tractarians propagated this doctrine. In doing so they involved themselves in some misunderstandings of history and in some confusion of theology". He explained that they ascribed to early Anglican authors a far more exclusive version of the doctrine than was the case. They blurred the distinction between succession in office (Irenaeus) and succession in consecration (Augustine). They spoke of apostolic succession as the channel of grace in a way that failed to do justice to His gracious activity within all the dispensations of the New Covenant.<ref name="Ramsey1960"/>{{rp|11}} 

[[J. B. Lightfoot]] argued that monarchial episcopacy evolved upwards from a college of presbyters by the elevation of one of their number to be the episcopal president.<ref name="Ramsey1960"/>{{rp|116}} [[Arthur Headlam|A.C. Headlam]] laid great stress on Irenaeus' understanding of succession which had been lost from sight behind the Augustinian 'pipe-line theory'.<ref name="Ramsey1960"/>{{rp|117–18}}

Groups which are part of the [[Continuing Anglican movement]] also claim apostolic succession. The [[Diocese of the Holy Cross]], [[Anglican Church in America]], [[Anglican Province of America]] and the [[Anglican Catholic Church]] declared their mutual recognition in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.anglicanchurchinamerica.org/single-post/2017/10/13/continuing-anglican-churches-establish-full-communion|title=CONTINUING ANGLICAN CHURCHES ESTABLISH FULL COMMUNION|date=2017-10-13|access-date=2025-11-08|work=[[Anglican Church in America]]}}</ref> The [[Orthodox Anglican Church]] traces itself through Old Catholic and Eastern Orthodox lines.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.de/books?id=AA_eDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59|encyclopedia=The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries|title=Orthodox Anglican Church|author=Barbara Wyman|year=2017|publisher=[[Baker Publishing Group]]|isbn=9781493406401}}</ref>

===Methodist churches===
[[File:John Wesley by William Hamilton.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[John Wesley]] came to believe that ancient church and New Testament evidence did not leave the power of ordination to the priesthood in the hands of bishops but that other priests could ordain.]]
In the beginnings of the [[Methodism|Methodist movement]], adherents were instructed to receive the [[sacraments]] within the Anglican Church since the Methodists were still a movement and not as yet a separate church in England until 1805. The American Methodists soon petitioned to receive the sacraments from the [[Methodist local preacher|local preachers]] who conducted [[Church service|worship service]]s and [[Revival meeting|revivals]].<ref name="William Joseph Whalen">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw9ILcqw2hsC&pg=PA71|title=Separated Brethren: A Review of Protestant, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox & Other Religions in the United States|quote=the Methodists were directed to receive baptism and Holy Communion from Episcopal priests. They soon petitioned to receive the sacraments from the same Methodist preachers who visited their homes and conducted their worship services. The Bishop of London refused to ordain Methodist preachers as deacons and priests for the colonies, so in 1784 Wesley assumed the power to ordain ministers himself.|publisher=[[Our Sunday Visitor]]|isbn=9781931709057|year=2002}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The [[Bishop of London]] refused to ordain Methodist priests and deacons in the [[British colonization of the Americas|British American colonies]].<ref name="William Joseph Whalen"/> John Wesley, the founder of the movement, was reluctant to allow unordained preachers to administer the sacraments:<ref name="William Joseph Whalen"/>
{{blockquote|We believe it would not be right for us to administer either Baptism or the Lord's Supper unless we had a commission so to do from those Bishops whom we apprehend to be in a succession from the Apostles.<ref name="Harrington William Holden – Quote on Celebration of the Sacraments">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FtACAAAAQAAJ&q=apostolic+succession+methodist&pg=PA57 |title=John Wesley in Company with High Churchmen [Parallel Passages, Selected] by an Old Methodist [H.W. Holden] |page=57 |publisher =Church Press Company |year=1870 }}</ref>|[[John Wesley]]|1745}}

Some scholars argue that in 1763, [[Greek Orthodox]] bishop [[Erasmus of Arcadia|Erasmus of the Diocese of Arcadia]], who was visiting London at the time,<ref name="Luke Tyerman">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EHpJAAAAYAAJ&q=erasmus+arcadia+wesley&pg=PA487|title= The life and times of the John Wesley, founder of the Methodists, Volume 2|quote= Just at this juncture, Erasmus a bishop of the Greek church, visited London.|publisher = Regent College Publishing|year= 1876}}</ref> consecrated John Wesley a bishop,<ref name="Wesleyan-Methodist magazine - Consecration of Rev. John Wesley">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=STVAAAAAYAAJ&q=erasmus+arcadia+wesley+bishop+dare |title= Wesleyan-Methodist magazine: being a continuation of the Arminian or Methodist magazine first publ. by John Wesley |quote= Mr. Wesley thus became a Bishop, and consecrated Dr. Coke, who united himself with ... who gave it under his own hand that Erasmus was Bishop of Arcadia, ...|work= [[Wesleyan Methodist Magazine]]|year= 1836 }}</ref><ref name="David Lyle Jeffrey - Bishop">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yhqzG-kOic4C&q=erasmus+arcadia+wesley+bishop&pg=PA205|title= English Spirituality in the Age of Wesley|date= November 2000|quote= By 1763, Wesley was desperate to obtain ordination for some of his lay preachers and when bishop after bishop refused, he took the dubious expedient -against the council of all his close friends and associates- of asking one Easmus, who claimed to be bishop of Arcadia in Crete, to do the job. Erasmus knew no English, but agreed. |publisher = Regent College Publishing |isbn= 9781573831642|access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> and ordained several Methodist lay preachers as [[Elder (Methodism)|priests]], including John Jones.<ref name="The Churchman">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fyDnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA257|title= The Churchman, Volume 40|year= 1879|quote= Erasmus was the Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. In 163, he visited London. Wesley found his credentials unexceptionable, and Dr. Jones, one of the preachers whom he had ordained, obtained testimonials concerning him from Symrna.|publisher = University of Michigan |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> According to these arguments, Wesley could not openly announce his episcopal consecration without incurring the penalty of the [[Praemunire|Præmunire Act]].<ref name="Richard Joseph Cooke">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mVVIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA145|title= The historic episcopate: a study of Anglican claims and Methodist orders |year= 1896 |quote= Dr. Peters was present at the interview, and went with and introduced Dr. Seabury to Mr. Wesley, who was so far satisfied that he would have been willingly consecrated by him in Mr. Wesley would have signed his letter of orders as bishop, which Mr. Wesley could not do without incurring the penalty of the ''Præmunire'' Act.|publisher =Eaton & Mains |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> In light of Wesley's alleged episcopal consecration, the [[World Methodist Council|Methodist Church]] could lay claim on apostolic succession, as understood in the traditional sense.<ref name="Bowen">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz3TAAAAMAAJ&q=apostolic+succession+methodist&pg=PA12|title=Why two Episcopal Methodist churches in the United States?: A brief history answering this question for the benefit of Epworth Leaguers and other young Methodists|year=1901|quote= Also that he was always a member of that Church, had received ordination to the highest orders therein by her duly constituted bishops and died a minister of that Church. This is important as showing that, were there any virtues whatever in the claim of "apostolic succession", Mr. Wesley was the recipient of all such virtues. If the Episcopal Church has the "blessing" of apostolic succession, then had Wesley. Hence no Methodist need stand abashed before any egotist who prates loudly the virtue of "apostolic succession". Your ordination is as secure and divinely authorized on this ground as is that of the Pope of Rome, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or any bishop in America; and your baptism is as safely apostolical as any ever administered to king, prelate, or prince. And this fact will appear important at every step after the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784, seven years before Mr. Wesley's death.|publisher =[[Methodist Episcopal Church, South|Publishing House of the M.E. Church, South]] |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref> Since John Wesley "ordained and sent forth every Methodist preacher in his day, who preached and baptized and ordained, and since every Methodist preacher who has ever been ordained as a Methodist was ordained in this direct 'succession' from Wesley, then the Methodist Church teaches that it has all the direct merits coming from apostolic succession, if any such there be."<ref name="William A. Bowen - Apostolic Succession">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz3TAAAAMAAJ&q=apostolic+succession+methodist&pg=PA12|title=Why two Episcopal Methodist churches in the United States?: A brief history answering this question for the benefit of Epworth leaguers and other young Methodists|year=1901|quote= And since he himself ordained and sent forth every Methodist preacher in his day, who preached and baptized and ordained (except such as, like himself, had been ordained by a bishop of the established Church), and since every Methodist preacher who has ever been ordained as a Methodist was ordained in this direct "succession" from Wesley, then have we all the direct merits coming from apostolic succession, if any such there be.|publisher =[[Methodist Episcopal Church, South|Publishing House of the M.E. Church, South]] |access-date=10 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="William Joseph Whalen - Membership">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw9ILcqw2hsC&pg=PA71|title=Separated Brethren: A Review of Protestant, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox & Other Religions in the United States|quote=Today the World Methodist Council represents twenty-nine million members of some sixty churches that trace their heritage to Wesley and his brother Charles.|publisher=[[Our Sunday Visitor]]|isbn=9781931709057|year=2002}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Most Methodists view apostolic succession outside its [[high church]] sense. This is because Wesley believed that the offices of bishop and presbyter constituted one [[holy orders|order]],<ref name="John McClintock, James Strong">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NBAMAAAAIAAJ&q=alexandria+wesley+ordination&pg=PA170|title=Cyclopædia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, Volume 6|quote= Wesley had believed that bishops and presbyters constituted but one order, with the same right to ordain. He knew that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone. "I firmly believe", he said, "I am a scriptural ἐπίσκοπος, as much as any man in England or in Europe; for the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable which no man ever did or can prove;" but he also held that "Neither Christ nor his apostles prescribe any particular form of Church government." He was a true bishop of the flock which God had given to his care. He had hitherto refused "to exercise this right" of ordaining, because he would not come into needless conflict with the order of the English Church to which he belonged. But after the Revolution, his ordaining for American would violate no law of the Church; and when the necessity was clearly apparent, his hesitation ceased. "There does not appear," he said, "any other way of supplying them with ministers". Having formed his purpose, in February 1784, he invited Dr. Coke to his study in City Road, laid the case before him, and proposed to ordain and send him to America.|last1=McClintock|first1=John|year=1894}}</ref> citing an ancient opinion from the [[Church of Alexandria]];<ref name="John McClintock, James Strong"/> [[Jerome]], a Church Father, wrote: "For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call him archdeacon. For what function, excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not also belong to a presbyter?" (Letter CXLVI).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gloria-deo.blogspot.com/2010/09/methodists-and-apostolic-succession.html|title=Methodists and Apostolic Succession|last=Hixon|first=Daniel McLain|date=5 September 2010|publisher=Gloria Deo|language=en|quote=The succession normally proceeds from bishop to bishop, however, in certain instances where the death of a bishop made this impossible, groups of elders have consecrated new bishops, who in turn have been recognized as legitimate by the broader catholic Church. We read of one example of this in the Ancient Church in St. Jerome's Letter CXLVI when he describes the episcopal succession of the city of Alexandria. Thus, considering the unusual historical circumstances of Christians in the American colonies cut off from valid sacraments, Fr. John Wesley's action in consecrating Thomas Coke was irregular but not invalid, and the United Methodist Church enjoys a valid succession to this day.}}</ref> John Wesley thus argued that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria, which was founded by [[Mark the Evangelist]], was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone and was considered valid by that ancient Church.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Medieval History Series, Volumes 1-5|publisher=Plantagenet Publishing|page=130|quote=Severus of Antioch, in the sixth century, mentions that "in the former days" the bishop was "appointed" by presbyters at Alexandria. Jerome (in the same letter that was cited above, but independent for the moment of Ambrosiaster) deduces the essential equality of priest and bishop from the consideration that the Alexandrian bishop "down to Heraclas and Dionysius" (232-265) was chosen by the presbyters from among themselves without any special form of consecration.}}</ref><ref name="Hinson1995">{{cite book|last=Hinson|first=E. Glenn|title=The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity Up to 1300|year=1995|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865544369|page=135|quote=In Alexandria presbyters elected bishops and installed them until the fourth century. Throughout this critical era the power and importance of bishops increased steadily. At the beginning of the period Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria still thought of bishops as presbyters, albeit presbyters in a class by themselves.}}</ref><ref name="McClintockStrong1894">{{cite book|last1=McClintock|first1=John|last2=Strong|first2=James|title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature|volume=6|year=1894|publisher=Harper|page=170|quote=For forty years Mr. Wesley had believed that bishops and presbyters constituted but one order, with the same right to ordain. He knew that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone.}}</ref>

Since the Bishop of London refused to ordain [[Anglican ministry|ministers]] in the British American colonies,<ref name="William Joseph Whalen"/> this constituted an emergency and as a result, on 2 September 1784, Wesley, along with a priest from the Anglican Church and two other elders,<ref name="Richard Joseph Cooke – Ordination of Dr. Coke">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVVIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA145 |title=The historic episcopate: a study of Anglican claims and Methodist orders|quote= IN September, 1784, the Rev. John Wesley, assisted by a presbyter of the Church of England and two other elders, ordained by solemn imposition of the hands of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke to the episcopal office. |publisher = Eaton & Mains |year=1896}}</ref> operating under the ancient Alexandrian habitude, ordained [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]] a superintendent, although Coke embraced the title bishop.<ref name="James Grant Wilson, John Fiske – Ordination of Dr. Coke">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=takoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA438 |title=Appleton's cyclopædia of American biography, Volume 6|quote= Being refused, he conferred with Thomas Coke, a presbyter of the Church of England, and with others, and on 2 Sept., 1784, he ordained Coke bishop, after ordaining Thomas Vasey and Richard Whatcoat as presbyters, with his assistance and that of another presbyter. |publisher =D. Appleton & Company |year=1889}}</ref><ref name="Abel Stevens – Coke">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2QFAAAAQAAJ&q=alexandria+wesley+ordination&pg=PA544 |title=A compendious history of American Methodism |quote= Wesley referes(sic) to the ordination of bishops by the presbyters of Alexandria, in justification of his ordination of Coke.|publisher =Scholarly Publishing Office|year=1885 }}</ref>

Today, the [[United Methodist Church]] follows this ancient Alexandrian practice as bishops are elected from the presbyterate;<ref name="UMC – Election of a Bishop">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbhem.org/networking/ministry-elder|title=The Ministry of the Elder|publisher=[[United Methodist Church]]|access-date=10 June 2013|archive-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528191618/http://www.gbhem.org/networking/ministry-elder|url-status=dead}}</ref> the ''[[Book of Discipline (United Methodist)|Discipline of the Methodist Church]]'', in ¶303, affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]."<ref name="Alexander W. McLeod, Charles J. Shreve – Church Fathers">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbhem.org/atf/cf/%7B0BCEF929-BDBA-4AA0-968F-D1986A8EEF80%7D/DOM7DaysofPreparation.pdf |title=Seven Days of Preparation – A Guide for Reading, Meditation and Prayer for all who participate in The Conversation: A Day for Dialogue and Discernment: Ordering of Ministry in the United Methodist Church |quote=The ''Discipline'' affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the Holy Spirit" (¶303). |publisher=[[United Methodist Church]] |access-date=31 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226171839/http://www.gbhem.org/atf/cf/%7B0BCEF929-BDBA-4AA0-968F-D1986A8EEF80%7D/DOM7DaysofPreparation.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2010 }}</ref> It also uses [[Bible|sacred scripture]] in support of this practice, namely, 1 Timothy 4:14, which states: {{blockquote|Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the ''presbytery''.<ref name="P. Douglass Gorrie – Sacred Scripture">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jxZBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223|title=Episcopal Methodism, as it was, and is;: Or, An account of the origin, progress, doctrines, church polity, usages, institutions, and statistics, of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States|quote= "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the ''presbytery''." Here it is plain that the ministerial gift or power which Timothy possessed, was given him ''by'' the laying on of the hands of the body of the elders who ordained him. And in regard to the ''government'' of the church, it is equally plain that ''bishops'', in distinction from ''presbyters'', were not charged with the oversight thereof, for it is said – Acts xx. 17, 28, that Paul "called the elders (not the bishops) of the Church of Ephesus, and said unto them, 'Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,' feed the church of God." On this passage we remark, 1st, that the original Greek term for the word "overseer" is "episcopos", they very word from which our term "bishop" is derived, and which is generally translated "bishop" in the English version of the New Testament. Now this term episcopos, overseer, or bishop, is applied to the ''identical'' persons called ''elders'' in the 17th verse, and to none other. Consequently, Paul must have considered elders and bishops as one, not only in office, but in order also; and so the Ephesian ministers undoubtedly understood him.|publisher = Miller, Orton & Mulligan|year=1852}}</ref>|[[Paul of Tarsus|St. Paul of Tarsus]]|[[KJV]]}}
The Methodist Church also buttresses this argument with the leg of [[sacred tradition]] of the [[Wesleyan Quadrilateral]] by citing the [[Church Fathers]], many of whom concur with this view.<ref name="Alexander W. McLeod, Charles J. Shreve – Church Fathers1">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EScYAAAAYAAJ&q=bishop+methodist+succession&pg=PA41|title=The Methodist Ministry Defended, Or, a Reply to the Arguments in Favour of the Divine Institution, and the Uninterrupted Succession of Episcopacy|quote= Even "after the introduction of the practice by which the epithet Bishop was generally confined to one person, the older writers who dwell upon this, occasionally use that epithet as synonymous with presbyter, it not having been till the ''third'' century, that the appropriation was so complete as never to be cast out of view.|publisher = General Books LLC |year=1899}}</ref><ref name="P. Douglass Gorrie – Church Fathers">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jxZBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223|title=Episcopal Methodism, as it was, and is;: Or, An account of the origin, progress, doctrines, church polity, usages, institutions, and statistics, of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States|quote= But if Scripture is opposed to modern high church claims and pretensions, so is ''history'', on which successionists appear to lay so much stress.|publisher = Miller, Orton & Mulligan|year=1852}}</ref>

In addition to the aforementioned arguments—or perhaps instead of them—in 1937 the annual Conference of the [[British Methodist Church]] located the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission;..." [through a long chain which goes back to] "the first disciples in the company of the Lord Himself ... This is our doctrine of apostolic succession" [which neither depends on, nor is secured by,] "an official succession of ministers, whether bishops or presbyters, from apostolic times, but rather by fidelity to apostolic truth".<ref name="autogenerated229"/>

The [[Church of North India]], [[Church of Pakistan]] and [[Church of South India]] are members of the [[World Methodist Council]] and the clergy of these three [[United and uniting churches|united Protestant churches]] possess lines of apostolic succession, according to the Anglican understanding of this doctrine, through the [[Church of India, Burma and Ceylon]] (CIBC), which finished merging with these three in the 1970s.<ref name="MeltonBaumann2010">{{cite book|last1=Melton|first1=J. Gordon|last2=Baumann|first2=Martin|title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsworldvo00melt|url-access=limited|date=21 September 2010|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|language=en |isbn=9781598842043|page=[https://archive.org/details/religionsworldvo00melt/page/n823 707]}}</ref>

In June 2014, the [[Church of Ireland]], a province of the Anglican Communion, extended its lines of apostolic succession into the [[Methodist Church in Ireland]], as "the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Dublin]] and [[Bishop of Down and Dromore]] took part in the installation of the new President of the Methodist Church of Ireland, the Rev. Peter Murray."<ref name=Conger>{{cite web|url=http://anglicanink.com/article/apostolic-succession-extended-methodist-church|title=Apostolic succession extended to Methodist Church|last=Conger|first=George|date=26 June 2014|publisher=Anglican Ink|access-date=9 May 2015|quote=The Church of Ireland has extended apostolic succession of the episcopal ministry to the Methodist Church of Ireland. On 11 June 2014 the Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Down and Dromore took part in the installation of the new President of the Methodist Church of Ireland, the Rev. Peter Murray, the superintendent of the North West Methodist circuit in Londonderry. The Church of Ireland's General Synod approved an agreement signed with the Methodist Church that provided for the interchangeability of clergy, allowing an ordained minister of either church to come under the discipline and oversight of the other. Methodist ministers may henceforth be considered for clerical positions within the Church of Ireland and the church's presidents will be eligible for election as Church of Ireland bishops.|archive-date=1 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601051918/http://anglicanink.com/article/apostolic-succession-extended-methodist-church|url-status=dead}}</ref> In May 2014, the "Church of Ireland's General Synod approved an agreement signed with the Methodist Church that provided for the interchangeability of clergy, allowing an ordained minister of either church to come under the discipline and oversight of the other."<ref name=Conger/>

===Hussite Church and Moravian Church===
The [[Moravian Church]], as with the [[Hussite Church]], teaches the doctrine of apostolic succession.<ref name="Melton">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW3sXBjnokkC&pg=PA91|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816069835|page=91|quote=Martin Luther seemed personally indifferent to apostolic succession, but branches of the Lutheran Church most notable the Church of Sweden, preserve episcopal leadership and apostolic succesison. ... Among other Protestants that claim apostolic succession is the Moravian Church.}}</ref><ref name="Konečný1995">{{cite book |last1=Konečný |first1=Šimon |title=A Hope for the Czechoslovak Hussite Church |date=1995 |publisher=[[Reformed Theological Seminary]] |page=86}}</ref> The Moravian Church claims apostolic succession as a legacy of the old [[Unity of the Brethren (Czech Republic)|Unity of the Brethren]]. In order to preserve the succession, three Bohemian Brethren were consecrated bishops by Bishop Stephen of Austria, a [[Waldensian]] bishop who had been ordained by a Catholic bishop in 1434.<ref name="Stocker1918">{{cite book|last=Stocker|first=Harry Emilius|title=Moravian customs and other matters of interest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ps9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20|year=1918|publisher=Times publishing co., printers|page=20|quote=They were extremely solicitous to secure a ministry whose validity the Roman Catholics and others would be compelled to recognise. For this reason they resolved to seek the episcopal succession. At that time a colony of Waldenses lived on the Bohemian border. The synod was satisfied that these people possessed the regular authenticated episcopal succession. Their chief was Stephen. To him the Brethren sent a deputation consisting of three priests or presbyters. These were Michael Bradacius, a priest of the Roman Catholic, and a priest of the Waldensian Church, whose names have not been preserved. They were instructed to inquire into the validity of the Waldensian episcopate. Stephen received the deputies with great kindness, assembled his assistant bishops, and entered into a minute account of the episcopacy which they had. Fully satisfied with what they lad learned the deputies requested to be consecrated bishops. This request Bishop Stephen and his assistants fulfilled in a solemn convocation of the Waldensian Church. The new bishops immediately returned to the barony of Lititz where another synod was convened and three of the brethren were set apart for the work of the ministry, by the laying on of hands. In spite of the terrible persecutions suffered by the Ancient Church, this episcopate was most wonderfully preserved.}}</ref><ref name="Schaff2007">{{cite book|last=Schaff|first=Philip|title=The Creeds of Christendom: History of the Creeds – Volume I, Part II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbxML0B75ZIC&pg=PA567|year=2007|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|isbn=9781602068902|page=567|quote=they sought regular ordination from a Waldensian bishop, Stephen of Austria, who was reported to have been ordained by a Roman bishop in 1434, and who afterwards suffered martyrdom in Vienna.}}</ref> These three consecrated bishops returned to [[Litice nad Orlicí|Litice]] in Bohemia and then ordained other brothers, thereby preserving the historic episcopate.<ref name="Stocker1918"/>

===Presbyterian (Reformed) churches===
''Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici'' (English translation: The Divine Right of Church Government), which was promulgated by [[Presbyterian]] clergy in 1646, holds that historic ministerial succession is necessary for legitimate ministerial authority.<ref name="JDRE1646">{{cite book|title=Jus divinum regiminis ecclesiastici|year=1654|publisher=R. W.|language=en|page=271}}</ref> It states that ministerial succession is conferred by elders through the [[Christian laying on of hands|laying on of hands]], in accordance with Timothy 4:14.<ref>{{Bibleverse|1 Timothy|4:14|KJV}}</ref><ref name="JDRE1646"/> The [[Westminster Assembly]] held that "There is one general church visible" and that "every minister of the word is to be ordained by imposition of hands, and prayer, with fasting, by those preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apuritansmind.com/historical-theology/lawful-ordination-by-dr-c-matthew-mcmahon/|title=Lawful Ordination|last=McMahon|first=C. Matthew|language=en|access-date=8 May 2017}}</ref>

The [[Church of North India]], [[Church of Pakistan]] and [[Church of South India]] are members of the [[World Alliance of Reformed Churches]] and the clergy of these three [[United and uniting churches|united Protestant churches]] possess lines of apostolic succession, according to the Anglican understanding of this doctrine, through the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon, which finished merging with these three in the 1970s.<ref name="MeltonBaumann2010"/>

===Pentecostal and Charismatic churches===
Within African-American Pentecostalism, the [[Pentecostal Churches of Christ]], [[Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship]], and [[Global United Fellowship]] teach and claim apostolic succession through [[J. Delano Ellis]], [[Paul S. Morton|Paul Morton]], and [[Neil Ellis (bishop)|Neil Ellis]]. Delano Ellis was a Oneness Pentecostal pastor consecrated by a bishop in 1970 within the [[United Holy Church of America]] (which lays no claims to historic apostolic succession);<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-20 |title=Beloved Cleveland Bishop J. Delano Ellis dies at age of 75 |url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/beloved-cleveland-bishop-j-delano-ellis-dies-at-age-of-75 |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=News 5 Cleveland WEWS |language=en}}</ref> yet according to Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican teachings,<ref name="ITC1973" /><ref name=":3" /> by his [[anti-Trinitarianism]], he and those consecrated by him have lacked any theological continuity for being in apostolic succession.

Morton, a former Church of God in Christ and [[National Baptist Convention, USA|National Baptist]] pastor, was [[Validity and liceity (Catholic Church)|validly but illicitly]] consecrated in 1993 by the excommunicated [[George Augustus Stallings Jr.|George Augustus Stallings]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishop Paul Morton enlightens people on finding great success |url=https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2007/06/07/bishop-paul-morton-enlightens-people-on-finding-great-success/31527323007/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250402153927/https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2007/06/07/bishop-paul-morton-enlightens-people-on-finding-great-success/31527323007/ |archive-date=2025-04-02 |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=Gainesville Sun |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5qJpU5tYf0 |title=Bishop Paul S. Morton 30th Episcopal Anniversary:The Making Of A Bishop @ GSS East {{!}} March 19, 2023 |date=2023-03-19 |last=Greater St Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church |access-date=2025-07-16 |via=YouTube}}</ref> Stallings was consecrated by an Independent Catholic bishop,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Persson |first=Bertil |title=Independent Bishops: An International Directory |publisher=Apogee Books |year=1990 |isbn=9781558883079 |pages=383 |quote=He was suspended from the Roman Catholic Church on July 3, 1989 for establishing the independent Imani Temple, and was consecrated for the African-American Catholic Congregation in Washington, D.C., on May 12, 1990, by Richard M. Bridges of the American Independent Orthodox Church, assisted by Donald L. Jolly and Emile F. Rodriguez y Fairfield.}}</ref> and later [[Conditional sacrament|conditionally consecrated]] by former a Roman Catholic archbishop, [[Emmanuel Milingo]]. After the conditional consecration was performed, Stallings, Milingo, and other participants including Old Catholic archbishop [[Peter Paul Brennan]], were excommunicated from the Roman Church.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-11-14 |title=Renegade Archbishop Rejects Excommunication |url=https://religionnews.com/2006/11/14/renegade-archbishop-rejects-excommunication/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=RNS |language=en-US |quote=As a bishop, Milingo technically has the authority to ordain other bishops. But under church rules, only bishops authorized by the pope are considered bishops in good standing. The four consecrations are technically “valid” even if they are not “licit,” according to the Rev. Philip Goyret, a professor of dogmatic theology with expertise in canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. That means the Vatican cannot deny the inherent authority of the newly installed bishops, even if they do not consider them in formal communion with Pope Benedict XVI. Precedence for such scenarios include the Catholic-Orthodox split in 1054 and the schism between the traditionalist followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who broke with Rome in 1988, after consecrating four priests as bishops in the Society of Pius X. “Episcopal consecrations carried out without the orders or consensus of the pontiff are valid,” Goyret said.}}</ref> Through Morton and the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, Neil Ellis and the Global United Fellowship could claim apostolic succession and a [[Historical episcopate|historic episcopacy]]; Neil Ellis was consecrated in 1995 by Morton.<ref>{{Cite web |title=International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame - Bishop Neil C. Ellis |url=https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/Neil_Ellis.htm |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=www.nps.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Mike |title=Bishop Neil C. Ellis Resigns from Bishop Morton and the Full Gospel Fellowship - uGospel.com |url=https://ugospel.com/bishop-neil-c-ellis-resigns-from-bishop-morton-and-the-full-gospel-fellowship/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250304230742/https://ugospel.com/bishop-neil-c-ellis-resigns-from-bishop-morton-and-the-full-gospel-fellowship/ |archive-date=4 March 2025 |access-date=2025-07-16 |website=ugospel.com |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 6 February 2003, K. J. Samuel, the moderator bishop of the [[Church of South India]] (a [[United Protestant]] denomination that holds membership worldwide Anglican Communion in addition to the World Communion of Reformed Churches), along with P.M. Dhotekar, [[Diocese of Nagpur (Church of North India)|bishop of Nagpur]] of the [[Church of North India]], and Bancha Nidhi Nayak, bishop of Phulbani of the Church of North India, consecrated Pentecostal minister [[K. P. Yohannan]] as a bishop in Anglican lines of apostolic succession; K.P. Yohannan thereafter became the first metropolitan of the [[Believers Eastern Church]], a Pentecostal denomination which acquired an episcopal polity of ecclesiastical governance.<ref name="Jacob2003">{{cite news|title=Crisis brewing in CSI|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/10/stories/2003021003650400.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141125190727/http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/10/stories/2003021003650400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 November 2014|last=Jacob|first=George|date=10 February 2003|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=19 November 2014|location=Kottayam}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://anglican.ink/article/slander-suit-filed-believers-church-against-csi|title=Slander suit filed by Believers Church against the CSI|last=Conger|first=George|date=18 October 2017|publisher=Anglican Ink|language=en|quote=On 6 February 2003 the Rt. Rev. K. J. Samuel, Bishop in East Kerala and former moderator of the Church of South India, assisted by the Rt. Rev. P.M. Dhotekar, Bishop in Nagpur of the Church of North India, and the Rt. Rev. Bancha Nidhi Nayak, Bishop in Phulbani of the Church of North India, consecrated Yohannan as metropolitan archbishop of the Believers Church.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319075454/http://anglican.ink/article/slander-suit-filed-believers-church-against-csi|archive-date=19 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="DaughrityAthyal2016">{{cite book|last1=Daughrity|first1=Dyron B.|last2=Athyal|first2=Jesudas M.|title=Understanding World Christianity: India|date=1 August 2016|publisher=Fortress Press|language=en|isbn=9781506416892|page=52|quote=Some of the more prominent Pentecostal groups are the Sharon Fellowship Church (est. 1975), the New India Church of God (est. 1976), New India Bible Church (est. 1975), and the Believers' Church, run by the Gospel for Asia ministry (est. 1978) under the leadership of K. P. Yohannan, from a St. Thomas Syrian Christian background.}}</ref>

Many other Pentecostal Christians teach that "the sole guarantor of apostolic faith, which includes apostolic life, is the Holy Spirit".<ref name="HastingsMason2000">{{cite book|last1=Hastings|first1=Adrian|last2=Mason|first2=Alistair|last3=Pyper|first3=Hugh|title=The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought|date=21 December 2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780198600244|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/530 530]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/530}}</ref> In addressing the [[Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)|Church of God]] General Assembly, [[Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson]] stated: "Although we do not claim a line of succession from the holy apostles, we do believe we are following in their example."<ref name="Chai2015">{{cite book|last=Chai|first=Teresa|title=A Theology of the Spirit in Doctrine and Demonstration: Essays in Honor of Wonsuk and Julie Ma|date=12 February 2015|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781498217644|page=103}}</ref>

===Latter Day Saint movement===
{{Main|Apostolic succession (LDS Church)}}

Denominations within the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] preach the necessity of apostolic succession and claim it through the process of [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|restoration]]. According to their teaching, a period of universal [[apostasy]] followed the death of the Twelve Apostles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/topics/apostasy?lang=eng&query=apostasy |title=Apostasy – Gospel Topics |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |date=21 February 2012}}</ref> They also teach that without apostles or prophets left on the earth with the legitimate [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood authority]], many of the true teachings and practices of Christianity were lost. Those within this movement believe these were restored to the prophet [[Joseph Smith]] and various others in a series of divine conferrals and ordinations by angelic men who had held this authority during their lifetimes (''see this [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)#Partial list of restoration events|partial list of restoration events]]''). As it relates to apostolic succession, Joseph Smith and [[Oliver Cowdery]] said that the apostles Peter, James, and John appeared to them in 1829 and conferred upon them the [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]],<ref>[[Joseph Smith–History]] [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng 1:72]</ref> and with it "the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fullness of times".<ref>[[Doctrine and Covenants]] [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/128?lang=eng 128:20]</ref>

For [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), the largest denomination in the Latter-day Saint movement, apostolic succession involves the leadership of the church being established through the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]. Each time the [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|President of the Church]] dies, the most senior [[Apostle (LDS Church)|apostle]], who is designated as the [[President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]], is [[Setting apart|set apart]] as the [[List of presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|new church president]].

==Criticism==
Some Protestants, particularly those in the Calvinist tradition, deny the doctrine of apostolic succession, believing that it is neither taught in Scripture nor necessary for Christian teaching, life, and practice. Accordingly, these Protestants strip the notion of apostolic succession from the definition of "apostolic" or "apostolicity". For them, to be apostolic is simply to be in submission to the teachings of the original twelve apostles as recorded in Scripture.<ref>Martin E. Marty, ''A Short History of Christianity'' (New York: Meridian Books 1959) at 75–77 (traditional doctrine).</ref> This doctrinal stance reflects the Protestant view of authority, embodied in the doctrine known as [[sola scriptura]].

Among the first who rejected the doctrine of apostolic succession was [[John Calvin]].<ref>Cf., John Calvin, ''Institutio Christianae Religionis'' 1536, 5th ed. 1559; translated by John Allen as ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'' (London 1813; reprinted Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publications, 6th ed. 1921), 2 volumes.</ref>{{Original research inline|date=July 2021}} He said that the episcopacy was inadequate to address corruption, doctrinal or otherwise, and that this inadequacy justified the intervention of the church of lay people.

Some Protestants feel that such claims of apostolic succession are proven false by the differences in traditions and doctrines between these churches: many Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox consider both the [[Church of the East]] and the [[Oriental Orthodox]] churches to be heretical, having been anathematized in the early ecumenical councils of [[First Council of Ephesus|Ephesus]] (431) and [[Council of Chalcedon|Chalcedon]] (451), respectively. Churches that claim apostolic succession in ministry distinguish this from doctrinal orthodoxy, holding that "it is possible to have valid orders coming down from the apostles, and yet not to have a continuous spiritual history coming down from the apostles".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Knox+%22orders+coming+down+from+the+apostles%22 |first=Ronald |last=Knox |title=In Soft Garments |publisher=Ignatius Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-58617-300-5 }}</ref>

All Christians who have a genuine relationship with God through and in Christ are part of the "true Church", according to evangelical Protestant theology, notwithstanding condemnation of the Catholic Church by some Protestants.<ref>But cf., Mark A. Noll and Carolyn Nystrom, ''Is the Reformation Over? An evangelical assessment of contemporary Roman Catholicism'' (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2005).</ref> The propriety of the Christian Church as a temporal institution deriving its legitimacy from apostolic succession is greatly diminished under this theological view.

===Certain parts of Confessional Lutheranism===
Parts of [[Confessional Lutheranism]] have retained apostolic succession, such as the [[Missionsprovinsen|Mission Province]] (Missionsprovinsen), [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria]] and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, for example (see [[#Lutheran churches|Lutheran churches]]); these are members of the [[International Lutheran Council]].<ref name="Omwanza2025"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Apostolisk succession |url=https://missionsprovinsen.se/apostolisk-succession/ |publisher=Missionsprovinsen |access-date=27 December 2024 |language=sv-SE |date=23 October 2006 |quote=Missionsprovinsen förvaltar både en lärosuccession, det vill säga vår lära går tillbaka till Jesus och apostlarna; och en episkopal vigningssuccession, det vill säga våra biskopar är vigda med en obruten linje av handpåläggningar tillbaka till Jesus och apostlarna, så långt det går att fastställa.}}</ref>

Certain other Confessional Lutheran churches including [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] (WELS) and [[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]] (LCMS) reject apostolic succession as a biblical doctrine.<ref>[https://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp?t1=a&word=APOSTOLICSUCCESSION Apostolic Succession], ''Christian Cyclopedia'', Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod</ref> These churches teach that the Bible contains no evidence showing that the office must be conveyed by laying-on of hands and no Biblical command that it must be by a special class of bishops.<ref name=WELS-DC>{{cite web |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=68&cuItem_itemID=8947 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602105457/http://arkiv.lbk.cc/faq/site.pl@1518cutopic_topicid68cuitem_itemid8947.htm |archivedate=2 June 2013 |work=WELS Topical Q&A |title= Divine Call - Apostolic Succession / Transmutation Authority|publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |accessdate=23 Sep 2015 }}</ref> The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod teaches that there is no evidence the Roman popes have historic succession from Peter other than their own claim that it is so.<ref>WELS Topical Q&A: [https://web.archive.org/web/20090927214241/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=6106 Responses the Previous Questions], "There is no biblical or historical evidence for the claims of the Roman Catholic church that Peter was the first pope. In fact there is no evidence that there even was a pope in the first century. Even Catholic historians recognize this as a historical fact...We honor Peter and in fact some of our churches are named after him, but he was not the first pope, nor was he Roman Catholic. If you read his first letter, you will see that he did not teach a Roman hierarchy, but that all Christians are royal priests. The same keys given to Peter in Matthew 16 are given to the whole church of believers in Matthew 18."</ref>

The Wisconsin Synod acknowledges:<ref name=WELS-DCM>{{cite web |url=http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=942&cuItem_itemID=22266 |archiveurl=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080629231826/http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=942&cuItem_itemID=22266 |archivedate=29 June 2008 |work=WELS Topical Q&A |title=Definition of Church and Ministry - Apostolic {{sic|Sucession|nolink=y}} |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |accessdate=23 Sep 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{quote|"Since the first ordained Lutheran pastors were ordained by pastors who had been ordained in the Roman Catholic church and so on through the generations, we could claim historic succession as plausibly as can Roman Catholic priests if it simply were dependent on being ordained in a line of pastors.  But for the historic succession to be considered legitimate by Rome or the Othodox {{sic}} or Anglicans it must be mediated through the correct bishops. Rome does not recognize as legitimate even the ordinations done by bishops in historic succession as in the Church of Sweden and the Church of England.  Only through bishops connected to the pope is the historic succession legitimate in their eyes."}}

However, the Wisconsin Synod states that there are a number of major problems with this Roman Catholic view on apostolic succession:<ref name=WELS-DCM/>

* There is no evidence the popes have historic succession to Peter other than their own claim that it is so.
* The bishops claiming succession have not preserved apostolic doctrine, therefore they have no meaningful apostolic succession.
* There is no evidence that the apostles were ordained by laying on of hands when they entered their office.
* There is no evidence in Scripture that the office must be conveyed by laying on of hands and no command that it must be by a special class of bishops.
* [[Acts 1]] actually proves the opposite of what the Catholic Church claims; it proves there cannot be "apostolic successors" today because Judas' replacement had to be an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4302 |title=WELS Topical Q&A: Roman Catholic |access-date=27 September 2009 |archive-date=27 September 2009 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927211642/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4302 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

WELS holds that it's their custom that ordination of pastors is by other pastors, and that neither the Bible nor the Lutheran confessions make this the only divinely mandated way of entering the pastoral ministry: "It is the call of the church that is the essential element, more specifically, the call of Christ through the church."<ref name=WELS-DCM/>

==See also==
* [[Baptist successionism]]
* [[Defrocking]]
* ''[[Episcopi vagantes]]''
* [[Historical episcopate]], collective body of all the bishops of a group who are in valid apostolic succession
* [[Independent sacramental movement]], Christian denominations which practice the historic sacramental rites independently including apostolic succession
* [[Lineage (Buddhism)]], a similar practice in Buddhist tradition
* [[List of bishops]]
* [[New Apostolic Church]]
* [[Sedevacantism]], the idea that the papacy is vacant
* [[Pope Linus]]
* [[Valid but illicit]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|chapter=[[s:The Faith of Catholics/Section 1#62|Succession From the Apostles.]]|title=The Faith of Catholics: confirmed by Scripture, and attested by the Fathers of the five first centuries of the Church, Volume 1|year=1830|publisher=Jos. Booker.|first=Joseph|last=Berington|author-link=Joseph Berington}}
*{{Cite book |last=Brattston |first=David W. T. |url= |title=Apostolic Succession: An Experiment that Failed |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-7252-6459-5 |oclc=1235957733}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.iv.iv.html Against Heresies, Online-text], Irenaeus, ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Against Heresies]]''
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01648b.htm Apostolicity] in the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061009081150/http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/hahn.asp Discussion of the Papacy]}} by [[Scott Hahn]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060903091451/http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/mreview/1870/A_%201878_%20Was%20Wesley%20Ordained%20Bishop%20by%20Erasmus_%2088-111.htm "Was Wesley Ordained By Bishop Erasmus?" ''The Methodist Quarterly Review'' (1878)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080504105638/http://www.revneal.org/Writings/apostoli.htm Methodist/Anglican Thoughts On Apostolic Succession by The Reverend Dr. Gregory S. Neal]

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