Apostolic Succession

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION Of +Michael Zulinke, PhD., OCB. , OSB.

            The Celtic Anglican Communion and  Celtic Order of Benedictine chaplains adheres to the following principles regarding the validity of orders and Apostolic Succession.

1. Historically the offices of the church are denoted as Deacon, Priest and Bishop and each is, in and for itself, constituted as a distinct order, sacramental in nature, and deriving its validity from the visible sign of the laying on of hands by those who have been themselves been duly created ministers of the Church in this manner by previously having been ordained and consecrated Priests and Bishops in Apostolic Succession.

2. Apostolic Succession describes a system of ordination and consecration which began with the Disciples who were chosen by Jesus and who, according to the Pastoral Letters contained in Holy Scripture, ordained and consecrated their successors, or who assented to the ordination and consecration of successor ministers of the early Christian Church.

3. In the writings of the Early Church Fathers, in the historical writings of Hegesippus and Irenaeus, and in the injunctions and canons of the Council of Nicea are to be found the early and definitive records of those who were invested with Apostolic Succession and the requirements set forth for such investiture.

4. It is incumbent upon this Church, therefore, to assure that those to whom it would entrust the cure of souls to minister servants of Christ, whether as Deacons, Priests or Bishops, possess an upright character, an acceptable knowledge and understanding of the Christian religion, appropriate academic learning, and those qualities of unfailing charity, humility, and whose personal lives provide a prayerful example of Christian devotion and godly living

5. The concept of Apostolic Succession attempts to ensure that those who would serve as ministers of the Gospel meet with the approbation of the whole Church and not merely that of a single congregation or a sect within a denomination or even a denomination alone. Nevertheless, in every Christian community of faith some have obtained clerical status without fulfilling the justifiable expectations of the Church as a whole or the denomination in which their ordination or consecration occurred. Yet the benefit of Apostolic Succession has been successively passed to many, not by the virtue of mankind, but by the Grace of God.

6. Irregularity of conferral of Apostolic Succession has occasionally occurred. The Church has always distinguished between irregular consecrations and invalid consecrations. A variety of circumstances may lead to the conclusion that a particular bishop was irregularly consecrated but that in no way prevents that bishop from imparting valid orders or sacraments to others. A bishop, on the other hand, whose consecration is invalid, is deemed not to have received Apostolic Succession in any way. The difficulty, for example in having the consecration performed by three bishops in person, often resulted in letters of consent being used as proxies for the absent prelates. Archbishops, Metropolitans, Patriarchs and Popes were assumed to have the power to make bishops solo, occasionally at some great distance, and often by other bishops commissioned for that purpose. An example of an invalid bishop would be an individual who simply took the title, style, and powers without regard to the Laying on of Hands, election or appointment to that office by competent authority.

            The Deacons, Priests and Bishops of the Celtic Anglican Communion derive their orders from a number of different lines of Apostolic Succession, some of which intersect, overlap, and offer an arcane study in Church history. Mindful of the history of the Church, that is, the whole of Christian church history, a brief discourse on the major sources of Apostolic Succession for clergy of this denomination may prove useful. Our clerics and bishops derive their orders from one or more of these sources of which the following list offers more specific information. In some cases only the name of one consecrating bishop is given for the simple reason that that person represents the chain of title of Apostolic Succession and the inclusion of other co-consecrators would provide no greater surety of that succession but their inclusion would, of necessity, provide a much longer, if less readable, table.