Apostolic succession is an unfamiliar term to many Protestants, yet it is an important doctrine for churches in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions as well as the Church of the East and some branches of Lutheranism. Those who are unfamiliar with the doctrine often assume that apostolic succession refers to a line of succession of each bishop (church leader) back to the apostles. Although this very basic definition is accurate, the modern understanding of apostolic succession has these four tenets:

1. A bishop must be ordained (consecrated) by a bishop who was properly ordained by another bishop who can trace his succession to the apostles. This ordination should occur through the laying on of hands.
2. Ordination confers a special grace on the newly ordained bishop, giving him the power to validly ordain other bishops and administer sacraments, including the Eucharist.
3. An ordination not performed in this manner is not valid. A church leader can administer the Eucharist or other sacraments only if he has been properly ordained.
4. A bishop who is properly ordained receives the grace to perform church functions ex opere operato. That is, the functions he performs are valid because of his authority as a successor of the apostles regardless of his faith, character, or lifestyle. Furthermore, if he leaves the church, adopts heretical beliefs, or lives an ungodly life following his ordination, he retains the powers conferred upon him at ordination.

The doctrine of apostolic succession is not found in the New Testament, although some passages do refer to the appointing of bishops, the selection of deacons, and the qualifications for church leaders. Apostolic succession has its primitive roots in the writings of the early Christians, but it was greatly developed in later centuries, beginning around the time of Augustine. This doctrine became an integral part of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Key leaders in the Protestant Reformation rejected the doctrine as an addition to Scripture and led the way for most Protestant churches today to do the same.

Apostolic succession in early Christianity

As mentioned previously, the modern teaching of apostolic succession was developed from the writings of the early Christians. Clement of Rome wrote that the apostles appointed bishops and gave instructions regarding the people who would follow them:

• “Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on account of the office of oversight [bishop]. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge of this, they appointed those already mentioned. Afterwards, they gave instructions that when those men should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry.” – Clement of Rome (c. 96)

Several of the early writers, most notably Irenaeus, mentioned a succession of bishops in the area churches; and some even recounted the succession lists of major cities:

• “We refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles and is preserved by the successions of presbyters in the churches. . . . The faith preached to men comes down to our time by means of the succession of the bishops.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “It is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the church – those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles – those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “We cling to the standard of the heavenly church of Jesus Christ according to the succession of the apostles.” – Origen (c. 225)
• “Let them [the heretics] 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 the first bishop of theirs can show for his ordainer and predecessor one of the apostles or apostolic men – a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers. For example, the church of Smyrna records that Polycarp was placed there by John. Likewise, the church of Rome demonstrates Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way, the other churches similarly exhibit [their list of bishops] whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “The blessed apostles, having founded and established the church, entrusted the office of the episcopate to Linus. Paul speaks of this Linus in his epistles to Timothy. Anencletus succeeded him. After Anencletus, in the third place from the apostles, Clement [of Rome] received the episcopate. This man had seen the blessed apostles and had been conversant with them. . . . Euarestus succeeded Clement, and Alexander succeeded Euarestus. Then Xystus was appointed sixth from the apostles. After him was Telesophorus, who suffered martyrdom gloriously; then Hyginus, and then Pius. After him was Anicetus, who was succeeded by Soter. And now, in the twelfth place from the apostles, Eleutherus holds the office of bishop. In the same order and succession, the tradition the church and the preaching of the truth has descended from the apostles to us.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles and the ancient constitution of the church throughout all the world. It also consists in the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the succession of the bishops.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)

These are the quotations most commonly used to support the doctrine of apostolic succession. However, none of these writers state that ordination confers special grace, gives the bishop authority to administer the sacraments, or gives the bishop power regardless of his character or lifestyle. These changes found their roots – not in the first 150 years of Christianity – but in the third and fourth centuries and beyond, beginning around the time of Cyprian when the concept of formal ordination was introduced. Furthermore, the succession lists of early Christianity were simply lists of who followed whom in office – not lists of who ordained whom.

Keeping the faith

Although the early Christians did not teach the modern definition of apostolic succession, they did refer to the “succession from the apostles.” However, the reason they did so was not to point out the special grace upon the life of a bishop or validate the functions he performed, but rather to show that doctrinal truth was preserved through the succession of godly leadership in the churches founded by the apostles:

• “It behooves us to learn the truth from those who possess that succession of the church which is from the apostles, and among whom exists that which is sound and blameless in conduct, as well as that which is unadulterated and incorrupt in speech. . . . They expound the Scriptures to us without danger, neither blaspheming God, nor dishonoring the patriarchs, nor despising the prophets.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles and the preaching of the truth have come down to us. And this is the most abundant proof that there is one and the same life-giving faith, which has been preserved in the church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Now, the message that [the apostles] preached (in other words, what Christ revealed to them) can . . . properly be proved in no other way than by those very churches which the apostles founded in person. For they declared the gospel to them directly themselves. . . . If then, these things are so, it is equally clear that all doctrine that agrees with the apostolic churches – those molds and original sources of the faith – must be considered as truth, as undoubtedly containing the teaching that the said churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “No one will refute these [heretics] except the Holy Spirit bequeathed unto the church, which the Apostles – having received in the first instance – have transmitted to those who have rightly believed. But we, as being their successors and as participators in this grace, . . . must not be found deficient in vigilance, nor should we be disposed to suppress correct teaching.” – Hippolytus (c. 225)

Through the succession of bishops, the leaders of these churches taught the apostolic faith exactly as they had learned it, without adding or taking away anything:

• “True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles and the ancient constitution of the church throughout all the world. It also consists in the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the succession of the bishops. For by this they have handed down that church which exists in every place and which has come down even unto us. She is guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures by a very complete system of doctrine. She neither receives any addition to, nor does she allow any diminishing of, the truths which she believes.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “You [the church] lay down a rule that this faith has its solemnities appointed by either the Scriptures or the tradition of the forefathers, and that no further addition in the way of observance must be added, because innovation is unlawful.” – Tertullian (c. 213)
• “From this, therefore, do we draw up our rule. Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, no others should be received as preachers [i.e. founding teachers] than those whom Christ appointed. For ‘no man knows the Father except the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal Him’ [Matt. 11:27]. Nor does the Son seem to have revealed Him to any other than the apostles, whom He sent forth to preach.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “Those who seek to set up any new dogma have the habit of very readily perverting into conformity with their own notions any proofs they care to take from the Scriptures. . . . The apostolic word marks out the case in these words: ‘If anyone preaches any other gospel to you other than that which you have received, let him be accursed’ [Gal. 1:18]. Consequently, in addition to what has been once committed to us by the apostles, a disciple of Christ should receive nothing new as doctrine.” – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (c. 320)

Refuting the Gnostics

One of the challenges the early Christians faced was the rising heresy of Gnosticism. The Gnostics had developed false teachings in the days of the apostles and were most influential in the first 150 years of Christianity. To combat these teachings, the early Christians often referred to the succession of bishops in the apostolic churches. They showed that their churches were apostolic because they could trace both their doctrine and their succession of bishops back to the apostles, whereas the Gnostic groups could not:

• “It is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the church – those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles – those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But we should hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession and assemble themselves together in any place whatsoever. For they are either heretics of perverse minds, or else they are schismatics who are puffed up and self-pleasing. Or, perhaps, they are hypocrites, acting this way for the sake of money and vainglory. . . . Therefore, it behooves us to keep aloof from all such persons and to adhere to those who, as I have already observed, hold the doctrine of the apostles. For they, together with the order of presbyters, display sound speech and blameless conduct for the confirmation and correction of others.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “No other teaching will have the right of being received as apostolic than that which is at the present day proclaimed in the churches of apostolic foundation. . . . But if the churches can be proved to have been corrupt from the beginning, where will the pure ones be found? Will it be among the adversaries of the Creator? Show us, then, one of your churches that can trace its descent from an apostle, and you will have gained the day.” – Tertullian (c. 207)
• “It is within the power of all, therefore, in every church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops in the churches, and the succession of these men to our own times. . . . For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries . . . they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing the churches themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to these men.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed the churches.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “[The apostles] founded churches in every city, from which all the other churches – one after another – derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine. In fact, they are every day deriving them, so that they may become churches. Indeed, it is only on this account that they will be able to deem themselves apostolic – as being the offspring of apostolic churches. . . . Therefore, although the churches are so many and so great, they comprise but the one primitive church of the apostles.” – Tertullian (c. 197)

Preserving the truth

During the first 200 years of Christianity, the churches were unified in doctrine and practice, agreeing not only with other churches but with the tradition of the apostles. There was such unanimity in these churches that the early Christians wrote the following:

• “It is not necessary to seek the truth among others, for it is easy to obtain it from the church. For the apostles lodged in her hands most abundantly all things pertaining to truth – just like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank. Therefore, every man who wants to can draw from her the water of life.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect different from theirs. This is our witness of truth.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “Although dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, the church has received this faith from the apostles and their disciples. . . . The church received this preaching and this faith. Although she is scattered throughout the whole world, yet she carefully preserves it, as if she occupied only one house. She also believes these points just as if she had only one soul, and one and the same heart. She proclaims these things, teaches them, and hands them down with perfect harmony as if she possessed only one mouth. For although the languages of the world are different, yet the significance of the tradition is one and the same. For the churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different. Neither do those in Spain, Gaul, the East, Egypt, Libya, or in the central regions of the world.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Suppose there arises a dispute relative to some important question among us. Should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the apostles had constant communication? Should we not learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the question at hand? For how would it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the tradition that they handed down to those to whom they did commit the churches? To which course, [the] many nations of those . . . who believe in Christ do agree. For they have salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or ink. And they carefully preserve the ancient tradition. . . . Therefore, the tradition from the apostles exists in the church in this manner, and it is permanent among us.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)

Apostolic succession and/or doctrinal truth?

It is evident that the early Christians valued their churches’ succession of bishops. From the above quotations, it is probable that (1) the early Christians were simply describing how their churches functioned rather than prescribing how every church should function and (2) the succession lists were kept only by the churches founded by the apostles, in order to prove that they had preserved the apostolic teachings. Both of these points are likely but not certain, and they could be debated.

Ideally, every church would be able to trace its succession back to the apostles. However, many churches today are unable to do so because of uncertain or incomplete succession lists due to a lack of historical evidence, or because the convictions of their predecessors led them to break away from churches possessing this succession. At a minimum, each church must be in doctrinal agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles as they were handed down to the first-century churches:

• “Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind [i.e. a list of episcopal succession back to the apostles]. . . . However, even if they were to produce such a contrivance, they will not advance even one step. For when their very doctrine is compared with that of the apostles, its own diversity and discrepancy proves that it had neither an apostle nor an apostolic man for its authorship. . . . The heretics will be put to this test by those churches, who, although they do not have as their founder the apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for churches are in fact being founded daily), yet since they agree in the same faith, they are considered to be no less apostolic because they are alike in doctrine. Therefore, let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests [i.e. episcopal succession and apostolic doctrine] by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they consider themselves to be apostolic. . . . For the heretics are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith.” – Tertullian (c. 197)

The purpose of succession lists in early Christianity was to show that the doctrinal truths handed down from the apostles were still preserved in the churches. According to Tertullian, a church without this succession is considered apostolic if it preaches the apostolic faith, while a church possessing succession but deviating from the apostles’ doctrine has invalidated the succession that it once had.

Conclusion

The early Christians frequently noted that the apostolic churches could trace their succession of bishops back to the apostles. They used this succession (1) to prove that doctrinal truth was preserved through the godly leadership in these churches and (2) to refute the claims of the Gnostics. While they valued the succession of bishops in their churches, their primary concern was preserving the truths handed down to these churches and living as they had been taught by Jesus and the apostles.