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Apostolic
Succession |
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A
Further Light |
Through
the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century
the Apostolic Succession was broken in many
countries throughout Europe including all
the churches that found their origin in the
Protestant churches. However the Apostolic
Succession went on unbroken and continues
today.
In
some places, the power and mission that Christ
gave to His Apostles is conferred on their
successors by the sacrament of ordination.
The sacrament of ordination communicates a
sacred power which is none other than that
of Christ. The exercise of this authority
must however be measured against the model
of Christ, who by love made himself the least,
and the servant of all.
The
Bishops with the Apostolic Succession are
in power of the unbroken succession and go
back to the beginning and are regarded as
transmitters of the Apostolic line. To fulfill
their exalted mission the Apostles were endowed
by Christ by a special outpouring of the Holy
Spirit coming upon them and, by the imposition
of hands, they passed on to their auxiliaries
the gift of the Spirit which is transmitted
down to our day through Episcopal consecration.
Episcopal consecration also confers the power
of teaching and ruling. Through the words
of ordination a sacred character is impressed
in such a way that Bishops take the place
of Christ Himself as teacher, shepherd, and
priest and act as His representative.
The
Bishop's office is entirely related to Christ
and to men. It has been instituted for the
good of men. The Bishop acts in the name of
the whole church when presenting to God the
power of the Church and above all when offering
the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
In
the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation
many new churches were founded by people who
had separated themselves from the original
church, for example the Church of England,
and as a result did not teach the Apostolic
Succession.
