Editing Apostolic succession (section)

==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 say accurately because of the paucity of relevant documents. 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<ref>{{cite book| title=Early Christian Doctrines| last=Kelly| first=J.N.D|publisher=A&C Black|location=London| year=1965| page=37}}</ref> 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|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/>

[[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, [[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 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>