Despite the major differences that keep the Church of Christ divided, many churches claim to be apostolic.
Each of the three member ecumenical churches of Uganda Joint
Christian Council, namely the Uganda Orthodox Church, the Church of
Uganda and the Catholic Church, do, for example, profess the same creed
in the apostolic church.
Yet they remain divided.
This apparent discrepancy further leads one to wonder as to what,
then, constitutes the apostolic church.
The Apostolic Church
historically refers to the period of the direct 12 apostles of Jesus
Christ.
The major primary source for the apostolic church is the book of the
Acts of the Apostles.
The apostolic period between the 30 and 130 AD
produced the New Testament books.
In the traditional history of the Christian church, the apostolic
period was the foundation upon which the entire Church’s history is
founded. “And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Peter became a unifying force in the apostolic church (Galatians 2).
Despite the scattering of the early Church in different directions of
the world caused by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the true
Church was still traceable and determined according to the Gospel of
Christ as proclaimed by apostles and according to the apostolic
succession.
Apostolic succession is the unbroken line of bishops stretching back
to the original 12 apostles of Jesus Christ.
The role of apostolic
succession is to ensure that the apostles’ teachings would be passed
down after the deaths of the apostles.
Paul told Timothy, “What you have heard from me before many witnesses
entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim.
2:2). The apostolic church is, evidently, one that enjoys the leadership
of bishops tracing unbroken line of succession to the 12 apostles.
The early Nicene Creed of the church, in the form given to it by the
First Council of Constantinople, affirms that the church is “one, holy,
catholic, and apostolic”.
Of these “four marks” of the true church, the “apostolic” mark has
historically been understood principally as a reference to apostolic
succession, transmitted in an episcopal consecration by the laying on of
hands (I Timothy 4:14).
It asserts that these chosen successors of the 12 apostles, from the
first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual,
ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that
were conferred upon them by the apostles, who in turn received their
spiritual authority from Jesus Christ.
The Catholic church doubly believes that a bishop’s authority on
matters of faith and morals is infallible when what he teaches is
universally taught by all the college of bishops in communion with the
Pope, who in turn is seen as the successor of St Peter, the apostle and
vicar of Christ on earth.
Roman Catholics teach that this primacy has been passed on in the
office of the papacy.
One reason often given for traditional apostolic
succession is the need for institutional continuity so that Christian
doctrine, not only the written texts, but also their approved
interpretation, could be better maintained.
The unbrokenness of apostolic succession is seen as significant
because of the promise made by Jesus Christ that the gates of hell would
not prevail against His church and that He would be with the apostles
to the end of time (Matthew 16:18 and 28:20, respectively).
Protestants consider the authority given to the apostles as having
been unique and, therefore, proper to them alone without being inherited
by later prelates. Thus, they reject the doctrine of a succession of
the original apostles’ authority.
The most meaningful apostolic succession for most Protestants, then,
is a faithful succession of apostolic teaching as found in the
scriptures alone.
Rome does not fully recognize all Anglican orders as valid, hence,
the reordination of the clergy who ask on converting to the Catholic
church. This conflict stems over the Anglican Church’s revision of its
rite of ordination for its bishops under King Edward VI (1537-1553).
His father, King Henry VIII, founded the Anglican church in 1534.
Orthodox Christians, who separated from Rome in 1054 due to
political, cultural and theological differences, view apostolic
succession as an important, God-ordained mechanism by which the
structure and teaching of the Church are perpetuated. They hold that all
legitimate bishops are properly successors of Peter.
Hence, the bishops of Rome and Antioch can be considered successors
of Peter in a historical sense on account of Peter’s presence in the
early community.
Unity is built by God and not by humans. He calls together all
peoples, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the
Church.
Our ecumenical effort should, therefore, be open to divine action,
leading us to conversion from the sin of division.
All Christians are
invited to join in prayer to witness the profound bond that exists among
them and to invoke the gift of full communion, rooted in the
traditional apostolic church.