Apostolic Succession is not a private possession Fr. John Morris of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, states that "Apostolic Succession is not merely a historical pedigree, but also requires Apostolic Faith. This is because Apostolic Succession is not the private … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 4
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Part Four of Four. An understanding of the Ecumenical Church as a conglomerate of heterogenous parts. But this very attractive, broad and most pleasing to all theory cannot be attributed to the Church. The Church of Christ always understood its unity in the … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 3
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Part Three of Four. In contrast to the total rejection of any significance of Apostolic succession among the heterodox there are those, primarily among the heterodox who exaggerate this significance to an extreme. An ordination within the Apostolic succession … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 2
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Part Two of Four. If the Orthodox Church receives heterodox clerics in their order because it recognizes their priesthood, how can we reconcile the accepted historical fact of changes in treating these groups by the Church, for example Roman Catholics? It … [Read more...]
The Significance of Apostolic Succession: Part 1
by Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodsky) Yeah, it really is that important. The prestige of our contemporary Church hierarchy, its Divinely established rights and authority, rests on the historical fact of its Apostolic succession. This is the present teaching of the Orthodox Church, and such was its … [Read more...]