There are two types of Christian Churches. The first type believes that the authority to minister here on earth, springs from Jesus Christ, at the time He walked among us. This is called, Apostolic Succession, because Jesus laid his hands on His twelve apostles ordaining them and consecrating them for their ministry on earth. Christ told them to do the same to cause the growth of His church on the earth. This type of church is known as a liturgical church, because they emphasize following The Earthly Christ's actions closely on earth in the present day, especially the Lords Supper. They recognize The Seven Sacraments instituted by Our Lord on earth.
The second type of Christian Church believes this authority only comes down from heaven and has no physical connection back to Christ's earthly ministry. For example: The Apostle Paul never physically met Jesus, but believed that he had the same power that Jesus gave to the twelve because of his vision of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Most protestant churches are this type of church. They focus on direct personal connection of the believer to the Risen Christ, believe in only Two Sacraments, and emphasize preaching instead of liturgy in their worship services.
Our church is the first type.
Our bishops trace their consecrations back to the bishop that consecrated them, to the one that consecrated them, and so forth, back to Jesus Christ laying his earthly physical hands on the twelve apostles. Christ commissioned his apostles them, and giving them the authority to minister throughout the world in his name, and that whatever they bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever they unbind on earth is unbound in heaven. By binding, we mean a contract, and the way spiritual contracts are given and received is by means of the Holy Sacraments that Christ also instituted while he walked the earth. The conveyance of these is by the power of the Holy Spirit that connects the Apostolic Succession passed here on earth to the present day hands of a bishop invoking his authority received through his Succession when he imposes his hands. For a Sacrament to be validly conferred, the bishop must not only pray, but must physically touch the person, or object, being prayed for. Doing so connects the physical connection (binding), back to the earthly Christ of the past and to the Spiritual Christ that reigns in heaven in the present.
Now, the above being explained, we now turn to understanding our church Apostolic Secession that you will find charted under the above page link entitled: Apostolic Succession. This is no simple task. Ultimately, all Apostolic Lines of Succession at some point back in time merge with The Church founded by Christ on earth through his apostles, and to his giving the keys of his kingdom to his apostle Saint Peter by saying:
"Thou are Peter, the rock, and upon this rock I shall build what I must call My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. To you I give the keys to my kingdom, and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you unbind on earth is unbound in heaven."
As time passed, The Church begin to feel the pains of mortal men doing it's work on earth in the Name of Christ. Their mortal human nature pulling and tugging between their earthly and heavenly nature bestowed by Apostolic Succession. This conflict in the Bishops of The Church, caused disagreements and ultimately split The Church. The primary and the most documented split being, The Great Schism of 1054 ad. The Eastern and Western geographical parts of The Church divided into two churches. The West remaining under the authority of the Bishop of Rome (the pope). The East, under the authority of the Bishop of Constantinople (the patriarch).
The earthly Christ himself was protected from the conflicts the bishops were having by being half God and half man, with the two parts united mystically by what is known as, The Hypostatic Union: Meaning that the God and Man parts merged so completely, that they were truly one and the same, even though they begin as two separate entities at one point in time and space here on earth. Being so joined, there was no conflict between the earthly side of Christ and the heavenly side of Christ. In a similar fashion, there is no conflict in the three persons that comprise God: God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit.
But, now back to the split in the church. It did not stop with the big split in the year 1054. The arguments about the nature of God and the authority of God given His earthly ministers through Christ, gained momentum. A German priest by the name of, Martin Luther, became so frustrated that he nailed 99 of his most favorite gripes about The Roman Catholic Church, to a church door, and then walked away. The news spread like a wildfire. It was the beginning of, The Protestant Revolution. It really did not matter what Luther's 99 items on his list were. What mattered is that a simple priest had the nerve to tell the entire authority of his church to stick it. It sparked the idea that if a person rebelled against what was seen as ultimate church power... Just what could that church power really do about it? From this revolution came an avalanche of new churches that formed and broke away and formed and broke away.
Christian faith being driven by beliefs, not actions and good deeds, is the reason for so many disagreements and splits in churches since Martin Luther made his point. He taught the world that bucking the system did not mean that God would strike one dead on the spot. A new way of doing God's business on earth arose. If a group of people disagreed with others in their church, they would just leave, hopefully with good Christian manners, and just found another denomination. Then one day they too would be faced with a disgruntled group, like they were once themselves, and they find a group leaving them behind to form even another church. God must really be amused, or we are all in big trouble... But then again we are all forgiven of our sins by believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Amen?
Many theologians feel that God surely must hold us to more personal accountability than just believing in Christ. After all, that simplicity gets us humans off the hook so easily. We do not let our own children get away with anything they so choose... And if we are God's children? Do we escape punishment for our actions so easily? We believed in our parents, but we still got spanked just the same when we messed up. But is it so convenient not to want to believe a thing like that when it comes to our unseen God. Yet, punishment from God might not be a very nice experience, and might last for eternity. Do we gamble that our particular church teaches us correctly? That is a big chance to take. A leap of faith!
Today there are thousands of different Christian denominations. Numerous people have pointed out how many different branches of Christian Churches exist as compared to the just several branches of many non-Christian religions, for example, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. Each of these non-Christian religions are more united, and none of them have ever split so divisively. The reason for this is; heaven is not the brass ring to these non-Christian religions. and They are grounded in earthly actions and behaviors, which can be easily proven or disproven, not in beliefs which cannot be empirically proven . Any person can believe whatever they wish to believe, but that does not make their belief a fact, or truth.
So, when you look at church history, and at Apostolic Succession, in point, our church Apostolic Succession page on this website, you will notice that it is complex. That is because after the break from The Roman Catholic Church, bishops began to mix and match consecrations among themselves by not having a single authority to guide them. None of the bishops outside of the Roman Church knew back in the days before the Internet if they truly had Apostolic Lines of Succession back to Christ or not, so they sought to make as sure as they possibly could, that they did. Being members of the branch of Christianity that believed that the authority of Christ rest with the tracing back to the earthly Christ and the laying on of his physical hands throughout the ages, was of paramount importance to them. It literally meant everything to them that they must be valid bishops in the eyes of the historical Christ, now risen from the dead and King of Heaven.
In our Apostolic Succession page you will find that our past brother bishops were members of six distinct groups of historical churches: Anglican via The Episcopal Church in the USA, Eastern Orthodox via Antioch and Syrian Patriarchs, Old Catholic Utrecht Union, Roman Catholic through The Brazilian National Church, and Roman Catholic through the Mexican National Catholic Church. No matter which of the six, they all ultimately lead back to The Twelve Apostles where all of the bishops lines of succession came from in the first place, and most importantly, back to the earthly Christ who is now, The Risen Christ. Amen!
