85 “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.”47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome. (CCC, 85)
Roman Catholicism Uses Apostolic Succession to Shut Down Both Detractors and Competing Heretical Sects
The Roman Catholic Catechism claims to derive special doctrinal authority from their version of apostolic succession. Apostolic succession here being necessary to reinforce their exclusive reign on divine revelation and biblical interpretation through their tradition.
You see, if scripture was not the highest and undisputed authority for Christian practice, then any schismatic church could claim their own revelations were valid as long as they were tenuously tied to scripture just like the Roman Catholic Church.
Much like how Montanus established a religion based on being a new prophet of God and how the Gnostics claimed to have sole possession of secret scriptural teaching from the apostles, the Roman Catholic Church would have to contend with other religions making their own “Tradition.”
77 “In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority.”35 Indeed, “the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time.”36
78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, “the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.”37 “The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.”38
“And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching.”43 (Catechism 7-78)
By locking divine revelations and scriptural interpretation behind apostolic succession, the Catholic Church could argue for doctrinal supremacy amongst rival churches. This would later lay the groundwork for the Pope being representative of Christ on earth and the highest religious authority. This of course, would be by virtue of being a successor of Peter, who was retroactively declared to be the first Pope.
Now, I can see the value of apostolic succession in maintaining some sort of standard for Christian practice. If one bishop is directly tutored by the next bishop, it would be sensible that a greater degree of older Christian practices would be preserved. However, Roman Catholic Traditions have directly and indirectly conflicted with scripture numerous times, meaning that this theory did not translate too well into practice.
Even though the Tradition itself is a larger threat to scriptural integrity than apostolic succession is, the Roman Catholic claim of using this succession to assert divine authority for non-biblical teachings is the enabler of much blasphemy and suffering in the Christian body, hence this chapter.
Other Orthodox Churches have Competing Claims to Apostolic Succession
“The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.” (CCC, 85)
Historically, the claim of genealogy equating to authority and authenticity was not the valid claim to church sovereignty that Roman Catholics believe it be. The major problem with this is that all Orthodox and Protestant churches share the same founding fathers, such as Irenaeus, Clement, Polycarp, Augustus, etc., meaning that any denomination that claims apostolic succession and can trace their lineage back to the original apostles would share similar power of Magisterium.
Contrary to whatever the Catholic Encyclopedia on New Advent would like to claim, there are least two other schismatic churches with direct and preserved lines of apostolic succession, the Coptics, and the Greek Orthodoxy.
Notice the Coptics also use the “ONE TRUE APOSTOLIC CHURCH” argument, which is detailed below in this atrociously formatted statement of faith:
Apostolicity of the [Coptic] Church
This is the last characteristic of the True Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The True Church has been
built upon the foundation of the APOSTLES and prophets, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, being
the “Chief Cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:20)
The Church is APOSTOLIC because:
A) She has her teachings from the Lord Himself and His saintly APOSTLES who were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word from the beginning. (Luke 1:2)
B) The Church keeps the teachings as received without any change or additions (Romans 16:17
and Galatians 1:8-11). Also these teachings have been built on the foundation of the
APOSTLES and prophets. (Ephesians 2:20).
C) Her shepherds have APOSTOLIC succession and are connected to the APOSTLES themselves
“and how shall they preach unless they are sent.” (Romans 10:15) “For this reason I left you
in Crete, that you should set in order the things and appoint priests in every city as I
commanded you.” (Titus 1:5)
Truly our beloved Orthodox Church is APOLSTOLIC because it received the teachings from the Lord
Himself by St Mark and keeps the teachings as received without any alteration. Her shepherds also
have APOSTOLIC succession. This may contradict other denominational faiths, which do not
APOSTOLIC succession and the Sacrament of Priesthood.
In conclusion, our Coptic Orthodox Church is the True Church of the Lord Jesus Christ because:
A) St Mark the APOSTLE took teachings directly from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and set St
Ananias as his successor and the first Patriarch on the See of St Mark founded the Coptic
Church.
B) The Church’s shepherds are Biblical as they are ordained according to the Apostles Rite and
have Apostolic succession from St Mark the first patriarch (Number 1) to Pope Shenouda the
Third, Patriarch, (Number 117).
C) The Church adheres to the teachings as received from the Lord without any change (I Timothy
6:3).
D) Her faith is one, her teaching is one, she believes in one creed, all her members partake of the
same sacraments, her goal of salvation of all people is one, and her Head, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and His successors govern her.”
(Source: https://www.suscopts.org/pdf/copticchurch/rituals2.pdf)
Going even further than the Catholic Church, each territorial branch of the Coptic Church has their own public register of their individual lines of converging ordained bishops, over 20 in total. Some of these go back hundreds of years.
These lines converge in Africa, where they are then traced all the way back to the apostles. They are currently on their 118th Pope. Unlike the Catholics, their claim to bolster their authenticity extends to maintaining only the teachings and practices in the original scriptures. This means that there is a denomination with valid apostolic succession that rejects the majority of the extra-biblical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Sources: https://www.stmaryofchicago.org/Home/AboutCopticChurch and https://nicholeanapostolicsuccession.wordpress.com/
The Greek Orthodoxy has a More Cohesive Apostolic Lineage and More Biblically Congruent Doctrines than Roman Catholicism
Now, the Greek Orthodoxy is an even greater threat to Catholic sovereignty by not only tracing their apostolic succession back to St. Peter, but also basing the origin of their Church in Antioch, somewhere Peter would had actually been during his ministry career in the scriptures (although, I could not find biblical evidence of him preaching there).
Unlike the Roman Catholic church, their church’s genealogy appears to be free of schisms and anti-popes, logically suggesting a greater degree of authenticity and commitment to Christian practice. Their line of head bishops, over 160 strong, includes major Early Church figures such as Eudoius, Ignatius, and Flavian, the latter two being recognized as Catholic saints.
Sources: https://www.saintgeorgekearney.com/apostolic_succession and http://saintandrewgoc.org/home/2014/6/30/apostolic-succession-in-the-orthodox-church.html
As a second knock against the Catholic Church, here is how the Greek Orthodoxy defines their tradition:
One of the distinctive characteristics of the Holy Orthodox Church is its changelessness, its loyalty to the past, its sense of living continuity with the ancient Church. This idea of living continuity may be summed up in one word: Tradition. As St. John of Damascus says, We do not change the everlasting boundaries which our fathers have set, but we keep the Tradition, just as we received it [On the Holy Icons, II, 12]. To an Orthodox Christian, Tradition means the Holy Bible; it means the Creed; it means the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils and the writings of the Fathers; it means the Canons, the Service Books, the Holy Icons, etc. In essence, it means the whole system of doctrine, ecclesiastical government, worship and art which Orthodoxy has articulated over the ages [Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, p.204].
We take special note that for the Orthodox, the Holy Bible forms a part of Holy Tradition, but does not lie outside of it. One would be in error to suppose that Scripture and Tradition are two separate and distinct sources of Christian Faith, as some do, since there is, in reality, only one source; and the Holy Bible exists and found its formulation within Tradition. Source: https://www.saintgeorgekearney.com/article/Holy+Tradition
It’s pretty obvious who they’re referencing with that underlined statement:
80 …”Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal.”40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own “always, to the close of the age”.
. . . two distinct modes of transmission
81 “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.”
“And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching (CCC)
Short of the (admittedly limp-wristed) backhanded remark toward the Roman Catholic claim of scripture and tradition being distinct, but to be observed equally, the Greek Orthodoxy’s definition of Tradition is nearly identical with the Catechism’s. If both the Catholic and Greek Orthodoxy’s share genealogies with the Early Church, going back to Peter, and define Tradition similarly, why do they clash on Christian practices?
The Eastern Orthodoxy maintains that salvation and justification are solely the work of the Triune God and that works are required not to simply maintain grace but to actively progress in a path to salvation. They also reject the Pope on the ground that Jesus is the sole head of the church, they don’t require their clergy to be celibate, they reject purgatory and indulgences, and they follow Jewish traditions of fasting.
If you’ve read the first half of my Faith statement, you’ll notice that the Greek Orthodoxy is far more in line with the practices and traditions of the Early Church as described in the Bible than the Roman Catholic church.
Jesus was the chief shepherd in the Early Church, just as He is in these Orthodox churches. Purgatory and indulgences are never established in the Bible and so the Greek Orthodoxy doesn’t practice them. Paul calls for early bishops and deacons to be married men, and the Orthodox church continues to allow it. Even though I have no remote will to join the Greek Orthodoxy, I wouldn’t even have half of the ammunition for scriptural refutation of their practices as I do for the Roman Catholic church.
In this regard, the concept of “Authority by Virtue of Apostolic Succession” is a double-edged sword that cuts the Roman Catholic church far deeper than it does their opponents.
Orthodoxy Beliefs:
https://www.saintgeorgekearney.com/about_orthodoxyhttps://prescottorthodox.com/videos/5-differences-roman-catholic-church-eastern-orthodox-church/
https://prescottorthodox.com/videos/5-differences-roman-catholic-church-eastern-orthodox-church/