ABOUT APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION
Apostolic succession is about tracing the teaching, faith, and practice of the Church from bishop to bishop back to Christ Jesus our Lord. Each bishop is said to succeed to the place, office, ministry, and work of an apostle. Bishops govern, regulate the sacraments, and judge. They are the archipoimen or chief pastors of the Church. Therefore, succession is more than tracing a "right hand" for the Church catholic. It is about tracing the teaching, governing, and sacramental authority from one sede (seat) to another from the inception of the Church to now.
Among us, those who follow Convergence are in full historic apostolic succession through Archbishop Thomas Henry's consecration as bishop in 2005 by the Most Reverend Timothy L. Miller, Sr. (who has eastern-western streams), and granting of succession in 2014 via the Diocese of Saint Stephen under Bishop Rodney Chandler. This succession has brought us into intercommunion with the American Orthodox Catholic Church (American Patriarchate) and Bishops Blake-Hammacher and Willingham. We have also conducted ecumenical dialogue through the Congress of Apostles and Bishops (COAAB) with members of the Orthodox Church in America, with the Pentecostal-Orthodox Meet and Greets between the wider mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church and others.
Our apostolic succession records are on file in our offices and the Office of the Archbishop-Metropolitan of the Congress of Apostles and Bishops and are available to our intercommunion partners and members of this communion.
Those among us who do not subscribe to Convergence are in what is called Reformed apostolic succession. This succession is based on the faith of the Reformers and Pentecostalism as well as those of the early councils as far as they are agreeable with the Holy Scriptures of the Church.
Among us, those who follow Convergence are in full historic apostolic succession through Archbishop Thomas Henry's consecration as bishop in 2005 by the Most Reverend Timothy L. Miller, Sr. (who has eastern-western streams), and granting of succession in 2014 via the Diocese of Saint Stephen under Bishop Rodney Chandler. This succession has brought us into intercommunion with the American Orthodox Catholic Church (American Patriarchate) and Bishops Blake-Hammacher and Willingham. We have also conducted ecumenical dialogue through the Congress of Apostles and Bishops (COAAB) with members of the Orthodox Church in America, with the Pentecostal-Orthodox Meet and Greets between the wider mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church and others.
Our apostolic succession records are on file in our offices and the Office of the Archbishop-Metropolitan of the Congress of Apostles and Bishops and are available to our intercommunion partners and members of this communion.
Those among us who do not subscribe to Convergence are in what is called Reformed apostolic succession. This succession is based on the faith of the Reformers and Pentecostalism as well as those of the early councils as far as they are agreeable with the Holy Scriptures of the Church.
