RC & EO Apostolic Abstraction
Apostolic Succession is the ultimate abstraction—all the more perverse for claiming such practicality and historicity. What it basically boils down to is that there must be an unbroken succession because it is regarded as required. A real succession would involve infallible proof through ordinary processes that there has been such a succession at every era in church history.
It is a vicious circle. The actual belief that the church is the product of an unbroken succession is based on an infallible claim by that church to have such a history. And why is the church credited with such infallibility? Why, based on the fact that it has the succession!
Dizzying.
When have RC or EO historians shown a real interest in producing historical proof? That was all done by Protestants during the Reformation. And the real evidence points to broken links in the chain.
What it boils down to is that RC and EO are given credit for wanting to claim that they possess Apostolic succession. Once that claim is desired, it is assumed no proof for the claim is necessary.
“We are always right because of who we are. We are who we say we are because we are always right.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean they aren’t churches. It just means they may not be the only ones. Thank God.
