The term “apostolic succession” refers to the doctrine in Catholic and Orthodox churches that holds that certain spiritual powers, who Jesus Christ first entrusted to the twelve apostles, is passed on in an unbroken line of succession from apostle to bishop to bishop, and from these bishops to the priests who assist them in their pastoral duties. The validity of apostolic succession is a key factor in determining the sacredotal powers of the Church.
The principal line of apostolic succession of the Catholic Church of Antioch comes from the Roman Catholic Church, through the Dutch Old Catholic Church and the Liberal Catholic Church in England. The validity of this line of succession is widely recognized, the earliest recorded member being Roman Catholic bishop Scipione Rebiba. More than 91 percent of all Roman Catholic bishops world-wide trace their own lineage to Rebiba (Bransom, 1990). The founder of our Church, Archbishop Herman Adrian Spruit, as you see below, is in direct succession.
In addition, the Catholic Church of Antioch has made an effort to unite eastern and western lines of apostolic succession. The Catholic Church of Antioch derives additional lines of succession from Archbishop Spruit’s co-consecrators (in addition to our name). These additional lines include the Syrian Jacobite Patriarchate of Antioch, the Chaldean Patriarchate of Babylon at Baghdad, the Catholicate-Patriarchate of Assyria, the Greek Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch, Patriarchate of Moscow, Armenian Catholicate-Patriarchate of Cilicia, the Metropolitan-Archbishops of Albania, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the nonjurring Anglicans. Joseph Aneed, a Greek Melkite bishop with a claim to a patriarchate for North America willed his claim to Archbishop Spruit, thereby giving our church a similar claim.
We make our principal line of succession available for those who wish to gain a better understanding of the sacramental authority on which our independent branch of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is founded. All Christians are grafted into the one vine, the mystical body of Jesus Christ.
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on 12 March 1566,
Cardinal Scipione Rebiba,
Roman Catholic Bishop of Troia consecrated
Giullo Antonio Santorio,
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Santa Severina
who on 7 September 1586 consecrated
Girolamo Bemerio, O.P.,
Roman Catholic Bishop of Ascoli Piceno
who on 4 April 1604 consecrated
Galeazzo Sanvitale,
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bari
who on 2 May 1621 consecrated
Ludovico Ludovisi,
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bologna
who on 12 June 1622 consecrated
Luigi Caetani,
Roman Catholic Titular Patriarch of Antioch
who on 7 October 1630 consecrated
Giovanni Battista Scannaroli,
Roman Catholic Titular Bishop of Sidon
who on 24 October 1655 consecrated
Antonio Barberini (the younger),
Roman Catholic Bishop of Fr21scati
who on 11 November 1668 consecrated
Charles Maurice Le Tellier
Roman Catholic Bishop of Mieux
who on 21 September 1670 consecrated
Jaques Benigne Boussuet
who on 24 October 1693 consecrated
Jaques Goyon De Matigon,
who on 18 February 1719 consecrated
Dominicus Marie Varlet,
Roman Catholic Bishop of Babylon
who on 17 October 1739 consecrated
Petrus Meindaerts
Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
who on 11 July 1745 consecrated
Johannes Van Stiphout,
Old Catholic Bishop of Harrlem
who on 7 February 1768 consecrated
Gualterus Michael Van Nieuwenhuizen,
Old Catholic Arcbishop of Utrecht,
who on 21 June 1778 consecrated
Adrianus Johannes Broekrnan,
Old Catholic Bishop of Harrlem,
who on 5 July 1797 consecrated
Johannes Jacobus Van Rhijn,
Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
who on 7 November 1805 consecrated
Gilbert Cornelius De Jong,
Old Catholic Bishop of Deventer,
who on 24 April 1814 consecrated
Willibord Van OS,
Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
who on 25 April 1819 consecrated
Johannes Bon,
Old Catholic Bishop of Haarlem,
who on 13 November 1824 consecrated
Johannes Van Santen,
Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
who on 17 July 1854 consecrated
Casparus Johannes Rinker,
Old Catholic Bishop of Haarlem,
who on 11 May 1892 consecrated
Gerard Gul,
Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht,
who on 28 April 1908 consecrated
Arnold Harris Mathew,
Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain
who on 28 October 1914 consecrated
Frederick Samuel Willoughby,
who on 13 February 1916 consecrated
James Ingall Wedgwood,
Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church,
who on 13 July 1919 consecrated
Irving Steiger Cooper,
Liberal Catholic Regionary Bishop for the United States,
who on 13 September 1931 consecrated
Charles H. Hampton,
Liberal Catholic Regionary Bishop for the United States,
who on 22 June 1957 consecrated
Herman Adrian Spruit,
who became Archbishop/Patriarch of the Catholic Church of Antioch
(Catholic Apostolic Catholic Church of Antioch)
who on 7 October 1980 consecrated
Meri Louise Spruit
Bishop of the Catholic Church of Antioch and who was enthroned as
Archbishop/Matriarch on 26 January 1986
who on 27 October 1990 consecrated
Richard Alston Gundrey
Bishop of the Catholic Church of Antioch
who was elevated to Metropolitan on 20 September 2004
and enthroned at Loretto Chapel as Patriarch/Presiding Bishop
on February 19, 2005
On 12 May 2002 Matriarch Meri Louise Spruit
assisted by co-consecrators Richard Alston Gundrey and Clifford Kroski consecrated
Mark Elliott Newman
Bishop in the Catholic Church of Antioch
who was elected to serve as Presiding Bishop
on April 25, 2009, and installed as Presiding Bishop on September 11, 2009.
References
Bransom, C. N. (1990). Ordinations of U.S. Catholic Bishops 1790-1989. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, Inc.
Van Campenhout, W. J. K. (1993). Apostolic Succession in the Catholic Apostolic Catholic Church of Antioch. Creswell, OR: Catholic Church of Antioch Press.