The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (227 page)

Apostle to the apostles
:

see
MARY MAGDALENE
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Apostolicae Curae
.

Bull issued by
Leo XIII
in 1896, declaring that
Anglican
ordinations
‘are absolutely null and utterly void’, because of double defect of form and intention.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Apostolic Council
.

The meeting in Jerusalem described by
Paul
in Galatians 2. 1–10 between himself,
James
,
Peter
, and
John
. It approved Paul's missionary preaching to gentiles independent of the Jewish law. The account in Acts 15. 1–21 attributes to the council a set of minimal stipulations (to abstain from anything polluted by idols, from fornication, from meat of strangled animals, and from blood. The event is usually dated to 48, less often to 51 CE.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Apostolic Delegate
.

A papal appointment to represent the pope in those countries which do not have diplomatic relations with the
Holy
see (cf.
NUNCIO
). Permanent apostolic delegations were established in the USA in 1893, and in Great Britain in 1938.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Apostolic Fathers
.

The Christian fathers of the period immediately after the New Testament. They are
Clement of Rome
,
Ignatius
,
Hermas
,
Polycarp
, and
Papias
, and the authors of
The Epistle of
Barnabas
,
The Epistle to Diognetus
, 2
Clement
, and the
Didache
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Apostolic Succession
.

A belief in Christianity that the authority of the ordained ministry, in word and
sacrament
, is protected by the continuous transmission of that authority through successive ordinations by those who were themselves validly ordained.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search