Now that Sarah Mullally is Archbishop of Canterbury, a new Bishop of London is required.

The London diocese’s “Statement of Needs” says that it is open to appointing a bishop who “supports” women’s ministry but does not ordain women himself or receive communion from them.

Purity tests in Anglicanism

I spoke about this with an Anglican priest. They told me Mullally was the first Bishop of London (2018-2026) to ordain women.

Also that certain priests, pure-bloods to use the Harry Potter term, are permitted to refuse communion from any male bishop who has ever ordained a woman, or even from a male priest ordained by a male bishop who has ever ordained a woman. To continue the JK Rowling analogy, such tainted men have become mudbloods.

Nor can a pure-blood bishop be installed by a mudblood bishop. He has to be installed by one of his own – ie a member of the strangely named The Society.

One can’t help thinking of SS officers who were required to prove “purity” back to 1750.

One of the purposes of The Society is to “guarantee a ministry in the historic apostolic succession in which they can have confidence”. They’ll soon need pedigree passports, my source says. Like a “thoroughbred” horse.

The claim of succession

So what is all the fuss about?

Apostolic Succession apparently entails male bishops ordained in an unbroken physical succession, right from the time of the first Apostles.

According to the Catholic hierarchy, it is a matter of history not theology.

So let’s look briefly at the real history, not history that’s only true in the sense that the clerical hierarchy says it is.

What history actually shows

There is no agreement in the Gospels on the Apostles’ names. Hebrew scholar Alfred Osborne isn’t even sure there were twelve.

Certainly they almost all disappear very quickly from any historical record after the Ascension.

By the fourth century, all anyone could tell you was where three of the apostles had gone – John, Andrew and Thomas – but not what had happened to them. Peter is last heard of in Jerusalem.

It becomes obvious that nobody in the early church had been trying to maintain any continuity with the Apostles. But if it doesn’t go back to the Apostles, it doesn’t exist.

“Apostolic Succession” is the combined mistranslation of two Greek words. Apostle, not even used by John, simply meant “an itinerant preacher” according to Professor Tom O’Loughlin.

Succession was used to give the pedigree of a family or a school of philosophy. Check Matthew and Luke. They have genealogies of Jesus: Matthew, a Hebrew genealogy going back to Abraham and Luke, a Gentile one back to Adam.

The Catholic church doesn’t believe these are historical.

We might add that ordination was a purely secular term in the Roman Empire. You were “ordained” into a job in local government.

What will really matter

We believe that when the Son of Man comes in his glory he won’t be interested in pedigrees, or fanciful notions of priestly purity.

He will be interested in history. He will ask if we fed the hungry, clothed the stranger, cared for the sick, visited the prisoner.

Obsession with Apostolic Succession is a tenants-in-the-vineyard notion. It has no place in the Good News.

• Penelope Middelboe is a writer and journalist who has articles for publications such as The Tablet, The Irish Catholic, and The Synodal Times. Her work often explores themes related to faith, social issues, and history.
• At History Café, Jon and Penelope have been revisiting key moments in history for the last six years. The Real-Life Magisterium: is a Podcast on the secret history of the Roman Catholic Church.