Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which claimant, among the many contending for the title, was the true Church. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants. This simple procedure worked every time.
Clement of Rome: (Epistle to the Corinthians 42:4-5, 44:1-3 [A.D. 80])
“Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there world be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry.”
Hegsippus: (Memoirs 4:22:1 [ca. A.D. 180])
“When I had come to Rome, I [visited] Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. And after Anicetus [died], Soter succeeded, and after him Eleutherus. In each succession and in each city there is a continuance of that which is proclaimed by the law, the Prophets, and the Lord.”.
Irenaeus: (Against Heresies 3:3:1 [inter A.D. 180-199]).
“It is possible, then, for everyone in every church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the apostles which has been made known to us throughout the world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their successors down to our own times, men who neither knew nor taught anything like what these heretics rave about…. Surly they wished all those and their successors, to whom they handed on their authority, to be perfect and without reproach.”
“Polycarp was instructed not only by the apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also appointed bishop of the church in Smyrna by the apostles in Asia. I saw him in my early youth, for he tarried a long time and when quite old departed this life in a glorious and most noble martyrdom. He always taught those things which he learned from the apostles and which the Church had handed down and which are true. To these things the churches in Asia bear witness, as do also the successors of Polycarp even to the present time.” (Ibid 3:3:4).
“It is necessary to obey those who are the presbyters in the Church, those who, as we have shown have succession from the apostles, those who have received, with the succession of the episcopate, the sure charism of truth according to the good pleasure of the Father.” (Ibid. 4:26:2, 33:8).
Firmilian: (Epistle to Cyprian 75:16 [inter A.D. 255-256]).
“But what is his error and how great his blindness…. who does not remain on the foundation of the one true Church which was founded on the rock by Christ, can be learned from this, which Christ said to Peter alone. “Whatever things you shall bind on earth shall also be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth, they shall also be loosed in heaven; and by this, again in the Gospel, when Christ breathed upon the apostles alone, saying to them, `Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive any man his sins they shall be forgiven, and if you retain any man’s sins they shall be retained.’ The power of forgiving sins was given to the apostles and the churches which these men, sent by Christ, established and to the bishops who succeeded them by being ordained in their place.”
Jerome: (Epistle to Heliodorus 14:8 [inter A.D. 374-379]).
“Far be it from me to speak adversely of any of these clergy who, in succession from the apostles, confect by their sacred words the Body of Christ and through whose efforts also it is that we are Christians.”
Gregory I: (Homilies on the Gospels 2:26:4 [A.D. 590-591]).
“The disciples receive as their lot the preeminence of celestial judgment, so that, in God’s stead, they retain sins for some and for some they forgive them [John 20:22-23]….Certainly it is now the bishops who hold their place in the Church. They receive the authority of binding and loosing, who have as their lot a degree of governing. It is a magnificent honor, but that honor carries with it a heavy burden.”