The doctrine that the authority of Jesus was passed down in an unbroken line from the apostles to their successors, the bishops. (Lynch, Joseph H. The Medieval Church: A Brief History, 359)
The handing on of apostolic preaching and authority from the Apostles to the Church through their successors, the bishops.
The doctrine that the authority and the mission given by Jesus to the Apostles have descended in a direct and unbroken line of bishops to the bishops of today.
a barren thing and is a purely exoteric form, whereas the succession of Leaders and Teachers in the T
Every bishop of the Church Catholic is ordained by the laying on of hands by one or more (usually at least three) other bishops, and so it has been back to the first century when the first bishops were ordained by the Apostles themselves; but a true Apostolic succession also requires that they continue in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.
The belief that bishops are the successors to the apostles and that episcopal authority is derived from the apostles by an unbroken succession in the ministry.
The Catholic belief that the twelve apostles ordained bishops who ordained their successors in an unbroken sequence up until the present day.
In Christianity, the doctrine of Apostolic Succession (or the belief that the Church is 'apostolic') maintains that the Christian Church today is the spiritual successor to the original body of believers in Christ composed of the Apostles. Different Christian denominations interpret this doctrine in different ways.