This is indeed a very interesting conversation; thank you for sharing it with us all.
I must confess that I am somewhat at a loss when it comes to understanding the details and nuances of the interchange, largely due to a lack of depth in my own scholarship when it comes to the history of the church.
Nevertheless, insofar as my limited understanding of this conversation may go, and as an anarchist, I find myself most strongly in disagreement with what appears to be a clinging to a hierarchy above and beyond the local church. Probably due to my upbringing (independent baptist) I've never bought the idea of apostolic succession, and I continue to view the proper form of the church(es) as a collection of autonomous gatherings of God's people into local congregations.
While I have no problem with voluntary associations of independent congregations, I view the upward delegation and centralization of authority in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Presbyterian denominations (to mention a few prominent examples) as evidence of a failure to truly believe in Christ's headship and ability to manage, direct, and rule his churches.
Kindly forgive (and feel free to correct) any misapprehensions I may have about what you've shared here, and also please point out any important point(s) that I've obviously overlooked.
Actually, your sincere reflection on this matter is absolutely fair and I cannot give a fully logically water-tight rebuttal to it (yet), even from an Orthodox perspective. Your own view is logically mostly plausible and not something that can be dismissed on its face (even if admitting that is unfortunately uncomfortable for me -- but, for the sake of truth, I am not going to hide from that discomfort).
On the hierarchy side, I do currently think of the Orthodox view as being more plausible : each Apostle being independent and conciliar with all the other Apostolic lineages (so unlike Papal supremacy), as well as the necessity of physical lineage in the transmission of the Gospel being important since the Gospel was not revealed originally as abstract ideas to disconnected individuals. Having said that, your own view, which, even if ultimately incorrect, is extremely useful at least as a corrective for the Statist and State-compromising excesses of the current hierarchical Apostolic churches.
Hi @paulvp,
Thanks for your thoughtfully transparent response.
I'd welcome any thoughts or evidence (particularly biblical) in support of apostolic succession for my remedial study. :)
Meanwhile, continuing in my current understanding, I imagine the LORD guiding individual congregations/cells of his own body directly, while within those cells we experience voluntary, mutual submission and servant leadership.
Blessings, brother!