So far as Apostolic Succession, I believe in it. There is some evidence for Methodism after Wesley's consecration as a bishop by an Orthodox bishop. However, no succession is valid without concurrent faithfulness to scripture and the Holy Spirit. Some of the politically-based elevations in past times when church & state were wrongly entangled are not even as valid as that of Wesley.
However, it cannot be denied that Jesus said His Church would not be defeated. Therefore, given the requirement of ordination, succession does extend as an unbroken chain back to the Apostles and thence to Jesus Himself. This is only partially the definition used by others.
- In 1763, Greek Orthodox bishop Erasmus of the Diocese of Arcadia, who was visiting London at the time,[64] consecrated Rev. John Wesley a bishop,[65][66] and ordained several Methodist lay preachers as priests, including John Jones.[67] However, Wesley could not openly announce his episcopal consecration without incurring the penalty of the Præmunire Act.[68] In light of Wesley's episcopal consecration, the Methodist Church can lay a claim on apostolic succession, as understood in the traditional sense.[69] Since the Rt. Rev. John Wesley ordained and sent forth every Methodist preacher in his day, who preached and baptized and ordained, and since every Methodist preacher who has ever been ordained as a Methodist was ordained in this direct "succession" from Wesley, then the Methodist Church teaches that it has all the direct merits coming from apostolic succession, if any such there be.[70] This apostolic succession is recognized by Unity Catholic Church, an autocephalous Catholic Church.[71]
Despite this fact, most Methodists view apostolic succession outside its high church sense. This is because Rev. John Wesley believed that bishops and presbyters constituted one order,[72] citing an ancient opinion from the Church of Alexandria.[72] Since the Bishop of London refused to ordain ministers in the British American colonies,[62] this constituted an emergency, and as a result, on 2 September 1784,[73] Rev. John Wesley, along with a priest from the Anglican Church and two other elders,[74] operating under the ancient Alexandrian habitude, ordained Rev. Thomas Coke a superintendent, although Rt. Rev. Coke embraced the title bishop.[75] Today, the Methodist Church follows this ancient Alexandrian practice as bishops are elected from and by the order of the presbyterate:[76] the Discipline of the Methodist Church, in ¶303, affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the Holy Spirit."[77] It also uses sacred scripture in support of this practice, namely, 1 Timothy 4:12, which states:
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.[78]
– St. Paul of Tarsus, KJV
The Methodist Church also buttresses this argument with the leg of Sacred Tradition of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral by citing the Church Fathers, many of whom concur with this view.[77][79]
- 66.^ English Spirituality in the Age of Wesley. Regent College Publishing. http://books.google.com/books?id=yhqzG-kOic4C&pg=PA205&dq=erasmus+arcadia+wesley+bishop&lr=&cd=22#v=onepage&q=erasmus%20arcadia%20wesley%20bishop&f=false. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "By 1763, Wesley was desperate to obtain ordination for some of his lay preachers and when bishop after bishop refused, he took the dubious expedient -against the council of all his close friends and associates-of asking one Erasmus, who claimed to be bishop of Arcadia in Crete, to do the job. Erasmus knew no English, but agreed."
- 67.^ The Churchman, Volume 40. University of Michigan. http://books.google.com/books?id=fyDnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA257&dq=erasmus+arcadia+ordained&cd=3#v=onepage&q=erasmus%20arcadia%20ordained&f=false. Retrieved 2007-12-31. "Erasmus was the Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. In 1763, he visited London. Wesley found his credentials unexceptionable, and Dr. Jones, one of the preachers whom he had ordained, obtained testimonials concerning him from Symrna."
Excellent post!