Apostle

a-pos′l, n. one sent to preach the gospel: specially, one of the twelve disciples of Christ: the founder of the Christian Church in a country, e.g. Augustine, the apostle of the English; Columba, of the Scots; Boniface, of Germany, .: the principal champion or supporter of a new system, or of some cause: the highest in the fourfold ministry of the Catholic and Apostolic Church: one of the twelve officials forming a presiding high council in the Mormon Church.— ns. Apos′tleship , the office or dignity of an apostle; Apost′olate , the office of an apostle: leadership in a propaganda.— adjs. Apostol′ic , -al .— ns. Apostol′icism , profe ion of apostolicity; Apostolic′ity , the quality of being apostolic— Apostles' creed , the oldest form of Christian creed that exists, early ascribed to the apostles, and indeed substantially, if not strictly, apostolic; Apostle spoons , silver spoons with handles ending in figures of the apostles, a common baptismal present in the 16th and 17th centuries; Apostles , Teaching of the Twelve —often called merely the Didachē (Gr. 'teaching')—the title of a treatise discovered in 1883 on Christian doctrine and government, closely connected with the last two books (vii.-viii.) of the Apostolic Constitutions .— Apostolic Constitutions and Canons , notes of ecclesiastical customs held to be apostolical, written in the form of apostolic precepts, and erroneously ascribed by tradition to Clement of Rome; Apostolic Fathers , the immediate disciples and fellow-labourers of the apostles, more especially those who have left writings behind them (Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp); Apostolic see , the see of Rome; Apostolic Vicar , the cardinal representing the Pope in extraordinary mi ions.— Apostolical succe ion , the derivation of holy orders by an a umed unbroken chain of transmi ion from the apostles through their natural succe ors, the bishops—the theory of the Catholic Church: the a umption that a ministry so ordained enjoy the succe ion of apostolic powers and privileges. [Gr.; one sent away, apo , away, stell-ein , to send.]