THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION - HCCAR

Apostolic Succession means the historical succession of apostolic men, who generation after generation have continued building up the church and preserved the transmission of authority. Tertullian challenges heretics to trace back the origin of their churches to the Apostles:

If any dare to connect themselves with the Apostolic age that they appear to have descended from the Apostles because they have been under the rule of the Apostles, we can say, Let them declare the origins of their Churches, let them unfold the succession of their bishops, so coming down from the beginning with continuous steps that the first bishop may have had as his consecrator and predecessor one of the Apostles, or of the Apostolic men who remained in the communion of Apostles (Tertullian De praescriptione haereticorum Prescription against heretics #32)