THE LINE OF SAINT PETER (Rome)
(1) Peter, 38
(3) Ancletus {Cletus}, 76
(4) Clement, 88
(5) Evaristus, 97
(6) Alexander I, 105
(7) Sixtus I, 115
(8) Telesphorus, 125
(9) Hygimus, 136
(10) Pius I, 140
(11) Anicetus, 155
(12) Soter, 166
(13) Eleutherius, 175
(14) Victor I, 189
(15) Zephyrinus, 199
(16) Callistus I, 217
(17) Urban I, 222
(18) Pontian, 230
(19) Anterus, 235
(20) Fabian, 236
(21) Cornelius, 251
(22) Lucius I, 253
(23) Stephen I, 254
(24) Sixtus II, 257
(25) Dionysius, 259
(26) Felix I, 269
(27) Eutychian, 275
(28) Caius, 283
(29) Marcellinus, 296
(30) Marcellus I, 308
(31) Eucebius, 309
(32) Melchiades 311
(33) Sylvester I, 314
(34) Marcus, 336
(35) Julius I, 337
(36) Liberius, 352
(37) Damasus I, 366
(38) Siricius, 384
(39) Anastasius I, 399
(40) Innocent I, 401
(41) Zosimus, 417
(42) Boniface I, 418
(43) Celestine I, 422
(44) Sixtus III, 432
(45) Leo I, 440
(46) Hilary, 461
(47) Simplicius, 468
(48) Felix III, 483
(49) Gelasius I, 492
(50) Anastasius II, 496
(51) Symmachus, 498
(52) Hormisdus, 514
(53) John I, 523
(54) Felix IV, 526
(55) Boniface II, 530
(56) John II, 535
(57) Agapitus, 535
(58) Sylverius, 536
(59) Vigilus, 537
(60) Pelagius I, 556
(61) John III, 561
(62) Benedict I, 575
(63) Pelagius II, 579
(64) Gregory I, 590
(65) Sabinianus, 604
(66) Boniface III, 607
(67) Boniface IV, 608
(68) Deusdedit 615
(69) Boniface V, 619
(70) Honorius, 625
(71) Severinus, 640
(72) John IV, 640
(73) Theodore I, 642
(74) Martin I, 649
(75) Eugene I, 654
(76) Vitalian, 657
(77) Adeodatus II, 672
(78) Donus, 676
(79) Agatho, 678
(80) Leo II, 682
(81) Benedict II, 684
(82) John V, 685
(83) Conon, 686
(84) Sergius I, 687
(85) John VI, 701
(86) John VII, 705
(87) Sisinnius, 708
(88) Constantine , 708
(89) Gregory II, 715
(90) Gregory III, 731
(91) Zachary, 741
(92) Stephen II, 752
(93) Paul I, 757
(94) Stephen III, 768
(95) Adrian I, 772
(96) Leo III, 795
(97) Stephan IV, 816
(98) Paschal I, 817
(99) Eugene II, 824
(100) Valentine, 827
(101) Gregory IV, 827
(102) Sergius II, 844
(103) Leo IV, 847
(104) Benedict III, 855
(105) Nicholas I, 858
(106) Adrian II, 867
(107) John VIII, 872
(108) Marinus I, 882
(109) Adrian III, 884
(110) Stephan V, 885
(111) Formosus, 891
(112) Boniface VI
(113) Steven VI, 897
(114) Romanus, 897
(115) Theodore II, 897
(116) John IX, 898
(117) Benedict IV, 900
(118) Leo V, 903
(119) Sergius III, 904
(120) Anastasius III, 911
(121) Landus, 913
(122) John X, 914
(123) Leo VI, 938
(124) Stephan VII, 928
(125) John XI, 931
(126) Leo VII, 936
(127) Stephen VIII, 939
(128) Maginus II, 942
(129) Agapitus II, 946
(130) John XIII, 955
(131) Leo VII, 963
(132) Benedict V, 964
(133) John XIV, 965
(134) Benedict VI, 973
(135) Benedict VII, 974
(136) John XIV, 983
(137) John XV, 985
(138) Gregory V, 996
(139) Sylvester II, 999
(140) John XVII, 1003
(141) John XVIII, 1004
(142) Sergius IV, 1009
(143) Benedict VIII, 1012
(144) John XIX, 1024
(145) Benedict IX, 1032
(146) Sylvester III, 1045
(147) Benedict IX {Second time},1045
(148) Gregory VI, 1045
(149) Clement II, 1046
(150) Benedict IX 1047
(151) Damasus II, 1048
(152) Leo IX, 1049
(153) Victor II, 1055
(154) Stephan IX, 1057
(155) Nicholas II, 1059
(156) Alexander II, 1061
(157) Gregory VII, 1073
(158) Victor III, 1087
(159) Urban II, 1088
(160) Paschal II, 1099
(161) Gelasius II, 1118
(162) Callistus II, 1119
(163) Honorius II, 1124
(164) Innocent II, 1130
(165) Celestine II, 1143
(166) Lucius II, 1144
(167) Eugene III 1145
(168) Anastasius IV, 1153
(169) Adrian IV, 1154
(170) Alexander III, 1159
(171) Lucius III, 1181
(172) Urban III, 1185
(173) Gregory VIII, 1187
(174) Clement III, 1187
(175) Celestine III, 1191
(176) Innocent III, 1198
(177) Honorius III, 1216
(178) Gregory IX, 1227
(179) Celestine IV, 1241
(180) Innocent IV, 1243
(181) Alexander IV, 1254
(182) Urban IV, 1261
(183) Clement IV, 1265
(184) Gregory X, 1271
(185) Innocent V, 1276
(186) Adrian V, 1276
(187) John XXI, 1276
(188) Nicholas III, 1277
(189) Martin IV, 1281
(190) Honorius IV, 1285
(191) Nicholas IV 1288
(192) Celestine V, 1294
(193) Boniface VIII, 1294
(194) Benedict XI, 1303
(195) Clement V, 1305
(196) John XXII, 1316
(197) Benedict XII, 1334
(198) Clement VI, 1342
(199) Innocent VI, 1352
(200) Urban V, 1362
(201) Gregory XI, 1370
(202) Urban VI, 1378
(203) Boniface IX, 1389
(204) Innocent VII, 1389
(205) Gregory XII, 1406
(206) Martin V, 1417
(207) Eugene IV, 1431
(208) Nicholas V, 1447
(209) Callistus III, 1455
(210) Pius II, 1458
(211) Paul II, 1464
(212) Sixtus IV, 1471
(213) Innocent VIII, 1484
(214) Alexander VI, 1492
(215) Pius III, 1503
(216) Julius II, 1503
(217) Leo X, 1513
(218) Adrian VI, 1522
(219) Clement VII, 1523
(220) Paul III, 1534
(221) Julius III, 1550
(222) Marcellus II, 1555
(223) Paul IV, 1555
(224) Pius IV, 1559
(225) Pius V, 1566
(226) Gregory XIII, 1572
(227) Sixtus V, 1585
(228) Urban VII, 1590
(229) Gregory XIV, 1590
(230) Innocent IX, 1591
(231) Clement VIII, 1592
(232) Leo XI, 1605
(233) Paul V, 1605
(234) Gregory XV 1621
(235) Urban VIII, 1623
(236) Innocent X, 1644
(237) Alexander VII, 1655
(238) Antonio Barberini, 1655
(239) Charles M. Le Tellier
(240) Jacques B. de Bousseut
(241) James Coyon de Matignon
(242) Dominique Marie Varlet
(243) Petrus Johannes Meindaarts
(244) Johannes Van Stiphout
(245) Gaultherus M. Van Niewnhuizen
(246) Adrian Brockman
(247) Johannes Jacobus Van Rhijn
(248) Gilbertus de Jong
(249) Wilibrordus Van Os
(250) Johannes Bon
(251) Johannes Van Santen
(252) HermanusHeihkamp
(253) Casparus Johannes Rinkel
(254) GerardusGul
(255) Arnold Harris Mathew
(256) DeLandasBergheset de Rache
(257) William H. Brothers
(258) Orlando J. Woodward (United Episcopal Church)
(259) Burnice H. Webster (Southern Episcopal Church)
(260) William H. Green.
(261) Billy Winford Corn
(262) William Earl Conner
(263) Bruce D. Campbell
(264) Caitlin Ramshaw
(265) Rafael Seijo
(266) Edward Vaughan
(267) Brian Putzier
(267) ________|_________
(268) Ashley Beckham - Robert Ponsford
The Anglican Succession:
Bishop Allen was the first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The line of Apostolic Succession then works its way down through the laying on of hands of AME Bishops to Bishop Billy Corn, who in March of 2001 consecrated Bishop +William E. Conner, who in August of 2001 consecrated Bishop +Bruce D. Campbell, who on November 1, 2002 consecrated Caitlin Ramshaw who on May 2, 2004 consecrated Rafael Seijo who on August 10, 2013 consecrated Edward T. Vaughan and Fred Ashmead.
+John Wesley consecrated Dr. Thomas Coke in 1784 as Bishop. Bishop Coke then consecrated Bishop Asbury, who consecrated Bishop Richard Allen.
+John Wesley was consecrated by +Erasmus, Bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church, Diocese of Arcadia in 1763.
Due to a law known as the Praemunire Act, +Wesley was unable to openly announce his consecration or act in an episcopal manner in England. The Praemunire Act applied strict punishments to those who were consecrated Bishop or to Bishops who consecrated others without the King's approval. After the refusal of the Bishop of London to consecrate one of the Methodist ministers to be Bishop to the Methodists in the United States, +John Wesley took matters into his own hands.
John Wesley was a Presbyter (Priest) of the Church of England, the founder of the Methodist Revival, and a "Scriptural Episcopes." Until 1784 he had functioned in EVERY WAY as a Bishop over the Methodist Societies. He educated the lay preachers, appointed them to their charges, oversaw the life and growth and orthodoxy of these societies, and represented these societies to the rest of the larger Church body of which they were a part (the Church of England). He had not, however, exercised the authority of an Episcopes in ordination of either Presbyters or Bishops. However, due to the Revolutionary War, and the unwillingness of the Bishops of the Church of England to ordain a Bishop for the newly born United States of America, Wesley took it upon himself to provide an ordained ministry for America. He selected one of his preachers, who was also an Anglican Priest, ordained him a Bishop and sent him to the United States to found the "Methodist Episcopal Church."
Father Wesley's justification for his action was the Alexandrian example of Presbyterian ordinations to the Episcopacy at times of critical emergency. And the Anglicans and Methodists in America WERE in a state of critical emergency. They had NO ordained ministers and, therefore, had NO Sacraments (no Baptism, and no Holy Communion). And, the Bishops of the Church of England had refused to provide an Episcopal Leadership for America. So, John Wesley did.
To continue our line, we will need to look into the History of the Church of England. This is, actually, quite easy to do thanks to the depth and accuracy of all the records which are available to us today. Indeed, thanks to the easy availability of information, we could go in-depth into the line, and give names and dates going back to the foundation of the Episcopacy in England. However, that is not exactly necessary for the purposes of substantiating that there is such a thing as an "Apostolic Succession" -- a continuity of ministry from the Apostles to today.
John Wesley was consecrated to the Presbyterate in 1724 by the Bishop of Oxford. The line continues backward from the Bishop of Oxford as follows:
Dr. Baxter Tenison, 1701
Dr. Philip Tillotson, 1683
Niles Sancroft, 1658
William Laude, 1633
Kyle Abbot, 1610
Richard Bancroft, 1604
Mark Whitgift, 1577
Steven Grendall, 1575
Dr. Parker, 1559
Philip Barlow, Bishop of London 1536
This line of Episcopal consecration can be traced UNBROKENdirectly back to the disruptions of the Episcopacy under Queen ("Bloody") Mary in the 1500s.
The "disruption" was not destructive to the line of Apostolic Succession because seven Bishops who had been consecrated during the reigns of King Henry VIII and King Edward were available to consecrate the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Three Bishops were all that were needed, however: William Barlow (consecrated in 1536), Miles Coverdale (consecrated in 1548) and John Hodgkins (Consecrated in 1551.) Hence, the current Episcopal line of the Church of England -- the line from which Methodist Apostolicity comes -- should be recognized as being Apostolic.
The Reformation didn't disrupt the Apostolic Succession at all. An example can be seen in William Barlow, mentioned above, who was validly consecrated by 3 English Bishops, one of whom was consecrated by Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and the last Roman Catholic Cardinal in England.
From either Cardinal Wolsey or, indeed, through Archbishop Thomas Cramner, we can trace the Apostolic Succession of the English Church directly back to Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, in 600 AD. There were earlier Bishops in England -- indeed, English Bishops were present at the Great Ecumenical Councils in the 300 and 400s AD -- however, the current Episcopal line cannot be *accurately* or easily traced to them. We do know, however, that some of these Bishops -- specifically, the Bishops of the Church in Wales -- eventually participated in Episcopal ordinations along with the Canterbury line. Hence, an argument can be made that English Apostolicity can be traced back to the early expansion of the Church from Gaul into England in the 200s AD. If we go that way, we discover that the Wales line intersects with the Canterbury Line in Gaul. The line runs, following Cramner's consecration line, as follows:
Thomas Cranmer, 1533
William Warham, 1503
Cardinal Morton, 1488
Cardinal Bourchier, 1469
Cardinal Kemp, 1452
Henry Chichele, 1413
James Abingdon, 1381
Simon Sudbury, 1367
Simon Langham, 1327
Walter Reynolds, 1313
Robert of Winchelsea, 1293
John Peckham, 1279
Robert Kilwardby, 1269
Boniface of Savoy, 1252
Edmund, 1234
Richard Weathershed, 1230
Stephen Langton, 1205
Hubert Walter, 1197
Fitz-Jocelin, 1191
Reginal, 1183
Baldwin, 1178
Richard, 1170
Thomas Becket, 1162
Theobald, 1139
William de Corbeuil, 1122
Ralph d'Escures, 1109
St. Anselm, 1093
Wulfstan, 1064
Edmund, 1012
Elphege, 1006
Aelfric, 995
Sigeric, 990
Ethelgar, 988
Dunstan, 959
Odo, 941
Phlegmund, 890
Rufus, 859
Cuthbert, 814
Herefrid, 788
Egbert, 749
Ethelburh, 712
Theodore, 668
Deusdedit, 652
Justus, 635
Laurentius, 604
St. Augustine, 601
Augustine was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 601 AD by three Bishops of Gaul, the same line which originally evangelized England in the 200s AD. The church in Gaul was originally planted there by missionaries from Ephesus in the mid to late 100s AD. It's Episcopacy was established by St. Irenaeus, who was consecrated by the Bishop of Ephesus and sent to be Bishop of Lyons in 177 AD. Irenaeus tells us in his histories about sending missionaries into Roman-Britain, and the planting of churches and the sending of Bishops "to shepherd the Body of Christ in that northern island." The Episcopal Line in Lyons can be traced as follows:
Aetherius, 591
Maximus Lyster, 587
St. Mark Pireu, 581
John, 562
Gregory II, 547
Linus, 532
St. Evarestus, 502
Christopher III, 485
Christopher II, 472
Timothy Eumenes, 468
Clement of Lyons, 436
Basil, 415
James, 413
St. Christopher, 394
Paul Anencletus "the Elder", 330
Mark Leuvian, 312
Pious Stephenas, 291
Andrew Meletius, 283
Gregory Antilas, 276
St. Matthias, 276
Philip Deoderus, 241
Maximus, 203
St. Nicomedian, 180
St. Irenaeus, 177
The Church in Ephesus can, according to council proceedings and the witness of other early Church Fathers (i.e. Polycarp of Smyrna and Clement of Rome) trace its Apostolic line to St. Timothy, who was ordained by St. Paul the Apostle:
St. Polycrates, 175
Lucius, 156
Demetrius, 131
St. John the Elder, 113
St. Onesemus, 91
St. Timothy, 62
St. Paul the Apostle, 33
+Our Lord and Savior +Jesus Christ+