Why did the aposltes die out? (Asking catholics)?

Question

i'm really curious about this one, so don't get offended, just answer my question.

the organization of the catholic church is really not found in any of the scriptures that i have read. why did it change from the leadership of the apostles, and the seven men who were chosen to assist them? We have an account of an apostle being chosen to replace judas. (acts 1:23-26) In this account christ was not the one who "chose" Matthias directly, rather two qualified (i'm assuming) men were chosen by the existing eleven apostles and then lots were cast to see which one would fill the emply spot. why was this not continued every time an apostle died?

then why are the bishops not called apostles? why change the name if they already have a perfectly good one?

Answer 1

Most of the Apostles died of martyrdom. John is the only one that we know died of old age.

But the first Apostles passed their office of church leadership onto other men by ordination and the laying on of hands.

Today this unbroken chain of leaders are called bishops.

We call this apostolic succession.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Okay, as mentioned, the apostolic succession of the bishops comes through the ordination process set forth in Acts 1:46. You are also assuming the Holy Spirit is uninvolved in the selection of bishops and so Matthias was not chosen by God in your thinking.

Second, the word bishop is a contraction. It started out in scripture in Greek as episcopos, English made it sound like ebiscopus and gradually bishop. The same think happened with the English word priest. It was presbyter, to prester, to priester to priest. The change in names has more to do with the nature of English than anything else.

They are referred to as apostles in a variety of ways. When one gives a blessing it is referred to as their apostolic blessing, for example. It is the New Testament writers who used both apostle and episkopos in interchangable ways. It is important to remember that neither apostle nor bishop are titles in Greek.

The early Church had several groupings of ministries you can find beyond both apostle and deacon. The presbyter is a distinct ministery inferior and in support of the bishop or apostle. Virgin men and women as well as widows served in what are now monks and nuns. You see informal ministries as well if you pay close attention.

It wasn't based upon the death of the twelve, but rather upon the living needs of the church. Having only twelve leaders worldwide, instead of the several thousand Catholic and Orthodox bishops we do have would strain the resources of the Church. The bishop was viewed as the living link between Jesus and the Church and between each community with one another. All Christians were to be linked through their bishop. If you read Ignatius of Antioch, who was trained by Peter and John you can read how the apostles intended the Church to work.

Answer 3

I don't understand your question. You start out saying that "the organization of the catholic church is really not found in any of the scriptures that i have read", but then point out an account of Apostolic Succession in action!

>>why was this not continued every time an apostle died?<<

According to Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, it was continued. Our bishops today are successors of the Apostles.

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The Apostles were the original 12 hand-picked by Jesus Himself. The bishops today are called "successors of the Apostles". Here's the etymology of the word "bishop': "Middle English bisshop, from Old English bisceop, from Late Latin episcopus, from Greek episkopos, literally, overseer, from epi- + skeptesthai to look"

Answer 4

The History of the Roman Catholic Church covers a period of just under two thousand years, making the Church one of the oldest religious institutions in history. As one of the oldest branches of Christianity (the Eastern Orthodox and some other churches are also "apostolic" in origin -- i.e., they also date their origins back to the founding of the Christian Church at the time of the Apostles), the history of the Roman Catholic Church plays an integral part of the History of Christianity as a whole. For the sake of simplicity, the term "Catholic Church" as it is used in this article refers specifically to the Catholic Church founded in Rome, and presided over by their governing Bishop, commonly known as the Pope.

The history of the Catholic Church is vast and complex, covering many different eras in which the Church was a key influence in the course of European and world civilization. Yet, the Catholic Church is basically unchanged in its substantial teachings and organisation since the dawn of the Christian era in the first century.

Over time, schisms have disrupted the unity of Christianity. The two largest of these involved the separation from the Catholic Church of Orthodox Christianity the (East-West Schism) and Protestantism (the Reformation) respectively. The Catholic Church has been the moving force in some of the major events of world history including the Evangelization of Europe and Latin America, the spreading of literacy and the foundation of the Universities, hospitals, monasticism, the development of Art, Music and Architecture, the Inquisition, the Crusades, an analytical philosophical method, and the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 20th century.
The Catholic Church's institutional basis is the the person and teachings of Jesus as described in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These describe Jesus as an observant Jewish carpenter from the region of Galilee, who was both the promised Messiah or anointed one (Christos in Greek, giving rise to the title Jesus Christ) and son of God, in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Catholicism thus considers itself a successor religion to Judaism with the Christian God and the God of the Jews seen as one and the same.
To Simon Peter, Jesus had earlier stated that he would entrust to him the keys to Heaven and that upon the "rock" (Latin Petrus) of Peter he would found his Church. The Catholic Church sees its history as beginning at this point, with the Pope as the successor of Saint Peter.

The office of universal ecclesiastical history is, as its name implies, to exhibit a well-balanced description of all phases of ecclesiastical life. The investigation and treatment of the various phenomena in the life of the Church furnish the material of which universal church history is built. It must first treat of the one true Church which from the time of the Apostles, by its uninterrupted existence and its unique attributes, has proved itself that Christian association which is alone in full possession of revealed truth: the Catholic Church. It must, moreover, deal with those other religious associations which claim to be the Church of Christ, but in reality originated through separation from the true Church. The Catholic historian does not admit that the various forms of the Christian religion may be taken, roughly speaking, as a connected whole, nor does he consider them one and all as so many imperfect attempts to adapt the teachings and institutions of Christ to the changing needs of the times, nor as progressive steps towards a future higher unity wherein alone we must seek the perfect ideal of Christianity. There is but one Divine revelation given us by Christ, but one ecclesiastical tradition based on it; hence one only Church can be the true one, i. e. the Church in which the aforesaid revelation is found in its entirety, and whose institutions have developed on the basis of this revelation and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To assume equality among the various forms of the Christian religion would be equivalent to a denial of the Divine origin and supernatural character of the Church.

While, however, the Catholic Church is the central subject of universal ecclesiastical history, all other forms of the Christian religion must also be considered by it, for they originated by secession from the true Church, and their founders, in so far as each form can be traced back to a founder, were externally members of the Church. Some of these separated bodies still retain among their institutions certain ecclesiastical forms which were in common use at the time of their separation from the Church, wherefore a knowledge of such institutions is of no little use to students of ecclesiastical conditions previous to the separation. This is true in a special manner of the Oriental Christian communities, their liturgy and discipline. Moreover, such schismatic bodies became, as a rule, the bitterest enemies of the Church; they harassed and persecuted its faithful adherents and endeavoured in every way to induce them also to secede. New doctrinal discussions arose as a result of these secessions, ending usually in fuller and more exact statements of Christian teaching, and new methods had to be adopted to nullify the attacks made by apostates on the Catholic Faith. In this way non-Catholic communities have often indirectly influenced the development of the interior life of the Church and the growth of new institutions.

The vast material which, from these points of view, a universal history of the Church must treat, calls of course for methodical arrangement. Ecclesiastical history has generally been divided into three chief periods, each of which is subdivided into shorter epochs characterized by changes of a less universal nature.

Source(s):

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Catholic encyclopedia