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Katechismus Novoapoštolské církve (v angličtině)

7.6.1 The apostolate

The apostolate is defined by the ministries of Chief Apostle, District Apostle, and Apostle.

Together with the Apostles, the Chief Apostle leads the Church. The District Apostles are each responsible for one or more District Churches.

Already in the Catholic Apostolic Church there was a senior Apostle, who was also described as the "Pillar of the Apostles". Although the latter did not have any powers or authority surpassing that of the other Apostles–he remained the first among equals–his word had special weight in the Apostles' College.

The Apostles of the new order (see 11.3.1) at first worked in largely independent fashion in their assigned areas, however, they kept contact with one another in order to promote oneness. Toward the close of the nineteenth century, the ministerial term "Chief Apostle" [3] began to emerge as the designation for the individual who exercised the office of Peter in the New Apostolic Church.

[3] Up until the start of the twentieth century, the working area of each Apostle was designated by the name of one of the twelve tribes (German: Stamm) of Israel. From this, the designation Stammapostel (the German equivalent of "Chief Apostle") was derived.