APOSTLES' CREED, see Creed.

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. "The line in which the ministry of the Church is handed on from age to age by the laying on of hands by Bishops; the corporate lineage of the Christian clergy, just as in the Jewish Church there was a family lineage. The Church of England maintains the Apostolical Succession in the preface to her Ordination Service. Those are said to be in Apostolical Succession who have been sent to labour in the Lord's vineyard by Bishops, who were consecrated by other Bishops, who, in their turn, were consecrated by others, until the derived authority is traced to the Apostles, and through them to the great Head of the Church. The Apostolical Succession of the Ministry is essential to the right administration of the Sacraments. The clergy of the Church of England can trace their connexion with the Apostles by links in the long chain, not one of which is wanting, from the times of St. Paul and St. Peter to our own." (Hook's Church Dictionary.)

APPROPRIATION. In pre-Reformation times. Monasteries, and other spiritual corporations, frequently annexed to themselves benefices, placing in them some clergyman, who was called a Vicar, to do the work of the place, for which they allowed him a certain sum out of the income they had appropriated. At the Reformation, the Monasteries, and religious houses were put down, and their property distributed among the favourites of Henry VIII., and so the patronage and major part of the income of these appropriated benefices came into the hands of laymen. Thus, at the present day, a great number of our nobility and landed gentry are drawing large incomes from land, which is, in all right, the property of the Church, while the clergy who do the work of the Church receive a miserable pittance out of what was once their own. Laymen drawing these incomes, "great-tithes," as they are called, are named Lay-Rectors. A benefice in the hands of a layman is termed, not an Appropriation, but an Impropriation.

APSE or APSIS. A semi-circular, or polyhedral termination of the chancel. This style of Church building, although common in the East, has not been in use since the 13th century in England until quite the last few years. Mr. Street, the Architect of the Law Courts, built many churches in this style. In churches of this kind the altar should not be placed against the East wall, but upon the chord of the arc, as in the ancient Basilicas.

ARCHBISHOP. An Archbishop does not differ from a Bishop in order, but only in degree. Like a Bishop he has his own diocese, but besides that he is the chief of the clergy of a whole province. This, however, is not always the case in the Roman and Eastern churches. To him all appeals are made from inferior jurisdictions within his province. He also, upon the King's writ, calls the Bishops and clergy within his province to meet in Convocation.

ARCHDEACON. As each province is divided into dioceses, severally presided over by a Bishop, so each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, consisting of a certain number of parishes. Over each archdeaconry one of the clergy, a priest, sometimes a bishop, is appointed to preside in subordination to the Bishop of the diocese. The office dates back to very early times. In England the dioceses were divided into archdeaconries about the time of the Norman Conquest.

ARCHES, COURT OF. An ancient court of appeal, belonging to the
Archbishop of Canterbury. The judge of it is called the Dean of
Arches, because he anciently held his court in the Church of St.
Mary-le-Bow (Sancta Maria de Arcubus). (See Ecclesiastical
Courts.)

ARCHITECTURE. The principal styles of English Architecture are:

Norman, 1066 to 1154. Round-headed doorways, windows and arches, heavy pillars and zig-zag ornaments. The Nave of Rochester Cathedral is a good example. From 1154 to 1189 this style underwent a Transition, the rounded arches becoming pointed, as in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral.

Early English, 1189 to 1272. Narrow, pointed windows, lancet-shaped; clustered pillars. Example, the choir, Westminster Abbey, or Salisbury Cathedral. 1272 to 1307 was another Transition period, tracery being introduced into the windows, as at the east end of Lincoln Cathedral.