A posterio´ri. See A priori.
Apos´tles (literally, persons sent out, from the Gr. apostellein, to send out), the twelve men whom Jesus selected to attend him during his ministry, and to promulgate his religion. Their names were as follows: Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother; James, and John his brother,
sons of Zebedee; Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew; James, the son of Alpheus; Lebbæus his brother, called Judas or Jude; Simon, the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot. To these were subsequently added Matthias (chosen by lot in place of Judas Iscariot) and Paul. The Bible gives the name of apostle to Barnabas also, who accompanied Paul on his missions (Acts, xiv, 14). In a wider sense those preachers who first taught Christianity in heathen countries are sometimes termed apostles; for example, St. Denis, the apostle of the Gauls; St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany; St. Augustine, the apostle of England; Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies; Adalbert of Prague, apostle of Prussia Proper. During the life of the Saviour the apostles more than once showed a misunderstanding of the object of His mission, and during His sufferings evinced little courage and firmness of friendship for their great and benevolent Teacher. After His death they received the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, that they might be enabled to fulfil the important duties for which they had been chosen. According to one interpretation of Matthew, xvi, 18, Christ seems to appoint St. Peter the first of the apostles; and the Pope claims supreme authority from the power which Christ thus gave to St. Peter, of whom all the Popes, according to the Catholic dogma, are successors in an uninterrupted line.
Apostles' Creed, a well-known formula or declaration of Christian belief, formerly believed to be the work of the apostles themselves, but it can only be traced to the fourth century. See Creed.
Apostol´ic, or Apostol´ical, pertaining or relating to the apostles.—Apostolic Church, the Church in the time of the apostles, constituted according to their design. The name is also given to the four churches of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and is claimed by the Roman Catholic Church, and occasionally by the Episcopalians.—Apostolic Constitutions and Canons, a collection of regulations attributed to the apostles, but generally supposed to be spurious. They appeared in the fourth century, are divided into eight books, and consist of rules and precepts relating to the duty of Christians, and particularly to the ceremonies and discipline of the Church.—Apostolic fathers, the Christian writers who during any part of their lives were contemporary with the apostles. There are five—Clement, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp.—Apostolic king, a title granted by the Pope to the kings of Hungary, first conferred on St. Stephen, the founder of the royal line of Hungary, on account of what he accomplished in the spread of Christianity.—Apostolic see, the see of the Popes or Bishops of Rome: so called because the Popes profess themselves the successors of St. Peter, its founder.—Apostolic succession, the uninterrupted succession of bishops, and, through them, of priests and deacons (these three orders of ministers being called the apostolical orders), in the Church by regular ordination from the first apostles down to the present day. All Episcopal churches hold theoretically, and the Roman Catholic Church and many members of the English Church strictly, that such succession is essential to the officiating priest, in order that grace may be communicated through his administrations.
Apostol´ics, Apostolici, or Apostolic Brethren, the name given to certain sects who professed to imitate the manners and practice of the apostles. The last and most important of these sects was founded about 1260 by Gerhard Segarelli of Parma. They went barefooted, begging, preaching, and singing throughout Italy, Switzerland, and France; announced the coming of the kingdom of heaven and of purer times; denounced the papacy, and its corrupt and worldly church; and inculcated the complete renunciation of all worldly ties, of property, settled abode, marriage, &c. This society was formally abolished, 1286, by Honorius IV. In 1300 Segarelli was burned as a heretic, but another chief apostle appeared—Dolcino, a learned man of Milan. In self-defence they stationed themselves in fortified places whence they might resist attacks. After having devastated a large tract of country belonging to Milan they were subdued, A.D. 1307, by the troops of Bishop Raynerius, in their fortress Zebello, in Vercelli, and almost all destroyed. Dolcino was burned. The survivors afterwards appeared in Lombardy and in the south of France as late as 1368.
Apo´strŏphē (Gr., 'a turning away from'), a rhetorical figure by which the orator changes the course of his speech, and makes a short impassioned address to one absent as if he were present, or to things without life and sense as if they had life and sense. The same term is also applied to a comma when used to contract a word, or to mark the possessive case, as in 'John's book'.
Apothecaries' weight, the weight used in dispensing drugs, in which the pound (lb.) is divided into 12 ounces (
