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Antonia,
First of all, legitimate is
really not the right term to be using.
This boils down to which churches
have valid Sacraments because they
have maintained Apostolic Succession versus those that haven't maintained it.
In other words, there are churches
that can trace their bishops back
to the original Apostles and have
done nothing to interrupt their succession. The
Sacrament of Holy Orders has never
been improperly administered in any
of these churches. In other words, the bishops were
all validly ordained.
Nothing was
done to the sacrament, like changing
the critical parts of the sacrament: the form (or words) and the matter.
Their bishops consecrating the new
bishops had the proper intention
to pass on what they had received
at ordination and, of course, they
had to believe in the sacrament of
Holy Orders.
All the Eastern Churches meet this
criteria. There are some other schismatic
churches, in the West, that also
fall into this category. By schismatic,
we mean that they are not in full
communion with the Bishop of Rome,
who is the Pope, the 365th successor
to St. Peter.
Then there are the Protestant ecclesial
communities. These include the:
- Anglicans
- Lutherans
- Presbyterians
- Methodist
- Baptists, and
- Church of Christ
just to name a few of about 35,000
different denominations and sects.
We really can't call them churches
because they no longer have Apostolic Succession. They deny Holy Orders
is a sacrament and they have interrupted
Apostolic Succession. Most,
if not, all have completely changed
the nature of the ceremony of ordination.
Most don't even believe anything
actually happens at ordination aside
for the help and blessing of God
to assist the minister in his preaching
of the Word.
Only some of the Anglicans believe
that the man becomes a priest, in
the sense Catholics or Orthodox
do. They believe their own sacraments (and they recognize only two sacraments, not seven) are nothing
more than a symbol.
Some Anglicans would like to think
they have retained a valid priesthood,
but they haven't.
Back when the schism happened, the
so-called Reformers in
their Episcopate declared that
Holy Orders was not a sacrament instituted
by Christ. They changed the form
and, now, matter with the supposed ordination of
women so these good-hearted Anglican
ministers mistakenly think they are
priests, when they are not.
So that's the difference between
the Churches that have maintained
their Apostolic Succession and those
other denominations that haven't.
John
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