Apostolic Succession in the Porvoo Common Statement : Unity through a deeper sense of apostolicity

Sammanfattning: A number of ecumenical dialogues have identified apostolic succession as one of the most crucial issues on which the churches need to find a joint understanding in order to achieve the unity of the Church.When the Porvoo Common Statement (PCS) was published in 1993, it was regarded by some as an ecumenical breakthrough, because it claimed to have established visible and corporate unity between the Lutheran and Anglican churches of the Nordic-Baltic-British-Irish region through a joint understanding of ecclesiology and apostolic succession. The consensus has been achieved, according to the PCS, through a ‘deeper understanding’ that embraces the churches’ earlier diverse interpretations. In the international debate about the PCS, the claim of a ‘deeper understanding’ as a solution to earlier contradictory interpretations has been both praised and criticised, and has been seen as both possible and impossible.This thesis investigates how and why the PCS has been interpreted differently in various contexts, and discerns the arguments used for or against the ecclesiology presented in the PCS. Those arguments are then analysed historically and theologically in order to develop further the comprehension of the ‘deeper understanding’ presented in the PCS and, if possible, to develop the ecclesiology and the notion of apostolic succession described in the PCS.Finally, this study investigates how the PCS has been implemented in the churches that have signed the Porvoo Declaration and in the Porvoo Communion as a whole.