Interrelation of church offices with the Smith family
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Lineal succession was a doctrine of the Latter Day Saint movement, whereby certain key church positions were held by right of lineal inheritance. Though lineal succession is now largely abandoned, the offices connected with the practice were the President of the Church and the Presiding Patriarch.
Latter Day Saint scripture teaches that a person may also be called through their lineage, so that they have a legal right to a priesthood office. The Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) teaches that descendants of Aaron have legal right to the priesthood: "And if they be literal descendants of Aaron, they have a legal right to the bishopric, if they are the firstborn among the sons of Aaron." [1] In a revelation recorded by Joseph Smith, recorded in the D&C, he was promised his lineage would have the priesthood: "Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." [2] [3]
One who has the right and calling to hold these positions through lineage must still be ordained by the church hierarchy before officiating in the office.
During his lifetime, Smith was president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At the time of Smith's death in 1844, most Latter Day Saints agreed that his older brother, Hyrum, would have been Smith's successor, had he not also been killed. Another likely successor was Smith's younger brother, Samuel, who died less than one month later. A few asserted that the last surviving Smith brother, William, should become church president, and William made that claim for a time and gathered a small faction of followers around him.
Many Latter Day Saints believed that a son of Joseph Smith should be the successor to the church presidency. Several prominent leaders asserted that a patriarchal blessing given to Smith's eldest son, Joseph Smith III, designated the boy to succeed his father. However, at the time of his father's death, Joseph III was only 11 years old.
As a result, many leaders arose who either argued against lineal succession or suggested that the church would have to wait for Joseph Smith III to mature. This created what is known as the succession crisis. The largest group, led by Brigham Young, were proponents of a system whereby the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles would succeed to the church presidency, absent any lineal succession. This system of apostolic succession continues in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). [4]
Other Latter Day Saints living in the Midwest United States continued to support lineal succession and in 1860, they invited Joseph Smith III to become president of what would later be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), known today as Community of Christ. This church continued to appoint presidents who were patrilineal descendants of Joseph Smith until 1996, when Wallace B. Smith (a great-grandson of the Latter Day Saint founder) designated W. Grant McMurray (who was unrelated to the Smiths) as his successor. Abandonment of lineal succession by the RLDS Church was a factor that caused a schism and foundation of several small Latter Day Saint churches, including the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which accepted Frederick Niels Larsen (a grandson of Frederick M. Smith through his daughter Lois) as its Prophet–President.
Most Latter Day Saints originally believed that the Presiding Patriarch of the church should be transmitted by lineal succession. The first Presiding Patriarch, Joseph Smith, Sr., was the father of the founding prophet. On his death bed, Joseph Sr. appointed his eldest living son, Hyrum Smith, Presiding Patriarch "by right" of inheritance. When Hyrum was killed in 1844, his youngest brother, William, became Presiding Patriarch. William broke with Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in part over the office. William asserted that the Presiding Patriarch's title was "Patriarch over the Church" and Young argued for the less grand "Patriarch to the Church." William was later excommunicated by Young's faction, which became the LDS Church. William joined with James J. Strang, a rival claimant for the church presidency. Breaking with the Strangites, William eventually joined his nephew, Joseph Smith III, and the RLDS Church. William petitioned Joseph III to restore him to the office of Presiding Patriarch of the RLDS Church, but the re-appointment never occurred.
After William's death, Joseph Smith III reinstituted the office of Presiding Patriarch, appointing his brother Alexander Hale Smith to the office. Thereafter, the office of Presiding Patriarch in the RLDS Church remained within the Smith family and was passed by lineal succession until 1958. In that year, W. Wallace Smith ended the tradition by calling Roy Cheville as Presiding Patriarch. Today, Presiding Patriarchs of what is now the Community of Christ are known as "Presiding Evangelists."
After William Smith was excommunicated by Brigham Young, "Uncle" John Smith (brother of Joseph Smith, Sr.) was appointed by Young to be Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. After the death of that John Smith, another John Smith (a son of Hyrum Smith) became Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. Thereafter, the majority of the Presiding Patriarchs of the LDS Church were descendants of Hyrum, in keeping with the tradition of lineal succession. The LDS Church ceased to include Presiding Patriarchs in its hierarchy after 1979, when Eldred G. Smith was released from official duties and designated as emeritus.
In the LDS Church, some leaders have regarded the office of apostle as one that may be transmitted by lineal succession, though such a practice has never been formalized in the church. The following father–son apostle combinations have existed in the LDS Church:
Additionally, the following grandfather–grandson apostle combinations have existed:
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In the Latter Day Saint movement, an evangelist is an ordained office of the ministry. In some denominations of the movement, an evangelist is referred to as a patriarch. However, the latter term was deprecated by the Community of Christ after the church began ordaining women to the priesthood. Other denominations, such as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), have an evangelist position independent of the original "patriarch" office instituted movement founder Joseph Smith.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Several other titles have been associated with this office, including First Elder of the church, Presiding High Priest, President of the High Priesthood, Trustee-in-Trust for the church, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator. Joseph Smith was known by all of these titles in his lifetime.
Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the nephew of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and was the last president of the LDS Church to have known him personally.
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, and was killed with his brother at Carthage Jail where they were being held awaiting trial.
George Franklin Richards was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 9, 1906, until his death. He also served as Acting Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church from 1937 to 1942 and President of the Quorum of the Twelve from May 25, 1945, until his death.
Hyrum Mack Smith was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
William Marks was a leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement and was a member of the First Presidency in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Marks is mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants in sections 117 and 124 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edition and in section 115 of the Community of Christ edition.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, patriarch is an office of the priesthood. It is considered to be either an office of the patriarchal priesthood or the Melchizedek priesthood.
Alexander Hale Smith was the third surviving son of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith. Smith was born in Far West, Missouri, and was named after Alexander Doniphan, who had once refused an order to execute Joseph Smith, then had acted as Joseph's defense attorney during Joseph's incarceration at Liberty Jail. Alexander Smith eventually became a senior leader of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Smith served as an apostle and as Presiding Patriarch of the church. He became religiously inclined after the April 1862 death of his older brother Frederick G. W. Smith, who had not been baptized, and was baptized on May 25, 1862, in Nauvoo, Illinois, by another older brother, Joseph Smith III.
William Smith was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Smith was the eighth child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith and was a younger brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Presiding Patriarch is a church-wide leadership office within the priesthood. Among the duties of the Presiding Patriarch are to preside in council meetings, ordain other patriarchs, and administer patriarchal blessings.
The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the death of Joseph Smith, the movement's founder, on June 27, 1844.
John Smith, was the fifth Presiding Patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father was Hyrum Smith, the older brother of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Having served for 56 years, he was the longest serving Presiding Patriarch in the history of the LDS Church. Smith traveled west to Winter Quarters and then Salt Lake City with the Mormon pioneers. He traveled with Heber C. Kimball's party and his step-mother Mary Fielding Smith. Smith joined the "Battalion of Life Guards" to protect the Latter-day Saints from Native Americans.
The history of Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, covers a period of approximately 200 years. The church's early history traces to the "grove experience" of Joseph Smith, who prayed in the woods near his home in Palmyra, New York, in the early-19th century. Several accounts of this experience have surfaced over the years. Most of the accounts share a common narrative indicating that when he went to the woods to pray, he experienced a period of encountering evil or despair, but then experienced an epiphany or vision in which he came to know and understand God's goodness. Later, as an adult, Smith founded the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830.
Hyrum Gibbs Smith was Presiding Patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1912 until his death.
Assistant President of the Church was a position in the leadership hierarchy in the early days of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. The Assistant President was the second-highest authority in the church and was a member of the church's governing First Presidency. As President of the Church, Smith appointed two men to serve in the position of Assistant President. After Smith's death, most Latter Day Saint denominations discontinued the position of Assistant President of the Church.
The President of the Church is the highest office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, the church's founder. The President of the LDS Church is the church's leader and the head of the First Presidency, the church's highest governing body. Latter-day Saints consider the president of the church to be a "prophet, seer, and revelator" and refer to him as "the Prophet", a title that was originally given to Smith. When the name of the president is used by adherents, it is usually prefaced by the title "President". Russell M. Nelson has been the president since January 14, 2018.
Originally, the office of Presiding Patriarch was one of the highest and most important offices of the church's priesthood. When a Presiding Patriarch has existed, the church has sustained the person as a prophet, seer, and revelator. In the history of the LDS Church, there have been eight Presiding Patriarchs, three Acting Presiding Patriarchs, and one Patriarch Emeritus.
Apostolic succession in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the process of transition to a new church president when the preceding one has died.
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