songs between the acts: the begats

i try to be a minimalist, so i've never bought a copy, but my little branch of the one holy catholic and apostolic church publishes my pedigree. it lists my consecrating bishop richard's chief consecrator, and his chief consecrator adrian's chief consecrator, and so on all the way back to peter in antioch. peter was martyred in rome, and he may have been the bishop of rome, but he almost certainly was the bishop of antioch, and his chair is there to prove it. when each year in mid-january even the roman church celebrates the feast of peter's chair, it his chair in antioch that is remembered.

this is one of the meanings of apostolic succession: the physical reception of the power of the holy spirit to perform the office of a bishop by the laying-on-of-hands of previously consecrated bishops. there is another part, the nature of which can be a bit mor controversial: the passing on, the tradition, of the faith and teaching of the apostles. one of the specific parts of the teaching i received was the liturgy of sts. addai (thaddeus in the new testament) and mari (addai's barnabas, as it were). this liturgy, this work of the people of god, was widely spread in the first days of the church's going into all the world, being taken into persia, burma, and india. as we recite these ancient prayers still today, we gather "to remember that which we have received through tradition from [the father], rejoicing, glorifying, exalting, commemorating, and celebrating this great mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of our lord jesus christ."

i take this somewhat backwards entry to discussing the "begats" because to many who call themselves christian they are perhaps even less interesting than the details of my apostolic succession. in the big church, however, apostolic succession is what assures church unity, and in a similar way it is the begats that assure the unity of the story of scripture. the new testament begins with the begats leading to jesus (and apostolic succession may be thought of as the spiritual begats after jesus). like themes in much great music, the begats start simply, and grow. so we find simply in the fourth chapter of genesis, "and adam knew eve his wife: and she conceived, and bare cain . . . ." (4:1) what follows is easy to understand as part of the same story that began innocently in the garden.

as the story grows longer, and more complicated, the acts are often separated by longer periods of time with fewer details. the begats that start matthew's gospel will lead all the way from abraham. luke's gospel takes them back to adam. but whever the song of the begats is sung, it reminds us that the acts it connects are part of the same great operatic story, assuring its unity. "and celebrating this great mystery of the passion, death, and resurrection of our lord jesus christ."