Ăp’os-tŏl'ic or Ăp’os-tŏl'ie-al1, a.
a. [Lat. apostolicus, Gr. ἀποστολικός, Pr. apostolical, L. Lat. apostolicalis. See APOSTLE.]
Sense 1. Pertaining or relating to an apostle, or to the apostles, their times, or their peculiar spirit; as, an apostolical mission; the apostolic age.
Sense 2. According to the doctrines of the apostles; delivered or taught by the apostles; as, apostolic faith or practice.
Apostolic constitutions and canons, a collection of ecclesiastical regulations attributed to the apostles, but generally supposed to be spurious. They appeared in the fourth century, and consist of rules and precepts relating to the duty of Christians, and particularly to the ceremonies and discipline of the church.—Apostolic church, the Christian church; so called on account of its apostolic foundation, doctrine, and order.—Apostolic fathers, early Christian writers, who were born in the first century, and thus touched on the age of the apostles. They were Polycarp, Clement, Ignatius, and Hermas; to these Barnabas has sometimes been added.—Apostolic king, a title granted by the holy see to the kings of Hungary on account of the extensive propagation of Christianity by St. Stephen, the founder of the royal line.—Apostolic see, a see founded and governed by an apostle; specifically, the church of Rome,—so called because, in the Roman Catholic belief, the pope is the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and the only apostle who has successors in the apostolic office.—Apostolical succession. See SUCCESSION.