United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

504 • Conclusion and Appendices

gations of the previous union are discharged (cf. CCC, 1628-1629; CIC, cann. 1095-1107; CCEO, cann. 1431-1449). ANOINTING OF THE SICK, SACRAMENT OF: This Sacrament of healing is given to a person who is seriously ill or in danger of death due to sickness or old age. Elderly people may be anointed if they are in a weak condition though no dangerous illness is present. APOSTASY: The term applied to a baptized person who has aban doned the Christian faith. APOSTLE: The title traditionally given to those specially chosen by Jesus to preach the Gospel and to whom he entrusted responsibil ity for guiding the early Church. The names of the Twelve are Peter, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew (or Nathaniel), Matthew, Simon, Jude (or Thaddeus), and Matthias (who replaced Judas Iscariot after Judas betrayed Jesus and then took his own life). St. Paul, though not one of the Twelve, was also called later by the Lord to be an Apostle. APOSTLES’ CREED: A statement of the Christian faith, developed in the early centuries of the Church

and used in the Sacrament of Baptism. It expresses the faith passed down to us from the Apostles. APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION: The passing on of the office of bishop from the Apostles to bishops, and from them to other bishops down each generation, by means of ordination. This office includes the sanctifying, teaching, and governing roles within the Church. APOSTOLIC TRADITION: Jesus entrusted his revelation and teach ings to his Apostles. They passed it on by their preaching and witness. Along with others, they began writing the message down in what became the New Testament. ARIANISM: The heresy in Church history that was widely spread by a man named Arius (AD 250-336), who argued that Jesus was not fully divine, but that God the Son was a kind of lesser God who became the man Jesus. His heresy was refuted by the Councils of Nicea (AD 325) and Chalcedon (AD 451). ASCENSION: The entry of Jesus’ humanity into divine glory to be at the right hand of the Father; tra ditionally, this occurred forty days after Jesus’ Resurrection.