apostolic
/ˌapəˈstɒlɪk
/adjective
1Relating to the Apostles: apostolic writings...
- Though it is little used today, especially since we have the completed Word of God, it was evident in the New Testament apostolic times.
- Here he saw and put into practice the task of exegesis as listening to the text as apostolic testimony to divine address.
- Did the Jewish Scriptures have the same authority as apostolic Christian writings?
2Relating to the Pope, especially when he is regarded as the successor to St Peter: an apostolic nuncio...
- The prestige of the city itself was no longer sufficient; but in the doctrine of apostolic succession the popes had an unassailable position.
- At the end of 1944, he became apostolic nuncio to France.
- Nevertheless, the Vatican has already said that a section of its archive dating from 1931 to 1934 was destroyed or lost during the bombing of Berlin in 1945 and in a fire at the apostolic nuncio's palace.
Origin
Middle English: from French apostolique or ecclesiastical Latin apostolicus, from Greek apostolikos, from apostolos (see apostle).