I

INTRODUCTION

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1. The Lord Jesus constituted the Apostles “in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from amongst them”.(²) The Apostles were not chosen and sent by Jesus independently of one another, but rather as part of the group of the Twelve, as the Gospels make clear by the repeatedly used expression, “one of the Twelve”.(³) To all of them together the Lord entrusted the mission of preaching the Kingdom of God,(⁴) and they were sent by him, not individually, but two by two.(⁵) At the Last Supper Jesus prayed to the Father for the unity of the Apostles and of those who through their word would believe in him.(⁶) After his Resurrection and before the Ascension, the Lord reconfirmed Peter in the supreme pastoral office (⁷) and entrusted to the Apostles the same mission which he had himself received from the Father.(⁸)

With the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostolic College showed itself filled with the new vitality which comes from the Paraclete. Peter, “standing with the Eleven”,(⁹) speaks to the crowd and baptizes a large number of believers; the first community appears united in listening to the teaching of the Apostles (¹⁰) and accepts their decision in relation to pastoral problems.(¹¹) It was to the Apostles who had remained in Jerusalem that Paul turned in order to ensure his communion with them and not risk having run in vain.(¹²) The Apostles' awareness that they constituted an undivided body was also demonstrated when the question arose whether or not Christians converted from paganism were obliged to observe certain precepts of the Old Law. At that time, in the community of Antioch, “Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and the elders about this question”.(¹³) In order to examine the problem the Apostles and the elders meet, consult one another and deliberate, guided by the authority of Peter, and finally issue their decision: “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things...”.(¹⁴)