Apostolical King or Apostolical Majesty, a title of the kings of Hungary conferred by Pope Syl- vester II in 1000 upon Duke Stephen I on account of his zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith. It was renewed in 1756 by Clement XIII for Maria The- resa and her successors on the throne of Austria ; abol- ished in 1848, but reassumed (in the form of " Apos- tolical Majesty") in 1852.
Apostolical Men, a name often given to the as- sistants and disciples of the apostles. Those among them who left writings received the name Apostolical Fathers (q. v.).
Apostolical Succession. See Successiox.
Apostolici, or Apostolic Brothers, (1.) a sect of heretics mentioned by St. Augustine (l)e Hceres. xl), who says that they arrogated to themselves the title of apostolici, because they refused to admit to their communion all persons using marriage, or having property of their own; not that they were heretical, he says, for abstaining from these things, but because they held that those persons had no hope of salvation who did not do so. They were similar to the En- cratites, and were also called ApotcicHt e. (2.) A sect with this name arose in the twelfth century, who con- demned marriage and infant baptism, also purgatory, prayer for the dead, the invocation of saints, the pow- er of the pope, etc. Many of them were put to death at Cologne (Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent, xii, pt. ii, ch. v, § 15). (3.) Another apostolic brotherhood was found- ed by Gerhard Segarelli, of Parma, about A.I). 1260. This brotherhood Pope Nicolas IV endeavored to sup- press by various decrees of 1286 and 1290. No here- sy of doctrine was proved against the founder; and his only profession was a desire to restore apostolic simplicity in religion. He was imprisoned and ban- ished, but nevertheless his adherents spread through Italy, Germany, France, and Spain. They went about
APOSTOLIUS
accompanied by women singing, and preaching es- pecially against the corruptions of the clergy. In 1294 two brothers and two sisters were burnt alive at Parma. Segarelli abjured his heresy, but was burnt in 1300 for having relapsed. From this time Dolci- no of Milan became the head of this party, who pre- dicted the sudden downfall of the Romish Church. Dolcino, in 1304, fortified, with 1400 followers, a moun- tain in the diocese of Novara, and plundered, for his support, the adjacent country. In 1306 he fortified the mountain Zebello, in the diocese of Yercelli, and fought against the troops of the bishop until he was compelled by famine to surrender in 1307. Dolcino and his companion, Margaretha of Trent, were burnt, with many of their followers. See Dulcixists. These Apostolici rejected the authority of the pope, oaths, capital punishments, etc. Some Apostolic Brothers are mentioned, A.D. 1311, near Spolcto, and A.I >. 1320, in the south of France. The Synod of Lavaur, 1368, mentions them for the last time. The sect continued in Germany down to the time of Boniface IX. Mo- sheim published an account of them in three books (Helmstadt, 1746, 4to).— Murd. Mosheim, Church Hist. cent, xiii, ch. v; Landon. Eccl. Diet, i, 455; Hase, Ch. Hist. § 294.
Apostolidis, Michael, a theologian and prelate of the Greek church, born toward the close of the loth century on the island of Crete, died at Athens on Aug. 2, 1862. He studied theology, philosophy, and lan- guages at the German Universities, and became soon after professor at a Greek school at Trieste. When Prince Otho of Bavaria was designated as king of Greece, Apostolidis was called to Munich to -instruct him in Greek. Having arrived with King Otho in Greece, he became lecturer on church history and eth- ics at an ecclesiastical school at Athens, and, in 1837, professor of theology at the University of Athens. When the independence of the Church of Greece had been declared, Apostolidis was sent to Petersburg to establish a closer connection between the Church of Russia and that of Greece. On his return he was ap- pointed archbishop of Patras. Subsequently he be- came archbishop of Athens and president of the Syn- od, which position he retained until his death. Apos- tolidis wrote, besides several contributions to the Greek periodical Aoyioc 'Epfirjg, of Vienna, a manual of Chris- tian ethics, entitled Tijc, Kara Xpiuroi' i)St>ciic. irpay- uartia (Athens, 1847), first in the ancient Greek, but subsequently also in modern Greek. — Unsere Zeit, vii, 398, 399.
Apostolicity, a so-called "note of the church." See Apostolical Church ; Church.
Apostolini, or Apostles, an order of monks, who most probably took their origin in the 15th century at Genoa, where the convent of St. Roche belonged to them. It seems that there were many hermits who congregated at Genoa about that time, who, on ac- count of the apostolical life which they professed to lead, and their having assumed St. Barnabas, the apos- tle, as their patron, took the designation of Apostolini, or " Fathers of St. Barnabas." At first the members of the order were laymen, and bound by no vow; but Pope Alexander VI obliged them to the vow, and to live under the rule of St. Augustine, in 1496. Their dress consisted of a gown and scapulary, over which they wore a cloak of gray cloth, with a little hood. They afterward united with the monks of St. Ambrose ail Xi inns, then dissolved the connection, then were reunited by Sixtus V, and finally both were sup- pressed by Innocent X in 1650. — Helyot, Ord. Monast. t. iv ; Landon, Eccles. Dictionary, i, 455.