Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)

This article is about the Twelve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For wider use in the Latter Day Saint movement, see Quorum of the Twelve.
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in September 1898[1]

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Quorum of the Twelve, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, or simply the Twelve) is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are apostles, with the calling to be prophets, seers, and revelators, evangelical ambassadors, and special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

The quorum was first organized in 1835 and designated as a body of "traveling councilors" with jurisdiction outside areas where the church was formally organized, equal in authority to the First Presidency, the Seventy, the standing Presiding High Council, and the high councils of the various stakes.[2] The jurisdiction of the Twelve was originally limited to areas of the world outside Zion or its stakes. After the apostles returned from their missions to England, Joseph Smith altered the responsibilities of the quorum: it was given charge of the affairs of the church, under direction of the First Presidency.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ As seen in this photograph, in September 1898 there were only 11 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (shown here with the three members of the First Presidency). Church president Wilford Woodruff had recently died and Lorenzo Snow left the Quorum to assume the presidency. Rudger Clawson would be called the next month, in October 1898, to complete the Quorum.
  2. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 107:25–27, 36–37.
  3. ^ Baugh & Holzapfel 2010
  4. ^ Holzapfel 2010
  5. ^ Arrington, Leonard J. (1985), Brigham Young: American Moses, New York: Knopf, pp. 109–110, ISBN 0394510224, OCLC 11443615