During an address delivered at the April 2008 General Conference of the Church that was entitled, simply, “The Twelve,” President Boyd K. Packer related a story that struck me then and that has stuck with me ever since:
In 1976, an area general conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. After the closing session, President Spencer W. Kimball wanted to visit the city’s Vor Frue Church, where Bertel Thorvaldsen’s statues of the “Christus” and of the Twelve Apostles stand, and to take several of the General Authorities there.
The “Christus” stands behind the altar of the church, flanked by the apostles, with Peter to the right and the other apostles in order. Most of President Kimball’s group was back at the rear of the chapel, with the church’s custodian. Elder Packer stood up front before the statue of Peter, with President Kimball, Elder Rex D. Pinegar of the Seventy, and Johan Helge Benthin, who was then serving as the president of the Copenhagen stake.
As he is depicted in Thorvaldsen’s marble, Peter holds a set of heavy keys in his hand. In President Packer’s telling of the story, President Kimball pointed to those keys and explained what they symbolized.
“Then, in an act I shall never forget, he turned to President Benthin and with unaccustomed firmness pointed his finger at him and said, ‘I want you to tell everyone in Denmark that I hold the keys! We hold the real keys, and we use them every day.’”
Continued President Packer, “I will never forget that declaration, that testimony from the prophet. The influence was spiritually powerful; the impression was physical in its impact.
“We walked to the back of the chapel, where the rest of the group was standing. Pointing to the statues, President Kimball said to the kind custodian, ‘These are the dead Apostles.’ Pointing to me, he said, ‘Here we have the living Apostles. Elder Packer is an Apostle. Elder Thomas S. Monson and Elder L. Tom Perry are Apostles, and I am an Apostle. We are the living Apostles.
“‘You read about the Seventies in the New Testament, and here are two of the living Seventies, Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Elder Robert D. Hales.’
“The custodian, who up to that time had shown no emotion, suddenly was in tears.
“I felt I had had an experience of a lifetime.”
Although many do not, Latter-day Saints are far from the only Christians who recognize the vital importance of the “keys” of authority. The question, for such believers, revolves around who holds them.
Many years ago, for example, when I was a graduate student in Cairo, Egypt, my wife and I lived just above an American Lutheran clergyman and his family. He was the pastor of the local expatriate Protestant church, and we became friends. One day, somewhat upset, he told me of an experience that he had just had while meeting with the patriarch of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, the bishop of Alexandria, who is often also called “pope.” Very quickly, my friend told me, Pope Shenouda had made it clear that, while he recognized Catholic and Greek Orthodox clergy and others as part of the apostolic and episcopal “succession,” from his point of view, Protestant schismatics (such as my friend the pastor) were outside of that line of authority and, thus, mere laymen.
Visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, a veritable monument in stone to the authority claimed by the popes, will surely have noticed the omnipresence in that vast building of the papal crown atop two crossed keys. And the large inscription that runs around the interior of Michelangelo’s great dome—its blue letters are nearly 6.5 feet high against a gold background—reads as follows: “Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum” (“Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Compare Matthew 16:18-19.)
The ancient Catholic and Orthodox communions trace their authority back through what they believe to be an unbroken line of bishops to the original apostles. By contrast, Latter-day Saints believe that the line of authority has been broken. Thus, priesthood authority and priesthood keys had to be restored by heavenly messengers who were sent in the early nineteenth century.
Since the death of President Russell M. Nelson late on Saturday, 27 September 2025, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been receiving a refresher course on apostolic succession in the presidency of the Church. What has been unfolding was set in place largely by the events that followed the assassination of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum on 27 June 1844. The 2024 Interpreter Foundation dramatic film “Six Days in August” tells that story, and the Foundation’s forthcoming series of short documentaries (“Becoming Brigham”) will, among other things, expand on those pivotal events.
Immediately upon President Nelson’s passing, Dallin H. Oaks assumed leadership of the Church in his capacity as senior apostle. And, by “immediately,” I mean “instantaneously.” This has been the procedure for many years, as a story related by President N. Eldon Tanner, to an audience at Brigham Young University in 1978, beautifully illustrates.
President Tanner had been serving as first counselor to President Harold B. Lee in the First Presidency of the Church. On 26 December 1973, he was in Phoenix, Arizona, having spent Christmas with his daughter and her family. Suddenly, he received a telephone call from D. Arthur Haycock, President Lee’s secretary, informing him that President Lee was seriously ill. Brother Haycock suggested that President Tanner return home as soon as possible. However, Brother Haycock called again about half an hour later. “The Lord has spoken,” he said. “President Lee has been called home.”
I quote President Tanner’s retelling of what happened next:
“President [Marion G.] Romney, Second Counselor, in my absence, was directing the affairs of the Church, and was at the hospital with Spencer W. Kimball, President of the Council of the Twelve. Immediately upon the death of President Lee, President Romney turned to President Kimball and said, “You are in charge.” Remember, the Prophet Joseph Smith had said that without the President, there was no First Presidency over the Twelve.
“Not one minute passed between the time President Lee died and the Twelve took over as the presiding authority of the Church.”
However, the process wasn’t always so clearly understood. When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered at Carthage Jail, Latter-day Saints were both stunned and confused. Who would assume leadership of the Church? They had no precedent to guide them. Sidney Rigdon, who had served as first counselor to Joseph Smith, claimed the right of succession by virtue of his place in the Church’s First Presidency.
His claim seems, though, to have contradicted what is recorded in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith: “President Smith next proceeded to explain the duty of the Twelve, and their authority, which is next to the present Presidency. … Also the Twelve are not subject to any other than the First Presidency, … ‘and where I am not [meaning the President of the Church], there is no First Presidency over the Twelve’” (105-106).
The Twelve returned to Nauvoo from their mission assignments and, under their president, Brigham Young, also asserted leadership. Over the next months and years, still other claimants would assert their claims, but Sidney Rigdon and the Twelve were the most prominent candidates in mid-1844.
On what basis did the Twelve claim leadership of the Church? They did so on the basis of the keys that they held. But the history of those keys is perhaps more complicated than many realize. In 1835, when the modern Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized, its members received the keys of the apostleship as they then existed. However, by 1836, there were keys on the earth that the Twelve had not been given.
How could this be? On 3 April 1836, Moses and Elias, and Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple and conferred new keys of authority upon them that had been unavailable when the Twelve were called. For some time thereafter, Joseph and Oliver held those new keys, but no others did.
Unfortunately, Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated in April 1838, slightly more than two years after the new keys had been conferred upon him at Kirtland. Thus, for a time, Joseph Smith was the only man on earth who held the new authority that Oliver had once shared but had forfeited. Had Joseph died during the next two years or so—had he, for example, not emerged from Liberty Jail alive—those keys would have needed to be restored again by heavenly messengers.
This rather precarious situation continued until the great Nauvoo revelation of 19 January 1841, which we now know as Doctrine and Covenants 124. In verses 94 and 95 of that revelation, speaking of Hyrum Smith, the Lord says,
“I appoint unto him that he may be a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto my church, as well as my servant Joseph; that he may act in concert also with my servant Joseph; and that he shall receive counsel from my servant Joseph, who shall show unto him the keys whereby he may ask and receive, and be crowned with the same blessing, and glory, and honor, and priesthood, and gifts of the priesthood, that once were put upon him that was my servant Oliver Cowdery.”
Thereupon, within a week, an announcement appeared in the Church newspaper, the “Times and Seasons,” that new officers had been set apart according to the instructions given in the revelation. Hyrum was released as a counselor in the First Presidency and became, instead, what has been called an “associate president,” or a “co-president,” holding all of the keys of priesthood authority with his younger brother.
Importantly, there appears to be no evidence that those keys of authority were ever conferred upon Sidney Rigdon. And it is intriguing to think that, if Hyrum had outlived Joseph, he might have succeeded his brother as the president of the Church. But he didn’t. He was the first of the two to be killed at Carthage; he died a minute or two before Joseph did. So were the keys gone from the earth with the death of both Joseph and Hyrum?
They were not. Apparently sensing that he would not live much longer, Joseph Smith took several important measures in 1843 and early 1844 to ensure that the keys would be shared by others. We don’t know the date on which Brigham Young received the sealing key. Happily, though, we have a witness who testifies that he did. In January 1845, six months after Joseph Smith was killed, Parley Pratt published a proclamation to the Saints in which he recounted many of the steps that Joseph took in preparing the Twelve for his passing. And Elder Pratt specifically says that he was a witness to Brigham Young’s receiving the sealing key, the final key of authority.
In March 1897, in his ninety-first year, President Wilford Woodruff testified, speaking into an early recording device, of an event that is sometimes called the “Last Charge” meeting. It probably occurred on 26 March 1844. To me, it is remarkable to hear the voice of a man who not only knew Joseph Smith but who had served as an apostle during Joseph’s lifetime. But what he chose to say is also remarkable. Here are some of President Woodruff’s words from that recording:
“I bear my testimony that in the early spring of 1844, in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph Smith called the Twelve Apostles together and he delivered unto them the ordinances of the church and kingdom of God; and all the keys and powers that God had bestowed upon him, he sealed upon our heads, and he told us that we must round up our shoulders and bear off this kingdom, or we would be damned. I am the only man now living in the flesh who heard that testimony from his mouth, and I know that it was true by the power of God manifest to him. At that meeting he stood on his feet for about three hours and taught us the things of the kingdom. His face was as clear as amber, and he was covered with a power that I had never seen in any man in the flesh before.”
Even so, the apostles seem not to have fully comprehended what Joseph was doing and what it meant for them. Much like the ancient Twelve whom Jesus had warned several times of his pending death, they were nonetheless surprised and confused at the loss of their prophet. Brigham Young himself recalled that, when he first heard of Joseph’s death, he was not only overcome by grief but feared that the keys of the priesthood were gone. Then, he said, “I felt it come like a flash of lightning to my mind, and I said ‘the keys of the kingdom are here.’”
All of this accorded with what had only been hinted at in Doctrine and Covenants 107, which was received in or near April 1835, in connection with the organization of the Twelve:
“Of the Melchizedek Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church. . . . And again, the duty of the President of the office of the High Priesthood is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses— . . . yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the church.”
And again: “The twelve traveling councilors are called to be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world. …
“And they form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three presidents” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:22-24, 91-92).
At the death of Joseph Smith, the Twelve became the presiding authority of the Church, with Brigham Young as president of the Twelve, and administered the affairs of the Church for three and a half years. Then Brigham Young was chosen as President of the Church, and he selected and ordained, and set apart his counselors. Then there were three years and two months between his death and the installation of John Taylor as President of the Church. Following John Taylor’s death, it was one year and nine months before Wilford Woodruff was chosen, set apart, and ordained as President of the Church. Since then, just a few days have passed between the death of the President and the setting apart of the next President—and the Twelve continue to preside at the death of each President until—as we have just witnessed—a new First Presidency is organized.
Notes
This article was heavily influenced by Ronald K. Esplin, “‘All the Measures of Joseph’: The Succession of 1844,” in Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, ed., Joseph Smith: A Life Lived in Crescendo (Orem: Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2024), and by my interview with Dr. Esplin for the forthcoming Becoming Brigham series. Another relevant chapter in that two-volume set is Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Dennison Lott Harris’ firsthand accounts of the conspiracy of Nauvoo and the transmission of apostolic keys.”
The full recording of Wilford Woodruff’s 1997 recorded testimony is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NjANSFISFY. See also Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Stephen H. Smoot, “Wilford Woodruff’s 1897 Testimony” (https://rsc.byu.edu/banner-gospel-wilford-woodruff/wilford-woodruffs-1897-testimony).
The two speeches from which I quote are Boyd K. Packer, “The Twelve” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2008/04/the-twelve?lang=eng, and N. Eldon Tanner, “Administration of the Restored Church” https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/n-eldon-tanner/administration-restored-church/