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I haven't seen much that says, one way or the other. Do we have a record of the unbroken chain - who was the 14th, the 15th, the 24th...

Yes, each bishop is "pedigreed", infact I believe each receives the laying on of hands by several bishops to ensure proper form.

were they all of apostolic character?.

Don't know what that is.

Gifted apostolically?

If by that you mean endowed with the powers given to the apostles by Christ, yes.

Who did they heal? How many demons did they cast out?

There has been thousands, I haven't been keeping track;)

Maybe I'm too skeptical for my own good, but I would assume we humble humans who never saw Jesus when he was alive would not be qualified. If I remember correctly, having seen Jesus in real life on Earth was a distinct requirement for being called an apostle. And for this reason, Paul always claimed his encounter on the road to Damascus. It seemed good enough for the rest of the apostles.

Bottom line is this, why would Christ only give the twelve the gifts only to have those gifts die with the apostles? It makes no sense.

Yes, each bishop is "pedigreed", infact I believe each receives the laying on of hands by several bishops to ensure proper form.

Very interesting. So, who were the 1st ten? Does the church have more than 12 at any given time?

Me: Who did they heal? How many demons did they cast out?
You: There has been thousands, I haven't been keeping track;)

Granted, but I meant, each. Has every bishop cast out demons and healed the sick? But, I see that having a group of bishops lay on hands covers for the possible bad apple - its a chain of many strands.

Bottom line is this, why would Christ only give the twelve the gifts only to have those gifts die with the apostles? It makes no sense.

I see your point. I also see throughout the old and new testatments where forgiveness is given by God, and not by men. Bit of a dilemmma, that (for me at least) is eased if I see the apostles' authority as limited to just the apostles.

Fascinating discussion - I know that Baptists lay on hand when ordaining their deacons - but I know they aren't thinking in terms of transferring apostolic authority, but more of just a blessing, and a commissioning. I wonder if many of them realize the correlation... probably not. They probably just see this as following the examples of the early church Christians.