Patriarchal Priesthood

The Patriarchal Priesthood is the Priesthood order of eternal family government. It is the order of fathers and mothers, kings and queens, priests and priestesses, sealed into the Church of the Firstborn under God the Father.

This page distinguishes the higher Patriarchal Priesthood from the ordinary office of Patriarch in the Church. Both matter, but they are not the same thing.

More Than the Church Patriarchal Office

The Church office of Patriarch belongs to blessing, lineage, and fatherly ministration within the Church order. The higher Patriarchal Priesthood is broader and deeper. Fred C. Collier’s study of the different orders explains that the highest order and fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood is Patriarchal: the order by which men and women become kings and priests, queens and priestesses, fathers and mothers in an eternal family kingdom.1

Restoration Sequence

The Restoration unfolded in order. Apostolic authority was restored under Peter, James, and John. The Kirtland Temple then brought the keys of Moses, Elias, and Elijah. In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith brought those keys into temple ordinance form through the Endowment, Celestial Marriage, Adoption, and the crowning blessings of the Holy Order.2

The Patriarchal Priesthood therefore stands at the heart of the Gospel of the Father. It is not merely the right to lead a congregation. It is the power and order of eternal lives.

Fatherhood, Motherhood, and the Family Kingdom

The Patriarchal order is also Matriarchal. It requires husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sealed in lawful union. Celestial Marriage creates the husband-wife foundation; Adoption orders families into a larger kingdom; Consecration governs stewardship and unity; and the Holy Order administers the Father’s Church on earth.

For that reason, the doctrine should be studied together with Law of Adoption, Celestial Marriage, Matriarchal Priestesshood, and Church of the Firstborn.

Endowment and Second Anointing

The Endowment points toward the higher order; the Second Anointing is treated as a crowning temple blessing connected with the sealing keys of Elijah and the authority to create and preside over an eternal family kingdom. That is why Patriarchal Priesthood, temple ordinances, and exaltation cannot be separated.3

Further Study

Notes

  1. Fred C. Collier, Analyzing the Different Orders of the Patriarchal Priesthood, Doctrine of the Priesthood, Vol. 7 No. 8 (August 1991); Fred C. Collier, Doctrinal Teachings of Fred C. Collier, Vol. 2, 248–51. ↩
  2. Collier, Doctrinal Teachings of Fred C. Collier, Vol. 2, 248–51; Fred C. Collier, The Nauvoo Doctrine in Light of Book of Mormon Prophecy, Part 1: The Concept, Doctrine of the Priesthood, Vol. 3 No. 1 (November 1986), 42–48. ↩
  3. Collier, Doctrinal Teachings of Fred C. Collier, Vol. 2, 248–51; Collier, The Nauvoo Doctrine in Light of Book of Mormon Prophecy, Part 1: The Concept, Doctrine of the Priesthood, Vol. 3 No. 1, 38–39. ↩