[f. APOSTLE + -SHIP.] The office or position of an apostle; proclamation of a religious system; leadership of a social reform.
1526. Tindale, Acts i. 25. This ministracion and apostleshippe from the which Judas … fell.
1697. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist., II. 44. St. John … was called to the Apostleship when he was very young.
1843. Marriotti, Italy Past & Pr. (1848), I. 29. Italy was to assume the apostleship of civilisation and freedom.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. IV. ii. 221. The Mahomedan apostleship of fire and sword.
