Presiding Patriarch, Lost Office of Mormonism
Published on Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 2:50 PM
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One major change in the hierarchy of the Priesthood during the Nauvoo period involved the office of Presiding Patriarch — the patriarchal office that was originally held by Joseph Smith Sr., and which Joseph Smith Sr. conferred on his son Hyrum shortly before his death. Following this event, in the Nauvoo period there was a shift in importance to the office of Presiding Patriarch. By the summer of 1843 Joseph Smith referred to it as the “highest office of the church” and indicated that there was going to be a reformation regarding this office’s place in the hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The precise meaning of Joseph Smith’s comments about the patriarchal office — as well as his intended vision for the role of the Presiding Patriarch — have been controversial and debated. Joseph and Hyrum’s successors and would-be successors were left to try to make sense of this unfinished reformation. Similarly, historians and theologians over the last century have discussed and debated the history surrounding the patriarchal office without clear consensus, and questions still remain.
What was Joseph Smith trying to accomplish with regard to the office of Presiding Patriarch in the Nauvoo period? And what was the Presiding Patriarch’s role in relation to the office of President of the Church? These questions become the subject of this issue of One Eternal Round.
This issue of One Eternal Round can be discussed over at the One Eternal Round Facebook Group!