Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bishops. This series was seen originally as that of the bishops of a particular see founded by one or more of the apostles, but it is generally understood today as meaning a series of bishops, regardless of see, each consecrated by other bishops themselves consecrated similarly in a succession going back to the apostles.
Apostolic succession "may also be understood as a continuity in doctrinal teaching from the time of the apostles to the present"
Read more about Apostolic Succession: Meanings, In The Early Fathers, As Transmission of Grace, Basis, Apostolicity As Doctrinal and Related Continuity, Churches Claiming Apostolic Succession, Apostolic Founders, Protestant Denominations That Reject Apostolic Succession
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“We then entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The fallen trees were so numerous, that for long distances the route was through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over another fence into a second yard, and so on.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)