Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Erasmus of Arcadia" in English language version.
Sackett asserted that Gerasimos Avlonites of Arkadia would have been a resident of the monastery south of Rethymon in central Crete. This place was a centre of resistance to foreign domination so he had probably been driven into exile around 1739 by the oppressive Turkish régime. The Greeks in Amsterdam, rather than denounce him as an imposture, acknowledged him as founding the first Greek Church there. He was not an ignorant man, but a renowned scholar, having participated in the publication of a serious work in London and Amsterdam.
Just at this juncture, Erasmus a bishop of the Greek church, visited London.
Mr. Wesley thus became a Bishop, and consecrated Dr. Coke, who united himself with ... who gave it under his own hand that Erasmus was Bishop of Arcadia, ...
By 1763, Wesley was desperate to obtain ordination for some of his lay preachers and when bishop after bishop refused, he took the dubious expedient -against the council of all his close friends and associates-of asking one Easmus, who claimed to be bishop of Arcadia in Crete, to do the job. Erasmus knew no English, but agreed.
Erasmus was the Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. In 1763, he visited London. Wesley found his credentials unexceptionable, and Dr. Jones, one of the preachers whom he had ordained, obtained testimonials concerning him from Symrna.
Dr. Peters was present at the interview, and went with and introduced Dr. Seabury to Mr. Wesley, who was so far satisfied that he would have been willingly consecrated by him in Mr. Wesley would have signed his letter of orders as bishop, which Mr. Wesley could not do without incurring the penalty of the Præmunire Act.
Today the World Methodist Council represents twenty-nine million members of some sixty churches that trace their heritage to Wesley and his brother Charles.
And since he himself ordained and sent forth every Methodist preacher in his day, who preached and baptized and ordained (except such as, like himself, had been ordained by a bishop of the established Church), and since every Methodist preacher who has ever been ordained as a Methodist was ordained in this direct "succession" from Wesley, then have we all the direct merits coming from apostolic succession, if any such there be.
Erasmus obliged and ordained John Jones, Samson Staniforth, Thomas Bryant, Alexander Mather, and others.
It would further appear from Mr. Tyerman's "Life and Times of Wesley," that, Mr. Wesley procured the ordination of John Jones, by Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. Samson Staniforth and Thomas Bryant, were also so ordained:
The bishop also ordained two other lay preachers, Sampson Staniforth and Thomas Bryant
Our measure from the grace, gift, and power of the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, given by our Saviour Jesus Christ to His divine and holy apostles, to ordain sub-deacons and deacons, and also to advance to the dignity of a priest! Of this grace, which hath descended to our humility, I have ordained sub-deacon and deacon, at Snow Fields Chapel, on the 19th day of November 1764, and at West Street Chapel, on the 24th of the same month, priest, the Rev. Mr. W.C., according to the rules of the holy apostles and of our faith. Moreover, I have given him power to minister and teach, in all the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ, no one forbidding him in the Church of God. Wherefore for that very purpose, I have made this present letter of recommendation from our humility, and have given it to the ordained Mr. W.C. for his certificate and security. —Given and written at London, in Britain, Nov. 24, 1764.
By his direction, Jones wrote to the patriarch of Smyrna on the subject and received an answer, stating that Erasmus was bishop of Arcadia in Crete. To this was added the testimony of several gentlemen who had met the eastern prelate in Turkey. Wesley says, "he had abundant unexceptionable credentials as to his episcopal character."
Erasmus was the Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. In 1763 he visited London. Wesley found his credentials unexceptionable, and Dr. Jones, one of the preachers who he ordained, obtained testimonials concerning him from Smyrna. There were also various gentlemen in London who had known him well in Turkey.
Tyerman has told that John Jones wrote to the patriarch of Smyrna and received confirmation that Erasmus was indeed Bishop of Arcadia, in Crete. The Greeks in Amsterdam, rather than denounce him as an imposture, acknowledged him as founding the first Greek Church there. He was not an ignorant man, but a renowned scholar, having participated in the publication of a serious work in London and Amsterdam.
During Wesley's absence from London in 1764, several Methodist lay preachers were ordained by the Greek emigr‚ from Amsterdam.
The ordination of Laurence Coughlan, to which Wesley referred, occurred after Wesley's departure from London on March 12, 1764, and correspondence from the summer of that year indicates that at some point in that spring, probably prior to March 28, Gerasimos had ordained Thomas Bryant, another preacher in connection with John Wesley.
