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Show hierarchy was reinstituted. All males who were worthy in their covenants to the Church possessed the power of the priesthood to adminster the ordinances of the gospel and to serve in leadership positions. In effect, however, the governing power of the priesthood remained with the president of the Church who, as the earthly servant of God's will, headed the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and dictated in spiritual and temporal matters. The daily administration of the church was organized around a hierarchically ordered network of officials, each subordinate to the level just above and all appointed by and answerable to the Church President and the Council of the Twelve Apostles. 42 The smallest unit of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was the ward. In the nineteenth century, the ward was often synon ~ ous with the town itself, with one town consisting of one ward. As the towns grew they were divided geographically into several wards. A lay bishop, appointed by the hierarchy, presided over the ward and dealt with both secular and spiritual matters of local concern. The wards of a particular region were consolidated into "stakes" and placed under the supervision of an appointed stake president. This system of hierarchical accountability provided the church with an effective and highly structured governing apparatus. The system insured the perpetuation of the power structure, it fostered a spirit of group identity, and it faciliated the unified action required in settling towns, erecting church buildings, and implementing the social programs of the Order of Enoch. While eschewing the strict communalism advocated by other utopian societies, Enoch's Zion would be structured economically around a program of market cooperation and collective action that was designed to 45 |
