Place in church hierarchy In practical terms, the priesthood office of seventy is one which has varied widely over the course of history. As originally envisioned by church founder,
Joseph Smith, in the 1830s, the seventy were to be a body composed of several separate
quorums of up to seventy members each, all of which would be led by seven presidents. These presidents, chosen from the first quorum, would appoint and direct the other quorums of seventy. As introduced by Smith, the apostles and the seventy had authority only outside the main body of church members in
Zion, and in the outlying
stakes. Members in Zion and the stakes were led by the
High Council of Zion (under the direction of the
First Presidency) and stake
high councils.
Early quorums of the seventy The
First Quorum of the Seventy came into being in 1835 when seven men were
set apart as the
First Seven Presidents of the Seventy. In 1837, six of the seven presidents were released because it was discovered that they had previously been ordained
high priests. Five of these men were ultimately replaced by others. The other two—
Levi W. Hancock and
Joseph Young—remained members of the First Seven Presidents for the rest of their lives. The quorums of the seventy are directed and supervised hierarchically by the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who are in turn directed by the
First Presidency. As a body, the seventy in the church are considered to be equal in priesthood authority with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This presumably means that if the apostles were killed or incapacitated, the seventy could take over the function of the apostles. However, in such circumstances, the seventy would be required to act unanimously. This organization continued until church president
Spencer W. Kimball's reorganization of the seventies in 1976. Though the number of seventies in the church grew, the number of presidents remained at seven. By the late 1930s, the First Seven Presidents were exclusively referred to by the church as the
First Council of the Seventy. Eventually, the stake quorums of seventy were no longer numbered and in 1936 they were put under the local responsibility of
stake presidents. Subsequently, in 1961, church president
David O. McKay ordained those of the First Council of the Seventy who wished to be
high priests.
First Quorum of the Seventy formed In 1975, under Kimball's direction, the First Quorum of the Seventy was reconstituted. The First Quorum was composed of the former members of the First Council of the Seventy as well as new individuals selected by Kimball. The reason for the change was that the growth of the church necessitated the call of more general authorities. In 1976, the First Council of the Seventy, the First Quorum of the Seventy, and the
Assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were all merged into a new
First Quorum of the Seventy under a seven-member
Presidency of the Seventy. In 1978, some of the older members of the seventy were "retired" as the first general authorities to be given
emeritus status. However, members appointed through 1981 were still granted life tenure.
Discontinuance of local quorums of seventy In 1986, all stake quorums of the seventy were discontinued. The church encouraged local leaders to have ordained seventies meet with the local elders quorum or to ordain them as high priests.
Second Quorum of the Seventy formed In 1984, some seventies were appointed to the First Quorum of the Seventy who were not to serve for life, but for terms of three to five years. In 1989, these limited-term members were separated into a new
Second Quorum of the Seventy. At the same time, the general practice was instituted of releasing all members of the First Quorum at the October
general conference following their 70th birthdays, or earlier in the case of serious health problems. Some flexibility on the terms of service has emerged in recent years. Since 1989, members of the First and Second Quorums have continued as general authorities of the church. Sometimes members are called from the Second Quorum into the First Quorum. Since the 1976 merger of First Quorum of the Seventy, seventies are the most usual candidates to become members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Since 1976, three have been called as apostles who did not serve as general authority seventies prior to their call:
Russell M. Nelson,
Dallin H. Oaks, and
David A. Bednar, Nelson and Oaks were ordained apostles in 1984 under church president Kimball and Bednar in 2004 under church president
Gordon B. Hinckley. Additionally, having served previously as members of the First Quorum of the Seventy,
Robert D. Hales,
Gary E. Stevenson, and
Gérald Caussé were serving as the
Presiding Bishop at the time of their call to the Quorum of the Twelve.
Area seventies and additional quorums of seventy At the church's April 1995
general conference, Hinckley announced the creation of a new leadership position known as the
area authority. The area authorities were to replace the
regional representatives who had served as bridge of leadership between the general authorities and the local
stake and
mission presidents. In 1997, it was decided that area authorities would be ordained to the office of seventy. As a result, these area authorities were renamed
area authority seventies, and the church announced that these new seventies would become members of the newly created Third, Fourth, and Fifth Quorums of the Seventy. Later, the title "area authority seventy" was shortened to
area seventy, which is the title currently in use. Area seventies serve in the various geographic regions of the world called
areas in which the church is governed by area presidencies. Each of the Church's area presidency members usually consist of members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy (with the most recent exception, beginning in April 2022, being the presidency of the Europe East Area, later renamed the Eurasian Area, which consists of 3 area seventies). In 2004, the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy was divided to create the Sixth Quorum. In May 2005, the Seventh and Eighth quorums were created. The Fourth Quorum, which had served
Mexico,
Central and
South America, had grown to 72 members, and was split into the Fourth and Seventh Quorums. The Eighth Quorum was created to allow better geographic organization of the Third Quorum (not because the number of members exceeded seventy). The Third Quorum previously covered all of
Africa,
Asia,
Australia,
Europe and the western islands of the
Pacific. The new Eighth Quorum serves
Southern Asia,
Australia, and the western islands of the
Pacific. The Third Quorum continued to serve
Africa, northern
Asia, and
Europe. By August 2019, with new areas having been created or existing areas consolidated with others, the Third Quorum then included area seventies in Africa and Europe, with the Fourth Quorum including those serving in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and South America Northwest areas. The Fifth Quorum had been composed of those area seventies serving in the North America West and Utah areas, with the Sixth Quorum composed of the North America Central, North America Northeast, North America Southeast, and North America Southwest areas. The Seventh Quorum included those serving in the Brazil and South America South areas, while the Eighth Quorum was composed of area seventies serving in the Asia, Asia North, Philippines, and Pacific areas. Subsequently, effective June 1, 2020, four new Quorums of the Seventy were created, and the geographical distribution of the ten quorums of area seventies were constituted in the following manner: •
Third Quorum–Africa Central, Africa South, and Africa West areas. •
Fourth Quorum–Asia and Asia North areas. •
Fifth Quorum–Brazil Area. •
Sixth Quorum–Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico areas. •
Seventh Quorum–Eurasian, Europe Central, Europe North, and Middle East/Africa North areas. •
Eighth Quorum–Philippines and Pacific areas. •
Ninth Quorum–South America Northwest and South America South areas; •
Tenth Quorum–North America Central, North America Northeast, and North America Southeast areas. •
Eleventh Quorum–North America Southwest and North America West Areas. •
Twelfth Quorum–Utah Area.
Seventies who became apostles or members of the First Presidency Other noteworthy seventies ==Current organization==