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. According to historian Justo L. González, apostolic succession 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. But, according to documentation produced by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the "sees (cathedra) plays an important role in inserting the bishop into the heart of ecclesial apostolicity".