The Presiding Patriarch Problem

The LDS Church completely eliminated a General Authority’s office in 1979. What most Latter-day Saints don’t realize is that this office was deemed to be an essential authority in Mormonism by Joseph Smith and other early Mormon Prophets. So why did Spencer Kimball abolish this High Office in the 1970s?

The office in question is called the “Presiding Patriarch” or the “Patriarch to the Church.” The last of the LDS Church Presiding Patriarchs was Eldred G. Smith—the 8th and final Patriarch to the LDS Church. Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith once said, “whenever the Church of Christ is established in the earth, there should be a Patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the Saints.”

If Mormonism’s office of Presiding Patriarch was essential to the LDS Church, then why was it abolished in the 1970s? And if it was not essential, why did Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other early LDS leaders say it was? The office of Presiding Patriarch calls into question whether the LDS Church is in self-proclaimed Apostasy.

If this office and authority was established, then is there missing authority in the LDS Church?