High council (Mormonism)

In Mormonism, a high council is one of several different governing bodies that have existed in the church hierarchy on many Latter Day Saint movement denominations. Most often, the term refers to a stake high council in a local stake, but other high councils include the standing Presiding High Council in Zion, and the "travelling high council", better-known today as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

On February 17, 1834, Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement, created a presiding high council at church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. This body consisted of twelve men and was headed by the First Presidency. The original members of the high council in Kirtland were:

This high council took on the role of chief judicial and legislative body of the local church and handled such things as excommunication trials and approval of all church spending. This high council became subordinate to the high council of Zion, which was organized in Jackson County, Missouri. Later, when other high councils were established in newly formed stakes of the church, the high council of Zion (first Kirtland, then Far West, Missouri and finally Nauvoo, Illinois) took on a role of "presiding" over the lesser high councils. (Cases tried in the high councils of outlying stakes were regularly appealed to the high council of Zion.) Most Latter Day Saint historians view the high council of Zion as distinct from a stake high council, as there is no "stake" at the "center place" of the tent of Zion. During Smith's lifetime, high council members were ordained high priests, but not given any priesthood keys.

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