<P> The Melchizedek priesthood (/ mɛlˈkɪzɪdɛk /) is the greater of the two orders of priesthood recognized in Mormonism . The other is the Aaronic priesthood . The Patriarchal priesthood which is sometimes confused as a separate priesthood is explained by Boyd K. Packer, Apostle of the LDS Church as: "The patriarchal order is not a third, separate priesthood . Whatever relates to the patriarchal order is embraced in the Melchizedek Priesthood .' All other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to (the Melchizedek) priesthood .' (D&C 107: 5 .) The patriarchal order is a part of the Melchizedek Priesthood which enables endowed and worthy men to preside over their posterity in time and eternity .". The Melchizedek priesthood is also referred to as the high priesthood of the holy order of God and the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, or simply as the high priesthood . </P> <P> In Mormonism, unlike most other Christian denominations, the Melchizedek priesthood is thought to be held by common mortals and not solely by either pre-Aaronic priests such as Melchizedek, or Jesus alone, as most Christians interpret the Epistle to the Hebrews . According to Joseph Smith, the name of this priesthood became Melchizedek "because Melchizedek was such a great high priest" and "to avoid the too frequent repetition" of the "name of the Supreme Being". Smith taught that this priesthood was on the earth since Adam received it and conferred it upon his sons Abel and Seth, and it was conferred successively upon the early biblical patriarchs . Through it Enoch led his people to become so righteous and obedient that they qualified to be translated as the City of Enoch . Noah held this priesthood, as did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . It remained on earth until the time of Moses, who received it "under the hand of his father - in - law, Jethro" and it would have been given to the Israelites if they had been worthy of it and had not "hardened their hearts". </P> <P> Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery said they were visited by John the Baptist, who laid his hands on their head and gave them the Aaronic priesthood; Smith described the event in detail and gave an exact date when it happened . In contrast, he never gave a description of any vision in which he saw an angel separately confer the Melchizedek priesthood . However, by the turn of the 20th century, Latter Day Saint theologians believed that such a separate ordination by angels had occurred prior to the organization of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830 . This was largely because the early church organization contained the office of elder, which at least by 1835 was considered an office of the Melchizedek priesthood . As evidence for such a pre-organization angellic conferral, writers referred to a revelation in which Smith said he heard "The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!" Thus, most Mormons suppose that Smith and Cowdery were visited by the three angels in 1829 and that they conferred the Melchizedek priesthood in the same way John the Baptist had conferred the Aaronic priesthood . </P> <P> However, the official church history, supervised or written by Smith, states that "the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders" during a General Conference in early June 1831 . When Smith's official history was first published in 1902, the compiler B.H. Roberts thought that this was a mistake, because it would not be consistent with the common Mormon belief that the priesthood had been conferred prior to the church's founding in 1830 . </P>

Before 1829 who held the keys to the melchizedek priesthood