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| H.H. Pope Radislav I of Rome-Ruthenia |
By M. Derosiers
ROME-RUTHENIA 11 September 2026 (NRom)
For some Christians, the name of St. Peter immediately brings to mind Rome; for others, Antioch. Indeed, more than one ecclesiastical tradition today understands itself as preserving a Petrine succession or inheritance.
Here “Latin Orthodox” denotes the Church's Western and Roman ecclesiastical inheritance rather than an exclusively Latin liturgical identity. The principal Roman-Ruthenian rite is the
Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Rite, based principally upon the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom while incorporating elements of the historic Tridentine tradition; the Church also preserves other Eastern and Western rites.
Understanding these distinctions makes the structure—and the historical continuity—of Roman-Ruthenian papal governance considerably easier to understand.
The Latin Orthodox Petrine Succession
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| St. Peter the Apostle |
The Petrine succession of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church is principally jurisdictional. It is distinct from the Church's several lines of apostolic succession through episcopal consecration, which provide sacramental continuity with St. Peter, St. Andrew, and other Apostles.
The Latin Orthodox Petrine succession concerns something more particular: the transmission and exercise of the Petrine office within a distinct ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The Church traces this jurisdictional succession through the historic Roman line. In the modern period, that common Petrine inheritance is expressed through distinct jurisdictions: the Roman Catholic succession continuing within the Roman See, the ancient Petrine inheritances associated particularly with Antioch, and the Roman-Ruthenian, or Latin Orthodox, succession continuing within the United Roman-Ruthenian Church.
Accordingly, the
Roman-Ruthenian Petrine succession is not presented merely as episcopal ancestry. It is understood as a jurisdictional continuation of Petrine authority within the autonomous Latin Orthodox ecclesiastical body in which that authority was received.
This jurisdictional inheritance also explains why the antiquity of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church cannot be measured simply from the dates upon which its present name, administrative structure, or constituent bodies assumed their contemporary form. Ecclesiastical institutions throughout Christian history have developed, united, divided, reorganized, and adopted new forms of governance while preserving the jurisdictions and offices from which they descend.
In the Roman-Ruthenian understanding, therefore, the Church is not a modern ecclesiastical body possessing merely an ancient episcopal genealogy. Through jurisdictional succession, it inherits the continuity of an ancient ecclesiastical office and jurisdiction dating to 33 AD and is therefore a distinct and unbroken continuation of the original Christian Church. Its contemporary institutional form expresses that inheritance; it does not create it.
This is why the distinction between sacramental and jurisdictional succession is fundamental. Apostolic succession answers the question, “From whom were its bishops consecrated?” Jurisdictional succession answers the different question, “What ecclesiastical authority and office does this Church continue?” In Rome-Ruthenia, the answer to the latter reaches through its Latin Orthodox Petrine inheritance into the ancient Petrine Church itself.
The Church's published succession of Supreme Pontiffs illustrates this understanding directly. The historic succession from St. Peter is presented as a common Petrine inheritance, after which the contemporary lines are shown in parallel: the Roman-Ruthenian Latin Orthodox succession, presently represented by Pope Radislav I, and the continuing Roman Catholic succession of the Roman See by the Vatican.
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Mar Ignatius Peter III, Syrian Orthodox
Patriarch of Antioch, successor of
St. Peter and direct Patriarchal
ancestor of the modern
Roman-Ruthenian Church |
Parallel Petrine inheritances are not foreign to the wider history of Apostolic Christianity. St. Peter's ministry has never been associated historically with Rome alone. Antioch likewise traces its apostolic foundation to Peter, and several contemporary churches preserve successions associated with that ancient Petrine See. Alexandria, meanwhile, preserves within Orthodoxy its own ancient papal title.
The Roman-Ruthenian succession belongs within this broader apostolic landscape, in which more than one jurisdiction may preserve a Petrine inheritance without thereby becoming the same jurisdiction or exercising the same ecclesiastical office.
For this reason, the Supreme Pontiff of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church is described as the Latin Orthodox successor of St. Peter. The description refers not simply to episcopal descent from the Apostles, but specifically to the Petrine ministry understood to have been received jurisdictionally and continued within the
Roman-Ruthenian Holy Apostolic See.
The distinction may therefore be stated simply: Apostolic succession provides sacramental continuity from the Apostles. The Latin Orthodox Petrine succession provides jurisdictional continuity of the Petrine office within Rome-Ruthenia.
Together they form the ecclesiastical foundation of Roman-Ruthenian papal governance.
The Temporal Succession of Peter
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Pope St. Pius IX, known as the
Pope King, he was the last
governing sovereign
of the Papal States |
The second dimension is temporal.
For centuries, the historic Roman papacy possessed not only ecclesiastical jurisdiction but a temporal patrimony. Roman Pontiffs governed territories, exercised sovereign prerogatives, and possessed temporal dignities that became intertwined with the political and cultural inheritance of Christian Rome.
The United Roman-Ruthenian Church understands part of this historic temporal inheritance to have passed into its custody through historical succession, including its direct succession from
Pope St. Leo X, the interconnected inheritance of the Holy Roman world, and subsequent acts of recognition and transmission.
This temporal succession must be distinguished from both sacramental apostolic succession and ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The Church's published temporal succession records St. Leo X within this inherited line and follows the Roman sequence into the modern period. It records St. John Paul II's relinquishment of the broader temporal claims of the Roman Papacy apart from Vatican City, followed by St. Benedict XVI's relinquishment of the patriarchal office, and identifies Pope Radislav I as the succeeding bearer of the Roman-Ruthenian temporal inheritance. Importantly, Rome-Ruthenia makes no claim to Vatican City, whose sovereignty remains with the modern Roman Pontiff.
Thus, the expression “temporal successor of St. Peter” has a specific meaning in Roman-Ruthenian usage. It refers to custody of the historic non-sacramental patrimony associated with the Petrine office—its sovereign, dynastic, cultural, heraldic, and temporal inheritance.
That patrimony is joined within Rome-Ruthenia to the historic
inheritance of Ruthenia, or Old Rus', giving the Pontifical Imperial State of Rome-Ruthenia its distinctive name and character.
One Office, Two Dimensions
Roman-Ruthenian papal governance becomes considerably clearer when these dimensions are viewed together.
Spiritually and jurisdictionally, the Roman-Ruthenian Pope stands within the Church's Latin Orthodox Petrine succession and exercises the Petrine ministry within the United Roman-Ruthenian Church.
Temporally, the Supreme Pontiff serves as custodian of historical patrimony inherited through the Roman and Ruthenian successions.
These do not constitute two competing pontiffs or two separate rulers. They are distinct dimensions united in one Roman-Ruthenian office.
The Roman-Ruthenian Pope therefore holds what the Church understands as a sacred trust. As visible head of the Church, he safeguards its apostolic ministry and embodies its Petrine and patriarchal governance. As Prince-Bishop and temporal custodian, he also preserves an historical patrimony inherited through the Roman and Ruthenian traditions.
This is one reason Roman-Ruthenian governance cannot be understood adequately simply by comparing its offices with the administrative structure of another contemporary church. Its constitution reflects an older conception of Christian governance in which apostolic, patriarchal, jurisdictional, and temporal inheritances can converge within a single ecclesiastical office.
Nor does the present organizational form of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church constitute the beginning of those inheritances. Names, constitutions, administrative arrangements, and institutional structures belong to particular periods of history. Succession is what carries an office and jurisdiction through those changes.
The contemporary Church therefore understands itself not as having recreated an ancient institution, but as continuing inherited ecclesiastical authority as a continuation of the original Christian Church in its present Roman-Ruthenian form.
Custodia Petri — The Custody of Peter
At the heart of Roman-Ruthenian Petrine governance is the principle of custodianship.
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Custodi Petri
Art by PGP Media |
The keys of St. Peter signify not merely dignity, but responsibility: the preservation of the Apostolic faith, continuity of ecclesiastical ministry, and faithful custody of the spiritual and historical patrimony entrusted to the Church.
Within Rome-Ruthenia, that responsibility is expressed through three related but distinct forms of continuity.
Apostolic succession provides sacramental continuity of the episcopate from the Apostles.
The Latin Orthodox Petrine succession provides jurisdictional continuity of the Petrine office within the Roman-Ruthenian Church.
Temporal succession preserves the historical temporal patrimony associated with St. Peter, the Roman papacy, and the wider Roman-Ruthenian inheritance.
The office of Pope and Prince-Bishop of Rome-Ruthenia brings these inheritances together. Sacramentally, its present holder stands within the broader apostolic succession of the Church. Spiritually and jurisdictionally, he stands within its Latin Orthodox Petrine succession. Temporally, he serves as custodian of the historical Petrine patrimony preserved within the Pontifical Imperial State of Rome-Ruthenia.
This is the meaning of the Roman-Ruthenian principle Custodia Petri — the Custody of Peter.
Christian history has repeatedly witnessed jurisdictions divide, institutions develop, churches unite, empires disappear, borders shift, and ecclesiastical structures assume new forms. Succession is one of the principal means by which continuity is maintained through such changes. In the Roman-Ruthenian understanding, what passes through succession is not merely a collection of names and titles, but office, responsibility, patrimony, jurisdiction, and inherited authority.
The distinction is consequently central to understanding the Church itself. Ancient apostolic orders demonstrate sacramental continuity. Ancient traditions demonstrate historical continuity. But jurisdictional inheritance establishes institutional continuity: the living connection between a contemporary ecclesiastical body and the office and authority it succeeds.
In the United Roman-Ruthenian Church, that continuity is embodied today in Pope Radislav I: Latin Orthodox successor in the jurisdictional Petrine line, apostolic successor through the episcopate, temporal successor to the historic Petrine patrimony, and custodian of the Roman-Ruthenian Apostolic tradition.
