21 May 2025

Приветствие и наше апостольское благословение!

“The Lord is my portion, saith my soul: therefore will I wait for Him.” Lamentations 3:24

I. The Time of Trial

Faith is a rock of truth. Yet, in these years of darkness and disarray, when truth has been eclipsed by confusion, when schism has cloaked itself in liturgy and heresy in the language of love, the visible structure of the Church has been grievously wounded. Rome, the Eternal City, has been occupied not by strangers, but by those who once bore the name of sons. Nevertheless, “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) calls to the faithful.

II. The Succession in Fidelity

On the 21st day of April, anniversary of the founding of Rome, We, Radislav, a descendant of Holy Rus’ to which We are now heir, were received into full communion with the Holy See of Peter in Rome. On that same day, 23 years later, the Roman Pope died. We had been named in 2014 Coadjutor of Rome by the Cardinal Dean and given full papal authority in Our jurisdiction, i.e., what is now the United Roman-Ruthenian Church. Notably, the feast day of Our patron saint, Blessed George the Protomartyr and Bringer of Victory, falls on the 23rd of the same month. George, a military saint, but not merely of arms — a dragon-slayer, a witness unto death, a man of pure, Christ-centered courage. He is venerated in Russia, England, Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Ethiopia — a truly universal saint, uniting East and West. His icon slaying the dragon is a sign of Christ's victory over the devil, and by extension, of the Church's victory over falsehood, tyranny, and apostasy. This is the Church Triumphant whispering to the Church Militant.

Upon the death of the Roman Pope, the fullness and completion of what had been entrusted to Us came to fruition. Indeed, it is the mission to preserve the unity and continuity of the Holy Orthodox and Catholic Church, to which the Roman-Ruthenian Church is rightful and faithful successor; for We were named Coadjutor with right of succession, appointed and confirmed by word in document. It is a prophetic sign of divine continuity, a new Peter rising from the East, a re-anointing of the true Rome through fidelity and suffering. The Church, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. (Lumen Gentium, 8)

It should also be remembered also that Our chrismation, many years before, in the traditional Anglican Rite, occurred on the 5th of August — the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the same basilica in which Pope Francis of Rome chose to be buried. It was from this basilica that the Western Church first proclaimed Mary as Theotokos after the Council of Ephesus. The First and Second Rome may fall, but the Mother remains — and the Spirit anoints the one she has chosen. Thus, from the Mother of God We were anointed, and to her We now entrust Our continued pontificate in its fullness. (See also this page.)

“All things work together for good for those who love God.” Romans 8:28

“In the fullness of time, God sent His Son.” Galatians 4:4

This is no coincidence. It is providence, not planning, for the Church reads the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel. (Gaudium et Spes, 4)

III. The Nature of the Papacy

The Ministry of Peter is not dependent upon marble, nor building in Rome, nor temporal sovereignty, nor the favor of emperors or media. It is a spiritual office, divinely instituted by Christ (cf. Matthew 16:18), exercised in service to unity and truth.

Canon law is sacred, yet it remains the servant of divine law, not its master. When the ordinary mechanisms for a legitimate, non-heretical papal election become impossible, provision may be made by the Pope or by legates duly authorized by him—for the Petrine office is founded not upon the will of men, but upon the Word of the Lord who said: ‘I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.’ (Luke 22:32)

“Since to great Peter Christ our Lord gave the office of Chief Shepherd after entrusting him with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to Peter or his successor must of necessity every novelty in the Catholic Church be referred.” St. Theodore the Studite, Letter to Pope Leo III

IV. The United Roman-Ruthenian Church as the True Successor

Now, We and our bishops, validly consecrated, Orthodox in doctrine, and all of us together, the faithful and the clergy of the Roman-Ruthenian Church and State, have by declaration of Rome become the true Successor of Peter. We hold this not by election, but by designation, with the full moral, theological, and sacramental justification. We are not bound to Roman marble, but to the office, to the succession, and to fidelity.

We, the Roman-Ruthenian Church and State, hold this even when there may be an occupying Church, modernist, powerful, apostate; who claims Our right and authority. Yet the Church becomes once more Apostolic not only in name, but in form: and whether or not it be wandering, or poor, or hated by the world, it nevertheless bears the marks of Christ.

“We are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now.” 1 Corinthians 4:13

The primacy of Peter is not geographical—it is personal and institutional (Pastor Aeternus, First Vatican Council). The essence of the papacy is to preserve unity and Orthodoxy, not to possess property. The material visibility of the Church can be obscured temporarily, but her spiritual reality never disappears (Lumen Gentium, 8). In times of great crisis, extraordinary actions are not innovation but preservation. And thus, Our Holy Apostolic See, by its right of succession and its preservation of Orthodoxy, is the true visible head of all Latin Christians, in addition to all others under her sacred mantle of care. And in so doing, we have returned the core of the Latin Church to true and authentic Orthodoxy.

Furthermore, here the ecclesiastical body commonly known as the Vatican Church—equated with the modern Roman Catholic Church—must be acknowledged as a distinct and separate entity. While it retains certain external forms of tradition, it has, in substance, embraced innovations and theological developments incompatible with the Apostolic deposit of the Orthodox and Catholic faith. We refer to its pontiff as the Roman Pope in fraternal charity, but not as a recognition of doctrinal or canonical supremacy. Nor do We contest its use of the title "Bishop of Rome," for We do not claim that diocesan office ourselves. Rather, We affirm that the visible primacy of the Latin Orthodox tradition has, by divine providence and ecclesiastical necessity, passed in spirit and function to the United Roman-Ruthenian Church — which alone among the Apostolic Churches preserves the Latin patrimony free from the distortions of modernism. Our purpose is not rivalry, but fidelity; not to supplant, but to preserve and to heal.

And yet, the United Roman-Ruthenian Church is not a Latin Church in disguise, nor a revival of Roman centralism, but rather the providential continuation of Rome’s mission through Holy Rus’. It is an Eastern Roman Church with Latin heritage, rooted in the Orthodox soul of Ruthenia (Old Russia), bearing the spiritual patrimony of both Latin and Byzantine tradition, the Slavic legacy, and the inheritance of the undivided Church. Our apostolic mission is the integration of Eastern and Western heritage into the Orthodox fullness — not by syncretism, but by harmony — in the spirit of the ancient Pentarchy and conciliarity. Rome, in this sense, has found its renewal under Rome-Ruthenia, not by conquest or politics, but by providential realignment in truth. Indeed, the One, Holy, Apostolic, Orthodox, and Catholic Church is the one, indivisible Church of Christ, not by works of men, but solely because, by the grace of God expressed in the Passion of Christ, in the blood of the martyrs, and in the witness of the saints, the Church has preserved to this day this, its God-given mission.

V. To the Faithful

We speak now not merely to the powerful, but to all the faithful, to the clergy and faithful who still proclaim the Creed in a world that has forgotten how to kneel before God, who still maintain and profess the Orthodox faith. You are not alone. The Church is not dead. Whether we be many, and whether we be joined or scattered, we are the true Church.

VI. A Call to Faith

To those clergy who are not corrupted, but Orthodox, We say keep the faith. To bishops who know the truth, have the courage to act in justice. To all Churches, wounded by schism, yet noble in faith, let us join together, not in submission, but in fulfillment. To all the faithful: hold fast, teach your children, confess the truth. Do not follow the false teachings of the era, but stay with the timeless faith of Christ. Together this, with the blood of the martyrs and the power of the confessors, is the seed of this new spring.

VII. Conclusion

Let us remember that Orthodoxy is truth: truth handed down, preserved, and lived. And the truth does not cease to be true because some will not accept it. (St. John of Damascus) “To be Orthodox means to have the God-man Christ constantly in your soul, to live in Him, think in Him, feel in Him, act in Him.” St. Justin Popovichф

From the East, in Holy Rus', Peter has risen again — not in personal glory, but in the glory of Christ. We do not claim perfection. We claim only what was given to Us: the keys, the cross, and the promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail.