The United Roman-Ruthenian Church is not a new creation, but a contemporary expression of an ancient Apostolic inheritance. Its official timeline begins with the founding of the Church in AD 33, and its authority derives from preserved Apostolic succession received through the ancient patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and their historic extensions into Rus’ and the Americas. The URRC is a derivative patriarchate formed by the convergence of these ancient lines, united not by innovation but by continuity of faith, order, and sacramental life. Its various constituent jurisdictions merged in 2023 to form the modern United Roman-Ruthenian Church. 

The Holy Apostolic See of the United Roman-Ruthenian Church is under the patronage of Saints Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark, reflecting both its Eastern and Western inheritance: Peter as patron of Rome, Andrew as apostle of the East and of Ruthenia, Stephen as patron of the Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia, the main episcopal jurisdiction of the Roman-Ruthenian Pope, and Mark as founder of Aquileia and patron of the papal Metropolitan See. Through Apostolic succession, ecclesial grants, and formal recognitions received over time, the URRC inherited not only orders but jurisdiction, autocephaly, and custodial responsibility for the Petrine inheritance within the Latin Orthodox tradition. Its present form represents consolidation rather than invention: a gathering of ancient streams into a single custodial Church, preserving intact what was received.