YUGOSLAVIAN HERITAGE of the  IMPERIAL ROMAN CHURCH and the PONTIFICAL IMPERIAL STATE OF ROME-RUTHENIA Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate,  the Anglican Patriarchate of Rome, Apostolic See of Sts. Stephen and Mark Orthodox and Catholic Frequently Asked Questions History Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate About the Anglican Patriarchate   Scheduled to be in print from St. George Seminary Press in early 2023, Journey of Faith: The Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark, by Rutherford I is a history of the present See and its people - those who went before us, laying the groundwork over the last decades and past centuries, and those who keep the faith today.  Among the most treasured aspects of the Slavic heritage of the Imperial Roman Church and the Pontifical Imperial State of Rome-Ruthenia is the legacy of Yugoslavia. The last King to reign there (albeit briefly) was King Peter II of Yugoslavia. The King, a second-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and also of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, came to the throne at the age of 11 upon his father's assassination in 1934. He was forced into exile by the Nazis shortly after coming of age. Peter II's godfather was George VI of England.  After some time in England, Peter II came to the United States in 1948 and settled in Chicago, where he lived more or less for the rest of his life. The king died on 3 November 1970 in Colorado after battling a long illness. He was buried at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, an area known for its Serbian ex-patriate community. In 2013, however, it was arranged for his body to be reinterrd in Serbia at the Royal Mausoleum of Oplenac. While in the United States, Peter II, exercising his sovereign rights, established the honour of Knight Bachelor of Yugoslavia. This was organised into a society known as the Royal Association of Knights Bachelor, with the King as its Royal Protector. Today the Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark is among those entitled to grant the title of Knight Bachelor of Yugoslavia - an honour rarely conferred. Various documents pertaining to the honour are also held in the Stephenian Archives. (Pontifical Order of Knights Bachelor of Yugoslavia.) King George VI of England with his godson, King Peter II of Yugoslavia King Peter II with British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill Excerpt of a brevet of Peter II conferring the honour of Knight Bachelor of Yugoslavia. Document of King Peter II of Yugoslavia appointing the Knight Chancellor of the Royal Association of Knights Bachelor, signed by the King. Document of Peter II  pertaining to the customs of Knights Bachelor of Yugoslavia, signed by the King. Excerpt of the statutes of the Royal Association of Knights Bachelor, signed by King Peter II of Yugoslavia. King Peter II with Yugoslavia royal regalia. See also the heritage of the Independent Catholic Church International, Anglican Communion, Old Catholic See of Utrecht, Anglican Diocese of the Southwest, and historic agreements with the Orthodox Patriarchates of Antioch and Alexandria.

The Stato Pontificio Romano constitutes an ecclesiastical sovereignty by right of Rome as heir to the Roman Empire with an independent government in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (as the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church). Additionally, the church  is of the Pontifical Orthodox Old Catholic faith and descends from the See of Utrecht, which was granted autonomy in 1145 by Pope Eugene III and confirmed in 1520 by Pope St. Leo X in the Bull Debitum Pastoralis. As the sole successor of Pope St. Leo X and temporal successor of St. Peter the Apostle, the Catholicate and Patriarchate are fully Catholic and holds the same canonical authority as the Roman Communion (Vatican). The Catholicate and Patriarchate are the ecclesiastical successor to temporal Rome, the temporal patrimony of the Roman Empire claimed historically by right of the papacy. The succession passed to the Catholicate after Benedict XVI by right of Rome and Florence, with the Papa-Catholicos of Rome-Ruthenia with papal authority as temporal successor of St. Peter, and the Pope-Bishop of Rome as spiritual successor of St. Peter and de facto sovereign of the Vatican City-State. Although administratively independent, the Apostolic See embraces as brethren other Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican bodies, such as the current Roman Communion (commonly referred to as the Roman Catholic Church), the Anglican Ordinariate, Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Communion. The Imperial Roman Church is defined as the Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate, the Anglican Patriarchate of Rome, and the churches of all Bishops recognised by the Catholicate. The governments of the modern republics of Italy, German, France, Switzerland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the United States, and of the modern kingdoms of Great Britain and Spain, as well as the European Union and all other civil states, are not affiliated with the Stato Pontificio government in exile.