Stephenian institutional succession is the term used for the lawful and organizational continuity associated with the Holy Apostolic See of Saints Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark and the earlier jurisdiction that developed into the Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia. The Holy Apostolic See consists of the Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia and the Metropolitan See of Aquileia, the personal diocesan and metropolitan jurisdictions of the Roman-Ruthenian Pope. The Holy Apostolic See forms the central jurisdictional nucleus of the Catholicate of Rome-Ruthenia (the Pope's jurisdiction as Patriarch) and the United Roman-Ruthenian Church as a whole. The patron saint of the Diocese is St. Stephen; that of the Metropolitan See is St. Mark; and those of the Catholicate are Saints Peter and Andrew.
Distinct from apostolic succession alone
While the institutional succession includes apostolic succession, the expression does not designate a sacramental line of episcopal consecration from Saint Stephen, for indeed, while Saint Stephen is given the dignity of Apostle, he was not a Bishop, but an Archdeacon. Stephenian institutional succession concerns the Orthodox and Catholic Apostolic succession maintained by the Church, Petrine succession relative to the Roman-Ruthenian Papacy, as well as continuity of jurisdiction, office, governance, and ecclesiastical identity through the modern history of the Holy Apostolic See. This includes direct institutional succession from Saint Edwin Caudill, whose earlier Diocese of the Southwest developed into the See of St. Stephen and later into the Diocese of Rome-Ruthenia; spirital and temporal succession from St. Leo X; and direct and unbroken temporal and spiritual jurisdictional succession from St. Peter the Apostle via grant and recognition.
Importance
Sacramental Apostolic Succession by itself does not transmit jurisdiction or continuity of jurisdiction. This distinction allows the Church to describe two related realities precisely: the many historic sacramental lines that it received and the institutional lineage through which its own central jurisdiction was transmitted and developed.