On 8 August 2009, our imperial person the then Prime Minister was commanded by our father and predecessor Emperor Terry I to establish an intelligence agency to covertly collect and analyse information in support of the national security of the young Austenasian state. Eight years to the day, we consider it time to publicly acknowledge the existence of this organisation, the State Intelligence Agency, and to regulate its activities by law.
The State Intelligence Agency is responsible for the collection and analysis of information relevant to national security, domestic stability, and foreign policy objectives, and the reporting of any relevant information to the appropriate office or ministry. It has the right to conceal its activities to the extent necessary to prevent interference, sabotage, or the undermining of its own goals.
We hereby relinquish the office and position of Director-General of the State Intelligence Agency and appoint as such Iron Lord Daniel Dankovsky, Duke of Dalmatia, with authority to direct and co-ordinate the activities of the Agency. The Director-General is appointed at the discretion of the Monarch or Prime Minister.
Proclaimed at Wrythe this eighth day of August, the first Tuesday after the Feast of the Transfiguration, during the fifth year of our reign, in the year of the consulship of Adam Rex and Victoria Hathawia Comitessa Sidneae, anno mundi 7525.
XXXI Jon I: Katechon (14 September 2017)
Many wrote of how the Roman Empire would last until the end of time and come to an end only with world history. When the Roman Empire fell but the world continued, these predictions were assumed to be false. Not so! The false assumption was that the Roman Empire fell simply because Constantinople did. The Empire of the Romans ruled from Constantinople was indeed the continuation of the Roman Empire in its purest form, but the Empire has survived wherever a sovereign has claimed the Roman title Imperator or Augustus and been recognised by a legitimate Emperor as being such. When the Eastern Empire of the Romans fell with the conquest of Constantinople and the death of Constantine XI, Frederick III – successor of Charlemagne and of Otto I, both of whom had been recognised as Emperors by predecessors of Constantine XI – ruled over the Holy Roman Empire in the West. When the Holy Roman Empire dissolved with the abdication of Francis II, the Ottoman, Chinese, Russian and French Empires still stood firm, all ruled by Emperors whose predecessors had been recognised in that rank; the Ottoman and Russian by the Holy Roman, the Chinese by the Russian, and the French by the Holy Roman and Russian. Even by the second half of the twentieth century, when all other emperors had lost their thrones, the Emperor of Japan still held his, whose predecessor had been recognised in that rank by the Chinese. There has not been a time since its institution that the Empire has been entirely without an Emperor, excluding instances of mere days when a successor has been sought by the government of a late or deposed sole Emperor. Now there reigns the Emperor of Austenasia, whose predecessors were recognised by the Emperor of Germany; the Emperor of Reyla, recognised by that of Austenasia; the Emperor of the restored Holy Roman Empire, recognised by those of Austenasia and of Reyla; and the Emperor of Japan, whose throne has held fast to this day.
Countless prophecies have stated that towards the end of the world, there shall arise a final Emperor to defeat the forces of evil and usher in a brief period of peace and prosperity before the arrival of the Antichrist and the ultimate end. The identity of this final Emperor is not agreed upon; some say he shall be Russian, others say he shall be Greek, others say he shall be French, and others say he shall be Constantine XI or John III restored to life. All these prophecies are in agreement, though, that there shall be a final Emperor at the end to bring about a last restoration of earthly Christendom for a short while before the final tribulation of the faithful.
Some prophecies state that the final Emperor shall be a descendant of Alexander the Great; while this is impossible, as he had no known surviving descendants, the House of Austen can trace its descent from many of the Diadochi – Ptolemy, Seleucus, Antipater, Lysimachus and Antigonus – and so may claim to be successors of Alexander in a broader sense. Furthermore, others – such as Saint Remigius – state that he shall be a descendant of French monarchs, and the House of Austen is also descended from Childeric I, Clovis I, Pepin, Charlemagne, Louis I, Charles II, Louis II, Charles III, Robert I, Louis IV, Kings of the Franks and of West Francia. It is therefore possible that the final Emperor may arise in the future from our familial successors.
Although the Empire itself has not yet come to an end, the institution of a Christian Emperor ended during the last century. We do therefore hereby, one hundred years to the day that the last Orthodox Emperor was formally repudiated by his people with the declaration of the Russian Republic, declare that by the Grace of Christ our God the Christian Empire has been restored in Austenasia.
The Roman Emperor – and especially the Christian Emperor – has traditionally been identified with the katechon of II Thessalonians 2:6-7, that is, “that which/he who restrains” the powers of darkness and chaos. While we believe that this is a role which all our subjects must try to emulate in their own way and according to their own capacity, in recognition of this ancient tradition we hereby adopt the title of Katechon – to be included in our own official style immediately before that of Defender of the Faith – and pledge to do our part in restraining the powers of lawlessness.
Proclaimed at Soria this fourteenth day of September, the Feast of the Cross, during the fifth year of our reign, in the year of the consulship of Adam Rex and Victoria Hathawia Comitessa Sidneae, anno mundi 7526.