All Topics  
Rusyns

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Rusyns



 
 
Rusyns (Rusyn
Rusyn language

Rusyn is an East Slavic languages that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian language....
: ??????, also referred to as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, and Rusnaks) are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group
Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common culture, linguistic, religion, human behaviour or Race traits, real or presumed, as indic...
 which speak Rusyn
Rusyn language

Rusyn is an East Slavic languages that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian language....
. The group is descended from the minority of Ruthenians
Ruthenians

The term Ruthenians is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for the Ukrainians people....
 who did not adopt the ethnonym Ukrainian
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 to describe their ethnic identity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was expedited by governmental decree banning the name Rusyn from official usage, as seen after 1945 in Soviet Transcarpathia and Poland and by the early 1950s in Czechoslovakia.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Rusyns'
Start a new discussion about 'Rusyns'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts









Encyclopedia


Rusyns (Rusyn
Rusyn language

Rusyn is an East Slavic languages that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian language....
: ??????, also referred to as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, and Rusnaks) are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group
Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common culture, linguistic, religion, human behaviour or Race traits, real or presumed, as indic...
 which speak Rusyn
Rusyn language

Rusyn is an East Slavic languages that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian language....
. The group is descended from the minority of Ruthenians
Ruthenians

The term Ruthenians is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for the Ukrainians people....
 who did not adopt the ethnonym Ukrainian
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 to describe their ethnic identity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was expedited by governmental decree banning the name Rusyn from official usage, as seen after 1945 in Soviet Transcarpathia and Poland and by the early 1950s in Czechoslovakia. Today, Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic

The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
 and Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
 recognise Rusyns as an official national minority. Rusyns were first recognized as a separate ethnicity in Ukraine in 2007 by the Zakarpattia Regional Council
Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative administrative divisions of Ukraine located in southwestern Ukraine. Its Capital is the city of Uzhhorod....
. Ruthenians within Ukraine have Ukrainian nationality and most have adopted a Ukrainian ethnic identity. Most contemporary self-identified ethnic Rusyns, however, live outside Ukraine.

Of the approximately 1.2 million people claimed as being ethnically Rusyns, only 55,000 declare themselves as having this ethnicity. The ethnic classification of Rusyns is controversial. Some contemporary scholars claim a separate East Slavic
East Slavic

East Slavic can refer to:* East Slavic languages* East Slavs...
 ethnicity distinct from Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
, and Belarusians
Belarusians

Belarusians or Belorussians are an East Slavs ethnic group who populate the majority of the Belarus and form minorities in neighboring Poland , Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine....
, while others consider Rusyns to be a subgroup of the Ukrainian people.

Rusyn, Rusnak, and Lemko are seen by some people as a historic, local, and synonymical name for Ukrainians, while others hold that the names Lemko or Rusnak are regional forms for Rusyn.

Location


Prior to the middle of the 19th century, Ukrainians were referred to and known as Rusyns. The ethnonym Ukrainian came into widespread use only in modern times, replacing the ethnonym Rusyn initially on the banks of the Dnieper and later spreading to western Ukraine, where it was still used into the 1930s. Today only a minority group uses this ethnonym for self-identification, primarily people living in the mountainous Transcarpathian region of western Ukraine and adjacent areas in Slovakia. Having eschewed the ethnonym Ukrainian, Rusyns continue to use the ethnonym Rusyn, asserting a local and separate Rusyn ethnic identity.

Contemporary Rusyns (those who so identify themselves today) have traditionally inhabited the area of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc of roughly 1,500 km across Central Europe and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe....
, as they still do. Their homeland is often referred to as Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia, List of acronyms and initialisms: A#AK Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Rusinko, Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia is a small region in Central Europe, now mostly in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkivshchyna and Romanian Maramures....
, although that area no longer directly coincides with the area of Rusyn habitation. There are resettled Rusyn communities located in the Pannonian plain
Pannonian Plain

The Pannonian Plain is a large plain in Central Europe that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea dried out. It is a geomorphology subsystem of the Alpide belt....
, parts of present-day Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
 (particularly in Vojvodina
Vojvodina

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an Subdivisions of Serbia in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census....
 – see also Ethnic groups of Vojvodina
Ethnic groups of Vojvodina

There are many ethnic groups in Vojvodina....
), as well as present-day Croatia
Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a Central European country at the crossroads of Pannonian Plain, Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 (in the region of Slavonia
Slavonia

Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia. It is a fertile agricultural and forested lowland bounded, in part, by the Drava river in the north, the Sava river in the south, and the Danube river in the east....
). Rusyns also migrated and settled in Prnjavor, a town in the northern region of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country on the Balkans peninsula of South Eastern Europe with an area of 51,129 square kilometres . Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the south, Bosnia and Herzegovina is Landlocked#Nearly landlocked, except for 26 kilometres of the Adriatic Sea coas...
.

Many Rusyns emigrate
Emigrate

Emigrate is the name of a band led by Richard Z. Kruspe, guitarist and founder of Rammstein....
d to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, and are able to reconnect as a community with the advent of modern communications such as the Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
. Concerns are being voiced regarding the preservation of their unique ethnic and cultural legacy.

History

Rusyns have never attained modern independent statehood, except for the ephemeral Lemko-Rusyn Republic
Lemko-Rusyn Republic

Lemko-Rusyn Republic or Ruska Narodna Respublika Lemkiv was founded in Florynka on December 5, 1918, in the aftermath of World War I, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire....
 and Komancza Republic
Komancza Republic

The Komancza Republic was an association of 30 Lemko villages, founded in eastern Lemkivshchyna in Komancza on November 4, 1918. It had a Ukraine orientation, and planned to unite with the West Ukrainian National Republic....
 after World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. In the interwar period, the Rusyn group in Czechoslovakia was a group of Ukrainian people (if we consider Rusyns as a subgroup of Ukrainians) that enjoyed rather liberal conditions for the development of their culture (compared with the fate of Ukrainians in Poland, Hungary or Romania). The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine

Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent Ukraine republic on March 15 1939, but was occupied by Kingdom of Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939....
 - which existed for only one day on March 15, 1939 before it was occupied by Hungarian troops - is sometimes considered to have been a self-determining Rusyn State, but although it was located in Subcarpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia, List of acronyms and initialisms: A#AK Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Rusinko, Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia is a small region in Central Europe, now mostly in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkivshchyna and Romanian Maramures....
, the traditional Carpatho-Rusyn homeland, the Republic was a project overseen by Rusyns who considered themselves to be Ukrainians. The Republic's president, Avhustyn Voloshyn
Avhustyn Voloshyn

Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn was a Carpathian Ruthenia politician, teacher, and essayist. He was president of the independent Carpatho-Ukraine, which existed for one day on March 15th, 1939....
, was an advocate of writing in the Rusyn vernacular but was a Ukrainophile nevertheless.

The Rusyns' fate has always rested in the hands of larger neighbouring powers, such as Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 until 1992 . On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia....
, Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
, and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. In contrast to the modern Ukrainian national movement
History of Ukraine

The territory of Ukraine was a key centre of Early East Slavs in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years....
 that united Western Ukrainians with those from the rest of Ukraine, the Rusyn national movement takes two forms: one considers Rusyns as a separate East Slavic nation, while the other is based on the concept of fraternal unity with Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
.

Most of the predecessors of the Eastern Slavic inhabitants of present-day Western Ukraine referred to themselves as Rusyns (translit.
Romanization of Ukrainian

The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin alphabet. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic alphabet....
 Rusyny) prior to the nineteenth century; many of them became active participants in the creation of the Ukrainian nation and came to call themselves Ukrainians
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 (Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
: ????????, translit.
Romanization of Ukrainian

The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin alphabet. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic alphabet....
 Ukrayintsi). There were, however, ethnic Rusyn enclaves, which were not a part of this movement: those living on the border of the same territory or in more isolated regions, such as the people from Carpathian Ruthenia, Poleshuks, or the Rusyns of Podlachia
Podlachia

Podlachia, Podlesia, or Podlasie is a historical region in the eastern part of Poland and western Belarus. It is located between the Biebrza River in the north and its natural continuation to the south — the Polesie area....
. With no reason to change their self-identifying monikers
Exonym and endonym

An exonym is a toponym that is not used within that place by the local inhabitants , or a ethnonym or language that is not used by the people or language to which it refers....
, these isolated groups continued to refer to themselves as Rusyns even after the majority of their people had begun to self-identify as Ukrainian.

Some scholars consider the Lemko
Lemkos

Lemkos , one of several quantitatively and territorially small nationalities who also traditionally call themselves Rusyns , are one of the four major groups inhabiting the Eastern Carpathian Carpathian Mountains....
, Boyko
Boyko

The Boykos or Boikos are a distinctive group of Ukraine Carpathian Mountains "montagnards" or mountain-dwelllers of the Carpathian Mountains highlands....
, Hutsul
Hutsuls

Hutsuls are an ethnic group of Ukrainians highlanders who for centuries have inhabited the Carpathian mountains, mainly in Ukraine, but also in the northern extremity of Romania , as well as in Slovakia and Poland....
, Verkhovinetses (Verkhovyntsi, or Highlanders), and Dolinyanin (Haynal) ethnic groups to be Rusyn. As with the rest of the inhabitants of present-day Western Ukraine in the 19th century and first part of the 20th century, some of these peoples referred to themselves as Rusyns. However, some of these ethnic groups consider themselves to be separate ethnicities, while others claim to be Ukrainians and still others identify themselves as Rusyns.

According to a recent Ukrainian census, an overwhelming majority of Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls, Verkhovyntsi and Dolynians in Ukraine stated their nationality as being Ukrainian. About 10,100 people, or 0.8%, of Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast
Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative administrative divisions of Ukraine located in southwestern Ukraine. Its Capital is the city of Uzhhorod....
 (Province) identified themselves as Rusyns; by contrast, 1,010,000 considered themselves Ukrainians. Research conducted by the University of Cambridge during the height of political Rusynism in the mid-1990s that focused on five specific regions within the Zakarpattia Oblast with the strongest pro-Rusyn cultural and political activism, found that only nine percent of the population of these areas claimed Rusyn ethnicity. These numbers may change with the further acceptance of Rusyn identity and the Rusyn language in educational systems in the area, nevertheless in the present day, according to the Ukrainian census, most - over 99% - of the local inhabitants consider themselves to be Ukrainians.

The Rusyn national movement is much stronger among those Rusyn groups that became geographically separated from present-day Ukrainian territories, for example the Rusyn emigrants in the United States and Canada, as well as the Rusyns living within the borders of Slovakia. The 2001 census in Slovakia showed that 24,000 people considered themselves ethnically Rusyn while 11,000 considered themselves to be ethnically Ukrainian. The Pannonian Rusyns
Pannonian Rusyns

Rusyns in Pannonia, or simply Rusyns or Ruthenians , are a Slavic minority in Serbia and Croatia. They are officially considered a separate nationality in Serbia and Croatia, but are also considered to be a part of the northern Rusyns who live mostly in Ukraine, but also in Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, and Hunga...
 in Serbia, who migrated there during the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also consider themselves to be Rusyns. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some Rusyns resettled in Vojvodina
Vojvodina

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an Subdivisions of Serbia in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census....
 (in present day Serbia), as well as in Slavonia
Slavonia

Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia. It is a fertile agricultural and forested lowland bounded, in part, by the Drava river in the north, the Sava river in the south, and the Danube river in the east....
 (in present-day Croatia). Still other Rusyns migrated to the northern regions of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, although many Rusyns in Bosnia identify themselves as Ukrainians. Until the 1971 Yugoslav
Yugoslavia

File:LocationYugoslavia2.pngYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century....
 census, both Ukrainians (Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
: ?????????, tr.
Romanization

In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....
 Ukrajinci) and Rusyns (Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
: ??????, tr.
Romanization

In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....
 Rusini) in these areas were recorded collectively as "Ruthenes". Podkarpatskije Rusiny is considered the Rusyn "national anthem", Ja Rusyn byl jesm' i budu the national song.

In March 2007 the Zakarpattia Regional Council
Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative administrative divisions of Ukraine located in southwestern Ukraine. Its Capital is the city of Uzhhorod....
 adopted a decision which recognized Rusyns as a separate national minority at the oblast level. By the same decision the Zakarpattia Regional Council petitioned the Ukrainian central authorities to recognize Rusyns as an ethnic minority at the state level.

Historically, the Polish
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 and Hungarian
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 states are considered to have contributed to the development of a Rusyn identity that is separate from that of other Ruthenians. Rusyns were recorded as a separate nationality by the censuses taken in pre-WWII Poland (see Cezary Chlebowski's Wachlarz), Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Religion


The question of when the Rusyns adopted Christianity
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
 (and who or what they worshipped before) is a source of some debate, but it clearly occurred prior to the Great Schism
East-West Schism

The East-West Schism, or the Great Schism, divided medieval Christendom into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively....
 between the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 and Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 churches in 1054. Many Rusyn churches are named after the Eastern Christian
Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity refers collectively to the Christianity traditions and churches which developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Christianity in Africa and southern India over several centuries of religious antiquity....
 saints Cyril and Methodius, who are often referred to as the "Apostles to the Slavs."

In 1994 the historian Paul Robert Magocsi
Paul Robert Magocsi

Paul Robert Magocsi is a professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto since 1980, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1996....
 stated that there were approximately 690,000 Carpatho-Rusyn church members in the United States, with 320,000 belonging to the largest Byzantine Rite Catholic affiliations, 270,000 to the largest Orthodox affiliations, and 100,000 to various Protestant and other denominations.

Eastern Catholics


Most Rusyns are Byzantine rite Catholics, who since the Union of Brest
Union of Brest

Union of Brest or Union of Brzesc refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope, in order to avoid the domination of the newly established Patriarch of Moscow....
 in 1596 and the Union of Uzhhorod
Union of Uzhhorod

The Union of Uzhhorod was the 1646 decision of 63 Ruthenian Eastern Orthodox Church priests from the south slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, then within the Kingdom of Hungary, to join the Catholic Church on terms similar to the Union of Brest from 1596 in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
 in 1646 have been united with the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 under the spiritual leadership of the Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
. However, they have their own particular Church
Particular Church

In Catholic theology and Canon law , a particular Church is an ecclesial community headed by a bishop or someone recognized as the equivalent of a bishop....
, the Ruthenian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church

The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains....
, and retain the Byzantine Rite
Byzantine Rite

The Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite, is the liturgy used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches and by the Greek-Catholic Churches ....
 liturgy in Old Slavonic
Old Slavonic

Old Slavonic may refer to:*Old Church Slavonic language*Common Slavonic language...
 and most of the outward forms of Byzantine or Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity refers collectively to the Christianity traditions and churches which developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Christianity in Africa and southern India over several centuries of religious antiquity....
.

The Rusyns of the former Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and in Slovene language: Socialisticna Federativna Republika Jugoslavija The Slovene language name also uses this Gaj?s Latin alphabet version with a slight difference in spelling....
 are organized under the Eparchy of Krizevci. Those in the diaspora
Diaspora

The term diaspora refers to the movement of any population sharing common ethnicity identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their Settler territory, and became residents in areas often far removed from the former....
 in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 established the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh
Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh

The Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh is an autonomous Byzantine Rite particular church of the Catholic Church, originally serving members of the Ruthenian Catholic Church and their descendants in the United States....
.

According to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an United Statesn Painting, Printmaking, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the Art movement known as pop art....
, a Rusyn, the beginning of the film The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is a War film drama film about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War....
 shows a Rusyn wedding.

Eastern Orthodox Church


Although originally associated with the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, the affiliation of the Rusyn Orthodox Church was adversely affected by the Communist revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
 in the Russian Empire and the subsequent Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain was the symbolic, ideological, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991....
 which split the Orthodox diaspora from the Orthodox believers living in the ancestral homelands. A number of émigré communities have claimed to continue the Orthodox tradition of the pre-revolution church while either denying or minimizing the validity of the church organization operating under Communist authority. For example, the Orthodox Church in America
Orthodox Church in America

The Orthodox Church in America is an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox church in North America. Its Primate is Metropolitan Jonah , who was elected on November 12, 2008, and was formally installed on December 28, 2008....
 (OCA) was granted autocephalous (self-governing) status by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1970. Although approximately 25% of the OCA was Rusyn (referred to as "Ruthenian") in the early 1980s, an influx of Orthodox émigrés from other nations and new converts wanting to connect with the "early" church have lessened the impact of a particular Rusyn emphasis in favor of a new American Orthodoxy.

Language


Rusyn (also referred to as the Ruthenian language) is similar to the Slovak language
Slovak language

The Slovak language , sometimes incorrectly called ?Slovakian?, is an Indo-European languages that belongs to the West Slavic languages .The Czech and Slovak languages are Mutual intelligibility which means that even after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia Czech may be used in all official proceedings and documents in Slovakia, and vice ver...
 and Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
; Ukrainian scholars consider Rusyn a dialect of Ukrainian, to the resentment of some Rusyns.

Pannonian Rusyn


Pannonian Rusyn has been granted official status and was codified in Serbian's province of Vojvodina
Vojvodina

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an Subdivisions of Serbia in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census....
. Since 1995, it has also been recognized and codified as a minority language in Slovakia (in those areas comprising at least 20% Rusyns). The Rusyn language in Vojvodina, however, shares many similarities with Slovak, and is sometimes considered a separate (micro)language, sometimes a dialect of Slovak.

See also

  • Ruthenians
    Ruthenians

    The term Ruthenians is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for the Ukrainians people....
  • Rusyn Americans
  • List of Rusyn Americans
    List of Rusyn Americans

    This is a list of notable Rusyn Americans.To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Rusyn American or must have references showing they are Rusyn American and are notable....
  • Rusyns of Romania
    Rusyns of Romania

    The Rusyns are an Minorities of Romania in Romania. The 2002 Romanian census counted 61,091 of the related Ukrainians of Romania ethnicity, some of whom may be Rusyns ....
  • Carpatho-Rusyn Society
    Carpatho-Rusyn Society

    The Carpatho-Rusyn Society is an United States nonprofit organization promoting Rusyns culture in the United States as well in the homeland in east Central Europe....
  • Oleksandr Dukhnovych
    Oleksandr Dukhnovych

    Oleksandr Vasylovych Dukhnovych was a priest, poet, writer, pedagogue, and social activist of the Rusyns and Ukrainians nations....
  • Alexander Duchnovic Theatre
    Alexander Duchnovic Theatre

    The Alexander Duchnovic Theatre , located in Pre?ov, is the only Slovakia theatre providing plays in the Rusyn language....
  • Nestor Kukolnik
    Nestor Kukolnik

    Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works were subsequently dismissed as sententious and sentimental....
  • Petro Trochanowski
    Petro Trochanowski

    Piotr Trochanowski was born in Silesia in the southwestern part of Poland to Lemko parents from Binczarowa. He is the editor of Besida, published in Krynica since 1989....
  • Ukrainian Russophiles
    Ukrainian Russophiles

    Russophiles , also referred to in some contexts as , were participants in a cultural and political movement in Western Ukraine known as Russophilia....


External links

Warning: While reading the sources listed below, as well as sources of Ukrainian and Polish origin, one has to be careful to recognize the underlying interest of each of these groups supporting their own national mythology by selective presentation of information and the inter- and extrapolations favorable to that mythos.
  • by John Slivka
  • "The people exist, the ethnicity does not. Some knowledge about the Carpathian Rusyns", Zerkalo Nedeli
    Zerkalo Nedeli

    Zerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine?s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital....
     (Mirror Weekly), November 17-23, 2001. Available online and
  • 'Myhailo Tyvodar: "There is no need to prove that Transcarpathia is Ukrainian by spirit"', Zerkalo Nedeli
    Zerkalo Nedeli

    Zerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine?s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital....
     (Mirror Weekly), April 6-12, 2002. Available online and
  • by Brian J. Požun for
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ruthenians