Rusyns

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Rusyns
Total population

55,000 (est) associate themselves as having Rusyn ethnicity; Rusyn organisations claim approximately 2 million Rusyns
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Romania Romania cca 25,000 (not including Hutsuls)
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 24,201 [1]
Flag of Serbia Serbia 15,626 [2]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine 10,100 [3]
Flag of Croatia Croatia 2,337
Flag of Poland Poland 5,800 (2002-03)
Languages
Rusyn, Pannonian Rusyn, Ukrainian, Slovak, Russian
Religions
Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Slavic peoples, especially East Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians)
Rusyn flag
Rusyn flag

Rusyns (also referred to as Русины, Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusyns, and Rusnaks) are a Slavic ethnic group that speaks the Rusyn language and are descended from the minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the ethnonym Ukrainian to describe their ethnic identity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because many Ruthenians within Ukraine itself have adopted a Ukrainian ethnic identity[3], most contemporary Rusyns live outside Ukraine. Of the approximately 2 million people claimed by Rusyn organizations as being Rusyns, only 55,000 declare themselves as having this ethnicity. The ethnic identity of Rusyns is controversial, with some researchers claiming a separate East Slavic ethnicity distinct from Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, while others considering Rusyns to be a subgroup of the Ukrainian people.

Contents

[edit] Location

Main article: Places inhabited by Rusyns

As noted above, 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 in western Ukraine, where it was still used into the 1930s. Today only a minority group uses this ethnonym for self identification primarilly people living in the mountain areas of western Ukraine, namely Transcarpathia and bordering areas in Slovakia. Having not adopted the ethnonym Ukrainian, Rusyns all over the land of the old core of the Kyivan Rus state this ethnic group continues to use the ethnonym Rusyn, developing a local and separate Rusyn identity.

Contemporary Rusyns (those who identify themselves so today) have traditionally inhabited the area of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains and still inhabit those areas. Their homeland is often referred to as Carpathian Ruthenia, however, that area no longer directlt corresponds with the area of Rusyn habitation. There are resettled Rusyn communities located in the Pannonian plain, parts of present day Serbia (particularly in Vojvodina – see also Ethnic groups of Vojvodina), as well as in present-day Croatia (in the region of Slavonia). Rusyns also migrated and settled in the northern regions of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Many Rusyns emigrated to the United States and Canada, and are able to reconnect as a community with the advent of modern communications such as the internet. Concerns are being voiced regarding the preservation of their unique ethnic and cultural legacy.

[edit] History

Rusyns are an ethnic group that never attained independent statehood, except for the ephemeral Lemko-Rusyn Republic and Komancza Republic after World War I. The Republic named Carpatho-Ukraine which famously existed for only one day on March 15th, 1939 is sometimes mentioned erroneously as an example of a briefly self-determining Rusyn state before it was occupied by Hungarian troops. But, although located in the traditional Carpatho-Rusyn homeland, the Republic was a project overseen by Ukrainian nationalists, assisted by the Third Reich. The Republic's president, Avhustyn Voloshyn, was an advocate of writing in the Rusyn vernacular but was, nevertheless, a Ukrainophile.

The Rusyns' fortunes have always rested in the hands of larger neighbouring powers, such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Russia. In contrast to the modern Ukrainian national movement 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.

Most if not all of the Eastern Slavic inhabitants of present-day Western Ukraine referred to themselves as Rusyns (Ukrainian: Русини, translit. Rusyny) prior to the nineteenth century, many of these people became active participants in the creation of the Ukrainian nation and came to call themselves Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, translit. 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. With no reason to change their self-identifying monikers, these isolated groups continued to refer to themselves as Rusyns even after the majority of their people had switched to a Ukrainian self-identification. In this sense, Rusyns are similar to other borderland ethnicities, and their national awakening can be viewed by some as a negation of Ukrainian nationalism.[citation needed]

Some scholars consider the Lemko, Boyko, Hutsul, 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, these peoples referred to themselves as Rusyns. Some of these ethnic groups however, consider themselves to be separate ethnicities, while some claim to be Ukrainians and still others identify themselves as Rusyns. According to a recent Ukrainian census,[4] an overwhelming majority of Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls, Verkhovyntsi and Dolynians in Ukraine stated their nationality as Ukrainian. About 10,100 people, or 0.8%, of Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast (province) identified themselves as Rusyns; in contrast, 1,010,000 considered themselves Ukrainians.[3] Research conducted by the University of Cambridge during the height of political Ruthenianism in the mid-1990s, that focused on five specific regions within Zakarpattian oblast with the strongest pro-Ruthenian cultural and political activism, found that only nine percent of the population claimed Rusyn ethnicity.[5] These numbers may change with the further acceptance of Rusyn identity and the Rusyn language in educational systems in the area, but most Ruthenians consider themselves 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 included within the borders of Slovakia. A census in the latter country in 2001 showed that 24,000 people considered themselves ethnically Rusyn while 11,000 considered themselves to be ethnically Ukrainians.[6] The Pannonian Rusyns 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 (in present day Serbia), as well as in Slavonia (in present-day Croatia). Still other Rusyns migrated to the northern regions of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, although many of this ethnicity in Bosnia identify themselves as Ukrainians. Until the 1971 Yugoslav census, both Ukrainians (Serbian: Украјинци, tr. Ukrajinci) and Rusyns (Serbian: Русини, tr. 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 Zakarpatian Regional Council [1] adopted decision which recognized Rusyns as a separate national minority on the regional level. By the same decision the Zakarpattian Regional Council applied to Ukrainian central authorities with the petition to recognize Rusyns as a ethnic minority at the state level.

Historically, the Polish and Hungarian states are considered to have contributed in the development of a Rusyn identity as a separate one 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.

[edit] Religion

Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Prešov area Lemkos (left side) and Przemyśl area Rusyns (Ukrainians) in traditional ethnic folk-costumes. Photo: Village Mokre near Sanok. 2007
Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Prešov area Lemkos (left side) and Przemyśl area Rusyns (Ukrainians) in traditional ethnic folk-costumes. Photo: Village Mokre near Sanok. 2007

When the Rusyns accepted Christianity (and who or what they worshiped before) is a source of some debate, but it clearly occurred prior to the Great Schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches in 1054. Many Rusyn churches are named after the Eastern Christian saints Cyril and Methodius, who are often referred to as the "Apostles to the Slavs."

Historian Paul Robert Magocsi recorded that there were approximately 690,000 Carpatho-Rusyn church members in the United States, with 320,000 in the largest Byzantine rite Catholic affiliations, 270,000 in the largest Orthodox affiliations, and 100,000 in various Protestant and other denominations.[7]

[edit] Eastern Catholics

Many Rusyns are Byzantine rite Catholics, who since the Union of Brest in 1596 and the Union of Uzhhorod in 1646, are united with the Catholic (Universal) Chuirch under the spiritual leadership of the Pope. However, they form their own particular Church, the Ruthenian Catholic Church, and retain the Byzantine Rite liturgy in Old Slavonic and most of the outward forms of Byzantine or Eastern Christianity.

The Rusyns of former Yugoslavia are organized under the Eparchy of Krizevci. Those in the diaspora in the United States form the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.

Interestingly enough, the film, The deer hunter shows a Rusyn wedding at the beginning of the film. Andy Warhol, a Rusyn, declared it to be so when he watched the movie.

[edit] 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 in the Russian Empire and the subsequent Iron Curtain which split the Orthodox diaspora from those living in the ancestral homelands. A number of emigre communities have laid claim to continuing the Orthodox tradition of the pre-revolution church, while either negating or minimizing the validity of the church organization operating under Communist authority. For example, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) was granted auto-cephalous (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 emigres 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.

[edit] Language

Main article: Rusyn language

Rusyn (also referred to as the Ruthenian language) is similar to the Ukrainian language; the Ukrainian scholars consider Rusyn a dialect of Ukrainian, to the resentment of some Rusyns. In the extreme west of Carpathian Ruthenia, the language is more similar to the Slovak.

[edit] Pannonian Rusyn

Main article: Pannonian Rusyn language

Pannonian Rusyn has been granted official status and was codified in Vojvodina. Since 1995, it has also been recognized and codified as a minority language in Slovakia (in cases where there are at least 20% Rusyns). The Rusyn language in Vojvodina, however, sharing many similarities with Slovak, is sometimes considered a separate (micro)language, and sometimes a dialect of Slovak.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Permanently resident population by nationality and by regions and districts - Population and Housing Census 2001, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic
  2. ^ (December 24 2002) "3. Population by national or ethnic groups by Census 2002, by municipalities", in Zoran Jančić: Issue LII, No. 295, Final Results of the Census 2002, Communication, Belgrade: Republic Statistical Office of Serbia, 6-7. YU ISSN 0353-9555 SRB 295 SN31 241202. 
  3. ^ a b c Про кількість та склад населення Закарпатської області
    за підсумками Всеукраїнського перепису населення 2001 року
  4. ^ Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001:
  5. ^ Political and Ethno-Cultural Aspects of the Rusyns’ problem: A Ukrainian Perspective - by Natalya Belitser, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, Kyiv, Ukraine
  6. ^ 2001 and 1991 Slovakian censuses
  7. ^ Our People: Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America, 1994.

[edit] References

  • Chlebowski, Cezary (1983). Wachlarz: Writings on the Liberating Organization, a Division of the National Army (Wachlarz: Monografia wydzielonej organizacji dywersyjnej Armii Krajowej : wrzesien 1941-marzec 1943), Instytut Wydawniczy Pax. ISBN 83-211-0419-3
  • Dyrud, Keith P. (1992). The Quest for the Rusyn Soul: The Politics of Religion and Culture in Eastern Europe and in America, 1890-World War I, Balch Institute Press. ISBN 0-944190-10-3
  • ed. by Patricia Krafeik (1994). The Rusyns, Eastern European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-190-9
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1978). Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus', 1848-1948, Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-80579-8
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1988). Carpatho-Rusyn Studies: An Annotated Bibliography (V. 1: Garland Reference Library of the Humanities), Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-1214-3
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1994). Our People: Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America, Society of Multicultural Historical. ISBN 0-919045-66-9
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1994). The Rusyns of Slovakia, East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-278-6
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1996). A New Slavic Nation is Born, East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-331-6
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (1999). Carpatho-Rusyn Studies: An Annotated Bibliography, 1985-1994, Vol. 2, Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-88033-420-7
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (2000). Of the Making of Nationalities There Is No End, East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-438-X
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert, Sandra Stotsky and Reed Ueda (2000). The Carpatho-Rusyn Americans (Immigrant Experience), Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 0-7910-6284-8
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (2002). Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture, University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-3566-3
  • Magocsi, Paul Robert (2006). Carpatho-Rusyn Studies : An Annotated Bibliography Vol.3 1995-1999, East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-531-9
  • Mayer, Maria, translated by Janos Boris (1998). Rusyns of Hungary: Political and Social Developments, 1860-1910, Eastern European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-387-1
  • Petrov, Aleksei (1998). Medieval Carpathian Rus': The Oldest Documentation about the Carpatho-Rusyn Church and Eparchy, Eastern European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-388-X
  • Rusinko, Elaine (2003). Straddling Borders: Literature and Identity in Subcarpathian Rus', University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-3711-9

[edit] 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.

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ruthenians