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Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavic ethnic group from the
Eastern Carpathians Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
in
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic
language variety In sociolinguistics, a variety, also known as a lect or an isolect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.Meech ...
, treated variously as either a distinct language or a dialect of the
Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
. As traditional adherents of
Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...
, the majority of Rusyns are
Eastern Catholics The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
, though a minority of Rusyns practice
Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
. Rusyns primarily self-identify as a distinct ethnic group and are recognized as such in all countries where they exist, with the exception of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, which officially classifies Rusyns as a sub-group of Ukrainians. In
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
,
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, and
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, Rusyns have official
minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...
status. Some Rusyns identify more closely with their country of residence (i.e. Polish, Slovak), while others self-identify as a branch of the Ukrainian people. Rusyns are descended from an East Slavic population which inhabited the northeastern regions of the Eastern Carpathians. In those regions, there are several Rusyn groups, including Dolinyans,
Boykos The Boykos or Boikos (; ; ; ), or simply Highlanders (; ), are an ethnolinguistic group located in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Along with the neighbouring Lemkos and Hutsuls, the Boykos are a regional subg ...
,
Hutsuls The Hutsuls (Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgro ...
and
Lemkos Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of ...
. Since the
fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
toward the end of the 20th century, there has been a revival in Rusyn culture and identity. Of the estimated 1.7 million people of Rusyn origin, only around 110,000 have been officially identified as such in recent ( 2012) national censuses.


Ethnonyms

The term Rusyn (, plural ) originates from the archaic
ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
" ''Rus''". The respective
endonymic An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
adjective has traditionally been ( m., f., n.), though () has also been used; even more so after 1989. In interwar Czechoslovakia, ''Ruthenia'' was called in Czech; sometimes rendered ''Rusinia'' or ''Rusynia'' in American-Rusyn publications.


Regional identifiers

Carpatho-Rusyn or ''Carpatho-Ruthenian'' () is the main regional designation for Rusyns. The term refers to
Carpathian Ruthenia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...
(), which is a historical cross-border region encompassing Subcarpathian Rus' (in northeastern Slovakia and Ukraine's
Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...
),
Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...
(in eastern Slovakia), the Lemko Region (in southeastern Poland), and Maramureş (in north-central Romania). In the Lemko region, the endonym ''Lemko'' (pl. ) became more common in the twentieth century, along with ''Lemko-Rusyn'' since the 1990s. The variant Rusnak (; plural: or Pannonian-Rusyn, ''Rusnatsi'') was also (and still is) used as an
endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
; particularly by Rusyns outside the Carpathians in
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
, Serbia and
Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
, Croatia. However, they may also referred to as ''Vojvodinian Rusyns'' (), ''Bachka-Srem Rusyns'' (), or formerly as ''Yugoslav Rusyns'' (). Other terms such as Ruthene, Rusniak, Lemak, Lyshak, and Lemko are considered by some scholars to be historic, local, or
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
ic names for these inhabitants of Transcarpathia. Others hold that the terms Lemko and Rusnak are simply regional variations for Rusyns or Ruthenes. Rusyns have at times also been referred to as ''Uhro-Rusyn'' () in the regions of
Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...
, Slovakia and
Carpathian Ruthenia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...
.


Rus'

Several endonyms such as Rus' and Rusyn were used widely by the
East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...
of
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
during the medieval period. Common endonymic use of those terms continued through the life of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
. Parallel, medieval
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
terms such as ''Rusi'', ''Russi'' or ''Rusci'' are found in sources of the period and were commonly used as an
exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
for the East Slavs.


Ruthenian

Since the end of the 11th century, the
exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
ic term Rutheni (
Ruthenes A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term was used in medieval sou ...
) was also used by some Latin sources of western provenance as an alternative term for all East Slavs. During the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the scope of ''Rutheni'' gradually narrowed to only refer to inhabitants of the East Slavic regions that now mostly belong to the states of
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. After the
Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
, ''Rutheni'' "came to be associated primarily with those ast Slavswho lived under the
Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
" (and was used as an official designation in the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
after 1843). In the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
, ''Ruthene'' was used as the official term for the Rusyn people () of Transcarpathia until 1945. During the early twentieth century the term "became even more restricted: it was generally used to refer to the inhabitants of Transcarpathia and to Transcarpathian emigrants in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
", for whom the terms Rusyn and Carpatho-Rusyn are more commonly used since the 1970s. In some non-
Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...
languages, Rusyns may be referred to by exonymic or somewhat archaic terms such as ''Carpatho-Ruthenes'' or ''Carpatho-Ruthenians'', but such terminology is not present in the
Rusyn language Rusyn ( ; ; )http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf , p. 8. is an East Slavic language spoken by Rusyns in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and written in the Cyrillic script. The majority of speakers live in Carpathian Rut ...
. Exonymic '' Ruthenian'' designations are seen as less precise because they encompass various East Slavic groups and bear broader ethnic connotations as a result of varied historical usage.


Carpatho-Russian

From the mid 1800s and well into the mid 1900s, many Catholic and Orthodox Rusyns in Europe and the United States referred to themselves as Carpatho-Russians or sometimes as Carpathian Russians''.'' This terminology was also popular with some foreign authors and was and is still being used within the Rusyn diaspora. For example, the popular newspaper of the Byzantine (Greek) Catholic Church in the U.S. for decades known as the
Greek Catholic Union Messenger
, used the term Carpatho-Russian up until the 1950s (in the 1960s the term Ruthenian briefly came into vogue). As well, the
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America (ACROD) is a archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States and Canada. Though the diocese is directly responsible to the Patriarchate, it is under the spiritual sup ...
, with as of 2010 over 10,400 members and 79 parishes in the United States and Canada (and founded by former Byzantine Catholic members), still uses the term Carpatho-Russian on a regular basis. Finally, as of the 21st Century, one can often hear Rusyn Americans within the OCA and
ROCOR The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...
Orthodox churches self-identify as Carpatho-Russian, and indeed, literature of both these Orthodox bodies commonly uses the terminology Carpatho-Russian to describe Rusyns.


History


Origins

There are different theories to explain Rusyn origins. According to
Paul Robert Magocsi Paul Robert Magocsi (; born January 26, 1945) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980 and became a Fellow of the Royal Societ ...
, the origin of the present-day Carpatho-Rusyns is complex and not exclusively related to the
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
. The ancestors were the early Slavs whose movement to the Danubian Basin was influenced by the
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
and
Pannonian Avars The Pannonian Avars ( ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in the chronicles of the Rus' people, Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai (), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine Empi ...
between the 5th and 6th centuries, the
White Croats The White Croats (; ; ; ), also known simply as Croats, were a group of Early Slavs, Early Slavic tribes that lived between East Slavs, East Slavic and West Slavs, West Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia n ...
who lived on both slopes of the Carpathians and built many hill-forts in the region including
Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...
ruled by the mythical ruler
Laborec The Laborec (; ) is a river in eastern Slovakia that flows through the districts of Medzilaborce, Humenné, and Michalovce in the Košice Region, and the Prešov Region. The river drains the Laborec Highlands. It is long and its basin size is . ...
, the Rusyns of Galicia and
Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...
, and
Vlach Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula) ...
shepherds of Transylvania. It is thought that the Croats were part of the Antes (people), Antes tribal polity who migrated to Galicia in the 3rd-4th century, under pressure by invading
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
and Goths. George Shevelov also considered a connection with List of ancient Slavic peoples and tribes#East Slavs, East Slavic tribes, more specifically, the
Hutsuls The Hutsuls (Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgro ...
, and possibly
Boykos The Boykos or Boikos (; ; ; ), or simply Highlanders (; ), are an ethnolinguistic group located in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Along with the neighbouring Lemkos and Hutsuls, the Boykos are a regional subg ...
, argued to be the descendants of the Ulichs who were not native in the region. As the region of the Ukrainian Carpathians, including Carpathian Ruthenia, Zakarpattia and Prykarpattia, has since the Early Middle Ages been inhabited by the tribes of Croats, in Ukrainian encyclopedias and dictionaries, and the ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'', the Rusyns are generally considered to be the descendants of the White Croats.


Anthropology

According to anthropological studies, the Eastern Carpathian population makes one of the sub-regional clines of the Ukrainian population, which can be regionally divided into Eastern and Western Carpathian variants. In the study by M. S. Velikanova (1975) the skulls from a medieval necropolis near village of Vasyliv in Zastavna Raion were very similar to contemporary Carpathian population, and according to :uk:Сегеда Сергій Петрович, S. P. Segeda, :uk:Дяченко Василь Дмитрович, V. Dyachenko and :uk:Алексєєва Тетяна Іванівна, T. I. Alekseyeva this anthropological complex developed in the Middle Ages or earlier, as descendants of the medieval Slavs of Galicia and carriers of Chernyakhov culture along Prut-Dniester rivers, possibly with some Thracian component. According to the data, the population has the lowest admixture in Ukraine of Turkic speaking populations, like Volga Tatars and Bashkirs, while in comparison to other populations they have similarities with neighbouring Eastern Slovaks, Gorals of Poland, Romanians, some groups of Czechs and Hungarians, Northwestern Bulgarians, Central and Northern Serbians, and most of Croatians.


Population genetics

The 2006 mitochondrial DNA study of Carpathian Highlanders –
Boykos The Boykos or Boikos (; ; ; ), or simply Highlanders (; ), are an ethnolinguistic group located in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Along with the neighbouring Lemkos and Hutsuls, the Boykos are a regional subg ...
,
Hutsuls The Hutsuls (Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgro ...
and
Lemkos Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of ...
people – showed a common ancestry with other modern Europeans. A 2009 mitochondrial DNA study of 111 samples found that in comparison to eight other Central and Eastern European populations (Belarusian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian), the three Rusyn groups have a greater distance between themselves than these populations, with Boykos showing the greatest distance from all and did not cluster with anyone because have atypically low frequencies of haplogroup H (20%) and J (5%) for a European population, while
Lemkos Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of ...
are closest to the Czech and Romanian (0.17) population, and Hutsuls closest to the Croatian (0.11) and Ukrainian (0.16) population. The 2014 Y-DNA studies of 200 Pannonian Rusyns in the region of
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
, Serbia, found they mostly belong to haplogroup Haplogroup R1a, R1a (43%), Haplogroup I-M438#I2a-L621, I2 (20%), Haplogroup E-V68#V-13, E-V13 (12.5%), and Haplogroup R1b, R1b (8.5%), while Haplogroup I-M253, I1, Haplogroup G-M201, G2a, Haplogroup J-M172, J2b, Haplogroup N-M231, N1 between 2.5 and 4.5%, and Haplogroup J-M267, J1, Haplogroup T-M184, T, and Haplogroup H (Y-DNA), H only in traces of less than 1%. They cluster closest to the Ukrainian and Slovakian population, "providing evidence for their genetic isolation from the Serbian majority population". The 2015 Y-DNA study of 150 men from Zakarpattia Oblast, Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi Oblast (Bukovina), found they mostly belong to R1a1a1*(М198), I2a (Р37.2), R1a1a1 (М458) ranging around and less than 30%, with E1b1b1a1 (M78), R1b1b2 (M269), and I1 (М253) ranging between 4-14%. The sampled population is most similar to other Ukrainians, while the Bukovina population slightly "differs from the typical Ukrainian population" because it has the highest percentage of I2a (>30%) and the lowest percentage of R1a (30%) in Ukraine. Bukovina's percentage of I2 is similar to near Moldovan and Romanian population, while the highest percentage is among South Slavs in Balkans, Western Balkans. It was concluded that although bordered by diverse nations, the Carpathians seemingly were a barrier decreasing gene flow southward of N1c (М178), R1a (М198) from the region, and northward of E1b (М78), R1b (М269), J (М304) and G (М201) to the region.


Early history

The general usage of 'Rusyn' by all
East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...
dates back to over 11 centuries, its origin signifying the ethnic tie to the political entity of
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
, which existed from the late ninth to the early 13th century. The Carpathian Rusyns, Ukrainians (once called Ruthenians or Little Russians), Belarusians (once called White Russians) and Russians (Great Russians) are descendants of the Russichi, the people of Rus', that is East Slavs who mixed with other peoples over centuries, including in the south with Iranian and later with Germanic peoples, in the west with Baltic peoples, in the east with Finnish and Turkic peoples. Over the centuries these loosely affiliated peoples developed different political and economic centers as well as new names. The inhabitants of northern Rus' were known as Great Russians by the 17th century. The people in the west called themselves Belarusians and the people in the south were known as Malorussians (Little Russians). Later, in what began as a political movement in the mid 19th century, many Little Russians began using the term "Ukrainians, Ukrainian" to distinguish themselves from the Great Russians in northern Rus'. So by the mid-20th century the original name Rus or Rusyn was retained only in the Carpathian Mountains. Rusyns settled in the Carpathian Mountain region in various waves of immigration from the north between the eighth and 17th centuries. Weapons and skeletons found in tombs in Bereg County from the 10th century era suggest that Normans, Norman Vikings (who played a role in the founding of Kiev Rus') were there as well. Even so, as late as the 11th century, this mountainous area was still a sparsely inhabited 'No-Man's Land' border between the kingdoms of Kievan Rus' and Hungary. In 1241, the Carpathians fell to Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', Mongol invasions led by Genghis Khan's grandson, Batu Khan, with populations exterminated and villages torched. The Mongols entered the region via the Veretskyi Pass, Veretski Pass, just to the north of Mukachevo. In 1395, Orthodox Rus' Prince Fyodor Koriatovych, Feodor Koriatovich, son of the Duke of Novgorod, brought with him from the north soldiers and their families to settle unpopulated Carpathian lands. While the actual number of immigrants is uncertain, the arrival of Koriatovich and his retinue was a milestone for the Rusyns, substantially improving the region's administrative, ecclesiastical and cultural aspects. This included building and fortifying Palanok Castle, Mukachevo Castle with cannons, a moat, workers and artisans, and the founding of an Orthodox monastery on the Latorytsia River.


Modern history

The Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian monarchy controlled the Carpathians from 1772 to 1918. With the increased Magyarization in the nineteenth century, for some educated and intellectual Rusyns it was natural to move to Budapest, while for other Slavic minded intellectuals the Russian Empire became a favored destination. The Rusyns have always been subject to larger neighboring powers, but in the 19th century a Rusyn national movement was formed which emphasized distinct ethnic identity and literary language. During the Spring of Nations on 2 May 1848 in Lemberg (today Lviv) was established the first political representation of the Galician Rusyns, the Main Ruthenian Council (, ''Holovna Ruska Rada'').Ihor Melnyk.
Main Ruthenian Council (Головна Руська Рада)
''. Zbruc. 30 April 2013
The most active and leading stratum among Rusyns was Greek-Catholic clergy (see Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, a successor of Ecclesia Ruthena unita). The nineteenth century also saw the spread of pan Slavism in Europe, and a pro-Moscow view became popular. The Russian military campaign of Tsar Nicholas I through the Carpathians in 1849 had significance for the local Rusyn population, who came into close contact with an almost 200,000 man Russian army. This interaction had an impact on the rising national consciousness of that time. Alexander Dukhnovych, Aleksander Dukhnovich (1803–1865), who wrote the unofficial Rusyn National Anthem ("I was, am, and will be a Rusyn"), and who by some is considered to be a sort of 'George Washington' of the Rusyns, reminisced that when he saw the Russian Cossacks on the streets, he "danced and cried with joy". A few decades later, when economic conditions and repression worsened in the late 19th century, massive emigration of Rusyns to America took place, beginning in the early 1870s. Between 1899 and 1931, Ellis Island listed 268,669 Rusyn immigrants. Most settled in the northeastern states, but Rusyn settlements also appeared in more far flung states such as Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Washington and Montana. Smaller numbers also emigrated to Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Rusyns formed two ephemeral states after World War I: the Lemko-Rusyn Republic and Komancza Republic. Prior to this time, some of the founders of the Lemko-Rusyn Republic were sentenced to death or imprisoned in Talerhof by the prosecuting attorney Kost Levytsky (), future president of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. In the interwar period, the Rusyn diaspora in Czechoslovakia enjoyed liberal conditions to develop their culture (in comparison with Ukrainians in Poland or Romania). Hutsul Stepan Klochurak was a prime minister of Hutsul Republic centered in Yasinia that was seeking union with the West Ukrainian People's Republic, but was overran by the Hungarian troops, later Klochurak became a Defense Minister of Carpatho-Ukraine. After World War I, the majority of Rusyns found themselves in the new country of Czechoslovakia. The interwar period became a mini renaissance for Rusyn culture, as they were permitted their own schools, theater, anthem, and even their own governor. During the Dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1918), various parts of Rusyn people were faced with different political challenges. Those who lived in northeastern counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (1867–1918), Hungarian part of the former Monarchy were faced with pretensions of Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. On the other hand, those who lived in the former Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria were faced with pretensions of Poland and Ukraine. In the 1920s and 1930s a dispute existed between Russophile and Ukrainophile Rusyns. In October 1938, a series of political reforms were initiated, leading to the creation of the Second Czechoslovak Republic, consisting of three autonomous political entities, one of them being the Subcarpathian Rus' (). On 11 October 1938, first autonomous Government of Subcarpathian Rus was appointed, headed by prime-minister Andrej Bródy. Soon after, a crisis occurred between pro-Rusyn and pro-Ukrainian fractions, leading to the fall of Bródy government on 26 October. New regional government, headed by Avgustyn Voloshyn, adopted a pro-Ukrainian course and opted for the change of name, from ''Subcarpathian Rus to ''Carpathian Ukraine''. That move led to the creation of a particular terminological duality. On 22 November 1938, authorities of the Second Czechoslovak Republic proclaimed the ''Constitutional Law on the Autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus (), officially reaffirming the right of self-determination of Rusyn people (preamble), and confirming full political and administrative autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus', with its own assembly and government. In the constitutional system of the Second Czechoslovak Republic, the region continued to be known as the Subcarpathian Rus', while local institutions promoted the use of the term ''Carpathian Ukraine''. The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine, which existed for one day on March 15, 1939, before it was occupied and annexed by Hungary, is sometimes considered to have been a self-determining Rusyn state that had intentions to unite with Kiev. The Republic's president, Avgustyn Voloshyn, was an advocate of writing in Rusyn. The Hungarian annexation caused support for Russophile direction, while in Germany occupied Poland support for Ukrainian identity. Although the Carpathians were not a major WWII battlefield, the Rusyns saw their share of horror and destruction, beginning with the Hungarian government's 1941 deportation of the History of the Jews in Carpathian Ruthenia, Carpathian Jews. In September 1944, while retreating from a Soviet Red Army offensive, the Nazis who were passing through blew up all the bridges in Uzhhorod, including one built in the 14th century. On 26 November 1944 in Mukachevo representatives from all cities and villages of the land adopted the manifesto uniting Zakarpattia Ukraine with Soviet Ukraine.Nytka, V
Zakarpattia celebrated the 66th Anniversary of the Manifest about the Union (Закарпаття відзначило 66-і роковини Маніфесту про возз'єднання)
'. Holos Ukrayiny. 30 November 2010
The Soviets occupied the Carpathians, and in 1945 the Rusyn ethnic homeland was split among three countries, as western portions were incorporated into Czechoslovakia and Poland, while the eastern portion became part of the Soviet Union and was officially named Zakarpattia Oblast, Transcarpathia. After World War II, Transcarpathia was declared as a part of Ukrainia. In Poland, the new Communist government deported many Rusyns from their ancestral region, sending many east to Ukraine, and others to the far west of the country. In Czechoslovakia a policy of Ukrainization was implemented. In Ukraine, many Rusyns who owned land or livestock, often funded via their own family members in America, were now branded by the Soviets as kulaks, or rich peasants. Property and farm animals were confiscated and newly established kolkhozes (collectivized farms) were built, with people being forced to work on their own former land, 'employed' by the Communist government. Some of the less lucky were sent to Siberia. In 1947, under the Operation Vistula happened forced resettlement of c. 150,000 Lemkos, Boykos and other Ukrainians between Poland and Ukraine. In the same time some 8,500 Rusyns voluntarily emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Ukraine, but more than half of them returned during the 1960s. These acts were protested for years, but to no avail. In the US, the Greek Catholic Union's 1964 convention even adopted a resolution calling on the United Nations to act "so that Carpatho-Russia be recognized and accepted into the free nations of the world as an autonomous state". In former Yugoslavia, Rusyns were officially recognized as a distinct national minority, and their legal status was regulated in Yugoslav federal units of Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia and Socialist Republic of Croatia, Croatia. In the Constitution of Serbia, that was adopted in 1963, Rusyns were designated as one of seven (explicitly named) national minorities (Article 82), and the same provision was implemented in the Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina that was adopted in the same year (Article 32). Further on, the Constitutional Law of 1969 regulated the position of
Rusyn language Rusyn ( ; ; )http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf , p. 8. is an East Slavic language spoken by Rusyns in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and written in the Cyrillic script. The majority of speakers live in Carpathian Rut ...
as one of five official languages in Vojvodina (Article 67).


Recent history

After the
fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
, new opportunities arose for Rusyns in Poland and in the newly formed countries of Slovakia and Ukraine. The Rusyns of the Transcarpathia region of Ukraine were able to vote in December 1991 for self-rule. With an 89% voter turnout, 78% voted Yes to autonomy. But with the Russian majority in the Odesa region casting a similar vote, the Ukrainian government, fearing secession, has refused to honor this referendum. In terms of minority rights, the question of Rusyn self-identification and recognition in
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
has been a subject of interest for European institutions, as well as the United Nations. Nationally, Rusyns are considered (by both state and cultural authorities) only a sub-group of the Ukrainians, Ukrainian people. In spite of this, Ukraine's
Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...
has recognized Rusyns as a "distinct nationality" within the oblast since a 2007 proclamation by its regional assembly. By the end of the 20th century there appeared many societies and organizations considering Rusyns as people separate from Ukrainians. By the early 21st century they had representatives in parliaments of Serbia, Hungary, and Romania, published their own press, and in 2007 the Museum of Ruthenian Culture was opened in
Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...
, Slovakia. In 2010 in Mukachevo were festivities commemorating the union of Zakarpattia with Ukraine, four out of 663 of congress delegates who adopted the Manifest about the Union and who were still alive attended the event: F. Sabov, O. Lohoida, M. Moldavchuk and J. Matlakh. They shared their experience about first years of the People's Council in revival of the region. There is also ongoing linguistic and political controversy as to whether Rusyn is a distinct Slavic languages, Slavic language or one of several dialects of the
Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
. In several countries, it is recognized as a distinct minority language. Though Ukraine also Language policy in Ukraine, adopted a law that recognized Rusyn as one of several minority and regional languages in 2012, that law was revoked in 2014. In 2021 while discussing the borders of modern Ukraine, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, Russian President Vladimir Putin specifically referred to the people in the Carpathian Mountains of modern-day Ukraine as Rusyns, rather than Ukrainians. In writing about the Soviet Union's post World War II takeover of the Transcarpathian region, Putin stated that, "quote, 'Rusyns (Русины) made up a considerable share of the local population', unquote". Then, using the pre-World War II term to describe the region, he asserted that the population of "Subcarpathian Rus", also known as Podkarpatska Rus (Подкарпатскa Рус) voted to join the Soviet Union either as "either part of the Russian Soviet republic or as a separate Carpathian republic". Putin noted however that the Soviet authorities "ignored the choice of the people" and incorporated it instead into the Ukrainian Soviet republic. Today there are estimated to be approximately 1.5 million Rusyns in Europe and a healthy pro-Rusyn movement exists in the Carpathians. Some Ukrainian nationalists have argued that the modern 'Rusyn movement' is in service of the expansionist aims of modern Russia.


Autonomist and separatist movements

According to Mrs Jozsefne Csepanyi-Bardos, the president of the Ruthenian Ethnic Minority Council in Budapest Capital. The flag of the Ruthenians of the World and the Ruthenian Ethnic Minority Council is a tricolour in a 2:1:1 ratio. Ukrainian academician, doctor of historical sciences, head of department of National Minorities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Institute of Political and Ethno-national research, May Panchuk explained that soon after dissolution of the Soviet Union and during the 1991 Ukrainian referendum, there was provided additional question for Zakarpattia residents only whether they wish to obtain a self-governed territory within Ukraine. It triggered Rusyns to create their own political parties and movements. Already in March 1992 the recently created "Subcarpathian republican party" published its program with first elements of separatism: create independent, neutral "Republic Subcarpathian Ruthenia" just as Switzerland; receive full political and economic independence; recognize Rusyn people as a full-scale nationality among other nations. The party contained a well expressed Kremlin orientation and did not hide its connections with pro-Russians elements. In 1993 in Bratislava there was presented the "government of Subcarpathian Ruthenia" with an emphasized change – as "separate subject of the Commonwealth of Independent States". The activity of the "government" was openly supported by "Russkiy dom", "Russkiy Mir Foundation", Association of Zakarpattia democrats, and other pro-Russian organizations. In December 1994 so called "minister of foreign affairs" T. Ondyk appealed to the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin to cancel the 1945 treaty between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia about Zakarpattia Ukraine. At that same time, Ondyk appealed to the presidents of the United States and Hungary accusing the Ukrainian government in the policy of extermination of Rusyns and Hungarians. A considerable controversy has arisen regarding the Rusyn separatist movement led by the Orthodox priest Dimitry Sydor (now Archbishop of Uzhhorod, in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)), his relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church and funding for his activities. Russia has, as a result of the Russian census of 2002, recognized the Rusyns as a separate ethnic group in 2004, and has been accused by the Ukrainian government of fueling ethnic tensions and separatism among Rusyns and Ukrainians. A criminal case under Part 2, Art. 110 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code was initiated after the 1st European Congress of Rusyns took place in Mukachevo on June 7, 2008. At that particular congress the reinstatement of the Zakarpattia's status as special "territory of Rusyns to the south of the Carpathians" with self-government under the constitutional name Subcarpathian Rus was recognized. On October 29, at the 2nd congress in Mukachevo, a memorandum was signed calling for the authorities to recognize the Subcarpathian Rus autonomy (by December 1). That same day, according to the ''Kommersant-Ukraine'' (Ukrainian edition) agents of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) questioned Dmytro Sydor and Yevgeniy Zhupan. They were summoned to SBU as witnesses in a criminal case "on the infringement on territorial integrity of Ukraine" initiated in June 2008. According to internet publisher "NEWSru, Newsru", earlier in 2008 the Zakarpattia Rusyns appealed to Russia to recognize independence of Carpathian Ruthenia, Subcarpathian Ruthenia from Ukraine.The leader of Zakarpattia Rusyns, a priest of UOC-MP, received three years conditionally for separatism (Лидеру закарпатских русинов, священнику УПЦ МП, дали три года условно за сепаратизм)
Newsru.ua. 20 March 2012
In 2014 with the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, an activist of the Subcarpathian Ruthenia movement named Petro Hetsko, who claims to be prime minister of the Subcarpathian Ruthenia, asked the President of Russia to intervene and help "neutralize Galician Nazism in Zakarpattia".Hybrid war: ethnic factor of the Zakarpattia Rusyns. Analytics of IS (Гибридная война: этнический фактор русинов Закарпатья. Аналитика ИС)
. Svetlovodsk.com.ua. 21 April 2016
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 having the strongest pro-Rusyn cultural and political activism, found that only nine percent of the population of these areas claimed Rusyn ethnicity. In the present day, according to the Ukrainian census, most – over 99% – of the local inhabitants consider themselves to be Ukrainians. (Ukrainian census numbers inflated since 1991 refer to local ones for accuracy).


Religion


Early history

Religion and Rusyn history are deeply intertwined, often resulting in controversy. Many believe that when Rusyns first came to Christianity it was through the Orthodox faith, although this has been challenged by many others who assert the initial Christian influence actually came from Catholic Moravia. One of the earliest saints of the (Orthodox) Monastery of the Caves at Kiev was the Rusyn Moses Uhrin (died 1043), who prior to becoming a monk served Boris, the prince of Ancient Rus'. Moses and his brothers Efrem and Georgii stories are recorded in the noted ''Primary Chronicle''. Also originating from this time is the unique Carpathian church Prostopinije (Plain Chant), which is closely related to the ancient chant of Kievan Rus' and has even preserved elements of it. For over 600 years, the Orthodox Church was the only Rusyn church in the Carpathians. But under the growing influence of the then ruling Austro-Hungarian Empire, Orthodox clergy were reduced over time to the legal status of peasant-serfs, and even the bishop of Mukachevo was at the mercy of the Hungarian lords. To improve their condition, some Orthodox priests attempted to form a new church under the Catholics. In 1614, 50 priests convened at the Krasni Brid Monastery with this intent, but a crowd of Orthodox protested and dispersed the group. A second attempt in the 1630s under Bishop Vasyl Tarasovych also failed. Finally in April 1646, Bishop Petro Parfenii#Biography, Parfenii Petrovich was able to convene a meeting of 63 (out of a few hundred) priests who pledged their allegiance to the Pope, Pope of Rome. Their signed document became known as the Union of Uzhhorod, resulting in the formation of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. This new Church was given greater material assistance from the Austro-Hungarian Empire while being allowed to maintain their Eastern Rite traditions, including married priests. From that time, the Rusyns had two bishops, one Greek Catholic and one Orthodox, until 1721 when the last remaining Orthodox priests in the western counties accepted the Union. Some priests in the eastern counties of Bereg County, Bereg and Máramaros County, Maramaros remained Orthodox until 1745.


Recent history

In the 1890s, 145 years after Orthodoxy had ceased to exist in the Carpathians, a so-called 'return to Orthodoxy' movement began, reaching a high point in the 1920s. Many Greek Catholics who became Orthodox were arrested for treason and a few were even executed by the government, with the Thalerhof internment camp and martyrdom (by firing squad) of the Orthodox priest Maxim Sandovich in 1914 being the best known incidents. Meanwhile, the Russian Bolshevik Revolution was forcing Russians of the nobility and middle class to flee, and many settled in the US. These Russians arrived and began joining the American Russian Orthodox Church (then called the Metropolia) at precisely the same time Carpatho-Russians in America were also 'returning' to the Orthodox faith. This mixing furthered Russophile leanings among many Rusyns. Leading the charge was Fr. Alexis Toth, a former Greek Catholic priest who led as many as 20,000 Rusyn Americans to Orthodoxy, for which he was canonized by the Orthodox Church (due to his efforts, perhaps 1/3rd of American Rusyns are Orthodox today). This American mixing further influenced events and persecutions back in the Carpathian homeland, where thousands of fleeing Orthodox Russians also settled, including monks who founded the Ladomirova Monastery. Indeed, Laurus Škurla who was born in Ladomirova (now in Slovakia) rose to become Metropolitan Laurus, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Conversely, it was Greek Catholics of the Carpathians who suffered in the 1940s. By force, the Soviet government annulled the Union of Uzhhorod in 1946, and the Greek Catholic Church was liquidated exactly 300 years after its formation. The Greek Catholic Cathedral, Uzhhorod was transferred to the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church in 1948, and priests who refused to convert to Orthodoxy were sent to the Siberian and Arctic labor camps, where many died. Others were simply murdered in their home villages. A horrific example of this was the martyrdom (by assassination) of Greek Catholic Bishop Theodore Romzha. To add salt to the wound, in 1971 the Russian Orthodox Synod of Zagorsk, U.S.S.R. indirectly justified this violence by officially ratifying the annulment. And while no longer the case, from the early and even until the mid-1900s in America, religious and nationalist causes went together. Aside from Russian Orthodox/Greek Catholic struggle, the dislike of Ukrainians by Rusyn religious leaders was strong and expressed often, as Ukrainian nationalism was deemed a destructive force to Rusyn culture. The influential newspaper of the American Greek Catholic Church, the 'GCU Messenger', wrote in 1954: "To us Carpatho-Russian people here and in our native country under the green Carpathians, there can be no greater insult and offense then when someone calls us Ukrainians. We know not such people on the world's map." Europe Today In Europe today, some tensions still exist. As an example, the aforementioned Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross in Uzhhorod belonged to the Greek Catholics but after WWII had been given to the Russian Orthodox Church by the Communist government. With the pending fall of communism, a well-meaning visit to this cathedral in February 1990 by American Byzantine Catholic (Greek Catholic) Archbishop Stephen Kocisko, whose own Rusyn parents were born in the Carpathians, led to confrontation from Rusyn Orthodox protestors. Later in 1991, there were major protests, including physical attacks and hunger strikes when it was decided to transfer the cathedral back to the Greek Catholics. The Orthodox immediately set about to build a new Uzhhorod Orthodox Cathedral, under the guidance of the Rusyn Fr. Dimitry Sydor, a Moscow Patriarchate priest, who is perhaps the most controversial cleric in today's Carpathians. In a nod to Moscow, the architecture of the new cathedral is based on the design of the famous and newly rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which is the largest church in all of Russia. At the parish level, numerous churches which had been forcibly Orthodox for decades switched back to the Greek Catholic jurisdiction, and new ones were also constructed. As well, in spite of continued pressure, the region's Greek Catholic Church steadfastly refuses to be included under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian oriented Lviv Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy. Notably and in another example of Rusyns going against the tide and seen as a pushback against Ukrainianism, an estimated 542 of the existing 550 Transcarpathian Orthodox churches chose to remain under the (Russian) Moscow Patriarchate rather than join the (Ukrainian) Kiev/Kyiv Patriarchate. And as of 2021 according to the Ukrainian government itself, Transcarpathia had one of the highest adherence levels in Ukraine to the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate rather than the Kyiv Orthodox Patriarchate.


Greek Catholics

Many Rusyns are Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, who since the Union of Uzhhorod in 1646 have been in communion with the See of Rome. This church, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, is distinct from the Latin Church, Latin Catholic Church. It has retained the Byzantine Rite liturgy, sometimes including the Church Slavonic language, the liturgical forms of Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and married priests. The Pannonian Rusyns of Croatia are organized under the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci, and those in the region of
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
(northern Serbia), are organized under the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ruski Krstur, headed by bishop Đura Džudžar, who is an ethnic Rusyn. Those in the diaspora in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
established the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.


Eastern Orthodox

Although originally associated with the Eastern Orthodox Eparchy of Mukachevo, that diocese was suppressed after the Union of Uzhhorod. New Eastern Orthodox Eparchy of Mukachevo and Prešov was created in 1931 under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church. That eparchy was divided in 1945, eastern part joining Russian Orthodox Church as the Eparchy of Mukachevo and Uzhhorod, while western part was reorganized as Eastern Orthodox Eparchy of Prešov of the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church. Many Rusyn Americans left Catholicism for Eastern Orthodoxy in the 19th century due to disputes with the Latin Church bishops, who viewed different practices in the Byzantine Rite (such as married clergy) with suspicion. Another large segment of Rusyn Americans belong to the
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America (ACROD) is a archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States and Canada. Though the diocese is directly responsible to the Patriarchate, it is under the spiritual sup ...
, which is headquartered in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. From its early days, this group wa
recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate
as a self-governing diocese. The affiliation of Eastern Orthodox Rusyns was adversely affected by the Russian Revolution of 1917, Communist revolution in the Russian Empire and the subsequent Iron Curtain which split the Orthodox diaspora from the Eastern Orthodox believers living in the ancestral homelands. A number of émigré communities have claimed to continue the Eastern Orthodox Church, 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 (OCA) was granted autocephalous (self-governing) status by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1970. Although approximately 25% of the OCA was Rusyn in the early 1980s, an influx of Eastern Orthodox émigrés from other nations and new converts wanting to connect with the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church have lessened the impact of a particular Rusyn emphasis in favor of a new American Orthodoxy. In 1994, the historian
Paul Robert Magocsi Paul Robert Magocsi (; born January 26, 1945) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980 and became a Fellow of the Royal Societ ...
stated that there were approximately 690,000 Carpatho-Rusyn church members in the United States, with 320,000 belonging to the largest Greek Catholic affiliations, 270,000 to the largest Eastern Orthodox affiliations, and 100,000 to various Protestant and other denominations.


Location

The traditional homeland of the Rusyn people, Carpathian Rus', lies at the heart of the Carpathian mountains, on the borders of modern-day Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia. Today, approximately three-quarters of Rusyns reside within Ukraine, specifically the geographic region known as Zakarpattia Oblast, Transcarpathia (historic Carpathian Ruthenia#Subcarpathian Rus' (1928–1938), Subcarpathian Rus'). There also exists a multitude of Rusyn diaspora communities throughout neighboring countries in Europe and North America. The oldest of these diaspora communities is located in the Pannonian Plain. Since the mid-18th century, the resettled communities of Pannonia have existed in parts of present-day Serbia (particularly, Ethnic groups of Vojvodina, Vojvodina, known historically as Bachka) and Croatia (in Vukovar-Srijem County). The United States holds the largest population of Rusyns outside of Carpathian Rus', mostly within the Rust Belt, former industrial centers of the Northeastern US, Northeastern and Midwestern United States. At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, approximately 225,000 Rusyns emigrated here. Within Europe, Rusyns also migrated and settled in Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prnjavor, a town in the northern region of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. The community in the Czech Republic is located in northern Moravia and the capital of Prague. Populations of Rusyns also migrated to Canada and Argentina in the 1920s and Canada, Australia, and Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.


Demography

Of the estimated 1.2 to 1.6 million people of Rusyn origins, only around 90,000 individuals have been officially identified as such in recent national censuses (see infobox above). This is due, in part, to the refusal of some governments to count Rusyns and/or allow them to self-identify on census forms, especially in Ukraine. The ethnic classification of Rusyns as a separate East Slavic peoples, East Slavic ethnicity distinct from Russians, Ukrainians, or Belarusians is, consequently, politically controversial. The claim that Rusyns are a Ukrainian subgroup is disputed by some non-mainstream scholars, as well as other scholars from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada, and the United States. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, thirty percent of Rusyns in Ukraine identified Ukrainian as their native language, while two thirds named the Rusyn language. However, about 10 thousand people, or 0.8%, of Ukraine's
Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...
(Province) identified themselves as Rusyns; by contrast, over 1 million considered themselves Ukrainians. According to the 2022 Romanian census, there were 834 people (0.004% of the population) who identified themselves officially as Rusyns, and 594 who declared that their language was Rusyn. The
endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
''Rusyn'' has frequently gone unrecognised by various governments, and has in other cases been prohibited. Today, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Croatia officially recognize contemporary Rusyns as an ethnic minority. In 2007, Carpatho-Rusyns were recognized as a separate ethnicity in Ukraine by the Zakarpattia Oblast Council on a regional level, and in 2012 the Rusyn language gained official regional status in certain areas of the province, as well as nationwide based on the 2012 Law of Ukraine, "Language policy in Ukraine, On the principles of the state language policy". However, most contemporary self-identified ethnic Rusyns live outside of Ukraine.


Ethnic subgroups

Rusyns may be divided into two significant subgroups: Carpathian Rusyns and Pannonian Rusyns. While both groups are descendants of Rusyn populations from Carpathian Rus', Pannonian Rusyns migrated from the Carpathian to parts of modern-day Croatia and Serbia (
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
) in the 19th century. Additionally, the two groups speak different dialects (or languages, depending on the author): the former group speaking Carpathian Rusyn language, Carpathian Rusyn and the latter speaking Pannonian Rusyn language, Pannonian Rusyn. Other more specific, regional subgroups (debatably) include Lemkos, Boykos, Hutsuls, and Dolinyans (). However, the Lemko-Boyko-Hutsul subdivision popular with Ukrainian scholars was only first promoted in the 1920s by the ''Lemko Committee'' and other contemporary Ukrainian scholars. Furthermore, while
Lemkos Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of ...
and Rusyns are recognized as distinct ethnic minorities in Poland and Slovakia (respectively), neither
Boykos The Boykos or Boikos (; ; ; ), or simply Highlanders (; ), are an ethnolinguistic group located in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. Along with the neighbouring Lemkos and Hutsuls, the Boykos are a regional subg ...
nor
Hutsuls The Hutsuls (Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgro ...
are formally recognized in any country; nor are any Rusyns for that matter recognized as such in Ukraine.Richard T.Schaefer (ed.), 2008, ''Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Volume 1'', SAGE Publications, p. 1341. Regarding these common ethnographic divisions, prominent Rusyn scholar, Paul Robert Magocsi, has said the following:


Gallery

Boykos of Maniava.jpg, Boykos, Boyko family, late 19th century Бойки.jpg, Boyko family, early 20th century Ukrainian hutsuls 1.jpg, Hutsuls, Hutsul family, 1925–1939 Hutsul music band.jpg, Hutsul music band, 1918–1935 Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Sanok area Lemkos in original goral folk-costumes from Mokre (Poland) ..jpg,
Lemkos Lemkos (; ; ; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Lemko Region (; ) of Carpathian Rus', an ethnographic region in the Carpathian Mountains and foothills spanning Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Lemkos are often considered to be a sub-group of ...
from Sanok in stylized highland folk-costumes from Mokre (Poland) Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Przemyśl area Ukrainians in original goral folk-costumes..jpg, Rusyns from Przemyśl Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Presov area Lemkos (left side) and Przemyśl area Ukrainians in original goral folk-costumes..jpg, Boykos from
Prešov Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...
(left side) and Lemkos from Przemyśl Narodna nosnja petrovci.jpg, Ruthenian costume from Petrovci, Croatia, Petrovci,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...


See also

* Polish Uplanders


Explanatory notes


Citations


General and cited sources

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Further reading

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External links


The Carpathian Connection

The Carpatho-Rusyn Society

Carpatho Rusyn Knowledge Base

American Carpatho-Russian Diocese
{{Authority control Rusyns, Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina Ethnic groups in Croatia Ethnic groups in Poland Ethnic groups in Russia Ethnic groups in Serbia Ethnic groups in Slovakia Ethnic groups in Ukraine Ethnic groups in Vojvodina Members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization East Slavs