Rusyns
669600
226013573
2008-07-16T13:10:56Z
Abberley2
3153281
{{ethnic group|
| group = Rusyns
| image = [[Image:Rusyns.jpg|300px|]]<!--Do not use unfree artwork here--><div style="background-color:#fee8ab"><small><small> [[Fedor Vico]] • [[Oleksandr Dukhnovych]] • [[Michael Strank]] • [[Andy Warhol]]</small></small>
| poptime = 55,000 (est) associate themselves as having Rusyn ethnicity; Rusyn organisations claim approximately 2 million Rusyns
| region1 = {{flag|Romania}}
| pop1 = cca 25,000 (not including [[Hutsul]]s){{Fact|date=July 2008}}
| ref1 =
| region2 = {{flag|Slovakia}}
| pop2 = 24,201
| ref2 = <ref>[http://www.statistics.sk/webdata/english/census2001/tab/tab3a.htm Permanently resident population by nationality and by regions and districts] - Population and Housing Census 2001, Statistical Office of the [[Slovakia|Slovak Republic]]</ref>
| region3 = {{flag|Serbia}}
| pop3 = 15,626
| ref3 = <ref>{{cite book| year = 2002| month = December 24| title = Issue LII, No. 295, Final Results of the Census 2002| chapter = 3. Population by national or ethnic groups by Census 2002, by municipalities| editor = [[Zoran Jančić]]| edition = Communication| pages = 6-7| publisher = [[Republic Statistical Office of Serbia]]| location = Belgrade| id = YU ISSN 0353–9555 SRB 295 SN31 241202|url = http://www.statserb.sr.gov.yu/zip/esn31.pdf}}</ref>
| region4 = {{flag|Ukraine}}
| pop4 = 10,100
| ref4 = <ref name="ukraine">[http://ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/nationality/zakarpatia/ Про кількість та склад населення Закарпатської області<br>за підсумками Всеукраїнського перепису населення 2001 року]</ref>
| region5 = {{flag|Croatia}}
| pop5 = 2,337
| ref5 =
| region6 = {{flag|Poland}}
| pop6 = 5,800
| ref6 = (2002-03)<!--[[Bosnia and Herzegovina]],--> <!--[[Canada]],--> <!--[[Hungary]],--> <!--[[Poland]], not, see [[Demographics of Poland#Declared nationality .28Census 2002.29]]--> <!--[[Romania]],--> <!--[[United States]]-->
| rels = [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Eastern Rite Catholic|Eastern Catholic]]
| langs = [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], [[Pannonian Rusyn]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
| related = Other [[Slavic peoples]], especially [[Ukrainians]]
}}
[[Image:Rusyn flag.svg|right|thumb|300px|Rusyn flag]]
'''Rusyns''' (also referred to as Русины, '''Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusyns,''' and '''Rusnaks''') are a [[Slav]]ic [[ethnic group]] that speaks the [[Rusyn language]] and are descended from the minority of [[Ruthenians]] who did not adopt the ethnonym [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] to describe their ethnic identity in the [[19th century|nineteenth]] and early [[20th century|twentieth centuries]]. Because many Ruthenians within Ukraine itself have adopted a Ukrainian ethnic identity<ref name="ukraine"/>, 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.
==Location==
{{main|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: primarily 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|Eastern]] [[Carpathian Mountains]] and still inhabit those areas. Their homeland is often referred to as [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], however, that area no longer directly 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 [[emigrate]]d 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.
==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 [[History of Ukraine#First World War, the revolutions and aftermath|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 [[Early East Slavs|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 ({{lang-uk|Русини}}, [[Romanization of Ukrainian|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 language|Ukrainian]]: Українці, [[Romanization of Ukrainian|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 [[Exonym and endonym|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.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}
Some scholars consider the [[Lemkos|Lemko]], [[Boyko]], [[Hutsuls|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, some of these peoples referred to themselves as Rusyns. Some of these ethnic groups however, consider themselves to be separate ethnicities, while the almost part of them claim to be Ukrainians and still others identify themselves as Rusyns. According to a recent Ukrainian census,<ref>[http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001:<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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]] ([[Oblast|province]]) identified themselves as Rusyns; in contrast, 1,010,000 considered themselves Ukrainians.<ref name="ukraine"/> 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.<ref>[http://dev.eurac.edu:8085/mugs2/do/blob.pdf?type=pdf&serial=1036425198529 Political and Ethno-Cultural Aspects of the Rusyns’ problem: A Ukrainian Perspective] - by Natalya Belitser, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, Kyiv, Ukraine</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.centroconsult.sk/Genealogy/census.html 2001 and 1991 Slovakian censuses]</ref> 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 [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] census, both Ukrainians ([[Serbian language|Serbian]]: Украјинци, [[Romanization|tr.]] ''Ukrajinci'') and Rusyns ([[Serbian language|Serbian]]: Русини, [[Romanization|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 [http://www.zakarpattya.net.ua/zol/loadnews.asp?id=6837&np=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 [[Poland|Polish]] and [[Hungary|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.
==Religion==
[[Image:Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - Presov area Lemkos (left side) and Przemyśl area Ukrainians in original goral folk-costumes..jpg|230px|thumb|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 [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]] between the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] churches in 1054. Many Rusyn churches are named after the [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern Christian]] [[saints]] [[Saint Cyril|Cyril]] and [[Saint Methodius|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.<ref>''Our People: Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America'', 1994.</ref>
=== Eastern Catholics ===
Many Rusyns are [[Eastern Catholic Churches|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 [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|former Yugoslavia]] are organized under the [[Eparchy of Krizevci]]. Those in the [[diaspora]] in the [[United States]] formed the [[Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh]].
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.
=== Eastern Orthodox Church ===
Although originally associated with the [[Orthodox Church of Constantinople]], the affiliation of the [[Rusyn Orthodox Church]] 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 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.
==Language==
{{main|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 language|Slovak]].
===Pannonian Rusyn===
{{main|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.
== See also ==
*[[Ruthenians]]
*[[Rusyn Americans]]
*[[List of Rusyn Americans]]
*[[Rusyns of Romania]]
*[[Carpatho-Rusyn Society]]
*[[Oleksandr Dukhnovych]]
*[[Alexander Duchnovič Theatre]]
*[[Nestor Kukolnik]]
*[[Petro Trochanowski]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
<div class="references-small">
*Chlebowski, Cezary (1983). ''Wachlarz: Writings on the Liberating Organization, a Division of the National Army <!-- Please fix my Polish translation! -->(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
*[[Paul Robert Magocsi|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
</div>
==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.
* [http://www.rusnaci.sittcomm.sk/ RUSYNS / Lost Homes]
* [http://carpatho-rusyn.org/ The Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base]
*[http://www.carpathorusynsociety.org The Carpatho-Rusyn Society]
*[http://www.rusynmedia.org Rusyn International Media Center]
*[http://www.dzvoni.netfirms.com/index_files/english1.html '''Rusyn Greco Catholic Church in Novi Sad''' (Vojvodina-Serbia)]
*[http://two.xthost.info/djurdjov/index_files/djurdjov_english.htm '''Djurdjov-Rusyn village '''(Serbia-Vojvodina)]
*[http://www.simkovich.org/carpatho-rusyns.carpathorussianhistory.htm Rusyn Historical Info, with focus on Subcarpathia]
*[http://www.ucc.ca/Section_2/community_profile/ The Ukrainian Canadians: A Community Profile, 1891-1999]
* [http://www1.umn.edu/ihrc/carpatho.htm Carpatho-Rusin American Collection]
* [http://feefhs.org/rusyn/indexcru.html Carpatho-Rusyn, Rusin, Ruthenia: Cross-Index]
* [http://www.lemko.org/lih/slivka.html Who Are We: Rusin, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak ...?] by John Slivka
* [http://www.geocities.com/rusinmn/ Rusin Association of Minneapolis Minnesota Homepage]
* [http://www.acrod.org/ American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A.]
* [http://www.faswebdesign.com/ECPA/Byzantine/Ruthenian.html Ruthenian Catholic Church]
* "The people exist, the ethnicity does not. Some knowledge about the Carpathian Rusyns", [[Zerkalo Nedeli]] (Mirror Weekly), November 17-23, 2001. Available online [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/369/32908/ in Russian] and [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/369/32908/ in Ukrainian]
* 'Myhailo Tyvodar: "There is no need to prove that Transcarpathia is Ukrainian by spirit"', [[Zerkalo Nedeli]] (Mirror Weekly), April 6-12, 2002. Available online [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/388/34346/ in Russian] and [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/388/34346/ in Ukrainian]
*[http://www.ce-review.org/00/40/pozun40.html Multi-Ethnic Outpost] by Brian J. Požun for [http://www.ce-review.org Central Europe Review]
*
[[:s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ruthenians|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ruthenians]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Croatia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Poland]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Serbia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Slovakia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Vojvodina]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Slavic ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Carpathian Ruthenia]]
[[Category:Ruthenia]]
[[Category:Rusyns]]
[[an:Rusín]]
[[bs:Rusini]]
[[bg:Русини]]
[[cs:Rusíni]]
[[de:Russinen]]
[[et:Russiinid]]
[[fr:Ruthènes]]
[[ko:루테니아인]]
[[hr:Rusini]]
[[hu:Ruszinok]]
[[mk:Русини (Украина)]]
[[nl:Roethenen]]
[[pl:Rusini]]
[[pt:Rutenos]]
[[ru:Русины]]
[[sk:Rusíni]]
[[sr:Русини (Украјина)]]
[[fi:Ruteenit]]
[[sv:Rusiner]]
[[uk:Русин]]