20 Facts About Rusyns

Rusyns, known as Carpatho-Rusyns, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe.

Rusyns are descended from an East Slavic population which inhabited the northeastern regions of the Eastern Carpathians.

Rusyns have at times been referred to as Uhro-Rusyn in the regions of Eperjes, Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia.

In older literature and speech, both Catholic and Orthodox Rusyns occasionally referred to themselves as Carpatho-Russians or Carpathian Russians.

Rusyns settled in the Carpathian Mountain region in various waves of immigration from the north between the eighth and 17th centuries.

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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.

Aleksander Dukhnovich, who wrote the unofficial Rusyn National Anthem, 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".

Rusyns formed two ephemeral states after World War I: the Lemko-Rusyn Republic and Komancza Republic.

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.

In former Yugoslavia, Rusyns were officially recognized as a distinct national minority, and their legal status was regulated in Yugoslav federal units of Serbia and Croatia.

Nationally, Rusyns are considered only a sub-group of the Ukrainian people.

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.

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.

Many Rusyns are Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, who since the Union of Uzhhorod in 1646 have been in communion with the See of Rome.

Pannonian Rusyns of Croatia are organized under the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Krizevci, and those in the region of Vojvodina, are organized under the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Ruski Krstur, headed by bishop Ðura Dzudzar, who is an ethnic Rusyn.

Affiliation of Eastern Orthodox Rusyns was adversely affected by the 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.

Populations of Rusyns migrated to Canada and Argentina in the 1920s and Canada, Australia, and Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

The claim that Rusyns are Ukrainian subgroup is disputed by some non-mainstream scholars, as well as other scholars from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada, and the United States.

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, "On the principles of the state language policy".

Furthermore, while Lemkos and Rusyns are recognized as distinct ethnic minorities in Poland and Slovakia, neither Boykos nor Hutsuls are formally recognized in any country; nor are any Rusyns for that matter recognized as such in Ukraine.