My family tradition, the main aspect of my father's side of our family.
Rusyns (Rusyn: Русины, romanized: Rusynŷ), also known as Carpatho-Rusyns (Rusyn: Карпаторусины or Карпатьскы Русины, romanized: Karpatorusynŷ or Karpaťskŷ Rusynŷ), Ruthenians, or Rusnaks (Rusyn: Руснакы or Руснаци, romanized: Rusnakŷ or Rusnacy), are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic language variety, treated variously as either a distinct language or a dialect of the Ukrainian language. As traditional adherents of Eastern Christianity, the majority of Rusyns are Eastern Catholics, though a minority of Rusyns practice Eastern Orthodoxy. Rusyns primarily self-identify as a distinct Slavic people and they are recognized as such in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia, where they have official minority status. Alternatively, some identify more closely with their country of residence (i.e. Polish, Slovak), while others are 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, Hutsuls and Lemkos.
Of the estimated 1.7 million people of Rusyn origin, only around 110,000 have been officially identified as such in recent (c. 2012) national censuses. This is largely because some census-taking authorities classify them as a subgroup of the Ukrainian people, while others classify them as a distinct ethnic group.
The term Rusyn (Rusyn: Русин, plural Русины, Rusynŷ) originates from the archaic ethnonym "Rus'". The respective endonymic adjective has traditionally been rusʹkŷi (руськый m., руська f., руське/руськое n.), though rusynʹskŷi (русиньскый, русинськый, русинский, русиньскій, русински) has also been used; even more so after 1989.
In interwar Czechoslovakia, Ruthenia was called Rusinsko in Czech; sometimes rendered Rusinia or Rusynia in American-Rusyn publications. Carpatho-Rusyn or Carpatho-Ruthenian (Karpato-Rusyny) is the main regional designation for Rusyns. The term refers to Carpathian Ruthenia (Karpatsʹka Rusʹ), which is a historical cross-border region encompassing Subcarpathian Rus' (in northeastern Slovakia and Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast), Prešov Region (in eastern Slovakia), the Lemko Region (in southeastern Poland), and Maramureş (in north-central Romania). In the Lemko region, the endonym Lemko (pl. Lemkŷ) became more common in the twentieth century, along with Lemko-Rusyn since the 1990s.
The variant Rusnak (Руснак; plural: Rusnakŷ or Pannonian-Rusyn, Rusnatsi) was also (and still is) used as an endonym; particularly by Rusyns outside the Carpathians in Vojvodina, Serbia and Slavonia, Croatia. However, they may also referred to as Vojvodinian Rusyns (voivodianski Rusnatsi), Bachka-Srem Rusyns (bachvansʹko-srimski rusnatsi), or formerly as Yugoslav Rusyns (iuzhnoslaviansʹki Rusnatsi).
Other terms such as Ruthene, Rusniak, Lemak, Lyshak, and Lemko are considered by some scholars to be historic, local, or synonymic 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 (Uhro-Rus) in the regions of Prešov, Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia.
Several endonyms such as Rus' and Rusyn were used widely by the East Slavs of Kievan Rus' during the medieval period. Common endonymic use of those terms continued through the life of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Parallel, medieval Latin terms such as Rusi, Russi or Rusci are found in sources of the period and were commonly used as an exonym for the East Slavs.
Since the end of the 11th century, the exonymic term Rutheni (Ruthenes) 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 and Ukraine.
After the Partitions of Poland, Rutheni "came to be associated primarily with those [East Slavs] who lived under the Habsburg monarchy" (and was used as an official designation in the Austrian Empire after 1843). In the Kingdom of Hungary, Ruthene was used as the official term for the Rusyn people (Hungarian: rutén or ruszin) 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", for whom the terms Rusyn and Carpatho-Rusyn are more commonly used since the 1970s.
In some non-Slavic 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. 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.
In older literature and speech, both Catholic and Orthodox Rusyns occasionally referred to themselves as Carpatho-Russians or Carpathian Russians. These terms, however, are generally considered antiquated and now typically refer to ethnic Russians of the Carpathian region. The use of several, imprecise Russian ethnonyms (in a Rusyn context) are also present in the works of some older authors, including foreign authors, as well as those native to the region. This terminology has also been reflected within some groups of 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 (by the 1960s the term Ruthenian came into vogue). As well, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, with over 14,000 members and 78 parishes as of 2006 (and founded by former Byzantine Catholic members), uses the term Carpatho-Russian on a regular basis even today. Finally, as of the early 21st Century, one can still hear Rusyn Americans within the OCA and ROCOR Orthodox churches self-identify as Carpatho-Russian.
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. This church, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, is distinct from the 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 (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 established the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.
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, Hutsuls and Lemkos.
Of the estimated 1.7 million people of Rusyn origin, only around 110,000 have been officially identified as such in recent (c. 2012) national censuses. This is largely because some census-taking authorities classify them as a subgroup of the Ukrainian people, while others classify them as a distinct ethnic group.
The term Rusyn (Rusyn: Русин, plural Русины, Rusynŷ) originates from the archaic ethnonym "Rus'". The respective endonymic adjective has traditionally been rusʹkŷi (руськый m., руська f., руське/руськое n.), though rusynʹskŷi (русиньскый, русинськый, русинский, русиньскій, русински) has also been used; even more so after 1989.
In interwar Czechoslovakia, Ruthenia was called Rusinsko in Czech; sometimes rendered Rusinia or Rusynia in American-Rusyn publications. Carpatho-Rusyn or Carpatho-Ruthenian (Karpato-Rusyny) is the main regional designation for Rusyns. The term refers to Carpathian Ruthenia (Karpatsʹka Rusʹ), which is a historical cross-border region encompassing Subcarpathian Rus' (in northeastern Slovakia and Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast), Prešov Region (in eastern Slovakia), the Lemko Region (in southeastern Poland), and Maramureş (in north-central Romania). In the Lemko region, the endonym Lemko (pl. Lemkŷ) became more common in the twentieth century, along with Lemko-Rusyn since the 1990s.
The variant Rusnak (Руснак; plural: Rusnakŷ or Pannonian-Rusyn, Rusnatsi) was also (and still is) used as an endonym; particularly by Rusyns outside the Carpathians in Vojvodina, Serbia and Slavonia, Croatia. However, they may also referred to as Vojvodinian Rusyns (voivodianski Rusnatsi), Bachka-Srem Rusyns (bachvansʹko-srimski rusnatsi), or formerly as Yugoslav Rusyns (iuzhnoslaviansʹki Rusnatsi).
Other terms such as Ruthene, Rusniak, Lemak, Lyshak, and Lemko are considered by some scholars to be historic, local, or synonymic 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 (Uhro-Rus) in the regions of Prešov, Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia.
Several endonyms such as Rus' and Rusyn were used widely by the East Slavs of Kievan Rus' during the medieval period. Common endonymic use of those terms continued through the life of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Parallel, medieval Latin terms such as Rusi, Russi or Rusci are found in sources of the period and were commonly used as an exonym for the East Slavs.
Since the end of the 11th century, the exonymic term Rutheni (Ruthenes) 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 and Ukraine.
After the Partitions of Poland, Rutheni "came to be associated primarily with those [East Slavs] who lived under the Habsburg monarchy" (and was used as an official designation in the Austrian Empire after 1843). In the Kingdom of Hungary, Ruthene was used as the official term for the Rusyn people (Hungarian: rutén or ruszin) 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", for whom the terms Rusyn and Carpatho-Rusyn are more commonly used since the 1970s.
In some non-Slavic 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. 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.
In older literature and speech, both Catholic and Orthodox Rusyns occasionally referred to themselves as Carpatho-Russians or Carpathian Russians. These terms, however, are generally considered antiquated and now typically refer to ethnic Russians of the Carpathian region. The use of several, imprecise Russian ethnonyms (in a Rusyn context) are also present in the works of some older authors, including foreign authors, as well as those native to the region. This terminology has also been reflected within some groups of 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 (by the 1960s the term Ruthenian came into vogue). As well, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, with over 14,000 members and 78 parishes as of 2006 (and founded by former Byzantine Catholic members), uses the term Carpatho-Russian on a regular basis even today. Finally, as of the early 21st Century, one can still hear Rusyn Americans within the OCA and ROCOR Orthodox churches self-identify as Carpatho-Russian.
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. This church, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, is distinct from the 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 (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 established the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.
