Do these words indicate anything to you? Do you know who they describe? Who they represent?


These names plus many others, such as Lemko, Bolko, Hutsul, Ruthene, etc., all represent a distinct Slavic people.

The Rusin Association (of Minnesota) is interested in informing everyone who the Rusins are. The members, who are largely Americans of Rusin descent, are also concerned about preseving and perpetuating the culture of this forgotten people.


Rusins in Europe have for centuries been ignored by different governments. An exception is Yugoslavia where they have been able to use their language and practice their traditions without interference.


Here in America, when Rusins arrived, immigration officials could not take them into account--no such country appeared on the map. Unfortunately, after a few brief decades, most Rusins became absorbed into other larger Slav groups or disappeared altogether.


In east Central Europe, after the 1989 "Velvet Revolution", Rusins were once again beginning to revitalize. On December 30 of that year, there was issued in Bratislava a "Manifesto of Carpatho-Rusins in Czecho-Slovakia", the high light being to reclaim their ethnic status as Rusins.


In neighboring Ukraine's region of Transcarpathia, on December 1, 1991, while 92% of the voters said yes for independence, an additionall important vote occurred when 78% of Transcarpathia voted for autonomy. This means that the inhabitants there think of themselves as Rusin.


WHERE THE NAME "RUSIN" ORIGINATED


Rusins are part of the Slavic branch of indo-European peoples which consist of many subgroups. Besides Rusins there are Belorusans, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Macedonians, Poles, Russians, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Sorbs, and Ukrainians.


These subgroups are divided into three branches: The West, South, and East Slavs. The Rusins belong to the East branch. They lived in or near the Carpathian Mountains (hence Carpatho), which once served as the border between Poland and Hungary.


The general usage of the term Rusin (or Rusyn) dates back over eleven centuries. It is here that the origin of the word Rus' signifies the ethnic tie to the loosely knit political entity of Kievan Rus' (hence Rusin) which existed from the late ninth to the early thirteenth century.


Since that time, political developments have dictated name changes. By the twentieth century the original name Rusin or Rus' was maintained only in the Carpathian Mountain region by 1) Rusins of Subcarpathian Rus' and the Presov region of Czecho-Slovakia, 2) the Lemko Rusins of Poland, and 3) Rusins of Vojvodina, Yugoslavia. In 1945, soon after World War II, Rusins in Czecho-Slovakia and in Subcarpathian Rus'/Transcarpathia, which was annexed to the Soviet Union, were officially designated by the Stalinist communists as Ukrainian.


Today, Rusins in the European homeland have reclaimed their original identity. In America, where they were identified as Carpatho-Rusins (or Rusyn), Carpatho-Russian, Carpatho-Ruthenian, or Lemko, most now use Rusin. Unfortunately, there are far too many who don't know who or what they are and accept other nationalities to be their own. In addition, many do not care one way or another. They claim to be American, Byzantine, or Orthodox.


WHERE WE ARE FROM


For hundreds of years Rusins lived in Austria-Hungary and Poland. Those south of the mountains lived for the most part in seven counties (now called districts and divided into smaller parts). These counties were named Spis, Saris, Zamplin, Ung, Bereg, Ugocha, and Maramaros. The Lemko Rusins lived on the north slopes in an area of similar environment. Their main occupations consisted of logging, farming, hunting, and sheepherding.


In the fourteenth century there is evidence of a small influx of Viach sheepherders from Romania into this region. They were quickly assimilated and became Rusin.


Over time the unfavorable political climate, poor economic conditions, and harsh Carpathian winters all combined to nurture a resolute and extremely durable people.


WHERE WE SETTLED


But they, like many other Slavs, had to find a better way of life. Even though they had maintained their identity, their language, and their customs, they could no longer sustain a living. As a result, many emigrated. The first Rusins came to the midwest from Saris County in northern Hungary. They settled in Minneapolis about 1878. All told, Approximately 1,200 Rusins came to Minneapolis. Others settled on the Iron Range, some in Clayton and Comocopia in Wisconsin, and Browerville in central Minnesota.


RELIGION


When the first Rusins emigrated to Minneapolis, they built a church in Northeast Minneapolis and called it St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church. But the Roman Catholic Archbishop, John Ireland, of St. Paul refused to recognize the Greek or Byzantine Rite in the United States and ordered the congregation dissolved. Rather than abandon their church and rite, they placed themselves under the Russian Orthodox bishop in San Francisco and renamed their church St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church. After that the members identified themselves as "Russian" rather than "Rusin". By 1983, however, the church had dropped the name "Russian", preferring instead to be called Orthodox Cathedral of America.


From 1900 to the First World War, Rusins continued to come from northern Hungary and Galicia to the Midwest. Many of the immigrants from Galicia had been influenced by the Ukrainian movement which was very popular in that area of eastern Europe, and some called themselves Ukrainian.


They were still Byzantine Rite Catholic, however, so they joined St. John's Greek Catholic Church, which had been founded in 1907 by Rusins with Archbishop Ireland's consent. By 1913, the Ukrainians wished to develop the "Ukrainian Idea", and the founders of St. John's wished to maintain the "Rusin" identity. As a result, the Ukrainians built their own church and named it St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic Church.


Throughout the entire period of immigration, many Rusins also joined Slovak parishes where they were well received, since most Slovaks consider Rusins to be "Greek Catholic Slovaks". In Minneapolis, many Rusins joined St. Cyril and St. Methodious Catholic Church, and other Rusins have changed to alternative faiths as the years have gone by.


RUSINS TODAY


The descendants of Rusin immigrants know that they are a minority and that they find few answers by reading Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Slovak, or Ukrainian history. When they were transplanted to the Upper Midwest, many of them came as illiterate peasants from a medieval world to an industrialized urban world. Thousands of Rusins participated. In fact, some 200 to 300 thousand Rusins came to the United States. Today, an estimated 650,000 Rusins and their descendants are believed to be living in North America. Their history should be more widely researched and communicated.


For more information write:

RUSIN ASSOCIATION
1817 121st Ave. N.E.
Blaine, MN 55449
U.S.A.



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