 A boy with the pilgrimage flag with theRuthenian lion during the Ruthenian pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1906 | |
| Languages | |
|---|---|
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| Religion | |
| PredominantlyEastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic(Ruthenian Greek Catholic,Belarusian Greek Catholic,Ukrainian Greek Catholic,Russian Greek Catholic) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| OtherEast Slavs |
Ruthenian andRuthene[a] areexonyms ofLatin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as commonethnonyms forEast Slavs, particularly during thelate medieval andearly modern periods. The Latin termRutheni was used in medieval sources to describe all Eastern Slavs of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, as an exonym for people of the formerRus', thus including ancestors of the modernBelarusians,Rusyns andUkrainians.[1][2] The use ofRuthenian and related exonyms continued through the early modern period, developing several distinctive meanings, both in terms of their regional scopes and additional religious connotations (such as affiliation with theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church).[1][3][4][5][6]
In medieval sources, the Latin termRutheni was commonly applied to East Slavs in general, thus encompassing allendonyms and their various forms (Belarusian:русіны,romanized: rusiny;Ukrainian:русини,romanized: rusyny). By opting for the use of exonymic terms, authors who wrote in Latin were relieved from the need to be specific in their applications of those terms, and the same quality ofRuthenian exonyms is often recognized in modern, mainly Western authors, particularly those who prefer to use exonyms (foreign in origin) over endonyms.[7][8][9]
During the early modern period, the exonymRuthenian was most frequently applied to the East Slavic population of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, an area encompassing territories of modernBelarus andUkraine from the 15th up to the 18th centuries.[10][11] In the formerAustro-Hungarian Monarchy, the same term (German:Ruthenen) was employed up to 1918 as an official exonym for the entire Ukrainian population within the borders of the Monarchy.[12][13]
Ruteni, a misnomer that was also the name of anextinct and unrelated Celtic tribe inAncient Gaul,[7] was used in reference toRus in theAnnales Augustani of 1089.[7] An alternative early modern Latinisation,Rucenus (plural:Ruceni) was, according toBoris Unbegaun, derived fromRusyn.[7] BaronHerberstein, describing the land ofRussia, inhabited by theRutheni who call themselvesRussi, claimed that the first of the governors who ruleRussia is the Grand Duke of Moscow, the second is the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the third is the King of Poland.[14][15]
According to professorJohn-Paul Himka from the University of Alberta the wordRutheni did not include the modern Russians, who were known asMoscovitae throughout Western Europe.[7][16]Vasili III of Russia, who ruled theGrand Duchy of Moscow in the 16th century, was known in European Latin sources asRhuteni Imperator.[17]Jacques Margeret in his book "Estat de l'empire de Russie, et grande duché de Moscovie" of 1607 said that the name "Muscovites" for the population ofTsardom (Empire) of Russia is an error.[18] During conversations, they called themselvesrusaki (which is a colloquial term forRussians) and only the citizens of the capital called themself "Muscovites". Margeret considered that this error is worse than calling all the French "Parisians".[19][20] Professor David Frick from the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute has also found in Vilnius the documents from 1655, which demonstrate thatMoscovitae were also known in Lithuania asRutheni.[21] The 16th century Portuguese poetLuís Vaz de Camões in hisOs Lusíadas" (Canto III, 11)[22][23] clearly writes "...Entre este mar e o Tánais vive estranha Gente: Rutenos, Moscos e Livónios, Sármatas outro tempo..." [English translation: "...Between this sea and the Tánais live strange People: Ruthenians, Muscovites and Livonians, Sarmatians in another time..."] differentiating between Ruthenians and Muscovites.
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After thepartition of Poland, the term Ruthenian referred exclusively to people of the Rusyn- and Ukrainian-speaking areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially in theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,Bukovina, andTranscarpathia.[7]
At the request ofMykhailo Levytsky, in 1843, the term Ruthenian became the official name for the Rusyns and Ukrainians within theAustrian Empire.[7] For example,Ivan Franko andStepan Bandera in their passports were identified as Ruthenians (Polish:Rusini).[24] By 1900, more and more Ruthenians began to call themselves with the self-designated name Ukrainians.[7] With the emergence ofUkrainian nationalism during the mid-19th century, use of "Ruthenian" and cognate terms declined among Ukrainians and fell out of use in Eastern and Central Ukraine. Most people in the western region of Ukraine followed suit later in the 19th century. During the early 20th century, the nameUkrajins'ka mova ("Ukrainian language") became accepted by much of the Ukrainian-speaking literary class in theAustro-HungarianKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.[citation needed]
Following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, new states emerged and dissolved; borders changed frequently. After the extremely violent years 1917-23 including the ongoingRussian Civil War,Polish-Soviet War,Lithuanian-Soviet War andPolish-Lithuanian War, the Rusyn and "prosto hovor" (simple speech) speaking people in eastern Austria-Hungary found themselves divided betweenCzechoslovakia,Poland, andRomania. The labelling of the Ruthenian "simple speech" of the peasants as "Ukrainian" had already begun in Russia and USSR, and was initially associated with the Soviets, who actively sought to spread peasant terms in cities (seeUkrainization) thus evolving the hybrid languageSurzhyk.
When commenting on the partition of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in March 1939, US diplomatGeorge Kennan noted, "To those who inquire whether thesepeasants are Russians or Ukrainians, there is only one answer. They are Neither. They are simplyRuthenians."[25] Dr. Paul R. Magocsi emphasizes that modern Ruthenians have "the sense of a nationality distinct from Ukrainians" and often associate Ukrainians withSoviets or Communists.[26]
After the expansion of Soviet Ukraine following World War II, several groups who had not previously considered themselves Ukrainians were merged into the Ukrainian identity, and not entirely by choice.[27]
In theinterbellum period of the 20th century, the termrusyn (Ruthenian) was also applied to people from theKresy Wschodnie (the eastern borderlands) in theSecond Polish Republic, and included Ukrainians, Rusyns, and Lemkos, or alternatively, members of theUniate orGreek Catholic Churches. In Galicia, the Polish government actively replaced all references to "Ukrainians" with the old wordrusini ("Ruthenians").
ThePolish census of 1921 considered Ukrainians no other than Ruthenians, meanwhile Belarusians have already become a separate nation, which in Polish is literally translated as "White Ruthenians" (Polish:Białorusini).[28] However thePolish census of 1931 counted Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn as separate language categories, and the census results were substantially different from before.[29] According toRusyn-American historianPaul Robert Magocsi, Polish government policy in the 1930s pursued a strategy of tribalization, regarding various ethnographic groups—i.e.,Lemkos,Boykos, andHutsuls, as well as Old Ruthenians andRussophiles—as different from other Ukrainians and offered instructions in Lemko vernacular in state schools set up in the westernmostLemko Region.[30][29]
ThePolish census of 1931 listed "Belarusian", "Rusyn" and "Ukrainian" (Polish:białoruski, ruski, ukraiński, respectively) as separate languages.[31][32]
By the end of the 19th century, another set of terms came into use in several western languages, combining regionalCarpathian withRuthenian designations, and thus producing composite terms such as: Carpatho-Ruthenes or Carpatho-Ruthenians. Those terms also acquired several meanings, depending on the shifting geographical scopes of the termCarpathian Ruthenia. Those meanings were also spanning from wider uses as designations for all East Slavs of the Carpathian region, to narrower uses, focusing on those local groups of East Slavs who did not accept a modern Ukrainian identity, but rather opted to keep their traditionalRusyn identity.[33]
The designations Rusyn and Carpatho-Rusyn were banned in theSoviet Union by the end of World War II in June 1945.[27] Ruthenians who identified under the Rusyn ethnonym and considered themselves to be a national and linguistic group separate from Ukrainians and Belarusians were relegated to the Carpathian diaspora and formally functioned among the large immigrant communities in the United States.[26][27] A cross-European revival took place only with the collapse of communist rule in 1989.[27] This has resulted in political conflict and accusations of intrigue against Rusyn activists, including criminal charges. The Rusyn minority is well represented in Slovakia. The single category of people who listed their ethnicity as Rusyn was created in the 1920s; however, no generally accepted standardised Rusyn language existed.[34]
After World War II, following the practice in the Soviet Union, Ruthenian ethnicity was disallowed. This Soviet policy maintained that the Ruthenians and their language were part of the Ukrainian ethnic group and language. At the same time, the Greek Catholic church was banned and replaced with the Eastern Orthodox church under the Russian Patriarch, in an atmosphere which repressed all religions. Thus, in Slovakia, the former Ruthenians were technically free to register as any ethnicity but Ruthenian.[34]
The government of Slovakia has proclaimed Rusyns (Rusíni) to be a distinct national minority (1991) and recognisedRusyn language as a distinct language (1995).[7]
Since the 19th century, several speculative theories emerged regarding the origin and nature of medieval and early modern uses ofRuthenian terms as designations for East Slavs. Some of those theories were focused on a very specific source, a memorial plate from 1521, that was placed in thecatacombe Chapel of St Maximus inPetersfriedhof, the burial site ofSt Peter's Abbey inSalzburg (modernAustria). The plate contains Latin inscription that mentions Italian rulerOdoacer (476–493) as king of "Rhutenes" or "Rhutenians" (Latin:Rex Rhvtenorvm), and narrates a story about the martyrdom of St Maximus during an invasion of several peoples intoNoricum in 477. Due to the very late date (1521) and several anachronistic elements, the content of that plate is considered as legendary.[35][36]
In spite of that, some authors (mainly non-scholars) employed that plate as a "source" for several theories that were trying to connect Odoacer with ancient CelticRuthenes from Gaul, thus also providing an apparent bridge towards later medieval authors who labeled East Slavs asRuthenes orRuthenians. On those bases, an entire strain of speculative theories was created, regarding the alleged connection between ancient Gallic Ruthenes and later East Slavic "Ruthenians".[37] As noted by professorPaul R. Magocsi, those theories should be regarded as "inventive tales" of "creative" writers.[38][39]
From the 9th century,Kievan Rus' – now part of the modern states ofUkraine,Belarus andRussia – was known in Western Europe bya variety of names derived from Rus'. TheLatinised terms such asRuthenia orRuthenorum were applied to Kievan Rus' and its rulers from 11th century.[40]
![Ethnographic groups of Ruthenians, from "Rusini, zarys etnografii na Rusi" (1928)[41]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRuskie_grupy_etniczne.jpg)
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The Ruthenian language (Ruthenian:ру́скаꙗмо́ва, русинська мова) was anexonymiclinguonym for a closely related group ofEast Slavic linguisticvarieties, particularly those spoken from the 15th to 18th centuries in theEast Slavic regions of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. By the end of the 18th century, they gradually diverged into regional variants, which subsequently developed into the modernBelarusian (White Ruthenian),Ukrainian (Ruthenian), andRusyn (Carpathian Ruthenian) languages.[42][43]
With theconversion of Vladimir the Great began a long history of the dominance of Eastern Orthodoxy inRuthenia. The Rus' accepted Christianity in itsByzantine form at the same time as the Poles accepted it in itsLatin form, Lithuanians largely remainedpagan to the lateMiddle Ages before their nobility embraced the Latin form upon thepolitical union with the Poles. The eastward expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been facilitated by amicable treaties and inter-marriages of the nobility when faced with the external threat of theMongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.
By the end of the 12th century,Europe was generally divided into two large areas:Western Europe with dominance of Catholicism, andEastern Europe with Orthodox and Byzantine influences. The border between them was roughly marked by theBug River. This placed the area now known asBelarus in a unique position where these two influences mixed and interfered.
The first Latin Church diocese in White Ruthenia was established inTuraŭ between 1008 and 1013. Catholicism was a traditionally dominant religion of Belarusiannobility (theszlachta) and of a large part of the population of western and northwestern parts of Belarus. Before the 14th century, theEastern Orthodox Church was dominant in White Ruthenia. TheUnion of Krewo in 1385 broke this monopoly and madeCatholicism the religion of the ruling class.
Jogaila, then ruler of the GrandDuchy of Lithuania, ordered the whole population of Lithuania to convert to Catholicism. One and a half years after the Union of Krewo, theWilno (Vilnius) episcopate was created which received a lot of land from the Lithuanian dukes. By the mid-16th century Catholicism became strong in Lithuania and bordering with it north-west parts of White Ruthenia, but the Orthodox church was still dominant.
In the 14th century, EmperorAndronikos II Palaiologos sanctioned the creation of two additional metropolitan sees: theMetropolis of Halych (1303) and theMetropolis of Lithuania (1317).
Metropolitan Roman (1355–1362) of Lithuania and MetropolitanAlexius of Kiev both claimed the see. Both metropolitans travelled to Constantinople to make their appeals in person. In 1356, their cases were heard by a Patriarchal Synod. TheHoly Synod confirmed that Alexis was the Metropolitan of Kiev while Roman was also confirmed in his see at Novogorodek. In 1361, the two sees were formally divided. Shortly afterwards, in the winter of 1361/62, Roman died. From 1362 to 1371, the vacant see of Lithuania–Halych was administered by Alexius. By that point, the Lithuanian metropolis was effectively dissolved.
Following the signing of theCouncil of Florence, MetropolitanIsidore of Kiev returned to Moscow in 1441 as a Ruthenian cardinal. He was arrested by theGrand Duke of Moscow and accused ofapostasy. The Grand Duke deposed Isidore and in 1448 installed own candidate as Metropolitan of Kyiv —Jonah. This was carried out without the approval of PatriarchGregory III of Constantinople. When Isidore died in 1458, he was succeeded as metropolitan in the Patriarchate of Constantinople byGregory the Bulgarian. Gregory's canonical territory was the western part of the traditionalKievan Rus' lands — the states of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania and theKingdom of Poland. Theepiscopal seat was in the city ofNavahrudak which is today located inBelarus. It was later moved toVilnius — the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Aparallel succession to the title ensued between Moscow and Vilnius. The Metropolitans of Kiev are the predecessors of thePatriarch of Moscow and all Rus' that was formed in the 16th century.
The Ruthenian Uniate Church was created in 1595–1596 by those clergy of theEastern Orthodox churches who subscribed to theUnion of Brest. In the process, they switched their allegiancesand jurisdiction from theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to theHoly See. It had a single metropolitan territory — theMetropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. The formation of the church led to a high degree of confrontation among Ruthenians, such as the murder of thehierarchJosaphat Kuntsevych in 1623. Opponents of the union called church members "Uniates", although Catholic documents no longer use the term due to its perceived negative overtones. In 1620, these dissenters erected their own metropolis — the "Metropolis of Kyev, Galicia and all Ruthenia".
In the 16th century, a crisis began in Christianity: theProtestant Reformation began in Catholicism and a period ofheresy began in an Orthodox area. From the mid-16th centuryProtestant ideas began spreading in theGrand Duchy of Lithuania. The first Protestant Church in Belarus was created in Brest byMikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł. Protestantism did not survive due to theCounter-Reformation in Poland.
Both the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth and the Ruthenian Church underwent a period of decay. The Ruthenian Church was the church of a people without statehood. The Poles considered the Ruthenians a conquered people. Over time, the Lithuanian military and political ascendancy did away with the Ruthenian autonomies. The disadvantageous political status of the Ruthenian people also affected the status of their church and undermined her capacity for reform and renewal. Furthermore, they could not expect support from the Mother Church in Constantinople or from their co-religionists in Moscow. Thus, the Ruthenian church was in a weaker position than the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth.
Until 1666, whenPatriarch Nikon was deposed bythe tsar, theRussian Orthodox Church had been independent of the State. In 1721, the first Russian Emperor,Peter I, abolished completely the patriarchate and effectively made the church a department of the government, ruled by theMost Holy Synod composed of senior bishops and lay bureaucrats appointed by the emperor himself. Over time, Imperial Russia would style itself a protector and patron of all Orthodox Christians, especially those within the Ottoman Empire.
Domination oftsarist-ruled Ukraine by theRussian Empire (from 1721) eventually led to the decline ofUniate Catholicism (officially founded in 1596) in the Ukrainian lands under Tsarist control.
Musical scores titled "Baletto Ruteno" or "Horea Rutenia", meaning RuthenianBallet can be found in European collections during theLithuanian andPolish rule of Ruthenia, such as theGdańsk lute tablature of 1640.[44][45]
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Today the name Rusyn refers to the spoken language and variants of a literary language codified in the 20th century for Carpatho-Rusyns living in Ukraine (Transcarpathia), Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia (the Vojvodina). ... Subcarpathian Rus was ceded by Czechoslovakia to the Soviet Union and became the Transcarpathian oblast (region) of the Ukrainian S.S.R. The designations Rusyn and Carpatho-Rusyn were banned, and the local East Slavic inhabitants and their language were declared to be Ukrainian. Soviet policy was followed in neighbouring communist Czechoslovakia and Poland, where the Carpatho-Rusyn inhabitants (Lemko Rusyns in the case of Poland) were henceforth officially designated Ukrainians
