Carpathian Mount Athos

Evgeni Kolyada

On October 25, the 2nd European Congress of the Carpathian Rusyns which convened in Mukachevo, Transcarpathia, adopted the resolution proclaiming the restoration of the Rusyn nationhood within Ukraine. The development may have come as a surprise to many, but for the Rusyns it was certainly long-awaited.

In the USSR, Rusyns were regarded as an ethnic subgroup of the Ukrainian nation. The strategy adopted by the independent post-Soviet Ukraine which has by now existed for almost two decades is to suppress everything that does not fit with its notion of political expediency. This explains the ire drawn by the Mukachevo resolution in the official Kyiv.

Already in 1991, 78% of the population of the Transcarpathian oblast had voted for the region's autonomy. In 2007 the local parliament passed the legislation which restored the Rusyn nationality. The main objective set by Rusyns is to be recognized as a distinct Slavic people with a language of their own rather than as a branch of the Ukrainian nation speaking a dialect of the Ukrainian. The resolution on the restoration of the Rusyn nationhood is a milestone in the history of the ethnic minority struggling over the recognition of its status (which they want to be the same as that of Rusyns in European countries) with the Ukrainian administration. However the Ukrainian authorities treat the resurging small nation as a bunch of separatists, thus violating the rights to which they should be entitled as citizens.

The number of Rusyns in Ukraine is a contentious issue. Priest Dmitro Sydor who presides over the parliament (Soim) of the Carpathian Rusyns estimates the Rusyn community in Ukraine at 800,000, while Ukraine's State Committee on Nationalities and Religions says that it numbers at most 10,000. The figure presented by the US-based Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center is about 650,000.

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Visitors to Transcarpathia are impressed by the beauty of the Carpathian Mountains and the colorful culture of the local population which is expressed in its traditional architecture and attire, as well as in the language of the region's indigenous population. The region is also renown for the intensity of religious life.

The Transcarpathian oblast is in Ukraine's top five regions in terms of the number of religious communities (as of January 1, 2008, there were 1,635 of them, the population of the oblast making 1,258,000). The majority of them (37.1%, or 608 parishes) are parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Uniats account for 24.5% (402 parishes), and Roman Catholics - for some 6%. Only 1.7% and 0.1% of the religious communities in the Transcarpathian oblast belong to the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate” and the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church”. Besides, 28.6% of the religious communities in the oblast are Protestant, a quarter of them being of the Reformed Faith (Calvinists). Transcarpathia is the only region in Ukraine where Calvinism is widely practiced.

There are 52 monasteries and convents in Transcarpathia, which is more than in any other of Ukraine's regions. Orthodox believers call the area the Carpathian Mount Athos. Rusyns converted to Christianity 130 years before the Kievan Rus' when St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki, preached in the Great Moravia. They are believed to have been the founders of the Orthodox monastery in Grushevo, a place near Mukachevo.

For a long time, the Orthodox Rusyns used to be under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Following the Florentine Union and the Union of Brest, a part of the Rusyn clergy in Transcarpathia joined the Union with Rome and in 1646 established the Rusyn Greek Catholic Church based on the Uzhgorod Union, but the majority of Rusyns remained Orthodox despite heavy assimilationist pressure. Current estimates show that 70% of Rusyns are Orthodox and 20% are Uniats.

Until 1945, there existed a Carpathian Russian Orthodox Church of the Serbian Patriarchate. In 1945 Rusyns switched to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1990 the Carpathian Athos has been an integral part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Some 98% of the Orthodox communities in the region belong to its Mukachevo and Khust eparchies. The main spiritual centers of the Carpathian Rusyns are the Pochayiv Lavra of the Assumption of the Theotokos and the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The Rusyn liturgical practice and rites have certain distinct features.

It should be noted that the Rusyn Uniats also differ from Galician Uniats. Their culture and church chants largely resemble those of the Orthodox. The Mukachevo and Uzhgorod eparchies of the Rusyn Greek Catholic Church are under the jurisdiction of the Pope and resist being transferred to that of the Lviv eparchy despite Vatican's pressure.

Due to the strong religious traditions among Rusyns and the proximity of their language to Church Slavonic, many of the priests in the Russian Orthodox Church are ethnic Rusyns.

The Carpathian oblast was not affected by schismatic tendencies to the same extent as other regions of Ukraine. For the most part, Rusyns continue to adhere to the canonical Orthodoxy and view the schismatics from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate led by “patriarch” Filaret as a sect whose adepts should repent and return to the genuine Orthodoxy.

As for the situation in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox Rusyns agree to be a part of it provided that it remains loyal to the tradition of church service in Church Slavonic (which is 90% identical to the Rusyn language). “Rusyns will never join Filaret's schismatic church. We are going to be with the Russian Orthodox Church. However, in case efforts are made to push us into Filaret's church and the Russian Orthodox Church makes no attempt to help us, we will return to the Serbian Orthodox Church”, says Rev. D. Sydor.

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Source: http://en.fondsk.ru/print.php?id=1727
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