| Rusyns (also referred to as Ruthenians, | | | | clearly occurred prior to the Great |
| Ruthenes, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusyns, and | | | | Schism between the Orthodox and Catholic |
| Rusnaks) are a modern ethnic group that | | | | churches in 1054. Many Rusyn churches |
| speaks the Rusyn language and are | | | | are named after the Eastern Christian |
| descended from the minority of | | | | saints Cyril and Methodius, who are |
| Ruthenians who did not adopt a Ukrainian | | | | often referred to as the "Apostles to |
| national identity in the nineteenth and | | | | the Slavs." |
| early twentieth centuries. Because an | | | | Historian Paul Robert Magocsi recorded |
| overwhelming majority of Ruthenians | | | | that there were approximately 690,000 |
| within Ukraine itself have adopted a | | | | Carpatho-Rusyn church members in the |
| Ukrainian identity, most modern | | | | United States, with 320,000 in the |
| self-declared Rusyns live outside | | | | largest Catholic affiliations, 270,000 |
| Ukraine. Thus, of the approximately 2 | | | | in the largest Orthodox affiliations, |
| million people claimed by Rusyn | | | | and 100,000 in various Protestant and |
| organizations as being Rusyns, only | | | | other denominations. |
| 55,000 declare themselves as having this | | | | Eastern Rite Catholics |
| nationality. The ethnic identity of | | | | Many Rusyns are Eastern Catholics, who |
| Rusyns is therefore highly | | | | since the Union of Brest in 1596 and the |
| controversial, with some researchers | | | | Uzhorod Union in 1646, are united with |
| claiming a separate East Slavic | | | | other Catholics under the spiritual |
| ethnicity distinct from Russians, | | | | leadership of the Pope, but retain their |
| Ukrainians, and Belarusians, while | | | | Old Slavonic liturgy and most of the |
| others considering Rusyns to be a | | | | outward forms of the Greek or Eastern |
| subgroup of the Ukrainian nation. Some | | | | Orthodox Church. |
| parallels can be drawn with the | | | | The Rusyns of former Yugoslavia are |
| relationship of Moldovans to Romanians. | | | | organized under the Eparchy of Krizevci. |
| Location | | | | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Rusyns have traditionally inhabited the | | | | Although originally associated with the |
| area of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains | | | | Orthodox Church of Constantinople, the |
| and still inhabit those areas. While | | | | affiliation of the Rusyn Orthodox Church |
| their homeland is often referred to as | | | | was adversely affected by the Communist |
| Carpathian Ruthenia, that area no longer | | | | revolution in Russia and the subsequent |
| exactly corresponds with the places | | | | Iron Curtain which split the Orthodox |
| inhabited by Rusyns. There are also | | | | diaspora from those living in the |
| resettled Rusyn communities located in | | | | ancestral homelands. A number of emigre |
| the Pannonian plain, as well as in parts | | | | communities have laid claim to |
| of present day Serbia (especially in | | | | continuing the Orthodox tradition of the |
| Vojvodina – see also Ethnic groups of | | | | pre-revolution church, while either |
| Vojvodina), as well as in present-day | | | | negating or minimizing the validity of |
| Croatia (in the region of Slavonia). | | | | the church organization operating under |
| Still other Rusyns migrated to the | | | | Communist authority. For example, the |
| northern regions of present-day Bosnia | | | | Orthodox Church in America (OCA) was |
| and Herzegovina. | | | | granted auto-cephalous (self-governing) |
| Many Rusyns also emigrated to the United | | | | status by the Moscow Patriarchate in |
| States and Canada, and now are able to | | | | 1970. Although approximately 25% of the |
| reconnect as a community with the advent | | | | OCA was Rusyn (referred to as |
| of the internet, voicing their concerns | | | | "Ruthenian") in the early 1980s, an |
| and trying to preserve their separate | | | | influx of Orthodox emigres from other |
| ethnic and cultural identity. | | | | nations and new converts wanting to |
| Religion | | | | connect with the "early" church have |
| When the Rusyns accepted Christianity | | | | lessened the impact of a particular |
| (and who or what they worshiped before) | | | | Rusyn emphasis in favor of a new |
| is a source of some debate, but it | | | | American Orthodoxy. |