www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Carpatho Russia

Tim, it isn't an archeparchy and the patriarch doesn't live in Johnstown It is a Diocese connected to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. Patriarch Bartholomew lives there (aka Istanbul). Metropolitan Nicholas Smisko is the head of the diocese.

Sidenote, if you really want to heat up the mix, tell the Rusyns they're just really Ukrainians I'm already ducking for cover.

This poses an interesting idea? Of all the places that the EP could seek refuge if the hagarene threat worsens, one could do worse than Johnstown. I mean more Orthodox per capita than Constantinople, not a Turk in sight, and I've seen the Conemaugh River look like the Bosporus, especially after Hurricane Agnes!

Alexandr

Anyone who proposes to live in Johnstown would do well to cultivate devotion to Saint Swithun - and to provide himself with a set of water wings.

Fr. Serge

Here comes the warning shot over the bow... ..If Rusyns are really Ukrainians, then Ukrainians must really just be Russians....on the other hand, if Rusyns are just really Slovaks, then Slovaks must really just be Czechs...right?

I have the solution, let's create a new hybrid nationality where you can be both. We can call them Rusyn-Ukrainians! Oh, wait, that has alread been done by the Union of Rusyn-Ukrainians in Slovakia. Ahhh, social engineering at its best...

hehehe....that will heat up the mix.

Never seen more a truer statement in my book!

come on everyone Rusyns are Ukrainians ?

Ukraine as a figment of imagination, fed by political agendas and fanciful and jaundiced interpretation of history? Boy, doesn't that sound familiar? Don't want to stir up anything, but that is stirring the pot which calls the kettle black. Russian Chauvinism as a figment of imagination, too? What a bunch of nonsensical pish! Meh!

Carpatho-Russia is inhabited by East Slavs, most of whom have remained faithful to Orthodoxy despite over three and a half centuries of vicious Roman Catholic persecution and genocide. Their Carpatho-Russian language represents the most ancient Slavic language, for although East Slav, it also has many elements of West Slav and South Slav in it. The fact that Carpatho-Russia is on the very fringes of the Proto-Slav homeland explains its ancient forms. The fact that the Carpatho-Russians (as the name ‘Rusin’ proves) were the first Russians (i.e. East Slavs) to receive Orthodoxy also puts Carpatho-Russia in a very special situation. It means that Carpatho-Russia is the cradle both of East Slav (= ‘Russian’) identity and of East Slav (= ‘Russian’) Orthodoxy.

Oh, I get it....Russians are actually subserviant to the Rusyns!

Not so much subservient, but the great great Grandchildren of the Rusyns. It would not be incorrect to refer to the Carpatho_Russian people as "Proto-Rus", the ancestral prototype of the Eastern Slavs, which centuries later morphed into modern Great and White Russians and Ukrainians. I remember when I had my oral interview for admission to the seminary. I spoke in my ancestral dialect, with which I was much more proficient in than modern Russian. One Archmandrite stared at me the whole time. Later, he told me that he could not believe his ears, as he thought I was conversing in Old Bulgarian, i.e Old Church Slavic (not the Liturgical Church Slavonic). We spent many an evening together later discussing nashe yazik. Even Vladika Laurus, who spoke a Presov' dialect had to listen closely to understand me. Go to the villages and listen to the babushki speak. You will hear echoes of the ancient ancestral Slavs. Bandurka da kásha ― píshcha násha.

Can I just opine that I love it when we manage to resurrect a 4 year old thread on Carpatho-Rusyns and their relationship to Russians and the discussion proceeds on a civil basis

Wow, there might yet be hope for doing likewise, someday, on a discussion of Ukrainians and their relationship to Russians - oh sure

Many years,

Neil

Neil

you said
My very tongue in cheek response

'pigs might fly '

Like.

Wow, there might yet be hope for doing likewise, someday, on a discussion of Ukrainians and their relationship to Russians - oh sure

Yeah man, like "Wow." Not as big of deal IM as wistfully wonder. Maybe this will make sense for you: There are Irish and English folk. Am fairly certain they share a common ancestry. But wouldn't either think it odd to have someone weirdly bait them with "oh but you are not so distinctive as you think - you share a common ancestry? Let's talk about the "relationship" of Irish to English identity; woo will the sparks fly!." They will? They should? Yawn. Anyone doubt that there is something called Ireland; anyone doubt there is something called Irish culture? Anyone doubt there is something called England; anyone doubt there is something called bad English beer? Your snarkiness aside, so what's your point? Here's a point: Ukrainians have a brutal history of "Great" Russian
national/cultural denigration and destruction. Relationship? Here's your relationship: "Ukrainians, you khokhols, ain't chu know you are really Russians?" Long lost brothers get back to your superior Russian cultural roots. We don't recognize either of your bogus Churches."

This type of chauvinistic malarky, aged and current, gets me Irish up, and boy howdy.

Merely a matter of applying sufficient thrust . . .