GREEK
740
GREEK
Sunday-scliool system has as yet been established
amongst them, nor are there any nuns or religious
engaged in teaching in the United States.
In order to understand somewhat clearly the situa- tion of the Ruthcnians in America, account must be taken of their national home polit ics, which they bring with them and fight out often quite bitterly in this country. As already said, they are from the northern and southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. The northern Ruthenians derisively call their southern brethren "Hungarians" {Mailyuri), while the latter return the compliment by calling tlie former "Poles" (Poliaki). The point of this lies in the fact that each of tlie nationalities named is cordially detested by the Ruthenians on either side. But these are merely surface divisions between the two bodies of the same race. Their actual factional differences are much deeper. There may be said to be, broadly speaking, three Ruthenian parties or factions in the United States: (1) The Moscophiles, or Moskalophiles {Mos- kal is the Little Russian word for a Great Russian), who aim at an imitation, if not an actual adoption, of all things Russian as found in the present Empire of Russia, looking towards Moscow as the seed and kernel of Russian or Slavic development, and who are strong supporters of Panslavism; (2) the Ukraintzi, or Ukrainians (the Ukraine is the adjoining border- land provinces of Russia and Galicia), who stand for the interests of the Ruthenian people in Austria and of the Little Russians in Russia, as distinct and apart from the Great Russians, and who desire to develop the Ruthenian (Little Russian) language, literature, and race along their own lines, entirely distinct and apart from that of the present-day Russian Empire; and (3) the Ugro-rnsski, or Hungarian Ruthenians, who keep all the old Russian racial traditions, rever- encing their Russian language, literature, and ancestry as models to follow in their development, but at the same time refusing to follow the ideas of Moscow and St. Petersburg in such development, either in Himgary or in the United States. The first two parties are Galicians, the last one Slovaks and Himgarian Ru- thenians. These parties are sometimes divided into smaller factions, perplexing for an outsider to under- stand, such as those who desire to introduce the Hungarian language and customs, even using Hun- garian in the liturgy of the Church. It is needless to say that none of these larger parties ever agree upon any one subject other than their Slavic nationality and Creek Rite. The Moscophiles often unite with the (ircek Orthodox and Russian societies upon the slightest pretext when Russo-Slavic ideals are to be proclaimed, and are fiercely against everything that does not look Russiaward, for Russia is their big brother. On the other hand the ITkraintzi will have nothing to do with modern Russia ; it is behind the age and lags in the march of civilization ; and they have besides offended both the other parties by adopting the " phonetic" style of spelling. This offence seems to be intensified because the new Greek bishop is some- what of their way of thinking. The Ugro-russki are violently opposed to whatever does not accord with the racial views and traditions of the Ruthenian and Slovak people within the borders of Hungary, and do not agree with the views and actions of either of the other two parties. Consequently, the Greek Catholic bishop has to publish his official communi- cations in Ruthenian, both phonetic and old-style, and in Slovak, in order to reach all his people.
Of course these Greek Catholics of such varied views have organized into societies. Each church has its own local religious and singing societies, but there are other and larger bodies known as " brother- hoods" or lodges {hnilstvd), which have been of great assistance in building up the Ruthenian churches. They are usually of the nature of mutual benefit societies, assist in finding work, helping in religious
matters and the like, having always the Greek Rite
and the Ruthenian race a.s their main inspiration.
Someof them provide that (heir members must .show
that they have made their Easter communion or
forfeit membership, and provide for the dropping of a
member when he ceases to be a Catholic. These
brotherhoods or lodges are combined into a general
federation or union which takes in the whole United
States. It has its annual convention composed of
delegates from the various brotherhoods, and always
has some well-known Greek Catholic priest as its
spiritual director. The largest and oldest of these
feilerated societies is the " Soyedineniya Greko-Kafto-
licheskikhRusskikh Bratstv " (Russian Greek Catholic
Union), which was founded in Pennsylvania in
February, 1892. It is almost wholly composed of
Slovaks and South-Carpathian Rutlienians. It now
(1909) has 542 brotherhoods and 22,490 members,
and has besides a junior organization for j'oung people
in which there are 163 brotherhoods and 5400 mem-
bers, and is in a flourishing condition in every way.
It also publishes a weekly Greek Catholic newspaper
at Homestead, Pennsylvania — the "Amerikansky
Russky Viestnik (American Russian Messenger),
printed both in the Russian and the Slovak languages.
In Ruthenian politics it is the representative of the
ITgro-russki party. The second of these federations
is the "Russky Narodny Soyus " (Russian National
Union), which was founded in 1894 and is a Galician
offshoot from the preceding society. It is chiefly
composed of Galicians who are Ukrainians, and who
express themselves strongly against the Russian
Empire and the Orthodox C'hurch. It now has 249
brotherhoods and 12,700 members, and it likewise
publishes a weekly newspaper, the "Svoboda"
(Liberty), which is printed in New York City, in
"phonetic" Little Russian. The third of these
federations is the " Obshchestvo Russkikh Bratstv "
(Society of Russian Brotherhoods), which was
founded 1 July, 1900. It is composed almost wholly
of Galicians of the Moscophile party, and a small
minority of its membership is also made up of Ga-
licians who are either Greek Orthodox or of Ortho-
dox proclivities, for it is quite pro-Russian and
opposed to the Ukrainians. It has now 120 brother-
hoods and G530 members, and publishes its weekly
newspaper, Pravda (Truth) at 01_\-phant, Pennsyi-
vania, in the Ruthenian old-style spelling. There is
alsothe"RimskoaGrekoKatolickaJednota"(Roman
and Greek Catholic Union) of Pennsylvania, a Slavic
organization which has some 175 brotherhoods and
about 9000 members, and it is estimated that about
one-third of these are Greek Catholic. This fetleration
also publishes a weekly paper, "Bratstvo" (Brother-
hood) in the Slovenian language. Besides these pub-
lications there is also the " Dushpastyr " (The Pastor),
published in New York, which is exclusively a religious
periodical and devoted solely to the affairs of the
Greek Catholic Church in America. In it the oflieial
utterances of the Greek bishop are usually published.
There are also man}' other American Ruthenian
papers and periodicals which have nothing whatever
to do with church matters, but are devoted to labour
questions, national issues, and to Socialism. Unfor-
tunately, many of these publications, even the Catholic
ones, exhibit too much of a tendency to attack their
opponents in strong language and to belittle the
efforts of those not of their party, and their usefulness
for good is thereby lessened. From time to time
various religious works and a number of booklets on
church and national topics have been published in
Slovak and Ruthenian, and e\-ery year there are
issued a number of year-books or calendars containing
a variety of information and illustrations concerning
the Ruthenian Greek Catholics in America and
abroad.
The immigration of the Ruthenian Greek Catholics
