The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/The Religion of the Rusins
When the Rusins came to America, they brought with them, as a part of their racial heritage, the Greek Catholic church, into which their national life had been so interwoven as to make nationality and church one and inseparable.
Until their coming, this branch of the Christian church, which occupies so interesting and distinctive a position, had been unheard of in the United States, and now, when it has more than two hundred churches with 550,000 members, its position is still known and understood by but few, so quietly and unostentatiously has its work been done.
The Greek Catholic church is first of all an object lesson on the fact that Rome, inflexible as she seems, can compromise and has compromised. The Great Schism in 1054 split the Christian world into two parts, one of which looked to Constantinople as its head, the other to Rome, hence the terms Eastern church and Western Church; or from the language of the liturgy at that time, the Greek rite and the Latin rite. As a matter of usage, the term Orthodox has come to be applied to the Eastern church, Catholic to the Western.
Each has always been certain of the correctness of its own position and has sought to evangelize the other. The Greek Catholic church is the result of the only considerable success in this line which has ever been achieved by either. It was brought about by a compromise offered by Pope Clement VIII to the Orthodox dioceses of Galicia at the end of the 16th century. This compromise may be summarized broadly as having made the church Roman in doctrine, but left it Eastern in practice. The very name Greek Catholic indicates the combination of sources.
The terms of the compromise required acknowledgement of the supremacy of the Pope and acceptance of the filioque clause in the creed, but permitted the retention of the Eastern arrangement of the church with the great screen in front of the altar; the three-barred cross, the lowest bar oblique; the use of leavened bread in the mass; the communion in both kinds to the laity; the liturgy in the language of the people; the administration of confirmation by the priest immediately after baptism; the Eastern calendar; and the married clergy. On these terms the union took place, hence the term United Greek Catholics, or Uniates.
The Ukrainians of Galicia were the first people to accept these terms, and they were soon followed by their kinsmen on the other side of the Carpathians, Russians of Hungary. The movement thus started has had some success in almost every Orthodox country, so that there are now Greek Catholic Rumanians, Croatians, Lithuanians, Syrians, Copts, Armenians, Italians, and Greeks. Its strongest hold, however, is still among the race who were the first to adopt it, and who are variously known, according to location or to political nomenclature as Little Russians, Ruthenians, Russinians, Ukrainians, or Uhro-Rusins.
Greek Catholic emigration to the United States began on both sides of the Carpathians in 1879, and was directed to that insatiable field of employment, the Pennsylvania coal mines. In 1884 a group of these immigrants in Shenandoah, Pa. had become strong enough numerically and financially to form a church organization and to send for a priest of their own race and faith. But their joy in the achievement was soon submerged in dismay at the conflict in which they unexpectedly found themselves. For this priest had brought with him his wife, and the Roman Catholic clergy of the diocese, acting sincerely, but without understanding, fell upon him and his followers with a storm of denunciation. The stranger priest was not only deeply shocked at this reception, but utterly bewildered, as nothing in his past experience gave him any clue to what the fuss was about. An exchange of letters between the bishop of the local diocese and the archbishop of Lemberg, now become a cardinal, established his regularity and good standing as a priest, and he was able to enter upon his work without further opposition. The controversy had, however, a very unhappy effect upon the people, to whom it seemed a part of the same persecution which they had known on political grounds in the old country, and they said to each other, “We came here expecting to find freedom, but here, too, there is persecution.”
This first priest, Rev. Ivan Volanski, was a good organizer, and in 1886 he and his parishioners completed the building of a little frame church, the first Greek Catholic church in America. In the next five years, he organized churches in Hazelton, Wilkes Barre, Scranton, and Jersey City, besides visiting and administering to many small and scattered communities. Finding his parishioners without reading matter, he sent to Galicia for Russian type, and in 1886 commenced the publication of a small newspaper, which he magnanimously called “America.” In 1889 an assistant was sent him, shortly afterwards another was needed, and since 1890 the great increase in Ruthenian immigration has been accompanied by an equally rapid growth in the immigrant church.
St. John’s the Baptist Greek Cath. Church, Homestead, Pa.
At first these churches were under the Roman Catholic bishops, but this arrangement was very difficult for both parties. To the Ukrainian, the Roman church was inseparably associated with the hated Polish domination, even in this country the Roman Catholic bishops being often spoken of as the “Polish bishops”; to the Uhro-Rusin, the Roman church carried the curse of Magyar domination; while the bishops themselves found their difficulties greatly enhanced by the intrusion of this new and disturbing element, with their different rites and rights. It was therefore a source of mutual satisfaction when the Pope decided to appoint a Greek Catholic bishop for the United States. The Rev. Stephen Soter Ortynsky, a monk of the order of St. Basil, the only order in the Eastern church, was so appointed, and arrived in August, 1907. His status was defined upon his arrival, by an apostolic letter, Ea semper, which greatly limited his authority, leaving him without jurisdiction, and thus making him virtually an auxiliary to the Latin bishops. It prohibited the rite of confirmation by the priest, and decreed that no more married priests should be ordained here, nor should any more be brought here from abroad.
These restrictions were the occasion of great dissatisfaction, and about 10,000 members went over to the Orthodox church. Most of these, however, came back later, and bishop Ortynsky’s skillful handling of the difficult situation resulted in the creation in 1913 of the “Ruthenian Greek Catholic Diocese of the United States” in which he received full episcopal powers. This diocese includes all the Uhro-Rusin and Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the United States, and also the Magyar parishes which were in existence at that time. Greek Catholic parishes of other races, including Magyar parishes organized since 1912, are still under the Latin bishops.
Between the Uhro-Rusins and the Ukrainians there are numerous minor differences of custom, the most important of which is probably the variation in the use of the language; the Ukrainian using a reformed, phonetic spelling, while the Uhro-Rusins cling to the earlier etymological forms. Their sentiment may be appreciated by the English reader who pictures the English Bible as it would look if printed with the extreme reformed spelling used by a few enthusiasts like Andrew Carnegie. Lack of political sympathy between these two branches of the faith is also a cause of divergence, and as a consequence they organize separate churches whenever numbers permit. This is often confusing to the uninformed, as in Pittsburgh, where two Greek Catholic churches of St. John the Baptist stand within a block of each other. A neighboring storekeeper explained, “They are both Russian, but one is a deeper Russian than the other.” One is Rusin from Hungary, the other Ukrainian from Galicia.
The latest figures give 124 Uhro-Rusin and 100 Ukrainian parishes in the United States, with 500,000 communicants, of whom the Uhro-Rusins are more than half. Bishop Ortynsky died in 1916 and his successor has not yet been appointed. It is possible that the diocese may be divided and pending the appointment of a bishop diocesan affairs are divided between the Rev. Gabriel Martyak, administrator for the Uhro-Rusins, and the Rev. Peter Poniatishin, administrator for the Ukrainians. The distribution of these churches in the United States is as follows:
| State | Uhro-Rusin | Ukrainian |
| Massachusetts | 3 | |
| Connecticut | 2 | 5 |
| New Hampshire | 1 | |
| Rhode Island | 1 | |
| New York | 10 | 15 |
| New Jersey | 8 | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 78 | 44 |
| Maryland | 3 | |
| Ohio | 15 | 2 |
| Delaware | 1 | |
| Indiana | 2 | |
| Michigan | 1 | 3 |
| Illinois | 4 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 1 | 3 |
| Virginia | 1 | |
| Minnesota | 1 | 1 |
| Missouri | 3 | |
| North Dakota | 3 | |
| Colorado | 2 | |
| Montana | 1 |
Many of these churches are fine handsome buildings of the Byzantine style of architecture, conspicuous with their bulbous domes and three-barred crosses. Their interiors follow the Eastern arrangement with slight variations. Pews are provided and the characteristic banners are scattered through the church, supported above the pews by high standards. Because these churches are built by congregations of immigrants who came here poor and who give of their earnings, it is seldom that one is completely furnished at its building. Decoration and equipment are added from year to year, and each addition to the furnishing of the church is an occasion of celebration. The iconastasis, which takes the place of the chancel rail in the Western church, is the most expensive part of the furnishing, costing, when properly constructed and decorated, from $3,000 to $10,000 according to the size of the church, and it is therefore usually the final achievement. The minor furnishings, such as crosses and reading desk, are often Hucul mosaics.
The services of the Greek Catholic church are practically identical with those of the 
The “Ikonostaz” of St. John’s Greek Cath. Church, Homestead, Pa. Russian Orthodox church, the Old Slavonic being the church language. Anointing with oil is a feature of the service on great feast days, as is also the distribution to non-communicants of the antidoron, or blessed bread, in memory of the agape or primitive lovefeast. For this purpose five small loaves are blessed at vespers, symbolizing the five loaves which Jesus blessed and with which he fed five thousand people. The services, when well rendered, are very beautiful and impressive. No musical instrument is permitted, but the service is entirely choral and antiphonal throughout, the people being trained to their part from earliest childhood. In some churches the whole congregation takes part in a wonderfully effective unison, in others a trained choir sings the service. The cantor, or musical director, occupies a position of considerable importance, leading the congregation’s part in the service, and also teaching the children, to whom he usually gives instruction two hours a day. A thorough musical training is included in preparation for the priesthood, and many of the clergy are accomplished musicians and actively promote the musical organizations which are so large a part of the Slav’s cultural contribution to America. The congregations are most devoted and devout. Rapidly as churches have been built, they are still always crowded, and it is no uncommon thing, even on a winter Sunday, to see kneeling on the steps of the church and there following the service, worshippers who could not get even standing room inside.
The clergy include many men of the finest calibre. In the old country they were almost the only educated class and they were the medium through whom the national tradition and ideals were passed on. Many have come to America because of political persecution, which is in itself a certificate of quality, since it is always the able man who is persecuted. In this country they are most unfortunately situated. Among their congregations of uneducated working people, they have no intellectual companionship; they are regarded with coldness, if not with actual hostility, by the Roman Catholic clergy; their acknowledgement of the Pope is a barrier between them and the Protestant communions; and they are constantly on the defensive against the active rivalry of the Russian Orthodox church. Probably no lonelier men live in America to-day than the Greek Catholic clergy.
The gulf which exists between them and the Roman Catholics has its cause in those characteristics which they have in common with Protestants and Eastern Orthodox, namely the married clergy and the use of the vernacular in the services of the church. The married priest is an offense to the Roman Catholic celibate who has no adequate explanation of this apparent lack of consistency on the part of the Holy See; the priest’s children are refused admission to Roman Catholic secondary schools, because of the occupation of their father! A priest whose portrait was published in a group with his five fine sons in Uncle Sam’s uniform, was severely censured for permitting such publicity to the fact that priests have sons.
It was decreed in 1907 that no married men should be ordained here, nor should any more come here from abroad. The success of the decree may be judged from the fact that of the present clergy list of 162, there are 111 married priests, 17 are widowers, and 33 celibates, of whom 10 are monks of the order of St. Basil. This is by no means a personal matter only with the clergy. The people are as much in favor of a married clergy as are most Protestants, and the first question of a new appointee is often “Are you married? If not, we don’t want you.” Besides, it is felt that the attempt to enforce celibacy is an encroachment upon their rights as defined in the terms of union, and that to yield anything of those rights would be to establish a dangerous precedent.
The language of the liturgy is a question not so much of the present as of the future. The terms of union permit the use of the language of the people, of which the Old Slavonic was the accepted church form among the Slavs. The Rumanian Greek Catholics use the Rumanian language in their services, the Magyars changed in 1917 to the Magyar language, and the leaders of the Greek Catholics in the United States look forward to the time when English, being the language of the congregation, will become the language of the church also. To this end prayerbooks, catechism and books of instruction in English are being prepared. At present they are usually printed with one page in English and the opposite in the Slavonic, although some of the young people already use prayerbooks entirely in English.
The courage, the devotion to a cause, the persistence,the self-sacrifice, the indomitable tenacity of the American Greek Catholics, are all qualities which older Americans, must admire. When fully understood, they will certainly lead to general recognition and appreciation.
Rusin Greek Cath. Church, Brownsville, Pa.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1920, before the cutoff of January 1, 1930.
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