i88 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



they created for them churches, schools, and a branch of their 

 native literature upon American soil, and gradually brought 

 them into touch with the people around them. In this they 

 were seconded by many educated laymen who also followed 

 their countrymen, and the result has been that the Greek 

 Rite has now been established in the United States much more 

 solidly and with greater virility than it is in many of the dio- 

 ceses in south-eastern Europe, Other races and nationalities 

 have also established themselves besides the Slavs ; and there 

 are in America also the Rumanians, the Syrians and the Ital- 

 ians who follow the Greek Rite. But the people who have 

 been foremost and most enthusiastic in the support of and de- 

 votion to their Oriental Rite are the so-called Ruthenians, a 

 name used to designate the Ruthenians proper and also those 

 Slovaks who are their immediate neighbors. In order to un- 

 derstand fully their position and relations in America, some of 

 their history and peculiarities should be given. 



I. — RuTHENiAN Greek Catholics 



The word Ruthenian is derived from the later Latin Ru- 

 thenia, the former name for Russia, and of course the Ruthe- 

 nians might well be called Russians. Indeed, the present Ru- 

 thenians declare that they are the original Russians, and that 

 the present Russia and Russians owe their name and nation to 

 the accident of successful conquest and assimilation. Their 

 own name for themselves is Rusini, and it is probable that Ru- 

 thenian was merely an attempt to put this word into Latin. 

 The word Rutheni is first found in the writings of the Polish 

 annalist, Martinus Gallus (1190), and the Danish historian, 

 Saxo Grammaticus (1203). The original word Rusini is de- 

 rived from Rus, the abstract word for Russian fatherland or 

 dwelling-place of the Slavic people ; and the English word 

 "Russian" may therefore be a derivative from the word 

 Rus, as denominating the race, or it may mean a subject of 

 the Russian Empire. The former is russky, the latter rossiisky, 

 in the Russian and Ruthenian languages, and hence, while the 

 first word is translated either as Russian or Ruthenian, it car- 

 ries no special reference to the Russian Empire. These people 

 are also called "Little Russians" (an expression chiefly used 



