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Here is some more information I found on line:

MODERN DAY HERO
CARPATHO-UKRAINIAN BISHOP
PAVLO PETRO GOJDICH, OSBM, BEATIFIED
Victim of Communist Persecution, Slovak Forced Ethnic Assimilation and
Russian Orthodox Expansionism

By Vladyka Michael J. Champion, DD., MA Th.


VATICAN CITY: (some news text thanks to Zenit.org) - John Paul II beatified two women and six men on November 4, 2001, presenting them as examples of life to a world gripped by fear and violence.

Among the new blessed are two martyrs of the Communist persecution, in Carpatho-Ukrainian eparchies located in what is the present day Slovak republic: Bishop Pavlo Petro Gojdich (1888-1960), Ordinary of the Eparchy of Prjashiv and Redemptorist Father Metod Dominik Trcka (1886-1959).

Towards the end of his life, Bishop Gojdich was also Apostolic Administrator of the Mukachevo Eparchy in the Transcarpathian Oblast of Western Ukraine, after the martyrdom of the Bishop of Mukachevo, Fedir Romzha.

The Greek-Catholic community of the Prjashiv Eparchy, incorporated in the state of Czechoslovakia after World War II, headed by Bishop Gojdich, was forced to become part of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1948 when the Communists came to power.

On April 28, 1950, the regime denied the Greek Catholic Church the right to exist, and Bishop Gojdich was tried for high treason and given a life sentence.

The bishop died in the Leopoldov prison in 1960. Father Trcka also experienced the slow martyrdom of prison, having been accused by the regime of collaborating with the Bishop Gojdich.

"United in generous and courageous service to the Greek-Catholic Church . . . , they experienced the same sufferings because of fidelity to the Gospel and Peter's Successor, and now they share the same crown of glory," the Pope said during the homily.

Ordained a priest on August 27, 1911, Bishop Gojdich was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of Prjashiv (Presov) on September 14, 1926, professed final vows in the Basilian Order on November 28, 1926, assumed the government of the eparchy on February 20, 1927 and was consecrated titular bishop of Harpasa in Rome, on March 25, 1927. However, on July 17, 1940, he was confirmed by the Holy See as the Ordinary of Prjashiv.

From 1947 on, Bishop Gojdich was assisted by his untiring and also heavily persecuted auxiliary, Bishop Vasylij Hopko, STD.

The Eparchy of Prjashiv was canonically established by the Holy See on September 22, 1818, from territory of the Eparchy of Mukachevo.

Bishop Gojdich's heroic virtues include his loyalty to his church and Gospel values, and also his firm resolve to defend the "Ruthenian" (Carpatho-Ukrainian/Rusyn) identity of many of his faithful, who endured and still endure fierce attempts at Slovakization. Slovak circles tired forbid the use of cultural tools such as the Cyrillic Alphabet and the Rusyn dialect of Ukrainian, as well as Church Slavonic in the Divine Liturgy. Bishop Gojdich, always the "Good Shepherd" promptly defended his flock before the government authorities.

The Bishop of the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Ukraine, Bishop Fedir (Theodore) Romzha, was beatified by John Paul II during his June 2001 visit to Ukraine.

It is interesting to note that there were many particulars of ecclesiastical life in the former communist countries that most everyone in the West were unaware of until recent times, including, as has been discovered, the fact that Bishop Gojdich was appointed to the position of Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Mukachevo.

Many in the United States, of Ukrainian and/or Ruthenian descent, have followed the plight of our martyred bishops with great devotion, over the decades in which our church was liquidated by the communist yoke. After the dissolution of the Mukachevo Eparchy, the faithful there were left without an official episcopal shepherd, due to the execution of Bishop Romzha. Not known to many in the free world until near the end of the last century, Bishop Olexander Chira, the Vicar General of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, was secretly consecrated by Bishop Romzha before the latter's martyrdom. Unfortunately, Bishop Chira was also persecuted and exiled to Karahanda, Kazakhstan, where he functioned as a priest, serving both Ukrainian and Latin Rite faithful. It is interesting to discover that Bishop Gojdich was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Mukachevo, in the wake of the martyrdom and deportation of the Uzhorod/Mukachevo hierarchy.


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The effort at Slovakization of the Carpatho-Ukrainian people is an attempt at forced cultural assimilation, a subdued and less violent type of "ethnic cleansing" with the goal of eliminating the millennium-old identity from the consciousness of the people who descend from the culture of Rus' and which today is embodied in the Ukrainian nation.
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The church in present day Slovakia, while heavily persecuted after World War II, fared slightly better than that of the Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine and also in Galicia, in that the church was allowed to function to an extent, after the Prague Spring of 1968. Bishop Hopko, however, the auxiliary to Bishop Gojdich, released from prison and initially under house arrest, was never allowed to assume the role of Ordinary of the Prjashiv Eparchy, and the administration was given over to the present Bishop of Presov, Jan Hirka, who followed a more Slovakized platform for the church. The role of the Holy See in these decisions was certainly not without attention to the political situations of the time.

It is important to also take notice of the issue of Slovakization of the Carpatho-Ukrainian faithful in the region of Slovakia. There are many who are of the school of thought which ascribes to the fact that the Ruthenian population in the Presov region are of a different culture and spiritual heritage than those Slovaks of the Latin Rite. In both language and ritual tradition, the Greek Catholics and Orthodox in modern Slovakia are by heritage, Rusyns (or Carpatho-Ukrainians) with linguistic similarities more to an older usage of what is today Ukrainian, and a common religious recension with those in Subcarpathian Rus' and Galicia in Western Ukraine, rather than with those faithful who are ethnically Slovak and are members of the Latin Rite.

Harvard professor and one of the foremost contemporary Ukrainian historians, Paul R. Magocsi writes, "The Carpatho Rusyns (also known as Carpatho-Ruthenians or Carpatho-Ukrainians) had, like the Slovaks, lived for almost a millennium in the Carpathian mountain region of northern Hungry . . . Unlike the Czechs and Slovaks, who were western-oriented Roman Catholics or Protestants, the Carpatho-Rusyns were eastern Christians."

Although around the time of the First World War, prospects seemed good for the future of an independently governed state of Carpatho-Ukraine, within the borders of the newly-created Czechoslovakia, under the leadership of Carpatho-Ukrainian patriot, Msgr. Avgustyn Voloshyn, these hopes dimmed after World War II, with the rise of the Slovak-Communist party, which had the support of the Soviet Union and the Moscow Patriarchate. Sadly, by our day, many of the faithful in the Presov area and throughout modern Slovakia, have become integrated into the Slovak culture and language of the surrounding region, and the use of the spoken Rusyn-Ukrainian language and Church Slavonic liturgical celebrations are becoming rare. This is the end result of what many have tried to impose for over a half-century. It It is an attempt at forced cultural assimilation, a subdued and less violent type of "ethnic cleansing" with the goal of eliminating the millennium-old identity from the consciousness of the people who descend from the culture of Rus' and which today is embodied in the Ukrainian nation.

This effort also has also had the negative effect of isolating in a certain sense, the relatives of these people in the US and throughout the Diaspora from the modern day population in their ancestral lands. The "memory" of the majority of these descendants in the immigration is of the Rusyn-Ukrainian dialect and Church Slavonic liturgies, not of the Slovak identity and liturgical usage that is being imposed on Carpatho-Ukrainians in Slovakia today. It is also unfortunate that some jurisdictions in the United States today, including Orthodox dioceses, have attempted to further the "Slovak" identity among their faithful, who until more recently were identified as Carpatho-Rusnys, Lemkos, Galicians or Ukrainians. This has occured through excessive use of the term "Slovak" and relationships with churches in modern-day Slovakia, originating from the Russian Orthodox expansion in the territory during the communist era. These churches promote the "Slovak" identity among their people, who can not possibly be actual ethnic Slovaks, because of, among other things, their various Carpatho-Rusyn linguistic dialects of Ukrainian, which are much different from the Slovak language, and their religious affiliation as Eastern Rite Christians.


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The Russian Orthodox hierarchy's cooperation with the atheistic regime was nothing more than "religious terrorism" of its day, which trampled upon the rights of many people of Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox faith, and brought about the persecution and death of many clergy and laity.
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While enculturation is a process that naturally occurs in some places, it is sad to see the disappearance of a legitimate cultural identity, of which many in the US are descended. Although not everyone will agree with this school of thought, it is a real one, and one which our people have struggled to preserve for a long time. One might think why members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are so quick to defend the struggle of Greek Catholics, but our common experience is in many minds, a true experiment in ecumenism, where it lives and breathes and rises out of the darkness of persecution into a new and vibrant community.

There are people throughout the Diaspora, who follow the situation of relatives in Eastern Europe, and who see the common identity of our people, who today call themselves both Ukrainians and Ruthenians (Rusyns). The church in this region, both Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox, shared a common persecution and attempts at liquidation of their churches, from the Soviet authorities and the cooperation they received from the leaders and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. We have both a common heritage in the Christianity of the ancient Land of Rus', inspired by the evangelical efforts of Grand Prince-Saint Volodymyr the Great, and a common experience of the barbarous efforts of Soviet expansionism and the assistance received in this goal from the Russian Orthodox, who saw in this situation the chance to further their own concerns and to become part of the "Soviet solution" to the world as they knew it. Their (the Russian Orthodox hierarchy's) cooperation with the atheistic regime was nothing more than "religious terrorism" of its day, which trampled upon the rights of many people of Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox faith, and brought about the persecution and death of many clergy and laity.

Below, are excerpts from the writings of Fr. Athanasius Pekar, OSBM, a highly respected Ukrainian historian, highlighting the struggle of the mid-twentieth century Prjashiv bishops to preserve their people's natural cultural identity in the face of a Slovakization that has virtually come to pass in our day. They were among the last religious leaders in that Eparchy to fight for the legitimate cultural heritage of their faithful.
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The following paragraphs point out some of Bishop Gojdich's evangelical virtues, as expressed through his defense of his flock both spiritual and culturally. During the era of his episcopacy, Bishop Gojdich was faced with a many-faceted campaign against Carpatho-Ukrainians, brought on by the Slovak government with the cooperation of some members of the clergy who wished to elevate themselves in the eyes of the authorities of the day. Father Pekar emphasizes the dedication of Bishop Gojdich to the preservation of his people's true Carpatho-Ukrainian (Rusyn) cultural identity in the face of Slovak attempts to converge all ethnic groups under the Slovak banner:

Vatican circles were alerted to the fact that the Slovak government intended to use the Greek Catholic Church as a vehicle of Slovakization in Eastern Slovakia. To maintain a national balance in the eparchy, Pope Pius XII, therefore, decided to appoint Bishop Hopko, who shared the national policy of Bishop Gojdich. Bishop Gojdich explained: "Other nationalities (Slovaks - A. Pekar) have their own government officials, political parties and their national representatives in Parliament. But the major part of my faithful (Ruthenians - A.P.) have no one to defend their national and cultural rights. Consequently, when my own people, in confidence, turn to me for help, I cannot turn them down, I must at least try to help them, even though later I will suffer for it." (cf. Bishop's Jubilee Book, 1947, p. 51-25).

Seeing the systematic Slovakization of the Ruthenian people, Bishop Gojdich also appealed to the national conscience of his clergy, saying: "Open widely your priestly hearts and extend your love to our despised Ruthenian people, who deserve a much better fate. Being surrounded on all sides by their (national - A.P.) foes, they find themselves in constant danger of losing not only their souls but also their own national identity. We (the clergy - A.P.) are the leaders, placed by Almighty God to lead our people. It is our vocation and our duty to help them. We will be held responsible before God and before history for both their religious and national future!" (cf. A. Pekar, Bishop Paul P. Gojdich, OSBM, Pittsburgh, PA 1968, p. 24-25).


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Metropolitan Stephan's Assessment:

The above article was written by Archbishop Michael, who has composed many texts concerning Orthodoxy, Ukrainian history and theology. His writing has been, in many cases, included in several seminaries, as part of the curriculum and he has spoken at many leading universities. A theologian in his own right, Vladyka Michael is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and St. Mary Seminary & Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland, OH. He is presently working on a doctorate in theology and lectures at colleges, universities and seminaries. He is very well respected by many in the academic community and is in the process of publishing his works. Being one of the highest educated bishops within the Orthodox Church, Vladyka Michael is available to lecture and/or speak to groups. Contact the chancery office for more information.

Sincerely,

+METROPOLITAN STEPHAN
Primate
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of North & South America - Sobornopravna


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Ukrainian Page.

The late Orestes Koman, a Byzantine Catholic priest who served many paishes in the USA and who was a married priest who was born and raised in the Rusyn village of Kamjunka (Saros Co., Austria-Hungary, now located in the Rusyn-inhabited region of eastern Slovakia) used to write a column for the Greek Catholic Union Messenger called "Po Nashemu" or the English version called "As I Remember It". He wrote the following article on the subject of the Slovakization of the Greek Catholic Church and the Prjashev Eparchy (from the BCW reprint dated March 10, 1985):

"We recieved news that in the Prjashev Eparchy the people are not Ruthenians or Rusnaks anymore but everybody is now considered to be Slovak. Our two last bishops, Bishop Daniel Ivancho and Bishop Nicholas T. Elko, stated that their faithful, 90% were Rusnaks, Ruthenians and not Slovaks. They (i.e. Rusyns living in the Prjashev Region) are the descendants of old Ruthenian settlers who came over centuries ago and settled under the Carpathian Hills and around the Topla, Ondava, Laborec and Ung rivers which watered their fields providing grass and hay for their cattle and running water for the busy housewives who did their laundry in the rivers keeping their families and houses clean.

So it was in the old times but now the government (c. 1986) persuaded even the church leaders (then Fr. Jan Hirka, Administrator of the Prjashev Eparchy)to make Slovakia one nation indivisible, taking the same language (Slovak) and using the church services that language (Slovak) the school is now teaching for the new generation. Now isn't this rather peculiar and interesting?

Under the old regime (the Austro-Hungarian Empire) we (Rusyns) could keep our ethnic identity but now in Slovakia, which after all recognizes the Slav Apostles, Cyril and Methodius, the Slav inheritance and tradition and Old Slavonic liturgical language and Old Slavonic liturgy should be forgotten?

In this country (USA) our parishes were founded on the old Slav heritage and from one small Eparchy we grew into a large Metropolia with four Eparchies from coast to coast and we are called The Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan Province. The American government never interferes with our religion giving equal recognition and assisatnce to all religious groups. Our ethnic (Rusyn) traditions and cultural customs we freely exercise as do other ethnic groups (in the USA).

Why is it so urgent that in the old country (eastern Slovakia) our (Rusyn) ancestors should be forgotten and our ancestral origin liquidated? Why couldn't our (Rusyn) people sing the Liturgy in the Old Slavonic language in a Slav country (Slovakia)? Our liturgical services, in beauty and composition, have no rivals, the people understand it and love it from their childhood. Is it then really wise and meritorious to bring about such a devasting change? Slovakia should be proud of having among the inhabitants a faithful group of people (Rusyns) who have the oldest religious historical heritage in Europe composed and introduced by the very Apostles who introduced the Slav people into the Catholic Church.

It seems to me that in Slovakia our Church (i.e. Greek Catholic Church) should be left the way it was kept for a thousand years. We are under the patronage of the Slav Apostles and our way of salvation is in very good hands."

(excerpt from Fr. Orestes Koman's "As I Remember It" column that was reprinted in the Byzantine Catholic World paper dated Sunday, March 10,1986)

Ungcsertezs

...

Is it too late to bring back the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Oh, and I think that the above Ukrainian-oriented writings of Bishop Michael Champion need to be taken in context. The author is of a Rusyn Greek Catholic background and became a bishop in an American UAOC jurisdiction; I think he is trying to establish a precedent for both being in the UAOC and continuing to be "old-school Greek Catholic" in his practice.

Dave

Chtec,

You might be a Rusyn when: (ala Jeff Foxforthy)

-you constantly complaint.

-you constanstly yearn for the "good ol' days".

-you resist all kinds of change.

-you are suspicious of anyone who isn't "our kind".

-you keep saying (and this goes back to the old Haungarian days)"things will get better when Prince Rakoczi returns"!

-etc., etc.

Ungcsertezs (Bring back the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy!) :p

If you think "variety" means alternating between pirohi and halushki, you just might be a Rusnak.

Dave

Here is a study you may want to read if you can get your hands on a copy. The author seems to think they are either a distinct slavic group or a branch of the larger Ukrainian group - but not Slovak.

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Taras Kuzio, Rusyns in Ukraine: Between Fact and Fiction
From: Taras Kuzio <tkuzio@gwu.edu> ^
Taras Kuzio, 'Rusyns in Ukraine: Between Fact and Fiction',
Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism ,
vol.32, nos.1-2 (2005).

The Rusyn Question in Ukraine: Sorting out facts from fiction

For full article, email Taras Kuzio, tkuzio@gwu.edu
The Rusyn minority lives in four countries--Poland, Slovakia, former Yugoslavia, and Ukraine. Rusyns are either considered to be a fourth eastern Slavic people or a branch of the Ukrainian nation.
This article deals only with the Rusyn question in the Trans-Carpathian region of Ukraine. Since the disintegration of the USSR and the creation of an independent Ukraine in 1991-1992, Rusyn groups have appeared in Trans-Carpathia. To what degree this Rusyn reorientation has widespread public support is a major focus of this article.

Western Studies of Trans-Carpathia and Rusyns

The few studies that have been published of Rusyns in Ukraine are by emigre groups, which are either biased from a pro-Ukrainian or a pro- Rusyn point of view. The single largely objective Ukrainian study which is devoid of emotion in either a pro-Ukrainian or pro-Rusyn connotation was made possible only by a grant from a German foundation. Reports in the Western media merely scratch the surface and tend to be biased towards 1 the Rusyn viewpoint. Commentaries in the central Ukrainian media, on the other hand, go in the other direction, and are usually written by nationalists masquerading as scholars. Think tanks, such as the European Centre for Minority Issues, have also dealt with the issue, but these have been within the overall context of Ukraine's policies towards its national minorities. Surprisingly, not a single Western academic study has been undertaken of Trans-Carpathia using survey results or opinion polls. Within political science in North America the use of such quantitative data is central to the study of attitudes, feelings, orientations, and views. Surveys and polls on Ukrainian issues have been used extensively in all areas of csontemporary Ukrainian studies, especially on issues of national identity. These surveys and their follow-up academic studies have ignored Rusyns....

I.F.

Dave,

-If you have Garlic (chesnok) hanging around your house, you might be a Rusnak.

-If you use the words "court-case" and "parish trustee" when you converse w/parishioners and your parish priest every Sunday, you might be a Rusnak.

If you start growing a somewhat "handle-bar" moustache like Emperor Franz Joseph, you might be a Rusnak.

Dave, I actually have a family photo showing both my Pra-Dido Michal Knap(from Matovce, Saros Co.) and my Dido Michal Koshuta (from UngCsertezs) both sporting Austro-Hungarian style moustaches, the only photo of my Dido with facial hair, pretty cool! It was taken at a studio in Windber in 1918. Both my father (2 yrs. old)and my Teta Marra (Mary) were also in the photo, along with my Baba. It was the first family photo taken. I think it is the only picture that shows my Baba with a smile, as if she was saying I can relax a little bit!

Have a good Turkey Day!

Ungcsertezs