thumb|256px|Rusínský folklórní soubor

'''Rusíni''' (rusínsky a ukrajinsky Русини; polsky ''Rusini'') jsou východoslovanským etnikem, které bývá považováno za samostatný Československa.

==Charakteristika==
Velmi zjednodušeně lze říci, že kulturně a jazykově představují přechod mezi Slováky a Ukrajinci s některými polskými rysy - např. Slováci je snadno mohou považovat za Ukrajince, Poláci za Ukrajince či Slováky apod. Vzhledem k neexistenci národního státu a do roku ukrajinštině než ruštině). Ve své knize ''Enciány s Popa Ivana'' (Praha 1933) cyrilici, má však některé odlišnosti oproti písmu používanému jak ruštinou, tak ukrajinštinou.

thumb|110px|Znak Rusínů a zároveň [[Zakarpatská oblast|Zakarpatské oblasti Ukrajiny]]

==Osídlení==
Rusíni žijí především na Podkarpatské Rusi (dnes součást Ukrajiny), kde tvoří významnou, ne-li převažující část obyvatelstva, jednak v sousedních státech - zejména na Slovensku, v Polsku (kde jsou označováni jako Lemkové, kolem 6 tisíc), v Maďarsku (kolem 2 tisíc) a Rumunsku (zhruba 250 protože se většina přihlásila k ukrajinské národnosti), ale vzhledem k rozsáhlé emigraci z ekonomických důvodů také v Severní Americe a v Jugoslávii (15,5 tisíc) . Na Slovensku žijí jednak v oblasti Svidníka (téměř souvislé území), jednak v enklávách (zejména příhraničních) v dalších částech východního Slovenska. Enklávy vznikly tím, že Rusíni po svém příchodu do této oblasti (někdy zhruba ve 14. století, většinou přicházeli z Haliče) osidlovali tehdy neosídlená místa ve vyšších polohách (v koncových částech horských údolí) při horských hřebenech často kopírujících hranice.

==Etnogeneze a „rusínská otázka“==
Na původ Rusínů existují různé názory. Předpokládá se, že moderní Rusíni pocházejí od slovanského kmene Bílých Chorvatů, kteří obývali území dnešní Zakarpatské oblasti Ukrajiny. Ovšem po mongolském vpádu toto území bylo prakticky vylidněno a tak maďarský král Polska. To vysvětluje fakt proč ukrajinštině. Prakticky do 20. století haličští a zakarpatští Rusíni se cítili jako jeden národ, tehdy u Rusínu převládal rusofilský názor, že Rusíni jsou součást „velikého ruského národa“. Ovšem v polovině 19. století v Haliči začali převládat ukrajinofilské tendence a tak postupně haličští Rusíni se stali součástí ukrajinského národa (poslední rusofilské organizace v Haliči byly zrušeny v SSSR) zatímco u špičkových zakarpatských politiků rusofilské tendence převládaly dokonce v 20. století – vyučování v podkarpatských školách se vedlo v ruštině, vydávaly se i noviny v ruštině. Ovšem pro jednoduché podkarpatské Rusíny tato tendence byla zcela cizí – ruština je dost odlišná od rusínštiny a tak na nižší úrovni začaly převládat buď ukrajinofilské tendence anebo názory, že Rusíni jsou osobitý národ. Konec diskusím položil příchod sovětské armády v 1944 a následné přičlenění Podkarpatské Rusi k Ukrajině – od té doby Rusíni byli považováni za součást ukrajinského národa, jak v SSSR, tak i v Československu a Polsku. Pád komunismu znovu vrátil problém do popředí – začaly diskuse o rusínské otázce. Zatímco na Ukrajině a v Rumunsku většina Rusínů se hlásí k ukrajinské národností, u polských a slovenských Rusínů (zhruba 2/3) převládá názor, že jsou osobitým rusínským národem. Otázka ovšem není tak jednoduchá – během sčítání obyvatelstva na Slovensku vznikaly zajímavé kombinace jako „Ukrajinec s rodným jazykem rusínským“ či „Slovák s rodným jazykem ukrajinským“ apod.

{{ethnic group|
| group   = Rusyns
| image   = 300px|<!--Do not use unfree artwork here--><div style="background-color:#fee8ab"><small><small> Fedor Vico • Oleksandr Dukhnovych • Michael Strank • Andy Warhol</small></small> 
| poptime  = 55,000 (est) associate themselves as having Rusyn ethnicity; Rusyn organisations claim approximately 2 million Rusyns
| region1 = 
| pop1   = cca 25,000 (not including Hutsuls)
| ref1   =
| region2  = 
| pop2   = 24,201
| ref2   = <ref>[http://www.statistics.sk/webdata/english/census2001/tab/tab3a.htm Permanently resident population by nationality and by regions and districts] - Population and Housing Census 2001, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic</ref> 
| region3  = 
| pop3   = 15,626
| ref3   = <ref></ref>
| region4  = 
| pop4   = 10,100
| ref4   = <ref name="ukraine">[http://ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/nationality/zakarpatia/ Про кількість та склад населення Закарпатської області<br>за підсумками Всеукраїнського перепису населення 2001 року]</ref>
| region5  = 
| pop5   = 2,337
| ref5   = 
| region6  = 
| pop6   = 5,800
| ref6   = (2002-03)<!--Bosnia and Herzegovina,--> <!--Canada,--> <!--Hungary,--> <!--Poland, not, see Demographics of Poland#Declared nationality .28Census 2002.29--> <!--Romania,--> <!--United States-->
| rels   = Eastern Catholic
| langs   = Rusyn, Ukrainian, Slovak, Russian
| related  = Other Slavic peoples, especially Ukrainians
}}
right|thumb|300px|Rusyn flag

'''Rusyns''' (also referred to as Русины, '''Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusyns,''' and '''Rusnaks''') are a Ukrainian to describe their ethnic identity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because many Ruthenians within Ukraine itself have adopted a Ukrainian ethnic identity<ref name="ukraine"/>, most contemporary Rusyns live outside Ukraine. Of the approximately 2 million people claimed by Rusyn organizations as being Rusyns, only 55,000 declare themselves as having this ethnicity. The ethnic identity of Rusyns is controversial, with some researchers claiming a separate East Slavic ethnicity distinct from Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, while others considering Rusyns to be a subgroup of the Ukrainian people. 

==Location==

As noted above, prior to the middle of the 19th century, Ukrainians were referred to and known as Rusyns. The ethnonym ''Ukrainian'' came into widespread use only in modern times, replacing the ethnonym Rusyn initially on the banks of the Dnieper and later in western Ukraine, where it was still used into the 1930s. Today only a minority group uses this ethnonym for self identification: primarily people living in the mountain areas of western Ukraine, namely Transcarpathia and bordering areas in Slovakia. Having not adopted the ethnonym Ukrainian, Rusyns all over the land of the old core of the Kyivan Rus state this ethnic group continues to use the ethnonym Rusyn, developing a local and separate Rusyn identity.

Contemporary Rusyns (those who identify themselves so today) have traditionally inhabited the area of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains and still inhabit those areas. Their homeland is often referred to as Carpathian Ruthenia, however, that area no longer directly corresponds with the area of Rusyn habitation. There are resettled Rusyn communities located in the Pannonian plain, parts of present day Serbia (particularly in Vojvodina – see also ''Ethnic groups of Vojvodina''), as well as in present-day Croatia (in the region of Slavonia). Rusyns also migrated and settled in the northern regions of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Many Rusyns emigrated to the United States and Canada, and are able to reconnect as a community with the advent of modern communications such as the internet. Concerns are being voiced regarding the preservation of their unique ethnic and cultural legacy.

==History==

Rusyns are an ethnic group that never attained independent statehood, except for the ephemeral Lemko-Rusyn Republic and Komancza Republic after World War I. The Republic named Carpatho-Ukraine which famously existed for only one day on March 15th, 1939 is sometimes mentioned erroneously as an example of a briefly self-determining Rusyn state before it was occupied by Hungarian troops. But, although located in the traditional Carpatho-Rusyn homeland, the Republic was a project overseen by Ukrainian nationalists, assisted by the Third Reich. The Republic's president, Avhustyn Voloshyn, was an advocate of writing in the Rusyn vernacular but was, nevertheless, a Ukrainophile. 

The Rusyns' fortunes have always rested in the hands of larger neighbouring powers, such as Ukrainian national movement that united Western Ukrainians with those from the rest of Ukraine, the Rusyn national movement takes two forms: one considers Rusyns as a separate East Slavic nation, while the other is based on the concept of fraternal unity with Russians. 

Most if not all of the Eastern Slavic inhabitants of present-day Western Ukraine referred to themselves as Rusyns (, translit. ''Rusyny'') prior to the nineteenth century, many of these people became active participants in the creation of the Ukrainian nation and came to call themselves Ukrainian: Українці, translit. ''Ukrayintsi''). There were, however, ethnic Rusyn enclaves which were not a part of this movement: those living on the border of the same territory or in more isolated regions, such as the people from Carpathian Ruthenia, self-identifying monikers, these isolated groups continued to refer to themselves as Rusyns even after the majority of their people had switched to a Ukrainian self-identification. In this sense, Rusyns are similar to other borderland ethnicities, and their national awakening can be viewed by some as a negation of Ukrainian nationalism. 

Some scholars consider the Lemko, Hutsul, Verkhovinetses (Verkhovyntsi, or Highlanders), and Dolinyanin (Haynal) ethnic groups to be Rusyn.  As with the rest of the inhabitants of present-day Western Ukraine in the 19th century and first part of the 20th century, some of these peoples referred to themselves as Rusyns. Some of these ethnic groups however, consider themselves to be separate ethnicities, while the almost part of them claim to be Ukrainians and still others identify themselves as Rusyns. According to a recent Ukrainian census,<ref>[http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001:<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> an overwhelming majority of Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls, Verkhovyntsi and Dolynians in Ukraine stated their nationality as Ukrainian. About 10,100 people, or 0.8%, of Ukraine's province) identified themselves as Rusyns; in contrast, 1,010,000 considered themselves Ukrainians.<ref name="ukraine"/> Research conducted by the University of Cambridge during the height of political Ruthenianism in the mid-1990s, that focused on five specific regions within Zakarpattian oblast with the strongest pro-Ruthenian cultural and political activism, found that only nine percent of the population claimed Rusyn ethnicity.<ref>[http://dev.eurac.edu:8085/mugs2/do/blob.pdf?type=pdf&serial=1036425198529 Political and Ethno-Cultural Aspects of the Rusyns’ problem: A Ukrainian Perspective] - by Natalya Belitser, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, Kyiv, Ukraine</ref> These numbers may change with the further acceptance of Rusyn identity and the Rusyn language in educational systems in the area, but most Ruthenians consider themselves Ukrainians.

The Rusyn national movement is much stronger among those Rusyn groups that became geographically separated from present-day Ukrainian territories, for example the Rusyn emigrants in the United States and Canada, as well as the Rusyns included within the borders of Slovakia. A census in the latter country in 2001 showed that 24,000 people considered themselves ethnically Rusyn while 11,000 considered themselves to be ethnically Ukrainians.<ref>[http://www.centroconsult.sk/Genealogy/census.html 2001 and 1991 Slovakian censuses]</ref> The Yugoslav census, both Ukrainians (Serbian: Украјинци, tr. ''Ukrajinci'') and Rusyns (Serbian: Русини, tr. ''Rusini'') in these areas were recorded collectively as "Ruthenes". ''Podkarpatskije Rusiny'' is considered the Rusyn "national anthem", ''Ja Rusyn byl jesm' i budu'' the national song.

In March 2007 Zakarpatian Regional Council [http://www.zakarpattya.net.ua/zol/loadnews.asp?id=6837&np=1] adopted decision which recognized Rusyns as a separate national minority on the regional level. By the same decision the Zakarpattian Regional Council applied to Ukrainian central authorities with the petition to recognize Rusyns as a ethnic minority at the state level.
 
Historically, the Polish and Hungarian states are considered to have contributed in the development of a Rusyn identity as a separate one from that of other Ruthenians. Rusyns were recorded as a separate nationality by the censuses taken in pre-WWII Poland (see Cezary Chlebowski's ''Wachlarz''), Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

==Religion==
230px|thumb|Carpatho-Rusyn sub-groups - [[Prešov area Lemkos (left side) and Przemyśl area Rusyns (Ukrainians) in traditional ethnic folk-costumes. Photo: Village Mokre near Sanok. 2007]]

When the Rusyns accepted Great Schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches in 1054. Many Rusyn churches are named after the Eastern Christian Cyril and Methodius, who are often referred to as the "Apostles to the Slavs." 

Historian Paul Robert Magocsi recorded that there were approximately 690,000 Carpatho-Rusyn church members in the United States, with 320,000 in the largest Byzantine rite Catholic affiliations, 270,000 in the largest Orthodox affiliations, and 100,000 in various Protestant and other denominations.<ref>''Our People: Carpatho-Rusyns and Their Descendants in North America'', 1994.</ref>

=== Eastern Catholics ===