et,J. (B. P.)
Russuiaks (also Russixe and Ruthkni), the name of a variety of peoples who form a branch of the great Slavic race, and are sharply distinguished from the Muscovites, or Russians proper, by their language and the entire character of their life. They are divided into the Russniaks of Galicia, North Hungary, Podolia, Volhynia, and Lithuania, and are estimated by Schafa- rik at 13,000,000. They are almost all agriculturists, and, on the whole, rather uncultivated. Before the 17th century they were a free race, but were then subjugated, partly by the Lithuanians, partly by the Poles, and for a long time belonged to the Polish kingdom. Their language has consequently become closely assimilated to the Polish. \\\ earlier times it was a written speech with quite distinctive characteristics, as may be seen from the translation of the Bible published at Ostrog in 1581, and from various statutes and other literary monuments still extant. Recently, printing in the Russniak tongue has been recommenced. The Russni- aks belong, for the most part, to the United Greek Church, but in part also to the Non-united. They pre- serve many old customs peculiar to themselves, and much folk-lore, prose and poetic, verv like that current in Poland and Servia. This has been collected bj' Vaclav in his Piesni Polskie i Ruskie (Lemberg, 1833). Levicki has published a Grammatik der russinischen Sprache fur Deutsche (Przemysl, 1833). — Chambers s Encyclop. s. v.
Russo- Greek Church is the community of Christians subject to the emperor of Russia, using the Slavonic liturgy and following the Russian rite. See Gkeek Church.
1. Oriijin. — The early history of the Russian Church is involved in much obscurity; but that Christianity was introduced into Russia previous to the middle of the 9th century must be inferred from a letter of Pho- tius (8G6) in which he says that the people called Rus- sians had forsaken idolatr\% received Christianity, and allowed a bishop to be placed over them {Ejristoke, ed. Montacaut, p. 58). Its diffusion, however, was very lim- ited. The princess Olga was baptized about the mid- dle of the 10th century, but by no means succeeded in winning over her son Swiitoslav and her people to Christianity. Nor was it till the alliance of Vladimir with the court of Byzantium by his marriage with Anne, sister of the emperor Basil H, and his baptism in 988 (when he took the name of Wassily, or Basil), that the foundation of (Jhristianity can be said to have been regularly laid in Russia. He issued an edict for the destruction of idols and idol temples throughout his dominions; and his subjects were commanded to re- ceive baptism, which they did in very large numbers. Churches were built in all directions, the first of them being dedicated by Vladimir himself. Yaroslav, the next Russian monarch, l)uilt convents wliich he tilled with Greek scholars and artists, and many works were translated from Greek into the Slavonic dialects.
2. Government. — At first the Russian Church was un- der the jurisdiction of Rome, and it seems that as late as the Coinicil of Florence (1439) the adherents of the Roman Clmrch tliroughout Russia were as numerous
as those of the Greek party. Its complete separation from Rome was effected by an archbishop of Kief, named Photius, in the latter part of the same century. For more than a century it continued directlj'^ subject to the patriarch of Constantinople; but in 1588 the pa- triarch Jeremias, being in Russia, held a synod of the Russian bishops and erected the see of Moscow into a patriarchate with jurisdiction over the entire territorj'. He was also induced in 1589 to consecrate Job, arch- bishop of Rostow, the first patriarch. This action was afterwards confirmed by a synod held at Constantino- ple ; but, as their junior, the patriarch of Moscow rank- ed after the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusa- lem, and Constantinople. This subordination was ac- quiesced in until the reign of Alexis Michaelowitz, when the patriarch of JIoscow, Nikon, refused to ac- knowledge it further. When Peter the (ireat became ruler, he saw that his government was, in fact, divided with the clergy and the patriarch, tfpon the death of Adrian, in 1700, when the bishops were assembled to choose his successor, Peter entered and broke up the meeting, declaring himself patriarch of the Russian Church. To wean the clergy by degrees from their established rights, he kept the office open for upwards of twenty years, and abolished it in 1721. The per- manent administration of Church affairs was placed un- der the direction of a council, called the " Holy Sjm- od," or '• Permanent Synod," consisting of archbishop, bishops, and archimandrites, all named by the em- peror.
3. Constitution. — Under the direction of this council, a series of official acts and formularies, and catechetical, doctrinal, and disciplinary treatises, was drawn up, by which the whole scheme of the doctrine, discipline, and Church government of the Russian Church was settled in detail, and to which all the clergy, officials, and dig- nitaries are required to subscribe. The leading princi- ple of this constitution is the alisolute supremacy of the czar, and it has been maintained in substance to the present time. The Holy Synod is considered as one of the great departments of the government, the minister of public worship being ex officio a member. This code was enacted in 1551 and received the name of Stoglav, or a hundred chapters.