Duty and Sovereignty is a book that takes a deep dive into some of the biggest questions within Rusyn society, such as duty to one's nation, intellectual freedom, and the importance of legacy. English: a.co/d/hdSDDol Rusyn: a.co/d/h2fC6wO
The era of building ethnocentric nation-states has long since passed. That was a flash point in time. It held sway in the late 18th through early 20th centuries. It's genesis more or less coincided with the industrial revolution, for reasons too involved to explain here, and drew to a close with the practical passing away of the parochial agrarian peasant way of life which is the source of ethnic culture and identity. This effort to build a nation state in 21st century Europe clings to outmoded ideas which were suitable only for a completely different era. The future is for pluralistic states. Ethnic culture cannot be frozen in time (nor has it ever been, as those who have more than a superficial understanding know). Did the Bulgarians shed their way of dressing for the Greek and Turkish? Certainly, but that has now contributed to the richness of Bulgarian music, song, dance, food and costume - which makes it unique in the world, and is universally recognized as Bulgarian. Had it not had those influences, it would likely be very different, though not necessarily better, and very likely poorer, than what the Bulgarians have inherited today. This is not to say that the minority culture of Rus within the West Slavic nations should die and be forgotten, no. But it has to find a way to preserve it's unique identity while integrating with the pluralistic states in which it lives and, at the same time, moving forward in the globally connected world in which we currently live. Trying to restart the process of building a nation-state as if it was 1823 instead of 2023 is just counterproductive.
Best wishes to my fellow Slavs, the people of Carpathian Rus, from an American descendant of Orthodox Christian ethnic Bulgarians from the region of Macedonia! ----------- /Some of the ethnic Bulgarians in Macedonia have been transformed/assimilated into "ethnic Macedonians," "ethnic Greeks" or "ethnic Serbians."/
It must be stressed that the Bulgarians have not really advanced much after the Revival period. Maybe we've even regressed, partly because of communism and partly because of our own indefference to national or ethnic affinity. We haven't created a method to shield ourselves from foreign influence since the 1989/1999 and our people, especially our youth, erode away.
