Studium Ruthenum

Studium Ruthenum. A Greek Catholic seminary founded by Emperor Joseph II in Lviv in 1787 for the education of candidates to the priesthood who did not speak Latin. The language of instruction at the Studium Ruthenum was the literary Ruthenian language, popularly referred to as yazychiie. The Studium was affiliated with Lviv University, and its professors were adjunct professors of the university. The program of study duplicated that of the parallel Latin-language Studium Latinum: two years of philosophy followed by four or five years of theology. Students of both institutes were housed in the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv. The faculty at the Studium Ruthenum included Ivan Zemanchyk and Petro Lodii in the philosophy department and Mykhailo Harasevych, I. Mokhnatsky, Mykhailo Levytsky, I. Yavorsky, and Ivan V. Lavrivsky in the theology department. The Studium was always considered to be an interim institution created to provide access to education for Ukrainians until enough Ukrainian students were able to be integrated into mainstream Latin, German, and Polish institutions. By the beginning of the 19th century the Studium had outlived its usefulness, and between 1803 and 1809 it was gradually phased out. A total of 470 students were educated at the Studium.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]