A Brief Commentary on the Foundation Made by Theodore Koriatovych, Former Prince of Mukachevo, for the Ruthenian Religious Order of St. Basil the Great on Chernecha Hora near Mukachevo in the Year 1360. [Volume 2]

Volume two of the two-part work, sometimes considered to be the first Rusyn histography, published in 1804 by Joannicius Basilovits the uniate protohegumen (Abbot/Superior) of St. Nicholas Monastery on Monk’s Hill (Chernecha hora), who is correspondingly considered one of the first Rusyn historians. The “foundation” mentioned in the title, refers to a “donation” of land to the monks of what would become the Basilian Order at St. Nicholas Mukachevo Monastery, which Prince Fedor Koriatovych allegedly gave in a charter (before the Union of Uzhhorod) which is contested by historians to be a literary forgery, analogous for example to the “Donation of Constantine”. (See: Materials for the History of Hungarian Rus’. Vol. 3.) St. Nicholas Mukachevo Monastery on Monk’s Hill (which currently belongs to the Orthodox Church) is according to tradition one of the oldest holy sites in Transcarpathia, and as such, it lends a great deal of authority to whoever holds the monastery, and is thus contested between the original Orthodox owners, and the Uniates, who dominated Transcarpathia in the 17th century, and sought to make their claim seem more legitimate. Despite this however, the work is of incredible symbolic value to Rusyn history, and despite the title itself, the work is in fact a general histography of Subcarpathian Rus’.