Mankovich/Petrick A place to link to the published books about the family and to exchange information.

“A Reflection by Nick Mankovich”

The following text was added as page 220 to the 2nd Edition Mankovich/Petrick book and is provided here for those who purchased the 1st Edition.

I recommend the short book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for insight into the Mankovich-Petrick psyche. The Roman Emperor, previously a priest at the sacrificial altars, wrote the book between 170-180 A.D. In reading it, I immedi-ately felt a resonance. Written in Greek by a Roman, the book likely was core reading in our forefathers’ classical education. The lesson’s tone felt exactly like the men of our family and their notion of “service.”

I also recommend the 1964 Ukrainian film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Sergei Parajanov, based on the book by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, which tells the romantic story of a small village in the Carpathian mountains of the Ukraine. Although highly symbolic, very 1960s, and sometimes violent, the film chronicles village life in the context of a mountain tribe, the Hutsuls of the Ukraine. It has been asserted that the Hutsuls are fundamentally Rusyns. Although a bit of a dull watch by 21st century movie standards, it contains many cultural touchpoints for Americans in the Rusyn tradition. As a film student in the early 1970s, I followed its subtitles reflexively until I suddenly heard our songs and prayers just as I knew them.

In researching the Mankovich/Petrick book, I learned that the ethnic Rusyn identity is a politically charged topic in today’s Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and especially, Ukraine. Those of us who are first- and second-generation Rusyn-Americans are likely far removed from this debate. However, many of us recognize a distinct difference in our attitudes, feelings, means of expression, and fundamental way of viewing the world that, I believe, can largely be attributed to our Rusyn priest family tradition.

Once we recognize its roots, we can come to an understanding of our rather unusual approach to the world in mainstream America.  Are we often perceived as overly loud, argumentative, confrontational, analytical, intellectual, or judgmental?

Perhaps. But as we strive for self-moderation and the indulgence of friends and colleagues, we are nonetheless happily Americanized, transplanted Rusyns–sons and daughters, granddaughters and grandsons, of priests.