First Subcarpathian Episode of Ruthenian Alphabet War in 1873–1874

In December 1873, the Hungarian Ministry of Religion and Education called the Greek Catholic bishops of Mukachevo and Prešov to view their opinion on the possibility of abolishment of the Cyrillic and adoption of Latin alphabet in Hungarian transcription for Ruthenian language. The bishop of Prešov decided to assign the task to canon Aleksandr Roikovych whereas in Mukachevo eparchy a scientific commission prepared the document. The Karpat newspaper edited by Mykola Homichkov in Uzhhorod became a platform for the Greek Catholic priesthood to express their opposition to ministry’s request and call for preservation of the old script. The following contribution aims to analyse the official responses from both eparchies in order to examine the symbolic meaning of Cyrillic alphabet for Ruthenian culture in Carpathian Ruthenia.