Alexander Duchnovich

Alexander Duchnovich was a Ruthenian national revivalist, writer, educator and Greek Catholic priest, who was born in the family of a Greek Catholic priest on 24 April 1803. He graduated from the gymnasium in Uzhhorod. He studied philosophy in Košice and theology in Uzhhorod. In 1830-1834 he was a teacher in Uzhhorod, a parish priest in the villages of Komlóš (today Chmeľová), Chmeľov, Beloveža. He lived in Belovezha for four years and was sent there by Bishop Gregor Tarkovič. It was during this period that Duchnovich decided to become more involved in the dignified life of the Ruthenians. He began to write in his native language (until then he had used Hungarian and Russian). In Belovezh he wrote or compiled his manuscript collection „Privitatae cogitationes“, which contains works of the 1920s and 1930s and gives an overall picture of his artistic output in this period. In Belovezh he performed mainly church duties (parish priest - svyashchenik). In addition, he taught children and adults. He taught children in their native language and also at school he paid attention to learning the basics of agricultural work, especially gardening and fruit growing.

From 1838 to 1844 he was a bishop's notary in Uzhhorod. From 1844 he was a canon in Prešov; he was also a school inspector. He taught Russian and Latin at the Greek-Catholic gymnasium in Presov. In 1847 he was a representative of the Prešov bishopric at the last Hungarian Estates Council. In the same year he published a syllabary entitled Knyzycja chytaľnaja dla načynajuščych. In it, he also published a short story Obraz zhizni (in Slovak, Obraz zhizni zhizni), written by a mere 12-year-old Anatoly Kralitsky. In 1854 he published Liturgicheskii Katechizis, ili objasenie sv. Liturgii i nekotorych cerkovnych obrjadov.

In 1862 he founded (together with other representatives of the Ruthenian national movement) the Obshchestvo svjatoho Ioanna Krestitelja i Predteči (Society of St. John the Baptist, 1862-1874). The Society was active in 1862-1874; it was renewed in 2003. The Society originally supported poor Ruthenian students in their studies. The program of the restored society is the religious, national and cultural development of Rusyns. 

Since 1990, the Alexander Duchnovič Rusyn Theatre in Prešov has been named after him.

Source: https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Duchnovič
Photo source: Author: originally uploaded by DDima in Wikipedia project (English) - http://www.ukrstor.com/ukrstor/dukhn.jpg, Free work, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9460987