Addressing the event, the head of the co-ordinating body of this national minority, Joakim Erdelji, said the first written record of the existence of Ruthenians on Croatian territory was from 25 May 1836 when the first Greek Catholic church was established in Croatia.
Erdelji said that unity and cooperation with the Croatian people as well as tolerance had been pillars for the survival of the Ruthenian minority in Croatia for nearly 180 years.
According to a 2001 census, some 2,500 Ruthenians live in Croatia and 1,700 of them are the area of Vukovar.