Editing Ems Ukaz (section)

== Background ==
In the 1860s, a decade and a half after the Imperial Russian government had broken up the [[Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius|Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius]] in [[Kiev]] (March 1847) and exiled or arrested its founder [[Mykola Kostomarov]] and other prominent figures, Ukrainian intellectuals gained further awareness of their cultural background. ''[[Hromada]]'' cultural associations, named after the traditional village assembly, started in a number of cities, and Sunday schools started in the cities and towns since the Russian Imperial administration had neglected education. The new cultural movement was partly driven by publications in both Russian and Ukrainian, including journals (such as Kostomarov's ''Osnova'', 1861–62, and [[Leonid Hlibov|Hlibov]]'s ''Chernyhosvs'kyy Lystok'', 1861–63), historical and folkloristic monographs (Kostomarov's biography of the Cossack [[hetman]] [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]], [[Panteleimon Kulish|Kulish]]'s two-volume folklore collection ''Zapiski o Yuzhnoy Rusi'', ''Notes on Southern Rus''', 1856–57), and elementary primers (Kulish's ''Hramatka'', 1857, 1861, [[Taras Shevchenko|Shevchenko]]'s ''Bukvar Yuzhnoruskiy'', 1861<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Shevchenko
| first1 = Taras
| author-link1 = Taras Shevchenko
| year = 1861
| script-title=uk:Букварь южнорусский // Шевченківський словник
| language = Ukrainian
| location = Kyiv
| publication-date = 1976
}}
</ref>). In ''[[Osnova]]'', Kostomarov published his influential article "Dve russkiye narodnosti" ("Two Russian Nationalities").

Although Ukrainianism had been considered popular and somewhat chic in Russian cultural circles, a debate began at the time over its relation to the ideology of Russian [[Pan-Slavism]], epitomised by a quotation of [[Pushkin]] ("will not all the Slavic streams merge into the Russian sea?"), and a rhetoric of criticism emerged. Conservative Russians called the Ukrainian movement a "Polish intrigue", and Polish commentators had been complaining that Ukrainianism had been used as a weapon against [[Polish culture]] in [[Right-Bank Ukraine]].

After the 1861 [[emancipation reform of 1861|emancipation of the serfs]] in the [[Russian Empire]], many landowners were unhappy with the loss of their serfs, and peasants were generally displeased with the terms of the emancipation. In the atmosphere of discontent, increasing reports reached the imperial government that Ukrainian leaders were plotting to separate from Russia. The 1863 [[January Uprising]] in Poland raised tensions around the issue of ethnic separatism in general even further. Several Ukrainian activists were arrested, Sunday schools and hromadas were closed, and their publication activities were suspended.

A new Ukrainian translation by [[Pylyp Morachevskyi]] of parts of the [[New Testament]] was vetted and passed by the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Imperial Academy of Sciences]] but rejected by the [[Most Holy Synod|Holy Synod]] of the [[Russian Orthodox]] Church because it was considered politically suspect.<ref name=Zerk_morachev>{{in lang|ru|uk}} Volodymyr Kozyrsky, Vasyl Shenderovsky, "The spiritual valour of Pylyp Morachevsky (to the bicentenary anniversary of his birth)", ''[[Zerkalo Nedeli]] (the Mirror Weekly)'', 5–19 August 2006, [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/ie/show/609/54147/ in Russian]{{dead link|date=January 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/609/54147/ in Ukrainian] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311010339/http://www.zn.kiev.ua/ie/show/609/54147 |date=2007-03-11}}.</ref> In response, Interior Minister Count [[Pyotr Valuyev]] issued a decree through an internal document circulated to the censors on 18 July 1863, known as [[Valuyev's Circular]], which implemented a policy based on the opinion of the Kyiv Censorship Committee, cited in the circular, that "the Ukrainian language never existed, does not exist, and shall never exist". The circular banned the publication of secular and religious books, apart from ''[[belles-lettres]]'', on the premise that the distribution of such publications was a tool to foster separatist tendencies, coming primarily from Poland.