Dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of the Crimean writer Panayot Kesmeji …
People who have heard how each stone is buzzing with the voices of epochs do not die immediately. They are like stars! The radiance of their souls illuminates the earth for a long time, on which they left a deep, kind, meaningful mark. As the pride of its culture, a wonderful contribution to the treasury of universal human values, the creative heritage of the writer, historian Panayot Kesmeci has also entered.
He was a man of honor: an attentive brother, a loyal friend, a reliable and caring family man, purposeful, deep in himself, thinking, in love with all ages. He was captivated by ancient Greek history and philosophy from an early age, and the collected library – his pride – allows you to find any information about Ancient Greece. His teachers and inspirers were ancient historians, philosophers and his own thought, seeing, hearing, free from outside influence. History is his passion, his love. All his creativity is filled with the warmth of this love. Never did anything to please. Love for history, for his people, for his spirit is stronger, more sacred, and this could not fail to ensure the success of his search.
Panayot Alekseevich Kesmeji was born in 1946 on May 9, Victory Day, in the city of Kokand of the Uzbek SSR, in a family of Pontic Greeks expelled from the Crimea (Yalta) in 1944. Childhood was difficult. In 1966 he graduated from the Kokand road technical school, receiving the specialty of a builder. Since 1968, after serving in the army, he worked as a foreman, head of a section of the Spetselevatormelstroy trust. Labor, sports, books – the main thing that occupied him. In 1977 he moved to the Crimea with his family, stood at the origins of the revival and development of Greek culture on the peninsula, was published in newspapers and magazines of the Crimea, Russia, Greece.
In 1990 he was invited by the City of Thessaloniki to the festival of Pontic culture. In 1998 he took part in the ΙV World Congress of Pontic Hellenism. He is a laureate of the 1999 M. Macedonian Prize for social and literary activities, his contribution to the development of Greek culture in Crimea. From 1996 to 2018, books written by him in collaboration with his sons Georgy and Alexander were published and republished: “The Greeks of Crimea”, “Mithridates Eupator”, “The Principality of Theodoro”, the play “The Price of Betrayal” in the collection “As if everything was with me” , “Mercenary”, “Prince Alexander”, “History of the Principality of Theodoro. Greek Toponymy of Crimea “,” Bosporets “,” Rebellious Tavrika “,” Rebellious Tavrika. Asander “, stories in the collection of Nikolai and Sofia Yuryevs” Approach the Horizon “. In recent years, he has collaborated with the Russian Athens online publication. His articles were read in 170 countries of the world.
In his publications, he called to love, appreciate, study the spiritual heritage of the Greek people, who for millennia faced fatal trials, but did not lose humanity, did not dissolve, did not disappear, did not lose their identity, but each time revived their culture, continued its development and carried to other peoples. In many ways, this became possible thanks to people like Panayot Alekseevich Kesmeji.
You have spoken to eras more than once,
You heard the voice of the stone, seeing the image,
I wrote about it, proud of my ancestors,
And he was eager to fight. And you were chosen by them.
Your pages will outlive us
Creations were composed for posterity.
Having learned both beauty and strength of mind, suddenly
They will declare themselves. And just as loud.
My memory is always with you.
Sofia Yurieva – Kesmeji
Simferopol, 2021
More Stories
The Olympic flame will arrive in Athens on Saturday. Which roads will be blocked?
A participant in the Olympic Truce Road race has died
Metropolitan Seraphim spoke out against celebrating Easter together with Catholics