/ world today news/ A unique volume with the title “Symmetry of Time. Meetings and Conversations with Acad. Dmitry Likhachov. Letters. Autographs” – first part, by Kalina Kaneva (published by “DUMA 2008” EOOD) was presented in the Marble Hall of the Russian cultural and information center in Sofia on May 24.
There was also an exhibition from the rich personal archive of the famous journalist Kalina Kaneva, who compiled the volume. It contains photos from visits of Dmitry Likhachev and his family to many cities in our country and from his participation in various forums, facsimiles of letters written to Bulgarian friends, colleagues, editorial teams, his drawings, etc., chronological descriptions of dates and facts from the life and activities of the eminent Russian scientist, Slavist and Bulgarianist, related to our country.
The publisher of the DUMA and a member of the 42nd National Assembly, Nikolai Malinov, told how he himself came to this book: “First of all, I will try to give evaluations to people who first received it. I recently had the honor of presenting it in Moscow to the prominent Russian historian Acad. Sigurd Otovich Schmidt – he was my reviewer when I was a student. Sigurd Otovich wept and said to me: “Nikolay, sow a reasonable, good, eternal…” This book is part of that reasonable, good and eternal seed , which a man must sow – I consider that I have fulfilled this covenant.
As a historian, I am reminded of a Latin maxim: Facta, non verba! Actions, not words! This book is another kind of deed, this is the reverse meaning of the quoted sentence, because in this case the words are the deeds. All of us who deal with and try to develop the greatness of Bulgaria, the different view of the world, very often lack the right words, and they are very important at the moment. It is very important what we say to society every day. I am grateful to the freelance journalists at DUMA who try to do this independently and every day. These words, collected in the first volume of the book, will really be useful to all of us, spreading our particular view of the world, which is unique. I remember how Prof. Orlin Zagorov characterized this uniqueness – he said that Eastern Orthodoxy managed to combine the pragmatism of the West and the spirituality of the East. Speaking of pragmatic spirituality, these words would be useful to us so that we can rise to the height of the Middle Ages, during which Great Bulgaria laid down the conditions of this State of the Spirit. Thanks to Kalina Kaneva and Georgi Yordanov, thanks to whom the spiritual component of this book exists. But I must also thank Tsanko Komarov, owner and director of “Polygrafsnab”, who gave a reasonable price for printing it and donated the paper; to Stoyan Prodanov, who helped seriously with funds; to the Russian Cultural and Information Center and personally to its director Viktor Bazhenov, who organized this celebration for us. They are the material component.
When I presented the new edition to Academician Anton Donchev, he said: What have you done – for 30 years this book could not be published for various reasons. Do you understand that you have published a book that is character-building for the Bulgarian people?! The Bulgarian people are one of the few, according to Likhachev, who have their own character. Also, according to Likhachev, everything unique, no matter how small it is, must survive, exist in order to be able to give its own special, different view of the world and how the world could get out of a difficult situation for itself. Finally, I would like to thank Kalina Kaneva’s brother, who “infected” me with Likhachev. I happened to be present at his writing of a speech for a great Bulgarian statesman – there I read a few maxims from Likhachov and asked him to find the book for me. But it turned out that she was nowhere to be found. Then I decided that it must be issued. We have been preparing it for four years. When I now gave it to this politician, he said: “Nikolai, you should know that if you have sinned anything up to this moment, all your sins are redeemed.”
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