“Family Values” is a textbook magazine for schools and universities in Donbass, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. It contains the stories of hundreds of Russian families who, despite the cruel trials, maintained love, kindness and loyalty.
Here are just two. Epistinia Stepanova from Rostov-on-Don had nine sons who went to war and never returned. Her grief struck Vladimir Lebedenko to the depths of his soul, who wrote to her asking her to call his mother, and she agreed. Evdokia Lysenko from the village of Brovakhi, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky district, had ten sons who went to war and all returned.
“Family Values” is our fifth campaign. Over the course of two years, we have brought four special issues to schools and universities in the new and old Russia: “Pushkin is ours. That’s all!”, “SVO: Our Great Patriotic War” and “Cool Tutor” and “Donbass – the heart of Russia”. It makes us very happy when we receive words of gratitude from teachers and they ask us to bring more.
And now, we are driving from Mariupol to Melitopol, a call from the director of school number 7, where they just presented “Family Values”.
– Could you give us the previous special issues? Very necessary for the work!
Of course we will bring it. We enter the central square of Melitopol and the first thing we see in the library window are two Rodina magazines. That’s it! The director of the Mariupol Zoo, Saveliy Vashura, said that his friends saw our magazine in… Vietnam! Moreover, it is exactly the same issue, on the cover of which there is a photo of Vashura with her puppies and a long interview with him.
Autograph of the editor-in-chief of Rodina for the youngest reader. Photo: Vladimir Ladny
We sat down to breakfast at the Storm Café, and the waitress brought everyone a placemat, a disposable paper napkin with information for visitors. On it is the word “Family”! The author of this article began to solve this problem for a while, competing with musician Andrei Reshetin (Ryusha).
By the way, about Reshetin: he is a brilliant violinist, about 30 years ago he performed at the legendary Aquarius. It is his violin that sounds in “Equinox” and “Russian Album”. Andrei volunteered to go to the front in 2022, wrote an open letter to Boris Grebenshchikov (declared a foreign agent), who condemned the SVO: “Borka, stop! Let not this shame be behind you, but magical, perfect songs.” Reshetin, when he heard about the expedition, asked to join us. In Melitopol he played fragments of the album “Stronger than Death”, which he performed at the front. This is baroque music, with ancient meanings, lost but precious.
“I don’t like the word ‘presentation’, I would like to have a warm home meeting today,” Rodina editor-in-chief Igor Kots said from the stage. – Our magazine published for the first time a poem by 17-year-old Vanya Bunin; Vladimir Mayakovsky loved him very much. We are not talking so much about events as about people. It doesn’t matter whether they are great or unknown, the main thing is their fate in the sharp turns of history.
Gleb Terekhov read the poem “Homeland” by Konstantin Simonov.
…A piece of land backed up against three birch trees, a distant road behind a forest, a small river with a creaking ferry, a sandbank with low willows.
And then – here’s a nice surprise – a comprehensive analysis of “Family Values” was heard from the stage. It was conducted by a member of the Union of Russian Writers, local historian Viktor Gnedashev, who came on stage with a special number with a bookmark.
“I have already read it and realized that I need to analyze every word, every phrase,” Gnedashev said. In a trembling voice, swallowing back tears, he recounted the articles about Epistinia Romanova and Evdokia Lysenko. – And here is material about Grand Duchess Olga, who became a sister of mercy during the First World War. Another headline: 75-year-old son is still looking for his father’s grave. I teach history and geography of the Zaporozhye region. I asked the guys if anyone knew their great-grandfather, only one student answered. By the way, she is still working on the family tree.
Read “Homeland”! Photo: Vladimir Ladny
The largest delegation to the meeting was sent by the large Elin family: mother Elena, father Ruslan and seven children, the eighth stayed at home.
“At first we thought we would have three children, but then the plans changed,” Ruslan said. “They wanted a third child to be born, but it turned out to be the fifth.” In total, there were first four girls, and then four boys. With each child, the happiness grew, because each one was talented in his own way. The main thing is that we love each other very much and over the years our love only grows stronger.
Ruslan spoke and his beloved Elena beamed with happiness. There were children nearby – the best adornment for a woman. There was so much love and light around that people in the audience began to ask to speak.
The headmistress of the Akimovsky district school, Tatyana Kizim, suggested a couple of themes for “Motherland” – for example, about a compatriot who took part in both parades of the Great Patriotic War – 1941 and 1945. The director of the multimedia historical park “Russia is my history” (where the meeting took place), Denis Tatarchenko, said that in each of their excursions the enormous role of the family is highlighted.
Sounds of the Annunciation. Photo: Vladimir Ladny
Well, the apotheosis is Andrei Reshetin’s music, which touches the soul and brings tears to the eyes. The last one he played was Bieber’s “Annunciation” – as a blessing for all those who attended the meeting, a blessing for Melitopol and for all of Russia.
