By Zina Lysandros Panagidis, Philologist:
"You are killing an island in many ways
But how do you kill the memory? "
"Memory, wherever you touch it, hurts."
We are reminiscing about our High School tonight.
With the imposing facade.
With the presumptions of his Greekness.
The Doric columns, the capital,
the entablature, the cornice, the gable.
It is the gargling and cool source from which we all thirsted.
In its thick shade we cooled down.
We rested in his hospitable and open arms.
Our High School! The jewel of our Lefkonikos!
The garden is musky and green.
Jasmine, carnations and wheel.
Palm trees, cypresses, eucalyptus, pines and olives.
The stadium with the flower beds and the matches,
the dances with the traditional costumes and the songs.
The parades with the Greek flags.
The laying of wreaths and the "you fell heroes" on national holidays.
We remember theatrical performances and musical events.
The excursions, the three hours in Agios Fokas, the heartbeats in the competitions.
The candle we lit at Prophet Elias to help us!
The jokes with our teachers.
Our high school teachers:
59-61 Dimitrios Volonakis from Symi
61-69 Sophocles Sophocles
69-72Andreas Chatziionas
72-74 Lykourgos Kappas
1940. The "Lefkonikos High School" begins.
The inauguration of the building in 1947 will take place on the hill of Profitis Ilias
and will take the name Kaminzeios Lefkonikos High School.
From the great benefactor Georgios Kamintzis.
In 1958 it is recognized as equal to the Greek Gymnasiums.
The spiritual nursery of the whole area of Lefkonikos.
The lighthouse that passed on to us the good of knowledge and virtue.
The warm embrace that made us happy and nurtured us.
The cradle of our culture that we brought with us
and kept us in the discrete years of exile.
Our benefactor who gave us the "good life".
Where we learned what humanity, kindness, solidarity,
dignity, love, sacrifice, freedom, faith in God and our homeland.
In the first years our spiritual roots came from Greece.
Inspirational, charismatic, acclaimed.
Aware, honest, gifted.
They strengthened the love for the motherland and the union.
Our world then, the poor farmer, with a thousand and two deprivations
he wanted to give his children Greek education and Greek history.
"Greeks are the participants of daily education".
"Olvios that he had learned history".
The "Kamintzeios Higher School of Lefkonikos" took the lead in the EOKA Race.
The students staffed the national organizations EOKA, PEKA and ANE.
They carried out bombings, but also frequent demonstrations against the occupiers.
On December 3, 1955, in a demonstration, the post office was burned
and much Harting ordered a five-day fine and imposed a fine of λι 2000.
Then the school was closed for nine months and the "Hidden School" operated
With the reopening of the school, the demonstrations continue.
On October 23, 1956, EOKA students planted a mine on the school field, where English soldiers were playing football, and three Englishmen were killed and five wounded.
At the end of November 1957, students blew up the Lefkonikos power plant with five mines.
On December 20, 1957, in an attack on British officers, one of them was killed.
Our High School also had an unfortunate, tragic event.
Lucas Iatrou on November 7, '55, trying to raise the Greek flag,
broke his spine. Many sufferings, but his faith remained steadfast.
Our saint and witness!
He died in 1965.
With Independence, our school was renamed "Hellenic High School of Lefkonikos",
and later "Lefkonikos High School"
"Eyes if I close", as the poet says,
I will remember the visit of Archbishop Makarios
on May 26, 1968, at the inauguration of the Ceremony Hall,
again donated by the benefactor Georgios Kamintzis.
In 1973 the new two-storey wing was built.
Now the majority of teachers are from Lefkonia.
Warming of our earth. This school hurts.
They gave us a lot. And we thank them!
Respect, discipline, pedagogical grace.
Wealth of knowledge but also forging characters.
Ethics.
Based on the belief in national traditions.
Respect for the monuments and values of the past.
The democratic ethos. Sober thinking. Spiritual self-sufficiency.
The search for what beautifies our life and gives it meaning.
Our students are the first in the call of the homeland.
Michalakis Makridis and Nikos Schiniou fell in Mersiniki
the time of the olives.
In 1974 it had 481 students.
And then came the calamity and the ruin.
Dead and missing. Teachers and students.
Sotiris Michael. Mathematical. Model of nobility and patriotism.
He was lost for his homeland.
Because that's how it should be. He could be saved.
He stayed with his students.
"Honor to them
where in their lives they defined
to guard Thermopylae
never out of DEBT ".
This is Cavafy's dignity.
That's what heroes do!
This is what the Greeks do!
The Greek students!
Dead:
Stavros Kamintzis
Nikos Mandritis, a graduate student of Dentistry
Kyriakos Kallis, from Goufes
Giannis Theodorou, from Peristerona
George Syzinos and
Ioannis Hatzikkos from Gypsou
Andros Makridis
Missing:
Panikos Hadjipantelis, a graduate of the School of Physics and Mathematics
and the 1973 graduates:
Vassilis Chatzisiegallis
Hector Ktoris
Epiphanios Kyriakou
Petros Velousis
Kleitos Kleitou
Iakovos Kakouris from Peristerona
Loizos Loizou, a 16-year-old student who went missing with his father in Goufes.
All these young men did
the calls of our ancestors.
"In an omen of excellence, defend yourself against your father"
Today we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Lefkonikos High School
away from our High School.
Away from our foster mother.
From "the favorite mosque of the Muses, from where
we got the supplies, spiritually and mentally
to conquer and beautify our lives ".
Today in his rooms it is not heard
the sweet tongue of Homer.
Foreign steps step on his yard.
Require us, Lord, to be patient
until the holy hour of redemption
that only you know when it will come.
Because the soul hurts. The heart often flies to the past.
In the beautiful, smiling years of our High School.
That's when we learned what he meant
culture, measure, ethos, freedom, faith, homeland.
When we learned about life,
but our lives flowed to other soils,
away from the land of our ancestors.
But we will continue to pass on
to our children and grandchildren
the eternal values that we were taught in our High School,
our "modus vivendi", the style and ethos of our life.
Communicating the big retributions
of our bright past,
let us knead our own bread of life,
the food of our soul
as the "delicious imar".
Our High School will always live in our hearts.
We carry it with us, as a precious amulet
in the sanctuaries of our soul.
"It's over!"
Zina Lysandrou