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- Ελληνικά
We gathered today in the holy church of Saints Constantine and Helen, to pay our last respects to the spiritual man, the intellectual and teacher Panagiotis Persianis, the tireless worker of research, the lover and master of the Greek language, the initiator of the Greek spirit.
We bid you farewell, our respected professor, on the way to your last residence, carrying the personal message of warm condolences of the President of the Republic, and on behalf of the State, with feelings of gratitude for what you have offered in education and care for young people, but also for the world of education, we address this speech to you, knowing that whatever we say will seem little. So it is with awe that I stand here today and I am sure that I am also conveying the feelings of the educational world of Cyprus, of Hellenism.
In his many years of service as an educator, as an inspector, as an academic, Panagiotis Persianis, with his ethos, his style, his insight, his faith and his fervour, managed not only to transfer knowledge and skills in their entirety, but to instil inspiration through the virtues that emanate from Greek education and Greek culture, combined with the European dimension and the global cultural scene. Virtues that fascinated and captivated through his teaching and his whole approach, that built solidly through research and the thorough search for truth, the conquest of complex and critical thinking. That is why he managed to transmit to his apprentices and collaborators to feel what always remains the pedagogical origin of knowledge, as Stelios Ramphos very wisely put it: 'study requires love and we love what elevates us'.
This constant struggle forged a strong character, a strong personality adorned with many professional, social, mental and spiritual virtues: great conscientiousness, wholehearted devotion to duty, a strong sense of responsibility, methodical and systematic in his work, whether it was teaching or presenting at a conference, administrative or organizational activity, writing a book or an article, modesty, integrity of character, perseverance, infinite patience, kindness, courtesy, love for his fellow man and, above all, humanity, the fragrance of humanity that is very rarely found today and which referred to his Middle Eastern origins.
Panagiotis Persianis was born in the now occupied village of Lysi in Famagusta in 1932, but he was one of the first to fly to the top without ever in his life looking down on others except when he had to help them get up. He met on his way leading spiritual figures of letters and science, the great teachers Spyridakis, Kitromilidis, Kakridis, Theodorakopoulos, etc., transmitters, inspirers, who imparted to him spiritual wealth, strength, virtue, inspiration and life supplies. He studied Classical and Modern Greek Literature at the University of Athens, Pedagogy at the London University Institute of Education (MA and Ph.D.) and Educational Planning at Lancaster University.
He served with dedication and love the Education of our country from various positions in Public Education. He was a teacher of literature and later an assistant principal at the Pancyprian Gymnasium of Nicosia and a principal at the Kykkos 1st Gymnasium (Nicosia) and the Famagusta 1st Gymnasium (Famagusta). From 1970 to 1984 he served as inspector of literature courses in secondary schools and from 1984 he became director of the Pedagogical Institute. As head of the Pedagogical Institute, Panayiotis Persianis will envision and implement a powerful combination, that of teaching, administration and writing, utilizing and giving meaning to the work of the Pedagogical Institute. Through valuable publications, with himself as primary author, since 1967 he has been an early and pioneering effort in the field of Comparative Pedagogy, a scientific field unknown even at the national level.
He also served as Associate Professor of the Department of Education of the University of Cyprus.
He was also Associate Professor of the Department of Education of the University of Cyprus. This appointment, from 1990 onwards, will offer the teacher and researcher Persianis a new space conducive to teaching, writing and research, aimed at the fields of History of Education, Comparative Pedagogy and Educational Policy with a critical, penetrating, interpretive perspective. From 2004 until the end of 2008 he was Vice-Chairman of the Provisional Steering Committee of the CTEPAK.
His authorial work is rich and original, touching on a wide range of educational, social and general cognitive issues. His writing has been continuous and invaluable in value because of the authentic approach he takes to the issues he deals with and is a unique deposit of mental and intellectual strength.
In 2005 he was awarded the State Prize for Letters and Arts and in 2007 the title of Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University.
Married to Evdokia Papadouri, Professor of English Literature and Vocational Guidance from Kalopanagiotis, they have two children, Andreas and Glaucus. His wife has always been a valuable partner in his daily life and in his spiritual struggle. I extend my sincere condolences to his beloved wife, children and all those close to him.
Our revered Professor, your insightful writing will accompany us and we will be awakened by your concern for educational matters and the course of Greek education in this martyr land of ours, your concern for the ideal of the "kalon kagathon" according to the ancient Greek model.
With your passing, you leave us all a great legacy. And it is very fortunate that this has already become common knowledge, as was evident from the great emotion caused not only among students, friends and acquaintances, but also among the entire educational world by the news of your passing. This spiritual legacy is, of course, first, the fond memory of the devoted scientist and man of love, and then the books, articles and speeches and contributions. But most of all is your shining example.
Of remarkable people whom we lose we are wont to remark that with their loss we become poorer. But what may generally sound like a commonplace, in the case of Panagiotis Persianis, is literalism.
Eternal be the memory and light the dust that will cover him.
(NΓ)
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