The revival of her unfinished contest "Bee" since 1821
In the spring of 1821, at the moment when the first outbreaks of the Greek Revolution were igniting in the Peloponnese, the editors of the Enlightenment magazine "Melissa" from Paris, announced in the third and last issue of their publication a competition with unprecedented anti-clerical content.
The shocking historical presumption of this unfinished contest - the magazine suspended its operation due to the start of the Contest - marks the culmination of the multi-year ideological conflict between the Greek Enlighteners and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
It is a fact that the bicentennial anniversary of the explosion of the Revolution of 1821 does not find the national organization in a state that would justify excitement and celebrations. However, the more unfavorably the state of the nation can be evaluated, the more imperative is the need for a deeper and more radical reflection on the messages that the national past has bequeathed to the actors who shoulder the responsibility of the historical justification of that heroic undertaking.
The Lux Orbis Book Series, in collaboration with the Movement of Greek Citizens for the Secularization of the State (KEPEK), decided to revive the "Melissa" competition and in this volume are presented the ten best works evaluated by the committee established for the this purpose.
This specific initiative is an action with a strong emotional and symbolic character, for all those who nowadays research and trace the origin of radical ideas in the Greek area, keeping in mind that nothing deserves to be placed above historical reassessment and revision, if the priorities of national survival, compatible with the times, possibly impose it. National identity cannot be fossilized. It is a re-composition under constant review and re-evaluation, in order to emerge functional and creative.
It is a fact that the completion of two centuries since the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, sharply increased the interest of the reading public in studies and readings about the period of 1821. Hundreds of books were published with noteworthy analyzes of many modern experts on the phenomenon of preparation, birth and of the legacy of the Struggle, as well as several reprints of memoirs of the heroes of the time, but also works of the first Historians of the Greek state, from the second half of the 19th century onwards. Nevertheless, the picture we have of the circulation of ideas, through texts that essentially coincide with the beginning of the Revolution, is probably quite blurry.
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Two hundred years later, the Lux Orbis series by iWrite publishers, in collaboration with the Public Historical Library of Andritsaina, brings to light a real spiritual treasure. The re-release of the third issue of the magazine "Melissa" (published in 1821 in Paris), functions as a first-class editorial time capsule, conveying to the reader the thoughts and aspirations of the Greek Enlighteners of the time, with Constantine Agathofron Nikolopoulos prominent.
These authentic records of the radical Greek thinkers of the 21st century, who were inspired by the ideas of Adamantios Korais, come today to greatly change the image that many modern Greeks have of a number of issues, among which the attitude of the highest hierarchy of the Church towards the enlightenment and liberation of the enslaved Nation.
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