In Sevastopol, Archpriest Georgy Polyakov was awarded the Leo Tolstoy Literary Prize

Alexander Shipenko received an honorable mention diploma for his book “Sevastopol Routes. City». According to the author, his work is dedicated to the famous Sevastopol historian and writer Evgeny Venikeev, who became the founder of the writing of “Sevastopol Routes”. A. Shipenko’s book has the same name and is a continuation of the creation of historical guides to the city. These are full-fledged tourist routes. The author invites you to take fascinating excursions along little-known routes of the historical center. The book contains a lot of archival material and rare photographs. Now the writer is preparing for publication the second part of “Sevastopol Routes. Neighborhood».

The main prize in the contemporary literature category was given to the rector of the St. Nicholas Church-Monument, Archpriest Georgy Polyakov, for his book, the historical mystery “Iron and Blood.”

My book is about love for the Motherland, about love in general, about the holy faith, about Orthodoxy. From the first lines I try to tell where faith came to us from. Faith came from the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, he was the first to bring the grain of faith to our land. This grain began to grow right here, in Korsun, later called Sevastopol. This is where we, the Russian people, took this holy faith and spiritual strength and carry it, and will always carry itsays Father George.

According to the archpriest, the book is written on the basis of historical facts, but there is also a little mysticism and artistic fiction in it. The author explained the meaning of the title “Iron and Blood” as follows: “War is a difficult, terrible business, and often in war a soldier’s blood is mixed with broken iron. The Lord was also crucified with iron — with forged nails, and there was blood on them too. It’s like the contact of two elements — iron and human blood.”

The Sevastopol Literary Prize has always attracted writers, even from other regions. And our laureates were especially famous for their patriotism and love for their city. Everyone who lives here is full of the spirit of Sevastopol— emphasizes the chairman of the regional branch of the Union of Writers of Russia Tatyana Voronina.

She praised the literary abilities of the current winners.

Father George is a man of extraordinary literary talent. He has been writing for 25 years and has been a member of the Russian Writers’ Union since 2011. He deservedly received the title of laureateT. Voronina is sure.

source: «Sevastopol newspaper»