«You can see a good year by the spring.» Once I had heard this saying, I liked it. We can continue: as spring has begun, so will summer. The new spring on the pages of the Russian Mind magazine is rich in interesting subjects. These are a sequel of The History of Empires by Teo Gurieli, an essay about the academician Alexander Chuchalin, a world-famous pulmonologist, and, of course, the Orthodox Messenger – on 20 April Orthodox Christians worldwide will celebrate the Radiant Resurrection of Christ, or Easter.
For me personally spring is above all the «cosmic» season. On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin was launched into space; and on 18 March 1965, exactly sixty years ago, Alexei Leonov walked in outer space. Throughout my career as a journalist, I was privileged to meet with many of the earliest cosmonauts and do interviews with them. Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was very special. The commander of Soyuz-19 – the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz joint space mission between the USSR and the USA, a peace ambassador, a gifted artist and a businessman, he is even the author of a book entitled, The Time of the First. I am My Own Destiny. A fascinating book. «I looked up: our huge spaceship was slowly rotating above me, as if it were bigger than a planet. I took one hand off the handrail, then the other, and floated off… I heard in my headphones the voices of those watching me with the help of telecameras from the Earth: ‘Look, he’s alive!’» Leonov wrote. The Russian Mind will tell readers about his life’s feat.
«In human ignorance it’s very comforting to regard everything you don’t know as nonsense,» one of Denis Fonvizin’s characters said. This year marks the 280th anniversary since the birth of this author of aphorisms and one of the most brilliant playwrights of the past.
The issue contains materials dedicated to the great sculptor Michelangelo and the amazing Russian author Pyotr Yershov, along with, as always, poems and short stories, some of which are being published for the first time.
«A spring day feeds the whole year,» Russian peasants used to say. Dear readers, may you have both a happy day and a happy year!
By Kirill Privalov
