www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall A Touching Story from the Beslan Tragedy

The Teacher Chose Death
(elderly teacher insisted on remaining with
his students)

Hebrew Press

Yanis Kanidis -- A Hero
The Teacher Chose Death

In an act of unlimited devotion and dedication,to the bitter end, an elderly teacher insisted on remaining with his students. He protected them, bandaged their wounds, and with his death,saved their lives.

Children who escaped from the school told of how they owed their lived to elderly Yanis(Ivan)Kanidis, age 74 a man of Greek origin
who worked as a gym teacher at the school. He was among the hundreds of teachers, students and parents taken hostage last week
when Chechen rebels invaded the large school.

On Thursday, in what was an unusual humanitarian move in the midst of the horror, the terrorists agreed to allow a group of women
and babies to leave the building. The commander of the terrorist squad, saw Kanidis -- a sickly elderly man -- and offered
to allow him to walk free as well.

But Kanidis refused. "I will stay with my students till the end," the teacher insisted.

"Whatever you say," said the terrorist, dismissing him with a wave of the hand.

"He was just like Janus Korzchak, who accompanied his pupils to Auschwitz," said one of the students who was saved.

Like Korzchak, Kanidis didn't just accompany his students, he guarded their lives. On Friday, when the children began to lose consciousness from the stuffy air and their thirst, Yanis went to the terrorists. "You have to give them something to drink, at least to the smallest children," he insisted angrily. One of the terrorists hit him with the butt of his rifle, but the teacher continued to yell: "How dare you!? You claim you are people of the Kafkaz region,but here in the Kafkaz even a dog wouldn't turn down the request of an old man!"

His efforts bore fruit. The terrorist allowed the teacher to wet one of the bibs of the children and pass it around to dampen the mouths of the little ones who were choking from thirst. The hostages who escaped told how the teacher repeatedly risked his own life in order to save the children. He moved explosive devices that the terrorists had placed near the young students, and tried to prevent them from detonating others.

When the first bomb exploded next to the windows of the school, parents and children began to run out. The terrorists, trying to prevent their escape, threw a grenade at them. The elderly teacher ran to the grenade to prevent it from exploding on the children. One of the terrorists shot at the teacher to try to stop him and Yanis was wounded in the shoulder but didn't give up.

With the last of his strength, he continued to run, jumped on the grenade, covering it with his body.

The grenade exploded, and the body of the teacher absorbed the explosion, protecting the children around him from injury.

Dear Alice:

Thanks for posting this uplifting story of another unsung hero!

Vividly, Mr. Kanadis' sacrifice of "wrapping" his body around a grenade to SAVE the lives of precious children contrasts that to a jihadist (or some other terrorist) strapping his body with plastique or homemade bomb to KILL as many innocent children and other bystanders as possible!

Amado

Dear Brother in Christ, Amado,

This is an excellent point.

With love in our Lord,
Alice

Isn't it interesting - and revealing - that a terrorist will let himself be blown up for hate, while a Christian does it for love of another.

Dear Alice, thank you for posting this story; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness knows it not.

Dear Daniel,

Indeed, and AMEN to that!

May our Lord have mercy on the righteous soul of his servant Yani(Ivan). May his memory be eternal!

With prayers for his soul and all the other souls that have passed on from that tragedy, as well as for those who are still with us on earth but suffering painful loss,
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy!
Alice

Dear Alice,

Perhaps this man will one day be raised to the honours of the altar by the ROC!

Speaking of Greeks, in southern Ukraine is the city of Mariupolis.

This city was settled by Greeks escaping Turkish religius and cultural oppression in the 18th century, I believe.

Their Metropolitan was Ignatios who led thousands of them, like Moses leading the children of Israel out of their land of bondage. They named their new city after the Most Holy Theotokos!

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate has glorified Saint Ignatios of Mariupolis and has also glorified his miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Mariupolis - both have akathists and services.

The Ukrainian Church has many saints in its local calendar who are Greek (like St Athanasius "the Sitting" Patriarch of Constantinople, patron of Poltava and Kharkiv and the 12 Holy Greek Builders of the Kyivan Caves Lavra, not to mention many sainted Greek Metropolitans of Kyiv).

A great cathedral in honour of St Ignatios has been built and consecrated - it has a beautiful, large icon of Saint Ignatios above the entrance.

FYI.

Alexios

Dear Alexios or Alexandros,

Thank you so much for this wonderful information!

Love in Christ our Lord,
Alice