And this is at least a week. Agafya Karpovna hurries doctors: the soul hurts for the house and the economy. The goat must be milked, the chickens must be fed. Indeed, within a radius of hundreds of kilometers from the taiga settlement of the Lykovs there is not a single settlement. Around the inaccessible Altai mountains.

Zimin made his statement after a resident of the Kirov region turned to him with a request to help get to Lykova, who lives in the remote taiga, in order to accept the Old Believer faith. “Che, I didn’t like the topic,” Zimin said, explaining that “he doesn’t really like grandmother Agafya,” although he has nothing against the Old Believers.

RIA Novosti clarifies that Lykova's housing is located on the territory of Khakassia, but the governor of the neighboring Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, has been helping the hermit since they first met in 1997.

The head of Khakassia, Viktor Zimin, banned aviation flights to the old believing hermit Agafya Lykova, who lives all alone in a remote area of ​​this Siberian region - on the territory of the reserve in the Western Sayan Mountains. This is reported by the project of Radio Liberty "Siberia.Realii".

At the time of the discovery of the Lykovs' settlement by scientists, the family consisted of six people: Karp Osipovich (born approx. 1899), Akulina Karpovna, children: Savin (born approx. 1926), Natalia (born approx. 1936), Dimitri (born approx. 1940) and Agafya (born 1944).

“Aman Gumirovich and Agafya Karpovna have a long-standing friendship: they met 20 years ago and did not stop communicating. Several times a year Lykova sends the news to the governor through Vladimir Makuta. We provide systematic assistance, not only transfer products. Volunteers have already come to Lykova four times to help with the housework, the hunters have protected her house and farm from bears, ”the press service of the regional administration told Kommersant-Siberia.

At one time a wolf came to capture the Lykovs. He lived in Agafya's garden for several months and even fed himself with potatoes and everything else that the hermit gave him. Agafya does not have the fear of taiga, forest animals and loneliness, which is usual for city dwellers. If you ask her if it is scary to live in such a wilderness alone, she replies:

Where and how the hermit Agafya Lykova now lives the latest information. New details.

The Lykovs made contact with civilization in 1978, and three years later the family began to die out. In October 1981, Dimitri Karpovich died, in December - Savin Karpovich, 10 days later Agafya's sister Natalia. 7 years later, on February 16, 1988, the head of the family, Karp Osipovich, passed away. Only Agafya Karpovna survived.

Far away in the Sayan taiga, the hermit Agafya Lykova, the last representative of her family, has been living for many years. Getting to her place is not so easy: you need to walk for several days in the taiga or fly for several hours by helicopter. That is why Agafya Lykova rarely receives guests, but she is always glad to see them.

The terrible truth from Agafya fresh information. Fresh stuff.

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“Grandmother Agafya is not the patriarch of the Old Believer Church and has no status. She lives in a nature reserve where it is generally prohibited. The entire reserve works for her, inspectors chop wood for her, helicopters arrive, - the agency quotes Zimin. “Once again, a plane from the neighbors [from Kuzbass] will fly in for her - and it will be announced that he has no right either to arrive or land there.”

After this story, the Lykov family began to go deeper and deeper into the taiga. In the late 30s, K.O. Lykov, taking his wife and children, left the community. For several years no one bothered them. However, in the fall of 1945, an armed police detachment stumbled upon the Old Believers' refuge, looking for fugitive criminals and deserters.

Almost 100 years ago, the Lykov family of Old Believers settled here, which geologists discovered in the late 1970s, and since then the fame of hermits has not left them alone. Agafya saw strangers at the age of 33. From human attention, both then and now, there is a clear practical benefit.

The head of Khakassia, Viktor Zimin, criticized the Kemerovo authorities for helping the Old Believer hermit Agafya Lykova and "forbade" them to do this, accusing them of spending millions. The administration of the Kemerovo region says that flights to the hermit are tied to "emergency signals" or illegal logging, and Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev will continue to help Agafya Lykova.

“How can you forbid friendships? If the authorities of Khakassia provided systematic assistance, responded to the problems and rare requests of Agafya Lykova, then Kuzbass would not need to intervene, ”the press service of the Kemerovo region administration commented on Viktor Zimin's statement. The press service also added that the head of the Tashtagol region Vladimir Makuta, together with volunteers and journalists, has been flying to Agafya Lykova since 2013. Visits, as a rule, are combined with fly-overs of the taiga territory of Gornaya Shoria. According to the press service representative, the flights are "tied" to emergency signals when information about deforestation or forest fire appears.

Who is Lykava Agafya than famous for. All the latest information as of 02.02.2018

Blogger Denis Mukimov, who visited the hut a year before Sedov's death, described the relationship between Lykova and Sedova as follows: “There is little in common between good-natured Erofei and strict Agafya. They greet each other, but rarely speak. They have there was a conflict on the basis of religion, and Erofei is not ready to follow Agafia's rules. He is a believer himself, but he does not understand what God can have against canned food in iron cans, why polystyrene is a devilish object and why the fire in the stove should be kindled only with a torch, and not with a lighter. "

Waiting for the guests, the hostess of the forest shelter spread colored rugs on the floor of the house, baked bread in a Russian oven, and cooked compote from taiga berries. Already saying goodbye, at the helicopter, Agafya handed the metropolitan a twig of pussy willow and invited him to visit the Lykovs' hut next year.

The younger children, born in the forest, had never met other people before, the older ones forgot that they had once lived a different life. The meeting with scientists drove them into a frenzy. At first, they refused any treats - jam, tea, bread, muttering: "We can't do this!" It turned out that only the head of the family had seen and once tasted bread here. But gradually connections were forging, the savages got used to new acquaintances and learned with interest about technical innovations, the appearance of which they missed. The history of their settlement in the taiga also became clear.

However, several times a year, guests fly to her by helicopter: to help prepare for the summer garden season (Agafya grows all the vegetables herself), to mow herbs for her goats, to prepare for winter. And with the governor of the Kemerovo region, Lykova has a warm long-term friendship: Aman Tuleyev gives the hermit parcels with the necessary products, things, tools, and, if necessary, helps to undergo the necessary treatment.

Old Believers from the very moment tragic the schism of the Russian Church showed the brightest images of asceticism, confession and Faith. In the middle of the 17th century, the most vivid image of standing in appeared to faith the feat of the brethren of the holy Solovetsky monastery, which refused to accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon and suffered for this from the tsarist troops.

Karp Lykov, together with his family, left for the Sayan taiga in 1938. Here he and his wife built a house and raised children. For 40 years, the family was cut off from the world by the impenetrable taiga, and only in 1978 they met geologists. However, the whole country became aware of the family of Old Believers a little later, in 1982, when the journalist of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Vasily Peskov told about them. For three decades he talked about the Lykovs from the pages of the newspaper. Currently, only Agafya has survived from the family. Now she is 72 years old, and on April 23 she will turn 73. The hermit refuses to move closer to civilization.

The governor considered that "it is politically beautiful to stand at this flag", the entire reserve works for Agafya, inspectors cut firewood and deliver food to her - "a godly deed", but "every resident of the republic would like such conditions" as provided to Agafya, while refusing to move out of the reserve and thus forcing to spend millions of rubles on it.

“If everyone who accepts Orthodoxy or Islam gets somewhere, and the republican budget helps everyone, it will be very difficult,” Zimin explained his position on Direct Line with residents. Agafya, according to the governor, is not the patriarch of the Old Believer church, and he lives in a reserve where "no one should be."

Before the onset of winter, all the essentials were brought to Agafya. Even a goat. The Erinat river and the Khakass taiga are the main breadwinners. You can only get here by helicopter or by river. In winter, there is high snow, mountains and a lot of bears. More than once, Agafya Karpovna was offered to move into a house with all the amenities. But every time the answer is the same - no.

As the inspectors themselves say, the security officers regularly visit Agafya. Unfortunately, this does not happen very often. Due to the inaccessibility of the terrain in winter and early spring, it is possible to get to the hut only by helicopter, and in summer only by boats along the mountain-taiga rivers.

Video news Agafya Lykov in 2018. Detailed data.

The Lykovs are a Russian family of Old Believers; fled from the repressions of the 30s of the 20th century to the taiga and until 1978 they lived in almost absolute isolation from the outside world.


The Old Believers began to clash with the Russian government for a long time - Peter I made life difficult for this religious movement. The 1917 revolution forced many Old Believers to flee to Siberia; the rest bitterly regretted their decision already in the 30s. The still young Karp Lykov was prompted to flee from this world by the death of his brother; brother died from a Bolshevik bullet. In 1936 Karp, his wife Akulina and their children - 9-year-old Savin and 2-year-old Natalya - went on a trip. It went on for a long time; over the years, the Lykovs changed several wooden huts, until they finally reached a truly secluded place. Here the family settled; here in 1940 Dmitry Lykov was born, and two years later - his sister Agafya. The measured course of the Lykovs' life did not disturb anything - until 1978.

Guests from the outside world stumbled upon the Lykovs almost by accident - a geological expedition explored the vicinity of the Bolshoy Abakan River. The helicopter pilot accidentally noticed traces of human activity from the air - in places where people could not even be theoretically. Surprised by the find, geologists decided to find out who exactly lives here.

Of course, it was not easy to survive in the harsh Siberian taiga. The Lykovs had few things with them - they brought with them several pots, a primitive spinning wheel, a loom and, of course, their own clothes. The clothes, of course, fell into disrepair pretty quickly; it had to be repaired with improvised means - with the help of a coarse cloth woven by hand from hemp fibers. With time

rust destroyed the pots; from that moment on, the hermits had to change their diet quite radically and switch to a strict diet of potato cutlets, ground rye and hemp seeds. The Lykovs suffered from constant hunger and ate whatever they could get hold of - roots, grass and bark.

In 1961, severe frosts destroyed all that little that grew in the Lykovs' garden; the hermits had to start eating their own leather shoes. Akulina died in the same year; she voluntarily starved herself to death in order to leave more food for her husband and children.

Fortunately, after the thaw, the Lykovs discovered that one sprout of rye had survived the freeze. The Lykovs took care of this sprout, carefully protecting it from rodents and birds. The sprout survived - and gave 18 seeds, which became the beginning for new plantings.

Dmitry, who had never seen the world outside his native forests, eventually became an excellent hunter; he could disappear all day in the forest, tracking and trapping animals.

Over time, it was still possible to establish everyday life. Hunting and traps correctly placed on the animal paths brought valuable meat to the Lykovs; hermits and part of the fish they caught were prepared for future use. Usually the Lykovs ate fish raw or baked over a fire. Of course, a large part of their diet was forest resources - mushrooms, berries and pine nuts. Something - mainly rye, hemp and some vegetables - the Lykovs grew in the garden. Over time, the hermits learned to work their skins; they made shoes from the resulting leather - in winter it was difficult to move barefoot in the taiga

The Lykovs' meeting with geologists was a real shock for both sides; For a long time geologists could not believe that such a microcolony could exist so far from civilization, and the Lykovs practically lost the habit of communicating with other people. Over time, contact was established - first, the hermits began to take salt from the guests (which was categorically lacking in their everyday life), then - iron tools. After a while, the Lykovs began to get out to the nearest settlements; TV set made a particularly strong impression on them from all Soviet life.

Alas, the discovery by the big world did not only benefit the Lykovs - in 1981 Savin, Natalya and Dmitry died. Natalia and Dmitry were killed by kidney problems, Dmitry died of pneumonia. There is reason to believe that the real cause of death was precisely contact with the outside world - the young Lykovs had no immunity to a number of modern diseases and new acquaintances, willy-nilly, infected the hermits with viruses that were fatal for them. Geologists offered Dmitry help - a helicopter could have delivered him to the clinic; Alas, the dogmas of the Old Believers forbade this categorically - the Lykovs were absolutely sure that human life is in the hands of God and man should not resist his will. The geologists failed to convince both Karp and Agafya to leave the forests and move to the relatives who survived these 40 years in the outside world.

Karp Lykov died on February 16, 1988; he died in a dream. Agafya Lykova still lives in the family house

The famous hermit Agafya Karpovna Lykova, who lives on a hut in the upper reaches of the Erinat River in Western Siberia, 300 km from civilization, was born in 1945. On April 16, she celebrates her name day (her birthday is not known). Agafya is the only surviving representative of the Lykov family of hermits-Old Believers. The family was discovered by geologists on June 15, 1978 in the upper reaches of the Abakan River (Khakassia).

The Lykov family of Old Believers has lived in isolation since 1937. There were six people in the family: Karp Osipovich (born in 1899) with his wife Akulina Karpovna and their children: Savin (born in 1926), Natalia (born in 1936), Dimitri (born in 1940) and Agafya (born 1945).

In 1923, the settlement of the Old Believers was destroyed and several families moved farther into the mountains. Around 1937, Lykov with his wife and two children left the community, settled separately in a remote place, but lived openly. In the fall of 1945, a patrol went out to their housing, looking for deserters, which alerted the Lykovs. The family moved to another place, living from that moment in secret, in complete isolation from the world.


The Lykovs were engaged in agriculture, fishing and hunting. The fish was salted, harvested for the winter, fish oil was extracted at home. Having no contact with the outside world, the family lived according to the laws of the Old Believers, the hermits tried to protect the family from the influence of the external environment, especially in relation to faith. The Lykovs' children, thanks to their mother, were literate. Despite such a long isolation, the Lykovs did not lose track of time, they performed domestic worship.
By the time geologists discovered taiga inhabitants, there were five - the head of the family Karp Osipovich, sons Savvin, Dimitri and daughters Natalya and Agafya (Akulina Karpovna died in 1961). At present, only the youngest, Agafya, remains of that large family. In 1981, Savvin, Dimitri and Natalya died one after another, and in 1988 Karp Osipovich passed away.
Publications in central newspapers made the Lykov family widely known. They had relatives in the Kuzbass village of Kilinsk, inviting the Lykovs to move in with them, but they refused.
Since 1988, Agafya Lykova has been living alone in the Sayan taiga, on Erinat. Her family life did not work out. She also did not succeed in going to the monastery - discrepancies in doctrine with the nuns were revealed. Several years ago, former geologist Erofei Sedov moved to these places and now, like a neighbor, helps the hermit with fishing and hunting. Lykova's farm is small: goats, dogs, cats and chickens. Agafya Karpovna also keeps a vegetable garden in which she grows potatoes and cabbage.
Relatives living in Kilinsk have been calling Agafya to move in with them for many years. But Agafya, although she began to suffer from loneliness and her strength due to age and illness, began to leave, she does not want to leave the capture.

Several years ago, Lykova was taken by helicopter to undergo medical treatment on the waters of the Goryachy Klyuch spring, she twice traveled by rail to see her distant relatives, and even received treatment at the city hospital. She boldly uses hitherto unknown measuring devices (thermometer, clock).


Agafya greets every new day with prayer and every day goes to sleep with her.

Vasily Peskov - journalist and writer dedicated his book "Taiga impasse" to the Lykovs family

How did the Lykovs manage to live in complete isolation for almost 40 years?

The Lykovs' refuge is a canyon of the upper reaches of the Abakan River in the Sayan Mountains, next to Tuva. The place is inaccessible, wild - steep mountains, covered with forest, and a river between them. They were engaged in hunting, fishing, gathering mushrooms, berries and nuts in the taiga. They planted a vegetable garden where barley, wheat and vegetables were grown. They were engaged in spinning hemp and weaving, providing themselves with clothing. The Lykovs' vegetable garden could become a role model for a different modern economy. Situated on a mountainside at an angle of 40-50 degrees, it went up 300 meters. Dividing the site into lower, middle and upper, the Lykovs placed the crops taking into account their biological characteristics. The fragmentation of the sowing allowed them to better preserve the harvest. There were absolutely no diseases of agricultural crops. To maintain a high yield, potatoes were grown in one place for no more than three years. The Lykovs also established the alternation of cultures. The seeds were prepared especially carefully. Three weeks before planting, the potato tubers were laid in a thin layer indoors on piles. A fire was made under the floor, heating the boulders. And the stones, giving off heat, evenly and for a long time heated the seed material. Seeds must be checked for germination. They were propagated in a special area. The sowing dates were approached strictly, taking into account the biological characteristics of different crops. The timing was optimal for the local climate. Despite the fact that for fifty years the Lykovs planted the same variety of potatoes, they did not degenerate. The starch and dry matter content was significantly higher than that of most modern varieties. Neither tubers nor plants contained absolutely no viral or any other infection. Knowing nothing about nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the Lykovs nevertheless used fertilizers according to the advanced agronomic science: "all trash" from cones, grass and leaves, that is, composts rich in nitrogen, went under hemp and all spring crops. Ash was added under turnips, beets, potatoes - a source of potassium, which is necessary for root crops. Diligence, sound mind, knowledge of the taiga allowed the family to provide themselves with everything they needed. Moreover, it was food rich not only in proteins, but also in vitamins.


The cruel irony is that it was not the difficulties of taiga life that turned out to be fatal for the Lykovs, but the harsh climate, namely, contact with civilization. All of them, except for Agafya Lykova, died soon after the first contact with the geologists who found them, having contracted infectious diseases from the aliens, hitherto unknown to them. Strong and consistent in her convictions, Agafya, not wanting to "make peace", still lives alone in her hut on the bank of a mountain tributary of the Erinat River. Agafya is happy with the gifts and products that hunters and geologists occasionally bring her, but she categorically refuses to accept products bearing the "stamp of Antichrist" - a computer barcode. Several years ago Agafya took monastic vows and became a nun.

It should be noted that the Lykovs' case is not at all unique. This family became widely known to the outside world only because it itself made contact with people, and, by chance, fell into the field of view of journalists of central Soviet newspapers. In the Siberian taiga, there are secret monasteries, hermitages and secrets, where people live, according to their religious convictions, who deliberately cut off all contacts with the outside world. There is also a large number of remote villages and farms, the inhabitants of which reduce such contacts to a minimum. The collapse of industrial civilization will not be the end of the world for these people.


It should be noted that the Lykovs belonged to a rather moderate Old Believer "chapel" group and were not religious radicals like the runner-wanderers who made a complete withdrawal from the world part of their religious doctrine. It's just that solid Siberian men, at the dawn of industrialization in Russia, understood where everything was going and decided not to give themselves up to the slaughter in the name of no one knows whose interests. Let us recall that while the Lykovs were at the very least interrupted from turnip to cedar cones, collectivization, mass repressions of the 30s, mobilization, war, occupation of a part of the territory, restoration of the "national" economy, repression of the 50s took place in Russia in bloody waves. called the consolidation of collective farms (read - the destruction of small remote villages - of course! After all, everyone should live under the supervision of the authorities). According to some estimates, during this period the population of Russia decreased by 35 - 40%! The Lykovs also did not manage without losses, but they lived freely, with dignity, their own masters, on a 15 square kilometer area of ​​taiga. It was their World, their Earth, which gave them everything they needed.

In recent years, we have been discussing a lot about a possible meeting with the inhabitants of other worlds - representatives of alien civilizations that are drawn to us from Space.

What is not just a question. How to negotiate with them? Will our immunity work against unknown diseases? Will different cultures converge or collide?

And very close - literally before our eyes - a living example of such a meeting.

We are talking about the dramatic fate of the Lykov family, who lived for almost 40 years in the Altai taiga in complete isolation - in their own world. Our civilization of the 20th century fell upon the primitive reality of taiga hermits. And what? We did not accept their spirit world. We did not protect them from our diseases. We have failed to understand their foundations of life. And we destroyed their already established civilization, which we did not understand and did not accept.

The first reports about the discovery of a family in the inaccessible region of the Western Sayan Mountains, which had lived without any connection with the outside world for more than forty years, appeared in print in 1980, first in the 1st newspaper "Socialist Industry", then in the "Krasnoyarsk Rabochy". And then, in 1982, a series of articles about this family was published by Komsomolskaya Pravda. They wrote that the family consisted of five people: father - Karp Iosifovich, his two sons - Dmitry and Savvin and two daughters - Natalia and Agafya. Their surname is Lykovs.

They wrote that in the thirties they voluntarily left the world, on the basis of religious fanaticism. They wrote a lot about them, but with a precisely measured portion of sympathy. "Measured" because even then those who took this story to heart were struck by the arrogant, civilized, condescending attitude of Soviet journalism, which dubbed the amazing life of a Russian family in a forest seclusion "a taiga dead end." Expressing approval of Lykov in particular, Soviet journalists assessed the whole life of the family categorically and unambiguously:

- "life and everyday life are miserable to the extreme, they listened to the story of current life and the most important events in it, like the Martians";

- “In this wretched life, the feeling of beauty given to man by nature was also killed. No flower in the hut, no decoration in it. No attempt to decorate clothes, things ... The Lykovs did not know songs ”;

- “The younger Lykovs did not have a precious opportunity for a person to communicate with their own kind, did not know love, could not continue their family. The culprit is a fanatical dark belief in a force that lies outside of being, with the name God. Religion was undoubtedly the mainstay in this suffering life. But she was also the cause of the terrible impasse. "

Despite the desire to "evoke sympathy" not stated in these publications, the Soviet press, assessing the life of the Lykovs as a whole, called it "a complete mistake", "an almost fossil case in human existence." As if forgetting that we are still talking about people, Soviet journalists announced the discovery of the Lykov family as a "find of a living mammoth," as if hinting that the Lykovs, over the years of forest life, had fallen so far behind our correct and progressive life that they cannot be attributed towards civilization in general.

True, even then the attentive reader noticed the inconsistency of the accusatory assessments with the facts cited by the same journalists. They wrote about the "darkness" of the Lykovs' life, and those, keeping track of the days, during the entire time of their hermitic life, never once made a mistake in the calendar; Karp Iosifovich's wife taught all children to read and write from the Psalter, which, like other religious books, was carefully preserved in the family; Savvin even knew the Holy Scriptures by heart; and after the launch of the first Earth satellite in 1957, Karp Iosifovich remarked: "The stars soon began to walk in the sky."

Journalists wrote about the Lykovs as fanatics of the faith - and among the Lykovs, not only was it not customary to teach others, but even to speak badly about them. (Note in parentheses that some of Agafya's words, to make some journalistic reasoning more convincing, were invented by the journalists themselves.)

For the sake of fairness, it must be said: not everyone shared this given point of view of the party press. There were also those who wrote about the Lykovs differently - with respect for their spiritual strength, for their life exploits. They wrote, but very little, because the newspapers did not provide an opportunity to defend the name and honor of the Russian Lykov family from accusations of darkness, ignorance, and fanaticism.

One of these people was the writer Lev Stepanovich Cherepanov, who visited the Lykovs a month after the first report about them. Together with him were the doctor of medical sciences, the head of the department of anesthesiology of the Krasnoyarsk Institute for Advanced Training of Physicians, Professor I.P. Nazarov and the head physician of the 20th hospital in Krasnoyarsk V. Golovin. Even then, in October 1980, Cherepanov asked the regional authorities to introduce a complete ban on visits to the Lykovs by random people, suggesting, on the basis of their acquaintance with the medical literature, that such visits could threaten the Lykovs' lives. And the Lykovs appeared before Lev Cherepanov as completely different people than from the pages of the party press.

People who have met with the Lykovs since 1978, says Cherepanov, judged them by their clothes. When they saw that the Lykovs had everything homespun, that their hats were sewn from musk deer fur, and the means of struggle for existence were primitive, they hastily concluded that the hermits were far behind us. That is, they began to judge the Lykovs from above, as people of a lower class in comparison with themselves. But then it became clear what “they were, if they looked at us as weak people who needed to be taken care of. After all, "to take care" - it literally means "to help." I then asked Professor Nazarov: “Igor Pavlovich, maybe you are happier than me and have seen this in our life? When would you come to your boss, and he, leaving the table and shaking your hand, asked how I could help you? "

He laughed and said that our question would have been misinterpreted, that is, there was a suspicion that they wanted to meet something out of self-interest, and our behavior would be perceived as ingratiating.

From that moment it became clear that we turned out to be people who think differently from the Lykovs. Naturally, it was worth wondering who else they meet like this - with a friendly disposition? It turned out - everyone! Here R. Rozhdestvensky wrote the song "Where the Motherland Begins". From that, the other, the third ... - remember her words. And the Lykovs' homeland begins with the neighbor. A man came - and the Motherland begins with him. Not from an ABC book, not from the street, not from home - but from the one who came. Once I came, it means that I turned out to be a neighbor. And how can you not do him a service you can.

Here's what immediately divided us. And we understood: yes, indeed, the Lykovs have a semi-natural or even subsistence economy, but the moral potential turned out, or rather remained, very high. We have lost it. By the Lykovs, you can see with your own eyes what side results we have acquired in the struggle for technical achievements after the 17th year. After all, the most important thing for us is the highest labor productivity. So we drove productivity. And it would be necessary, taking care of the body, not to forget about the spirit, because the spirit and the body, despite their opposite, must exist in unity. And when the balance between them is disturbed, then an inferior person appears.

Yes, we were better equipped, we had boots with thick soles, sleeping bags, shirts that were not torn by twigs, pants no worse than these shirts, stew, condensed milk, bacon - whatever. And it turned out that the Lykovs were superior to us morally, and this immediately predetermined the whole relationship with the Lykovs. This divide has passed, regardless of whether we wanted to reckon with it or not.

We were not the first to come to the Lykovs. Many have met with them since the 78th year, and when Karp Iosifovich, by some gestures, determined that I was the eldest in the group of "laymen", he called me aside and asked: "Would you take yours, as they say there , wife, fur on the collar? " Of course, I immediately opposed it, which really surprised Karp Iosifovich, because he was used to the fact that those who came took his furs. I told Professor Nazarov about this case. He, of course, replied that, they say, this should not be in our relationship. From that moment on, we started to separate from other visitors. If we came and did something, then only "for this". We did not take anything from the Lykovs, and the Lykovs did not know how to treat us. Who are we?

Has civilization already managed to show itself to them in a different way?

Yes, and it seems that we are from the same civilization, but we do not smoke, do not drink. And on top of that - we don't take sables. And then we worked hard, helping the Lykovs with the housework: sawing hemp to the ground, chopping wood, blocking the roof of the house where Savvin and Dmitry lived. And we thought we were doing very well. But all the same, Agafya after some time, on our other visit, not seeing that I was passing by, said to her father: "But the brothers worked better." My friends were surprised: "How is it, but we were soaked in sweat." And then we realized that we had forgotten how to work. After the Lykovs came to this conclusion, they already treated us condescendingly.

At the Lykovs, we saw with our own eyes that the family is an anvil, and labor is not just work “from” to “to”. Their work is a concern. About whom? About the neighbor. A brother's neighbor is brother, sisters. Etc.

Then, the Lykovs had a piece of land, hence their independence. They met us, not currying favor and not turning up their nose - on equal terms. Because they didn't have to win someone else's favor, recognition, or praise. Everything they needed, they could take from their piece of land, or from the taiga, or from the river. Many of the tools were made by themselves. Even if they did not meet any modern aesthetic requirements, they were quite suitable for this or that work.

This is how the difference between the Lykovs and us began to appear. The Lykovs can be imagined as people from 1917, that is, from the pre-revolutionary period. You will not find such people anymore - we have all leveled off. And the difference between us, representatives of modern and pre-revolutionary civilization, Lykov's, one way or another had to come out, one way or another characterizing both the Lykovs and us. I do not reproach the journalists - Yuri Sventitsky, Nikolai Zhuravlev, Vasily Peskov, for the fact that they, you see, did not try to tell truthfully and without bias about the Lykovs. Since they considered the Lykovs to be victims of themselves, victims of faith, then these journalists themselves should be recognized as victims of our 70 years. This was our morality: everything that benefits the revolution is correct. We did not even think about an individual person, we are used to judging everyone from class positions. And Yuri Sventitsky "saw through" the Lykovs on the move. He called Karp Iosifovich a deserter, called him a parasite, but there was no evidence. Well, the reader knew nothing about desertion, but about "parasitism"? How could the Lykovs parasitize far from people, how could they profit at someone else's expense?

It was simply impossible for them. Nevertheless, after all, no one protested the speech of Yu. Sventitsky in the "Socialist Industry" and the speech of N. Zhuravlev in the "Krasnoyarsk Rabochy". Mostly pensioners responded to my rare articles - they expressed sympathy and did not reason at all. I notice that the reader has completely forgotten how to do it or does not want to reason and think for himself - he only loves everything that is ready.

Lev Stepanovich, so what do we know for certain about the Lykovs now? After all, publications about them were guilty of not only inaccuracies, but also distortions.

Let's take a piece of their life in Tishy, ​​on the Bolshoy Abakan River, before collectivization. In the 1920s, it was a “one-manor” settlement where the Lykovs lived. When the ChON detachments appeared, anxiety began for the peasants, and they began to move to the Lykovs. A small village of 10-12 yards grew out of the Lykovsky repair. Those who moved in with the Lykovs, naturally, told what was happening in the world, all of them were looking for salvation from the new government. In 1929, a certain Konstantin Kukolnikov appeared in the Lykovskaya village with the assignment to create an artel, which was supposed to be engaged in fishing and hunting.

In the same year, the Lykovs, not wanting to be enrolled in the artel, because they were used to an independent life and had heard about what was prepared for them, gathered and left together: three brothers - Stepan, Karp Iosifovich and Evdokim, their father, mother and the one who served them, as well as close relatives. Karp Iosifovich was then 28 years old, he was not married. By the way, he never led the community, as they wrote about it, and the Lykovs never belonged to the "runners" sect. All the Lykovs migrated along the Bolshoy Abakan River and found shelter there. They did not live secretly, but appeared in Tishy to buy threads for knitting nets; together with the residents of Tishin they set up a hospital on Goryachy Klyuch. And only a year later Karp Iosifovich went to Altai and brought his wife Akulina Karpovna. And there, in the taiga, one might say, in the Lykov upper reaches of the Bolshoi Abakan, their children were born.

In 1932, the Altai Nature Reserve was formed, the border of which covered not only Altai, but also part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Lykovs who settled there also ended up in this part. They were presented with the requirements: you can not shoot, fish and plow the land. They had to get out of there. In 1935, the Lykovs left for Altai to their relatives and lived first in the "fater" near the Tropins, and then in a dugout. Karp Iosifovich visited the Counter, which is near the mouth of the Soksu. There, in his garden, under Karp Iosifovich, Yevdokim was shot by huntsmen. Then the Lykovs moved to Yerinat. And from that time on, they began to walk in torment. They were frightened off by the border guards, and they went down Bolshoy Abakan to the Cheeks, cut down a hut there, soon another one (on Soksa), more remote from the coast, and lived on grazing ...

Around them, in particular in Abaza, the city of miners closest to the Lykovs, they knew that there must be Lykovs somewhere. It was not only heard that they survived. That the Lykovs were alive became known in 1978, when geologists appeared there. They were looking for landing sites for research parties and came across the Lykovs' "tame" arable lands.

What you said, Lev Stepanovich, about the high culture of relations and the whole life of the Lykovs is also confirmed by the conclusions of those scientific expeditions that visited the Lykovs in the late 80s. Scientists were amazed not only by the truly heroic will and hard work of the Lykovs, but also by their remarkable mind. In 1988, who visited them, Cand. of Agricultural Sciences V. Shadursky, Associate Professor of the Ishim Pedagogical Institute and Cand. O. Poletaeva, a researcher at the Scientific Research Institute of Potato Farming, was surprised by a lot of agricultural sciences. It is worth citing some facts that scientists have paid attention to.

The Lykovs' vegetable garden could become a role model for a different modern economy. Situated on a mountainside at an angle of 40-50 degrees, it went up 300 meters. Dividing the site into lower, middle and upper, the Lykovs placed the crops taking into account their biological characteristics. The fragmentation of the sowing allowed them to better preserve the harvest. There were absolutely no diseases of agricultural crops.

The seeds were prepared especially carefully. Three weeks before planting, the potato tubers were laid in a thin layer indoors on piles. A fire was made under the floor, heating the boulders. And the stones, giving off heat, evenly and for a long time heated the seed material.

Seeds must be checked for germination. They were propagated in a special area.

The sowing dates were approached strictly, taking into account the biological characteristics of different crops. The timing was optimal for the local climate.

Despite the fact that for fifty years the Lykovs planted the same variety of potatoes, they did not degenerate. The starch and dry matter content was significantly higher than that of most modern varieties. Neither tubers nor plants contained absolutely no viral or any other infection.

Knowing nothing about nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the Lykovs nevertheless used fertilizers according to the advanced agronomic science: "all trash" from cones, grass and leaves, that is, composts rich in nitrogen, went under hemp and all spring crops. Ash was added under turnips, beets, potatoes - a source of potassium, which is necessary for root crops.

“Diligence, sharpness, knowledge of the laws of the taiga,” summed up the scientists, “allowed the family to provide themselves with everything they needed. Moreover, it was food rich not only in proteins, but also in vitamins ”.

The Lykovs visited several expeditions of philologists from Kazan University who studied phonetics in an isolated "patch". G. Slesarev and V. Markelov, knowing that the Lykovs were reluctant to contact the "aliens" in order to gain confidence and hear the reading, worked side by side with the Lykovs early in the morning. “And then one day Agafya took a notebook in which“ The Lay of Igor's Campaign ”was copied by hand. Scientists have replaced only some of the modernized letters in it with the ancient ones, more familiar to Lykova. She carefully opened the text, silently looked through the pages and began to read melodiously ... Now we know not only the pronunciation, but also the intonation of the great text ... So "The Word of Igor's Campaign" turned out to be written down for eternity, perhaps the last "announcer on earth" ", As if it came from the times of the" Word ... "itself.

The next expedition of the Kazan people noticed the linguistic phenomenon of the Lykovs - the proximity in one family of two dialects: the North Great Russian okania by Karp Iosifovich and the South Great Russian dialect (Akanya), inherent in Agafya. Agafya also remembered poems about the destruction of the Olonevsky skete - the former largest in the Nizhny Novgorod region. “There is no real evidence of the ruin of a large Old Believer nest,” said A. Lebedev, a representative of the Russian Old Believer Church who visited the Lykovs in 1989. "Taiga dawn" - he called his essays on the trip to Agafya, emphasizing his complete disagreement with the conclusions of V. Peskov.

Kazan scholars-philologists on the fact of Lykov's colloquial speech explained the so-called "nasal" in church services. It turns out that it comes from Byzantine traditions.

Lev Stepanovich, it turns out that it was from the moment people came to the Lykovs that an active invasion of our civilization into their habitat began, which simply could not but cause harm. After all, we have different approaches to life, different types of behavior, different attitudes towards everything. Not to mention the fact that the Lykovs never suffered from our illnesses and, naturally, were completely defenseless in front of them.

After the sudden death of three children of Karp Iosifovich, Professor I. Nazarov suggested that the cause of their death was weak immunity. Subsequent blood tests conducted by Professor Nazarov showed that they are immune only to encephalitis. They could not resist our even ordinary diseases. I know that V. Peskov is talking about other reasons. But here is the opinion of Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Igor Pavlovich Nazarov.

He says that there is a clear connection between the Lykovs' diseases of the so-called "cold" and their contacts with other people. He explains this by the fact that the Lykovs' children were born and lived without meeting anyone from the outside, and did not acquire specific immunity against various diseases and viruses.

As soon as the Lykovs began to visit geologists, their illnesses took on serious forms. “As I go to the village, I get sick,” Agafya concluded back in 1985. The danger that awaits Agafya in connection with a weakened immune system is evidenced by the death in 1981 of her brothers and sisters.

“We can judge from what they died,” says Nazarov, “only by the stories of Karp Iosifovich and Agafya. V. Peskov from these stories concludes that the reason was hypothermia. Dmitry, who fell ill first, helped Savvin set up a race (fence) in the icy water, together they dug potatoes from under the snow ... Natalya washed in a stream with ice ...

This is all true. But was the situation so extreme for the Lykovs when they had to work in the snow or in cold water? With us, they walked barefoot in the snow for a long time and without any health consequences. No, the main reason for their death is not the usual cooling of the body, but ... that shortly before the illness, the family again visited the village with geologists. When they returned, they all fell ill: cough, runny nose, sore throat, chills. But I had to dig potatoes. And in general, the usual thing for them turned into a fatal illness for three of them, because already sick people were exposed to hypothermia. "

And Karp Iosifovich, says Professor Nazarov, contrary to V. Peskov's statements, did not die of senile decrepitude, although he was indeed already 87 years old. “Suspecting that a doctor with 30 years of experience could have lost sight of the patient's age, Vasily Mikhailovich leaves out of his reasoning that Agafya was the first to fall ill after visiting the village. When she returned, she took to her bed. The next day Karp Iosifovich fell ill. And a week later he died. Agafya was ill for another month. But before I left, I left her pills and explained how to take them. Fortunately, she was well defined in this situation. Karp Iosifovich remained true to himself and refused the pills.

Now about his decrepitude. Just two years earlier, he had broken his leg. I arrived when he had not moved for a long time and lost heart. Together with the Krasnoyarsk traumatologist V. Timoshkov, we applied conservative treatment and applied a plaster cast. But, to be honest, I didn’t hope that he would make it out. And a month later, to my question about his health, Karp Iosifovich took his wand and went out of the hut. Moreover, he began to work on the farm. It was a real miracle. In a 85-year-old man, a meniscus has grown together, at a time when this happens extremely rarely even in young people, an operation has to be performed. In a word, the old man had a huge supply of vitality ... "

V. Peskov also argued that the Lykovs could have been ruined by the "prolonged stress" they experienced due to the fact that meeting with people allegedly gave rise to many painful questions, disputes and strife in the family. “Speaking about this,” says Professor Nazarov, “Vasily Mikhailovich repeats the well-known truth that stress can suppress the immune system ... But he forgets that stress cannot be prolonged, and by the time the three Lykovs died, their acquaintance with geologists lasted for three years. There is no evidence that this acquaintance made a revolution in the minds of family members. But there is irrefutable data from Agafya's blood test, confirming that there was no immunity, so there was nothing to depress stress. "

Note, by the way, that I.P. Nazarov, taking into account the specifics of his patients, prepared Agafya and her father for the first blood test for five years (!), And when he took him, he stayed with the Lykovs for two more days to follow their condition.

It is difficult for a modern person to understand the motives of a concentrated suffering life, a life of faith. We judge everything hastily, with labels, like judges to each and every one. Some of the journalists even calculated how little the Lykovs saw in life, having settled down in the taiga a patch of only 15x15 kilometers; that they did not even know that there is Antarctica, that the Earth is a ball. By the way, Christ also did not know that the Earth is round and that there is Antarctica, but no one reproaches him for this, realizing that this is not the kind of knowledge that is vital to man. But what is necessary in life is obligatory, the Lykovs knew better than us. Dostoevsky said that only suffering can teach a person something - this is the main law of life on Earth. The life of the Lykovs developed in such a way that they drank this cup in full, accepting the fatal law as their personal destiny.

The eminent journalist reproached the Lykovs for the fact that they did not even know that "apart from Nikon and Peter I, it turns out that the great people Galileo, Columbus, Lenin lived on earth ..." that "they did not know this, the Lykovs had a grain of feeling for the Motherland."

But the Lykovs didn't have to love the Motherland in a bookish way, in words, as we do, because they were part of the Motherland itself and never separated it, like faith, from themselves. The homeland was inside the Lykovs, which means it was always with them and them.

Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov writes about some kind of "dead end" in the fate of the taiga hermits Lykovs. Although how can a person be at a dead end if he lives and does everything according to his conscience? And a person will never meet a dead end if he lives according to his conscience, without looking back at anyone, not trying to accommodate, to please ... On the contrary, his personality is revealed, flourishes. Look at Agafya's face - this is the face of a happy, balanced, spiritualized person who is in tune with the foundations of his secluded taiga life.

O. Mandelstam concluded that "double existence is an absolute fact of our life." Having heard the story about the Lykovs, the reader has the right to doubt: yes, a very common fact, but not absolute. And the history of the Lykovs proves this to us. Mandelstam learned this and reconciled, we know this with our civilization and we are reconciled, but the Lykovs learned and did not reconcile ourselves. They didn't want to live against their conscience, they didn't want to live a double life. But adherence to truth, conscience - this is true spirituality, about which we all seem to care aloud. “The Lykovs left to live on their own account, went to the feat of piety,” says Lev Cherepanov, and it is difficult to disagree with him.

We see in the Lykovs traits and genuine Russianness, that which has always made Russians Russian and which we all lack now: the striving for truth, striving for freedom, for free expression of the will of our spirit. When Agafya was invited to live with relatives in the mountainous Shoria, she said: "There is no desert in Kilensk, there can be no long life there." And again: "It is not good to return from a good deed."

What is the real conclusion we can draw from all that happened? Having irrationally invaded the reality we did not understand, we destroyed it. Normal contact with the "aliens of the taiga" did not take place - the deplorable results are evident.

May this serve as a cruel lesson for all of us for future meetings.

Perhaps with genuine aliens ... Izba Lykovs. They lived in it for thirty-two years.

The Old Believers began to clash with the Russian government for a long time - Peter I made life difficult for this religious movement. The 1917 revolution forced many Old Believers to flee to Siberia; the rest bitterly regretted their decision already in the 30s. The still young Karp Lykov was prompted to flee from this world by the death of his brother; brother died from a Bolshevik bullet. In 1936 Karp, his wife Akulina and their children - 9-year-old Savin and 2-year-old Natalya - went on a trip. It went on for a long time; over the years, the Lykovs changed several wooden huts, until they finally reached a truly secluded place. Here the family settled; here in 1940 Dmitry Lykov was born, and two years later - his sister Agafya. The measured course of the Lykovs' life did not disturb anything - until 1978.

Guests from the outside world stumbled upon the Lykovs almost by accident - a geological expedition explored the vicinity of the Bolshoy Abakan River. The helicopter pilot accidentally noticed traces of human activity from the air - in places where people could not even be theoretically. Surprised by the find, geologists decided to find out who exactly lives here.



Of course, it was not easy to survive in the harsh Siberian taiga. The Lykovs had few things with them - they brought with them several pots, a primitive spinning wheel, a loom and, of course, their own clothes. The clothes, of course, fell into disrepair pretty quickly; it had to be repaired with improvised means - with the help of a coarse cloth woven by hand from hemp fibers. Over time, rust destroyed the pots; from that moment on, the hermits had to change their diet quite radically and switch to a strict diet of potato cutlets, ground rye and hemp seeds. The Lykovs suffered from constant hunger and ate whatever they could get hold of - roots, grass and bark.

In 1961, severe frosts destroyed all that little that grew in the Lykovs' garden; the hermits had to start eating their own leather shoes. Akulina died in the same year; she voluntarily starved herself to death in order to leave more food for her husband and children.

Fortunately, after the thaw, the Lykovs discovered that one sprout of rye had survived the freeze. The Lykovs took care of this sprout, carefully protecting it from rodents and birds. The sprout survived - and gave 18 seeds, which became the beginning for new plantings.

Dmitry, who had never seen the world outside his native forests, eventually became an excellent hunter; he could disappear all day in the forest, tracking and trapping animals.

Over time, it was still possible to establish everyday life. Hunting and traps correctly placed on the animal paths brought valuable meat to the Lykovs; hermits and part of the fish they caught were prepared for future use. Usually the Lykovs ate fish raw or baked over a fire. Of course, a large part of their diet was forest resources - mushrooms, berries and pine nuts. Something - mainly rye, hemp and some vegetables - the Lykovs grew in the garden. Over time, the hermits learned to work their skins; they made shoes from the leather obtained - in winter it was difficult to move barefoot in the taiga.

The Lykovs' meeting with geologists was a real shock for both sides; For a long time geologists could not believe that such a microcolony could exist so far from civilization, and the Lykovs practically lost the habit of communicating with other people. Over time, contact was established - first, the hermits began to take salt from the guests (which was categorically lacking in their everyday life), then - iron tools. After a while, the Lykovs began to get out to the nearest settlements; TV set made a particularly strong impression on them from all Soviet life.

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Alas, the discovery by the big world did not only benefit the Lykovs - in 1981 Savin, Natalya and Dmitry died. Natalia and Dmitry were killed by kidney problems, Dmitry died of pneumonia. There is reason to believe that the real cause of death was precisely contact with the outside world - the young Lykovs had no immunity to a number of modern diseases and new acquaintances, willy-nilly, infected the hermits with viruses that were fatal for them. Geologists offered Dmitry help - a helicopter could have delivered him to the clinic; Alas, the dogmas of the Old Believers forbade this categorically - the Lykovs were absolutely sure that human life is in the hands of God and man should not resist his will. The geologists failed to convince both Karp and Agafya to leave the forests and move to the relatives who survived these 40 years in the outside world.

Karp Lykov died on February 16, 1988; he died in a dream. Agafya Lykova still lives in the family home.

How scary you live in cities

Agafya was born into a family of Old Believers who left the people and authorities for the taiga in 1938. In the early 1980s, thanks to the journalist Vasily Peskov, the entire Union learned about the Lykovs. Now, if they do, it is rare. And Agafya is alive.

In 1961, Akulina dies of hunger. Agafya will say about her: "Mom is a true Christian, she was a firm believer."

The youngest Lykova was 17 years old when the hungry year came in the taiga: “Mom could not stand it on lean. It was no longer possible to go fishing - the water is large. They didn’t take care of the cattle, they couldn’t hunt. Badan root was pounded, lived on a rowan leaf. "

With whom to communicate, Agafya decides for herself: there were cases when a woman simply went into the taiga until the unpleasant guests left. And her character is not easy.

Agafya in the photographs of recent years is dressed the same: two scarves, a chintz dress, a black spatula - this is how she calls her coat. Smooths the dress with her hand - she sewed it on her arms three years ago:

The fabric is called "in cucumbers".

Today for Easter I want to sew a new one, the fabric is very beautiful. Previously, we lived our own: we spun, weaved. Sister Natalya taught me a lot, she was my godmother.

Agafya remembers well the names and details of what happened to her. In a conversation, he easily passes from the events of ten or twenty years ago to the present. He takes out the letter again.

They have been writing letters for the third year, but to come?

Agafya is expecting a married couple to visit, last year she even planted more potatoes, but no one came. Photos of palms and turquoise water fall out of the envelope. Agafya asks to read what is written on the back. “The country of Peru, the ocean, there are sea animals, both great and small. According to the commandment of the Fatherland, I do not partake of this ”.

Agafya Lykova received New Year's gifts

Old Believer hermit Agafya Lykova and her assistant monk Guria were given New Year's gifts.

A group of representatives of the state natural reserve "Khakassky", which included the advisor to the rector of the university of the Moscow Technological University (MIREA), on December 20 visited the taiga settlement of Agafya Lykova. The trip to the hermit was of a planned nature - at the request of Roscosmos, specialists monitored the situation in the area of ​​the protected area after the recent launch of the spacecraft from Baikonur.

The route of launching spacecraft into low-earth orbit passes, including over inaccessible territories Khakassia... It turned out that the space launch did not disturb the hermits.

In addition, the members of the expedition brought half a bag of fresh-frozen and un-gutted fish to the Taiga deadlock - on certain days of fasting it is allowed to eat it. It is noted that all the gifts were accepted " with humility and gratitude».

Tuleyev spoke about the first meeting with the hermit Agafya Lykova

“It was by accident - in 1997 I flew around the region and did not even understand what it was. Forever wild taiga, windbreak, impassable dead wood. On the one hand, there is simply a sheer cliff, a river runs, here is a hut - and a woman lives. She's so fragile. And it is surprising in her that she is so deeply a believer, such a real faith in her that it becomes somehow ashamed. She lives in nature, she even has an unusual voice, ”said Tuleyev.

“Well, you come up, she or hello to you, or move on. And so we went down in a helicopter, I crumple and stand - I'm serious! Then a short time passes, she comes up and gives me a handful of pine nuts. So, everyone, you like it, ”he said.

“It happens so, met - and she sunk into my soul. At first glance, a relationship was born, ”added Tuleyev.

He said that he often corresponded with Agafya Lykova, she sent him gifts.

“She writes letters to me, knitted a lot of socks from goat down, gave me an embroidered shirt. By the way, I put it on once - it's comfortable! And she did it herself with her own hands. Apparently, if you are good about the product that you are going to give, then this is transmitted to the person. Very comfortable village, as if it should be. In general, such good feelings, normal, kind, and I really admire her, ”he said.

Tuleyev gave a bouquet of roses and a scarf to the hermit Agafya Lykova by March 8

The governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, congratulated the taiga hermit Agafya Lykova on the women's holiday on March 8 with a bouquet of red roses and an elegant scarf, the regional administration told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

According to the authorities, on Tuesday a group of volunteers from the Moscow Technological University went to capture Lykova for the sixth time. On behalf of Tuleev, the expedition was accompanied by the head of the Tashtagol region, Vladimir Makuta, until the capture.

On behalf of Tuleev, the expedition was accompanied by the head of the Tashtagol region, Vladimir Makuta, until the capture.

According to him, recently Aman Tuleyev received a request from Agafya and her assistant monk Guria, who is with her with the blessing of the patriarch of the Old Believer Church, Cornelius. They asked Tuleyev to help with hay and feed for goats, bring wheat, cereals (millet, buckwheat, rice, pearl barley), flour, a frying pan, a ladle, rope, chains, rope and swivels, mousetraps, flashlights, batteries, salt, brooms and a broom , tops, glass jars, fruits.

“Makuta conveyed from Aman Tuleyev to Agafya Karpovna congratulations on the holiday of spring, a bouquet of roses, an elegant scarf and all the things she needed in the household. The hermit thanked the governor and said that she always prays for him and all residents of the Kemerovo region. Lykova also said that everything is in order at her farm, she praised Guria for her diligence and loyalty to the canons, ”the regional administration said.

As explained in the department, the purpose of the volunteers' trip is to help with the housework, and at the same time a new experience of communicating with a woman who shows an example of spiritual integrity, loyalty to the traditions of their ancestors, remains a unique carrier of Old Church Slavonic culture. The volunteers managed to find funds to charter a helicopter and get to the settlement. They will stay with the hermits until Saturday.