The happy life of Agafya Lykova (photo). Magical Altai (dock

"How scary you live in the cities"

Report from Agafya Lykova's lodge in the taiga

Vera Kostamo

“It’s impossible,” Agafya would say if she heard about our plans to get to her at the end of February along the taiga and the Abakan River. With her melodious manner of speaking, most likely due to the constant reading of prayers, the younger Lykova says “it’s impossible” in cases where what is happening does not correlate with her ideas about the world and rationality.

You can’t accept things that have a barcode as a gift, you can’t take pictures without permission, and much more is also impossible. How the most famous hermit in Russia lives today - in the report of RIA Novosti.

superfluous

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 remember, it is rare. And Agafya is alive.

In recent years, little has changed: he lives where the absurd rivers Erinat and Abakan meet, keeps goats, grows vegetables, and in autumn collects “cedar” cones, as Siberian pine is called here. Prays. For myself and for the whole world. From the nearest settlement, the village of Matur, to Agafya there are more than two hundred kilometers of taiga, snow and a river that has not completely covered the ice.

We have been preparing for a joint expedition with the Khakassky Reserve for a long time. Taiga didn't let go. It was not possible to reach Agafya. In summer, the Lykovs' lodge can be reached by boat in a couple of days. In winter it is a long hike on snowmobiles and hunting skis.

Rare snow falls - bad. They are swept along by the snowmobile-filled road along the river bed - the "buranka" - the only sign that there are people here. Everything urban: money, telephones, documents were left at the hotel. These things are not needed here. The further we go into the taiga, the more superfluous will have to be left in the huts.

Those who live and work in the taiga know Agafya.

— Are you visiting Karpovna? But we didn’t get to it, the road is “rotten”, there is a lot of ice - the watchman of one of the private tourist bases does not advise going up Abakan.

The river bristled with hummocks - this is blown downstream and frozen ice. The snowmobile circles them in an invisible curve. In places through clear water stones are visible. Here and there the river roars, steam rises over wide gullies.

Break through - that's what they say here. There is no road, it is possible to drive between broad-stemmed fir, cedar, birch and shrubs. The trail ends in a steep drop and the snowmobiles jump.

“In my old age, I jumped from such heights,” Leonid Alekseevich is indignant while he fixes the fastenings of the sled that were torn off after the jump.

Along the shore, a snowmobile walks heavily over the rocks.

- Agafya has a good memory, eight years later she remembered me. I was glad that I was from Altai, all her relatives are from there, - says Leonid. - We came - it was just the time to dig potatoes. The place for vegetables was still cleared by her aunt and brothers. There is a peculiar climate and conditions there.

Snow curls behind the Yamaha with fine prickly dust. Here, in the taiga, it is completely different. Tight as a hat rum baba, flying like powdered sugar, on a clear sunny day - striped from blue-black shadows.

There are many traces on it, because of this it seems that there are people somewhere nearby. Round, with a long stripe at the back - traces of deer. Large, dog-like - wolf. Smaller - a Siberian cat, a sable, passed.

Scary

- Well, suicide bombers, let's go, - Leonid Alekseevich is driving a snowmobile in a wide arc to gain desired speed and slip several tens of meters of ice. We go second and see how the ice sags under the previous car. We slipped through, hurrying and chasing the road that has not yet settled. The temperature cannot be determined and walks from minus thirty to plus two.

Once upon a time, the Lykov family went to the taiga along the same route: Karp, his wife Akulina, son Savin and daughter Natalya. Later Dmitry and Agafya will be born. The closer people came to their lodges, the further the family went deeper into the taiga. Almost rotten crowns of abandoned huts still stand along the banks of the Abakan River.

In 1961, Akulina dies of starvation. Agafya will say about her: “Mom is a true Christian, she was a strong believer.”

The youngest Lykova was 17 years old when a hungry year came in the taiga: “Mom couldn’t stand Lenten. It became impossible to fish - the water is big. They did not take care that there were cattle, they could not hunt. They crushed the badan root, they lived on the rowan leaf.

In 1981, all the children die in turn, except for Agafya. In 1988, Karp Osipovich "removed the tyatenko". Agafya remains alone.

Many times Agafya Karpovna will be offered to move closer to the people. To which she replies with her invariable “I can’t.” And he will say to us: "How terrible you live in cities." And from here, from the Siberian forests with their simple rules, it really seems: scary.

Another world

In the pocket of the jacket is a letter for Agafia from Bolivia, in one place the envelope is wet and the word “Amen” shines through. Stamps with bright pictures look against the backdrop of mountains, trees propping up the washed-out sky, and ice - as if from another world.

This same monochrome world has its own intonation. Your rhythm. Forested backs of mountains, behind them - char - peaks without vegetation. Sliding down, closer to the river, a scattering of stones - kuruma. Everything sounds different.

In two days we drive a little more than 170 kilometers and run into open water. Further, the path can be continued only on skis. We leave things, backpacks, warm equipment in one of the transitional huts, next to snowmobiles.

Riding on skis lined with horse skins (skin from an animal's shin. - Ed.) is a meditative activity. "Hrum-khrum" - snow crunches, right-left - legs move. And silence. Only occasionally the hazel grouse whistles, the water rustles on the rifts, the forest crackles.

Agafya

We notice Agafya right away, she walks along a frozen river with a bundle of firewood, then climbs 70 steps of a makeshift staircase up to her house. After 40 kilometers of skiing, deserted, this short woman going about her business seems unreal. It is difficult to guess how old Agafya is. She herself says that in April there will be 73. Even on the way, Sergey will say that she, like a child, believes everything. People are kind to her.

But with whom to communicate, Agafya decides for herself: there were cases when a woman simply went into the taiga until the unpleasant guests left. Yes, she has a difficult personality.

- Karpovna, hello! - Sergey often visits Agafya, last time in January I went skiing for ten hours to visit her.

Agafya smiles and examines us in turn. For her, the appearance of people at this time of the year is a surprise. In winter, only helicopters fly to the zaimka.

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The only surviving representative of the family of Old Believers, found by geologists in 1978 in the Western Sayan Mountains, Agafya Lykova showed her life to correspondents of MIA Rossiya Segodnya. Her loved ones have lived in isolation since 1937. For many years, hermits tried to protect the family from influence external environment especially with regard to faith. Now Agafya Lykova lives alone in the taiga.

She is leaning on two man-sized bales of hay that were recently dropped from the air for her goats. Later I will ask Agafya what will happen if people stop helping.

“There will be trouble,” the woman calmly answers.

Several houses were built on the Lykovs' estate. Closer to the river is a small hut where the former geologist Yerofei Sedov lived. Above, connected by one roof-canopy, two houses: one - Agafya, the second - her assistant Guria. We learned before the expedition that another person lives in the zaimka. For several years now, the Old Believer Church has been sending assistants to Agafya, but it’s hard to live here even together.

Letter

Agafya sits down on a bench and hurries to open the letter.

- How did they find you, that they write from Bolivia? I ask.

- Yes, everyone knows that the fortieth year since we were found. When people came, I was 34 years old. So the people were good. First, they were scared when they arrived. We already knew that people saw the arable land from a helicopter, two weeks had passed, and they came.

On the second of June they prayed, and I was just looking - someone was running under the windows. She told everyone: "We have a bad business."

— Is it a sable or not? Something unfamiliar, and these were dogs. I didn't see them. Tyatya would have known right away. They brought canned food and bread, but we refused it. In the morning the next day they came, brought fishing hooks, table salt - we didn’t really, - recalls Agafya.

So the Lykovs met geologists, walked about 16 kilometers to visit them.

- The whole family went with overnight stays, they will put up a tent for us with an iron stove. We prayed openly. We will bring them potatoes, nuts, and they will give us shovels, axes, nails, material - red satin. We sewed shirts from it, sundresses, it was beautiful.

Agafya in photos recent years dressed in the same way: two scarves, a chintz dress, a black spatula - that's what she calls her coat. She smoothes the dress with her hand - she sewed it on her hands three years ago:

- The fabric "in cucumbers" is called.

- Today for Easter I want to sew a new one, the fabric is somehow beautiful. We used to live by our own: we spun, weaved. My sister Natalya taught me a lot, she was my godmother.

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

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

Agafya is waiting married couple to visit, last year I even planted more potatoes, but no one came. Photographs of palm trees 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 marine animals here, both great and small. I do not eat anything from this according to the commandment of the Father.

Agaf'in bread

- You come to Agafya, and she immediately shares everything that she has. If it's autumn, then it will bring vegetables, summer - fish, now I've given potatoes for dinner, - says Sergey.

Agafya’s bread turns out to be heavy, dense and real: “If you make a thick dough, it will rise, ferment something, lay it out, leave it a little.”

It is not easy to write a detailed story while on an expedition, and even with slow cellular Internet access. I would like to tell more about Agafya, but already now I have to prepare for tomorrow's trip to Tyva, to the Ubsunur Hollow Nature Reserve. Therefore, I will now outline the outline, and the details - upon my return from the expedition.

The Lykov family of Old Believers left for the Sayan taiga in 1938 and hid from civilization for forty years. In 1978, the Lykovs met with geologists and gradually began to contact people. The journalist of Komsomolskaya Pravda Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov told the wide world about the Lykovs. For three decades in Komsomolskaya Pravda he talked about the life of hermits. Here you can download his documentary story "Taiga Dead End".

Now Agafya is the only survivor from the family. She is 68 years old.

Since 2001, the surroundings of the Lykovs' estate have become one of the sites of the Khakassky nature reserve by the decision of the Russian Government. Reserve inspectors regularly visit taiga hermits. At the beginning of summer, they helped to sow a garden, now they are preparing firewood for the winter. My wife Laura and I managed to participate in the next labor landing with the inspectors of the reserve Sergey Khlebnikov and Alexander Oskin.

We got from Abaza along mountain river Abakan for two days: first on an inspection hovercraft, and then on a wooden boat with a motor, to the very upper reaches of the river. The last kilometers, to the mouth of Erinat, where the lodge is located, we walked on foot under backpacks.

First, along the shore of Erinat, we approached the hut of Yerofey Sazontievich Sedov, a former geologist, drilling master, who at one time took an active part in the fate of the Lykov family. Having lost his leg sixteen years ago, he settled near Lykova.

Agafya Karpovna was caught praying. She forbade us to work on this day - on August 2, the Church honors the prophet Elijah. She didn’t eat anything from the food we brought, but she sat with us and had a good talk. Received gifts - rubber boots, socks, dry and fresh fruits. I checked everything meticulously so that there was no barcode. Found the barcode on the matches and returned them back. It turns out that until now she produces fire in an ancient way, with the help of tinder and flint.

AT summer time the hermit does not live in a hut, but in this booth among the beds, sleeps on a matting laid on the ground, covering herself with a blanket.

We spent most of the next day arranging firewood and weeding the gardens.

Agafya Karpovna has a special friendship with the district inspector of the reserve Sergey Fedorovich Khlebnikov. She gave him a handmade belt as a keepsake.

When we left for the boat left down the river, the hostess tried to hand us a bag of potatoes. I had to take some potatoes. In the picture, next to the hermit, my fellow countryman, inspector of the Khakass reserve Alexander Mikhailovich Oskin.

We managed to spend only twenty hours at the lodge, and this short time gave food for many thoughts about the distant and recent past, about the meaning of life, about the strength of the human spirit, about faith. No, I did not feel that Agafya Karpovna's life was a dead end in the taiga.

This was told by the hostess of the zaimka to specialists who examined the soil and water of the territory after the launch of the rocket from Baikonur.

The information was also confirmed in the Khakassky nature reserve, to which this hard-to-reach area belongs. There is no direct connection between the inhabitants of the zaimka and the Khakassky nature reserve. Therefore, while the details are at least - specialists of the reserve have already left for the zaimka. They will be joined by the police officers of the Tashtyp district, which serves the station. As soon as everyone at the lodge is examined, the hermit is questioned, the police will already give some more detailed information.

He lacked communication

But, most likely, there is no crime in the death of a hermit - Erofei Sazontievich Sedov was under 80 years old. Living conditions - taiga.

He worked as a master driller in the expedition of geologists who discovered the Lykov family, and then took patronage over it. After his leg was taken away due to developed gangrene, Sedov moved to Agafya's estate. It was about twenty years ago. As he confessed to reporters:

I'm used to living in the taiga. I feel at home here...

The small hut of Yerofey is located 100 meters from Agafya's house. Sedov's housing is at the foot of the mountain, at Lykova's - at the top. This distance, inaccessible to Yerofey (well, where will he jump on his prosthesis along a steep path?) Agafya easily overcame.

Sedov's son, who lives in Tashtagol (Kemerovo region), presented him with a radio receiver - the only entertainment in the Lykovs' estate. Sometimes Agafya came to listen to the latest news. Erofey explained what she did not understand.

From time to time his son came to Yerofey. Recall that you can get there only by helicopter or by boat on the river.

All visitors were greeted by both. Agafya brushed aside the newspapers she brought, but Yerofey rejoiced. At the same time, he asked:

What newspaper are you from?

From Komsomolskaya Pravda.

This is the best newspaper ever! I have been reading it since I was young.

As colleagues from other publications said, he met everyone with a declaration of love to their newspaper.

He, of course, lacked communication. And he tried to interest his interlocutors in something, who were more interested in Agafya's life, and not him.

Life will show what use the landlady of Sedova will find for housing. Maybe someone would like to brighten up the life of a taiga hermit who recent times asks for an assistant.

"Last time I saw my father in great post he looked tired"

We got through to the son of Erofei Sedov, Nikolai Erofeevich. He said that his father had an “extreme” (for some reason he deliberately avoided the word “last”) time before Easter.

Went just Holy Week- says Nikolai Sedov. The father looked very tired. He and Agafya Karpovna kept all the fasts. And not like many modern people do fast for diet. They did everything according to the canons, strictly. But he didn't get sick. They didn’t talk about anything special, just about the affairs of life. I was informed of his death five days ago. They said that everything happened on April 20, according to the old style. And according to the new, therefore, May 3. As soon as people appeared in the settlement area, Agafya Karpovna informed them about it. They have already reported further. I can’t say what happened there, my father was still advanced in age. Agafya Karpovna buried him herself. She did everything right. The man died, and it's warm outside. Was it really necessary to wait for the body to arrive? It is the duty of any person when people live at a distance: someone died, to bury him. As soon as the opportunity arises (the distance, as you understand, is large), I will definitely go to my father's grave.

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In the afternoon at the Lykovs' lodge, where the humanitarian cargo for Agafya arrived, it was -2 °C. Winter in the Western Sayan, in the very "taiga dead end" where the hermit lives, turned out to be warm. Crystal-white snow, impenetrable taiga hiding a hermit's hut on the bank of the Yerenat River, and… silence, which was suddenly broken by the rumble of helicopter propellers. This is MI-8 EMERCOM of Russia brought Agafya Karpovna a gift "with mainland”200 kilograms ... The package contains feed for livestock, medicines and provisions. ()

Agafya Lykova: “A big and great petition to you ...”

The other day, Vladimir Pavlovsky, editor of the Krasnoyarsky Rabochiy newspaper, received a letter with such a strange return address: “The Erinat River, a monastery in the name of Holy Mother of God Three-handed". It turned out this famous hermit 68-year-old Agafya Lykova (she lives in Khakassia, the nearest village of Mrassu is 120 km from the impassable taiga) with an "opportunity" handed over a letter to her longtime friend, who had visited her in the taiga more than once. ()

“Agafya Lykova only exclaimed “oh-oh-oh-oh” when she saw Vasily Peskov!”

It was Vasily Peskov who told the world about unique family Old Believers Lykovs who hid from civilization in the Sayan taiga in 1938. For the first time, Vasily Mikhailovich came to Agafya in 1982 and since then he has not forgotten his heroes, he often visited, always with gifts, delicacies, and medicines. His documentary story The Taiga Dead End about the life of the Khakass Robinsons enjoyed crazy popularity, was republished, and was translated into several languages. ()

There was a man who was ready to go to the "taiga dead end" to save Agafya Lykova The words "Taiga dead end" need no explanation. Few people who read newspapers do not know that we are talking about the fate of the Lykovs. For the first time about the taiga "find" of geologists " TVNZ' said in 1982. Interest in a small documentary story was huge. Still, it was about a family that had lived in isolation from people for more than thirty years. And not somewhere in the south, but in Siberia, in the taiga. Everything was interesting - the circumstances that led to the exceptional “Robinsonade”, diligence, the solidarity of people in the struggle for existence, resourcefulness and skill, and, of course, religious faith, which caused a dead end in life, but also served as a support for people in extraordinary, exceptional circumstances. It was not easy in 1982 to collect information about everything that happened. Something was not agreed, the Lykovs simply preferred to remain silent about something, still not fully trusting people from the “world”, something in the confused inconsistent story was simply difficult to understand. And how can you verify what you hear? I had to ask in detail the geologists, who already knew the Lykovs well, to compare, compare. It was even more difficult to publish the narrative. 1982 There was no voice. How to tell in a youth newspaper about the hermits of the Old Believers, without falling into "anti-religious revelations"? The only true thing was, by showing the drama of people, to admire their resilience, to evoke a feeling of compassion and mercy. So the story of the Lykovs is set out ().

After a letter from the hermit with a request for help appeared in the press, a 37-year-old man called the reserve and said that he was ready to come to the zaimka. It’s not so easy to find an assistant, he must also be of the same faith with Agafya, otherwise they definitely won’t get along together. Zaimka Lykova is not just a castle, but practically a monastery, where she is her own mistress. ()

Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov. Taiga dead end

The words "Taiga dead end" need no explanation. Few people who read newspapers do not know that we are talking about the fate of the Lykovs. For the first time, Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke about the taiga “find” of geologists in 1982. Interest in a small documentary story was huge. Still, it was about a family that had lived in isolation from people for more than thirty years. And not somewhere in the south, but in Siberia, in the taiga. Everything was interesting - the circumstances that led to the exceptional “Robinsonade”, diligence, the solidarity of people in the struggle for existence, resourcefulness and skill, and, of course, religious faith, which caused a dead end in life, but also served as a support for people in extraordinary, exceptional circumstances.

It was not easy in 1982 to collect information about everything that happened. Something was not agreed, the Lykovs simply preferred to remain silent about something, still not fully trusting people from the “world”, something in the confused inconsistent story was simply difficult to understand. And how can you verify what you hear? I had to ask in detail the geologists, who already knew the Lykovs well, to compare, compare.

In Russia, the study and development of the taiga area is practically not progressing, which is why these forests are still becoming the place where it is easy to get lost. However, the conditions for survival in the taiga are difficult, despite this, some people manage to survive in such difficult conditions. At the end of the 70s. in the summer, helicopter pilots noticed the cultivated land. This was immediately reported, and geologists came to this place, which is located about 250 kilometers from the population point. It turns out that a family of hermits, the Lykovs, lived in this area. According to the latest news in 2018, Agafya Lykova, the only survivor from the family, still lives in the taiga.

Agafya comes from a family of Old Believers who had to flee to the taiga due to religious persecution. Since the 30s. of the last century, the Lykovs lived far from settlements and were isolated from other people. After the Second World War, they began to live near the tributary of the Abakan, and did not move anywhere else.

She lived with her parents, two brothers and a sister.

Her mother died in the early 60s. About this unusual family became known in the late 70s, at that time there were 5 Lykovs. In the autumn of 1981, brother Dmitry died, in the winter - Savin, Agafya's second brother, later his sister died.

After that, for 7 years, Agafya and her father lived together, in the late 80s. he died. When the only representative of the family was left alone, she tried to get in touch with her relatives, but this was unsuccessful.

In 1990 she began to live in convent, however, this did not last long - she had differences with the worldview of the nuns, and she returned back.

Since then, Agafya has been living in a castle without leaving. She received travelers, representatives of religious communities and writers. Sometimes she asked for help from local authorities. The necessary things were delivered to her more than once, doctors examined her and prescribed treatment. In 2011, she was joined to the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church.

Life

When the Lykovs were found by geologists, the family of hermits was presented with various devices that could be useful in the taiga. However, not all things were accepted, the Old Believers refused some of the gifts. This number included canned food and bakery products. However, the family was unspeakably happy with the simple salt. While they were isolated from the world, they did not see salt, and, according to the family, it was very difficult to live like that.

The family was examined medical workers, they were surprised at the good health indicators of each of the family members. However, after being visited by strangers, they became more susceptible to various ailments, since their the immune system was not resistant to such pathologies, which in modern world treated elementarily.

The hermits ate homemade bread, which was made from wheat and dried potatoes, it also contained pine nuts, as well as various herbs, taiga berries, and mushrooms. Rarely enough they ate fish, there was no meat on the table at all.

However, when Agafya's brother Dmitry grew up, he began to hunt. It should be noted that he had no weapons, no spears, let alone firearms. He tried to drive the game into pre-set traps, or pursued the animal until the game got tired. He could move for several days in a row and still not get tired.

All family members had excellent endurance, they loved to work, were strong and healthy.

The researchers observed the life of hermits. They concluded that the family's economy is conducted in exactly the same way as was conducted by the peasants, who can be considered exemplary.

The Lykovs had different varieties of seeds for planting, which were of the best quality, they prepared the ground in advance before planting a crop, they knew how to distribute crops relative to sunlight.

Despite the difficult conditions, they rarely got sick. Before the cold came, they went without shoes, and in winter period they made shoes from birch bark, then they made cords.

Hermits used herbs collected in advance as medicines. Such herbal medicine helped them to recover and prevent the development of the disease. They were constantly fighting for their lives. When Agafya was forty years old, she could climb trees and collect cones, she could walk long distances and not get tired.

Thanks to the mother, all family members are literate and can read and write. Agafya remembers prayers by heart. This person has a strong-willed character and simultaneous openness and kindness.

Their lives changed after the public found out about them. They were asked to move to the nearest locality, however, the family refused, nevertheless, they were visiting geologists. So for the first time they saw how humanity has advanced in terms of technology, including construction. They were surprised at how quickly they can get things done with today's tools.

They accepted some of the items, as well as clothes, a lantern, and crockery. Watching TV did not cause them delight, they began to pray after watching. Most of their lives they prayed, celebrated various church holidays.

According to the latest news and research, Agafya Lykova lost her family due to contact with civilization and the transmission of viruses to which the family had no immunity.

Fame

Biography of Agafya Lykova in breaking news 2018 is often mentioned. AT modern history there are no more such fates. After Agafya was left alone, she was offered many times to move to another place, to live next to people, but in her opinion, the forest is calmer for both soul and body.

At the moment, expeditions visit her, they constantly interfere in her personal life, imposing their help. She does not want to be filmed or photographed, but little is heard of her words.

5 years ago it became very difficult for her to live alone in the taiga. Then she asked for help. She receives food and medicine regularly. They also helped her with firewood, home repairs, and so on.

At one time she lived next to a geologist, whose house was 0.1 km from her. She often went to the geologist to help, but he died in 2015, and Agafya was again alone in the impenetrable taiga.

The famous hermit Agafya Karpovna Lykova, who lives in a zaimka 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 around 1899) with his wife Akulina Karpovna and their children: Savin (born around 1926), Natalia (born around 1936), Dimitri (born around 1940) and Agafya (b. 1945).

In 1923, the Old Believer settlement was destroyed and several families moved further into the mountains. Around 1937, Lykov with his wife and two children left the community, settled separately in a remote place, but lived without hiding. In the autumn of 1945, a patrol came out to their home 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 mined at home. Having no contacts 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 with regard to faith. Thanks to their mother, the Lykov children were literate. Despite such a long isolation, the Lykovs did not lose track of time, they performed home worship.

By the time geologists discovered the 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). Currently from that big family only the youngest, Agafya, remained. In 1981, Savvin, Dimitry and Natalya died one after another, and in 1988 Karp Osipovich passed away.

Publications in national newspapers made the Lykov family widely known. Their relatives showed up 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. Her departure to the monastery did not work either - discrepancies in doctrine with nuns were discovered. A few years ago, the former geologist Yerofey 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 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 began to leave her strength due to age and illness, she does not want to leave the castle.

A few years ago, Lykova was taken by helicopter to receive treatment on the waters of the Goryachiy Klyuch spring, she twice went by rail to see distant relatives, and even was treated in the city hospital. She boldly uses hitherto unknown measuring instruments (thermometer, clock).

Agafya greets each new day with a prayer and goes to bed with her every day.

Vasily Peskov, journalist and writer, dedicated his book “Taiga Dead End” to the Lykov family

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

The shelter of the Lykovs is a canyon of the upper reaches of the Abakan River in the Sayans, next to Tuva. The place is hard to reach, wild - steep mountains covered with forest, and between them a river. They were engaged in hunting, fishing, gathering mushrooms, berries and nuts in the taiga. A garden was bred where barley, wheat and vegetables were grown. They were engaged in hemp spinning and weaving, providing themselves with clothes. The Lykovs' garden could become a role model for a different modern economy. Located on the slope of the mountain at an angle of 40-50 degrees, it went up 300 meters. Dividing the site into lower, middle and upper, the Lykovs placed cultures taking into account their biological characteristics. The fractional sowing allowed them to better preserve the crop. There were absolutely no diseases of agricultural crops. To save 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 carefully prepared. Three weeks before planting, potato tubers were laid in a thin layer indoors on piles. A fire was built under the floor, heating up the boulders. And the stones, giving off heat, evenly and for a long time heated the seed material. Seeds were 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 dates were chosen optimal for the local climate. Despite the fact that for fifty years the Lykovs planted the same potato variety, it did not degenerate among them. The content of starch and dry matter was much higher than in most modern varieties. Neither the tubers nor the plants contained any virus or any other infection at all. Knowing nothing about nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the Lykovs nevertheless applied fertilizers according to advanced agronomic science: "all kinds of rubbish" from cones, grass and leaves, that is, nitrogen-rich composts, went under hemp and all spring crops. Under turnips, beets, potatoes, ash was added - a source of potassium necessary for root crops. Diligence, common sense, knowledge of the taiga, allowed the family to provide themselves with everything necessary. Moreover, it was a food rich not only in proteins, but also in vitamins.

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

It should be noted that the case of the Lykovs is by no means unique. This family became widely known to the outside world only because it itself made contact with people, and, by chance, came to the attention of journalists from the central Soviet newspapers. AT Siberian taiga there are secret monasteries, sketes and hiding places where people live, according to their religious beliefs, who deliberately cut off all contact with the outside world. There is also a large number of remote villages and farms, whose inhabitants 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 sense of "chapels" and were not religious radicals, similar to the sense of wandering runners, who made complete withdrawal from the world part of their religious doctrine. It’s just that the solid Siberian men, at the dawn of industrialization in Russia, understood what everything was leading to and decided not to be sacrificed in the name of no one knows whose interests. Recall that at that time, while the Lykovs were living at the very least from turnips to cedar cones, collectivization, mass repressions of the 30s, mobilization, war, occupation of part of the territory, restoration of the "national" economy, repressions of the 50s, went through bloody waves in Russia, so the so-called enlargement of collective farms (read - the destruction of small remote villages - how! After all, everyone should live under the supervision of their superiors). According to some estimates, during this period, the population of Russia decreased by 35 - 40%! The Lykovs did not do without losses either, but they lived freely, with dignity, masters of their own, on a plot of taiga 15 square kilometers in size. 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 reaching out to us from space.

What is not discussed. How to negotiate with them? Will our immunity work against unknown diseases? Will diverse 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 collapsed on the primitive reality of taiga hermits. And what? We didn't accept them. spiritual world. We have not protected them from our diseases. We have failed to understand their vital foundations. And we destroyed their already established civilization, which we did not understand and did not accept.

The first reports about the discovery in the inaccessible region of the Western Sayan of a family that had lived without any connection with the outside world for more than forty years appeared in print in 1980, first in the first newspaper Socialist Industry, then in Krasnoyarsk Rabochy. And then already 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 - Natalya and Agafya. Their last name is the 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 and condescending attitude of Soviet journalism, which dubbed amazing life Russian family in the forest solitude "taiga dead end". Expressing approval of Lykov in particular, Soviet journalists assessed the whole life of the family categorically and unambiguously:

- “life and life are wretched to the extreme, a story about current life and about major events in it they listened like Martians”;

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

- “The younger Lykovs did not have the precious opportunity for a person to communicate with their own kind, did not know love, could not continue their family. Blame it all - a fanatical dark faith in a force that lies beyond 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 arouse sympathy” not stated in these publications, the Soviet press, assessing the life of the Lykovs as a whole, called it “a complete mistake”, “almost a 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 at the fact that the Lykovs, over the years of forest life, have so lagged behind our correct and advanced life that they cannot be attributed to civilization in general.

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

Journalists wrote about the Lykovs as fanatics of the faith - and it was not only not customary for the Lykovs to teach others, but even to speak badly of them. (Let's note in brackets that some of Agafia's words, in order to give greater credibility to some journalistic reasoning, were invented by the journalists themselves.)

In fairness, it must be said: not everyone shared this given point view of the party press. There were also those who wrote about the Lykovs differently - with respect for their spiritual strength, for their feat of life. They wrote, but very little, because the newspapers made it impossible to defend the name and honor of the Russian Lykov family from accusations of darkness, ignorance, 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 Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Anesthesiology of the Krasnoyarsk Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education, Professor I.P. Nazarov and the head physician of the 20th hospital of Krasnoyarsk V. Golovin. Already then, in October 1980, Cherepanov asked the regional authorities to introduce a complete ban on visits to the Lykovs by random people, assuming, based on acquaintance with medical literature, that such visits could threaten the life of the Lykovs. 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 made of 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 grade in comparison with themselves. But then it turned out how they “got away if they look at us as weak people who need to be taken care of. After all, “to save” literally means “to help”. I then asked Professor Nazarov: “Igor Pavlovich, maybe you are happier than me and have seen this in our lives? When would you come to the boss, and he, leaving the table and shaking your hand, asked how I could be of help to you?

He laughed and said that with us such a question would be interpreted incorrectly, that is, there was a suspicion that they wanted to meet halfway in some way out of some kind 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 than the Lykovs. Naturally, it was worth wondering who else they meet like that - 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 for the Lykovs, the Motherland begins with the neighbor. A man came - and the Motherland begins with him. Not from the primer, not from the street, not from the house - but from the one who came. Once he came, it means that he turned out to be near. And how can you not do him a favor.

This is what immediately divided us. And we understood: yes, indeed, the Lykovs have a semi-subsistence or even subsistence economy, but the moral potential turned out to be, or rather remained, very high. We have lost him. According to the Lykovs, one can see with one's own eyes what side results we have acquired in the struggle for technical achievements after 1917. After all, the most important thing for us is the highest productivity. Here we also 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 the branches did not tear, pants no worse than these shirts, stew, condensed milk, lard - anything. But it turned out that the Lykovs were superior to us morally, and this immediately predetermined our entire relationship with the Lykovs. This watershed has passed, regardless of whether we wanted to reckon with it or not.

We were not the first to come to the Lykovs. Since 1978, many have met with them, and when Karp Iosifovich, by some gesture, determined that I was the eldest in the group of “laity”, he took me aside and asked: “Won’t you take yours, as they say , wife, fur on the collar? Of course, I immediately opposed, which surprised Karp Iosifovich very much, because he was used to the fact that visitors took furs from him. I told Professor Nazarov about this incident. He, of course, replied that, they say, this should not be in our relations. From that moment on, we began to separate ourselves from other visitors. If we came and did something, then only "for so". 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 we seem to be from the same civilization, but we don’t smoke or drink. And in addition - we do not take sables. And then we worked hard, helping the Lykovs with the housework: sawing stumps to the ground, chopping firewood, blocking the roof of the house where Savvin and Dmitry lived. And we thought we were doing a very good job. But all the same, after some time, on our other visit, Agafya, 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 sweated ourselves afterward.” And then we realized: we forgot how to work. After the Lykovs came to this conclusion, they already treated us condescendingly.

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

Then, the Lykovs had a piece of land, hence their independence. They met us without fawning or turning up their noses - on an equal footing. Because they did not have to win someone's favor, recognition or praise. Everything they needed, they could take from their patch of land, or from the taiga, or from the river. Many of the tools were made by them themselves. Although they did not meet some 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 meet such people anymore - we all leveled out. And the difference between us, representatives of modern civilization and pre-revolutionary, Lykovian, one way or another had to come out, one way or another characterizing both the Lykovs and us. I do not reproach journalists - Yuri Sventitsky, Nikolai Zhuravlev, Vasily Peskov, because, you see, they did not try to tell truthfully and without prejudice about the Lykovs. Since they considered the Lykovs victims of themselves, victims of faith, these journalists themselves should be recognized as victims of our 70 years. Such was our morality: everything that benefits the revolution is right. We did not even think about an individual person, we are used to judging everyone from class positions. And Yury Sventitsky immediately “saw through” the Lykovs. He called Karp Iosifovich a deserter, called him a parasite, but there is no evidence. Well, the reader did not know anything about desertion, but what about “parasitism”? How could the Lykovs parasitize away from people, how could they profit at someone else's expense?

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

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

Let's take a piece of their life in Tishi, on the Bolshoy Abakan River, before collectivization. In the 1920s, it was a settlement "in one estate", where the Lykov family 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 households grew out of the Lykovsky repair. Those who settled down with the Lykovs, of course, told what was happening in the world, they all sought salvation from new government. In 1929, a certain Konstantin Kukolnikov appeared in the Lykovo village with the order 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 an artel, because they were accustomed to an independent life and had heard a lot about what was in store for them, they gathered and left all together: three brothers - Stepan, Karp Iosifovich and Evdokim, their father, mother and the one who performed their service, 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 Bolshoi Abakan River and found shelter there. They did not live in secret, but appeared in Tishi to buy threads for knitting nets; Together with the Tishins, they set up a hospital on the Hot Key. 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 Lykovsky upper reaches of the Big Abakan, their children were born.

In 1932 formed Altai Reserve, the border of which covered not only Altai, but also part Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Lykovs who settled there ended up in this part. They were given demands: you can not shoot, fish and plow the land. They had to get out of there. In 1935, the Lykovs went to the Altai to their relatives and lived first on the Tropins' “vater”, 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, Evdokim was shot dead by rangers. Then the Lykovs went to Eri-nat. And from that time began for them to go through torments. The border guards frightened them away, and they went down the Bolshoy Abakan to Scheks, cut down a hut there, soon another one (on Soksu), more distant from the coast, and lived on pasture ...

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

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 diligence of the Lykovs, but also by their remarkable mind. In 1988, who visited them, Ph.D. agricultural sciences V. Shadursky, Associate Professor of the Ishim Pedagogical Institute and Ph.D. of Agricultural Sciences, a researcher at the Research Institute of Potato Farming, O. Poletaeva, was surprised by many things. It is worth citing some facts that scientists have paid attention to.

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

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

Seeds were 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 dates were chosen optimal for the local climate.

Despite the fact that for fifty years the Lykovs planted the same potato variety, it did not degenerate among them. The content of starch and dry matter was much higher than in most modern varieties. Neither the tubers nor the plants contained any virus or any other infection at all.

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

“Industriousness, sharpness, knowledge of the laws of the taiga,” scientists summarized, “allowed the family to provide themselves with everything necessary. Moreover, it was a food rich not only in proteins, but also in vitamins.

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

The next Kazan expedition noticed a linguistic phenomenon among the Lykovs - the neighborhood in one family of two dialects: the North Great Russian dialect of Karp Iosifovich and the South Great Russian dialect (Akanya) inherent in Agafya. Agafya also remembered poems about the ruin of the Olonevsky skete, which was the largest in the Nizhny Novgorod region. “There is no price for genuine evidence of the destruction of a large Old Believer nest,” said A.S. 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 philologists on the fact of Lykov 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 before them.

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

He says that there is a clear connection between the Lykovs' illnesses, the so-called "colds" and their contacts with other people. He explains this by the fact that the Lykov 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 due to weakened immunity is evidenced by the death in 1981 of her brothers and sisters.

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

All this is true. But was the situation really 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 without any health consequences. No, not in the usual cooling of the body main reason their deaths, but ... that shortly before the illness, the family again visited the geologists in the village. When they returned, they all fell ill: cough, runny nose, sore throat, chills. But it was necessary to dig potatoes. And in general, the usual thing for them turned out for three deadly disease because already sick people were subjected to hypothermia.

And Karp Iosifovich, Professor Nazarov believes, contrary to the assertions of V. Peskov, did not die from senility, although he really was already 87 years old. “Suspicious that a doctor with 30 years of experience could lose sight of the age of the patient, Vasily Mikhailovich leaves out of his reasoning the fact that Agafya was the first to fall ill after another visit to the village. When she returned, she lay down. The next day, Karp Iosifovich fell ill. And he died a week later. Agafya was ill for another month. But before I left, I left her the pills and explained how to take them. Luckily, she figured it out for sure. 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 long time did not move and was discouraged. Together with the Krasnoyarsk traumatologist V. Timoshkov, we applied conservative treatment and put a plaster cast on. But to be honest, I didn't expect him to pull through. And a month later, in response to my question about how I felt, Karp Iosifovich took a stick and left the hut. Moreover, he began to work on the farm. It was a real miracle. At the age of 85, a man's 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 claimed that the Lykovs could have been ruined by the “prolonged stress” that they experienced due to the fact that meeting with people allegedly gave rise to many painful questions, disputes and strife in the family. “Speaking of this,” says Professor Nazarov, “Vasily Mikhailovich repeats the well-known truth that stress can depress immunity ... But he forgets that stress cannot be long-term, 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.

By the way, we note 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 it, he stayed with the Lykovs for another two days to follow up on their state.

Hard to understand modern man the motives of a concentrated suffering life, a life of faith. We judge everything hastily, with labels, as judges for everyone. One of the journalists even calculated how little the Lykovs saw in life, having settled in a patch of only 15x15 kilometers in the taiga; that they did not even know that there is Antarctica, that the Earth is a sphere. 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 knowledge that is vital for a person. But what is necessary in life is mandatory, 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 a personal fate.

The eminent journalist reproached the Lykovs for not even knowing that “except for Nikon and Peter I, it turns out that the great people Galileo, Columbus, Lenin lived on earth ...” He even allowed himself to assert that because of that "they did not know this, the Lykovs had a sense of the Motherland with a grain."

But after all, the Lykovs did not 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 an impasse 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 please, to please ... On the contrary, his personality opens up, flourishes. Look at the face of Agafya - this is the face of a happy, balanced spiritual person who is in harmony with the foundations of his secluded taiga life. O. Mandelstam concluded that "double being is an absolute fact of our life." Having heard the story about the Lykovs, the reader has the right to doubt: yes, the fact is very common, but not absolute. And the history of the Lykovs proves this to us. Mandelstam learned this and resigned himself, we with our civilization know this and resign ourselves, but the Lykovs found out and did not reconcile. They did not want to live against their conscience, they did not want to live double life. But the commitment to truth, conscience - this is the true spirituality, which we all kind of bake out loud. “The Lykovs left to live on their report, they left for a feat of piety,” says Lev Cherepanov, and it’s hard to disagree with him.

We see in the Lykovs features and genuine Russianness, what Russians have always made Russians and what we all lack now: the desire for truth, the desire for freedom, for the free 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 cannot be a spacious 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 ill-considered intruding into the reality that we did not understand, we destroyed it. Normal contact with the "aliens of the taiga" did not take place - the deplorable results are obvious.

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

Maybe with genuine aliens...

Hut of the Lykovs. They lived there for thirty-two years.

Magic Altai

Gorny Altai is a magical country. Among the esotericists of the whole world, this region is known for its amazing energy, "places of power", fantastic opportunities to communicate with inanimate nature. It was here that the Old Believers aspired. Here they live to this day. It turns out that the famous hermit Agafya Lykova is not at all as lonely as many used to think.

The expedition of the television company "Unknown Planet" visited the villages of the Old Believers, who even today live without electricity, money, or documents. Sometimes to them from big cities new wanderers come to the eternal settlement - in search of another meaning of life, in an attempt to gain a new faith. Listen to these people, they are rarely so frank with the laity. Altai is considered one of the oldest places of human settlement. Here they find strange stone structures (megaliths) with mysterious inscriptions and drawings. They are as old as the shamanistic traditions of Altai. Watch how the modern keepers of the secret teachings chant today, listen to the magical throat singing.