Where and how does Agafya Lykova live now? Biography of a Siberian hermit. “Taiga dead end”: how the Lykov family managed to live in isolation for so long

Alexander 5 months ago

It’s not her, it’s us who should be pitied.
Allow me to “repost” another one here good article about the Old Believers:
OLD BELIEVERS (eyewitness account) 🍂

Last year, fate brought me to Lake Baikal from Buryatia. I am a hydrographer, and we worked on the Barguzin River. Almost untouched nature, cleanest air, good simple people– everything was delightful. But what struck me most of all were the “Semeyskie” settlements there. At first we couldn’t understand what it was. Then they explained to us that these were Old Believers. The Semeys live in separate villages and have very strict customs. Women to this day wear sundresses down to their toes, and men wear blouses. These are very calm and friendly people, but they behave in such a way that you won’t bother with them again. They won’t just chat, we’ve never seen anything like that. These are very hard-working people, they never sit idle.

At first it was kind of annoying, but then we got used to it. And later we noticed that they were all healthy and beautiful, even the old people. Our work took place right on the territory of their village, and in order to disturb the residents as little as possible, we were given one grandfather, Vasily Stepanovich, to help us. He helped us take measurements - it was very convenient for both us and the residents. Over the course of a month and a half of work, we became friends with him, and my grandfather told us a lot of interesting things, and showed us too. Of course, we also talked about health. Stepanich repeated more than once that ALL DISEASES CAN COME AWAY. One day I confronted him and demanded that he explain what he meant by this. And he answered this: “Let's take you five men. I can tell you what you think just by the smell of your socks!” We became interested, and then Stepanych simply stunned us.

He said that if a person’s feet smell strongly, then his strongest feeling is the desire to put off all things until later, to do them tomorrow or even later. He also said that men, especially modern men, are lazier than women, and therefore their feet smell stronger. And he added that there is no need to explain anything to him, but it is better to answer honestly for yourself whether this is true or not. This is how, it turns out, thoughts influence a person, and their legs too! My grandfather also said that if old people’s feet begin to smell, it means that a lot of garbage has accumulated in the body and they should fast or strictly fast for six months. We began to torture Stepanych, and how old was he? He kept denying it, and then he said: “That’s how much you give, that’s what it will be.” We started thinking and decided that he was 58-60 years old. Much later we learned that he was 118 years old and that it was for this reason that he was assigned to help us!

It turned out that all Old Believers are healthy people, they do not go to doctors and treat themselves. They know a special abdominal massage, and everyone does it to themselves. And if an illness develops, then the person, together with his loved ones, figures out what thought or what feeling, what action could have caused the illness. That is, he is trying to understand what is wrong in his life. Then he begins to fast, pray, and only then drinks herbs, infusions, and is treated with natural substances. Old Believers understand that all the causes of illness are in a person’s head. FOR THIS REASON, THEY REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THE RADIO OR WATCH TV, BELIEVING THAT SUCH DEVICES CLUT THE HEAD AND MAKE A PERSON A SLAVE: BECAUSE OF THESE DEVICES, A PERSON STOPS THINKING FOR HIMSELF. They consider their own life to be their greatest value.

The whole family way of life made me reconsider many of my views on life. They don’t ask anyone for anything, but live well, with abundance. Each person's face glows, expressing dignity, but not pride. These people do not offend or insult anyone, no one swears, they do not make fun of anyone, they do not gloat. Everything works, from small to large. Special respect for old people; young people will not contradict their elders. They especially value cleanliness, and cleanliness in everything, from clothes, home, to thoughts and feelings. If only you could see these incredibly clean houses with crisp curtains on the windows and valances on the beds! Everything is washed and scraped clean. All their animals are well-groomed. The clothes are beautiful, embroidered with different patterns, which are protection for people.

They simply don’t talk about cheating on a husband or wife, because it doesn’t exist and can’t exist. PEOPLE ARE DRIVEN BY THE MORAL LAW, WHICH IS NOT WRITTEN ANYWHERE, BUT EVERYONE REPORTS AND OBSERVES IT. And for observing this law they received health and longevity as a reward, and what a life! When I returned to the city, I remembered Stepanych very often. I had a hard time putting together what he was saying and modern life with its computers, planes, telephones, satellites. On the one hand, technological progress is good, but on the other hand... WE HAVE REALLY LOST OURSELVES, WE UNDERSTAND OURSELVES BADLY, AND HAVE PASSED THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR LIVES ONTO PARENTS, DOCTORS, AND THE GOVERNMENT. MAYBE THIS IS WHY THERE ARE NO REALLY STRONG AND HEALTHY PEOPLE?

What if we really are dying out without understanding? We imagined that we had become smarter than everyone else, because our technology was incredibly diverse. But it turns out that because of technology we are losing ourselves. These Old Believers shocked me greatly. They wiped our noses with their strength, balance of character and gentleness, their health and hard work. Their ninety-year-olds look like ours at 50-60 years old. Aren't they a good example of how to live in order to be healthy and happy?

Clothes made from hemp, shoes made from birch bark, fire using flint. Summer is scary wild animals, in winter - frost and waist-deep snow. There are no benefits of civilization, and the nearest settlement is 250 kilometers away.

40 years ago, while flying around the remote taiga in a helicopter, Soviet geologists noticed a vegetable garden in deserted places in the upper reaches of the Abakan River. It turned out that a family of Old Believers, the Lykovs, lived in the forest - a father and four adult children. For many years they were cut off from the world, but after one newspaper article they became known throughout the Soviet Union.

A couple of years later, in 1982, Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Vasily Peskov went to the hermits. Expecting to see a family of five, he found only father Karp, his daughter Agafya and three fresh graves. Two brothers and a sister died one after another from illness. In 1988, Father Karp also died, leaving only Agafya in the forest, who did not want to change her way of life.

A destructive civilization

Unknowing people blamed Peskov for the death of the Lykovs from unusual contact with the outside world. The journalist was very worried about this, because it was he who tried to protect them from the crowds of onlookers. For many years he visited the Lykovs - helped, brought kitchen utensils, medicines and even a goat, so that the hermits always have fresh milk.

In one of the last meetings with Agafya, the now deceased Peskov asked her whether it was good in her opinion that people “found” their family. Agafya admitted that it seemed to her that God had sent them people. If it weren't for people, they would have died long ago.

Vladimir Shelkov/TASS

“What our life was like - we were worn out, all the pieces of clothing [clothing] were in patches. It’s scary to remember that we ate grass and bark,” Komsomolskaya Pravda quotes Agafya.

How did forest robinsons become famous?

Based on the results of meetings with the Lykovs, Peskov wrote a series of essays. The story of the hermits captivated many: for every issue about the Lykovs, queues lined up at newsstands.

Ilya Pitalev/Sputnik

Peskov told friends that Brezhnev’s wife sent a special person to the kiosk in the morning to quickly buy her “ Komsomolskaya truth“- she was so impatient to read the continuation of the saga about the Siberian hermits. Later, Peskov’s essays were published as a separate book “ Taiga dead end", which has been translated into many languages.

Why did the Lykovs climb into the forests?

Throughout Russia there were many people who fled and hid for religious reasons (and the media still writes about such cases from time to time). Old Believers in Russia have always suffered persecution, only Tsar Nicholas II stopped it. But after the revolution, the Soviet government took charge of them new strength- forced people to join collective farms, put them in prison.

After collectivization, the Lykov family climbed further into the forest and ended up on the territory of a nature reserve. In the 1930s, the authorities of the reserve forbade them from hunting and fishing.

Ilya Pitalev/Sputnik

One day an anonymous denunciation came that the Old Believers were poachers. The reserve guards went to check it out and accidentally shot Karp Lykov's brother. However, the investigation described everything as if it were the Old Believers who offered armed resistance.

In 1937, the worst year great terror, the NKVD came to the Lykovs and began asking them in detail about what had happened. Family members realized they had to escape. Since then, they have climbed further and further into the taiga, constantly changing their place of residence, covering their tracks.

Star Agafya

Now Agafya is 74 years old, she has been living alone in the forest for 30 years. The only time Agafya tried to go out in public was in 1990. The woman came to live in the chapel Old Believer monastery, which professed priestlessness, and even took monastic vows as a nun. However, Agafya’s view of faith turned out to be different, and she returned to her settlement. In 2011, representatives of the official Russian Old Believer Church came to Agafya and performed baptism according to all the rules.

Ilya Pitalev/Sputnik

Local authorities support Agafya, former governor Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev repeatedly ordered that the hermit be provided with all necessary help. Interest in the lonely hermit is only growing every year. Film crews, journalists, doctors and volunteers visit her.

In 2015, a British film crew led by director Rebecca Marshall came to Agafya to film a documentary about her life, “The Forest in Me.”

Ilya Pitalev/Sputnik

Agafya considers solitude the main path to the salvation of the soul. Although she does not consider herself lonely. “There is always a guardian angel next to every Christian, as well as Christ and the apostles,” the hermit believes.

The journalists prepared for the meeting with Lykova for several weeks: they bought an Old Believer calendar and received a blessing from a clergyman of the Old Believer Church. There is not a living soul hundreds of kilometers from Agafya Lykova’s home. Even for half a month it is impossible to reach the nearest village on foot.

Agafya Lykova has long been accustomed to guests; now she probably won’t survive on her own. At the first meeting, the Lykovs did not take anything from people, they only tried salt once and after that they could not refuse it. Then the Lykovs took from people glass that wrinkles - that’s what the hermits called polyethylene. Then a thermometer and flashlights appeared in the Lykovs’ house.

This time Agafya took only one calendar from the guests, and flatly refused the other. But she took cereals, butter, flour and immediately started the dough. Grandmother Agafya bakes amazing bread in a Russian oven and adds carrots and potatoes to it. Agafya is farming quite successfully and her harvest is the envy of her. Once Agafya planted 40 buckets of potatoes in the garden, and in the fall she had already collected 340 buckets of root vegetables. And this despite the fact that her vegetable garden is at the level of an eight-story building.

Agafya has been living alone for a quarter of a century. Her health has deteriorated greatly - the hermit has a tumor on her right breast and it is slowly growing in size. Agafya says that it is tolerable, but only when she prays and bows does the tumor press unpleasantly on her rib. She doesn't want to go for treatment. Last year, Agafya even took communion and prepared to leave for the next world. But by winter she somehow felt better and she immediately sat down to write a letter to mainland big officials. She asked for a goat, goats and thread. The journalist asked Agafya Lykova how she learned to write. Agafya replied that her mother taught her to read and write.

Agafya Lykova has been praying for a long time that God will send her help; it is difficult for her in the remote taiga, being an old age. This time Agafya made a list of wishes that she asked to fulfill. These desires are the most basic, no frills, only what Agafya needs for everyday life and maintaining her health.

Last check and help for Agafya Lykova

Help for Agafya Lykova did not have to wait long, and for the second time in a year, journalists, a doctor and people who were not indifferent to Agafya went to Agafya Lykova.

We got to Agafya by helicopter. The food was unloaded, and then on a sleigh, otherwise it would be impossible to get to Agafya’s home. Then the rescuers began to help with the housework and began chopping wood. The emergency doctor on duty also arrived with them to examine Agafya Lykova.

Agafya complains about her health:
“I’m lying down again, but I get up screaming, roaring, I can’t bend over.”
- It hurts to move, right?
- Yes, in general...

For 68 years, the medicines used were mainly decoctions, but recently Agafya Karpovna began to take medicine - a local priest managed to convince her. And she lubricates her tumor with a special cream. But he says it doesn't help. She does not have any special threatening symptoms, but of course Agafya has diseases. The diseases are clinical, it is advisable to be examined in this condition, but she does not agree to this. Agafya Lykova was brought cereals, fruits, all products without markings and barcodes - these symbols are considered sinful by the Old Believers. They also delivered hay and cabbage for the goats. The recluse is in a hurry to feed the animals.

The hermit is cared for by staff at the local nature reserve. Apparently for them the inscription on the door: home Lykovoy Agafya Karpovny, no one should enter without permission. There are ancient books and icons on the shelf, and prayers are constantly heard. Rescuers have tried more than once to convince him to give up seclusion, but so far to no avail.
Agafya usually answers this:
- As mom said, it’s better to die of hunger than to betray your faith.

Agafya Karpovna's only request is to find her an assistant. It seems like they found a volunteer. Rescuers promise to deliver him to the Erinat River tract closer to spring.

Conversation with Agafya Lykova about world news, Putin and the group "Pussy Riot"

​Agafya Lykova has been busy with housework all day. And only after it got dark, the journalist showed Agafya a new product - a tablet. Such technical device she has never seen. She watched TV about 30 years ago, even though it was a sin for her. But she was carried away then, and she is carried away now: with greed she began to watch how he lived last years world.

“The Curiosity rover has landed on the Red Planet Mars,” shows the journalist on his tablet to Agafya Karpovna.

How do you feel about Putin?
- What faith is he?
- Nikonian.
- Now, if he were an Old Believer... that is, a true Christian.

Then, on the tablet, the journalists showed a video of the rally going on:

Many people took to the city streets to protest against falsification. These people who expressed their protest are twisted and beaten. And most importantly Orthodox church girls in multi-colored tights and balaclavas danced across the country - these are hats with cutouts for the eyes. They sang songs there and they were now sent to prison for 2 years.
Here Agafya Lykova was outraged that they were put in prison. She said that people should go to prison for theft or murder. She condemns this act, but says:
-If the girls had sung songs in an Old Believer monastery, they would not have been sent to prison, but would have been subject to penance and fasting with prayer for it.
But from the hermit’s house to Moscow is more than 4000 km. They probably won't hear about it there.

Agafya Lykova: news over the past few years

Agafya Lykova found herself in the hospital for the first time in recent years. In the middle of nowhere Siberian taiga, where there is not a soul for hundreds of kilometers around, she does everything alone: ​​she heals herself, she clears the hut of snow herself. Using the satellite phone that was given to her, she called her relatives and asked the doctors for help - her legs hurt badly. The hermit was taken by helicopter to the Tashtagol hospital. The doctors assured that the hermit’s life was not in danger, but still, in order to be completely sure of this, they demanded that she take tests and undergo an examination. Moreover, the hospital has all the necessary equipment.

The head doctor said on the phone:

-She feels satisfactory, is undergoing examination - x-ray, biological, and all sorts of different tests. The preliminary diagnosis is lumbar osteochondrosis.

It was necessary to spend at least a week in the Agafye hospital - that’s how much is required for the examination. And then, if treatment was needed, I would have to stay longer. But the hermit immediately said that she intended to return to her previous way of life: to the taiga, where the Lykov family of Old Believers lived all their lives, which was discovered by geologists in the seventies of the last century. But soon her father, brothers and sister died, and Agafya was left alone. The governor helps the hermit with food. The elderly woman has been offered more than once to move closer to civilization, but she remains faithful to her reclusive lifestyle.

Agafya Lykova: home to the taiga

After a while, Agafya Lykova felt much better: if in the first days she could not even step on her foot, then she began to walk on her own, albeit with a cane. The head of the Tashtagol region, where Agafya was treated, gave her an icon, but Agafya refused his gift. She says that in her forest house only its ancient iconostasis. Distant relatives Once again they persistently suggested that Agafya move to the village; it’s hard for Agafya to live alone in the forest.

But the 72-year-old recluse said she wanted to return home. At one time, she made an oath to Father Karp Osipovich: to live her whole life in the distant Siberian taiga. The Old Believers Lykovs came there even before Agafya was born in 1934. The Lykovs were accidentally discovered by geologists in 1978 on the border of Kuzbass and Khakassia. Before big family lived completely separately, knew nothing even about the Second World War. Agafya has been living alone for almost 30 years. Nearest locality It's a two-week walk from Agafya's village.

In the helicopter, Agafya was presented with gifts from the governor: a warm vest, a shawl and even a chainsaw. Governor says:
- I would like you to live in the city for another month for our peace of mind.
Agafya says that she cannot live without the taiga and her goats.
- Well, look how I decided, I decided so.

Agafya is worried that she has goats, dogs, cats and chickens left unattended. Did they have enough food for the week? Agafya is worried about whether the bear touched her animals. Agafya told how a bear recently came down from the mountain slope and wandered around her yard in search of food. The doctor says that Agafya is in excellent health for her age, including because there is clean air and crystal clear water around her. White snow. On the shore mountain river Once upon a time, Karp Osipovich, Agafya’s father, made her promise: “to live in the taiga for the rest of her life.” That's why she wants to stay here, on the land where she was born.

Agafya Lykova was awarded a medal for faith and goodness

Two years ago famous hermit Russia's Agafya Lykova was awarded a medal for faith and goodness. The Kemerovo authorities awarded Agafya somehow unexpectedly, not for Agafya’s anniversary, but for the anniversary of their region. The medal was delivered by helicopter, otherwise it would be impossible to get to Lykova’s house.

In this house, everything is like something out of a children’s book: a cast iron pot with a pumpkin, a Russian stove, and an old woman in felt boots and a caftan that looks like something straight out of the pages of a fairy tale. One has only to see it and it will immediately become clear - she is alive, in excellent shape and seems not to have changed at all. - a hermit, famous among those in their early forties. Advanced youth today would call her a downshifter, but she is an old believer, lost in the middle of the Khakassian taiga.

She hasn’t had journalists for a long time, but this time her grandmother not only let her in, but also shared her family life. Far from worldly life, she somehow miraculously manages to follow the news. Agafya says: “There used to be a king, but now they called him president.” Agafya's main informant lived next door - former geologist Erofey Sedov. He settled next to the hermit 17 years ago, when his leg was amputated, and doctors recommended drinking taiga spring water and breathing clean air.

So Erofey Sedov moved from the noisy city to live with the Lykovs. The Lykovs then provided him with a former chicken coop nearby by the river, where he safely moved and lived until the end of his days. In 2015, Agafya’s only neighbor left this mortal world full of suffering. Previously, Agafya used to come to Erofey and bring him some water from the river. Good-natured Erofey took the radio, found a radio channel with news, and he and Agafya listened last news from the mainland.

After a warm meeting, Agafya took the journalists to the river and taught them how to be baptized correctly. Without the Cross, you are not supposed to collect water at the bend of the Erinat River. The journalist says that he crosses himself with three fingers. For what Agafya Karpovna answered: “Such water is only suitable for goats and for washing floors. And for cooking, washing and quenching thirst, you need to read the Old Believer prayer when collecting water, and at the same time lay a cross on yourself with two fingers.”

The hermit's speech is difficult to understand even after spending enough time with her. But this is not a speech defect, but rather from monotonous prayers. Until 1978, Agafya did not see other people except her mother, father, two brothers and sister.

The taiga hermit has always been distinguished in her family by her strong memory, but she does not remember all the prayers by heart. Agafya prays as her mother once taught her and according to the books that remained after the schism, Orthodox Nikonians and Old Believers. More than 300 years have passed since then, but the traditions of the Old Believers have not changed. She makes a fire in the old-fashioned way in the house where she sleeps, and here she does weaving. Nine cats share her small living space.

Agafya has another residential building for sleeping, but she did not advise us to go into it. The house became uninhabitable for the Old Believer Agafya after her assistant Georgy moved in with her. He took a bucket from his grandmother without asking and washed the whole room. Who then could have told him that the bucket turned out to be a latrine? Since then, Agafya has not even entered that house.

Agafya Lykova: latest news 2018 (video)

Blogger danlux writes: Photos from a trip to the world’s most famous taiga hermit. Agafya is the only one left alive big family hermits-Old Believers, found by geologists in 1978 in the Western Sayan Mountains. The Lykov family has lived in isolation since 1937.

(Total 34 photos)

Post sponsor: http://kuplyu-v-kaliningrade.ru/catalog/audio_i_video_83/all_0/ : Free advertisements of the Kaliningrad region Source: Zhzhurnal/ danlux

1. Long years hermits tried to protect their family from influence external environment, especially in relation to faith.

2. The primary purpose of the flight to the Khakassian taiga was a traditional flood control measure - an inspection of snow reserves in the upper reaches of the Abakan River. We stopped at Agafya Lykova's for a short time.

3. Along with the EMERCOM specialists, a doctor and employees of the Khakassky nature reserve flew, who have known Agafya for a long time and are actively helping her. This time Agafya was brought food, and the rescuers helped with the housework: they brought firewood, water, etc.

4. The city of Abaza from above.

5. Arbaty village.

6. We made a short stop in Arbaty and another reserve employee sat down with us. He had a parcel for Agafya from Tomsk. No matter how much they scold the Russian Post, parcels and letters, as you can see, reach even such remote places. It is enough to write on the parcel the Abakan address of the directorate of the Khakassky Nature Reserve, and in the “recipient” column - Agafya Lykova (the hermit lives in one of the areas of the reserve).

8. Most of the way our flight took place in the gorge through which the Abakan River flows. You fly, and on both sides there are mountains covered dense forest. By the way, there was relatively little snow in the upper reaches of Abakan this year.

9. Arrived. The helicopter's landing gear sank into deep, loose snow, and the vehicle stood on its belly. The reserve staff were the first to leave. Agafya knows them well, so she treated the other guests with confidence. Rescuers unloaded the supplies they had brought from the helicopter and helped the reserve staff move the cargo from the shore to a hut located on a high bank. Then they took up the firewood. The stored fuel had to be transported from the forest to the house - elderly woman This is no longer possible.

10. Agafya’s neighbor - Erofey Sedov. His small hut is located about fifty meters from Lykova’s house. Erofey lived almost his entire life in Abaza and worked as a geologist. I have known the Lykov family since 1979. He said that in 1988 he even helped bury the head of the family, Karp Lykov. Already in old age, Erofey lost his right leg, after which in 1997 he moved to the taiga and since then has lived next door to Agafya.

11. Erofey has a son who lives in Tashtagol. A couple of times a year, the son flies to visit his father by helicopter with specialists who are exploring this area after Proton launches (the site is located on the territory where the stages of rockets launched from Baikonur fall).

12. Agafya Lykova’s hut.

14. Notes on front door with a warning for uninvited guests. Agafya writes and speaks in Old Church Slavonic.

16. While the rescuers were helping with firewood, Agafya was examined by an emergency doctor. She refuses a detailed examination in Abakan and reluctantly takes the left-over pills; she is more often treated with medicinal herbs.

18. Icons in Lykova’s house. Life inside is quite simple and uncomplicated.

19. There is beauty, silence and clean air all around. The world of Agafya Lykova is no more than one square kilometer: on the one hand rough River Erinat, on the other hand - steep mountains and impenetrable forests stretching to the horizon. Only in the northern direction does Agafya move a little away from her hut and reach the meadows, where she cuts grass and branches for her goats.

21. I still don’t understand how many dogs there are for adoption. Vityulka was sitting on a chain near the house, but it seemed to me that a little further away someone else was barking...

23. Cats at the foster home multiply quickly and kittens are always offered to all visitors. This time we refused the “patched kitty”)

24. The barn in which the hermit keeps two goats.

25. Agafya Karpovna complained that goats do not give milk in winter, and without milk she feels bad. The reserve staff immediately called their colleagues from the Kemerovo region, who also planned to visit the hermit in the coming days, and asked them to freeze whole milk. The taiga woman does not accept or eat powdered milk, condensed milk, and other store-bought packaged products. She is especially frightened by the image of the barcode.

26. I expected to see a lot of antique and homemade things at the village, but I was disappointed. All everyday life has long been equipped in a modern way, all the utensils are also civilized - enamel buckets, pans. Agafya even has a meat grinder in her house, and there is a thermometer outside. The only old things that caught my eye (besides the icons) were a birch bark pole, a bow saw and a forged axe.

In 1978, Soviet geologists discovered a family of six in the Siberian wilderness. Six members of the Lykov family lived away from people for more than 40 years, they were completely isolated and were more than 250 kilometers from the nearest city.
The Siberian summer is very short. There is still plenty of snow in May, and in September the first frosts arrive. This forest is the last of the greatest forests on Earth. This is more than 13 million square kilometers of forests, where even now new discoveries await people at every corner.
Siberia has always been considered as a source of minerals and geological exploration work is constantly being carried out here. This was the case in the summer of 1978.
The helicopter was looking for a safe place to land geologists. It was next to an unnamed tributary of the Abakan River, near the Mongolian border. In such a wilderness there is simply nowhere to land a helicopter, but, peering through the windshield, the pilot saw something he never expected to see. In front of him was a rectangular clearing, clearly cleared by man. The confused helicopter crew made several passes over this place before they realized that next to the clearing there was something very similar to human habitation.

Karp Lykov and his daughter Agafya wore clothes that were given to them by Soviet geologists.

It was an amazing discovery. There was no information anywhere that there might be people here. It was dangerous to land a helicopter in a clearing, because... it is unknown who lived here. Geologists landed 15 kilometers from the clearing. Under the leadership of Galina Pismenskaya, with their fingers on the trigger of their pistols and rifles, they began to approach the clearing.

The Lykovs lived in this log cabin, which was lit by one palm-sized window

Approaching the house, they noticed footprints, a barn with supplies of potatoes, a bridge over a stream, sawdust and obvious footprints human activity. Their arrival was noticed...

When they approached the house and knocked, the grandfather opened the door.
And someone from the group said simply: “Hello, grandfather! We have come to visit!”
The old man did not answer right away: “Well, since you have climbed so far, then go through...”
There was one room inside. This single room was illuminated by dim light. It was cramped, there was a musty smell, it was dirty, and there were sticks sticking out all around propping up the roof. It was hard to imagine that such a large family lived here.

Agafya Lykova (left) with her sister Natalya

A minute later the silence was suddenly broken by sobs and lamentations. Only then did geologists see the silhouettes of two women. One of them was hysterical and praying, and one could clearly hear: “This is for our sins, our sins...” The light from the window fell on another woman, kneeling, and her frightened eyes were visible.

The scientists hurriedly left the house, walked a few meters away, settled in a clearing and began to eat. About half an hour later the door creaked open, and the geologists saw an old man and his two daughters. They were frankly curious. Carefully, they approached and sat down next to each other. To Pismenskaya’s question: “Have you ever eaten bread?” the old man replied: “I do, but they have never seen him...”. At least contact was established with the old man. His daughters spoke a language distorted by life in isolation and at first it was impossible to understand them.

Gradually, geologists learned their history

The old man's name was Karp Lykov, and he was an Old Believer, also once a member of the fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect. The Old Believers had been persecuted since the time of Peter the Great, and Lykov spoke about it as if it had happened just yesterday. For him, Peter was a personal enemy and "the devil in human form." He complained about life at the beginning of the 20th century, not realizing that so much time had passed and much had changed.

As the Bolsheviks came to power, the Lykovs’ life became even worse. Under Soviet rule, Old Believers fled to Siberia. During the purges of the 1930s, a Communist patrol shot and killed Lykov's brother on the outskirts of his home village. Karp's family fled.

This was in 1936. Four Lykovs survived: Karp, his wife Akulina; son Savin, 9 years old, and Natalya, daughter, who was only 2 years old. They fled to the taiga, taking only the seeds. They settled in this very place. A little time passed and two more children were born, Dmitry in 1940 and Agafya in 1943. They were the ones who had never seen people. Everything that Agafya and Dmitry knew about the outside world, they learned from the stories of their parents.

But Lykov’s children knew that there were places called “cities” in which people lived in cramped conditions in high-rise buildings. They knew that there were countries other than Russia. But these concepts were rather abstract. They read only the Bible and church books, which their mother took with them. Akulina knew how to read and taught her children to read and write using sharpened birch branches, which she immersed in honeysuckle sap. When Agafya was shown a picture of a horse, she recognized him and shouted: “Look, dad. Horse!”

Dmitry (left) and Savin

Geologists were surprised at their resourcefulness; they made galoshes from birch bark, and sewed clothes from hemp, which they grew. They even had a yarn loom that they made themselves. Their diet consisted mainly of potatoes with hemp seeds. And there were pine nuts all around, which fell right onto the roof of their house.

Nevertheless, the Lykovs lived constantly on the verge of starvation. In the 1950s, Dmitry reached maturity and they began to have meat. Having no weapons, they could only hunt by making pit traps, but mostly they obtained meat by starvation. Dmitry grew up to be surprisingly resilient; he could hunt barefoot in the winter, sometimes returning home after spending the night outside in 40-degree frost for several days, and at the same time bringing a young elk on his shoulders. But in reality there was meat a rare delicacy. Wild animals destroyed their carrot crops, and Agafya remembered the late 1950s as a “time of famine.”

Roots, grass, mushrooms, potato tops, bark, rowan... They ate everything, and felt hungry all the time. They constantly thought about changing places, but remained...

In 1961, it snowed in June. Severe frost killed everything that grew in the garden. It was this year that Akulina died of hunger. The rest of the family escaped, fortunately the seeds sprouted. The Lykovs erected a fence around the clearing and guarded the crops day and night.

Family next to a geologist

When Soviet geologists met the Lykov family, they realized that they had underestimated their abilities and intelligence. Each family member was a separate person. Old Karp was always delighted with the latest innovations. He was amazed that people had already been able to set foot on the moon, and always believed that geologists were telling the truth.

But what struck them most was the cellophane; at first they thought it was geologists crushing the glass.

The younger ones, for all their isolation, had a good sense of humor and were constantly making fun of themselves. Geologists introduced them to the calendar and clocks, which the Lykovs were very amazed at.

The most sad fact The story of the Lykovs was the speed with which the family began to shrink after they established contact with the world. In the fall of 1981, three of the four children died within days of each other. Their death is the result of exposure to diseases to which they had no immunity. Savin and Natalya suffered from kidney failure, most likely as a result of their harsh diet, which also weakened their bodies. And Dmitry died of pneumonia, which may have been caused by a virus from his new friends.

His death shocked geologists who desperately tried to save him. They offered to evacuate Dmitry and treat him in a hospital, but Dmitry refused...

When all three were buried, geologists tried to persuade Agafya and Karp to return to the world, but they refused...

Karp Lykov died in his sleep on February 16, 1988, 27 years after his wife, Akulina. Agafya buried him on the mountain slopes with the help of geologists, and then turned around and went to her house. A quarter of a century later, yes, and currently, this child of the taiga lives alone, high in the mountains.

Geologists even took notes.

"She won't leave. But we must leave her:

I looked at Agafya again. She stood on the river bank like a statue. She didn't cry. She nodded and said, “Go, go.” We walked another kilometer, I looked back... She was still standing there."