Visiting Agafya Lykova

Blogger danlux writes: Photos from a trip to the world's most famous taiga hermit. Agafya was the only survivor from a large family of Old Believer hermits found by geologists in 1978 in the Western Sayan Mountains. The Lykov family has lived in isolation since 1937.

(Total 34 photos)

1. For many years, hermits tried to protect the family from the influence of the external environment, especially with regard to faith.

2. The primary purpose of the flight to the Khakassian taiga was the traditional anti-flood event - the survey of snow reserves in the upper reaches of the Abakan River. Agafya Lykova stopped for a short while.

3. Together with the specialists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a doctor and employees of the Khakassky reserve, who have known Agafya for a long time and are actively helping her, flew. 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. Arbat village.

6. In the Arbats we made a short stop, another employee of the reserve sat down next to us. He had a package for Agafya from Tomsk. No matter how they scolded the Russian Post, but, as you can see, parcels and letters reach even such remote places. It is enough to write on the parcel the Abakan address of the directorate of the Khakassky reserve, and in the column "recipient" - Agafya Lykova (the hermit lives in one of the sections of the reserve).

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

9. Arrived. The landing gear of the helicopter went into deep loose snow, and the car stood on its belly. The staff of the reserve came out first. Agafya knows them well, so she treated the rest of the guests with confidence. The rescuers unloaded the brought supplies from the helicopter and helped the staff of the reserve to transfer the cargo from the shore to the hut located on the high bank. Then they took up the wood. The prepared fuel had to be transferred from the forest to the house - an elderly woman could no longer afford it.

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

11. Erofei 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 the area after the Proton launches (the zaimka is located on the territory where the stages of missiles launched from Baikonur fall).

12. Agafya Lykova's hut.

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

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

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

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

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

22. But there are about twenty cats here. They have become so bold in the taiga that, according to Yerofey, even snakes are crushed.

23. Cats in the zaimka quickly breed and kittens are always offered to all visitors. This time we refused the “cat in patches” )

24. A barn in which a hermit keeps two goats.

25. Agafya Karpovna complained that goats do not give milk in winter, and she feels bad without milk. The staff of the reserve immediately called colleagues from the Kemerovo region, who are also planning to visit the hermit in the coming days, and asked them to freeze whole milk. Dry milk, condensed milk, and other store-bought packaged products are not accepted or eaten by the taiga woman. The image of a barcode frightens her especially.

26. I expected to see a lot of old and home-made things at the zaimka, but I was disappointed. The whole way of life has long been equipped in a modern way, all the utensils are also civilized - enameled buckets, pots. Agafya even has a meat grinder in the house, and there is a thermometer outside. The only thing that caught my eye from old things (besides icons) was a birch bark tuesok, a bow saw and a forged axe.

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28. Agafya Lykova turned out to be a very sociable woman, but at the same time she never looked directly into the lens.

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thirty.

31. Good-natured Yerofey and strict Agafya have little in common. They greet each other but rarely talk. They had a conflict on the basis of religion, and Erofei is not ready to follow the rules of Agafya. He himself is a believer, but he does not understand what God can have against canned food in iron cans, why Styrofoam is a devilish object, and why the fire in the stove must be kindled only with a torch, and not with a lighter.

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33. A commemorative photo with the staff of the reserve, the rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the crew of the helicopter. Agafya was very grateful to us for the help and attention.

34. Within a radius of 250 kilometers there is no one here except Yerofey and Agafya. None of them seemed unhappy to me. Agafya Lykova: “I want to die here. Where should I go? I don't know if there are Christians anywhere else in this world. There probably aren't many left."