In the early 1980s. a series of publications about the family appeared in the Soviet press hermits-Old Believers Lykovs who spent 40 years in voluntary exile in the Sayan taiga, abandoning all the benefits of civilization, in complete isolation from society. After they were discovered by geologists and journalists and travelers began to visit them, three family members died from a viral infection. In 1988, the father of the family also died. Only Agafya Lykova survived, who soon became the most famous hermit in the country. Despite her advanced age and illness, she still refuses to move from the taiga.

Siberian hermit Agafya Lykova said that she was running out of food and asked for help. She told a Krasnoyarsk local historian about this in a telephone conversation.

“She still wanted to say something, I’m worried that something happened to her. I wanted to contact doctor Nazarov, who had been observing her for several decades. My friends and I will think about what to do. We need to equip a helicopter or decide something through the Khakass Nature Reserve,” the documentarian told the 360 ​​TV channel.

He recalled that Lykova has had a satellite phone for three years - this was a gift from television journalists from Krasnoyarsk. They asked the hermit to call only in emergencies.

According to Grishakov, the Siberian woman repeatedly contacted employees via the alarm line. “And she tortured the rescuers so much that they cut Agafya out of their lives,” noted the local historian.

According to the editor of the newspaper “Krasnoyarsk Worker” Vladimir Pavlovsky, who contacted the hermit’s longtime acquaintance Nikolai Sedov, Lykova’s situation is not so critical.

“There is no tragedy. The connection is interrupted in cloudy weather, the phone works well only in the sun. There are two batteries, solar charging. There is not enough food. There is not enough hay and feed. Eternal problem. If necessary, they will drop it off before the New Year. Goats eat willow bark and spruce needles well. The most important thing is that the bear hid in a den, and he often disturbed us in the summer and autumn,” explained Pavlovsky.

Meanwhile, in Kuzbass and Krasnoyarsk they launched a fundraiser for Agafya Lykova. 300 kg of hay and feed, 100 kg of flour, 60 kg of cereal, as well as baked milk and honey were delivered to the Mi-8 helicopter. “I bought the necessary things. Nails, candles, threads, needles, food. I took some fruit - she really loves pomegranates and grapes,” added Nikolai Sedov in a conversation with.

Along with food on board, the head of the Kemerovo region, Sergei Tsivilev, flew to the hermit. According to the press service of the regional administration, the helicopter took off at 8:00 Moscow time.

According to a statement from the regional administration, during a meeting with the governor, the hermit spoke in detail about her problems. According to her, the bear prevents her from living in the taiga. She also complained of pain in her arm. The doctor who was on board with Tsivilev examined the woman and left her with some ointments. The governor, in turn, gave the hermit a puppy.

The head of the region examined Lykova’s old books and family heirlooms. The hermit took the official through her garden and also showed her father’s grave. “This is a unique person, so we will never abandon her, and we will help and patronize Agafya Karpovna in every possible way,” the governor said.

Since 1937, Agafya Lykova’s family lived in isolation and tried to protect themselves from the influence of the external environment. Geologists managed to discover the Old Believers in 1978.

At that time, there were five people in the Lykov family. However, a few years later, Agafya’s two brothers and sister died. Subsequently, the hermit lived with her father Karp until he died on February 16, 1988.

Two years later, Lykova began living in an Old Believer convent, where she was tonsured a nun. But a few months later, the hermit began to complain about ill health and ideological differences with the nuns and decided to return home.

Since that moment, Lykova has been living in the taiga without a break. During this time, journalists, writers, travelers, as well as representatives of religious communities came to her. The monastery novices lived with the hermit for some time and helped her with the housework.

Lykova was actively helped by the ex-head of the Kemerovo region. However, after he left office, the situation changed. “In the 1980-1990s, helicopters were flying around like flies, buzzing over it. And fire protection, and forest protection, and guys from Krasnoyarsk just flew to her, and then everyone suddenly ran out of gas,” noted local historian Andrei Grishakov.

In November 2017, during a direct line with residents of Khakassia, the governor of the region, Viktor Zimin, called the actions of the Kemerovo authorities, who had patronized Lykova for many years, as PR. The fact is that she actually lives on the territory of Khakassia.

“I forbade [flying helicopters to Lykova], said, once again the plane will come from there - you have violated the law of the country. You have no right to land there or fly in. And there is no need to disgrace us, in the part that we... And they [the authorities of the Kemerovo region] are the breadwinners there,” he emphasized.

According to him, spending large amounts of money from the state budget on a hermit is unfair.

“Of course, maybe not all life is measured by money, but it is sometimes measured by justice. Every resident of the republic would like to have such living conditions, free supplies, flights, communications, aviation,” said the head of Khakassia.

In his view, Lykova is a “great burden” for the region. Zimin noted that she was repeatedly offered to move to a city or village. “My mother, may she rest in heaven, was always indignant and said: son, this is unfair, I’ve worked all my life for the state, but helicopters don’t fly to me. And these people never worked for the state for a day, but left and also hid from the war. I don’t really like Grandma Agafya,” the governor concluded.

The next day, the administration of the Kemerovo region announced that they would continue to help Lykova, despite the discontent. “I think we will find a way to continue this good tradition. How can you stop being friends? If the authorities of Khakassia provided systematic assistance and responded to Lykova’s problems and rare requests, then Kuzbass would not have needed to intervene,” explained the regional government.

80-year-old Patimat walks along an old street on the outskirts of the village with an old binoculars, sits on a boulder and begins to look around the surroundings. It would seem that you can look at it for hours?

Patimat Abakarova, local resident: “The visibility here is good, you can see everything, the binoculars are strong, the Soviet border guards even used these. Sometimes I’m lucky, my fellow villagers put on real performances. There's a lot of laughter!"

From the height of her years, the pensioner talks about her youth, family, children and her failing health in recent years. For 30 years now, a woman has been living alone on the top of a mountain. The only benefits of civilization are electricity and mobile communications. The house was built three centuries ago by Patimat’s great-great-grandfather. The decor in the rooms has hardly changed since then: a minimum of furniture, earthen floors and stone walls. Now this is the only residential building in the deserted village. The houses in the neighborhood have long since turned into ruins.

From the outside it may seem that there is no need to build villages in such inconvenient, inaccessible, and sometimes downright dangerous places. How did I find out? NTV correspondent Omar Magomedov, the mountaineers saved flat areas of land for arable land, which in these parts are worth their weight in gold, and they themselves inhabited the rocks or cliffs of the mountains. This village is no exception.

Patimat flatly refuses offers from his children and grandchildren to move in with them. It seems that only the tenacity of an elderly man is saving this village from finally falling into the sad statistics of abandoned villages.

Abakar Radjabmagomedov, head of the administration of the village of Koroda: “There is no work for young people, everyone is drawn to the city from idleness. People are having financial problems now.”

Residents of mountainous areas are leaving their homes in search of work and a better life. Dozens of once noisy villages have turned into ghosts, and their only inhabitants into real hermits.

For city dwellers, the Patimat House is a real museum. At first, the owner didn’t really understand why people would travel hundreds of kilometers to see her place of residence. This is how she learned the unfamiliar words “tourism”, “guide”, “operator”.

Olesya Leshchenko, tourist: “For residents of the central part of Russia, it’s like entering another century, entering another civilization. The people here are absolutely amazing. This needs to be felt. Everyone who has been here has not yet left without positive emotions.”

Patimat receives dozens of tourists per day. Now the pensioner is considering whether to introduce a symbolic entrance fee. She independently conducts a tour of all the rooms, takes the girls aside and shows her most intimate things - the dowry chest, then makes sure to give everyone tea.

Patimat is sure that thanks to travelers and tourists there is still a glimmer of life in the village. Several families have already announced that they intend to return to their ancestral sakli to turn them into guest houses.

Grandmother in charge: why the hermit Agafya Lykova aroused the wrath of the head of Khakassia

A burden for many, a reason for PR, and simply an unremarkable person - the head of Khakassia, Viktor Zimin, took a sharp swipe at Grandma Agafya, a hermit from the remote Siberian taiga living on the territory of his republic. “360” decided to figure out how the paths of an elderly woman and the head of the region crossed.

The first question on the “direct line” of the head of Khakassia, Viktor Zimin, was a request from a resident of the Kirov region to help him get to Agafya Lykova. Zimin did not like the appeal at all, but he responded to it in detail: he spoke about his dislike for the hermit and forbade flying to her from neighboring regions.

"It's not fair"

Grandmother Agafya is already a great burden for many. She lives in a protected area, and no one is allowed to go there. My mother, the kingdom of heaven, said: “Son, this is unfair, I’ve worked for the state all my life, but helicopters don’t fly to me.”

- Viktor Zimin, quote from Khakassia News Agency.

From Zimin’s words it follows that he does not like how the Lykov family of hermits once “hid from the war” and did not work a single day for the state. And also that the reserve’s employees actually work for Agafya - for example, they chop firewood for her.

As for helicopters, we are talking about the help provided to the hermit by the Kemerovo region - by personal order of the regional governor Aman Tuleyev, helicopters periodically arrive at her taiga shelter with food supplies, useful household items and even household helpers.

Lykova does not hesitate to ask the authorities for help - she often sends letters with various requests to geologists and travelers. The piquancy of the situation is that the grandmother’s lodge is located on the territory of the Khakassky nature reserve, whose administrative affiliation is obvious, but the hermit sends letters to the head of the neighboring Kemerovo region.

She first met Aman Tuleyev in 1997 during his personal visit to the remote taiga region. They became such friends that Lykova congratulated the governor on the holidays and sent gifts made with her own hands: Old Believer rosaries, a woven belt, and mittens. Tuleyev, as far as we know, did not refuse a single request from his grandmother and not only sends food supplies, but also helps with people.

When her leg joints began to hurt last year, Tuleyev ordered a helicopter to be sent for her and taken for examination to a hospital in one of the cities of Kuzbass. Old Believers Lykova was even given special meals “according to her beliefs,” the press service of the regional administration noted in a statement. At the end of August, the press service reported, the Kemerovo region sent a helicopter with half a ton of cargo - supplies for the winter - to help the hermit. In addition to cereals, fruits and vegetables, they brought candles, batteries and feed for goats, which were also previously delivered on behalf of Tuleyev. 10 students who had helped an elderly woman prepare for winter flew back by helicopter.

RIA Novosti / Mikhail Klimentyev

PR is prohibited

As the head of Khakassia emphasized, visiting the reserve without special permission is prohibited. He considered flights from the neighboring region to be PR, and the hermit herself - not worthy of special treatment. “I don’t really like Grandma Agafya, but I have great respect for the Old Believer faith<…>Grandma Agafya is not the bearer of any great deeds,” RIA Novosti quotes Zimin.

Every resident of the republic would like to have such free living conditions: supplies, flights, communications, aviation, and sometimes neighbors also promote themselves<…>He forbade it, said, once again the plane will come from there - you have violated the law of the country. You have no right to land there or fly in. And there is no need to shame us.

- Victor Zimin.

Relocating to the city can kill an old woman, Dmitry Zhuravlev, general director of the Institute of Regional Problems, emphasized in a conversation with 360. “The Lykovs lived separately, in a world without 99% of modern diseases; she had no immunity against them. What will you do, inject her with all the vaccines in a row? Then she will die from the injections. Let the old sick woman live out her life in peace. If she wanted, she would have come to the city a long time ago,” the expert explains.

There is no enmity between Kuzbass and Khakassia, but there is competition, which could be the reason for Zimin’s words, Zhuravlev argues: “Zimin likes to compare himself with his neighbors as a plus - he is the kind of leader who does not hesitate to express his personal perception of reality.”

“How can you stop being friends?”

Zhuravlev admitted that the statement by the head of Khakassia could lead to some hostility between the two influential regional politicians. “We must remember that the degree of influence and authority of Tuleyev and Zimin in their regions is almost absolute. Tuleyev was very seriously ill, but they did not let him resign; Zimin is not going to leave, but I suspect that his departure would also change the entire configuration in the region,” the expert adds.

The authorities of the Kemerovo region will help the hermit Agafya Lykova in any case, Interfax reports with reference to the regional press service. “I think we will find a way to continue this good tradition. How can you stop being friends? If the authorities of Khakassia provided systematic assistance, responded to Lykova’s problems and rare requests, then Kuzbass would not have needed to intervene,” the Kuzbass representative emphasized.

The Kemerovo region will continue to help the hermit, former mayor of Kemerovo Valery Ermakov agrees in a conversation with 360. “How can you not help a person in such conditions? Just think, flights will be banned - you can get there by other means of transport, on snowmobiles, or on anything - our guys will still get there,” he expressed his opinion.

RIA Novosti / Dmitry Korobeinikov

Not of this world

Grandmother Agafya is the last representative of an ancient family of Old Believers of the Chapel Concord. At the end of the 1930s, the young family of Old Believers Akulina and Karp Lykov decided to leave the “big world” in order to preserve their usual way of life. In the remote taiga they built a farm, later nicknamed the “Taiga Dead End”.

The discovery of the Lykovs almost 40 years later, when a party of geologists stumbled upon them, caused a furor in the Soviet press. The children of the first generation of hermits lived their entire adult lives outside of civilization and communication with other people. His mother had died by that time, and Karp was running the household with his daughters Agafya and Natalya and sons Savvin and Dimitri. Articles, books, scientific papers were written about them, and documentaries were produced.

The collision with the modern world was not in vain - apparently, the Lykovs’ immunity could not withstand the collision with infections brought from outside, and all the offspring of the family, with the exception of Agafya, died of a serious illness (apparently pneumonia) in 1981.

Father Karp lived to a ripe old age and died in 1988. Since then, Agafya has been living alone in the old house of her ancestors - she spent several months in an Old Believer monastery, but soon fled from there home. Since then, she has been living in a “taiga dead end” without a break.

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They met in 1982. Kerzhak Karp Lykov and his daughter have spent decades away from the bustle of the world, but the man from the unknown Komsomolskaya Pravda immediately became one of his own. Having buried her father next to the graves of her mother, brothers, and sister, Agafya Karpovna did not change the faith of her ancestors, the way of life bequeathed by them.

However, in the years that have passed since that memorable meeting, her seclusion has finally broken. Vasily Mikhailovich's documentary story "Taiga Dead End" gave him friends, each of whom is ready to help at the first call.

How does the 73-year-old owner of the village feel, “registered” at the mouth of the Erinata, where the Western Sayan merges with the Altai Mountains? What worries does he live with? Eyewitnesses testify.

Igor Prokudin, Deputy Director of the Khakassky Nature Reserve

Three of the Lykovs’ huts stand on protected land, so we take care of Agafya Karpovna. And the director Viktor Nepomnyashchiy, and I, and our inspectors, who periodically go up the river to it, are only 30 kilometers from the cordon to the settlement. We bring letters and parcels. With clothes, noodles, flour, salt, cookies, cereals, flashlight batteries, feed for domestic animals. All this is sent by caring admirers from Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk, Orenburg, Kuzbass, where, by the way, she was awarded the medal “For Faith and Goodness.” He doesn’t complain about being sick, although I know that his joints hurt, and sometimes his arm was even lost. The Kemerovo governor sent a helicopter in the winter and persuaded him to go to the Tashtagol Central District Hospital for examination. I lay in bed for three days and then went home. Chickens, he says, goats, how can they live without me? At one time, Erofey Sazontievich Sedov lived next door and healed his only leg with taiga herbs. He had a walkie-talkie. But the old geologist died, son Nikolai now tries to visit his sponsored woman. She never took possession of the satellite phone she had been given. But in the summer she found an assistant and fellow believer: the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Korniliy, “sent” the monk Guria for the winter. Yes, and we are thinking of placing an inspector nearby. An animal wanders in, an uninvited tourist - you never know...

Evgeny Sobetsky, public advisor to the rector of Moscow Technological University (MIREA)

The taiga in these places is wild. The bear visits every year. A couple of times Agafya Karpovna “fathered away the darkness with prayer,” and last summer I had to scare it off with blank shots from a gun. He stood a few meters away - that’s it! But in general, she lives as before. While away the frosts in the hut, from April to the end of September he moves to a street booth. These are two walls of short poles covered with polyethylene. In the garden, thanks to which the “Robinson” Old Believers were once discovered by pilots, he sows winter rye (its yeast-free bread is delicious!), grows his famous unusually large peas, potatoes, carrots, beets...

This is the fifth year that students and I have been helping her harvest. At first, our volunteer landings by catamarans and boats traveled from Abaza for more than a week, and last August the Kemerovo residents were dropped off by helicopter from Tashtagol. In ten days, the guys cut firewood, cut five haystacks, and completed a flock of chickens. And a new film was made. The first one, without any advertising, received more than 100 thousand views on the Internet.

Vladimir Pavlovsky, editor-in-chief of Krasnoyarsk Worker

I was lucky enough to visit the Lykov farm more than once. For many years we have been sending expeditions there and organizing events to help Agafya Karpovna. And, of course, we very much value the reader’s attention to the publications dedicated to her. I received another touching message the other day from Norway: “Good afternoon! Jan Richard writes to you, who is impressed by the life of Agafya Lykova. I want to make a book about her. I’ve been dreaming of going for several years, but it’s probably too far. I can get to Abakan and order Then I can’t afford a helicopter! Maybe representatives of the reserve fly there and it’s possible to join them? Maybe it’s not so expensive? As I understand it, she’s going to spend this winter in the taiga too? "

Dossier "RG"

The documentary story “Taiga Dead End” is the result of many years of observations of a family of Old Believers in mountainous Khakassia, who lived for more than 30 years in isolation from people. We first learned about the taiga discovery of geologists from Komsomolskaya Pravda. The author of the first essay, Vasily Mikhailovich Peskov, visited the Lykovs for seven years. In the photo from 2004, Vasily Peskov and Agafya Lykova are crossing the Erinat River.