They showed a film about the Altai Old Believers on Kultura. Fabulously beautiful - and terribly interesting. This topic somewhat offends me personally, because my great-grandmother was from the Old Believers - although, of course, not from the most severe bespriests, but from those that are simpler; yet she would not let anyone drink from her cup. I still can’t resist, and I’ll post the frames with comments - sorry that they weren’t processed in any way, there’s no time. Then maybe I'll do it.

The main part of the film was filmed at Zayachya, or Zaytseva Zaimka. This place was discovered only in 1970. However, it seems that they “discovered” mainly because no one really looked for it, because the local residents themselves are quite into Big world they got out and had relatives there - well, still, otherwise they would have degenerated long ago. One of the significant parts of the Pilot's Book is something like an Old Believer charter,

Dedicated to how to calculate the distance of kinship and, accordingly, the possibility of marriage. Some of the Old Believers even live in cities, although it is much more difficult to observe the charters there, and this allows the inhabitants of such zaimok to take wives from outside. Here is a girl from the city, 19 years old, who got married at 15. She looks like a strong, beautiful woman, 25-30 years old with our money, but her voice is already almost the same one that can be heard on folklore recordings of old songs.

I am a practical person. First of all, I looked at everyday life and various devices. Look what wonderful things: here is a device for twisting horsehair ropes.

This, it seems, is a machine for peeling pine nuts (judging by the waste).

Mill wheel. The mill works only in spring, but around the clock. In the summer the stream dries up, and in the winter, of course, it freezes.

However, not everything is so simple. They have kerosene lamps, which means they still carry kerosene (by horses, there are no roads there). A lot of new metal items, obviously not forged in the village forge (and they don't seem to have a forge). The men are all in rubber boots. The glass in the windows is cloudy, but glass. Buckets are galvanized. Well, and so on. But in general - the economy is as close to natural as possible.

But this is the most interesting. Have you seen the spinning wheel? So that's what can be done from an ordinary spinning wheel. They ordered TV, it’s a sin, but radio is allowed, and young people (note that the same nineteen-year-old girl spoke about “youth”) listen to the radio. But as? That's how.

And the guy says that he never studied anywhere. Heard about Ohm's law for the first time. “But I looked at how the motor in the tape recorder was spinning, and I did it.” He powered the tape recorder, and when necessary, then a flashlight - in winter the nights are long, but how good it is: you sit for yourself, weave or make something, and rock the pedal with your foot ... By the way, I didn’t really understand from his explanations: he seemed to be saying, that his electricity is generated by friction on emery. Is this possible?

Family folk group. They are engaged in collecting and performing folklore almost professionally. These guys sing really well. ;-)

The film crew also flew to Agafya Lykova, filmed her - almost for the first time. Agafya speaks somewhat indistinctly, but she sings very well - she has a surprisingly true and clear voice.

And the places are just amazing. Especially in good weather. ;-)

Last year, fate brought me to Lake Baikal from Buryatia. I am a hydrographer and we worked on the Barguzin River. Almost untouched nature, clean air, good simple people- everything was enthralling.

But most of all I was struck by the Semey settlements there. At first we could not understand what it was.

Then they explained to us that they were Old Believers.

Semeyskie live in separate villages, they have very strict customs. To this day, women still wear sundresses to their heels, and men wear blouses. These are very calm and benevolent people, but they behave in such a way that you can’t go to them once again. They just won't talk, we've never seen anything like that. These are very hardworking people, they never sit idle. At first it was somehow annoying, then we got used to it.

And later we noticed that they are all healthy and beautiful, even old people. Our work took place just on the territory of their village, and in order to disturb the inhabitants as little as possible, we were given one grandfather, Vasily Stepanovich, to help us. He helped us take measurements - very convenient for us and the residents. For 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. Stepanych repeated more than once that all illnesses come from the head. Once I clung to him with a demand to explain what he meant by this. And he answered this: “Let's take you, five men. Yes, I’ll tell you by the smell of your socks what you think!” We became interested, and then Stepanych simply stunned us.

He said that if a person has a strong smell of feet, then his strongest feeling is the desire to postpone all things for later, to do them tomorrow or even later. He also said that men, especially modern ones, are lazier than women, and therefore their feet smell stronger. And he added that he didn’t need to explain anything to him, but it was better to answer honestly to himself, whether it was true or not. This is how, it turns out, thoughts affect a person, and legs too! 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 you should starve, or strictly fast for six months.

We began to torture Stepanych, but how old is he? He kept refusing, and then he says: "That's how much you give - that's how much it will be." We began to think 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 sent to help us!

It turned out that all the Old Believers are healthy people, they don’t go to doctors and treat themselves. They know a special belly massage, and everyone does it for himself. And if the indisposition has gone, then the person understands, together with his loved ones, what thought or what feeling, what business could cause illness. That is, he tries to understand what is wrong in his life. Then he begins to starve ...., and only then he drinks herbs, infusions, is treated with natural substances.

The Old Believers understand that all the causes of diseases in a person are in the head. For this reason, they refuse to listen to the radio, watch TV, believing that such devices clog the head and make a person a slave: because of these devices, a person stops thinking for himself. They consider their own lives to be the most valuable.

The whole way of family life made me reconsider many of my views on life. They do not ask anyone for anything, but live well, with prosperity. Each person's face glows, expressing dignity, but not pride. These people do not offend anyone, do not offend, no one swears obscenities, does not make fun of anyone, does not gloat. Everyone works - from small to large.

Special respect for the elderly, the young do not contradict the elders. They especially respect purity, and purity in everything, starting with clothes, at home, ending with thoughts and feelings. If you could see these extraordinarily clean houses with crisp curtains on the windows and valances on the beds! Everything is washed and scraped clean. All of their animals are well cared for.

The clothes are beautiful, embroidered with different patterns, which are protection for people. They simply do not talk about the infidelities of a husband or wife, because this is not there and cannot be. People are driven by a moral law that is not written anywhere, but everyone honors and observes it. And for the observance of this law, they were rewarded with health and longevity, and what!

When I returned to the city, I often thought of Stepanych. It was difficult for me to link together what he said and modern life with its computers, planes, telephones, satellites. On the one hand, technological progress is good, but on the other ...

We have really lost ourselves, we do not understand ourselves well, we have shifted the responsibility for our lives to parents, doctors, and the government. Maybe that's why there are no truly strong and healthy people. What if we really die out without realizing? We imagined that we had become smarter than everyone, because our technology is unusually diverse. But it turns out that because of technology we are losing ourselves ...

Hello, I'm sorry, maybe the message is off topic .. Is it possible to somehow get into the Old Believer settlement and stay there to live !? Can they accept a person from outside!?

I also thought about it. But I don’t know if they can accept anyone from outside the community. The Old Believers lived in my native village, when the locals had already left, they tried not to intersect with ordinary people.

I also thought about it. But I don’t know if they can accept anyone from outside the community. The Old Believers lived in my native village, when the locals had already left, they tried not to intersect with ordinary people.

Click to reveal...

I know that they receive guests, but is it always possible or not!!!??

My mother is an Old Believer-bespopovka, and therefore I know their traditions well. If you, Alex, do not accept rebaptism (Old Believers rebaptize everyone who is baptized outside their Church), you do not accept their beliefs (and misconceptions), then the likelihood that you will be accepted into the community - almost zero. Well, you can’t smoke, you must grow a beard, take food only from ritually clean “unstained” dishes, observe church charters, regularly attend a prayer service house, wife take a girl only from the Old Believers. families and so on ... Of course, at first they will look at you. The Old Believers are a rather closed group, they do not favor strangers. There are many reasons for this, one of them is the theft of priceless ancient icons and books by adventurers. Therefore, the Old Believers are always in tense: is this newcomer trying to ingratiate himself and infiltrate the community with a bad purpose? I would not advise dealing with them, but here everyone has the right to decide for himself ...

Film TAIGO ROBINSONS

A film from the cycle "Unlost Paradise".
In the Siberian taiga outback, in our Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Abansky district (where my grandfather comes from) in the villages of Lugovaya and Shivera, Old Believers have long lived.

Attention! At the 13th minute of the film, the Old Believer complains that they are planting trees for cut down trees. The authorities of the Russian Federation got to them.

Live outside of civilization and not turn into a beast.

Not so long ago I was in the taiga in enough remote location. I saw the Old Believers, talked a little. They are engaged in cattle breeding and hunting. Some of them are smokers. They may not smoke in front of their own, but they smoked in front of me. Not everyone wears a beard. There are no roads, people go to civilization in motor boats (200-300 km to the nearest village). The Internet is used on the phone when they travel to civilization.

Not so long ago I was in the taiga in a fairly remote place. I saw the Old Believers, talked a little. They are engaged in cattle breeding and hunting. Some of them are smokers. They may not smoke in front of their own, but they smoked in front of me. Not everyone wears a beard. There are no roads, people go to civilization in motor boats (200-300 km to the nearest village). The Internet is used on the phone when they travel to civilization.

Click to reveal...

Interesting... Listen, can you tell us in more detail about this journey of yours, where you were, what you saw. And probably, there are plenty of other places for hermitage? And what is the local climate like?

This is in the Turukhansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. place names I will not name in order to preserve nature.

A few photos.
Yenisei

Up the river

Up the river

Zaimka of the Old Believers

Another zaimka, on the right you can see the greenhouse

If there are haystacks on the banks, then in 3-10 km there will be another zaimka

Another zaimka

This is in the Turukhansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. I will not name geographic names in order to preserve nature.

I was in July-August. The total weight of the equipment including the boat and food at the beginning of the journey was 48 kg.
At first he rose from the Yenisei about 200 km against the current. About half I pulled the boat on a rope with a ship, rowed half where there was not a strong current. Kayak boat with keel. It will not work to pull a boat without a keel on a rope - it will be nailed to the shore. The current is fast, all things must be tied to the boat. The day went on, the day rested. In total, the ascent took 18 days. From animals I saw bears, deer, birds in assortment. There were few berries compared to the northern taiga of the European part. Most of the berries were on the watershed. From blueberries, blueberries, cloudberries, red currants, lingonberries, mountain ash. There are many mushrooms, but not everywhere.

From the water I saw only one hunting lodge, and in one more place there were trees cut down near the water, probably also a winter cabin nearby.
Then he crossed on foot to another river where the Old Believers live and went down to the Yenisei. On this river, animals and fish are already much smaller than on the first, and there are almost no waterfowl at all.
The climate is continental, in summer it is better than in the taiga on the server of the European part - less air humidity. In sunny weather, clothes dry very quickly. There were very few days without sun. But it rains a little in the afternoon almost every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day, sometimes there were no 2 days. The most protracted rain was 2 days. The peculiarity of the climate is probably due to permafrost: when the sun is shining, you can walk naked (if you are not afraid of mosquitoes), as soon as the sun sets behind a cloud, the temperature drops sharply and you need to wear a sweater.
I also noticed that there is more cloudiness on the Yenisei than away from it, but it may just be a coincidence.

There are traces of ground fires everywhere, but there were no fires in my presence. Lots of horse burners.

There are a lot of mosquitoes in July. Went in a mosquito net and gloves. While you climb into the tent, a hundred mosquitoes will fly. Then he shone a flashlight and crushed them. I took a spare mosquito net with a very fine mesh from small midges. Nothing can be seen through it, but for several evenings it helped a lot. A small midge crawls through an ordinary mosquito net.

Some equipment was partially out of order. The flashlight is broken. Lightning on the tent after installation on the sand began to diverge. The lid of the pot burned out, because of which he could not boil tea when the pot was busy. Walking socks were torn to shreds. Break gloves. I lost one glove and had to sew a mitten, it was good to have a piece of fabric.

There are plenty of places for hermitage, but surely all the hunting grounds belong to someone. Would love to visit there in the winter.

A few photos.
Yenisei

The story of Elizabeth is a young American woman of Russian origin who managed to escape from an Old Believer settlement in the Krasnoyarsk Territory a decade and a half after her relatives deceived her into visiting fellow believers there.

The Dubches sketes are the spiritual center of the Old Believers-bespriests of chapel consent. After the advent of Soviet power, many chapels fled first to China, and from there to the South and North America.
Those who remained in the country moved farther and farther away from the new authorities, and in the late 1930s, fleeing persecution and collectivization, they found themselves in the remote taiga of the Turukhansk region.
It is a wild and swampy area; from the place where the river Dubches flows into the Yenisei to Krasnoyarsk - five hundred kilometers. Upstream of the Dubches, small sketes, monasteries and lodges of Old Believers-chapels hid from the world. You can get there only by the river and only in high water.
In 1951, the sketes discovered by the Soviet authorities were destroyed. All buildings were burned, and the inhabitants were taken by force to the mainland. Of those who were taken to Krasnoyarsk, 33 people were convicted in the case of a secret anti-Soviet formation of Old Believer sectarians and received from 10 to 25 years.
But already in 1954, after the death of Stalin, all the convicted chapels were amnestied and gradually returned to Dubches, where they rebuilt the castles and monasteries.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, ties between taiga chapels and co-religionists abroad are renewed; the descendants of emigrants begin to visit the sketes regularly and join the ranks of the monastic inhabitants.
“The number of brethren in the men's skete and the number of sisters are increasing extremely sharply - approximately three times,” writes Deacon Kolnogorov. “At this time, the entire complex of the men's monastery is being rebuilt, the chapel, the Kelar refectory are being rebuilt, new cells are being erected.
But four women's cloisters, located in the same area at a distance of five to 15 kilometers from the men's skete, become especially numerous.
According to him, the basis of the monastic brethren is now made up of people from the Old Believer settlements. By the middle of the 2000s, when Deacon Kolnogorov described state of the art sketes, more than 3,000 people lived there, including male and female monasteries, while in the 1990s there were 60-70 people in a male monastery and about 300 in four female monasteries.

According to Kolnogorov, contacts between Dubches chapels and American Old Believers are being established after the first elderly resident from the United States settles in the male skete, who admires the piety and strictness of the skete charter.
At present, among the inhabitants and nuns is already heard English language where they are still forbidden to pray.
But not everyone gets into the taiga monasteries of their own free will. It is possible that in the early 2000s, Deacon Kolnogorov met there with Elizaveta, a US citizen, whom her relatives, Old Believers, deceived into the Dubches sketes as a teenager. The girl managed to escape from there only after a decade and a half.

"My name is Elizabeth, I was born in Oregon, in the USA. My mother's parents, they are purely Russian, they are from Russia. In Stalin's year they fled from there, they lived in China, they hid in the mountains for some time, my first uncles were born there .
Then they heard that it is freer in South America, they don't persecute people for religion. They left for South America My aunt was born there.
And then they heard that it was even better in the USA, they moved there, and there my mother and two more brothers were born to her. All of them were old believers.
From the age of 16, my mother left home and met with an American, this is my father. She has sisters and brothers - they are all Old Believers, and my mother simply left religion. My father left us when I was five years old.
They were alcoholics, they took drugs, for some time I lived with my aunt, then with my uncle, then with my grandfather. For a while my mother was in prison.
I talked more with my aunt, with young children, they had 11 children, and I was very close to them, I often visited them there in the summer. My best friend was also an Old Believer.

They all taught me in the Old Believer way. Learned how to pray. When I was 13, they sent their three children there, to Siberia, to monasteries. And they told me to visit them there.
I somehow did not take it into account, because I did not want to go there. I thought I wanted to marry a Christian. For this, I had to be baptized.
Even when I was at the announcement before baptism, my aunt made me a passport - in secret, she did not tell me anything. She was already planning to send me to Russia, to monasteries, but she didn’t tell me.
So I was baptized and then, not long after the baptism...only two weeks had passed, on May 10, 2000, my aunt told me that you would go to the monastery tomorrow.

We were greeted well, they were there, as it were ... they kind people, but they have different concepts, very different from the world. They had such a notion that we should live opposite to the world.
In order not to perish, they have such a strict faith, their religion is so strict, strict, they believe that the more you suffer, the more you will get in the next world. They believed that if you get out of there, you will die. That you should live there and die there.
And I'm stuck there. Then, four years later, my passport was burned. They said you'll stay here for the rest of your life. They didn’t beat me there, they just forced me to live strictly the way they live.
We had fasts all the time, every Monday-Wednesday-Friday, then fasts before Easter, before Christmas. We didn't eat meat at all. Food twice a day only lunch and dinner - and that's it, we were not allowed to eat anymore.
We cooked in the kitchen, you go there and eat what you have cooked. Everyone ate from the common cups. Great Lent was even stricter, for the first week nothing boiled was allowed, only this way, a little, carrots and beets, and once a day.

Everything was done by hand. We didn’t have horses, we dug up all the arable land with a chopper. We lived so far away, we didn’t have shops there, we grew everything ourselves.
The work was very difficult all the time: cooking, sawing, stabbing, hauling. We carried everything on sledges ourselves, for the first years we didn’t have horses, we dug up the arable land by hand.
Then we got a plow, but we pulled it ourselves. And then, recent years when we already had a horse, the horse plowed the arable land. But we pulled the sledges ourselves, carried firewood.
Our land there was very bad, like clay, then we went to the river, found soft earth, dug it into bags, brought it home. Then they burned the earth, everything was mixed.
Our houses were built of logs, they cut corners with an ax. We lived there from four to ten people in one house. I have never left there for 15 years, they did not let me in. And then I ran away.

Four years later, I got used a little, I got accustomed, one might say, to all this. They also told me that... for the future you have good life will be.
Every day they repeated it all, they said, they said, they said that it was impossible, it was not good, you would die. It should be like this, in the next world you will receive the kingdom of heaven. They told me all the time, all the time, all the time. And I kind of still believe in God, but it's very cruel the way they lived.
I was offended, saddened that my passport was burned, but I kind of thought ... I was still sick with asthma at that time, and they all told me that you would soon die and receive the kingdom of heaven. Then all these years, for 11 years I was sick, and could not die.
The further, the more I got sick, the last two years I was very sick. Last spring, in 2015, I couldn’t even comb my own hair. I didn't have the strength before.
I just despaired. I'm not dying, I'm not living, I can't live, I was completely depressed. Because it's years. I have been sick for so many years.
And they did not allow me to be treated. At first they allowed a little, and then they said that God sent this to you, this is your cross. You just have to endure and you don't have to heal.

10.08.2014 3 32872

In the Khakassky Reserve, on a unique natural area, taken under the protection of the state, there is a plot under the cozy name - the Lykovs' lodge. It was attached to the reserve in 2001, but it is famous not for rare species of plants and animals, but for a stunning example of austerity and fortitude.

In the late 1970s, while exploring this natural area, geologists unexpectedly stumbled upon the Lykov family. Five Old Believers lived in the taiga for about forty years without contact with the outside world. They didn't read modern books did not know anything about politics and were not at all interested in technical progress of the Soviet Union, but managed to keep in their family the main thing that the machine of the new government was ruthlessly destroying - faith in human dignity, mutual assistance and love for the land, which gives its fruits in exchange for careful use.

It is difficult for a modern person who cannot remain without a telephone, social connections and stone jungle even for an hour, that everything necessary for life is in nature and in himself. And the Lykov family proved this by their own example.

THE WAY TO LONELY

The history of ordeals of hermits began in the 20s of the last century. The Lykovs never differed in the desire to “merge with the people”, and therefore even in those days they lived in the town of Tishi near the Bolshoy Abakan River with one estate. Revolutions and change of power were the last thing they worried about: the Lykovs ran the household, looked after the garden, read religious books and tried to live like a god.

That is why collectivization hit them more painfully than those who were in the know and could prepare for the changes, at least morally.

The first swallows were the peasants, who fled from the requisitions. Since the Lykovs lived in seclusion, many believed that the Soviet authorities would not get to this corner hidden on the river soon. So around the Lykovs' house, a dozen more courtyards were formed, but peaceful existence lasted only until 1929. Unexpectedly, a representative from the party appeared in the Lykov village with instructions to create from local residents artel of fishermen and hunters.

At first, the guest was accepted simply without much joy, but soon a real struggle began between the Old Believers and representatives of the new government. Lykovs, accustomed to independent living, in which no one owes them anything, but they also owe no one, they simply began to survive from the village.

In an attempt to maintain dignity, the Lykovs left their homes and settled along the river. The once large family began to fragment: someone lagged behind, others walked along the river in search of more fertile land and better conditions. In those days, the existence of the Lykovs was by no means shrouded in mystery: they appeared in the nearest settlements in order to buy threads for knitting fishing nets, in addition, they helped the inhabitants of Tishi to build a hospital at a local source.

In 1932, a reserve was established in this natural area, which worsened their situation. Government decree forbade hunting, fishing and agriculture on protected land, that is, to do everything that the Lykovs fed on. By this time, Karp Osipovich, main character this story, got a wife Akulina; in 1930, the first son, Savin, was born to the young.

In this composition, they eventually settled in a makeshift hut on the banks of a mountain tributary of the Erinat River. The inhabitants of the nearest towns and villages, of course, knew that somewhere in the taiga a family of Old Believers was wandering, but since there was no news from the Lykovs, they were considered dead. Nevertheless, the Lykovs coped with their troubles, and the news that they were alive spread throughout all Soviet newspapers in the late 1970s.

PARASISTS OR ASCETS?

In 1978, the hermits were first discovered by geologists who selected sites for the landing of research parties and accidentally discovered the “tame” arable land of the Lykovs. By that time there were five hermits: the father of the family, Karp Osipovich, the sons Savin and Dmitry, and the daughters Natalya and Agafya. The wife of Karp Osipovich Akulina died in 1961 from starvation.

In the early 1980s, reporters went to the outlandish family. The first notes about the life of the inhabitants of the taiga were published by the newspapers Socialist Industry and Krasnoyarsk Rabochiy. In 1982, a series of articles about the Lykovs written by Soviet journalist Vasily Peskov appeared in Komsomolskaya Pravda. They soon emerged as separate book, called "Taiga dead end". Vasily Peskov wrote notes about the Lykovs almost until his death in 2013, regularly visiting the zaimka.

Vasily Peskov and Agafya Lykova

Then, in the early 1980s, public opinion about the life of the Lykovs was divided. If Vasily Peskov treated the hermits with at least human sympathy, then other pen sharks turned out to be frantic in their assessments. Karp Osipovich was called a parasite and a deserter: they say, while a huge country got up from its knees after wars and revolutions, he quietly sat out in a dugout.

These remarks are partly true, although they are rather comical: the Lykovs, of course, did not give anything Soviet Union in material terms, they did not set socialist records and did not cope with a single five-year plan in four years. On the other hand, they took absolutely nothing from this government. Accusing the hermits of their lack of love for the vast Motherland, the reporters somehow lost sight of the fact that the love for their land, which the Lykovs cultivated with their hands, was expressed in them not in words, but in deeds.

EXAMPLE LIFE

All these years, the Lykovs lived on hunting, having no firearms. They dug trapping holes on the paths, and when preparing meat for the winter, they divided it into thin plates and dried it in the wind. Living on the river, the hermits adapted to catch fish and cook it in different ways - bake and dry for future use. They did not have any fishing rods to get fish, the hermits set up special fences in the river.

Mushrooms, berries and nuts supplemented the diet of the Lykovs, and even an experienced agronomist would envy the Lykovs’ garden: without modern tools, knowing nothing about vitamins and fertilizers, they were able to create exemplary plantings that fed them for forty years.

They broke the plot on the side of the mountain at an angle of 40-50 degrees. It went up 300 meters and was divided into three levels - lower, middle and upper. Crushing the beds in height made it possible to better preserve the crop, and the Lykovs themselves planted crops taking into account their biological characteristics.

The main food of the hermits was potatoes. It was planted in one place for no more than three years, and for half a century the culture has not degenerated. Moreover, when scientists conducted studies on the diet of the Lykovs, it turned out that their taiga potatoes contain significantly more starch than modern cultivated varieties. In addition, vegetables from the Lykovsky garden did not suffer from any agricultural diseases.

An interesting procedure for preparing for sowing. Three weeks before planting, the Lykovs spread potato tubers on piles in a thin layer, and laid stones under the floor and made a fire. Giving off heat, the stones evenly warmed up the tubers. Sowing dates were selected in accordance with the local climate and tried not to get out of the schedule.

It may seem implausible, but for many decades the Lykovs have never made a mistake in the calendar, and Karp Osipovich's wife taught four children to read and write from the Psalter. Books in the family were kept very carefully, they treated icons in the same way. Moreover, the speech of hermits helped philologists to make a number of important observations for this scientific field.

When expeditions began to be sent to the Lykovs, employees of Kazan University were among the first visitors. The hermits were reluctant to come into contact with visitors, and in order to gain their trust, pundits from the city helped the Lykovs for days to chop wood, plow the beds and carry water. Soon the hermits melted away - more from sympathy for the humanities than from the practical benefits brought. And finally, Agafya, the youngest daughter of Karp Osipovich, pleased the researchers with her reading. “And then one day Agafya took a notebook in which “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” was rewritten by hand,” the expedition members recalled. -

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.

Huge scientific interest The studies of the immunity of the Lykovs, who did not know the infectious diseases typical of urban residents, were also represented. However, it was the meeting with big world” eventually killed the hermits: according to studies, three out of five family members died in a short time, catching an infection from guests, because their body simply did not know how to fight the infection.

IRON BIRDS

However, even before the death of Savin, Dmitry and Natalia, the hermits were scolded in Soviet newspapers in every way, from savages to parasites. The reason for their ordeals was simply explained: the Lykovs believed in God, and dark faith led them into the forest. Few dared to admire aloud people who found the strength to resist the new regime, which was incomprehensible and alien to them.

“Life and life are miserable to the extreme, a story about the current life and about major events they listened in it like Martians ... 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 race. Blame it all - a fanatical dark belief in a force that lies beyond being, called God. Religion was undoubtedly the mainstay in this suffering life. But she was also the cause of the terrible impasse ... In this wretched life, the sense of beauty, nature, was also killed. given to man. No flower in the hut, no decoration in it. No attempt to decorate clothes, things ... The Lykovs did not know songs ”- these are some quotes from the writings of those times.

The fact that the hermits had no idea who Lenin, Marx and Engels were especially depressing to critics. When the first planes appeared over the taiga, the Lykovs explained this with predictions from "old books": "Iron birds will fly across the sky." The hermits also noticed the appearance of satellites, however, they mistook them for stars, which for some reason began to move very quickly across the sky. On this occasion, Karp Osipovich suggested: "People have invented something and set off fires that look like stars."

Many volunteers immediately rushed to help the Lykovs and enlighten them. In most cases, they were just curious, and not all of them came with pure intentions. The writer Lev Cherepanov, who visited the Old Believers in the early 80s, recalled: “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 there, fur on his wife's collar? Of course, I immediately opposed, which surprised Karp Iosifovich very much, because he was used to the fact that people who came took furs from him.

Precious skins were worth nothing in the eyes of hermits, but those who called them backward savages easily took advantage of their kindness.

CRY FOR HELP

Lev Cherepanov more than once suggested restricting access to the Lykovs' estate, fearing that the invasion of "guests" causes a lot of anxiety to the hermits. Igor Nazarov, head of the anesthesiology department at the Krasnoyarsk Institute for Advanced Medical Studies, insisted on the same, but attempts to explain to officials that the immunity of taiga residents would not withstand a meeting with unknown bacteria were unsuccessful. In 1981, Savin, Dmitry and Natalya died one after another, refusing to take the medicines that the doctors had left for them.

The younger sister, Agafya, nevertheless stepped over herself and was cured with pills. So they stayed in the hut together with their father, but Karp Osipovich was already an elderly man and died in 1988. Despite the fact that after the publications of Vasily Peskov, Agafya found many relatives living in much more civilized places than the zaimka, the hermit flatly refused to move to people, explaining that she needed space.

Agafya, now 69, still lives on Erinat, and is accompanied by former geologist Yerofey Sedov and frequently changing volunteers. However, the former cannot help with the housework in any way - many years ago he lost his leg and moves on crutches, while the latter hardly get along with the wayward Agafya.

Realizing that it was hard for her to run a household in the taiga alone, she began to seek help from the regional administration or from an old acquaintance, Vladimir Pavlovsky, editor of the Krasnoyarsk Rabochiy newspaper. Letters with a return address: “The Erinat River, a monastery in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos of Three Hands” - Agafya Lykova sends with an opportunity - she still often has guests. Her messages are written using the Old Russian alphabet; it is not easy to make out the text, but it is possible. Most of all, she needs hay and firewood for the winter, which are hard to prepare on her own. And also - in an assistant who would take on small household assignments.

Old Believer communities have sent volunteers to her more than once, but few are able to live long in such a wilderness. There is no bathhouse or basic amenities in the castle, you can wash yourself only by dousing yourself with ice water or rubbing with snow. The Lykovs' Zaimka is located 120 kilometers from the nearest village, and flying to the hermit by helicopter is much easier than making your way through the dense taiga.

Employees of the Khakass Nature Reserve regularly visit her, though mostly combining visits with work, when a helicopter flies around the territory during floods or forest fires. Flying to a zaimka just like that is not a cheap pleasure. One round-trip flight costs almost half a million rubles.

At one time, there was an alarm button in Agafya's hut. Receiving a signal from the lodge, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations flew out to save the old woman, but on the spot it turned out that Agafya simply ran out of hay or firewood. According to Vladimir Pavlovsky, Lykova should be treated condescendingly, like a child. She knows neither the value of money, nor the morals in society, and therefore both refuse and help her must be delicate.

“As far as I know her, she always complains about her life,” says Vladimir Pavlovsky. - Maybe this helps her to some extent: she will pity a little - and more help. And you have to be okay with it. She is a child. And in no case should you strive to do harm to her, she only needs to help. I was touched by the details in her letter that she no longer heats the stove, and her food is almost starving. Although she has plenty of cereals, salt, sugar. Well, now it's really already, apparently, it's hot. I think you still need to look for an assistant. While she is on her feet, she makes short-term plans to help her get through the winter there and prepare for the next winter: prepare firewood, mow hay, plant a garden, then help dig up potatoes. Really, who will pull it? A journalist called me and asked me to send him there for a year. I know him, he good man, but I'm not sure that he will last there for half a month. I would have lasted a maximum of a month there, and this is also taking into account the good relations with Agafya Karlovna.

The last assistant left Lykov in April - a young man, a member of the Tomsk Old Believer community, spent two months in the zaimka, but received a summons to the army. A new companion for the hermit has not yet been picked up, although there was no end to those who wished. However, the administration of the reserve and the regional authorities very carefully choose an assistant for Lykova, trying to eliminate the risk that the volunteer will be asked to return in a week.

Now they are considering six candidates, all these people come from Old Believer families, who are aware of where and why they are going. In the meantime, the point is, Agafya celebrated her birthday. On her 69th birthday, the hermit was sent a box of fruit, including plenty of bananas, for which Agafya has a particular weakness.

The hermit does not complain about her health and smiles at the guests. She has replenishment in the household: the goats brought kids, and the cats have bred so that the hermit cannot even count them. In the next hut built for her by volunteers, of course, one can no longer find those ancient tools that the Lykovs made with their own hands. Most of the things went to museums or simply served their time.

Now Agafya has rubber boots, candles, buckets, pots, clothes, barrels, watches, coils of wire, and tools. Unless the icons remained in their places. Some of them have become so black with time that it is impossible to guess what is depicted on them. However, they, as well as the boundless taiga, remained witnesses of a huge feat accomplished in the name of freedom and faith.

Evgenia NAZAROVA, journalist (Moscow)

From the site moderator: Material sent by I.A. Popovichev is the result of his travels through the taiga in the Tomsk region of the region. Initially, it was published on the site 4x4.tomsk.ru and we took the liberty of retaining a specific form of text, typical for reports on forums of sites of interest. Only in some places we have added logical links that facilitate the perception of the material.

The working group of the project "Free and involuntary Siberians" thanks Igor Anatolyevich for interesting stuff and hopes for continued cooperation, as well as the fact that other travelers will follow his example and share on the site interesting stories about the region's past.

Semiluzhnaya parish Tomsk district Tomsk province. 1900. Higher resolution map attached as a separate media object.

Old Believers in the Tomsk province.

According to the census Russian Empire, in 1897 there were up to 2 million Old Believers (Bulletin of TSU. History. 2016 N3 (41))

At first, the Soviet authorities did not touch the Old Believers as victims of the tsarist regime. However, the inhabitants of mixed and Old Believer settlements did not justify their hopes. Soviet power. Neither in Mitrofanovka, nor in the village. Petropavlovsk, where part of the population consisted of Old Believers, by 1926 failed to organize a single Komsomol cell. And soon the party members began to regard the economy of the Old Believers as prosperous and for this reason they allowed violent actions against them, often resembling a secret bandit raid than a political action.

About migrants.

The famous writer G.I. Uspensky, employed in 1888 - 1889. affairs for the arrangement of settlers in Siberia, aptly noticed the differences in the appearance of Tomsk Siberians and Kursk settlers. He wrote: “... if you see a tall person at work, in a cap, a red shirt, black plush or pink cotton trousers and leather shoes, this is a Siberian. If in front of you ... a little man, always without a hat, always in a white homespun shirt and in general all dressed, shod and wrapped in products of all kinds of vegetation: bast, bast, hemp, then this is ours, Kursk ”(Uspensky G.I. , 1952, vol. XI, p. 81).

About the resettlement village of Olgo-Sapezhenka and not only.

The village of Olgo-Sapezhenka, aka Silantyevka, aka Talovka, is one of the three dozen villages and villages that have disappeared since the second half of the nineteenth in. in the taiga area of ​​​​the Lower Tom region, north of the city of Tomsk and the village. Samus. The names of these villages can still be found on old maps. Tomsk region- Uspenka, Shutovka, Grodnenka, Mostovka, Pokrovka, Voznesenka, Dubrovka, Vladimirovka, Malinovka, Vilenka, Throwing, Poperechka, Trinity, Mitrofanovka, Chudnova, Postnikova, Chernilshchikova, Spasskaya, Olginskaya, Kazanskaya-Shchukina, Sagalakova, Beloborodova, Grodno, Kizhirov , Podosenovka and others, as well as Zaimka Chernysheva Zaim. Shitov (Map 1911). Zaimki Sidorov, Tokin, Koksharov, Pukhov, Zadvorny, Pirogov, Shcheglov, Ivanov, Shirinkin Guryan, cell b \ n, deputy. Zadvorny, cell b\n, Athanasius, cell b\n, (1900) Zaim. Savinova, zaim. Ignatova, zaim. Shutov, Schukin, Zarubin, Rapisov (Ryapisov? - approx. Moderator. The surname is found in Seversk), Egorov, Tyukhalov, Koveshnikov, Ivanov, Ustinov, Yesin, Ivan Kuznetsov, Vasily Bochkarev, Shirinkin, Novikov, Polynin, Krylov, Vakhrushev, Zadverny , Moiseev, Permyakov, Fedor, Kuzma, Yuriev, Myasnikov, Vakhrushev, Shumilov, Nikolai, Danila, Yakov. (Map 1921).

The emergence of these villages is associated with the all-Russian process of the second half of the 19th century. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the resettlement of peasants from the European part of Russia to Siberia due to lack of land

The village of Olgo-Sapezhenka was founded, according to the old-timers, in 1881 by Belarusian settlers. In the work of N.A. Tomilova (Russians of the Lower Tom region ... 2001, p. 11) provides data on which the village of Olgo-Sapezhenka was formed approximately in 1892-1894. and was originally called Silantyevka by the name of its first resident Silantyev, a native of Belarus. In the future, the village was also populated mainly by immigrants from Belarus, mainly from the village of Rodoshkovichi, Minsk District. According to other stories, it follows that before the peasant Silantius, the Old Believer Ustinov settled here, uprooted the land, but the next year Silantius interrupted this plot from him. Then Ustinov moved to a new site 15 km from Silantyevka and founded the Ustinovka estate.

From the period of land management 1905-1907. and until the 1930s. the village was called Olgovka. According to the memoirs of the old-timers, over time it turned out that there were two Olgovkas, and then Sapezhenka was added to the name, it turned out “Olgo-Sapezhenka”. The name of Olga-Sapezhenka became official - on maps, according to documents, and in everyday circulation it was called nothing more than Silantevka. In addition, there was another village Sapezhenka nearby, also known as Vladimirovka.

Olga-Sapezhenka was located on a river with a characteristic Siberian name - Shishkoboyka. In the vicinity of the village, 4 - 10 km away, there were Old Believer settlements - Ivanovskaya, Yuryevskaya, Myasnikova, Ustinov, Vakhrusheva, etc., located 1 - 1.5 km from each other. It is possible that the Old Believers settled here earlier than the settlers, since this remote area was chosen by them for a long time. In the nineteenth century on the river. Yukse was an Old Believer monastery, and some of the sketes have survived in this region to the present day. The Old Believers also lived in Silantievka itself, and mixed families were known, most often the descendants of the settlers willingly married hard-working girls from Old Believer families. Among the inhabitants there were surnames characteristic of Belarusians and Ukrainians - Mezyukha, Nesterovichi, Grudinko, Shimko, Skyryukha, Klyuchnik, Khrul, Rakovy, Smolonsky, Malinovsky, but also Russians, for example, Konovalov, Subbotin, Makhalov and others.

All residents, regardless of origin, daily communicated with each other in the most friendly contacts, in common work were born, married. According to the memoirs of old-timers, many in the village were related to each other. At first, the Soviet Power did not touch the Old Believers as victims of the tsarist regime. However, the inhabitants of mixed and Old Believer settlements did not justify the hopes of the Soviet authorities. Neither in Metrofanovka, nor in the village. Petropavlovsk, where part of the population consisted of Old Believers, by 1926 failed to organize a single Komsomol cell. And soon the party members began to regard the economy of the Old Believers as prosperous and for this reason they allowed violent actions against them, often resembling a secret bandit raid than a political action. The Old Believers from the destroyed castles, with their property and livestock taken away, were driven into collective farms, children were assigned to schools.

Before the war, there were about 70 households in Olgo-Sapezhenka. In the village, as in all the surrounding villages, they were mainly engaged in arable farming, gardening, raising livestock and various crafts, mainly forestry based on the use of local gifts of nature, they collected cranberries, blueberries and other berries, mushrooms, harvested pine nuts. Potatoes were grown in large quantities, they were crushed on massive potato graters, starch was made and taken for sale in the village. Samus and in Tomsk. Up until the 1930s. on many farms they grew flax, spun it themselves, wove canvas for making clothes, towels and other necessities. Despite the fact that they lived in the taiga, relatively few were engaged in hunting, about 10 people from the whole village. And only children were engaged in fishing on the Shishkoboyka River, a swampy river with black water - they fished with the help of fishing rods.

In 1931, the Krasny Oktyabr industrial collective farm was created, in which they were engaged in the manufacture of fir oil and tar, earning workdays. On the basis of woodworking crafts, a cooperage workshop was created at the collective farm - a cooperage, and during the war years, handles for sapper shovels were made in it. After the war, a fir plant was built, where it became possible to earn money. Fir oil was handed over for money to the Tomsk Mezhraylessoyuz, one kilogram of oil cost 32 rubles, then a lot of money at that time. After the war, a radio and electric light were installed in Ol'go-Sapezhenka.

In Olga-Sapezhenka, Olga's Day was a congregational holiday (celebrated in the summer, in mowing), in Pokrovka - Pokrov, in Petropavlovka - Peter's Day, in Uspenka - Assumption, etc. From all the surrounding villages, they went to church in Petropavlovka almost on every holiday, they got married there, baptized children and buried the dead.

In 1937, the church was closed, it was rolled out on logs, which were taken to the construction of the mill, as if there was no other forest.

In the 1960s a policy of enlargement of collective farms began, which destroyed many villages. So the Olga-Sapezhensky collective farm "Red October" was united for enlargement first with the Troitsk collective farm, and then with others, together with the Petropavlovsk MTS, into the state farm "Sibiryak" with a center in the village. Naumovka.

A trip through the Pritomskaya taiga. Personal impressions.

We are driving along the road with the descendants of the Yuryevsk Old Believers - Pavel Yegorovich Yuryev and his son - Pavel Pavlovich Yuryev Yuryev.

The eldest of the Yuryevs, Pavel Yegorovich Yuryev, slowly tells the story: "Where the barn is, this is Shumilovskaya Zaimka, built in 1900, it was built by my grandfather Shumilov Ksenofonty Ivanovich (1870-1947) and lived there with his wife Nadezhda (1868-1934 He is my maternal grandfather. My grandfather was a tailor. He made leather, made sheepskin, sewed slippers and caps. And he sewed all the time for the store where the state department store was, about 1000 little things.

Market Square in Tomsk.

He handed over caps and hats. And then there were a lot of bandits, so my grandfather went with his revolver. Somehow, when I was still a kid, I found this revolver and went into the taiga to shoot birds. Grandfather, having found out about this, hid the weapon, away from sin ... And no matter how hard we tried later, we never found it. Until now, it lies somewhere in the district, rotting ... 70 years have passed. Thanks to his skills, grandfather was always with money, he earned instantly. Somehow I caught a cat and the next day I already sold a hat from it, in short, I did not live in poverty. In general, even before collectivization, Xenophonty was considered a "middle peasant". He did not have enough carts "on the iron track" to the "rank" of the kulak. He was a master of all trades. Sew a hat or doha - no problem. However, collectivization soon began and everything was taken away from him, two cows, a horse, sheep ... leaving him in the taiga with a bare bottom and five hens. Cattle, tools, material, everything went clean to the state. However, almost everyone remembered - grandfather always remained with the money.

Taiga on the site of old believers' castles. Photo of the author.

Ksenofonty Shumilov had two children: a daughter, Praskovya Ksenofontievna Shumilova (1893-1973), and a son, Sergei. In 1947, when grandfather Xenophonty died, his house burned down as well. All that remained was that huge barn, near which he was buried.

So Shumilovskaya Zaimka was renamed Shcheglovskaya. Many years later, the new Shcheglovskaya house also burned down for unclear reasons. Shel 2000. In the same year, the Kursk submarine also sank. At the Shcheglovskaya Zaimka, already at that time, the Old Believer Victor lived with his wife and two children. After the fire, his wife and children left somewhere, and Viktor moved to live in the same, still alive Shumilovsky barn. And only the last 5 years since 2013, when the barn began to fall apart completely, kind people settled it in a house located not far from another lodge, the woman Ira Korobovskaya.

Viktor recently died there. A yarrow grew on his grave ... although it is not in the nearest district. Oddly enough, the history of Shumilovskaya Zaimka did not end with that resettlement. New tenants soon settled in the dilapidated barn, who fled to the taigus family of Volodya K. His wife was released on parole, but she had to constantly go to the local authorities. What categorically scored. And in general, in the secular world, nothing but "marks" kept them, so they decided to go to the taiga. Soon, an abandoned Shumilovsky barn turned up ... However, after another drunkenness, Volodka's wife managed to burn down this last element of the old haunt. Thus ended the existence of the ancient Shumilov-Shcheglov's lodge.

For not appearing in the authorities, Volodya's wife got another 3 years, and Volodya himself (working hands will not interfere in the taiga) kind people moved to the house of the late Viktor. Tomorrow Volodya has a hard day ... he and Peter dig grandmother Irina's potatoes ... they will eat on it all winter .

And Praskovya Ksenofontovna married Yegor Yuryev and, accordingly, moved to Yuryevskaya Zaimka. Egorbondaril, dressed skins and furrier.

There used to be a strong economy here. Photo of the author.

The wife of Pavel Yegorovich Yuryev was born in the Altai Territory, Kulunda station, and although she has nothing to do with the Old Believers, she is also a person with a remarkable fate. Her grandfather was a gypsy kulak, and her grandmother was Russian. , went to Narym, but died there. Left alone, his wife, so as not to be dispossessed, married poor Miron, who also worked as a slave for them. Miron later died at the front. The future wife of Pavel Yegorovich was born from them.

We slowly drove a turn to the former Podosenovka (between Petropavlovka and Olga-Sapezhenka). Meanwhile, Pavel Egorovich Yuryev (born 1934) continued: Zaimka was located 10 km from Olga-Sapezhenka (then still Silantievka) And not far away, on Yuryevskaya Zaimka, there lived two brothers, a native of the Vladimir province: his father Yegor Yuryev, who married Praskovya Ksenofontovna Shumilova, and his brother Vasily Yuryev.When there was a war they grew potatoes, uncle Vasily was a hunter, he shot an animal, so there was something to eat.And Yegor was a cooper, dressed skins and sewed boots.Uncle Vasily, although he was deaf, deaf, was a noble hunter, the first places for extraction occupied, then it was the Novosibirsk region. Krotov caught 6,000 pieces, their skins handed over to harvesters. In winter, where the fox, where the column will catch, where the sable. th, it was forbidden to beat the elk. Now Yegor's house has rotted away, but his wife sold the house of his brother Vasily, it was strong, tall, from huge logs ... in 12 rows. It still stands in the village. Samus. He was sold after Uncle Vasily died (in 1949) after another operation of the NKVD against the Old Believers. The remaining wife and daughter Galka (born in 1943) also moved to the village. Samus. Since then, the zaimka has also become history. In general, there were already two Yurievsky castles. The second one was very far away, from the mother's hut where she was buried, we had to go another 15 km.

As Pavel Yegorovich recalls, going up to it you pass as many as 3 lakes. There, on a beautiful shore, she stood. He was there only once.

We passed the village of Datkovka - in the old way (Grodinka). It was disbanded in the 60s under Khrushchev's enlargement. Everyone was taken to the Kizhirovo collective farm. But now there is nothing there.

We passed Olga-Sapezhenka (with Pavel Egorovich Yuryev, she is indicated in her passport as her place of birth). All the ancestors of Pavel Yegorovich Yuryev were Old Believers. His grandfather Ksenofonty Shumilov (1870) died in 1947, when he was 13 years old. And Pavel Yegorovich Yuryev buried their daughter and his mother 45 years ago. We are going to visit her grave. On the taiga grave there is only a first name and patronymic, no surnames and photographs, only the year of death - 1973.

We turned off the Old Tomsk road to the lodge of grandmother Irina . For some reason, this zaimka is popularly called Turkish. This is what the hunters from Krasny Yar and the Old Believer neighbors call her. But no one could explain why. Maybe the memory of the path that brought this family to Siberia? The Old Believers fled from the authorities to the West, and to the East, and to the South. They also fled to Turkey. However, while we will not build versions, we will try to get to the bottom of the reasons for this "anomaly".

Old Believer's home of Irina Korobovskaya. Photo of the author.

We were settled in a guest house, filled with water and fed, naturally from our dishes.

Ancient books preserved by the Old Believers. Photo of the author.

In the skete they will feed - but only - from the traveler's dishes. Photo of the author.

Irina Korobovskaya. In her youth, she also lived in the taiga, together with Alexandra, until 1947. Baba Ira's ancestors arrived in the taiga from Tyumen region. There the earth was all painted, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. First we came to Bakchar, but my grandfather heard about Beloborodovskiy Bor (after the name of the village where Pochtovy now stands) and moved here. In general, the father was looking for this place for 3 years. In the winter of 1947, divisions of the NKVD were once again created to disperse Old Believer sketes. Chekists took away books, icons and took about a hundred people out of the taiga.

1

Books saved from the authorities (both tsarist and Soviet). Photo of the author.

Property and livestock were confiscated, houses and households were burned. Old women and children were taken to Samuski in the winter. As the grandmother says, the communists, what to take from them, mocked the people. Then, still young, Irina had to leave for Tomsk, where she later got married and gave birth to two daughters. 12 years ago, Baba Ira decided to return to the taiga to her cell and the faith of her ancestors. But even though their faith and community were called “moneyless”, before being baptized, she built a house with the money accumulated in the world and, most importantly, invested 3000 rubles. in a common share horse. Today the horse lives at Rodion's castle, he is 3 kilometers away, and at the appointed time he is all the surrounding grandmothers of the plow town. Rodion specially comes to her castle for this.

Plowing is carried out with an old iron plow. All those involved in the horse's share of their mowing, and there are not many of them in the taiga, are engaged in harvesting hay for the horse. After the arrangement, Baba Ira again became "cashless". Rise of the “moneyless” Baba Ira is one of the last, the “money” camp is headed by Fomaida. And grandmother Irina read us two prayers in Old Slavonic and sang one funny song. The most interesting thing about them was that each word individually is understandable, but the meaning of what was said is not. Baba Ira perfectly remembers all the Old Believers. She is now 94 years old.

Vozlezaimki Baba Ira met a neighbor Vladimir, delighted donated cigarettes. Vladimir is the same worldly fireman whose wife burned down the Shumilovsky barn. He lives nearby in an abandoned hut, next to which the Old Believer Viktor Shcheglov is buried.

And
The hut near which Viktor Shcheglov is buried. Photo of the author.

Vladimir helps grandmother Irina with the housework, and feeds on her. Volodya hopes for the next amnesty and her imminent release of his wife. Ira's daughter, Fateevna, lives in the city, she asked Volodya and Petran to organize potato harvesting. With creaking, nevertheless, Volodya and Peter are “organized”.

Peter lives in a neighboring house ... but closer to the main estate, Peter is a candidate for baptism ... although he was not baptized, he spent all his childhood in the community of the parents of the Old Believers and even before school he learned to read Old Church Slavonic. Knows most of the prayers by heart. Peter is a former hunter. He took us to his second hut for fish.

Unusual loops - most likely from the old life of the zaimka. Photo of the author.

On the way they caught up with Rodion (who has a public horse), he went to Famaida, because he is an accepted Christian, and also the only young man, 52 years old, who is able to keep a horse. Rodion recently buried Marfa (9.09.2018).

The grave of the deceased Old Believer is very close to the house of his living relatives. Photo of the author.

He was driving a three-wheeled homemade vehicle, assembled right there in the taiga from a walk-behind tractor, a motorcycle frame and a box. Radion hurried to the Kuzykins (where there are two lakes), they are also called Kazan, other grandmothers live there. Today, Rodion remains the youngest of the Old Believers, and of the ancient Mohicans, the youngest Daria is 72 years old. Why did Rodion come to the taiga.

I don’t know Peter (76 years old), they are of different denominations - those are money, and Peter belongs to the disappearing clan of the penniless. Peter himself had not yet been baptized, he had just embarked on the true path. Once, for this, he had a mentor, the Old Believer Kupriyan, a hermit Christian. After the KGB dispossession, Kupriyan managed to dig the Belomor Canal, but he survived and returned to the taiga. At the moment (2018), only a birch bark roof remains from Kupriyan's lodge, which has not rotted. Peter was registered as a hunter-purveyor from Kupriyan, who taught him the intricacies of the forest craft, although he himself lives all his life in the taiga.

Petravi had one more Old Believer mentor, by the name of Deriglazov. So that on the path of correction, as he jokes, he had only a little left - to stop drinking, smoking and his woman. On the way we stopped at Lake Somovo. An entrepreneur from Krasny Yar built a hut and a bathhouse on the lake. Previously, from the time of Peter the Great, the Somovs lived there, their lodge stood. Their ancestors came here five generations ago, but today their children are lost somewhere in the expanses of Siberian cities and towns.

We passed Trofimovskoe Lake. His (Peter's) lodge also stood here on the shore. Peter, having come from the worldly people, began to live here, he guarded this hut. Zhigalovsky hut-zaimka stood nearby, Peter started his hunting career from them in 1973. Then the road leads to the lake. Lebyazhye, on the local lake. Mutnoe. Further the road leads to the lake. Maksimovskoe.

The conversation turned to another old believer, grandmother Famaida. Famaida - 1936. She was brought to the taiga at the age of 15. Great-grandfather lived here - 104 years old. He was a healthy man, but one evening he fell ill, suddenly died in the morning. Grandmother Irina and grandmother Famaida communicate, but are not friends. Their faiths are different. However, the difference is small. One accepts money, the other does not. The locals say so, we are “cashless”, and they are “cash”. For the Old Believers, these are different planets. Although in those days people lived densely, with cell phones, every 3-5 km. there were cells and lodges. Everywhere between the farms there were roads and paths. Famaida, after her house burned down, the gathering settled where she lived recent times Marya, not far from the Old Tomsk road. A little further away there is a fork to another former village, once 128 people lived here and called them "Akademgorodok". It was a historical alternative to collective farms. There was a whole well-groomed village, one-to-one houses. And they were nicknamed “Akademgorodok” by the worldly, because almost the most learned Old Believer Christian apologists gathered there. A little further away lie dozens, if not a hundred, of fallen young firs, the 150th trunk, the firs were thrown right there. They sawed off the "New Year's top" from them, the rest was thrown into the taigun for many years. The empire is great, but there is no order and master in it. Maybe they were ... but they ended.