The most interesting stories of hermitage from different parts of the world. Modern hermits
Ideas about “returning to roots”, about living in harmony with nature, have always excited the minds of people. They are still popular today, when civilization has spread to almost all corners of the earth and many are tired of it.
Lykovs
The Lykov family of Old Believers went to live in the forests of Khakassia in the 1930s. They lived far from civilization for more than 40 years. The Lykovs built a wooden hut near a small mountain river. They obtained food by hunting (using pits and other methods), caught fish, and also found mushrooms, nuts and other wild plants. In addition, the Lykovs had a homestead: they planted turnips, potatoes, peas, hemp, and so on. There was no salt in the diet.
Fire was produced using flint and wood. The hermits sewed dresses from hemp using a machine they made themselves.
The Lykov farm was discovered by geologists in the late 1970s. About these unusual people Not only Soviet citizens learned, but also the rest of the world. In the Soviet Union, a series of articles and even books were written about them.
In 1981, three people from the Lykov family - Dmitry, Savin and Natalia (they were the children of the founders of the family, Karp and Akulina Lykov) - died of pneumonia at the ages of 41 to 54 years. Doctors who examined the family believe that their bodies were not prepared for viral infections from the outside world. Guests who came to study the family infected them with bacteria, which turned out to be fatal for unprepared people.
As a result, only the youngest of the family, Agafya Lykova, born in 1945, survived. Since she is an Old Believer, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church officially accepted her into its fold in 2011.
Victor Antipin
Victor Antipin (Martsinkevich) was born in Smolensk into the family of an official and a library worker. Victor got two higher education, one of which is geological. He dreamed of living in the taiga and gradually came to the idea that man should return to his roots, live in wild environment, do not break away from nature.
In this regard, Viktor Martsinkevich went to Siberia, he traveled along the Lena River and stopped for the night with Anna Antipina in one of the villages. As a result, Victor stayed with Anna, and soon she became pregnant. Victor suggested going into the forest together to live away from civilization. At the same time, he took his wife’s surname, since his own surname indicated his non-Russian origin and was less suitable for the image of a real taiga dweller.
In 1983, they went into the taiga and moved about 200 kilometers away from civilization. Two children born died due to lack of medicine. Later another child was born. The girl, born in 1986, suffered from malnutrition (her mother had no milk due to hunger).
After some time, Victor, his wife and daughter went to the area of the Biryusa River, where there were more opportunities for getting food. Victor decided to go to work at a logging company. The enterprise provided the Antipins with a small plot of land in the forest and a small hut for an overnight stay. However, after a few months the company closed. Three more children appeared in the family, and Victor had to take temporary jobs in neighboring settlements.
Like the Lykovs, the Antipins hunted and set traps for various forest animals and birds. Clothes were also made independently. In addition, parents homeschooled their children - they taught them to write, read, draw, etc.
However, the family's problems only intensified over time, and in the early 2000s Anna decided to leave the forest. She asked the local chief for help, and he took Anna and the children out of the taiga. Victor remained to live in his hut and died of starvation a few months later.
Filipich
The hermit Vladimir Filippovich Emenka was born in Komi in the village of Datta. Filipich, as he is called now, was adapted to the conditions of the taiga from childhood; he knew how to hunt and make a fire.
As a teenager, Vladimir worked on a fishing collective farm. Then he served in Soviet army and returned to his native village and got married. But family life Things didn’t work out for Vladimir Filippovich, and the couple divorced.
Then Filipich moved closer to the Uda River, those places were rich in wild animals. He hunted sables, wolves and other animals. Deciding to become a hermit, Filipich went into the forest, near the Tagi River, closer to his native village. The hermit continues to hunt, he hunts fur-bearing animals and does not use a gun so as not to damage the skin.
Filipich rarely leaves the taiga, but sometimes local hunters come to him and bring him magazines and books, since he loves to read in his free time.
Zhytomyr hermits
The Zhytomyr hermits are a family of three: Ivan Siryk, his wife Victoria and their son Stepan. They lived in Moscow. Ivan was a successful graphic designer, he even created own business. One day, a couple and their son visited a dolmen in the Caucasus. There, according to them, the spirits of their ancestors shared their wisdom with Ivan: they advised him to give up everything and live as hermits.
They live not very far from civilization, a few kilometers from the village of Podlesnoe (Zhytomyr region). They built a small house in the forest and divided it into three rooms. The floor of this dwelling is covered with straw and there is a heating stove. The house is designed for living in the cold season; in the summer, the family sleeps on straw in “workshops” covered with a glass roof in order to view the night sky.
Siryks do not hunt, they only eat plant foods. Their son Stepan goes to school, but very rarely, no more than once a month. He is mainly educated at home.
Samara hermits
Samara hermits are not a family, but whole group citizens. They went into the forest for religious reasons. Father Konstantin, a former Orthodox priest, persuaded people to this way of life.
Together with a group of his students from Samara region Konstantin moved to the area of Lake Bellin-Khol (Tuva). Moreover, to get to this place, we had to hire an expensive helicopter.
People settled in fishing houses that had not been used for a long time, then they built more comfortable wooden houses. According to eyewitnesses and relatives of the hermits, life in this settlement was organized quite well, people did not suffer or die. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s, Russian rescue services, having learned about what was happening, evacuated people from the lake and took them back to Samara.
2017-11-07 19:57:54Ideas about “returning to roots”, about living in harmony with nature, have always excited the minds of people. They are still popular today, when civilization has spread to almost every corner of the earth. And many are tired of it.
LYKOVS
The Lykov family of Old Believers went to the forests of Khakassia back in the 1930s. They lived far from civilization for more than 40 years. The Lykovs built a wooden hut near a small mountain river. They obtained food by hunting (using pits and other methods), caught fish, and also collected mushrooms, nuts and other wild plants. In addition, the Lykovs had a household plot: they planted turnips, potatoes, peas, hemp, and so on. There was no salt in the diet. Fire was produced using flint and wood. The hermits made their own clothes from hemp using a loom that they made themselves. The Lykov farm was discovered by geologists in the late 1970s. Not only Soviet citizens, but the whole world learned about these unusual people. In the Soviet Union, a series of articles and even books were written about them. The author is Komsomolskaya Pravda special correspondent Vasily Peskov.
In 1981, three people from the Lykov family - Dmitry, Savin and Natalia (they were the children of the founders of the family, Karp and Akulina Lykov) - died of pneumonia at the ages of 41 to 54 years. Doctors who examined the family believe that their bodies were not prepared for viral infections from the outside world. Guests who came to study the family infected them with bacteria, which turned out to be fatal for unprepared people. As a result, only the youngest of the family, Agafya Lykova, born in 1945, survived. Since she is an Old Believer, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church officially accepted her into its fold in 2011.
VICTOR ANTIPIN
Victor Antipin (Martsinkevich) was born in Smolensk into the family of an official and a library worker. Victor received two higher educations, one of which was geological. He dreamed of living in the taiga and gradually came to the idea that man should return to his roots, live in a wild environment, and not be separated from nature. In this regard, Viktor Martsinkevich went to Siberia, he traveled along the Lena River and stopped for the night with Anna Antipina in one of the villages. As a result, Victor stayed with Anna, and soon she became pregnant. Victor suggested going into the forest together to live away from civilization. At the same time, he took his wife’s surname, since his own surname indicated his non-Russian origin and was less suitable for the image of a real taiga dweller. In 1983, they went into the taiga and moved about 200 kilometers away from civilization. Two children born died due to lack of medicine. Later another child was born. The girl, born in 1986, suffered from malnutrition (her mother had no milk due to hunger). After some time, Victor, his wife and daughter went to the area of the Biryusa River, where there were more opportunities for getting food. Victor decided to go to work at a logging company. The enterprise provided the Antipins with a small plot of land in the forest and a small hut for an overnight stay. However, after a few months the company closed. Three more children appeared in the family, and Victor had to take temporary jobs in neighboring settlements. Like the Lykovs, the Antipins hunted and set traps for various forest animals and birds. Clothes were also made independently. In addition, the parents home-schooled their children - they taught them to write, read, draw, etc. However, the family’s problems only intensified over time, and in the early 2000s Anna decided to leave the forest. She asked the local chief for help, and he took Anna and the children out of the taiga. Victor remained to live in his hut and died of starvation a few months later.
FILIPPYCH
The hermit Vladimir Filippovich Emenka was born in Komi in the village of Datta. Filipich, as he is called now, was adapted to the conditions of the taiga from childhood; he knew how to hunt and make a fire. As a teenager, Vladimir worked on a fishing collective farm. Then he served in the Soviet army and returned to his native village. Got married. But Vladimir Filippovich’s family life did not work out, and the couple divorced. Then Filipich moved closer to the Uda River, those places were rich in wild animals. He hunted sables, wolves and other animals. Deciding to become a hermit, Filipich went into the forest, near the Tagi River, closer to his native village.
The hermit continues to hunt, he hunts fur-bearing animals and does not use a gun so as not to damage the skin. Filipich extremely rarely leaves the taiga, but sometimes local hunters come to him and bring magazines and books, since he loves to read in his free time.
ZHITOMIR HERMITS
The Zhytomyr hermits are a family of three: Ivan Siryk, his Victoria and their son Stepan. They lived in Moscow. Ivan was a successful graphic designer, even creating his own business. One day, a couple and their son visited a dolmen in the Caucasus. There, according to them, the spirits of their ancestors shared their wisdom with Ivan: they advised him to give up everything and live as hermits. They live not very far from civilization, a few kilometers from the village of Podlesnoe (Zhytomyr region). They built a small house in the forest and divided it into three rooms. The floor of this dwelling is covered with straw and there is a heating stove. The house is designed for living in the cold season; in the summer, the family sleeps on straw in “workshops” covered with a glass roof in order to view the night sky. Siryks do not hunt; they eat only plant foods. Their son Stepan goes to school, but very rarely, no more than once a month. He is mainly educated at home.
SAMARA HERMITS
Samara hermits are not a family, but a whole group of citizens. They went into the forest for religious reasons. Father Konstantin, a former Orthodox priest, persuaded people to this way of life. Together with a group of his students from the Samara region, Konstantin moved to the area of Lake Bellin-Khol (Tuva). Moreover, to get to this place, we had to hire an expensive helicopter. People settled in fishing houses that had not been used for a long time, then they built more comfortable wooden houses. According to eyewitnesses and relatives of the hermits, life in this settlement was organized quite well, people did not suffer or die. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s, Russian rescue services, having learned about what was happening, evacuated people from the lake and took them back to Samara.
What makes a person leave a comfortable, comfortable life, leave familiar places and settle somewhere far from civilization? Some are driven to this by personal circumstances, some by political or religious considerations, and others simply want to live in harmony with nature... Today we will talk about the most famous hermits our days.
First place in the “rating”, of course, is occupied by Lykovs, who became famous throughout the country thanks to publications in " Komsomolskaya Pravda". A family of Old Believers from Khakassia - Karp and Akulina Lykovs with their children - went to the taiga back in the 30s of the last century. The Lykovs built a wooden hut near the bank of a mountain river. They began to obtain food by hunting, fishing, collected mushrooms and nuts in the forest. They planted a vegetable garden near the hut, planted potatoes, turnips, and peas... Fire was made the old fashioned way - with the help of a flint and a firewood, clothes were sewn from hemp on a homemade machine...
In the late 70s, geologists stumbled upon the hermits’ estate. This is how the rest of the world became aware of them. In 1981, two Lykov brothers and sister - Dmitry, Savin and Natalia - died of pneumonia caused by a viral infection. It appears that they were infected with the virus by one of the researchers visiting the families. Apparently, due to isolation, the body did not have time to develop immunity, and this became fatal for the Lykovs... Only younger sister Agafya.
To some extent, the fate of the Lykovs was repeated by the couple Antipinykh. The head of the family, Viktor Martsinkevich, was from Smolensk, received two higher educations and from a young age dreamed of living in the taiga, alone with wild nature... During a trip to Siberia, Viktor married a local resident, Anna Antipina. He decided to take his wife's surname - Antipin.
In 1983, Victor managed to persuade his wife to go to the taiga. They settled about 200 kilometers from the nearest settlement. Two children born to Antipin died due to lack of medicine. In 1986, the family moved closer to the Biryusa River, where Victor got a job in logging. The logging company allocated the Antipins a small forest plot with a hut. But the enterprise soon closed. By that time, three more children had appeared in the family, and Antipin had to take temporary jobs to feed his wife and children...
The family also tried to obtain food and everything necessary for life on their own. The Antipins hunted, set traps for taiga birds and animals, made their own clothes... The parents themselves taught their children literacy and other sciences. In the early 2000s, Anna Antipina got bored with life full of hardships, and she and her children returned to people. Victor refused to leave with her and died of starvation in his hut for several months...
Vladimir Filippovich Emenka originally from Komi, from the village of Datta. He knew Taiga well since childhood. At first, the guy’s life developed normally: work on a fishing collective farm, the army, marriage... After divorcing his wife, Emenka moved to the area of the Uda River, where there were many wild beast, began to hunt for a living, and then went to the Taga River, closer to his native village. Now he leads a hermit's life, mainly engaged in hunting fur-bearing animals. Occasionally he is visited by local hunters who bring books and magazines to the hermit - Filipich (as they call him) really loves to read...
Samara hermits name the former Orthodox priest Father Constantine and a group of his followers. For religious reasons, they moved from the Samara region to Tyva, to the area of Lake Bellin-Khol. We got there by helicopter, settled in abandoned fishing houses, then built wooden houses... Although the hermits managed to improve their lives and none of them suffered from hunger or disease in the new place, in the late 2000s the rescue services evacuated them as “they found themselves in a dangerous situation.” life situation" and transported back to Samara...
What do you associate with the word “hermit”? Probably with medieval riddles, mysterious monks, schema-monks or wandering lone knights. You'd be surprised how many people voluntarily decide to withdraw from the world these days. So who are these modern hermits?
Hermits Lykovs. Voluntary departure
The achievements of civilization, the ability to use modern communications or useful technology, are certainly an advantage for many. But not for everyone: even in the 20th century there were people who made a conscious decision to leave the world. One of the most famous families hermits - Lykovs. Their surname has become almost a household name: most often, when talking about people hidden somewhere in a remote village, they remember precisely this family.
The Lykovs moved away from civilization back in the 1930s: they were Old Believers, and it was especially difficult for such people to come to terms with collectivization and other signs of the Soviet era. The Lykovs lived in Khakassia, and in this harsh land It’s quite easy to find a corner where people won’t look for many years. The family had no contact with outside world until the late 1970s, when their house was accidentally discovered by geologists. Unfortunately, this meeting turned out to be fatal for the Lykovs: quite quickly after the Khakass hermits were “declassified,” three family members died. Doctors believe that they did not have immunity to the bacteria brought in by visitors, and the cause of the Lykovs’ death was pneumonia. Today, only one representative of the family remains alive, Agafya, who continues to live in the same house, but is already quite actively in contact with the outside world, without hiding from people.
The example of the Lykovs partly inspired another hermit, Viktor Antipin. But if the Lykovs went further into the forests, mainly protecting their religion, then Victor simply decided to return to Nature, to live natural life. In fact, he set up an experiment on himself and his family: Victor himself, his wife Anna and four children lived in the taiga from 1983 to 2002. Then Anna, realizing that she couldn’t survive in the taiga and was waiting for her children unenviable fate, went to people. The head of the family, Victor, died, left alone.
Closer to God
Hermitage is often associated with religious beliefs: wanting to renounce the world, people deprive themselves of society. The Georgian monk Maxim Kavtaradze became such an ascetic of the faith. For more than 20 years he has been living on the pillar - a secluded rock where an old monastic monastery is located. He became a monk in 1993, although before that Maxim’s life included drugs and time in prison. Today, Kavtaradze is restoring the monastic monastery and quite rarely descends from the top of the pillar: the way down can be done quickly enough, but getting back up is more difficult.
The best way to spend your old age
You can retire in different ways: you can devote yourself to your favorite hobby, you can continue to work, someone goes to the village, and the Japanese Mafasumi Nagasaki left everything and went to a tropical island. Don’t think that he strived for this all his life: in his youth, Mafasumi worked as a photographer, took pictures for fashion magazines and entertainment publications. But for about 30 years now he has been living alone on Sotobanari Island, sometimes going to “ mainland"to replenish water supplies and get some food. Life is not easy for him: only the typhoons that sometimes cover the island are worth it! But Mafasumi believes that the opportunity to be free from conventions and follow the laws of Nature compensates for everything.
Traveling alone
There are also “hermits” who leave our busy world for a while. They prefer to travel without companions, conquering mountains and oceans. Probably one of the most famous representatives of this group is Fedor Konyukhov. A unique person who made his first big Adventure at the age of 15, he still continues to set records. Alone in a rowing boat he crossed Pacific Ocean from continent to continent, accomplished trip around the world on hot-air balloon(by the way, the record for climbing also belongs to Fedor), he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. What motivates him? “They tell me: you, Fedor, are fate’s favorite, risky, but successful - fate simply misses when it once again wants to sweep you away with an avalanche or push you into the abyss. But I believe that fate has nothing to do with it. God has allowed me to live for so many years, given me a beloved wife, family, home, children and grandchildren. Maybe I travel so that I can always return to them, my loved ones?
Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as Konyukhov. American Christopher Johnson McCandless, who took the name Alexander Supertramp, was dissatisfied with the structure of society and tried to escape from it by traveling alone across America. The inspiration for Supertramp included the books of Jack London. He liked to overcome difficulties, often he had neither supplies nor money, but he continued on his way. In April 1992, he began to realize his long-time dream - a trip to Alaska, where he could find true solitude and test himself in the fight against the forces of nature. In August he died, apparently from exhaustion (according to another version, he was poisoned by eating poisonous plant). Christopher refused to use a map and compass and was unable to find the right road, which could also have caused the tragedy. The film “Into the Wild” was made about the fate of Supertramp.
Whatever the reasons that push people into voluntary solitude, if they want to get away from the world, they find such opportunities even in the 21st century. Sometimes it seems that we are all captives of technology, we are all “hooked” by gadgets. However, even in our dynamic and high-tech age, there are loopholes for those who are looking for silence and privacy. Singles. Hermits. Running away from the world or searching for themselves - sometimes they are very close.
Welcome…
The pages of the site are devoted to the topic of hermitage and everything connected with it. Here you can find information about famous hermits, as well as materials on preparing for hermitage, issues of survival in wildlife, moral and psychological aspects. Preparation materials, survival tools, methods of hunting and fishing, getting food, tools and things for living as a hermit. And also the life and economy of a hermit. There are materials on DIY electricity (wind turbines, solar panels) and more.
Belarusian hermits-wermers During perestroika they decided to start their own business. We received a lot of land and started farming, the plans were extensive and everything seemed to be off to a good start. But the times were not stable and in the end they “got burned out” and became hermits on their land More details...
They became hermits from a hard life
We all remember the collapse of the country, the depreciation of money, and so on. Many then did not understand what to do and how to continue living. And the Naumkin family decided not to wait for help from anyone, but to survive as best they could. An uncertain situation forced the young couple to take a desperate step, and they decided to leave everyone, and in order to feed themselves they took up agriculture. Read more…
Lykovs, taiga hermits who lived for almost 40 years in the Altai taiga
I think many people have heard about the hermit Agafya. The very first notes about the discovery of a family of hermits who had lived without any contact with the outside world for more than forty years appeared in print in 1980. Now Agafya Lykova is the most famous hermit Russia, it was visited by many tourists and journalists Read more…
Hermitage in modern world
In the modern world, people, like previous centuries, live according to the laws of the pack. But now, as in ancient times, there were and will be people different from the majority in their beliefs, faith, understanding of the world and human existence in this world. People left for various reasons, but mostly not of their own free will, since a solitary lifestyle, a hermit’s lifestyle, is not typical for a person.
IN different times people who were disliked by their faith, way of life, became hermits appearance, and not accepting the way of life of society. At all times, the government has used the population for its own purposes, and in an effort to use people as effectively as possible, it changed consciousness total mass. New rules of survival and behavior in society were developed, and those who did not accept these principles were forced to leave society, or fight with themselves and other people. Also, faith and various religions divided people into friends and enemies.
At different times, faiths and foundations changed, and people who did not want to change and accept new stereotypes of thinking, new values and new rules were inevitably subjected to moral and physical pressure. And there was only one way out, it was either to accept new trends in life and merge with the pack, and try to survive in it, or to leave this pack and search, or to create a new pack, or to become a hermit, or to fight people and the system.
But in essence, people were the same everywhere, since first of all they lived according to the laws of survival, and then there was religion. Such people, realizing that they could not live in any society, simply left and tried to look for new meanings in life and in faith, alternative ones, other than those proposed by society. The hermits created their own little world of faith and laws, by which they lived.
Now in the 21st century, hermits have not changed much. Yes! and now there are people who live as hermits, many of course do not go anywhere, since they are strictly dependent on civilization, and can no longer exist independently. But still, there are those who cannot live in the current society, and in order to live their own way, they go into the forests of the North of Russia, or move to remote villages, closer to nature and nature.
Many of today's hermits still leave for religious beliefs, in search of faith and truth, they decide to take desperate steps. Here is one example - the Sayan hermits gathered in a group under the leadership of Father Constantine, sold everything they could and with the proceeds organized a transfer to the remote taiga, to the Eastern Sayan region.
There they settled in abandoned fishing winter huts and built their own winter huts and were going to create their own world, their own society there. But as in the old days, the authorities overtook them there too, and forcibly evacuated the hermits from the taiga, who did not want to leave the taiga. Of course, a lot of things have been written and filmed about them. But still, as we all understand, now a person does not have freedom and the right to an alternative faith-life, values and foundations.
The authorities need a cohesive consumer society and they don’t want to let anyone go, and deserters are severely punished. There were many examples when the children of hermits were taken away under the pretext that they did not go to school. But a person must have freedom of teaching and instruction, which the authorities took away by giving something ready-made in return. And impose ready life they do not have the right to a new person, the person himself must make a choice about who he is and with whom he is, but we do not have this choice.
But people even now want to leave power and society in order to live according to their beliefs and religions. Also, many understand that human activity leads to self-destruction and, not being able to influence, do not want to participate in this and renounce society, going into the forests and remote villages trying to live their lives honestly and righteously.