Photographer and traveler Oleg Smoliy searches for and photographs everything good and beautiful that our country is rich in. He combined these shots into the “Unforgotten Russia” project, part of which were the photographs of Old Believer Siberian villages published below. And they are accompanied by the author’s heartfelt story about the people living there.

Having passed remote villages on the banks of the Small Yenisei - Erzhey, Upper Shivey, Choduraalyg and Ok-Chara - I met five large families of Old Believers. Always persecuted, the owners of the taiga do not immediately make contact with strangers, especially with a photographer. However, two weeks of living next to them, helping them with their daily hard work - harvesting hay, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, preparing firewood and brushwood, collecting moss and building a house - step by step helped to overcome the veil of mistrust. And strong and independent, good-natured and hardworking people emerged, whose happiness lies in the love of God, their children and nature.

The liturgical reform undertaken by Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the 17th century led to a large-scale schism in the Russian Church. The brutal persecution of the tsarist and religious authorities, who wanted to bring the people to unanimity and submission, forced millions of Russian people to leave their homes. The Old Believers who kept their faith fled to White Sea, in the Olonets region and Nizhny Novgorod forests. Time passed, the hands of power reached the Old Believers in new places, and the seekers of independence went even further, into the remote taiga of Siberia. In the 19th century, Russian people came to the inaccessible region of the Small Yenisei, the Kaa-Khemsky kozhuun of Tuva. New settlements were founded on lands suitable for farming in the river valley, higher and higher upstream. Here, in the upper reaches of the Small Yenisei, the life and traditions of Russian Old Believers have been preserved in their original form.

We gathered on the road with a small team of photographing travelers, five of us. Quite far from Moscow. By plane to Abakan, then ten hours by car through Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tyva, to Saryg-Sep, the regional center, there we change to a UAZ “loaf” and for another couple of hours we travel along forest roads to a point on the bank of the Small Yenisei. We cross to the other side of the river, to the Erzhey camp site, by boat. The owner of the base, Nikolai Siorpas, brought us in his UAZ. He will be lucky further, into the depths of the taiga, but you need to wait a day or two until the road at the pass, washed out by long rains, dries out.

Erzhey, next to which the base is located, is a large village with a population of up to one and a half thousand inhabitants, with electricity and a boarding school, where Old Believers from villages higher up the Kaa-Khem, as the Small Yenisei is called in Tuvan, bring their children. In the old faith, not everyone here is a villager. Some of the locals are close to her, but they are not part of the community; there is not enough strictness. There are also representatives of the new Orthodox faith. There are even complete non-believers.

It was not far to go see the village and buy food, less than a kilometer from the base. Siorpas, seeing him off, joked: “You can tell the Old Believers: men with beards, around the yard there are a dozen or so little kids, women in scarves and skirts down to their toes, in a year or two with a belly.”

Here is the first acquaintance: Maria, a young woman with a stroller. They said hello and asked where to buy bread and cottage cheese. She was wary of strangers at first, but did not refuse help, and even surprised them with her responsiveness. She took her all over Erzhey, showing who had the best milk and where the salted milk mushrooms were good.

Here, in villages remote from civilization, the harsh taiga nature has imposed its own characteristics on the way of farming. Summer in these places is short, and winter comes with severe frosts. Arable land is conquered with great difficulty from the forest, in the valleys along the banks of the river. Locals grow bread and plant vegetable gardens. Due to frost, perennial crops do not take root, but annuals, even small watermelons, grow. Taiga is feeding. Only ungulates are killed; the meat is eaten wild. They collect pine nuts, mushrooms, and berries for jam. The river gives fish. There are a lot of grayling here, and taimen are often released - they have become scarce in recent years.

Old Believers do not get drunk, they do not drink “kazenka” at all, and on holidays they drink a glass or two of weak homemade wine on taiga berries, blueberries or stone fruits.

After resting at the Siorpas base for a couple of days, we waited for dry weather and moved to the first settlement of the Old Believers - Upper Shivei, forty kilometers from Erzhey, with a difficult pass over the hills.

All the way to Shivey, Nikolai Siorpas, under the strained hum of the engine, convinced us to be super respectful and behave more than modestly, not to push people with our huge photo guns. He himself is not an Old Believer, but Nicholas got along well with the taiga residents. good relations, for which he reasonably feared. It seems that during these two days at the base he was not only waiting for the weather, but also taking a closer look at us and thinking whether it was possible to take us further.

We met the hard-working people of Upper Shivei long before the village, in a mowing meadow. They asked to help, throw cut hay into the tall haystacks.

We rolled up our sleeves, tried our best and still fell behind. The science of lifting large armfuls with long three-pronged wooden forks was not easy. Behind working together got to know each other and struck up conversations.

Mown and dried grass is collected into buds - this is what the whole of Siberia calls haystacks. Laying them is a responsible matter: the hay must lie evenly and tightly so that it does not get scattered by the wind or become soured by the rain. Upper Shivei

Peter and Ekaterina Sasin arrived at the Upper Shivey estate, then empty, about fifteen years ago. The farm was raised from scratch, and at first they lived and wintered in a shed. Year after year they built, strengthened, and raised three daughters. Then other relatives came to settle, and now several families live here. The daughters grew up, moved to the city, and now their restless grandchildren - two girls and two boys - come to Peter and Ekaterina for the summer.

The Sasins’ grandchildren are completely worldly; they come for the whole summer. For them, Pyotr Grigorievich keeps solar panels with a battery and a converter, from which he turns on a small TV and a disc player - to watch cartoons. Upper Shivei

The children who brought fresh milk and sour cream woke up our tent city with a cheerful noise. The second day, throwing hay on the crops is more difficult - all the muscles of the townspeople ache because they are not used to it. But the hosts’ faces are also warmer, with smiles, laughter and approval. “Tomorrow is the Transfiguration, come! Try homemade wine,” the villagers call.

The house is simple, no frills, but clean and well built. Spacious vestibules dividing the house in half, the rooms have whitewashed walls, large stoves in the middle, iron spring beds they reminded me of a Carpathian village, which has also largely preserved its way of life. “One at a time!” - says Pyotr Grigorievich, and we try the delicious drink. Blueberry juice is infused for a year without sugar and yeast, and the result is a wine with a barely noticeable degree. It's easy to drink and doesn't get you drunk, but it lifts your mood and enhances talkativeness. Joke after joke, story after story, song after song - we had a good time. “Would you like to see my horses?” - Peter calls.

The stable is located on the outskirts, there are two dozen horses, there are even pacers. And everyone's favorite. Petr Grigorievich can talk about each foal for hours.

We parted with the Sasins like old friends. And again we hit the road, by boat up the Small Yenisei.

It’s a half-hour motorboat ride up the river to the next stop. We found Choduraalyg on a fairly high bank with a spacious, cornice-like valley, the outermost houses standing directly above the river. The opposite shore is an almost vertical mountain covered with taiga.

The place here is convenient for farming, growing bread, and raising livestock. There are fields for arable land. River, nurse and transport artery. In winter, you can get to Kyzyl on ice. And the taiga - here it is, begins with hills on the edge of the village.

We sailed, threw our backpacks ashore and went to look for a convenient place to pitch our tents so as not to disturb anyone and at the same time have a good view of everything around. We met Grandfather Eliferiy, who treated him to freshly baked delicious bread and advised him to go to Baba Marfa: “Marfutka will accept and help.”

Marfa Sergeevna, thin, small and agile, about seventy years old, gave us a place for tents next to her small house with a beautiful view of both the river and the village. Allowed to use the stove and kitchen utensils. For Old Believers, this is a difficult question - sin comes from dishes that were taken by worldly people. Marfa Sergeevna took care of us all the time. We also helped her - picking berries, carrying brushwood, chopping wood.

Her youngest son, Dmitry, was in the taiga on business. The eldest daughter, Ekaterina, got married and lives in Germany, sometimes her mother comes to visit.

I had a satellite phone, and I suggested that Marfa Sergeevna call her daughter. “This is all demonic,” Grandma Martha refused. A couple of days later Dmitry returned, and we dialed his sister’s number, turning up the volume. Hearing her daughter’s voice, forgetting about the demons and throwing away her bow, Marfa Sergeevna ran across the clearing to Dima and me. It’s a pity, then she didn’t allow herself to be photographed yet, otherwise it would have turned out to be an interesting photo: a cute little village grandmother in ancient clothes stands against the backdrop of the taiga, beaming with a smile, and talking to her daughter in distant Germany on a satellite phone.

Next door to Marfa Sergeevna, further from the coast, lives the large family of Panfil Petenev. The eldest of twelve offspring, Grigory, 23 years old, called us to the place of children's games - a clearing in the forest outside the village. On Sundays, children from all nearby villages, dressed up, come running and coming on horses, bicycles and motorcycles to socialize and play together. The guys weren’t shy for long, and ten minutes later we were playing ball with them, answering a sea of ​​curious questions and listening to stories about life in the villages, pampering bears these days, and a strict grandfather who drives all the children away for being naughty. They made us laugh with stories, were interested in technology, and even tried to take pictures with our cameras, posing tensely for each other. And we ourselves listened with pleasure to Russian speech as clear as a stream and enjoyed taking pictures of the bright Slavic faces.

For children of Old Believers, a horse is not a problem. By helping with housework, they early learn to communicate with pets.

It turns out that Choduraalyg, where we stayed, is called Big, and not far away, the road runs right past the playing field, there is also Small Choduraalyg. The children volunteered to show this second one, out of several courtyards deep in the forest. They drove us joyfully, on two motorcycles, along paths and paths, through puddles and bridges. The escort was dashingly accompanied by teenage girls on fine horses.

For a teenager in an Old Believers village, a motorcycle is a source of pride, passion and necessity. As befits boys, with the dexterity of circus performers, they demonstrated to the visiting photographer all the skill of controlling a two-wheeled motor miracle. Choduraalyg

In order to get to know each other better, start communicating and achieve the necessary level of trust that would allow us to photograph people, we boldly became involved in the daily work of Old Believer families. They have no time to chat idly on a weekday, but in business, talking makes work more fun. Therefore, we simply came to the Petenevs in the morning and offered Panfil help. Son Grigory decided to get married, he is building a house, so he found a job - caulk the ceiling. Nothing complicated, but painstaking. First, go to the other side of the river, along the mountains between the thickets, collect moss, put it in bags and throw it down the steep slope. Then we take them by boat to the construction site. Now go upstairs, and here you also need to bring the clay in buckets and drive the moss into the cracks between the logs, covering it with clay on top. We work briskly, the team is large: five eldest children of the Petenevs and three of us travelers. And younger kids are around, watching and trying to help and participate. We communicate at work, we recognize them, they recognize us. Children are curious, they are interested in everything: how they grow potatoes in big cities, where we get milk at home, whether all the children study in boarding schools, how far away we live. Question after question, some are difficult to answer, and this is understandable: our worlds are so different. After all, for children Saryg-Sep, the regional center, is another planet. And for us, city dwellers, the taiga is an unknown land with its subtleties of nature hidden from the unknowing eye.

We met Pavel Bzhitskikh, who invited us to visit, in Maly Choduraalyg, where we went with the children on Sunday. The path to it on Ok-Chary is not short - nine kilometers along the rocky, forested bank of the Small Yenisei. The estate of two courtyards impresses with its strength and thriftiness. The high rise from the river did not create any difficulties with water - here and there many springs gush out right in the courtyards, and clear water is supplied to the vegetable gardens through wooden gutters. It's cold and delicious.

The inside of the house surprised me: two rooms, a prayer room and a kitchenette retained the appearance and decoration of the monastic community that was once here. Whitewashed walls, wicker rugs, linen curtains, homemade furniture, pottery - all the nuns' household was natural, they did not communicate with the world and did not take anything from outside. Pavel collected and saved household items from the community and now shows them to guests. Extreme tourists raft along Kaa-Khem, sometimes they stop by here, Pavel even built a separate house and bathhouse so that people could stay with him and relax along the route.

He told us about the life and rules of the Old Believers monks. About prohibitions and sins. About envy and anger. The latter is an insidious sin, anger multiplies and accumulates in the sinner’s soul, and it is difficult to fight it, because even slight annoyance is also anger. Envy is not a simple sin; envy breeds pride, anger, and deception. Paul talked about the importance of praying and repenting. And take on fasting, whether calendar or secret, so that nothing prevents the soul from praying and realizing its sin more deeply.

Not only severity reigns in the souls of Old Believers. Paul also spoke about forgiveness, about peacefulness towards other religions, about freedom of choice for his children and grandchildren: “When they grow up, they will go to study, whoever wants to. They will go out into the world. God willing, our ancient Orthodox faith will not be forgotten. Someone will come back, with age they think more often about the soul.”

From ordinary community members, not monks, the outside world is not prohibited; they take the Old Believers and the achievements of civilization, which help in work. They use motors and guns. I saw they had a tractor, even solar panels. To buy, they earn money by selling the products of their labor to the laity.

Paul read to us selected chapters of John Chrysostom, translating from Old Church Slavonic. He chose them so well that you listen with bated breath. I remembered the seal of the Antichrist. Pavel explained in his own way that, for example, all official documents registering a person are his seal. This is how the Antichrist wants to take control of us all: “In America, they are already going to sew some kind of electrical chips under the skin of every person so that he cannot hide from the Antichrist anywhere.”

From the “museum” he took us to the summer kitchen, treated us to honey mushrooms, smoked taimen, fresh bread and special homemade wine made with birch sap instead of water. When we left, we bought a young turkey from Pavel and plucked it until late at night, laughing at our ineptitude.

We met the Popov children from Maly Choduraalyg on the day of their arrival at the playground. Curiosity led them to the tents every morning. They chirped happily and asked questions non-stop. Communication with these smiling children gave a charge of warmth and joy for the whole day. And one morning the children came running and invited us to visit on behalf of their parents.

On the way to the Popovs, there is fun - the younger three have found the blackest puddle with liquid mud, they are enthusiastically jumping in it and looking for something. Laughing mother Anna greets us: “Have you seen such grimy ones? It’s okay, I’ve heated up the water, we’ll wash it off!”

The Popovs not only love their children, now seven, they understand them. The house is bright with smiles, and Afanasy began to build a new one - more space for the children. They teach the children themselves, they don’t want to send them to a distant boarding school where there will be no parental warmth.

Over the course of the meal, we quickly began talking, as if some invisible wave began to play in harmony and gave birth to lightness and trust between us.

The Popovs work a lot, the older children help. The economy is strong. They themselves carry food to sell in the region. We used the money we earned to buy a tractor and a Japanese outboard motor. A good engine is important here: on the Small Yenisei there are dangerous rapids, and if an unreliable old one were to stall, you could die. And the river feeds and waters, it is also a means of communication with other villages. In the summer they go by boat, and in the winter they drive tractors and UAZs on the ice.

Here, in a distant village, people are not alone - they communicate and correspond with Old Believers from all over Russia, a newspaper of the old faith from Nizhny Novgorod receive.

But they try to minimize communication with the state; they refused pensions, benefits and benefits. But contact with the authorities cannot be completely avoided - you need a license for a boat and a tractor, all sorts of technical inspections, permits for guns. At least once a year, you have to go get the papers.

The Popovs treat everything responsibly. Afanasy had an incident in his youth. He served in the army in the early 1980s in Afghanistan as an armored personnel carrier driver. Suddenly, disaster struck: the brakes of a heavy vehicle failed, and an officer died. At first the situation was determined to be an accident, but then high officials exaggerated it and the guy was given three years in a general regime colony. The commanders, regimental and battalion, trusted Afanasy and sent him to Tashkent without an escort. Imagine: a young guy comes to the prison gate, knocks and asks to be allowed to serve his sentence. Later, the same commanders achieved his transfer to a colony in Tuva, closer to home.

We talked with Anna and Afanasy. About life here and in the world. About the connection between Old Believer communities across Russia. About relations with the world and the state. About the future of children. They left late, with a good light in their souls.

The next morning we headed home - the short trip was over. We warmly said goodbye to Marfa Sergeevna: “Come, next time I’ll settle in the house, I’ll make room, because we’ve become like family.”

For many hours on the way home, in boats, cars, and planes, I thought, trying to comprehend what I saw and heard: what did not coincide with initial expectations? Once in the 1980s, I read in Komsomolskaya Pravda fascinating essays by Vasily Peskov from the series “Taiga Dead End” about an amazing family of Old Believers who left people deep in the Siberian taiga. The articles were good, as were other stories by Vasily Mikhailovich. But the impression of the taiga hermits remained as uneducated and wild people who shunned modern man and afraid of any manifestations of civilization.

The novel “Hop” by Alexei Cherkasov, read recently, increased fears that it would be difficult to meet people and communicate, and that taking photographs would be completely impossible. But hope lived in me, and I decided to go on a trip.

That’s why it was so unexpected to see simple people with inner dignity. Carefully preserving their traditions and history, living in harmony with themselves and nature. Hardworking and rational. Peace-loving and independent. They gave me warmth and joy of communication.

I accepted something from them, learned something, thought about something.

Zaimka by Agafya Lykova

Photo and video: Anastasia Antonovich / Kemerovo Newspaper

On August 18, 10 volunteers were flown by helicopter to Agafya Lykova’s shelter. For 10 days they will help the hermit with housework - chopping wood, mowing hay, helping with harvesting, and also building a dam for fishing. A correspondent for Kemerovo Newspaper also visited Agafya Karpovna for a little over an hour. In such a short time, we tried to find out how the hermit lives at 70 years old and why people from the mainland are so eager to get to her.

Who is flying and why?

Andrey Gorbatyuk is the leader of the expedition. He is going to Agafya for the third time and with him, as always, are MIREA students (Moscow State University information technologies, radio engineering and electronics - "Kemerov Newspaper"). At the university, Andrey works as the head of the economic department and is involved in social work. He has more than 20 years of tourism experience behind him. This summer, his volunteer team has already visited Lake Baikal and built tourist camps there. On the White Sea, students were surveying the future ecological trail to the system of Karelian lakes. Such trips are truly a unique experience for young people. They say that the most important thing for them is to benefit people. This time, how Agafya will spend the winter largely depends on their visit to the Siberian taiga.

"TO Vasily Peskov’s book about Agafya was called “Taiga Dead End” * . On a previous trip we came to the conclusion that this is not a dead end, but a breakthrough, says Andrey. — Despite the fact that there is no electricity or other benefits of civilization, Agafya represents that unique experience of humanity, which does not depend on man-made factors and is able to survive far from civilization. And this is the right way. Modern humanity is very dependent on the circumstances into which it has driven itself. This creates additional risks for existence. Agafya shows another example - this is life in harmony with nature, this is the opportunity to produce food yourself and fight the harsh cold. Her whole life is based on religion. Everything else is secondary to her. Constant worship and strong faith may contribute to survival in such conditions».

This time, Andrei Viktorovich’s son Daniil, who is in 10th grade, and his wife Anna are traveling with Andrei Viktorovich for the first time. Among the three students are second-year student Nikolai Shcherbakov, third-year students Maxim Safonov and Vasily Zagrebin. Vasya studies at the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. In Moscow, he made a special trip to the Old Believer Metropolis and bought candles for Agafya. According to the student, there were no Old Believers in his family, but this topic is especially interesting to him in connection with his studies.

Another traveler from Abakan, Evgeny Mikhailovich Sobetsky, even calls the Lykova settlement a sacred monastery. And he talks about his spiritual discoveries so sincerely and interestingly. He also goes to her for the third time. And he even dared to take his 10-year-old grandson Makar with him.

“They hardly talk about her as a holy person.” There are few in Russia who treat Agafya as not a strange person. It seems that we don’t understand this, but she is there for us, she gave herself to serving us all. She looks like an ordinary woman, but you need to feel the flow of energy and kindness that comes from her. For three years after our meeting, I remember her every day,” says Evgeniy Mikhailovich.

— What do you answer to those people who have a negative attitude towards such trips to the taiga dead-end? - I ask.

— To be honest, it’s difficult to answer. A superficial attitude prevails, unfortunately. To change the point of view of society, it takes time and effort from the people themselves. In his speech at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Metropolitan Korniliy of Moscow and All Rus' talks about Agafya Karpovna as a person of strong independence and a thread connecting the history of Russia with modernity. But no one thinks about it! If these people had such a reason to get to know Agafya, they would change their point of view,” sums up Evgeniy Mikhailovich. After our conversation, he introduces me to a man who has known Agafya for decades.

Andrey Gorbatyuk and Nikolay Sedov

Nikolai Sedov, a 52-year-old Tashtagol resident and former underground electrician, has known Agafya since 1987. Since then, he has tried to go every year to help her prepare for winter. His father, a geologist and Old Believer Erofey Sozontovich, was Agafya’s neighbor for more than 17 years. He died at the age of 77 this spring just after Easter. Agafya buried him on the bank of the Erinat River, which flows a few meters from the village. Nikolai is also traveling for 10 days with his son. He says that Agafya is a real Russian person with the soul of a child. He had never met anyone like him in the world.

Two kilometers above the ground

The distance from Tashtagol to the village in the Khakassky Nature Reserve is approximately 180 kilometers—that’s an hour’s flight by helicopter. You can get to the place from Abaza upstream of the Abakan River by motor boats. And this is already more than 300 kilometers and almost four days on the road. The river bed is unpredictable - there are rapids. In some places, loaded boats even have to be carried by hand for a considerable distance, since there is simply no water. Only trained people are taken on such a trip.

This time the expedition is flying. We load bags of feed and cereals, take fuel and work tools. Agafya loves fruit very much. Therefore, there is a separate bag with these gifts.

The flight is led by the head of the Tashtagol region, Vladimir Makuta. Energetic, focused and knowledgeable - this is how he appeared before us at the airfield. He personally conducts the briefing, gives instructions to the expedition members and talks a little about the hermit.

« Agafya Karpovna is categorically against the move: her father punished her, and Erofey is now buried there. God bless her. She never asked for help before, but now age is taking its toll. People are important to her. Now we’ll arrive, she’ll say: “Give me a man.” Old Believer Georgiy lives with her, but she has many complaints against him. Either he chops wood wrong, or he washed the dishes with Fairy. She saw. That's it, now the dishes are ruined. We bring her the dishes", says Makuta.

Zaimka by Agafya Lykova

The Mi-8 helicopter slowly takes off from the ground. Below us is a green sea of ​​dense Siberian taiga. The mountains are getting higher and higher. Let's get to know Gorny Altai. The river beds below are rarely visible. And now the Khakassian Abakan River winds like a snake in the gorges of the hilly mountains. Everywhere is the same deserted green desert, where there is no connection and silence reigns.

Meeting

We landed. We quickly unload our things like an army. At this time, a fragile figure in large rubber boots appears on the horizon. Agafya Lykova. The NTV operator is ahead of her. Their film crew arrived here on another helicopter a little earlier than us. The arrival of volunteers became an informational occasion for journalists.

Exciting. Read so much about this woman and not believe your eyes that you will ever be able to see her. By the way, I'm one of those people here who are curious. She's getting closer and closer. Walking along the stones of a dried river bed. There are branches and huge tree trunks everywhere that were washed away by the high water. Last year there was a massive flood here in the spring.

Agafya’s smile is already becoming visible. We froze. Even my heart began to beat faster in my chest. Agafya joyfully meets familiar faces. She remembers all her guests years later and calls them by name.

“I am Erofey’s grandson,” says the younger Sedov.

— Is it Dimka? (“whether” means a question from Agafya Karpovna - Kemerovo Newspaper) I came once.

“Yes, in 2009,” Dimka answers.

- And Nikita is there. (Youngest son of Nikolai Sedov - Kemerovo Newspaper).

- Yes, Nikita is at home now.

Looks at strangers carefully, as if studying. He looks a little stealthily, but very kindly.

The guests immediately began to show Agafya the gifts they had brought. She smiles modestly and doesn’t really say anything in response. Like, all this is not so important to her now. I only saw a cast iron frying pan, took it and never let it out of my hands.

Old Believer rosary

Agafya’s assistant Georgy accidentally came into the frame. He forbids taking photographs of himself.

The helicopter went over the territory, and we hurried to the house. As soon as she entered the forest, Agafya stopped and began to whisper in the rays of the sun to read the instructions for the frying pan. I read it all through, despite the very small print.

« I kept baking bread in the first frying pan. And then she started stocking up on fish. And washing all the time is also bad. Before Dormition Day I will wash it with blessed water.", she says.

While we are walking towards the house, she talks about what she has growing here. Here is horsetail - it is dried and crushed. Butterflies, there are milk mushrooms, and honey mushrooms in the fall. Agafya Karpovna dries mushrooms and berries. Shows the medicinal herb wintergreen. A lot of lingonberries have ripened this year. It sparkles with red berries underfoot. Agafya invites us to try it. We reached the place where the hermit met a bear last week in broad daylight. He says that a very large (bear) froze a few meters away, and then sharply jumped to the side. The grass is indeed still heavily crushed in that place. It's a shame, but the photos don't do it justice. Agafya Karpovna was then afraid to follow this path and carefully made her way to the house along the edge of the river bank. The clubfoot got into the habit of scaring an elderly woman.

« It is dangerous to set up fish nets with a bear. Somehow he wasn’t there yet, but now he’s become terribly attached. In the spring, I stole a four-liter saucepan with birch sap (birch sap)“,” she complains and then tells how he scared her at night during dinner. — At the very rut (the bears' rut begins late spring) in the evening I sat down to have dinner in a booth (hut) after 12 o’clock at night. It is dangerous to go into the taiga at this time. The dog barked angrily at the bear. I don't have a gun. It's in the house. Well, I’m sitting. Just a little bit of fire. There is no firewood nearby. I hear him crackling and walking very close. Just took what kind of stick it was, and let’s hit the piece of iron with the stick. He left after all».

On the way, Agafya Karpovna told how her neighbor Erofei Sozontovich died:

« Erofey had been sick with a cough all winter. If anyone has not had this disease, then it quickly leads... (to death - Kemerovo Newspaper). I was sick. He stopped coughing Lent. The lungs probably haven't healed. My chest hurts. And then on Easter I started drinking Cahors. If the lungs are not healthy, acid should not be consumed. On Friday he was outside. On Saturday I fell out of bed. I went down to him, and he shouted: “Agafya, help me out.” I couldn’t understand until I entered the Senki. “Break down the door,” he shouts. She inserted a birch wedge and pulled out the hook. Completely with a loop. He told me: “Flood the stove, I’m frozen.”»».

Previously, he had weekly contact with his son Nikolai via radio. But by winter the equipment broke down, and Erofey could not report the serious state of his health. He died the week after Easter. He was buried on the banks of the Erinat River, as he bequeathed.

Now Agafya is fasting, which will last until the Assumption. When asked what he eats now, he answers: “ Everything is lean. Bread and porridge. Yesterday I cooked peas».

Goat shed

The hermit's house and outbuildings are located on the hillside. The vegetable garden is even higher. Agafya has five goats and several laying hens. The goats are milked, but she does not drink the milk because she is fasting, so it goes to the young goats. Three-colored cats live in her hayloft. She says several times in the conversation that she will send a kitten with us. Agafya Karpovna’s custom is to give gifts to departing guests. It could be an item or even a stone from Erinath.

At the request of Vladimir Makuta, Agafya leads the guests into the house. It is forbidden to enter here without her consent, as stated in the handwriting of the hostess in large in block letters manifesto above the door. Immediately opposite the entrance is an iconostasis with several icons. A separate shelf with liturgical literature. There are candles everywhere. The icons and some books, according to the owner, date back to the 15th century. There are benches in the house - a lot of things in piles. It's cool here, but the smell of damp isn't as strong as I thought. When the room became free, Agafya suddenly began to recite in Old Slavonic. He says that tomorrow there will be a Transfiguration. It is prohibited to work on farms on holidays.

While we were talking, volunteers practically moved all the things to the house in an hour. The weather was very hot. But Agafya doesn’t seem to notice this. She moves very quickly along her paths. Just before we left, she took me to see the kittens and grabbed a bag along the way. In the hayloft, several fluffy kittens are watching us at once. She quickly grabbed the older kitten and put it in the bag. He says: “Let this cat find a home. And next time I’ll hand over the rest with Makuta.” She tied the bag tightly and explained: “This is so that she doesn’t run out in the helicopter.”

She handed me the package and went to see off the guests. From 7523 ** we flew to 2015.

There was no doubt that a home could easily be found for the cat. In the helicopter, as soon as communication appeared, they placed a post in

Recently, a group of six Barnaul tourists returned from a trip to the Hot Spring - a wonderful place on the border of Khakassia, the Kemerovo region and the Altai Territory. Just at this time, Agafya Karpovna, the last of the famous family of Old Believers hermits, was treating her feet with the healing water of the spring.

Agafya Karpovna willingly communicated with our guys - she went to visit them, told interesting stories about her hermit life.

Magic spring

Barnul tourists walked to the source - 100 kilometers and all uphill. There is no other way to get there—even a snowmobile won’t get through. Only on wide skis-snowshoes, lined with kamuz - deer skin. The ski slips off your foot and you immediately fall waist-deep into the snow.

We walked for several hours a day - from one hunting lodge to another. You can’t stop - you’ll freeze (it was minus forty in the mountains.)

We walked for five days. Dazzling white snow lay in heavy caps on the fir paws. There were bear tracks. Hazel grouse fluttered onto the path. The unreal, transparent taiga silence rang.

The group crossed the Abakan ridge - the border of Altai and Khakassia. We passed incredibly wild and beautiful places. On the fifth day we reached Mount Beduy. Under the mountain there is a site on which 30 huts were built. This place attracts tourists from all over the world. The healing Hot Spring flows here. Its water heals sore joints.

A special hut-bath was built next to the spring. A hot stream flows right through it. You open the lid to the underground and go downstairs. You plug the drain hole with a plug and lie down and take a medicinal bath.

You can swim in healing water for no longer than 20 minutes and no more than twice a day. The water of the healing spring is oversaturated with silver and affects the heart. They say there was such a sad incident: one man decided to lie in hot water while drunk and fell asleep. When they pulled him out of the bath, he was no longer breathing.

Agafya Karpovna regularly visited this source to treat her sore legs. This time, however, as usual, the governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, sent a helicopter for her. Now Slava, the Biysk “scourge,” also lives on the key. Glory is the scourge, so to speak, of conviction. He has no time to deal with the marginal side of life - he is looking for the truth. So Agafya Lykova whiled away the time in conversations with the Biysk homeless philosopher. They lived in adjacent houses and got along well.

The hermit rejoiced at people

One of the group of Barnaul tourists, ASMU student Alexey Stankevich, told a correspondent of our newspaper about life next to the famous hermit.

“We met Agafya on the very first day,” says Alexey. “She saw us and was happy about the new people.” Says: “Hello!”

According to Alexei, Agafya speaks slowly but thinks quickly. A smart man, you can see right away. I read the entire Bible. He knows all the herbs and forest roots by heart. He doesn’t eat any pills or sweets. Everything is only natural.

She brought our tourists treats from her garden: dried carrots and frozen turnips. Agafya has a very large vegetable garden, an apiary, and a strong house. It happens that bears come straight into the garden. The hermit has two dogs - one cowardly hides, the second barks at the bear. Agafya Karpovna also has a gun, only the firing pin recently broke... Now living with her in the Taiga dead-end are another legless old geologist Erofey Sedov and her adopted daughter Galina. The three of them manage the household.

“Aman Tuleyev brought her two goats by helicopter,” says Alexey. “Agafya wants him to bring her more hay.”

For a whole week our guys lived next to Agafya. She turned out to be a very friendly and sociable person: she did not at all fit into the image of a stern Old Believer. And she doesn’t look so bad for being 60: her face is almost without wrinkles, her hair is not gray and all her teeth are normal.

Another group, 14 people, came to the key. All the tourists gathered in one hut, and Agafya came to meet them. She sat and talked, but didn’t eat or even drink tea, let alone alcohol. The only thing was that I was scared of the camera. Old Believers are not allowed to be filmed. One guy pointed a lens at her and she hid under the table.

The guys asked Agafya about Peskov’s book “The Taiga Dead End” - was everything really as it was written? Agafya admitted that the journalist made up a lot of things. The Old Believers did not live so secludedly.

“Agafya says that the Lykovs always had contact with the world,” Alexey recalls. — Hunters walked through their settlement. They exchanged ermine and squirrel skins for salt and household items. As far as I understood, they had weapons. And they knew in general terms about what was happening in the country and in the world. They just avoided all this because of their faith.

Now Agafya Lykova is well versed in politics. He listens to the radio all day long in his Taiga cul-de-sac. Tourists were surprised to hear a completely modern phrase from her:

- Bad water - apparently heptyl got into it. Immediately the rocket launchers fall...

Hearing the news on the radio, Agafya begins to predict the end of the world. He considers events in Iraq to be one of the signs of its approach. However, she says that the apocalypse will not come soon.

In addition to the radio, the hermit’s household has another achievement of civilization - the Druzhba chainsaw, a gift from Aman Tuleyev. In general, Tuleyev takes care of the hermit. “She called him by name, Aman,” says Alexey. “And when we were leaving, I just wrote a letter to him asking him to take her by helicopter to the village of Kilinsk, Tashtagol district, to visit her relatives. And then home - her hut is still 250 kilometers from the spring, in the remote taiga, near the Erinat River.

Water treatments helped Agafya Karpovna. Before they brought her to the key, she could barely move her legs. And now he walks briskly, one might say he runs.

Letter to Haman

Agafya Lykova and Aman Tuleyev have indeed been friends for several years and correspond lively. One of the last letters from the hermit to the governor was posted on the website of the administration of the Kemerovo region. We present it with some abbreviations:

“Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us. With a low bow, Agafya Karpovna. I wish from the Lord God good health and spiritual salvation, mercy from God in all your affairs. You are my highly respected young friend, you have helped and are helping, and in the future, if there is an opportunity, for Christ’s sake, do not forget me. I need blocks for the floor, windows and doors, and also bricks for the stove. I have to do this in the summer, otherwise I won’t survive the winter. Moreover, Erofey is fighting with the Druzhba saw - he also needs a lot of gasoline and the chains are worn out. But if you saw by hand, there is no file to sharpen the saw.”

The hermit also asked to renew their clothes, since “everything is worn out, we will soon walk around in torn vestments.” “And you would need seeds for planting, but you just need to get them from the market where they sell their own seeds. The first thing we need is seeds of fodder beets, and maybe sugar beets, cabbage, rutabaga, carrots, cucumbers, red beets and onions for planting”...

Here is another letter: “And I would also like to visit my relatives in Kilinsk for a final farewell. Already old. Last year the pilots didn’t take me to Klyuch. I stayed at home and there was no one for six months. I haven’t been to Klyuch for four years now, but I haven’t visited my relatives for five years.”

Aman always provides Agafya Karpovna with the necessary help. And on his 55th birthday he gave Agafya a parcel of oranges. Agafya had heard about oranges from tourists, but she had never tried them before. In gratitude, Lykova writes in her messages to the governor: “Aman Gumirovich, God will save you for your help, for your torment and everything else.” And he sends him gifts with hunters and geologists: tueski with cranberries, wild honey...

In fact, Agafya asks more than just Aman for help. One day, a bearded geologist came to the reception room of the head of the Altai Republic, Mikhail Lapshin, and handed over a letter from Agafya Karpovna. She asked Lapshin to help her prepare for winter. The cargo - a dozen bags of flour, building materials, batteries, fruit, and also a purebred goat for goats (the goats were given to her by Aman Gumirovich) - was personally accompanied by Mikhail Lapshin.

People in Shoria don’t like Lykova

Meanwhile, ordinary residents of Gornaya Shoria do not like Agafya Karpovna. People say this: “Agafya flies in a helicopter, but we don’t even have enough for bread!” Residents of the city of Tashtagol, the capital of Mountain Shoria, and several taiga Shor villages sent the following letter to the Stoic media: “We regularly read in the press that Governor Tuleyev again sent gifts to Agafya Lykova. Sorry, we have nothing to eat, but she fattens at our expense. Why is the only helicopter in all of Shoria being sent to help Agafya? After all, an hour of flight costs 29 thousand! She even asked Tuleyev for seeds, and he immediately delivered them by helicopter, but every gardener has seeds!”

We called the administration of the Kemerovo region. The press service explained to us that assistance to Agafya Lykova at the executive level of Gornaya Shoria and Kuzbass is provided not at the expense of the budget, but thanks to the support of enterprises and organizations.

But even in this case, people’s indignation can be understood. It would be nice if Agafya lived in some exceptionally difficult conditions, otherwise there’s nothing like that! In exactly the same taiga villages, farmsteads and settlements live thousands of other people: Old Believers, hunters, Shorian aborigines... And if, for some extreme need, they have to get out into the big world (for example, to a hospital), then they go on foot or on horseback . The government helicopter does not come for anyone.

Perhaps officials are helping Agafya not only because she is a celebrity. But that's why too. Helping the hermit is good for their political image. But the hermit does not analyze her relationship with the Big Boss. She is always happy to see people. And to governors and Barnaul tourists.

They have now shown a film about the Altai Old Believers on “Culture”. Fabulously beautiful – and terribly interesting. This topic partly affects me personally, because my great-grandmother was one of the Old Believers - although, of course, not one of the most severe non-priests, but one of the simpler ones; however, she did not let anyone drink from her cup. I can’t resist, and I’ll post the footage with comments - sorry, it’s not processed in any way, I don’t have time. Then maybe I'll get to it.

The main part of the film was filmed at Zayachiya, or Zaitsevaya Zaimka. This place was discovered only in 1970. However, it seems that they were “discovered” mainly because no one really looked, because the local residents themselves were quite capable of getting out into the big world and had relatives there - well, of course, otherwise they would have degenerated long ago. One of the significant parts of the “Helmsman’s Book” is something like an Old Believer charter,

Dedicated to how to calculate the distance of relationship and, accordingly, the possibility of marriage. Some Old Believers even live in cities, although it is much more difficult to observe the rules there, and this allows the inhabitants of such settlements 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, by our money - 25-30 years old, but her voice is already almost the same one that can be heard on folklore recordings of old songs.

I'm a practical person. First of all, I looked closely at everyday life and various devices. Look at these wonderful things: this is a device for twisting ropes made of horsehair.

This seems to be a machine for shelling pine nuts (judging by the waste).

Mill wheel. The mill works only in the 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. Their lamps are kerosene, which means they still transport kerosene (by horses, there are no roads there). There are a lot of new metal objects, obviously not forged in the village forge (and, it seems, they don’t have a forge). The men are all wearing rubber boots. The glass in the windows is a little cloudy, but glass. Galvanized buckets. Well, and so on. But in general, farming is as close to natural as possible.

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

Moreover, the guy says that he never studied anywhere. This is the first time I've heard about Ohm's law. “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, a flashlight - the nights are long in winter, but it’s so good: you sit, weave or make something, and pump 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 with sandpaper. Is this possible?

Family folklore ensemble. They collect and perform folklore almost professionally. These guys sing really well. ;-)

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

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

4.7 (94.81%) 27 votes

This is a story about the life of a family of five who lived for about half a century in complete isolation in the taiga, two hundred and fifty kilometers from the nearest settlement, until the day they were discovered by geologists in 1978.

The history of the Lykov family in the taiga and a detailed story about how the hermits appeared in those remote places, as well as the relationship of this family of Old Believers with their neighbors and the biographies of its individual representatives, according to Agafya Lykova, is narrated by her eyewitness Sergei Usik. The story is complemented by the author's magnificent photographs.

The first Old Believers in the upper reaches of Abakan (Lykovs)

How did the first Old Believers appear in the upper reaches of Abakan? Why did they leave civilization for the mountains? How were you able to survive in extreme conditions, maintain your faith and preserve your identity?

The answer to these questions is the story of the last representative of a dying family, with whom I have known for more than eight years, four of which I lived in the upper reaches of Abakan. On long winter evenings, by the light of a kerosene lamp Agafya Karpovna Lykova told me about what she had lived and experienced.

The narrator’s exceptional memory and gift from God, as well as a consciousness unclouded by unnecessary information, allowed her to plunge not only into those events of the past in which she was a participant, but also what she heard from her ancestors. During our communication, I more than once had a feeling of the unreality of what was happening. It seemed that a man from the distant past was sitting in front of me and was three hundred years older than all of us.

So what was the impetus for young Joseph and Raisa Lykov to leave their homes? Either the desire of the ruler of the Russian Land to find out the number of subjects and, by his decree, ordered the census of the people; or the bloody massacre carried out by the gendarmes in the Siberian town of Yalutorovsk, when two priests of the Ancient Orthodox Church, hammered into barrels with nails, were lowered from the mountain? God knows: the history of relations between the Old Believers has always been complex and tragic. When it became especially difficult, the soul was excited by the thought of a blessed country, where everything is divine, and a wise and just sovereign rules that country and the people living in it. The lands there are fertile, the rain is on time and the sun is not too hot, and everyone is in good health, mental and physical...

The dreams of the Russian people about justice, and therefore a happy life, were embodied in the Legend of Belovodye. There is a country beyond the Chinese land in which true Christians live, not persecuted by anyone, work and pray for the glory of God under the cover of Holy Mother of God. And if someone curious, or, worse, with evil intent, tries to penetrate Belovodye, he will not find or see anything except a continuous fog, white as milk. Unless a particularly sensitive person hears somewhere in the distance either the sound of the surf or bell ringing gathering parishioners for Vespers.

The path to Belovodye ran through the Siberian expanses, Altai, and then through Chinese lands. Many Kerzhak families, unable to withstand the long journey, settled in secluded taiga places. Moreover, the lands through which they passed, especially the foothills of Altai, were very attractive for living. The climate there is quite mild, although sometimes around Christmas or Epiphany it gets so frosty that the trees tear up. But deep snow reliably covers the ground. Over the summer, rye and wheat fill up with excellent ears. And herbs, not only in the belt, can hide a rider on a horse. And most importantly, stay away from the “power of the Antichrist”. Looking at this splendor, the peasant soul stood at a crossroads: either move on, or have a bird in your hands. In addition, the majority understood that they were not ready for Belovodye - just to hide from their persecutors. I learned the history of one such group of forty families from Agafya.

At the Chinese border, the local officials conducted an inspection of the settlers. A conflict ensued. And everyone, with the exception of one family, was turned back. Most returned to Altai, and several people, led by the Skorokhodov brothers, decided to look for a place to live in the upper reaches of Abakan. Winter overtook them in the Tuvan mountains. Horses that were not adapted to local conditions (they could not tame, that is, get food from under the snow) had to be slaughtered so as not to suffer. And when the going became completely ugly, they made skis, covering them with horse skins, and fell off the ridges at the confluence of three mountain rivers: Sektyozek, Erinat and Bolshoi Abakan. And further down the river another hundred kilometers until we found a suitable place where Abakan, bursting out of the rocky cheeks, tames its frantic temper, reflecting the gentle slopes in the mirror surface of the water. Here we decided to stop. How we survived that winter - only God knows. When a friendly spring broke out, awakening the frozen taiga to life, the people looked around and counted their losses. Some people went even further down the river, but others saw this place: there is a place to plant a garden and good mowing, you can have some cattle. And the taiga is rich in living creatures - you won’t die of hunger, which means we will live.

Time passed. People also walked, running away from persecution and making their way through the Siberian taiga wilds, hoping for a settled life in a convenient place. Some remained in the Skorokhodov settlement, others moved on. The brothers gave everyone who wanted to join the community a kind of theological examination, fearing the penetration of heresies into their environment. Divided into rumors and agreements, the priestless environment gave rise to many movements, whose manifestations of faith were sometimes openly heretical in nature.

Among the new arrivals, grandfather Afanasy and grandmother Elena, as Agafya affectionately calls them, stood out. Apparently, childhood impressions from her father’s memories of these bright old men were passed on to her. They arrived to live out their lives away from the bustle of the world, devoting the time allotted to them to prayer and good deeds. The Lykovo children soon also had peers: Kiril, Efim and little Matrona came to the foster home with their parents Sophon and Fedora Chepkasov. The entire community consisted of five families.

The first thing, of course, was construction. The huts were cut down together. Well, the Kerzhaks knew how to hold axes - they were non-drinkers, non-smokers, not offended by their health, they knew their job. They adjusted log to log like this - you couldn’t get a needle through. The lower crowns were made of strong and durable larch, and the remaining walls were made of cedar logs, saying:

“The purest and warmest spirit comes from the cedar tree.”

Families built five-wall huts. Spacious and bright upper rooms with the obligatory front corner for icons and lecterns, a kut with a Russian stove, benches along the walls, and a table made of chopped and planed blocks, authoritatively located in the middle of the upper room, made up the interior of a Christian peasant hut.

They built more modest housing for the old people, how much do two people need, but the ceiling was covered not with blocks, but with timber. And it turned out to be the warmest hut. Grandfather Afonya was engaged in copying service books: canons or anything from Scripture. Grandmother Elena did more and more housework and looked after the children when their parents went to the taiga. A nurse cow was immediately introduced. That's why the kids often ran to pancakes. These old people were kind and wise.

One day, one of the newcomers began to accuse their neighbors of eating potatoes. Disputes about this have already subsided, but in some communities particularly zealous “guardians of antiquity” continued to “blame the demonic, prolific, prodigal plant.” Disagreements arose among the taiga inhabitants. Then the grandfather and woman, knowing that they could not live without potatoes, gathered everyone before boarding the gathering and, in order to reconcile the disputants, said:

“We will plant potatoes, but with a covenant. Let us pray and ask the Lord: if this plant is not pleasing to Him, and it is not useful to us, then let some misfortune happen and there will be no harvest.”

That's what they decided on. And in the fall we dug up so much that all doubts disappeared forever.

So, life, far from world upheavals, slowly entered the channel familiar to Christians from childhood. In the spring, after St. George's Day, planting began. In summer, mowing, harvesting berries, mushrooms and other taiga gifts. If it was a nut year, the whole community went out to collect pine cones, shelled, sifted and dried the nut. This truly wonderful tree does not give birth every year, so they prepared it for future use. Walnut, at proper storage, sits for four years without deteriorating. In October, after the Intercession, men went into the taiga to hunt for furs. They hunted sable, kolk, fox, and squirrel. It was especially lucky if someone praised an otter on the river - the Altai people exchanged one skin for a horse. The harvested furs and excess meat and fish were exchanged for salt, flour, cereals and iron. And when February came, they began to prepare firewood. Cold birch and aspen logs scattered loudly from the blows of the cleaver. Usually, the owner chops and puts the kids in a woodpile so that the wood can dry out over the summer.

But, so that the reader does not form too blissful an idea of ​​taiga life, one must not forget that the events described took place among wild, pristine nature, and the expression “bear corner” is precisely about these places. The bear was and remains the complete owner here. An abundance of berries, nuts, many ungulates: deer, elk, roe deer - an excellent food source for this animal. People invaded his domain, which means that unwanted meetings and clashes were inevitable. And they didn’t have to wait long, especially after livestock appeared on the farm. And as often happens in similar situations- the tragic mixes with the comical.

Mikhail Skorokhodov's cow disappeared. Early in the morning, armed, the men went in search. Immediately behind the cattle it became clear that the bear was on guard. Based on the footprints, they determined what, how and where he dragged the prey. Suddenly, they hear a boat nearby - blip-blink.

“So this is my cow,” Mikhail said in confusion. - Is she really alive? It’s strange, there’s so much blood, but it rattles. Guys, maybe it’s one of yours, after all...

Not really. When we heard that yours was missing, we are not letting our own people out of the flock.

So, while talking, they go out into a small clearing, and there the clubfoot lies on his back and throws up the cow’s head along with the botal, playing. He leaves and leaves and puts it to his ear - listens. They shot him, of course.

Here's another case. The women and children went to pick berries and came across a bullied bear. Apparently the clubfoots couldn’t share something among themselves, so one tore the other. They ran after the men. They examined the defeated man. They decided to remove the skin and burn the carcass so as not to poison the rest. But it turned out the other way around. The next evening when Lykov family Having prayed, she sat down to have dinner, and incomprehensible sounds reached their ears: either muttering or slapping lips.

Osip, why didn’t you lock the horses, listen, they’re snorting under the doors,” Raisa asks her husband.

The husband got up from the table, opened the door - you are my dear mother! - and he’s walking around the yard. He immediately slammed the door - and hooked it.

You, old man, are clearly crazy, it seems a bit early to be freaking out.

And he stands there, propping up the door with his back and just: “Honey... honey...”. At this point Raisa realized that something was wrong. And when the man exhaled: “Bear!”, Raisa immediately grabbed a bowl of half-eaten porridge and, scattering the contents around, began pounding the dishes. The little ones, not understanding what was happening and why mom was being naughty, without thinking twice, decided to support her - when they had a chance to play around at the table. And come on: bowl on bowl, bowl on table. There was such a roar! Having come to his senses and caught his breath, the head of the family decided to look out the window to see if the animal had escaped. Leaning on the windowsill, he brought his beard to the glass. And from the darkness, the taiga owner looks at him with curiosity. Well, it has already begun! Straight up, they organized a concert for him. Neighbors came running in response to the noise and drove off the intruder with shots. Joseph Lykov, at that time, did not yet have a gun, and the courtyards on the estate were not like in the villages - fence to fence, and at a distance, in farmsteads, they did not stick to each other - there was enough space...

Year after year, the young gain more, and the old lose. Yesterday's kids turned out to be glorious teenagers: Daria and Stepan Lykov, Kiril and Efim Chepkasov, Ermila Zolotaev. They were all about the same age. Having grown up in nature, from childhood as assistants to elders in both housework and hunting, they early mastered the science of survival. By the age of fifteen, the young man could cut down a house and hunt an animal in the taiga. Stepan has come close to this age - reddish fuzz has already begun to appear on his cheeks. In character, face, and article, he was like a little girl. It was clear from everything that the same stocky, red-bearded silent man was growing up. Daria was a success as a mother - tall, beautiful, rounded early. And the internal warehouse, most likely, from Raisa Agafonovna. But although she was capable of praying and studying, she was not diligent. No matter how hard her parents tried, they could not plant in her heart the sparks of zeal that were in Stepan and the younger ones. And education in a Christian family began from infancy. With the baby in her arms, the mother stood for morning and evening prayers. First of all, she folded her small fingers into two fingers and protected the baby with the sign of the cross - holding its handle in her hand, she applied it successively to the forehead, stomach, right and left shoulders. At the same time I read the Jesus Prayer. When the baby began to speak, they taught the Mother of God and the publican’s prayer. In the fifth or sixth year they began to study the alphabet and grammar. Then the initial morning prayers, Midnight Office and the Great Beginning. After this, it was the turn of the New Testament and the Psalter. This is how the foundations of the Christian faith were laid in the little head. By the age of six or seven, the child could already read and write. It is clear that not every family adhered to this rule. In some places, studies began later or with less workload, depending on the student’s abilities.

Although Daria Lykova had no desire to study, she was a fire girl at work, they couldn’t be happier with her - she was a reliable assistant in everything. And even when the new bathhouse with Stepan was chopped down with two axes - it was the family’s need, and the old one had fallen into disrepair - she was not inferior to her brother in this purely male matter. The parents had one sadness - as soon as the sun disappears over the horizon, the girl is not ready for anything, but is eager to go to parties, where she can joke around with the guys to her heart's content. And the Chepkasov brothers and Ermila Zolotaev had already worn her to holes with their eyes. Youth is youth even in the remote taiga, and nothing can be done about it. “And therefore, it’s time to prepare the girl for marriage,” Joseph and Raisa decided. And Vasily Zolotaev arrived on time. We sat and remembered how we ourselves went to parties, at one of which the idiot Vaska almost burned down his sister’s hut - he set fire to a tow with a tow, and Raisa dragged the naughty boy by the forelock.

Then, already at the door, as if by chance, Zolotarev Sr. hinted:

Ermila says that all they talk about is about your Dashutka. Shouldn't we become related?

The Lykovs looked at each other, seated the guest back, and let’s have a detailed conversation.

It's a good thing. We have known you for a long time, and you and our parents went to the same cathedral. Why not become related? But Daria is sixteenth, and Ermila is seventeenth. Isn't it too early?

Yes, I’m not talking about tomorrow. The matter is not urgent. Let's wait a year.

Good! So, after Christmas, send matchmakers.

That's what they decided on.

The reader has probably already wondered: what kind of evenings are these? Usually, the most spacious hut was chosen, where several families, after doing housework, would gather on winter evenings. Women and girls were engaged in spinning, embroidery, and spun canvas. And where there are girls, there are guys. In the dim light of a torch or candle, the first adjustments and examinations took place between the young...

Kerosene lamps were not favored by the Old Believers. They remembered the ancient legend: “There will be violent, hellish fire. If someone brings it into the house, the holiness will come out of the icons.

And if there is a dead man in that house, destroy him like a stinking dog.” These are the strictnesses. But those who visited other villages and saw how much brighter and more convenient it was with a lamp began to invent something similar for themselves.

On Zaitsevaya Zaimka, in Altai, one craftsman put together a box with a door, without top and side walls, and attached it to the window from the street. That's how it was lit, from the outside. In Tishi they did not agree to such “sacrilege”. We experimented with a torch: at random we tried to achieve a brighter combustion. It turned out that if you put a raw birch log overnight in an already heated Russian oven, and then chop some splinters and then dry it traditional way- such a pre-steamed torch burns brighter.

Second in importance childhood memory Karpa Lykova- funeral of grandfather Afanasy. That same winter they saw off the venerable old man. As he lived, so he died in his eightieth year - lightly and calmly, having prepared a cedar house for himself in advance. And he asked Joseph Lykov to take care of Grandma Elena in the future.

The attitude towards death among people of the past was diametrically opposed to the current understanding of this event that crowns earthly life. For a Christian, this was not the end of existence, but a transition to another state, to another form of life. The tragedy did not lie in the very fact of death as the end of carnal existence, but in the fact that a person could die without repentance...

Here is another picture from childhood. Karp was ten years old when one winter evening his elder brother Stepan asked him:

Well, what about Karpa? Will you come with me to Lake Bedui for taimen?

Will your uncle let you go?

“I’ll let you go, I’ll let you go,” responded Lykov Sr. - It’s time for you, Karpusha, to learn about real taiga life.

Karp was very happy about this invitation. Although I grew up in the middle of the forest, it was such a thing that for several days, with overnight stays around the fire, especially in winter - this has never happened before!

When will we go? - he asked impatiently.

After Epiphany we will gather. Let the day come a little,” Stepan answered.

The day after the holiday, on skis with sledges, early in the morning, after praying, we set off.

Three days of walking to Lake Taimen. First up the Abakan about fifteen kilometers. Then along Bedui another twenty-five kilometers. There are no waterfalls on this tributary of the Abakan, like on most mountain rivers. Therefore, the fish freely rises up to the very sources and winters in the high-mountain lake. I fell in love with this pond and taimen. Of the local fish, it is considered the most delicious. And visiting merchants in Tashtyp and Abaza gave him preference. The weight of individual individuals sometimes reached one hundred kilograms. If someone managed to catch such a giant - that's where the luck was - no meat was needed. In addition, shoes were made from the skin of these giants... We got to the lake without incident. Of course, we went to Goryachy Klyuch. We warmed up in the only hut on the route and splashed in healing waters. The rest of the nights were spent around the fire. Stepan had already gone for taimen more than once, so he knew the best places to stop. The main thing is that there is more dry wood nearby. First, they shoveled the snow and made a fire on the site of the future “bed.” Then we had dinner and prepared two-meter-long sutunki for Nadya. This took two to three hours. At dusk, the unburned coals were raked to the side, and the calcined ground was covered with fir and cedar Veps. They stretched canvas, which served both as a canopy and as a screen, reflecting the fire and thereby increasing heat transfer. After this, they “started the nadya”: they laid two cedar logs side by side, and placed raw birch logs on top. Because of this, the fire was not so violent and burned longer and with an even flame. We didn’t take spruce and fir firewood - they shoot too much, you can singe your clothes. During the night, Stepan rolled the logs onto the fire a couple of times, and Karp lay in awe on the soft, fragrant fir branches, wrapped in a warm bast shoe. The heated earth gave off heat through the fragrant “featherbed” until the morning.

On the lake, the place to stay for the night was equipped more thoroughly and with all the taiga foresight. On the sunny southern slope of the mountain, under the reliable protection of a powerful pre-alpine pine tree, a small log house was built. Four rows of logs rose above the ground - up to a man's chest. This structure was crowned with a roof made of chopped blocks arranged as a hut. In the center of the log house there was an iron stove, the pipe of which, to save space and firewood, went out onto the back wall. And on the sides of the stove there were bunks. Stepan and his father built this little place about eight years ago on the site of an old Tuvan camp. Since then, almost every winter, for a week, the Lykovs went out to catch taimen. Only this time Joseph sent a younger man in his place - let him get used to it, it’s time to prepare a shift.

Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to experience sitting over a hole in winter becomes an adherent of this species for life. fishing. Especially if it is not idle fun, but a vital necessity. Just as tightly as the first arshin fish pulled out onto the ice by Karp, he clung to the hook called winter fishing.

We weren’t lucky enough to catch the giants this time, but we managed to pull out one pound and a couple of smaller ones. The rest of the feasible weight was gained in small change, as they say, “from two to five.” The return journey, albeit with a load, but along a broken track and downhill, was easier and faster.

Already on Abakan, when there were less than ten kilometers left to Tisha, the unexpected happened. During the brothers' stay in the upper reaches, there was a thaw, and then everything was covered with snow again. This is the most unpleasant thing for travelers on the river. First, the ice from below is eaten away, and then covered with fresh snow. There are plenty of similar traps on Abakan, especially at the end of winter. Stepan, who was walking ahead, flew into one of these gullies. It’s good that I managed to intercept the staff across. Therefore, he did not go under the water with his head, but hung on it. Karp shouted to the one who rushed to help:

Back! Me myself!

Fortunately, the ravine was small, and the current was not strong, and the ice did not break further. Otherwise, the skis would be pulled under it. Slowly, doing push-ups on his hands, Stepan carefully rolled his body onto the icy surface. Karp experienced real fear then. Fear for Stepan and his own helplessness. A fire was lit on the shore. While Stepan was taking off his wet clothes, Karp quickly chopped up the branches. While they were drying, evening came, and so they decided to spend the night on the spot. Of course, they didn’t dare walk in the dark on such ice.

The next day, by lunchtime, the fishermen arrived home.

“And we were waiting for you yesterday evening,” Anyutka said from the doorway, running out to meet her.

“Well, we were delayed,” answered Karp.

Something happened? - After the greeting, the head of the family asked.

“I almost went to feed the burbot,” admitted Stepan. - Flew into a ravine. So we had to dry out and spend the night.

Below Beduya.

I have told you more than once that the area around the Bedu pits is the most dangerous place. Either the hot spring has this effect, or something else, but there is no such loose ice anywhere in Abakan. How about Karp?

God has mercy, I am alone. Even the sledges remained on the ice.

Well, okay. Thank God we got off easy. From now on there will be science. Go to the bathhouse and warm yourself up. Mom was heating yesterday - she was waiting for you. Anyutka! Run, throw some firewood, I guess I haven’t caught a cold yet.

Few people listen to the advice of their elders. Until they hit the big time themselves, they won’t gain experience. Stepan and Karp remembered the treachery of the frozen river for the rest of their lives.

The world has already died down Russo-Japanese War- a harbinger of coming trouble. The news about it reached the village, becoming for the Old Believers another evidence of the approaching end of the world. And published in 1905 royal decree “On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance”, which opened up new opportunities for the Old Believers, still did not add optimism to the mentors, who told their flock:

“This relief will not last long, even more severe times are coming.”

After the death of grandfather Afanasy, Joseph Efimovich Lykov became the mentor in Tishi, with universal approval, and the settlement on Abakan began to be called Lykovskaya Zaimka. In the interval between the wars, Japanese and German, several more families moved to Tishi: the Samoilovs, Yaroslavtsevs, Rusakovs and Grebenshchikovs.

Ivan Vasilyevich Samoilov was the adopted son of Skorokhodov Sr., and therefore moved into Vasily Stepanovich’s house, which had been empty all this time. And there was someone to move in. The Samoilov family consisted of two men - Ivan Vasilyevich himself and his eldest son, the heir Fyodor and his female part - his wife Marfa Vlasievna and three little beauties: Pelageya, Evdokia and Kharetina. Ivan's wife was from Zyryan. He took it from the Perm land. As Karp Osipovich used to say: “She was incredibly beautiful, and the girls followed her.” Fedor was two years younger than Karp Lykov. The boys immediately became friends. True, this did not stop them from first, as usual, butting heads for leadership. The Samoilov girls accepted Anyutka into their company.

The rest of the new arrivals chose a site, uprooted the taiga for vegetable gardens, erected huts, and cleared overgrown clearings for mowing. In short, they were doing what was usual for Old Believers...

Many people went into the taiga wilderness during the first quarter of the twentieth century. People were not only going to Tishi. Several families also settled on Maly Abakan. I have already mentioned Zaitseva Zaimka. Let’s take a closer look at the Daibov family’s property. In the future, the fate of Karp Lykov will be closely connected with this place, or rather with the girl Akulina Daibova, but this will happen only fifteen years later... On the left bank of the Biya, one of the two main rivers of Altai, there is a farm Daibovo. All that was left of its founders was the name and a few surviving huts, blackened by time. But, even after so many years, these silent witnesses make us understand how carefully people treated their homes and the land that fed them. Through the mountains, directly, there are one hundred and fifty kilometers between the villages, but the climate on Biya is much milder. All that was left of the Daibovs’ settlement was a couple of huts and a name, but nothing remained of the Tishas...

1913 The Empire celebrates the three-hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov to universal rejoicing, a year before the global meat grinder. Abakan also has its own holiday. Life, thanks to Galaktion Sanochkin, has become sweeter in the most literal sense. Galaktion collected the first bribe from his bees. Even upon his arrival, he decided to set up an apiary on the farmstead. In the first spring, when the snow melted and primroses began to climb, Galaktion kept walking and looking for honey plants. Appreciated this place. Everything was here: early summer bribes from yellow acacia, willow, and the main one - from fireweed (fireweed). The man realized that there could be a dozen or two pieces of evidence here. And after settling in the new place, I began to think about how to gain access to the bees. There were several possible options. The first is through the pass on horseback, brought from Altai; the second - along the river from Tashtyp in the summer, on a boat, sometimes with a tow, sometimes on poles, to lift it. Or in winter, along the toboggan route. Altai is the closest, but also harder. In summer, on a boat - it’s too long and shaking, the bees may not tolerate the road. I settled on the winter version. I agreed in advance with the Tashtyp beekeeper. I chose two strong families. We agreed on the price. And in the spring of next year, with God's help, the bees began flying around unfamiliar places.

In five years I increased the number of families to ten. There was enough honey not only for his own people, but also for sharing with his neighbors. Honey is, of course, very good, tasty and healthy, especially since the Old Believers did not take sugar. But, for a believer, the wax produced by bees is no less important. Previously, it was difficult to get it out of residential areas. And here's yours. Of course, on weekdays there was no allowance for lighting. But all the holiday services were held in the future at wax candles. And one more thing, as if a secondary product was obtained when cooking foundation. Bee bread was added to sweet honey water and after a couple of months, mead was obtained. So life became not only sweeter, but also more fun. Kerzhaks are not particularly noted for drunkenness. And they didn’t drink forty-degree and similar drinks at all. But even the monastery charter allows you to drink your own wine, and in this case mead, on your patronal feast day. And a reason, a very significant one, was found. Fellow countrymen, two Efimovichs: Joseph and Galaktion, decided to become related.

You have a girl and my guy have already started playing staring contest. “It’s probably time for us to babysit our grandchildren,” the parents decided for the young people.

Stepan is not Daria, he didn’t argue. Zinovia is even more so, even glad. Styopka looked at her more than all the Zaimkovsky guys with his fiery beard and easy-going character. They did not put off this matter for long. After the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, we celebrated the wedding. The young couple spent the winter in their parents' house, and in the spring Stepan began building his own. Carp included in adolescence, helped his older brother with all his might.

The taiga people have lived through the last three calm years without any shocks. First World War little affected the remote corner of the empire. Vasily Zolotaev finally found a bride for his Ermila on the side, and Chepkasov’s Kiril and Efim started families. When Ivan Novikov, who lived on Lebyad, came to the village in the fall with the news that a coup had taken place in Petrograd and some Bolsheviks had come to power, the Kerzhaks, relaxed after two decades of quiet life, did not take this news seriously:

“We live far from their Pitenburg, we don’t get involved in worldly affairs, and what do we care about the fact that they pull each other’s beards there because of power? They overthrew one king and installed another, this is not the first time.”

But when the civil war began, and people flocked to the rescue in the hope of sitting out the troubled time in safety, it finally dawned on them that this was not just a palace coup, but something more. We remembered Isaiah’s prophecy about the end of the world, and that brother will go against brother, and son against father...

The incident on Small Abakan with Osip the Podgoleshnik occurred in the late thirties, at the very height of mass repressions carried out by the ungodly authorities.

Here's what Agafya says about this:

“The power from Lenin came out so ungodly as never before.”

The blood-red wheel did not immediately reach the upper reaches of Abakan. Until the mid-twenties, Tishi lived up to its name. Amidst the raging ocean of human passions and events that had stirred up the country, relative calm remained on the village, covered from the west by the spurs of the Abakan ridge. Only once, in the summer of 1918, a detachment of Red Army soldiers showed up in the village, surprising the taiga residents with an abundance of weapons and new uniforms. “The people seem to be Russian, but the signs and clothes are Jewish,” recalled Karp Osipovich, who at that time was seventeen years old. The Bolsheviks were looking for the escaped Kolchakites. Somewhere down the river, in the Tashtyp area, there was a battle, and the Reds captured 60 enemy people. They stripped me, put me over a cliff and shot me. Then, when they counted the corpses, there was a shortage. So, in search of the fugitives, the detachment went out to capture them. Naturally, they conducted a search. Having learned that Osip Efimovich was the eldest, they started from the Lykovs’ hut. Having found Kolchak’s money in the house, the detachment commander raised a cry:

Yeah, you're waiting for Kolchak!

We are not expecting any Kolchak.

Where does the money come from?

The man paid for the meat.

What kind of person?

From the mine. He said that these are in use now. I didn’t want to take it, but he had nothing else besides these pieces of paper. And he asked for meat a lot. So I had to give in.

Where are you hiding the fugitives? Tell me, grandfather, otherwise it will be bad!

We don't know any fugitives. We had no one these days.

Well, old man - look! - and for greater persuasiveness he snatched the saber from its sheath. - If we find anyone, or even a small trace, we will chop up the entire property!

Having found no one or anything suspicious, the commander finally forced Lykov Sr. to trample on the money with the admiral’s portrait and the detachment turned back.

And after this incident, Tisha fell out of sight of the Soviet government for five to seven years. During this time, the village expanded into several more households. The families of the Rogalevs, Dolganovs, Chasovnikovs and Bersenevs, as well as father Efrosin, grandfather Nazariy and son Isai, came to seek refuge in the hope that the hard times were about to end and the untwisted flywheel of the class struggle would not catch them.

In Altai and in the foothills of Khakassia, the events of the early twenties developed much more dynamically and tragically. Agafya’s mother, Akulina Karpovna Daibova, told the children what was happening in Altai in the area where they lived. After the main units of Admiral Kolchak and then Ataman Solovyov were defeated, small, mobile, well-armed detachments began to comb village after village, village after village, in search of hiding White Guards. One such detachment of thirty people, after a punitive raid, with looted goods, stopped in Daibovo for the night. The tipsy degenerates boasted about how they cut down several yards in the village of Kibezen because the villagers gave temporary shelter to several officers of Kolchak’s army.

When the Reds burst into the village, the White Guards were not there. This small group, like many others, tried to make their way through Mongolia to China and stopped at Kibezeni to stock up on food. According to the agreement with the local men, we agreed to work for a couple of days in a logging site in exchange for provisions and prepare firewood for the winter. The Kolchakites were sure that they had gone far from their pursuers. That's why we accepted this proposal.

Having found out where the whites were, the detachment moved to the clearing. On the way, they took the unlucky warriors by surprise. Returning to the village, they shot the prisoners behind the bathhouse. After which they began to find out: who fed them, who they spent the night with, who they prepared firewood for. The villagers did not know what awaited them, and in order to soften the hearts of the executioners, the headman said:

They helped the widow woman with firewood.

“Bring her here, guys,” the squad leader ordered.

Meanwhile, several more people who were helping the White Guards were separated. When they brought the unfortunate woman to a speedy trial and began to mock the still young widow, the eldest son rushed to protect his mother and collapsed, split in two by the commissar's saber at his mother's feet.

Cut them down, bitches! - the commander barked. - They will know how to help counter!

From Kibezen to Daibovo there are seventy kilometers. Apparently the soldiers caught a cold after the meat grinder while they were driving. No one was harmed at the farm, only the underground supplies were damaged - all the jam and pickles were eaten. In the morning, hung over, the detachment went home.

These two incidents were just echoes of the events that took place in the south of Western Siberia. Ataman Nightingale walked widely with his detachment, consisting of local men and the remnants of Kolchak’s army. For several years, the Solovyovites did not allow the new government to establish itself in the localities. Only after regular units of the Red Army were thrown at the rebels and punitive raids were carried out against the local population supporting the ataman, Solovyov with a detachment of two thousand sabers left through Tuva and Mongolia to China.

Agafya denies the involvement of any of the residents of Tisha in cooperation with the Solovyovites. And this is understandable. My dad either didn’t tell me about it, or he strictly ordered the children never to tell anyone about it. However, there is information that Stepan Lykov and Sofon Chepkasov were guides to a detachment of “white bandits” and led them through the upper reaches of the Big Abakan and the Chulchi River to the Chulyshman Valley. For some time, the detachment frayed its nerves with the Reds in Altai, after which it went abroad.

At first, I think, the attitude of the Old Believers towards Soviet power, like the majority of the people, was wait-and-see. At first they didn’t understand what was happening. Afterwards they hoped that maybe it would pass. And then it was too late. While the new government was taking root in cities and large regions, the “soviets” did not get around to taking over the taiga. And in this temporary lull, the Kerzhaks developed a deceptive sense of calm, and the cycle of everyday life returned the outback to its usual way of life. Moreover, in Tishi there were even more worries because of the bear that was causing mischief in the area. Having been poisoned by the farm mare, the animal kept watch over the calf of the matchmaker Galaktion and followed it around the apiary. “That’s it, it’s time to clean up the robber before he kills all the cattle,” the men decided. However, it was not so easy to implement the plan. The beast was extremely cunning and daring. More than once, men and dogs hotly pursued the bear, but each time they returned empty-handed.

Well. And there will be bait for this cunning man,” said Sophon, “we will build a culem.”

In the place where the dirty trickster killed the first victim, they built a small, three by two meters, log house from thick logs. The ceiling was also covered with wraparound ropes and covered with stones. Loopholes were cut into the walls for shooting. The whole trick was to lure the beast into this “hut”. The door in it did not open as usual, but like the doors in a compartment carriage, only not to the side, but upward. And so, if a predator entered inside, attracted by the smell of a carrion located in the corner farthest from the entrance and began to move the bait, he would knock down his guard and the door would fall down, wedging itself in the grooves, closing the prisoner tightly in the log casemate. They lined up, alerted and began to wait. At first they checked every day, then every other day - there was still no bear. About ten days later they started sending guys to check. At the same time, they were strictly punished: if they saw that the door had slammed shut, they would run after the men. The clubfoot was too big. There were no more bears in the surrounding area. If before, almost every day, his presence was discovered, so that the housewives were afraid to let their children and livestock out of the fence, now only old traces reminded of the previous outrages.

And then one day the Lykov brothers went to check the trap. Although Evdokim Karpa is five years younger, he is a big guy. At fifteen, he was taller and more broad-shouldered than his brother, but he himself was not considered to be average.

Seeing that the bag was empty, the brothers turned back and then a bear jumped out at the guys. In an instant, the beast crushed Karp - he didn’t even have time to raise his rifle. Evdokim had an old ramrod. He fired once, but missed in surprise. Reloading is a whole undertaking, but Karp is screaming and calling for help: “Shoot, brother, shoot!” Then Evdokim, grabbing the gun like a club, rushed at the murderer. He hit me hard on the head a couple of times and knocked out a tooth. Of course, Mikhryanty did not tolerate such treatment and switched to the smaller one. Karp at this time reached for the rifle, but did not have time to take aim, when the owner of the taiga, sensing where the real threat was coming from, again rushed at the defeated man. He still managed to fire a couple of bullets before the bear again fell on Karp with its entire body. Evdokim, who suffered less (he only gnawed his left shoulder), finally remembered about the knife and in the heat of the moment, feeling neither pain nor fear, thrust a cleaver into the side of the beast up to the hilt. He roared in pain and rage, threw Evdokim several meters away with one turn, rushed again at his younger brother, falling away from Karp, but froze for a second and hobbled, sprinkling his trail with blood, into the taiga. What stopped the bear, why didn’t he go all the way? Didn't you expect such fierce resistance? Was it the prayer that Karp had been doing all this time that helped? Or did your bestial hearing hear the barking of dogs and the cries of people rushing to help before your brothers? One way or another, the predator retreated.

Evdokim rushed to his lying brother:

Carp, alive?!

Alive, alive,” responded Karp.

Having examined the wounded leg and arm and not finding any fractures, Evdokim said:

We have to go home somehow.

He helped his older brother get to his feet - somehow he stood on his feet and could not step on his torn leg. Then Evdokim put his brother on his back and pushed him to his mercy. Halfway we met village men with dogs. At the village they heard shots and rushed to the rescue of the guys. Sophon and Stepan, taking the dogs, left to finish off the beast. Father, matchmaker Galaktion and Fyodor Samoilov remained to provide first aid to the wounded. Only after Karp was dragged home, his wounds were treated and bandaged, did Stepan and Sophon return and bring the bear skin. After the inhabitants of Tisha saw what giant the brothers fought with Lykovs- even experienced hunters began to respect the guys. After all, it’s necessary: ​​they were able to defeat the giant and did not abandon each other in trouble. What! A fifteen-year-old boy, defending his brother, rushed at a five hundred-kilogram beast! Later it became clear why the bear behaved so impudently. While cutting up the carcass, they found an old rifle bullet. It turned out to be a wounded man. So he took revenge on people.

Karp was ill for a month and a half. Every day they washed the wounds with herbal decoctions: they used burnet, St. John's wort and plantain. The ointment was prepared on the basis butter, so-called welding. Father Efrosin recommended the lichen parmelia (“cut grass”), which was used by the Ural Cossacks to quickly heal wounds. Daria, who came to visit her relatives, looked after her brother. Her life in Turochak was not easy. Makar tried not to offend his wife, but his numerous fiancées and mother-in-law disliked the stranger. No matter how hard Daria tried, she could not accept the new way of life. From childhood she followed the old worldly order. The changed prayers and differences from usual everyday behavior hurt her ears. Day after day, discontent accumulated in Daria Osipovna’s soul. And she began to slowly retrain Makar in the old ritual. The husband did not resist, because he loved and respected his wife. But my relatives... Difficulties began to arise. For childlessness, all the blame was placed, of course, on Daria. There was only one way out - to move to own house, which Makar began cutting last year. It was in this mood that she came to her family. Caring for her brother distracted her a little from her sad thoughts.?

Seeing that their daughter was preoccupied with something, the parents began to persuade Daria to stay in Tishi. She did not agree to the persuasion. On the contrary, she began to encourage her younger sister to go with her to Turochak. Anyutka, the main joy of her parents, turned seventeen: she is both obedient and smart, and the article was a success. The girl grew up in different conditions than Dasha. If the eldest, besides Ermila and Kiril and Efim, had no other peers, then Anyutka had someone to choose from among the numerous children. By that time there were already a dozen or three households in Tishi. When Annushka turned fifteen, there was no end to suitors. Many people wooed her. But Fedka Samoilov, a friend of Karp, was considered the main suitor and groom. Yes, and she liked him. Therefore, she rejected her sister’s offer. And after Ilya’s day, Makar came for Daria and took her away...

In the early twenties of the last century, many people passed through the zaimka. There were Kolchakites, Solovyovites, and just “hedgehog guys with knives in their boot tops.” Fellow believers and people of other faiths came and stayed in Tishi. At one time a Latvian lived with Sophon Markovich. What wind blew him into such wilderness? Yes, probably the same as the others. He did not live long, became ill, and soon died. The people became more tolerant when everyone understood who they were facing. Of course, they did not mix in rituals and everyday life. But many people did not experience such a sharp rejection of “others” in the borrowing. The Soviet government treated everyone equally badly, regardless of faith. Any religion was alien and hated by the Bolsheviks. At the village they knew about the general line of the party, but most of the villagers hoped that they would not be reached. And only after the arrival of Ivan Novikov in the summer of 1924, who brought yet another bad news, did the people begin to make noise. They gathered for the gathering and began asking Ivan what and how. And the point was the following. The new government began to rewrite and register all Old Believers, uniting them into artels. This news shocked the taiga people. Got worried:

Will they really get to us?

Most likely, they will get there,” Novikov answered. - In Altai, many people have already been forced into artels, and if anyone resists, they are taken to prison.

Hearing this, the villagers remembered their grandfather’s “run and hide.” They remembered, but only after thirty years of difficult, but free and calm life, and that is how long the Lykovs lived in Tishi. Oh, how hard it is to part with what you have acquired and leave the place where you thought you would live out the rest of your days. However, it was the Lykovs who initiated moving on. Stepan, who has been to the top of Abakan more than once, said that there is a good place about eighty miles above Tisha, where the Kairsu River flows into Abakan. The mountains there, of course, are higher and the slopes are steeper and there are no such meadows as around the estate, but there is enough space for several families. We decided to equip the men and thoroughly explore the area, and upon returning we would think about what to do next. Since Stepan had been to those places more than once, they decided to send him. He took his brother Karp and Isai Nazarovich as partners. I would like to tell you more about this new character in the story.

When in 1978, geologists discovered the Lykov family in the taiga, they soon learned about it, thanks to publications in the central press, in Tashtyp and Abaza. Some people, not entirely knowledgeable in this story, began to assure the local leadership and special correspondents of various publications that Karp Osipovich Lykov was a former officer of the tsarist and then Kolchak armies. And there is nothing, they say, to write about him, but he, a scoundrel who killed more than a dozen fighters for the bright future of all humanity and the Tashtyp region in particular, should be brought to trial and put in prison, or better yet, shot right away. So, I assure you, my readers, Karp was not an officer. The officer, or rather, ensign, was Isai Nazarovich. He actually fought first in the German and then in the civilian army in the ranks of Admiral Kolchak’s army. A native of the city of Tomsk, a native Siberian, from the Cheldons. He graduated from the Warrant Officer School before the First World War. After Kolchak’s defeat, he managed to take his father and hide in the Sayan Mountains. He was captured by a detachment of Reds, wounded, and escaped. And after that he appeared in Tishi. Of course, no one knew about this then. Everything was revealed much later. This man’s biography included Stalin’s camps, a penal battalion during the Great Patriotic War, German captivity and a concentration camp, then again a camp, but this time a Soviet one. Recent years thirty Isai Nazarovich lived in the remote taiga on the Yenisei. This note was hidden from random people and authorities even when " Taiga dead end"The whole country was reading it. This truly unique man was four years shy of reaching his centenary. I was lucky enough to read his diaries, in which he described not so much his life as he tried to penetrate into the historical meaning and tragedy of the split and outlined his views on modern history. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge and perfect memory, he quoted entire paragraphs not only from ancient church, but also secular books on history and philosophy.

In the meantime, a detachment from three people and two pack horses on the fourth day he reached the mouth of the Kairsu River. It took two days to find a suitable place for the future village. For fear of being discovered soon in the floodplain of Abakan, they did not look. We decided to explore the sloping southwestern slope of the mountain. The predominance of aspen forest in the first third indicated fertile lands. And the darkening cedar tree, crossing the slope like a narrow ribbon, clearly indicated the presence of a stream in this place. Soon they found a suitable clearing and unanimously admitted - best place there is no place to borrow: good land, water nearby. Of course, the forest will have to be uprooted for arable land, but hay for livestock can be cut in the floodplain. Already before going to bed, Isai began to doubt: was he too close to Tisha? If they start organizing an artel there, they might get here too. And he suggested looking somewhere else higher up Abakan, to which Stepan replied:

We’re unlikely to find it along Abakan, but if you cross the Selga char and along Chulcha, you can definitely hide. But it will take a lot of time - a week there and back. It turns out to be half a month.

Well, there isn’t much work in Tishi right now. We’ve done the planting, and we’ll be ready to mow just in time,” Karp joined the conversation.

The food supply is sparse, but, God willing, we’ll get some meat along the way,” agreed Stepan, “or we’ll catch fish at the confluence of three rivers, dry them, and then look at one.”

When the detachment was escorted out with Sophon, I looked at one place there.

That's what they decided on. At the first rays of the sun we loaded up the horses and moved on. Towards evening we reached the confluence of Sektyozek, Erinat and Abakan. The next day, Stepan and Isai went fishing, and Karp went to explore the surroundings. Before leaving, the elder advised:

Karp, do you see a counter on the sunny slope behind Erinat? Go there and take a look.

He immediately liked this, albeit small, but cozy terrace. “Two families with a household could definitely fit here,” Karp noted to himself. He climbed the slope and picked at the ground with his staff - it was black. “It’s a good place,” Karp was convinced once again. The Yaryshkol char, which has stood up as a wall, reliably protects from the cold northern winds. And the water is nearby. But from the river, this counter does not immediately catch the eye of an ignorant person. Something told him: he would return more than once to the confluence of three rivers. And he did not know, of course, that it was here, many years later, that the torch of his life would burn out and the soul of God’s servant Karp would appear before the highest court.

Meanwhile, the men caught fish in the holes and, having built a smokehouse from twigs, lit a smoky fire. When Karp returned, the haryuzas laid out on the net began to blush appetizingly. During lunch, Karp told me about the shelf above Erinat, and that there was only room there for two families with household chores.

Well, tomorrow, early in the morning, before it gets hot, we’ll climb that mountain over there,” said Stepan and pointed to noon.

Can we get it done in a day? - Isai asked, looking at the cool guy.

We’ll get out by lunchtime, God willing,” answered the knowledgeable Stepan.

No, there are cheeks and waterfalls. Maybe in low water at the end of August it’s possible, but you’ll break down a lot and get exhausted, and you definitely won’t be able to walk with horses,” explained the older brother.

On the morning of the next day, they collected the dried and dried fish, which had clearly lost weight during the night, packed them into birch bark camps, and loaded the horses. The climb up the mountains, however, turned out to be easier than Isai had expected. Along the very mane there was an animal trail, laid by deer and bears over more than one century, so that by lunchtime we were out in the char. Further the path ran strictly south, through the watershed and border with Altai ridge Tudoi, then the upper reaches of the Kygi River and then the last and most difficult obstacle remained - the Selga peaks. From the pass the entire floodplain of the Chulcha River opened up for many kilometers right up to its confluence with Chulyshman. In a week, the men completed this difficult route. Fortunately, the weather was good all this time. Already on the descent to Chulcha, at the level of the alpine meadows, the travelers met three mounted Altaians. We put our hands on the carbines, but when we saw the friendly smiling old man, we calmed down a little.

Kerzhak, however, the smiling resident of the “golden mountains” either asked or confirmed his guess.

Of course, beards and homespun clothes indicated a mile away who was in front of you.

Well, we are Christians,” Stepan confirmed after mutual greetings. - And you will probably be from the locals?

We are Chulyshman. So my sons and I went to get some meat,” the eldest announced.

And we are from Abakan Tisha. Look, have you heard about the Lykovo settlement?

“Okay,” Stepan was delighted, there was something to ask the local old man about, “and we’ll probably spend the night here.”

At the nearest spring they unloaded the horses, allowing them to rest and graze on the lush char grasses. We lit two fires and ate dinner separately. The Altaians did not ask questions about this - they knew the customs of the Old Believers. After dinner and evening prayer, the men gathered around the Chulyshman fire to socialize. We met: the father's name was Yena, and he introduced his sons in the Russian manner - Petryai and Sanka. The guys spoke Russian poorly, so they were mostly silent and only asked their father to translate in unclear places. And the talkative grandfather was not averse to scratching his tongue before going to bed, and to learn news from Abakan in order to tell his fellow countrymen later.

Stepan told why they crossed the two ridges. And he told about the artels, and about how: the community sent them to look for a suitable place to live secretly. So we decided to look for it in Chulyshman pottery. Yena thought about Stepanov’s words. He looked closely at the red-bearded man and asked:

However, is your throat strong?

The men didn’t understand the question and looked at each other. Meanwhile, the old man continued:

It’s too early to sleep, so I’ll tell you that it was three winters ago according to Chulyshman. When the Whites came from the Sayans in great force, many of our people thought that they had power. They fed them: they gave them cakes, and they gave them meat and fish. Then the Reds came and drove the Whites away. And because we fed them, the Reds slaughtered more than one village along Chulyshman. How the lambs were cut: old or small - they didn’t really know. I managed to take my people to the mountains, to the upper camp, and after the winter, when everything had calmed down, we went down to Balykcha. The village is empty. Those who remained told what happened here. So, if the Politburo finds out that you are hiding here in Silga, it will look for you, but if you find it, it will be bad, however.

The old man puzzled and frightened the Old Believers with his story.

Who is this Politburo? - Karp said with difficulty.

A very thin man, the thinnest of the Reds. You will meet Shatun in the taiga in winter, and he will be more affectionate than this Politburo, - this is how Yen personified the collective body of the new government.?

The travelers talked about a lot more. The fire burned for a long time on this starry night, among the rare cedar trees. And when the Chulyshman Tatar, as the Kerzhaks used to call the Altai people, said that the “comrades” began to build a border and the patrol would walk along Chulcha, right up to the upper reaches of the Small Abakan, the men realized that the road to Altai was closed. When they were going to bed, Stepan summed up the events of that evening:

It was Nikola the saint who brought us here and warned us not to go to Altai.

In the morning we said goodbye to our new acquaintances and set off on our way back. The road home was easier and faster along the already familiar path, and more and more downhill. In a week we reached Tisha. On the way, everyone thought - where to move? Nothing came to mind except Cairo. Isaiah, like: the military man understood - they are surrounding him. And the brothers, the foresters-hunters, found their suitable word - they surrounded it. And how much longer their seclusion will last unnoticed is the question of questions.

When the travelers returned to Tishi, it turned out that representatives of the Soviet government with security had already visited the settlement in their absence. They agitated to join the artel. They said that war communism had given way to a new economic policy and now no one will touch them, but they will live as they lived before: catching fish and hunting, but only under the control of the authorities and handing over what they get to the state. They promised to pay for this and help with food. The prospects for future relationships, provided the community agreed to organize an artel, looked cloudless. If you refuse, blame yourself. The Soviet government will not tolerate on its territory people who are unregistered and not involved in the common cause. They gave us time to think and left. Taiga residents had to choose between carrot and stick. This is where the spears began to break in heated debates about the future of the village and its inhabitants. Some called for people to move on, others suggested staying and creating an artel, remembering the food aid promised by the agitators. For most, this was perhaps the most important thing. After all, after civil war It was very difficult to get cereals and flour. We thought like this:

“To catch fish in Abakan, you can’t over-catch them. Who cares? - they used to sell to merchants, but now to “comrades.” Now, if they start to infringe on prayer, then we’ll think about it.”

The most active opponents of leaving were the Zolotaevs, Samoilovs and Chepkasovs. Once, in the heat of the moment, Osip Lykov said to Sophon:

Well, where should you go from your chickens? And it’s a pity to leave the red pepper - it will dry out.

This is true, only Sofon Chepkasov kept chickens, and in the window of his hut there was a pot of red pepper. But there was also a hint in Osip’s words. The whole village knew what a “headache” Natalya Nikitichna had from her husband. Despite his age and the hump on his back, the man did not calm down - he remained a great hunter of young women. And they often reciprocated his feelings. And Father Euphrosynus quoted from Scripture in vain, admonishing the outrageous man. Realizing the futility of his attempts, he waved his hand, guided by the gospel admonition not to throw pearls before swine.

Little is known about Father Efrosyn. Before the covering in the Ashpanak monastery he was called Epiphanius Efimovich. Like the Lykovs, he was originally from the Tobolsk district. Family life it didn’t work out: Lukerya’s first wife died early, and the second ran away. After this, Epiphanius accepted the monastic rank from Abbess Elizabeth, abbess of the Ashpanak convent in Altai.

So, there were only three families who rejected the crafty propaganda messages and were ready to move on: the Lykovs, Sanochkins and Rusakovs, as well as father Efrosin and grandfather Nazariy and his son. The heads of the families thought for a long time about the route of the upcoming expedition. It was clear to everyone that the resettlement could not be delayed. And we must try this year, even before the onset of cold weather, to build at least a couple of huts and prepare arable land for planting. And on next year, as soon as the high water recedes, you can bring in livestock for new housing. Therefore, the young people left to build and prepare a place for moving, while the older ones remained in Tishi. Stepan, Karp and Isai did not stay long at the settlement, and again they had to go to Cairo. Stepan took his wife Zinovia with him. I managed to yearn for my wife, and then left again. And someone needed to cook for the workers. The group was further strengthened by two older, skilled and strong men. Matchmaker Galaktion and Father Efrosin led the detachment.

In mid-July, voluntary hermits set off to explore the mouth of the Kairsu River. This time we had to load saws, axes, adzes and other carpentry tools. When they arrived at the site and the elders approved the choice made by the first expedition, they immediately began construction without hesitation. There was only one and a half to two months left before the white flies, and there was a lot to do. In addition to building two huts and uprooting the forest for arable land, they also had to clear clearings for mowing in the floodplain of Abakan and catch fish for the winter.

They didn't mess around in Tishi either. The usual amount of work - mowing and cleaning - remains, but the number of workers has decreased. The old Lykovs stayed with the younger Evdokim. The Sanochkins have Galaktion's wife Anna and their daughter Anastasia. The Rusakovs did not go to Cairo; they postponed it until spring. Moreover, Peter and Melania had only one teenage son, Ustin. And the old people needed help. It also became difficult for those who remained morally. The split that occurred in the community after the arrival of the agitators became even more pronounced...

This is how it happened: it seems that the loan is still from Lykov and grandfather Osip himself lives in Tishi, has not yet moved to Cairo, but no one listens to him anymore. Power passed into the hands of the triumvirate of Zolotaevs, Samoilovs and Chepkasovs. And another problem arose in the Lykov family - Evdokim began to press his parents without restraint: “Let’s go to woo the Kazanins in Ashpanak.” Where he met Aksinya: either when the Kazanins came with their daughter to Tishi, or on Lebyad at Ivan Novikov’s, the paths of the young people crossed is unknown. He got one thing right: “After the Dormition Fast, we need to go to Altai before others get married.” The parents tried to reason with the younger one - they say, you can’t go ahead of Karp, it’s not according to the rules. To which Evdokim replied:

He may be stuck with Pelageya until he grows old; do I really have no chance then? And if we go to Cairo, it will be even harder. Come on, darling, let's sort this out today.

It’s a shame we’re not passing through, will Aksinya’s parents and parents agree? - the old people began to give up.

We won’t pass through,” assured the groom.

And who is he so stubborn like? - Raisa Agafonovna complained after.

And who is Daria? - the father objected. - They are so stubborn about you. They will stand their ground - there’s no reason to reason with them!

And Evdokim, by his very appearance, inspired steadfastness in the decision he had made. By the age of twenty, he had grown stronger and matured. There was no equal to him in the area either in strength or determination. Evdokim was not timid either before man or beast.

There was such a case, after the civil war, when scattered detachments of either Solovyovites or ordinary bandits were still hiding in the taiga. Several exhausted, obviously foreign people came to take over. Their leader was a Circassian. The newcomers began to argue with Osip Lykov. Word for word - the bandit began to be insolent to the old man. He tried to besiege him, to which the hot-tempered Caucasian burst into vulgar abuse and pulled out a dagger. Here Evdokim stood like a rock in defense of his father. The shutters clicked. But, seeing men rushing to the rescue with rifles at the ready, the aliens quickly calmed down and asked for food. They escorted the uninvited guests out and did not take a sin on their souls. After this incident, Osip Efimovich began to treat the smaller ones in a special way.

After all, this is necessary, don’t be afraid! There are five of them armed, and he is alone with with bare hands stood up and just kept repeating, in a high voice: “Well, don’t touch my little darling!” - the father, satisfied with his child, never tired of repeating to the neighbors.

And now Evdokim asked his parents about an imminent wedding. If Karp, after the story with Pelageya, doesn’t want to hear about girls, then at least the younger one, maybe, will delight him with grandchildren. Daria’s is empty, and it’s generally unclear what’s going on there now. Stepan has been living with Zinovia for five years now and there is no one around. Before cleaning, my parents promised to carve out ten days and go to Ashpanak. By this time, matchmaker Galaktion and Karp should arrive from Cairo to buy groceries. So he will spend a week on the farm, if he himself does not strive for married life.

And in Cairo, construction work was nearing completion. By the end of August, one hut was completely ready, and rafters for the roof were being erected on the second. There was an agreement from the beginning that Galaktion and Karp would return to Tishi for groceries by the New Year. And those who remained had to prepare the arable land and fish.

In Tishi they were eagerly awaiting their return, and when they arrived at the shelter in early September, Osip Efimovich, without waiting for the morning, went to the Sanochkins in the evening. After the bathhouse, Galaktion received the guest at the set table.

Live well, matchmakers! Angela at mealtime! - Lykov greeted those present, entering the house.

You live well, Osip Efimovich! “You are welcome to dine with us,” the hostess invited.

After dinner we talked about the upcoming relocation.

So what do you say? How do you like your place? - Osip asked Galaktion.

The guys chose a good place. From everything you can see that it will be drier and warmer than in Tishi. I think so: rye can be sown in the spring, it must have time to ripen.

What about wheat?

You can have a little of it, just for testing.

How to grind?

In fact of the matter. I was like: I saw a little key and immediately realized that there was a strong stream under the waterfall, it was possible to build a water mill here. Next year, God willing, we will build one similar to the one I had in Shadrino. You must remember.

How can you not remember if he himself came to you more than once with grain. It's good if you have your own flour. Have you already heard about my news?

Of course, I've heard a lot. Nastenka first of all reported that Evdokim had his eye on Aksinya Kazanina. Isn't there enough locals for him? Anyone would marry such a hero!

I told him the same thing. And he doesn’t want to listen! Give him Aksinya and that’s it! It’s hard for her mother now, alone with seven. It’s good that the elders are already adults.

Thanks to the Reds, Varvara was widowed.

Yes, the Antichrist’s servants treated the man brutally. They say they stuck their heads into the hole.

For what? So it’s unclear?

The Ashpanak people said that they asked Proclus for documents. They found letters from him, which he carried to Lebyad to Novikov. Apparently, the drunken hungry looters did not understand what kind of letters they were - they considered him a spy. They already had several men caught. Here he was tied up with them into the hole alive and pushed, God rest their souls. Here's another thing, Galaktion. Tomorrow morning we are going to Ashpanak. Maybe they will ask about relocation. If any of them wants to move to Cairo, is there still room there?

Enough. Ten families with households will find shelter. But, be careful, don’t talk too much to strangers. If only for Varvara or one of the relatives, but so that the extra ones don’t know.

Yes, thank God, he’s literate. I understand with whom to talk and with whom to remain silent. Know-nothing is led to a cliff, and Dunno lies on the stove. Here's something else I wanted to ask you, matchmaker. Is there any reason for young people to live in Cairo all winter? Something has become alarming here on the farm. The Zolotaevs and the Samoilovs glance sideways. They began to show negligence in prayer. And they speak ungodly speeches. Apparently, these agitators greatly influenced them. It’s like this now: what will happen on the farm when the Antichrists organize an artel?! I wish it would be spring soon and move to Cairo!

You think correctly, Osip. Anna managed to tell me something about what was going on here. Let's do this. If, God willing, everything works out for you in Ashpanak, then we will send Evdokim and Aksinya to Cairo to help, and I will see them off and return back with Father Efrosyn. Still, he will still be able to stop the apostates. Let the youth finish with the construction. By all indications, autumn will be warm today. And the men wanted to hunt there. And before Christmas they will return to Tisci on skis. They will live on the farm for a couple of months, and then in March they will go back to Cairo along the Charym to land.

The purpose of wintering in Cairo was precisely related to planting, which occurred during the heaviest spring water. Therefore, from April, when there is debauchery in the taiga, until the end of June, until the high water recedes, it is impossible to get to Cairo. Moreover, the future abode was located on the opposite bank of Abakan.

“That’s good,” Osip supported his relative. - Yes, and there’s probably no reason for everyone to come back in March. Stepan and Zinovia can be left here too. They’ll help herd the cattle, otherwise we old men won’t be able to manage the whole herd. “Comrades” probably won’t show up before July. And by this time, God willing, we will already be in Cairo.

The Lykovs were already expected in Ashpanak. Aksinya told her mother that they had agreed with Evdokim for the fall. Old man Osip and grandmother Raisa were known by many in Altai as “strong Christians,” and rumors of Evdokimov’s exploits spread far and wide throughout the area. Therefore, Varvara did not mind that the eldest was getting married. Four more girls and two guys remained in her arms. Therefore, when the Lykovs came to the Kazanins with their son and gifts, they did not hesitate with the wedding.

Well, then, daughter. So your time has come. I also married your seventeen-year-old little brother. It's a pity he didn't live to see this day. And for Evdokim, as for stone wall“You will,” Varvara blessed on the brew.

The local mentor, Grandfather Polyekt, conducted the service and converted the young people. After having a wedding and staying for several days in Ashpanak, the Lykovs and their young daughter-in-law set off on their way back. There was no time to wander around, it was time to clean up.

The autumn of 1926 really turned out to be warm and dry. And as soon as they dug up the potatoes, they began to gather for Cairo. In addition to food, it was necessary to bring in, while it was still warm, potatoes for spring planting. So the newlyweds had to spend their honeymoon in a new place.

Of course, Evdokim surprised the men in Cairo when he brought his young wife with him. Isai Nazarovich said, addressing Karp:

Well? I wiped your little nose! Do you see what a beauty he grabbed?

No matter how old we are! “We’ll find Karp a bride,” Stepan stood up for his middle brother.

During those two weeks, while Galaktion Efimovich and Karp went to Tishi, the men finished the second hut and began to build a bathhouse...

After Galaktion and Father Euphrosynus departed back to Tishi, the remaining people moved into the built huts. Karp lived in the same house with the young couple, and Isai Nazarovich temporarily moved in with Stepan and Zinovia. Until spring, no significant events happened, except that once again Karp and Evdokim were tested for strength by a bear, or rather a she-bear. In mid-October, after the Intercession, the brothers left on reconnaissance to the upper reaches of Cairo. It’s a good river, flows smoothly into the chars, and is rich in animals. One minus is that for thirty kilometers to the very source you won’t catch a single gray fish. Just above the mouth, about two kilometers from the confluence with Abakan, Cairo is squeezed on both sides by stone cheeks. And at the exit from this canyon a step appeared, about ten to fifteen meters - no more, but the fish could no longer overcome this waterfall. Therefore, besides little-finger gobies, there are no other fish. And so, when the Lykov brothers along the black trail reached the foothills, where cedar trees slightly taller than human height stood black among the kingdom of broom and dwarf birch, they came across fresh traces of a mother bear and her cub. Such a close presence of the beast did not please the taiga inhabitants at all, and even worse, the wind, as luck would have it, is on the opposite side - it carries the smell to the side, and the mountain springs muffle the sound of footsteps. Before the men had time to comprehend all this, suddenly a bear cub jumped out of the thickets, about fifty meters from them, onto the path.

Well, that means mom is nearby,” said Karp and pulled the carbine off his shoulder.

Evdokim, of course, followed his example and, leaving the line of fire, put his three-ruler to his shoulder. And the curious fellow also wandered towards the brothers.

Where are you going? Go away, you fool! - Evdokim yelled at him.

The bear cub squealed, frightened by unfamiliar sounds, and immediately, cutting through the dense wall of broom, an angry bear jumped out right at them - just hold on! The seventh bullet killed the beast.

Oh, fool, fool - said Karp to the runaway bear cub and examining the dead bear. - Your mother was destroyed through you, and now you yourself will disappear.

The brothers were forced to kill the predator in defense of their lives. It’s not for nothing that they say that it is better to meet three bears than one mother bear protecting her offspring. This murder was also senseless because Old Believers do not eat bear meat. The religious ban applies to all animals that have a paw rather than a hoof. This centuries-old taboo has found scientific justification in our time: clubfoot is a carrier of many diseases dangerous to humans. Therefore, Kerzhaks beat bears solely for the purpose of self-defense, or when they became very insolent and attacked livestock.

We caught fish for the winter in Abakan. To save time and efficiency, we set up a stopover. More than once I had to build this hydraulic structure on Erinate, helping Agafya. I will try to describe the principle of its operation. Three-legged goats block the river on a shallow stretch. Depending on its width and the strength of the current, from ten to thirty pieces are prepared. Then, from thick poles and a palisade woven from tall twigs, Abakan is partitioned off. Water naturally passes through the bars, but fish does not. A passage is made at the very shore, into which either a large “muzzle” woven from the same waist cloth is installed, or a basket of poles into which the fish falls. Up to seventy poods were caught during the seasonal run of fish using such a trip. And the fun with the fishing rod was left to the boys.

The return of the Lykov brothers to Tishi before Christmas shortened the tongues of many people. The villagers were especially afraid of the indomitable Evdokim. The brothers immediately understood who was the main troublemaker in the community: Ermila Zolotaev tried in every possible way to drive a wedge between those leaving for Cairo and those remaining in Tishi. The Lykovs decided to talk to the troublemaker. But no matter how hard Stepan tried to turn the conversation into a peaceful direction, neither Ermila nor Karp and Evdokim heeded him. It was a tough conversation. In conclusion, Evdokim threatened:

Look, Ermila Vasilievich. If we find out that you brought new power over us and told us where we went, don’t expect any good.

Now we can only guess about the true reasons that prompted Zolotaev to “fall in love” with the Soviets so immediately. Here, of course, there is youthful resentment and a thirst for leadership. Other motives are possible, but people who know anything about this have long been dead.

Meanwhile, Karp Osipovich Lykov reconsidered his attitude towards marriage. Almost three months, involuntarily spent in the same hut with the young Evdokim and Aksinya, prompted him to think seriously about married life. The elder Stepan, for his part, also contributed to changes in his brother’s mind: there is, they say, a girl from a good family, literate and independent, no match for the Zaimsky twirlers. Stepan Osipovich visited Altai more than once to visit the Daibovs. He immediately liked it there eldest daughter Karp Nikolaevich and Agafya Fedorovna Akikin. Modest and flexible, she corresponded to all ideas about the role and place of a woman in a Christian family.

These conversations disturbed the heart of twenty-six-year-old Karp, especially since he had no vocation for monasticism. Therefore, one day he himself started talking to his older brother about how to find time and go to Biya. Stepan responded to this by offering the following:

Now, Karpa, there is no time for a trip. You yourself understand that the relocation must first be carried out. And, even if you get consent to marriage now, where will you bring the young woman? And the Daibovs are not Kazanins - they won’t send their daughter to the clearing. Therefore, first, this summer we will build you a hut, and in August, God willing, we will definitely go with you to Biya. But in order to enlist the support of parents and show our intentions, we will send some kind of gift. I think that Karp Nikolaevich will not object. I have known him for a long time: he is a respected and significant person and has spoken kindly about our family more than once.

What to send and with whom? - Karp asked, listening to the wise advice of his older brother.

Our men will probably go to Altai in March to exchange fish and meat for flour and cereals. So we’ll send lake whitefish with them as a treat. They don’t have such fish there, on Biya. Zinovia and I will stay in Tishi and take the larger ones myself.

And put it in whichever one is prettier.

“Don’t worry,” laughed a satisfied Stepan. - I’ll do everything right.

Calmed and reassured, Karp left for Cairo in early March. Loaded to the brim, three men walked heavily through the winter-hardened snow, taking turns trampling the ski track. Often, in order to avoid ice and thawed patches, we climbed ashore and walked along river terraces, which made the path even more difficult. But, no matter what, a week later four travelers: Isai Nazarovich, Karp, Evdokim and Aksinya, finally reached the mouth of Cairsu.

On the road and already in place, Karp kept thinking: “Where is the fish tank now? The men came out from Tishi, or maybe they had already crossed the Biyskaya Griva, and then it was just a stone’s throw away from capturing the Daibovs.” My heart sank sweetly, awakened by spring and thoughts of a still unfamiliar girl.

Upon arrival at the future settlement, the Kerzhaks were convinced with their own eyes that the mouth of Cairsu would be drier. If in the Tishi area by the end of winter six quarters of snow had piled up, i.e. about one and a half meters, then in the new place only a little more than half a meter. That's how it is in the mountains - there are not even a hundred kilometers, but precipitation is three times less. Karp looked at everything around him with different eyes. The first step was to select a place for the future hut. And as soon as the forest began to move away from the April sun hibernation, and until the sap began to flow, the men began to fell and skin the cedar trees. They sawed into seven-meter long logs, hoisted them and laid them on the bedsores so that the logs would have time to dry out a little and become lighter before the start of construction. Thus, when May arrived and the ground warmed up for planting, the men had already prepared logs for more than one hut.

Knowing from my own experience how Agafya treats the main nurse - the potato lady, how she prepares the land for her, one can judge the attitude of her ancestors towards this plant and the equally reverent preparation for the planting process of this irreplaceable crop. Potatoes were brought into the hut about two weeks before planting and scattered on spreads, allowing them to germinate. Then the tubers were cut into three or four parts, according to the number of sprouts. After this, we began planting. Having dug up the entire area with hoes, they allowed the soil to warm up in the sun for a day. And the next day they broke clods of earth, loosened the layers and placed the fruits, once so unloved by the Old Believers, in the ground.

Long after midnight, the first virgin lands left the arable land. In addition to potatoes, they planted radishes, pumpkins, turnips and rutabaga. By order of Galaktion, a small clearing was sown with wheat for testing. There was neither time nor strength for more.

“Siberian Old Believer”, No. 8 2016.