35 years ago, a man died, whose name was overgrown with legends during his lifetime - Porfiry Ivanov. Whoever called him - a healer, a yogi, a swindler, a Teacher, a sect founder, a prophet, a madman, a nugget, etc. Be that as it may, his method of healing "Baby" became one of the most popular teachings of the late twentieth century. and still finds adherents. And in the 1980s. a man who walked barefoot and without clothes in winter and summer had thousands of followers. True, he did not become immortal - on April 10, 1983, Porfiry Ivanov died at the age of 85.
The most popular in the USSR in the 1980s. healer Porfiry Ivanov.
Porfiry Ivanov was born 120 years ago, in 1898 near Lugansk in a large miner's family. In a parish school, he studied for only 4 years, from the age of 12 he began to work as a laborer, and from the age of 15 he worked in a mine. In his native village there was a bad name about him. In his youth, he was a bully and traded in theft, once he was even arrested for fraud.
The author of a doctrine that has generated many controversies.
After 35 years, his life has changed dramatically. On April 25, 1933, judging by Ivanov's notes, he came to the decision that all human diseases arise due to his separation from nature. The habit of comfort has alienated humans from their natural habitat. Food, clothing, housing make people dependent, so they need to free themselves from these fetters and live in unity with natural conditions - earth, water and air. Porfiry Ivanov began to temper, reduced the amount of food and clothing on his body, and two years later he was already wearing long shorts and barefoot at any time of the year. Since then, the date of April 25 Ivanov's followers have been celebrating as Idea's birthday.
The most popular in the USSR in the 1980s. healer Porfiry Ivanov.
As a result of experiments on his own body, Porfiry Ivanov learned to do without food and water for a long time, easily endured frost and heat and did not get sick. He began to promote his teachings and encourage people to follow his example. In 1935 he was detained by the police at the central bazaar of Rostov. Ivanov was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. For this reason, during the Great Patriotic War, he was not drafted into the army. But the fascists drew attention to a healer with unusual abilities. According to him, they conducted experiments on him - they buried him in the snow, poured cold water on him in the cold. As a result, he was given a title of protection due to the fact that it is of interest to world science.
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Ivanov considered his main goal to be the search for ways to achieve immortality. And for this it was necessary to restore the lost contact with nature and gain good health. In his opinion, to get rid of the disease, it is not enough to eliminate its symptoms and consequences, it is necessary to radically change the way of life. The healer believed that it was necessary to monitor both physical and moral health, for which he should observe ethical standards (in particular, overcome laziness, pride, greed and hypocrisy, greet people and help those in need), give up alcohol and tobacco, pour cold water in the morning and evening. Since he believed that in the same way that diseases are transmitted from person to person, health can be “passed on” in this way, Ivanov decided to engage in healing. According to him, he managed to heal a paralyzed woman,confined to a wheelchair for 17 years. However, this fact was not documented anywhere.
The author of a doctrine that has generated many controversies.
In 1951, Porfiry Ivanov was arrested for "anti-Soviet agitation" and sent for compulsory treatment to a prison-type psychiatric hospital, where he spent 3 years. In 1964 he was arrested again. At the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry. Serbian Ivanov was declared insane. He spent another 4 years in psychiatric hospitals.
In 1971, in a village near Lugansk, his followers built the "Teacher's House", where the healer lived and received visitors. And in the early 1980s. the whole Union learned about him: the journalist stayed with Porfiry Ivanov for 5 days and wrote an article about it in Ogonyok. The resonance was so widespread that the healer, in response to letters from readers, published 12 practical tips, a code of moral and healthful way of life called "Baby", which summarized the essence of his teaching. After that, he had thousands of followers throughout the USSR. They were called Ivanovites. Some of them followed the practical part of the teaching on the need for hardening and healing, while others followed the religious and mystical component, which is why many researchers are inclined to consider Ivanovism to be a religious movement and even a destructive sect.
Porfiry Ivanov never went to doctors, so it is difficult to say what actually caused his death. Since in his diary entries he complained of severe pain in his leg, his biographers have suggested that he could develop gangrene due to hypothermia. Other researchers believe that his long years in psychiatric hospitals affected his health. After Ivanov's death in 1983, the number of his followers increased significantly, and by the early 1990s. Ivanovo was already about 10 thousand.
Doctors have repeatedly criticized this healing system due to the fact that it can bring harm to health no less than good: pouring cold water on is stress for the body, due to a sharp spasm of blood vessels, a stroke can occur. Discussions about Porfiry Ivanov and his teachings continue to this day. Someone considers him an original thinker, someone - a prophet and guru, and skeptics tend to explain the superpowers of his body by mental and physical deviations. This phenomenon has not yet found its reliable explanation, although it undoubtedly deserves the attention of physicians, religious scholars, sociologists, and psychologists.