The Old Believers believe that even photography steals a person's soul. Video is strictly prohibited. But Andrei Grishakov, a cinematographer and member of the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society, already has 12 terabytes of filming of the hermit Agafya Lykova. How much is her trust worth? Why does he go to the Old Believer at the first opportunity? And why do officials help the famous hermit?
Andrei Grishakov - TV presenter, film director, member of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Department of the Russian Geographical Society. After the writer Vasily Peskov, he is called the main chronicler of the life of Agafya Lykova: for eight years he has been friends with the old believer and, at her first call, goes to her for a distant taiga capture.
Andrei Grishakov: “I have read a lot since childhood. This is my mother's merit, she was a teacher of the Russian language and literature and instilled in me a love for the book. And so, I remember, my paternal grandmother, once again caught me reading a book, did not stop repeating: “Andryusha, go play with the guys, run, we’re not some Lykovs!” And in some other situations she often mentioned the Lykovs … It was about 1981. That is, at that time in the USSR they already knew about the Lykov family. Apparently, since then I have had a desire to figure out what kind of unsociable "Lykovs" they gave me as an example."
Agafya Lykova, early 80s. Photo: Nikolay Poretsky.
Promotional video:
First meeting
From the place of residence of the Lykovs to the nearest settlement - 250 kilometers of impassable taiga, this is still the little-explored lands of Khakassia.
The capture of the Lykovs. Photo from A. Grishakov's archive.
And yet Andrei Grishakov, a resident of the neighboring Krasnoyarsk Territory with Khakassia, did not give up hope of meeting the famous hermit.
Andrey Grishakov: “I followed rare reports about her, but there were often no answers to the questions that interested me. It was 2010. Colleagues called from one of the TV channels, offered to fly to Agafya Lykova at the same time with them. I got ready, charged the camera batteries, invited Nikolai Proletsky on the journey. For a couple of years I had been seriously preparing for a meeting with Agafya and I knew that Nikolai Petrovich was a great friend of the Lykov family and for 30 years in a row had flown to them with a camera. Nikolai Petrovich agreed to join the company. For about two hours we flew over the mountains of the Western Sayan, landed between two mountain rivers and … over there among the lush coastal greenery - a figurine of a woman in dark clothes … After a long separation, I began to film the meeting of old friends, Nikolai told her briefly about the children, grandchildren, she about the weather, about bears, about the neighbor Erofei, they say,now, we quarreled with him again …"
Agafya Lykova and Andrei Grishakov. Photo from A. Grishakov's archive.
Since then I have been familiar for eight years and consider myself a friend of the very Agafya Lykova, whom I heard about in my distant childhood. Almost every year I try to visit Agafya, more often it happens in spring and autumn. Planting and digging potatoes - it occupies almost the entire area of the Old Believer's garden. She plants him with a large supply. Apparently, the memory of the famine times that the family experienced in the 60s and 70s of the last century is affected."
Such a strange friendship
Andrey is 42 years old, Agafya Karpovna is 74 years old. Between them is the abyss of historical eras. The director is from the 21st, technical century, and the hermit is from the schismatic Russia of the 17th century. As Grishakov admits, sometimes it seems to him that he is communicating not with his grandmother, but with a little girl.
The capture of the Lykovs. Photo: Svetlana Kazina.
The longest trip of Andrey Grishakov to Agafya Lykova is three weeks. Together with her, he several times made a fence for fishing. Every autumn, the hermit completely blocks off the Erinat River: she puts poles, sticks there, pulls the net so that she can catch, and then salt, force fish for the long winter. Alone Agafya makes such dams for a week, together you can catch three days.
Every autumn, the director helps to collect cedar cones and repair storage sheds. They are regularly destroyed by bears or ravaged by martens. He also initiated the installation of a satellite phone in 2016. In addition to the help from the inspectors of the Khakass reserve, Andrey also tries to organize the delivery of food, medicine and, most importantly, communication with the outside world. Much is now on it. The old believing hermit, like a rock star, has her enemies and admirers. Some do not see in her anything but a “pensioner asking for help,” others dream of being at least somehow involved in the fate of this unique woman, thank her for an example of perseverance and courage. Agafya does not remain in debt and writes notes of thanks in Old Church Slavonic.
From the archive of A. Grishakov.
Sometimes those who call themselves Old Believers, neophyte Christians, defrocked and simply seeking souls, are nailed to it. However, realizing how much hardship there is, they leave as suddenly as they came.
Andrei became the closest person to her: she gave him several family heirlooms and shares the most intimate at night. And three years ago I handed over a souvenir for my daughter - a hand-woven basket for berries.
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
And here is a unique letter that Agafya wrote to her old friends, those who, since the 80s of the twentieth century, have always been there in difficult times.
From the archive of A. Grishakov.
I must say that the hermit always has the biggest problems with goats. In the taiga, small islands with grass are located in the lowlands of the river, where the hay practically does not dry out, and the strength to mow is not the same. And yet she does not give up: you can talk to goats, and it is not so lonely in the snowy taiga, and milk is both food and medicine.
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
Pass us more than all sorrows and the lordly anger, and the lordly love …
On November 11, the Governor of the Kemerovo Region, Sergei Tsivilev, visited the capture of the most famous Russian hermit Agafya Lykova.
Sergey Tsivilev and Agafya Lykova. Photo from S. Tsivilev's official page.
The reason for the visit was the publication of Andrey Grishakov on the Facebook page about the hermit's alarm call.
Governor Tsivilev brought the hermit a large supply of food and hay, and presented a puppy. This is his first acquaintance with the former All-Union celebrity. The woman has a long-standing friendship with the old head of the region, Aman Tuleyev. He repeatedly visited Lykova's estate, brought her supplies and gave her gifts.
However, the help of the authorities and various volunteers to Agafya Lykova regularly splits society apart. And while some are convinced that an Old Believer woman is a cultural phenomenon, others believe that she is no different from other elderly people who live in poverty. Only the governors do not visit them and do not bring food.
Agafya Lykova. Photo: Svetlana Kazina.
But the most noticeable conflict arose in 2017 with the authorities of the Kemerovo region and the Republic of Khakassia. Then the head of Khakassia, Viktor Zimin, answering questions from viewers, admitted that he did not like the hermit Agafya Lykova because she was expensive for the local treasury. The governor urged people not to go there, since the area where Agafya lives is a nature reserve. Moreover, he strongly advised the authorities of the Kemerovo region not to fly to the hermit. But the Kuzbass authorities said they would continue to help Agafya Lykova, as it had been for many years in a row.
She did not know that the hermit was in the center of the scandal. And she even wrote letters to Zimin asking for help. As already understood - unrequited. Copies of the hermit's letters are also kept in the director's archives.
Agafya Lykova. Photo: A. Grishakov.
In 2017, under the pretext of “making money for Agafya,” the Khakass authorities wanted to launch a route for extreme tourists, which would lead through the taiga to the Old Believer's house. Fortunately, the plans fell through. The taiga has remained the same protected area, and they do not take pictures with a hermit, as with a monkey.
Grishakov believes that the ideal solution for everyone would be to give the Lykovs' capture an official status. Then, along with the lines in the budget for "Roads", "Bridges" and so on, the line "Agafya Lykov" would appear, and spending on maintaining the life of the hermit could be justified.
And here is how her old friend, photographer Nikolai Proletsky, commented on the situation in Lykova:
But even without a special status, Grishakov is sure that the hermit will be helped while she is alive.
Documentary series
Who is the hermit Agafya Lykova? This is at least thirty-three taboos. You cannot touch her, you cannot eat from the same dish with her, she cannot have a passport and get married. Everything that Andrei took off will have to be “pulled out” by sound. How else can you record a hermit if you can't hang a lapel microphone on her either? However, very soon Agafya Lykova got used to the camera and stopped paying attention to it.
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
Agafya has a different chronology, and she believes that the dead are in the best of worlds. She does not regret that she did not create her own family and that the Lykov family would interrupt her: "Tyatya did not bless her to get married." Therefore, today she is “the bride of Christ” and is absolutely happy with this. And yet, sometimes there is a human sentimentality that older people are prone to. So, she bequeathed to Andrey family heirlooms: things made in isolation from the world even before the advent of geologists.
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
Once, after four years of acquaintance, Agafya showed the director the most intimate places of the Lykov family: the old house of their family "in Scheki" and the already almost decayed hut "in the North". There they were hiding, and next to these huts, geologists from a helicopter found scraps of Lykov's arable land. It was from here that the Lykovs' acquaintance with the big world began.
Andrey Grishakov:
"Andrey, help me do this, this is the most important for me!" - Agafya once asked to go with her, put crosses on the graves of all her deceased relatives. In the fall of 2014, we went on a three-day trip. On a hike to the places where the most famous Old Believers of the Soviet Union lived, to where they were discovered in 1978. I considered this to be almost the most important episode for a future series of films about Agafya. We agreed that I would not help much, I would only shoot. By the way, she was sympathetic to this turn and later, when she chopped down young cedars, made crosses, when she raised them and carried them to the graves, she never looked in my direction with reproach … There, in the mountains, there were curious bears, there was morning frost and such universal joy of Agafya when she put the last cedar cross on the grave of her elder brother. If Agafya and I did not go to those places, if not for these fresh crosses, the memory of the Lykovs' burial places would disappear forever. After all, trees were already growing on the site of the grave mounds."
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
The hermit's health, which she complained about in the letter, is indeed severely lame. In 2016, Agafya Karpovna agreed to be taken to the Tashtagol hospital. This is the southernmost city of the Kemerovo region, from where helicopters traditionally fly to it with help. Not everyone in this medical institution realized who she was, why she didn't drink kefir at night and cook in a smoked pot. Andrei managed not only to record these conflicting moments, but also to connect Agafya with another friend and doctor of hers, Igor Nazarov from Krasnoyarsk. Andrei dialed Igor Pavlovich's phone number right in the Lykova hospital ward.
Video from Andrey Grishakov's archive:
For eight years, Andrei Grishakov has accumulated more than 12 terabytes of video. He learned to be an unobtrusive hermit chronicler. The director wants to make a big documentary series out of this, consisting of different blocks, for example: "Agafya and Vera", "Agafya and nature", "Agafya and the governors", "Agafya and her guests" … But every time it seems that -that did not ask, did not discuss, did not capture.
PS Andrey Grishakov: “Personally, Agafya Lykova taught me patience. Now it is very difficult to get mad. I'm calm. Communicating with her, I became convinced that it is very difficult without self-irony, without a smile on this earth. And this was and remains in the Russian soul and character. This was the case with all the strong grandmothers with whom I had to communicate. “Grandma” for me is not just a woman who has lived, this is Mother, this is the Motherland, this is Truth, and in the case of Agafya Lykova, it is also Ancient Russia."
Natalia Mozilova with the assistance of Andrey Grishakov