Lykov family

Lykow (Russian Лыков ) is the surname of a family of six who had retired in 1936 in the Siberian taiga, where even elected and religiously motivated lived isolated from each contact to the outside until they were accidentally discovered in 1978 by a team of geologists.

Historical Background

Triggered by the reform of the church of the Patriarch Nikon in 1653 ignited in Russia religion disputes, where there was a split within the Russian church in the years 1666-1667. Thus, the so-called Old Believers emerged. Within this movement was the religious group of " priests ," who were convinced of the imminent arrival of Judgment. Especially in the radical reforms of Peter the Great, they recognized the work of the Antichrist. Many of these " true believers " dodged in uninhabited regions of Russia in order to escape the high tax burden and other obligations of the considered as a godless state. Over the centuries, members of this community being pushed further into the most inaccessible forests. Due to state enactments, the family moved Lykow in the 1930s back to the upper reaches of the Abakan, where it was - 250 km away from the nearest human settlement - into oblivion. In 1978, the family was re-discovered by a team of geologists. The fate of the family was known by reports in the Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The family and their life circumstances

At the time of their discovery was the family of the father, Karp Ossipowitsch Lykow, the sons Sawwin (45) and Dimitri (36 ) and daughters Natalia (42) and Agafya (34). The mother, Akulina Karpovna born Daibowa was, in 1961, probably died of hunger. The local historian Nikolai Ustinovich Schurawljow described the living conditions as follows:

"Fire they do with the sharpening steel, they create light through pine chips ... you live like in the period before Peter the First, mingled with a few splashes Stone Age. In the summer they run barefoot in the winter they wear shoes made ​​of birch bark. They use no salt, they do not know bread. They have preserved the language. "

The family refused to modern products. Soon after its discovery, the three oldest children died (1981). 1988 his father died in the 87th year of life. A little later it was reported on an alleged marriage of the only remaining youngest daughter Agafya, but this proved to be a hoax. After 15 km downstream of the hut geologists settlement was abandoned and helicopter flights were more expensive due to the political changes, eased the contact to Agafya.

In recent years, several films and reports on Agafya were produced. In November 2003, she gave an interview to the Russian TV station ORT.

It also engages in regular correspondence with the governor of Kemerovo, which they support with items such as tools, fishing nets and blankets as well as food and medicines. In February 2009, she was on the newspaper Krasnojarski Rabotchi forward a letter to the governors of neighboring areas in which it asks for a helper in the household.

In the summer of 2010, the German author Jens Mühling visited the hermit in the taiga. He describes the encounter in his book My Russian Adventure. This explains Agafya she would never give up their self- imposed exile, but " die in the Taiga".

According to Russian press reports, the hermit stood last in 2012 into contact with the outside world.