Агафья Лыкова о своей жизни. Часть 1-я (with English subtitles)

Agafia’s life – in the first person The pedigree My father’s parents were from the city of Yalutorovsk. Raisa, a mother of Tatiana, is from the city of Yalutorovsk. But Joseph Lykov, my father’s father, is from the village of Lykovo in Tyumen province. Six miles was the distance from Yalutorovsk. And Raisa married Joseph. Raisia’s father and mother lived in Yalutorovsk as well as her grandmother. The priests were tortured there. The priest Abraham and the priest Tarasius. They were tortured exactly there, in Yalutorovsk. And mother came from Altai, lake Teletskoye and the Biya river. On my mother’s side, I don’t know where the relatives come from. Her own grandfather converted from the niconian Church, but it is not for sure. If he prayed with the cross, with the double-cross, then perhaps his parents were Christians, taught him to pray from an early age. He argued with the Pope about the niconian Church. The Lykovs which were from Kargopol, Efim and his father came from there. I do not know the name of that father, but my father knew, he remembered. Kargopol limits (Arkhangelsk region) – the Oshevensky monastery used to be there. The 20th of April is the holiday in honor of Alexander, an abbot of the monastery of Kargopol. And, it seem to me that the Lykovs were there somewhere close to this monastery. And they had monastic orders, they had no weapons. So there they lived, in the Lykovs village, and then came to Abakan – they had nothing with them. And then father Savva said, that family, children, need to be fed, need to have some weapons (for hunting). My mother’s second half on her mother’s side – Fedor and Vassa. They are from Ural. The Ilyinsky monastery which is mentioned in Epistola Christi was situated in the Urals. Vassa used to visit that monastery and she received the Holy Communion from there. She was baptized, a grandmother. She’s my great-grandmother, my mother’s grandmother, Vassa. She was from Mordva. Agafia Fyodorovna and Fyodor, they took Vassa, and they came here from the Urals, where Biya and Katun (the name of the rivers) are located. And then Agafia Fyodorovna, my mother’s mother, she married Karp Nikolaevich. That Nicola was the one that went to the nikonian Church. He prayed with cross. He left that Church. They also left it. Karp Nikolaevich was my mother’s father. Agafia Karpovna married Karp Nikolayevich. Joseph and Raisa came from the Tyumen lands to Abakan, to the Lower Tishis. They wanted somewhere else, went to look for another places, and then heard that Vasily Stepanovich Skorokhodov lived in Abakan. So then they came to Abakan, and stayed here. And then our father Karp Iosifovich, they were born here on the Lower Tirzah. They arrived with two small children, and three baby-daughters died there already: Feoktista, Anastasia, Alexander. They buried them somewhere. And with two others – Daria, which seemed to be the eldest; there was also Stepan – they came here with two small children, and so stayed here on Abakan. They also used to live somewhere else on the Small Abakan. How did they cope to live here with two small children? Raisa chopped Mary’s roots, and made such bread of it, they all ate it. Well, and then they dig up early turnips, they sowed it, and by Ilyin’s day the seeds grew. And then, when they came here, started exchanging coupons for flour. How many people were there? There was Jeanie, who died in the third year, and then our father, Karp, was born, after him Anna and the last was Evdokim. All of them were born in Abakan(four children born here), and Jeanie died at her third year, there they were buried. Jeanie, and then Anna. The first exodus of the Lykov family Savin was born in Cairo, and Natalia, when they settled at the Swan, was born there in August. Grandfather was baptized there. They were really never heard of again. Their surname was – Poteryaev. He baptized them. And on the second year, Savin was already five in March, and Natalia was about two. And so they were migrating this way – Savin at his fifth year and Natalia, who was carried in her mother’s arms. They almost reached the place on the Feast of the Transfiguration. But the heavy rainfall started, and they could barely walk. At the day of the Transfiguration they arrived in the Counter (the name of the area). Dimitry was born there, opposite this stream. They sad that he was taken here at five months. And I was born here (on the Yerinat river). So that’s how it happened – all of us were born in different places. Why they went even further into the taiga And then it was the height of the war, and I was 4 month old. The troop with horses was crossing our place, don’t even know their number. They climbed and turned to be in Cairo(the name of the area). They went to that village, they went to those huts. There was also an aircraft. It seemed to me that they saw us from the plane and went to the village and then through the river. They went this way, and through the stockade on the river, they picked up my father. My father was at the stockade on August 21st (old style), and according to the new chronology it was the 45th. They were looking for deserters in the taiga, so it was no longer possible to stay here. We just prayed for three days and argued whether should we go deeper for hunger in forest. At that time people were exterminated for religious beliefs. Parents wanted to leave, but with small children it was not possible. Dimitry was only in his third year, and I was in my fifth month – I could not go far, because of child cry which would be heard. So we decided to stay. It took three days or more -we prayed all day long to St. Nicholas. Then we began to think where to find a suitable place. To have our own inventory we dried potatoes, we also had peas as well as millet. Where could we find such place: to keep the food reserves, collect it, leave there and only then to die of hunger – so we were ready to all. Daddy with Savin went to look for such place. They came to the North (name of the area), then they got out. Probably, aunt Nastasya said to do so. Isai Nazarovich said that there was a place in the aspens, where you could dig arable land. When they got out it turned that there was a cliff and no passage. Then they went down, my father told me that they could not sleep at night, and they only waited as soon as it was dawn to get out of there again, to return to the North. Then it dawned, they went out, it was difficult – stone placer, cherry trees everywhere, and all sorts of bushes, gooseberries prickly. Climbed up, saw the cliff again, but still strained, were able to bypass it on the left. That is, you should go like this along the cliff and pass to the left. There was the end of the cliff and the way out. There they went, there was a ground, a counter (counter is a flat surface of the earth), and he found a little spring. He took took the dirt on the shovel, and saw the water flowing. That winter they carried everything on sleds from here. All was carried through the river. Aunt Nastasya, I keep remembering how she went blind with a sled, on her skis. And then already in the spring, during the snow melting, all was taken from here: «krasna» (weaving machines) and «voroby» (tools and tackles). And the rest was floated on the boat. Moreover, the snow fell, the frost came, we waited, the water settled, it became shallow, then it all started to melt again and we could continue rafting. Then we made a booth, furnished it with poles and closed with a bark. We started living on two houses: in the North and on the river. We lived this way for forty-one years. First we stayed at the North, then went back to the river. That place is high, the wheat does not ripen. Only in warm summer it could ripen. It is always necessary to change the fresh ground. A giant rockfoil, birch bark, straw, all sorts of herbs, meadow saxifresh now. All of this was in bread, and could be found only in a small river. Different herbs, straw, potatoes, turnips, radish, chaff – all of this was used to make bread. Then we switched to the onion in the summer, but it also outgrew and then it was impossible to eat. Then we came back to the North. In sum, we lived in two places in one year. I was only one year old when we first went there, and when it was over I was already forty-two. How Lykovs hid… Found… We came home from the meadow, saw a small plane flying. It flew to the middle of the river and flew back. And we knew then that they had seen us. We came home, only few days passed, one day was left to the Feast of the Smolensk mother Mary. We prayed than had lunch. The plane arrived, and spun low in the gorge. Then we thought to take only books and icons with us, carried away and hid under a cedar. We were lucky that the bear did not stumble and did not scatter. We took all the seeds to eat and starve to death. We took Nikolina’s book with us from the chapel and, apparently, the Common Menaion. And we hidden all the rest. Maybe the little Canon was with us. We left and lived this way – gathering cones, nuts. And daddy began to say what seeds to leave. Barley, rye, wheat, hemp seeds. We lived more thanks to nuts. We went back only on the day of Exaltation, but still looking over our sholder. Because then people were killed for religious convictions, everything was so terrible. Daddy and mom, they all knew, when they were leaving the Swan, all were cleaned up… Very few people stayed there. And then the next thing happened: we came out but we didn’t start digging arable land. We did it not to be noticed in case they fly again. And then we wintered, blocked the stockade, the fish was already there. Wintered, as there was arable land, we all planted. We had a good spring and they arrived early somewhere in the beginning of June. They arrived, as it seemed to us, with kind of supervision. Tey flew very low, close to the hills. But they didn’t fly much. We wanted to leave forever, but we had no more reserves with us. In case of leaving forever, it ment imminent death for us. Well, and then we began reading all the prayers that were in the Book. And we decided to leave this place, keeping the danger of starving to death. But they never came back again. Then daddy began to say that we should had left this place last time and got back to the previous one. But when all written icons sounded, we all freaked out. And then we realized that if we hadn’t left that old place, we would have already been dead. That people came here, but they saw that everything was scattered and, probably, were frightened too and that’s why didn’t hurt us. There we were – over the mountain. And there we lived. We went behind that meadow, and there we settled. Because there were no other suitable place, only meadow and swamps. How Lykovs were found… We heard their conversation and were scared. We new that times, but, anyway, it was different. Stalin was, and Khrushchev after him, all the christian people were destroyed. And we were found already in Brezhnev’s time, we were able to pray openly. Dogs were the first to run here. I saw them through the window, but it was too small. I saw a stranger and I knew something was wrong. Someone ran, I assumed it to be sable, something big for sure. And then we heard the conversation, dogs started running. We knew they had found us as the helicopter was flying low into the gorge. We knew we’d been found, but we didn’t go anywhere. Agafia on the last migration to the land plot The land was no longer good there, it was pretty thin with lots of sand and gravel. And water appeared intermittently. That winter I came from the land plot, there was no water at all. And I have lived here almost thirty-three years, close to the time that we spent there(41 years). Frosts came. I dried bread crumbs, cooked. I put potatoes on the seeds. Twenty-six buckets in total, I went back and forth for 14 times. I brought 26 buckets with potatoes. It took ten miles from there to here. Went there by the clock. I left at one o’clock approximately and got back at four or five o’clock. Here was a small hut and it was necessary to chop some wood. And I did it already during darkness. I tried to chop as much as I could on the evening. There was a thicket of willow bushes (as happenes in the damp ground). I spent the night here, and then came back there again, I left for the North. Sometimes I used to spend two nights there. Ones I was returning home on Sunday, and such a terrible snowstorm began, I should had return and wait it out. As I got to the confluence of the rivers, such a strong blizzard rushed. I had to crawl on all fours halfway. It ceased only where the river flows. First, I brought potatoes for seeds, then all the crumbs that I had dried, and last of all – a hoe and other tools. The things that could be tucked under the belt. And there were no reserves, I took one lunch and one dinner with me. My daddy told me to take food in reserve, but I answered that it was better to be in a lack of food than to be overloaded with a heavy knapsack. When I was hungry, I cooked fir. I cooked a pot of fir, and a ladle of small porridge, plus some crumbs, which I brought when finishing with the hole. I cut the soil (virgil soil) when I stayed for two nights. In winter, I cut the frozen ground. And then in the spring, when it melted, dug, planted on virgin soil. For the first time 120 buckets of potatoes were dug up of 26 buckets of seeds. Spring gave little heat, it was snowing, only one or two warm days. The spring dragged on, it was late spring. We sown the turnips then, sowed peas, also on virgin soil. Then Savushkin with some chairman arrived by helicopter. (N. N. Savushkin, Chairman of the forest Committee of the Republic of Khakassia together with the correspondent of “Komsomolskaya Pravda” V. Peskov, helped Agafia Lykova ) And when they spent the night, Savushkin promised that they would cut down the hut. But they delayed it until July 2, when the water rose already. I barely crossed the river, went through the creases of the river. And then I went to the North all alone. And I remember, while daddy was alive, the Lord saved me thanks to his prayers. I could walk that far. Well, left for the North all alone. I carried everything to the river on the sandbank: goods, dishes and potatoes to pick it up from there and bring here. I was not there for a long time – two nights spent and came here already on July 5th. I took the icon, took it from the North, and also warned daddy to protect himself of the beast here, because a big bear had appeared. Well, I came here on a weekday, and I went back there the same day. And daddy lived here alone, in a small hut. And after that, I couldn’t get here anymore. Firstly, there was no time, it was necessary to carry goods several times, from the North to the river, on the sand. Also it rained often. And, secondly, I pulled everything already out – both grain, and groats and nuts – couldn’t leave it, it was necessary to guard. And there was also flour, that I took from the North.
And in the end, I can not get here, and the helicopter, nevertheless Peskov promised, does not appear. I’m afraid that someone will pass on Cairo without me, and they do not come. And it turned out that I was separated from the hut on the North, and can not go back. So I had to live on the street, on the river, on the shallows, on the island, under small fir trees. I was covered with rags, there was also a tablecloth and kind of sundress. So I covered myself this way. Then it rained strongly, and the water was already high. Then Lilia Vasilievna, who was their cook, came up to me and told me to get into the helicopter. I asked, whether they agreed. She said «yes». Then they took all things from the coast and brought here. They also helped and took all the things from the shore and loaded into the helicopter. So, such relocation got to be with their help. This is the first part of a big interview that Agafia Lykova gave to our channel. Watch the continuation…