The most interesting stories of hermitage from different parts of the world. Those who have left the world, or modern hermits

Sometimes the heaviness of life can be unbearable. The rapid development of technology, political unrest, and tense personal relationships often cause dreams of escaping from difficulties. modern life into the bosom of nature.

For most, this desire is transformed into hiking trips or banal picnics in the open air, but there are also people who make their dreams come true.

Here are the stories of seven desperate daredevils who went to live far from civilization in the wild.

1. Christopher McCandless

The most famous hermit, the hero of Jon Krakauer's book "In wild conditions", as well as a film by American director Sean Penn, Christopher McCandless (who renamed himself "Alexander Supertramp" (Supertramp)) dreamed of living far from civilized society in the vastness of Alaska.

Despite a good education, job prospects and belonging to the upper middle class of America, Christopher was disillusioned with the ideology of the consumer society.

Unfortunately, after traveling for 113 days across the Alaskan lands, McCandless died in August 1992 in the thicket of the forest from berry poisoning and starvation.

2. Timothy Treadwell

Tim Treadwell is an environmentalist, amateur naturalist, eco-warrior and documentary filmmaker who has lived among grizzly bears in national park Katmai in Alaska.

He lived among bears without any protection for 13 years. But at the end of last summer, the brave ecologist's luck ran out - and he and his friend Amy Hugunard were killed and eaten by a bear.

Although Treadwell is considered by some to be a naive idealist, his environmental activism produced significant results. Timothy's life story is immortalized in documentary film"Grizzly Man"

3. Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau is a famous American writer, naturalist, philosopher and critic. In his most famous book, Walden, he describes a period of seclusion when he lived in a remote cabin near Walden Lake, Massachusetts.

Thoreau later returned to society. According to him, he needed to live in isolation from society in order to get an objective picture of it.

4. Ted Kaczynski

Also infamous as the Unabomber. Kaczynski was an extremely radical critic of civilization and modern technology.

A talented mathematician with a promising academic career, he eventually left his teaching position at the University of California at Berkeley to live in the wilderness, without running water or electricity, in the wilds of Montana.

There, Kaczynski began his terrorist campaign, mailing 16 bombs to various targets, including universities and airlines, killing three people and injuring 23.

He described his actions and views in a manifesto entitled " Industrial society and his future." The Unabomber is serving a non-parole sentence in federal prison.

5. Noah John Rondo

Noah Rondeau is a well-known hermit who took refuge from civilization in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Before retiring into the desert at the age of 46, Rondo declared that he was "not satisfied with the world and the emerging trends."

Despite the relative remoteness and isolation, Rondo received visitors and even played the violin for them. Unfortunately, after some time the hermit was forced to move from his home in the mountains and eventually died in 1967.

6. Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin was a leading figure of Post-Impressionism, writer and artist, known for his primitivist style and philosophy.

In 1891, frustrated by the lack of recognition in his homeland and having financial problems, Gauguin decided to leave for the tropics. Thus, he wanted to avoid the “artificial conventions” of civilization.

Last years he spent his life in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. Works from this period are dedicated to the inhabitants of these islands.

7. Hermit Fathers

For many centuries, monks and devotees of various faiths, in search of truth and God, in order to gain spiritual purity, left the “unholy civilization” and went into the wasteland.

One example was the order of the “Desert Fathers,” Christian hermits who left the cities of the “pagan world” and settled in the Egyptian desert.

The most famous among the desert fathers was Anthony the Great, who became the first known ascetic who went to live directly in the desert.

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Lives near the village of Podlesnoye in the Zhytomyr region unusual family. They completely changed their way of life, they left the everyday circle of existence and went to nature.

The Siryks live in a three-room adobe hut with a thatched roof: Ivan (52 years old), Victoria and Stepan (12 years old). There is a stove burning in the central room, the floor is covered with straw, the entire area is in small rooms of a couple of square meters.
According to Victoria, the family only spends the winter in the house and spends most of their time in the workshops.

The hayloft serves as a bedroom, over which a glass roof was built. Thanks to this know-how, the family has the opportunity all year round see the starry sky. The number of stars was a discovery for them. Indeed, among the city lights, the sky loses its richness.

They also have the opportunity to observe their winged neighbors - birds, mice. They also refused to use the toilet, because there is a forest nearby...
The idea of leaving life for the roots came to successful Moscow artists eight years ago.

Then Ivan was shooting videos, illustrating books, making porcelain furniture... They had ideas and perspectives. But the couple decided to visit the Caucasian dolmens. They even took our eight-month-old son on this trip. After visiting these megalithic structures, it was decided to start living the right way.

They abandoned the achievements of the information age. Stopped watching TV and using the phone and computer. They are not attracted to the idea of watching online or downloading TV series or music. Although in some ways the family resembles the heroes of the series American Dad, except that they don’t have an alien. Although the problems are very similar...

They started with vegetarianism, then switched to consuming only vegetables and fruits, a raw food diet. Next they plan to switch to prana nutrition. They believe it is possible. Victoria says that she has already managed to almost grow two teeth.

Their diet is explained by the desire to consume live food, which remains until it is heated to 40 degrees. They eat a lot of mushrooms, including fly agarics. Mushrooms are eaten in any form - raw, fried, dried, etc.

Victoria and Ivan have two sons: Stepan, who lives at home, and Timofey (22 years old) in an apartment in Zhitomir.
The youngest, Stepashka, goes to school once a month, already in the 4th grade.

As it turned out, he has no friends, because the children laugh at the boy’s hair and generally ignore the child... By the way, the boy believes that his father taught him a lot.

2017-11-07 19:57:54

Ideas about “returning to roots”, about living in harmony with nature have always excited the minds of people. They are still popular today, when civilization has spread to almost every corner of the earth. And many are tired of it.

LYKOVS
The Lykov family of Old Believers went to the forests of Khakassia back in the 1930s. They lived far from civilization for more than 40 years. The Lykovs built a wooden hut near a small mountain river. They obtained food by hunting (using pits and other methods), caught fish, and also collected mushrooms, nuts and other wild plants. In addition, the Lykovs had a household plot: they planted turnips, potatoes, peas, hemp, and so on. There was no salt in the diet. Fire was produced using flint and wood. The hermits made their own clothes from hemp using a loom that they made themselves. The Lykov farm was discovered by geologists in the late 1970s. About these unusual people learned not only from Soviet citizens, but also from the whole world. In the Soviet Union, a series of articles and even books were written about them. The author is Komsomolskaya Pravda special correspondent Vasily Peskov.
In 1981, three people from the Lykov family - Dmitry, Savin and Natalia (they were the children of the founders of the family, Karp and Akulina Lykov) - died of pneumonia at the ages of 41 to 54 years. Doctors who examined the family believe that their bodies were not ready for viral infections from the outside world. Guests who came to study the family infected them with bacteria, which turned out to be fatal for unprepared people. As a result, only the youngest of the family, Agafya Lykova, born in 1945, survived. Since she is an Old Believer, Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church officially accepted her into her fold in 2011.

VICTOR ANTIPIN
Victor Antipin (Martsinkevich) was born in Smolensk into the family of an official and a library worker. Victor got two higher education, one of which is geological. He dreamed of living in the taiga and gradually came to the idea that man should return to his roots, live in a wild environment, and not be separated from nature. In this regard, Viktor Martsinkevich went to Siberia, he traveled along the Lena River and stopped for the night with Anna Antipina in one of the villages. As a result, Victor stayed with Anna, and soon she became pregnant. Victor suggested going into the forest together to live away from civilization. At the same time, he took his wife’s surname, since his own surname indicated his non-Russian origin and was less suitable for the image of a real taiga dweller. In 1983, they went into the taiga and moved about 200 kilometers away from civilization. Two children born died due to lack of medicine. Later another child was born. The girl, born in 1986, suffered from malnutrition (her mother had no milk due to hunger). After some time, Victor, his wife and daughter went to the area of the Biryusa River, where there were more opportunities for getting food. Victor decided to go to work at a logging company. The enterprise provided the Antipins with a small plot of land in the forest and a small hut for an overnight stay. However, after a few months the company closed. Three more children appeared in the family, and Victor had to hire a job temporary work in neighboring populated areas. Like the Lykovs, the Antipins hunted and set traps for various forest animals and birds. Clothes were also made independently. In addition, the parents home-schooled their children - they taught them to write, read, draw, etc. However, the family’s problems only intensified over time, and in the early 2000s Anna decided to leave the forest. She asked the local chief for help, and he took Anna and the children out of the taiga. Victor remained to live in his hut and died of starvation a few months later.

FILIPPYCH
The hermit Vladimir Filippovich Emenka was born in Komi in the village of Datta. Filipich, as he is called now, was adapted to the conditions of the taiga from childhood; he knew how to hunt and make a fire. As a teenager, Vladimir worked on a fishing collective farm. Then he served in Soviet army and returned to his native village. Got married. But family life Things didn’t work out for Vladimir Filippovich, and the couple divorced. Then Filipich moved closer to the Uda River, those places were rich wild beast. He hunted sables, wolves and other animals. Deciding to become a hermit, Filipich went into the forest, in the area of the Tagi River, closer to native village.
The hermit continues to hunt, he hunts fur-bearing animals and does not use a gun so as not to damage the skin. Filipich rarely leaves the taiga, but sometimes local hunters come to him and bring magazines and books, since he loves to read in his free time.

ZHITOMIR HERMITS
The Zhytomyr hermits are a family of three: Ivan Siryk, his Victoria and their son Stepan. They lived in Moscow. Ivan was a successful graphic designer, he even created own business. One day, a couple and their son visited a dolmen in the Caucasus. There, according to them, the spirits of their ancestors shared their wisdom with Ivan: they advised him to give up everything and live as hermits. They live not very far from civilization, a few kilometers from the village of Podlesnoe (Zhytomyr region). They built a small house in the forest and divided it into three rooms. The floor of this dwelling is covered with straw and there is a heating stove. The house is designed for living in the cold season; in the summer, the family sleeps on straw in “workshops” covered with a glass roof in order to view the night sky. Siryks do not hunt; they eat only plant foods. Their son Stepan goes to school, but very rarely, no more than once a month. He is mainly educated at home.

SAMARA HERMITS
Samara hermits are not a family, but a whole group of citizens. They went into the forest for religious reasons. Father Konstantin, the former Orthodox priest. Together with a group of his students from the Samara region, Konstantin moved to the area of Lake Bellin-Khol (Tuva). Moreover, to get to this place, we had to hire an expensive helicopter. People settled in fishing houses that had not been used for a long time, then they built more comfortable wooden houses. According to eyewitnesses and relatives of the hermits, life in this settlement was organized quite well, people did not suffer or die. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s, Russian rescue services, having learned about what was happening, evacuated people from the lake and took them back to Samara.

What do you associate with the word “hermit”? Probably with medieval riddles, mysterious monks, schema-monks or wandering lone knights. You'd be surprised how many people voluntarily decide to withdraw from the world these days. So who are they? modern hermits?

Hermits Lykovs. Voluntary departure

The achievements of civilization, the ability to use modern communications or useful technology, are certainly an advantage for many. But not for everyone: even in the 20th century there were people who made a conscious decision to leave the world. One of the most famous families hermits - Lykovs. Their surname has become almost a household name: most often, when talking about people hidden somewhere in a remote village, they remember precisely this family.

The Lykovs moved away from civilization back in the 1930s: they were Old Believers, and it was especially difficult for such people to come to terms with collectivization and other signs of the Soviet era. The Lykovs lived in Khakassia, and in this harsh region it is quite easy to find a corner where people will not look for many years. The family had no contact with the outside world until the late 1970s, when their house was accidentally discovered by geologists. Unfortunately, this meeting turned out to be fatal for the Lykovs: quite quickly after the Khakass hermits were “declassified,” three family members died. Doctors believe that they did not have immunity to the bacteria brought in by visitors, and the cause of the Lykovs’ death was pneumonia. Today, only one representative of the family remains alive, Agafya, who continues to live in the same house, but is already quite actively in contact with the outside world, without hiding from people.

The example of the Lykovs partly inspired another hermit, Viktor Antipin. But if the Lykovs went further into the forests mainly protecting their religion, then Victor simply decided to return to Nature, to live natural life. In fact, he set up an experiment on himself and his family: Victor himself, his wife Anna and four children lived in the taiga from 1983 to 2002. Then Anna, realizing that she couldn’t survive in the taiga and was waiting for her children unenviable fate, went to people. The head of the family, Victor, died, left alone.

Closer to God

Hermitage is often associated with religious beliefs: wanting to renounce the world, people deprive themselves of society. The Georgian monk Maxim Kavtaradze became such an ascetic of the faith. For more than 20 years he has been living on the pillar - a secluded rock where an old monastic monastery is located. He became a monk in 1993, although before that Maxim’s life included drugs and time in prison. Today, Kavtaradze is restoring the monastic monastery and quite rarely descends from the top of the pillar: the way down can be done quickly enough, but getting back up is more difficult.

The best way to spend your old age

You can retire in different ways: you can devote yourself to your favorite hobby, you can continue to work, someone goes to the village, and the Japanese Mafasumi Nagasaki left everything and went to a tropical island. Don’t think that he strived for this all his life: in his youth, Mafasumi worked as a photographer, took pictures for fashion magazines and entertainment publications. But for about 30 years now he has been living alone on Sotobanari Island, sometimes going to “ mainland"to replenish water supplies and get some food. Life is not easy for him: only the typhoons that sometimes cover the island are worth it! But Mafasumi believes that the opportunity to be free from conventions and follow the laws of Nature compensates for everything.

Traveling alone

There are also “hermits” who leave our busy world for a while. They prefer to travel without companions, conquering mountains and oceans. Probably one of the most famous representatives of this group is Fedor Konyukhov. A unique person who made his first big trip at the age of 15 continues to set records. Alone in a rowing boat he crossed Pacific Ocean from continent to continent, accomplished trip around the world on hot-air balloon(by the way, the record for climbing also belongs to Fedor), he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. What motivates him? “They tell me: you, Fedor, are fate’s favorite, risky, but successful - fate simply misses when Once again wants to sweep you away with an avalanche or push you into an abyss. But I believe that fate has nothing to do with it. God has allowed me to live for so many years, given me a beloved wife, family, home, children and grandchildren. Maybe I travel so that I can always return to them, my loved ones?

Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as Konyukhov. American Christopher Johnson McCandless, who took the name Alexander Supertramp, was dissatisfied with the structure of society and tried to escape from it by traveling alone across America. The inspiration for Supertramp included the books of Jack London. He liked to overcome difficulties, often he had neither supplies nor money, but he continued on his way. In April 1992, he began to realize his long-time dream - a trip to Alaska, where he could find true solitude and test himself in the fight against the forces of nature. In August he died, apparently from exhaustion (according to another version, he was poisoned by eating poisonous plant). Christopher refused to use the map and compass, could not find the right road, which could also provoke the tragedy. The film “Into the Wild” was made about the fate of Supertramp.

Whatever the reasons that push people into voluntary solitude, if they want to get away from the world, they find such opportunities even in the 21st century. Sometimes it seems that we are all captives of technology, we are all “hooked” by gadgets. However, even in our dynamic and high-tech age, there are loopholes for those who are looking for silence and privacy. Singles. Hermits. Running away from the world or searching for themselves - sometimes they are very close.

Lykovs

The Lykov family of Old Believers went to live in the forests of Khakassia in the 1930s. They lived far from civilization for more than 40 years. The Lykovs built a wooden hut near a small mountain river. They obtained food by hunting (using pits and other methods), caught fish, and also found mushrooms, nuts and other wild plants. In addition, the Lykovs had a homestead: they planted turnips, potatoes, peas, hemp, and so on. There was no salt in the diet.

Fire was produced using flint and wood. The hermits sewed dresses from hemp using a machine they made themselves.

The Lykov farm was discovered by geologists in the late 1970s. Not only Soviet citizens, but also the rest of the world learned about these unusual people. In the Soviet Union, a series of articles and even books were written about them.

In 1981, three people from the Lykov family - Dmitry, Savin and Natalia (they were the children of the founders of the family, Karp and Akulina Lykov) - died of pneumonia at the ages of 41 to 54 years. Doctors who examined the family believe that their bodies were not prepared for viral infections from the outside world. Guests who came to study the family infected them with bacteria, which turned out to be fatal for unprepared people.

As a result, only the youngest of the family, Agafya Lykova, born in 1945, survived. Since she is an Old Believer, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church officially accepted her into its fold in 2011.

Victor Antipin

Victor Antipin (Martsinkevich) was born in Smolensk into the family of an official and a library worker. Victor received two higher educations, one of which was geological. He dreamed of living in the taiga and gradually came to the idea that man should return to his roots, live in a wild environment, and not be separated from nature.

In this regard, Viktor Martsinkevich went to Siberia, he traveled along the Lena River and stopped for the night with Anna Antipina in one of the villages. As a result, Victor stayed with Anna, and soon she became pregnant. Victor suggested going into the forest together to live away from civilization. At the same time, he took his wife’s surname, since his own surname indicated his non-Russian origin and was less suitable for the image of a real taiga dweller.

In 1983, they went into the taiga and moved about 200 kilometers away from civilization. Two children born died due to lack of medicine. Later another child was born. The girl, born in 1986, suffered from malnutrition (her mother had no milk due to hunger).

After some time, Victor, his wife and daughter went to the area of the Biryusa River, where there were more opportunities for getting food. Victor decided to go to work at a logging company. The enterprise provided the Antipins with a small plot of land in the forest and a small hut for an overnight stay. However, after a few months the company closed. Three more children appeared in the family, and Victor had to take temporary jobs in neighboring settlements.

Like the Lykovs, the Antipins hunted and set traps for various forest animals and birds. Clothes were also made independently. In addition, parents homeschooled their children - they taught them to write, read, draw, etc.

However, the family's problems only intensified over time, and in the early 2000s Anna decided to leave the forest. She asked the local chief for help, and he took Anna and the children out of the taiga. Victor remained to live in his hut and died of starvation a few months later.

Filipich

The hermit Vladimir Filippovich Emenka was born in Komi in the village of Datta. Filipich, as he is called now, was adapted to the conditions of the taiga from childhood; he knew how to hunt and make a fire.

As a teenager, Vladimir worked on a fishing collective farm. Then he served in the Soviet army and returned to his native village and got married. But Vladimir Filippovich’s family life did not work out, and the couple divorced.

Then Filipich moved closer to the Uda River, those places were rich in wild animals. He hunted sables, wolves and other animals. Deciding to become a hermit, Filipich went into the forest, near the Tagi River, closer to his native village. The hermit continues to hunt, he hunts fur-bearing animals and does not use a gun so as not to damage the skin.

Filipich extremely rarely leaves the taiga, but sometimes local hunters come to him and bring him magazines and books, since he loves to read in his free time.

Zhytomyr hermits

The Zhytomyr hermits are a family of three: Ivan Siryk, his wife Victoria and their son Stepan. They lived in Moscow. Ivan was a successful graphic designer, even creating his own business. One day, a couple and their son visited a dolmen in the Caucasus. There, according to them, the spirits of their ancestors shared their wisdom with Ivan: they advised him to give up everything and live as hermits.

They live not very far from civilization, a few kilometers from the village of Podlesnoe (Zhytomyr region). They built a small house in the forest and divided it into three rooms. The floor of this dwelling is covered with straw and there is a heating stove. The house is designed for living in the cold season; in the summer, the family sleeps on straw in “workshops” covered with a glass roof in order to view the night sky.

Siryks do not hunt; they eat only plant foods. Their son Stepan goes to school, but very rarely, no more than once a month. He is mainly educated at home.

Samara hermits

Samara hermits are not a family, but a whole group of citizens. They went into the forest for religious reasons. Father Konstantin, a former Orthodox priest, persuaded people to this way of life.

Together with a group of his students from the Samara region, Konstantin moved to the area of Lake Bellin-Khol (Tuva). Moreover, to get to this place, we had to hire an expensive helicopter.

People settled in fishing houses that had not been used for a long time, then they built more comfortable wooden houses. According to eyewitnesses and relatives of the hermits, life in this settlement was organized quite well, people did not suffer or die. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s, Russian rescue services, having learned about what was happening, evacuated people from the lake and took them back to Samara.