The famous Siberian hermit Agafya Lykova, who lives in the forest of the Abakan ridge of the Western Sayan (Khakassia), moved into a new house built with the support of public figure Oleg Deripaska. A representative of the entrepreneur informed Lente.ru about this.
Today the hut was consecrated by the primate of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church – Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Korniliy. His visit to Khakassia was also organized by a Siberian industrialist at the request of Agafya Lykova.
Construction of the house of the ascetic began in December 2020. Agafya Lykova herself asked the businessman for help. Due to the inaccessibility of the territory of the “Zaimki Lykovs” site, the house was built in stages.
To reduce the construction time, the wooden house was assembled in Abakan, the logs were numbered and disassembled for delivery to a hard-to-reach area – to be drawn to Lykova. The most difficult stage in the construction of the house was the delivery of lumber. The logs were brought in three cars and a tractor to the recreation center by the Ada River, which is located 250 kilometers from Agafia’s dwelling. Further, the building material was transported by airboats. In total, it took about 18 such trips, since one raft can only hold one and a half tons.
At the end of November 2020, Agafya Lykova turned to Oleg Deripaska with a letter in which she thanked the industrialist for the help he had received earlier – food, household items, linen and dishes, and also asked to help her in the construction of new housing instead of the current hut. Oleg Deripaska, who had previously helped the hermit, promised to fulfill the request. In 2020, the Old Believer had difficulties in preparing for the coming winter. Oleg Deripaska provided Agafya Lykova with food and household utensils, and also organized the delivery of an au pair to the taiga settlement, without whom it would be very difficult and dangerous for a 76-year-old hermit to spend the winter.
Hermit Agafya Tikhonova is 76 years old. She was born into a family of Old Believers who consider a secluded life far from human civilization to be salutary for the soul and body. Since the late 1930s, the Lykov family has lived in complete isolation from civilization. After 1946, the Lykovs’ permanent residence became the bank of the Abakan tributary, the Erinat River. A lot of publications, books and reports of electronic media are devoted to Agafya Lykova.