www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Old-Ritualists Forum Appeal from Agafia Lykova of LOST IN THE TAIGA

This announcement is from the home page of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers' Church, the official site of the Moscow Metropolitan. It refers to Agafea Lykova, one of the subjects of LOST IN THE TAIGA, an account of a Russian Old Believer family who fled to the taiga in the 1920s and was discovered in 1978. I used Google Translator to convert it from Russian to English.

http://www.rpsc.ru/news/regional/obrashchenie-agafi-likovoj

An Appeal from Agafea Lykova
February 10, 2011

The Metropolitan of Moscow received a letter from Agafea Lykov, an Old Believer living in the taiga. This recluse asks similar-minded people who have the ability and desire to leave the world and come to help her with her house and farm. Just over a year ago, another such request was posted on the archdiocese website.

Those willing to help Agafia Lykova, please contact by phone:
8-909-508-82-11
Utkin, Aleksey
(Altai Republic, the district Turochak village, st. Sadovaya, 6 kv.2)

Here are some lines from the letter:

"I bow to you before the damp earth, and I wish you from God good health, salvation and well-being, especially for those who [offer] rescue and welfare, and so be saved by the LORD God in the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and paternal church [protected] until the end of this age from all divisions, heresies and foes ... "

"With a great big bow to request of all: I need a man as an assistant, one whom I will not survive, [who] lives so not good, with weeks of being alone. Do not leave me for Christ's sake. Have mercy upon a wretched orphan, who is in trouble [and] suffering."

"... People here [you] have a true Believer, the faith of Christ Believer, and people here I need firewood to cook, to mow the hay <...> I have weakened health and forces."

Agafiya is the last of her immediate family and, if I remember correctly, must be in her mid to late 60s, at this point in time. I'm sure life must be very difficult for her given the isolation and harsh environs of the place where she lives. She spent some time with distant family a few years ago, but couldn't get comfortable in the environment. They were also Old Believers, but of a less strict stance than the Lykovas had been. (They were truely Stranniki, Wanderers, at time that they fled to the taiga.)

May Agafiya's prayers be heard and may God grant her many years.

Neil