India Today adds an update titled “See the daily routine an Old Believer hermit living in Siberia” re Agafya Lykov, the Russian hermit living in Siberia, who is regularly reported on in this blog and is the subject of several film documentaries. In December 2018, the 74-year old Agafya contacted a journalist because she lacked essential supplies, and a delivery of food, medicine and hay were delivered. Includes a short video from Ruptly (Russia Today, RT); see below.
Jeannie, “Lady Hermit of Cornwall”
Not just a local historical piece but of wider interest is the story of the “Lady Hermit of the Cornish cliffs” of England. The article is from the CornwellLve website. Here is opening text:
Its one of the strangest stories to emerge from 20th century Cornwall – the rich, educated, young Russian woman who was known across the county as the “Lady Hermit of the Cornish cliffs”.
So unusual a sight was Jeannie Schmolivitz, who made her home in caves in west Cornwall and lived on blackberries, that she spooked many a local into thinking she was a ghost.
Jeannie became a media star of the day, with national and international newspapers reporting her story, which took in a broken heart, madness, arrests, incarceration, daring escape and a final “rescue” which took her from Cornwall back to Russia.
Jeannie Schmolivtz (her surname could also have been Schmulewitz) became a sensation as the 1900s dawned, though her story is now largely forgotten.
URL: https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/history/strange-tale-mad-russian-hermit-1675063
Agafya update
Familiar to these blog pages is the Siberian hermit Agafya Lykova, now 73, a life-long hermit and last of her familiar of Old Believers, who fled to Siberia in 1936. Several media sources now report that the regional Russian governor has banned helicopter flights of food, supplies, and potential evacuation for medical treatment for Agafya in an effort to force her to return to civilization.
HTML: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russias-bid-force-hermit-living-11536159; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5092301/Remarkable-hermit-forced-live-civilisation.html; http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/governor-seeks-to-force-worlds-most-famous-hermit-to-abandon-taiga-home-100-km-from-civilisation/
Russian forest hermit Yuri
In “A hermit’s life in a Russian forest,” Russia Beyond the Headlines profiles hermit Yuri, who lives in a forest dugout shelter filled with books, wood stove, food, computer and smartphone, and a pet rabbit. He lives near a highway and can get petrol for his generator. He reads, maintains social media, chops wood, and has a predilection for snow. Yuri is a former lawyer and lives in simplicity as a protest against modern values. Several photos.
URL: http://rbth.com/multimedia/2017/01/25/a-hermits-life-in-a-russian-forest_688271
Agafya update
Hermitary readers will be familiar with Agafya Likova, the Siberian Old Believer and hermit, now 72 years old. This Siberian Times update notes her recent difficulties with insufficient food and heath issues.Includes many archival photos.