Isolated Russian Old Believer Family - Merged

[gustava]

Thanks for posting.

[CoatRack]

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15153

[Arete]

Wow. Tragic on so many levels. As Old Believers, they would have had no place either in the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church or Communism. They aren't like the fundies here who turn their backs on the world because the word "Jesus" isn't plastered everywhere. Old Believer communities have been periodically massacred by whoever held power in Russia for hundreds of years.

[meep]

It didn't escape me that one of the kids (Dmitri? I don't have the window open now.) died of pneumonia, and they think it was from exposure to his new friends.

To the science FJers: How possible is this? We snark on a lot of families that have mulitiple unvaccinated children that only spend time with their siblings. A few go to the conferences or dances or elderly prisons, but over all they stay alone. Could one of these children truly die due to prior exposure to "worldly" germs?

You would have to be totally isolated with other people who were unvaccinated, I believe. If they are at least visiting with other family, I don't think it's a risk. I assume they're going to grocery stores, libraries, etc even if they aren't socializing with anyone. They are still exposed to "worldly" germs, as you put it.

[ndmomma]

I am crunchy-lite and vax my kids on a slower schedule than WV requires, but I know a lot of people who don't vax at all because they believe that the risk of getting most of these diseases is low, that these diseases aren't so bad, and that the side effects of vaxing are more likely to cause permanent damage than any of these diseases. I disagree. Yet they take their kids pretty much anywhere, which can really upset other members of my community, particularly if a non-vax family whose child has had pertussis goes to an event where babies who are too young to vax are present. Add to that the crazy rules in WV that don't allow for even medically established exceptions to the vaccination rules and the criminalization of each skipped dose of a vaccine should they choose to enforce it.

[Knight of Ni]

A fascinating story about a Russian family of Old Believers. They lived in such complete isolation that two of their children had never seen anyone outside their family. They didn't even have knowledge of WWII. They lived in horrible conditions. The father did this to his family in the name of religion. When they first saw the group of scientists that found them they were terrified and convinced it was because of their sin.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-a ... 43001.html

[Abi]

There's already a thread on this, added a couple of days ago I think?

A lot of people seem to be interested in this topic!

[neuroticcat]

Talk about holding to religious principles.

This family lived in the Siberian wilderness for four decades because of their beliefs. That's a reality show I would watch:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/f ... i-7354256/

[samurai_sarah]

Lovely find, but uhm, unlike our fundies, their belief was actually persecuted. Here's a bit about their background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Believers

[RosyDaisy]

Wow. what a sad story.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

We have had a few threads on them before

[Bethella]

There were several thread, now merged, on this when the article first came out last year. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15153&p=477182&hilit=siberia#p477182

[neuroticcat]

Lovely find, but uhm, unlike our fundies, their belief was actually persecuted. Here's a bit about their background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Believers

Interesting. I didn't know anything about the history of their beliefs.

[Luisainlondon1]

I have read the book about the family ('Lost in the Taiga'), which I highly recommend.

Also this VICE documentary is also very interesting:

[Eater of Worlds]

There was a documentary made on them, I think it was a Vice documentary. A guy went to visit the woman who remains and see what her situation is. The Russians send a forestry worker (like a game warden in the US, I think) to check on her quite often, I want to say once a month maybe? They bring her what she asks for. The trip that the documentary was made they brought her some chickens and a goat because her previous goat had died and her current goat needed another goat to live with. They made the documentary guy shovel snow off her roof. A man lives "next door" to her, an old guy who decided to give up his own life for some reason. He never was able to care for himself in the wilderness like she could, so she helped him and now she was resentful because it's been 10 years and she still has to help him. I think that he pressured her for sex or raped her or did some bad shit to her at one point that she won't talk about. She hates the guy in a way, but she also likes having company. She has this gorgeous old bible that she reads, it was a hundred years old if not longer. I don't think she can read anything else but that. She's really friendly and cheerful with the forestry guy. She really appreciates the help and she's been to the city a couple of times and she finds it very stressful so she always is glad to be back and that's where she wants to live until she dies.

And, someone mentioned the documentary while I was writing this up. I'll leave it anyway for those who find it interesting.

[freejingerbeth]

What an interesting story.

[Bethella]

Agafia, the only surviving family member was airlifted to a hospital after calling for help. It sounds like she'll be okay but I wonder how she'll cope if she can't go home. Being in the hospital much be such a culture (? or should it be environmental) shock.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/15/siberian-hermit-agafia-lykova-russia-airlifted-to-hospital-over-leg-pain?CMP=fb_gu