“A healer is a person who has knowledge and uses it to treat people and animals. Just like sorcerers, healers were respected, but not feared.”

In 1938, my maternal great-grandfather, Andrei, and his family moved from the newly formed Lugansk region to one of the villages located near Zadonsk. Zadonsk then belonged to the Oryol region. Andrey joined the collective farm, worked as a tractor driver, received land to build a house, built and settled in a new place. Everyone considered Andrei wealthy, since he worked several fields on his tractor and for this he received a salary in grain, flour and kerosene.

The village was located in a truly picturesque place, on one side it was approached by a small but beautiful deciduous forest, on the other by ravines and meadows, and beyond them endless fields.

And old man Ivan Fedorovich lived in that village. Old as the World, completely gray, with shoulder-length hair and a waist-length beard. He looked like the sorcerer from “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg.” He always walked with an oak staff and a basket of herbs.

Ivan Fedorovich had a beautiful garden next to his house and his own apiary. The old man had no children, and his wife died long ago.

The villagers perceived him differently: some considered him a sorcerer, some considered him a saint. But everyone had one thing in common: if anyone got sick, or the livestock fell ill, or needed advice, they went to the old man. Ivan Fedorovich accepted everyone and refused no one. And he did no harm to anyone, no love spells, no lapels, no damage.

Life in the village went on as usual. And on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began Patriotic War. And on the third day Andrei left for the front. His wife Anastasia, having seen her husband off, went home in tears. Of course: her beloved husband was at war, and she was left with two small children and a large household. And already on the approaches to the house she met Ivan Fedorovich. The old man approached the woman and, putting his arm around her shoulders, said:

- Don’t cry, granddaughter, Andryusha will return, alive and well, but you won’t have a home, you’ll have to build it all over again. Don't be afraid, the world is not without good people. They won't abandon you. Only you won’t live in the village, Andryusha will take you to a distant land, but not for long.

Having said this, the old man wiped the woman’s tears and went on his way.

The Nazis advanced, and soon the village was filled with refugees. Anastasia sheltered a family at home, refugees from Ukraine - a mother with six children. And the youngest of the children, five-year-old Kolya, was sick, he was blind. I didn't see anything, not even light. At the age of three, the boy began to rapidly lose his sight, and by the age of four he became completely blind.

For a long time Nastya tried to persuade Marya to show the boy to Ivan Fedorovich, but she kept brushing it off: she took him to Kyiv, best doctors They couldn’t do anything, but here was some illiterate old man. But Anastasia stood her ground, and Marya gave in.

Ivan Fedorovich examined the boy, and then went to the red corner to pray in front of the image of the Lord, lit a lamp and put a cup of honey. The old man prayed for a long time, several hours, on his knees, constantly beating prostrations, and after praying, he smeared the boy’s eyes with this same honey, which remained in the cup - he handed it to Marya.

“You can anoint it at home,” said the old man.

- What did grandfather say? – Nastya asked Marya when she returned home.

- What will he say? Illiterate old man. He said to smear it with honey, the doctors couldn’t cure it, but he wants to cure it with honey!

“Spread it,” Anastasia ordered.

But not at all:

- The doctors said that the operation must be done, but the damned war.

Then Nastya took it and did what the old man told Marya to do.

A few hours later, the women noticed the boy’s strange behavior - he hid in the darkest corner.

Nastya tried to bring the child into the light, but Kolya turned away from the window.

- What do you see? – Nastya asked.

The child looked down and said:

- I see hands.

Nastya sat him down on a chair and covered the boy’s face with a dark scarf - let him get used to it gradually.

The winter of 1942 came. In the evening, Anastasia and Marya put the children to bed, and they themselves went to the barn to see the cattle. Having fed the animals, the women returned to the house and also went to bed.

At night, Marya woke up from some kind of buzzing and, looking out the window, saw some kind of glow. What is this? Marya opened the door to the senets, and there... the flames were roaring, and the ceiling of the house and the roof were burning.

- Nastya, get up, we’re burning!

Marya rushed to wake up the children, and Nastya jumped up and, grabbing the youngest ones in her arms, ran out into the street, into the forty-degree frost. Marya took the older children out, and then both women rushed to save the goods from the dying house. Neighbors were already running to help the fire victims.

The house burned down, the walls could not burn down - they were made of stone, but from the inside the house burned out completely, the ceiling and roof were burned out.

Neighbor Dunya, despite the fact that she herself has five children, sheltered Marya and Nastya with all the children until spring. No one handed over a single child anywhere.

And when spring came, the whole village rebuilt Nastya’s house.
The summer of 1944 arrived.

Several village boys decided to climb into Ivan Fedorovich’s garden at night and... No sooner said than done. And as soon as the thick darkness of the night enveloped the village, the boys climbed over the flimsy fence and headed towards the apple trees. Having eaten their fill of apples and stuffed their shirts with them, the boys decided to leave. But that was not the case.

Instead of a flimsy fence, the guys came across a stockade, and if you couldn’t climb over, you’d run into a stake. Where is he here from? The boys clearly remembered that the entire garden was surrounded by fences, and here there were two-meter peaks. The boys went in the other direction and found themselves on the edge of a deep ditch filled with fetid water. Frightened, the children rushed to the third direction, and there... thorns. Rose hips, roses and thorns, the guys decided to push through the bushes. Tearing their arms, legs, face and back bloody, the boys made their way through the thickets and came across similar thickets. So they rushed around the garden until the morning.

- Kids, what are you doing here?

The boys jumped up, and an old healer stood in front of them.

- Forgive us, grandfather, we came to steal apples from you.

- Why didn’t you leave? - Asked the healer.

- Yes, grandfather, your garden was surrounded by a palisade, and we almost fell into the ditch and look, we tore everything to pieces on your bushes.

- So, where are your scratches? - asked the grandfather. There was not a single scratch on either boy.

“Come on, guys, let’s go and look at the ditch and the thorny bushes, and I, an old man, would like to look at the site and the stockade.”

There was no ditch, no palisade, no bushes, there was just an orchard, an apiary and a vegetable garden, surrounded by a barely breathing fence.

“Please, grandpa, don’t tell our parents what we did.”

“What are you, dear ones,” answered the grandfather, “Of course, I won’t tell you why I need this.” Just don't steal from the old one anymore.

Since the boys lost all the apples they picked at night, the old man picked new ones and gave them to the boys with the words:

- Don’t steal, it’s better to ask, I won’t eat that much anyway, I won’t refuse.

Nazi Germany capitulated on May 9, 1945. Summer has come.
Marya and her children left for their homeland, and men began to return from the war. But Andrei was not among them. Strong excitement filled Anastasia’s soul, and she went to the old man’s house.

— Grandfather, you said Andrey’s site will return. Why doesn't it come back?

- Wait, granddaughter. Will come back. Since I said he’ll come back, that means he’ll come back.

Andrei returned at the end of October 1945 without a single scratch and with orders.

In August 1946, Andrei and his family left for Kaliningrad, but eight years later, in 1954, they returned, although not to their native village, but to the Voronezh region. Thus, Ivan Fedorovich’s prediction came true that Andrei would take them to a distant land, but then they would return.

In 1980, my grandmother came to that village to visit her distant relatives and learned about future fate old man.

In the early seventies, Ivan Fedorovich came to the carpenter Peter and said:

“Do your last favor to the old man, make me a coffin and a cross, do it conscientiously.”

Petrukha dropped his cigarette:

- God be with you, Ivan Fedorovich, you are as healthy as an ox, you will still live.

- No, grandson, I’m already more than a hundred years old, I’ve outlived my time. This morning, with the first rays of the Sun, the Angel of the Lord appeared to me and said that God would call my soul in three days. He said, “Get ready.”

The carpenter dropped everything and set to work on the old people’s work; three days later Ivan Fedorovich was gone. The whole village buried him, and the carpenter Peter himself erected the cross.

More than thirty years have passed since then, the village survived the nineties without much loss.

All that remains of the holy man, Ivan Fedorovich, is a garden that has been feeding apples and pears to more than one generation of people.

“Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim...” The monotonous voice plunged me into slumber, and my fingers elderly woman They confidently massaged my cervical spine. Chronic osteochondrosis has been causing me discomfort for many years, but after a 15-minute massage by Baba Chima, I felt as if I had been reborn.

“On the good side, you should come to me a couple more times to consolidate the result. So find time if you don’t care about your health.”

Chimnaz Kerim Ulakkyzy Nasyrova. It’s not so easy to pronounce, let alone remember, so her fellow villagers simply call her Baba Chima. The house of a local healer is located on the edge of the village of Kuchki, Penza region. She appeared in the village 17 years ago, before that she lived in Kamenka for several years, and even earlier in Baku.

She, along with her son and daughter, had to leave Azerbaijan because of the outbreak of war. The woman still remembers the years she lived in Baku with tears in her eyes. She tells how she graduated from the library technical school there, how she managed the factory library for decades, and regularly wrote for the local newspaper.

“My mother, grandmother and great-grandmother are from the village of Kichkileika, so the Sur region is a second homeland for me,” says Baba Chima. - And my mother also treated people. But she treated with prayers, and I treated with my hands. But I don’t forget about prayer. Moreover, I read the prayer in Arabic.

She started treatment in Baku. When we arrived in Kamenka, we were accommodated in a hostel. At first I treated my neighbors, and then rumors about me spread throughout the area. Sometimes 30 people came a day. Some have boils, while others have a more serious illness.

One day a woman approached me; she worked at the tax office. I was in the hospital with breast cancer, the doctors no longer dared to operate. She came to me at 7 in the morning - she ran away from the hospital - I gave her a massage and read prayers. And the disease began to come out as pus, and after a few months there was no trace left of the metastases. The doctors just shrugged their shoulders.”

The healer had to deal with another case of breast cancer quite recently, when she was treating a fellow villager. Baba Chima hopes that her strength will be enough to overcome the fatal diagnosis. Of course, such treatment is not easy for the healer herself. Each time I have to regain my strength, lying flat on the couch for almost a day.

They also took her to a children's hospital to see a girl who was suffering from abscesses all over her body. Reading a prayer and placing her hand on the child’s head, the healer put the girl to sleep. And when she woke up a few hours later, only pale spots remained from the abscesses, which disappeared completely the next day.

In the midst of our conversation, a sudden knock is heard from under the floorboard. In response to my surprised look, Baba Chima smiles:

“This is my brownie, I call him Dost, which means friend in Azerbaijani. Left as an inheritance from the previous owners. He found out that the guests had arrived, so he ran around and was interested. Loves to play with my dogs. And most of all he loves milk. I’ll leave the bowl in the hallway at night - in the morning it’s already clean and sparkling.”

Even people from other regions of Russia come to Kuchki to see the healer. Sometimes the woman herself has to leave the village. For example, several times she was invited to treat the suffering in Moscow. True, as the pensioner admits, she does not like the capital. There are a lot of people and a dark aura over the city.

By the way, they come to Baba Chima not only for treatment, but also to tell fortunes or remove damage. It can “charge” against damage as plain water, and strong drinks, such as cognac or vodka.

“Once I was visiting Kazan and sat in a cafe with friends,” the healer recalls. - And at the next table the men were eating and drinking. I decided to give them a gift. She asked each person for a glass of vodka, charged them with alcohol and told them to drink to the bottom.

The company laughed, but after a few minutes they were no longer laughing when first one, and then the other, and so on, rushed to the restroom. And I explained to them that through diarrhea the body is cleansed of damage and the evil eye.

By the way, it’s easy to find out if a person has damage. Just look at his face. If your mouth is crooked, constantly opening and closing, then something is wrong.”

And Baba Chima tells fortunes using water, a frying pan, a bowl, a sieve and candles.

“A lot of bad things are happening around,” the healer shakes her head. - Your gift must be used for good, not for evil. And people do not understand that when they turn to a sorcerer with a request to cast a curse or evil eye on someone, they themselves take the side of evil.

And sorcerers, of course, don’t like me. But they can't do any serious harm. One here recently gave me a bag of earth from the cemetery. So I burned it, and when we met, I told this woman that she was a fool, she only knew how to scare people, and she had no strength.”

When Baba Chima was already seeing me off, a stomping sound was heard again in the hallway from under the floorboard.

“This is Dost saying goodbye to you, son. He liked you. So come again, we will treat your osteochondrosis until you become young and healthy again.”

Experiment of Tula journalists

A Center 71 correspondent tested for himself whether it is worth trusting all kinds of healers and healers

Baba Galya during the removal of damage from a correspondent...

I learned about Baba Gala from social networks. Many people left reviews about the grandmother, who supposedly heals from any misfortunes. I decided to test for myself whether this same old woman really had miraculous powers. After all, all kinds of healers and sorcerers in Lately are increasingly becoming fashionable. But can they help or are they just making money off of someone else’s misfortune?

So many curses that the soul cries

In the village of Selivanovo, Shchekinsky district, we find the desired house with a photojournalist. The gate is slightly open, but I, as a decent person, raise my hand to the bell and at that moment I hear a shout: “Why ring the bell, can’t you see the door is open?” Smiling kindly and pushing the timid photographer forward, I enter the garden and see my grandmother peeking out from behind the door of the house.

“Galina, I am a correspondent for the Center 71 newspaper, I heard that you have a healing gift,” I began briskly, guessing that this was the same old woman in front of me.

“I won’t say anything,” Baba Galya interrupted me. “I can remove the damage from you, but I don’t want this fuss.” The Lord himself will enlighten the suffering, and they will find me.

- Is there any damage on me? – I ask not so boldly anymore.

“You, dear, have so many curses that my soul cries when I look at you,” the healer exclaimed somewhat pathetically. And suddenly she asked: “Do you have a wife?”

“No, I haven’t yet found the one with whom I will go through life, holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes,” I answered with pathos, deciding to play along with my granny.

“Well, come in already,” the old woman muttered and disappeared into the house. We followed, exchanging glances.

Candles, prayers and wax figures

Inside the house, a wall hung with icons immediately caught my eye. There was a table against the wall with crosses, candles and other church paraphernalia on it. Baba Galya, noticing our surprise, immediately stated that she is a deeply religious person and the Mother of God helps her heal people.

“I see that you are lonely,” Baba Galya turned to me. – You struggle and can’t find your other half. Am I telling the truth?

“Absolutely,” I confirmed, thinking to myself: “But I told her about this a minute ago.”

“The curse of loneliness hangs on you,” with important look said the old woman. “Now I’ll get rid of him.”

After that, Baba Galya took my palm and twirled a cross over it on a string.
“If the cross hangs calmly,” she explained, “then there is no damage, but if it spins, then it’s time to sound the alarm—you are under a severe curse.”

In my case, the cross really spun like crazy. At the same time, I carefully watched my grandmother’s hands, hoping to catch her in a dirty trick. But no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t find anything suspicious - the old woman’s hands were motionless.

“Now I will melt the wax, read the prayer, and the damage will go to the wax figurine,” my grandmother told me the plan of action.

- What should I do? - I asked.

“And you sit and remember who could wish you so much harm to curse you,” Baba Galya determined the vector of my actions.

Having monotonously read a whole series of prayers, which seemed suspiciously similar to tongue twisters to me, Baba Galya said that she had done it. She showed me the resulting wax figurine and began to praise herself.

“Although it was not easy, I turned to our Mother Theotokos, and she helped me,” said the grandmother. - Look, on the one hand, the terrible mounds are the curse that you had. On the other hand, everything is smooth and even - this is your aura now. Keep it that way.

...This is the kind of damage Baba Galya removed from our correspondent

The second head needs to be removed

Having removed the damage from me, Baba Galya turned to our photojournalist.

- What are you complaining about, son? — she asked in a sympathetic voice.

“No matter what,” the owner of the lens answered quite confidently.

“Oh, I see a terrible curse on you,” Baba Galya began her monologue. - I see how there is another head on top of your head. And this head oppresses you and prevents you from living. But it’s okay, you also read prayers, and I will deal with your trouble.

After that, she gave the photographer, who was somewhat stunned by such a tirade, a book, and he began to read prayers. At this time, Baba Galya repeated the same procedure as with me: she drowned the wax and dipped it in water. Then she took out the resulting figure and pointed out that on one side it was perfectly smooth, but on the other, like mine, it was all covered in bumps. The shocked photographer had no choice but to thank the old woman for such a swift job.

Miracle or coincidence?

In this house, grandmother receives the suffering

After the damage was allegedly lifted from us, the conversation smoothly flowed from semi-formal to informal, and Baba Galya fell into memories.

“Now I’m 76 years old, and every year I ask God if I can continue my activities,” the gray-haired woman opened up. - The answer comes in a dream. Usually the Mother of God appears, and I understand that I can still help the unfortunate.

— And how many people have passed through you over the years?

- Thousands. It all started in childhood, when the Mother of God showed me my path. I was 11 years old when a neighbor’s 7-year-old boy developed a tumor in his groin area. I prayed for him all night. She asked the Mother of God that the illness would leave him. And the next morning his mother came to us and said that his illness had gone away miraculously. That’s how I realized that I was capable of helping people. I dedicated my whole life to this, as you can see.

According to the old woman’s neighbors, many people actually come to Baba Gala who have lost all hope of healing any ailment. And, it seems, they find help. Whether this is a miracle or a coincidence is unknown. But the fact remains: through word of mouth, people tell each other about the supposedly miraculous power of this woman and rush to her for help.

PRIEST'S COMMENT...

With God's power or in the name of Satan

Archpriest Sergius Rezukhin, rector of All Saints cathedral:

— Healers are different from healers. If a person resorts to the power of God and prays frantically, then that is one thing. But if he reads all sorts of conspiracies or, even worse, targets people in the name of Satan, then that’s different. Nowadays there are a lot of advertisements in which various charlatans offer their magical services, so I would like to remind you that the person who actually helps people avoids all the hype. As for a certain woman Gali, I personally have not heard of her.

...AND THE DOCTOR

Conspiracies as psychotherapy

Lyudmila Kiykova, deputy chief physician for outpatient work at the hospital named after. Vanykina:

“In my opinion, there are not many people who have true healing abilities.” These people should know very well all herbs, the features of their effects on the human body, possible side effects from taking them, because even plants can be harmless. And if we talk about some other methods of healers such as manual therapy, spells or taking any substances uncharacteristic for treatment, then I believe that this clean water quackery. Only a specialist familiar with human anatomy can know well the same manual therapy. Well, all sorts of conspiracies are more like psychotherapy.

MEANWHILE

I will save you from misfortunes with the power of peas

Our correspondent found out how ready Tula residents are to believe even the most ridiculous promises of the most bizarre magicians

After my meeting with grandmother Galya from Selivanovo, I decided to find out how much Tula people generally trust all kinds of announcements about supernatural possibilities. To do this, I tried on the role of a magician. I applied makeup to my face, changed into black clothes and posted a photo of myself on social networks with an advertisement in which I claimed that I was removing damage with nothing other than the power of peas. My message read:

“The almighty magician Artemy Grun, a descendant of Egyptian priests who went through reincarnation, will help you find your soulmate, improve your luck in business, earn a lot of money, return lost love, lead a competitor into a drinking binge - whatever you need, will solve any of your problems! Having practiced various types white and black magic, he came to the power of peas - green magic. Green is the color of life, the color of nature. Green means calm, luck, renewal, health, freshness, vitality. Trust your destiny to the power of green peas and it will help you reach impressive heights. Contact the great magician Artemy, and may the force be with you!”
To my surprise, they called me the very next day.

- Hello, is this the almighty Artemy? — they politely asked on the other end of the line.

- How can I help you, my dear? - I said importantly.

“I’m a businessman, I’d like to put a competitor on a drinking binge,” the caller said.

“Well, that’s easy,” I answered somewhat dumbfounded.

In just two days, seven people called me. The majority expressed a desire to lead competitors into a drinking binge or find a mate. Oddly enough, my ridiculous appearance in the photo and the green pea power that I supposedly possessed did not alarm anyone.

“Human belief in the supernatural cannot be eradicated,” commented psychologist Olga Korzyukova. “We want to believe that there is something above us that is watching over us and will help us.” In addition, the problematic situation limits a person’s internal strengths and resources. He experiences his helplessness and at this moment needs some interlocutor, in the presence and with whose assistance he can overcome his crisis. And it doesn’t matter by what methods this will be achieved - right down to the power of green peas.