Ultras-reformers. How do Ukrainian Amish

“They marry each other and give birth every year! Just a little bit, and in the village there will be much greater than us”, — indignantly says a resident of the village Wall Ternopil region Mikhail. He’s barely over 50. He stands near a rural bar and shifting from foot to foot. The man’s bright fleece shirt with a lock, carelessly sewn on with white thread. But his face clearly read displeasure “them”.

They are representatives of a closed religious community, living close together in almost all regions of Western Ukraine. People who in the twenty-first century consciously refused the benefits of civilization: they have no light and water, Central heating and sanitation. They despise the Internet and TV, don’t read Newspapers, strongly reject the outside world and interpret all the Bible literally.

The beginning of all beginnings

Ivan Derkach was born in 1926 in the village of Kosmyryn Ternopil region. They say he was a difficult man: cheated on his wife, begot children, on the side, drinking, fighting and loud swearing. How this man has managed to establish a closed religious movement and distribute it in several areas of Ukraine, is unknown. However, it marked the beginning of the current Ukrainian ultraprostate, representatives of which, by analogy with the ascetics of the USA called the Amish. Though the belief of American and Ukrainian sectarians are similar in many ways, some religious connection between them. Thus, the name “Amish” is absolutely conditional.

According to residents Kosirina once Derkach to rethink their behavior, has realized the mistakes of youth and decided to lead an ascetic life. He studied the Bible and found the Scripture dogma, which built a religious community. First, it rules and regulations adopted relatives, then neighbors and neighbors of neighbors. During 20 years the community has grown into entire villages in the Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Chernivtsi regions.

Members of the community is strictly divided responsibilities: women give birth and maintain comfort in the home, men provide for the family. And in support of the family includes not only earnings, but also building a house, manufacturing hand-made furniture and wagons for horses.

Ivan Derkach died in 2008 at the age of 82 years. At the time of his death in the community in Kosmyryn consisted of about a thousand people. Now the exact number of ascetics it is impossible to calculate: according to various estimates, in the Western regions of the country from 5 thousand to 20 thousand people.

Great in the small. Despite problems with growth, the pastor of “light Amish” Michael Nestor runs a great community

Children — our all

“My neighbor, — says Mikhail, — also from the Amish community. Once I asked his wife the name of their 12 children: she began to be counted on the fingers, and then knocked and said, “Oh, well, them.” This, in my opinion, is the essence of Amish: to bear, to give birth and again to give birth”.

Today in the village of Wall under Ternopil has lived for thousands of closed religious groups. Every year their number is growing, because while ordinary villagers are treated with a vegetable garden and raising money for children’s education, the Amish give birth.

One of the tenets of their religion — procreation. Ukrainian Amish believe that God blesses large families. In the community also believe that contraception is from evil, because the Bible says that the Lord has enjoined man to be fruitful, which means that while members of religious groups alive, their women will give birth.

“Amish kids go in dirty and ragged clothes. Adults are very bad they are being watched and do not know the answer to the question: why give birth, if you can’t contain 10-20 children?” — sighs Michael.

Last year near an old village school has a new beautiful building: at the request of the community, the government allocated funds to build new schools, because the children of Ukrainian Amish just don’t fit in the old one.

“But it emphasizes the local, the situation is not saved: still the students studying in two shifts! And this year scored four of the first class may, for the city is fine, but a village of such number of first graders has never seen.”

If you come into the Wall and not know that it is home to a large community of Ukrainian Amish, you might think that live in the village some children. They run on the roads, with genuine interest look at the strangers, almost always go in large groups and everywhere dragged behind a stroller with her younger brothers and sisters.

Amish kids don’t talk to strangers, but not afraid to approach them, try to consider them.

We’re standing in the middle of the village: launching the drone and remove the Wall from the height of bird flight. We are surrounded by children with their mouths open. They point their fingers, laugh, and lift up the head up, the height of our buzzing drone.

“You saw them, saw?! Seen, what are they?” — whisper said to the crowd gathered kids a girl of ten. Her round face covered in a bright scarf. Ukrainian Amish through the gusset show girl is married or not. If the headscarf tied below the chin — so not married, but if at the nape or just behind the ears — so the girl already has a family.

“What’s your name?” – I asked curious baby, but she lowers her eyes and hides behind his older brother. The drone lands in the hand of the photographer, the children scatter.

To distinguish girls by age, some Ukrainian Amish wear them with green, yellow and red scarves. Green are the youngest — and then in ascending order. The logic of choosing these colors is unknown, but ordinary residents of Wall this is called sectarians traffic lights.

Motley is worn by adults. In the community believe that the brightness, as the ascetic way of life, a way to stand out from those who do not share their faith. Amish in the colorful clothes of local are called markers and laugh at the fact that members of religious groups may simultaneously carry, for example, purple, red and blue.

By the way, clothing is one of the more obvious differences between the Ukrainian Amish from those who live in the United States. Americans are purely homespun clothes of pale colors and try not to attract attention. The Amish of Ternopil region, however, variegated tones emphasize their belonging to the religious community.

Head covering — is also not accidental. Ukrainian Amish, both men and women, almost always wear hats. In the Bible there is the story of the judge-the character of Samson, whose strength was lies in his long hair. The members of the panel from the Wall, though all the polls do not wear long hair, but also believe that covering the head, they protect their power from the pernicious influence of the material world.

No tears and crosses

Adult Amish go to the contact even harder for children when they see strangers, I try to turn off or even hide in the houses. A few years ago the Wall came a film crew of one of the channels, and now any stranger Amish perceive as a threat and don’t want to think about how to stop and just talk.

Ukrainian dwelling ascetics is easy to recognize among rural hut: they did not have electricity. In a religious group claim that the electricity, water and Sewerage — fiction civilization, which does not need the ascetics. The Internet and TV, in their opinion, — it does something close to the devil. Group members say that in the Bible, there is no regulation to use the inventions of mankind, so they prefer to live as their ancestors lived. The Amish don’t celebrate birthdays, weddings and other celebrations, as the excessive celebration, according to them, is a sin.

Black envy. Outside the community, the villagers do not like the Amish. Including due to the fact that the latter paid more than other workers

The graves of members of religious communities, and houses in the village, you can easily identify at the General cemetery — they have no crosses, fences and flowers. Here you walk among the graves with monuments and portraits of people who once lived in the Wall, and then again, and one foot be on the mound of earth unmarked, which actually rests someone from the Amish. You’ll never know what was the name of a person, what gender he was and what he did. And this, I believe the community representatives, it does not matter, because God took him, the body has fulfilled its function, and there is nothing to be sad about it.

Like the Amish in the United States, representatives of religious groups from the Ternopil region are not treated unnecessarily to the doctors. Often doctors are they are constantly laboring women. Thus on the account in female consultation, none of the expectant mothers becomes. Group members are convinced that each of them will live exactly as long as allotted by the Lord, so do not go and see doctors who are “only doing it to extort money.”

Hands too good at it

Stories about the dark side of Ukrainian Amish knows literally every resident of the village. People cautiously talk about the weirdness of their neighbors journalists and say: “In fact, the ascetics are not so ascetics — some of them also have revelers, drunkards and brawlers”.

Irina works in the local shop bar and sells men-the Amish not only products, but vodka and cigarettes. “Sometimes, she says, — I see their wives almost the whole night standing in front of the bar waiting for their husbands. And the Amish very actively use mobile phones — charge them in the neighborhood.”

Because men from the community have to feed dozens of children with their hands and equipped with their own homes, the Amish are taught from childhood the construction of the various kinds of craft. Members of religious groups from the Wall just a month can start to build a house, and they have no equal in decorative work and wood carving. The Amish work in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Ternopil, their labor is twice as expensive than the other builders. Earnings — another reason why ordinary people dislike Walls of its neighbors-ascetics.

“They — says the saleswoman Irina, — it is necessary to feed many children, so and is bent terrible price. And our guys do the work not worse — just that they have a conscience and they can’t ask for 1,2 thousand UAH per working day.”

A couple of years ago in the Wall played out the drama of life. In the city of her hardly anyone was out. And here, in the village near Ternopil, years say: “can you Imagine the local Amish wife fell out of a cherry and died, so he went to her sister and now has nine children from his first wife and seven from the second.”

As God wills. Family the Amish are not really concerned about the appearance of their children. Often they go in ragged clothes

In recent years in a closed religious community began to occur metamorphosis. For example, in Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions recorded the cases when the Ukrainian Amish almost EN masse divorced. If you consider how many children they usually give birth in marriages, one can only imagine the number of ships necessary to go to ex-spouses.

“Our Amish — said the saleswoman, — also began sometimes to divorce. One, out, left a wife and seven children, went to work in Ivano-Frankivsk, found there was a wealthy lady in a jeep and had already come with her to the village”.

Conversion

Walking along the Wall, you can see that not all men and women with covered heads dress up in poverty, their homes also do not look modest: they include electricity, water and heating. These people in the village call in the spirit of fantasy: “Amish light”. Though they are wary of strangers, but are some of the benefits of civilization. In contrast to the dark, the poor Amish who read the Bible to each other at home, from the rich members of the community have their own Church building and pastor. In the United States and Canada, the Ukrainian analogue of the “light Amish” are the so-called “the Amish-Mennonites Beachy”. It’s the same as Amish, but their faith is less strict. They are allowed to use not only electricity, but also the Internet.

Shepherd “Amish light” Wall name is Michael Nestor, he’s 65, he’s never been married and suffers dwarfism — dwarfism. A couple of years ago Nestor shone on TV and since then even more does not like the press. I happened to notice it in one of the courtyards and immediately try to start a conversation.

“I’m sorry, with the media we don’t talk anymore”, — cut off in response to Michael. Half an hour of requests, and the pastor, a little softened. Pushes himself, he does not consider his parishioners the Amish. “We are,” he says, ” actually representatives of the Christian Evangelical faith. Amish is a name that came up with completely different people”.

Michael silver teeth and a very baby face. The yard where we are trying to say, is in fact building the house of prayer. Compared to other houses in the Wall of the building looks almost the posh: pink walls, plastic Windows and doors. “Where is the money to house of prayer?” — I ask. “The money collected by the community, but you should not touch it,” the cuts off Michael.

Well settled. Ukrainian Amish settled in one of the most beautiful parts of the country

According to him, there is no split in the Ukrainian Amish was not. Just someone he decided to use electricity and prepare for preaching outside the home, and someone chose a more ascetic lifestyle. The pastor says that in his community people celebrate birthdays, I can swipe to the wedding walk and put on the graves of the deceased crosses or monuments — what one has enough money. And even so-called Christians of Evangelical faith allow men to go without hats, while women always go with the head covered, and also give birth to 10-20 children.

“When one of ours dies, his funeral services whole village. People take to the streets to accompany the deceased on his last journey. Use mobile phones, but TV and the Internet remain banned. Though actually the people they are also starting to use — I’m not against it, but he’ll never be,” says shepherd.

Appeal to the Amish — the most sensitive subject that does not want to discuss neither the communities nor the local residents. It is believed that the true faith one can gain only in conscious age. So somewhere after the 9th grade boys Ukrainian Amish and some of the girls allow themselves to get in a nearby large city. They take off hats and can do whatever they please. During this period, young people must understand for themselves, whether they return to the community. After that, the newly made full members of the group are the rite of baptism and can marry.

• See also: Come work for us. Why young people are leaving to teach rural children

The inhabitants of the Wall claim that now the young people returned to religious groups is extremely rare, because almost no one can resist the modern life of hedonism, sex, and great opportunities.