In Soviet times, there was practically no person who would not have heard of Porfiry Korneevich Ivanov. Everyone heard this name, and his works and theories still cause a lot of controversy and discussion. Ivanov's followers and the associations they created were more than once declared totalitarian sects and banned in Russia. To date, the philosophy of Porfiry Ivanov is carefully studied, it has its fans and opponents in almost all sectors of society. However, it is rather difficult to come to a consensus regarding the system created by this unique person. Some experts elevate him to the rank of God, while others consider him the greatest mystifier of his time. We leave the right to you, readers, to form your own opinion about who is often called the "God of the Earth." So who is he really, the great folk teacher Porfiry Korneevich Ivanov?
Genius or charlatan: let's find out
Porfiry Ivanov is considered the founder of a special system based on fasting, hardening and unity with nature. Because of this, in the human bodypreviously unused resources are opened. This system is considered as a set of recommendations that completely change lives. Based on this, the followers of the teaching perceive it not only as a practical guide to gaining he alth, but rather as a system of spiritual practices. It brings the individual to a new level of self-awareness and insight.
Porfiry Korneevich Ivanov is known by many names and nicknames. Most often he was called Parshek and Teacher of the people. Foreign followers came up with their own name for him - the god of the Earth. He himself usually called himself more modestly and simply wanted to teach people how to live correctly, returning to their roots.
Many followers of Ivanov claim that his healing system can lead to real immortality. However, pundits refute these data and are inclined to attribute certain mental illnesses to the Teacher of the people. They argue that Ivanov's theories have no scientific basis, which ultimately led to his death. At the same time, even the gift of healing, which supposedly raised many people to their feet during the life of Porfiry, did not help him.
Short biography
It can be said that the biography of Porfiry Ivanov consists of two parts. The official contains all the confirmed facts from his life. Usually they are published in various sources and on Internet resources. However, in addition to this information, there is still a huge amount of data that is known from the words of the teacher himself. Some of them he personally wrote down in notebooks, butmost of it was restored according to the memoirs of his students and followers. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to vouch for the reliability of this information, and we will present them in a separate section of the article.
The life of Porfiry Ivanov is full of events, many of which could break any person. However, they became just milestones on the path of someone who elevated nature to a special rank and deified it as a special force that could do almost anything with a person. We will try to give you Ivanov's biography as briefly and clearly as possible.
Porfiry was born in an ordinary peasant family on February 20, 1898. He was the fifth son among nine children. From childhood, he was distinguished by a violent disposition and was very active. Ivanov often participated in village fights and was not averse to alcoholic beverages.
The future founder of the he alth system Porfiry Ivanov graduated from the fourth grade of the school and went to work. During the years of his youth, he managed to change several professions, once he even worked as a miner.
In family life, Porfiry was quite happy. He successfully married and had two sons, but the absurd and premature death of his wife knocked him out of the usual rhythm of life for a long time. Ivanov's contemporaries said that he grieved for a very long time.
From the age of thirty-five, he dramatically changed his life, imbued with thoughts about the primacy of nature in our existence. Ivanov began to gradually refuse clothes, food and all kinds of comfort. Many called his lifestyle nothing more than an "experiment." It lasted for almost fifty years, and during this timea full-fledged philosophy of he alth developed by Porfiry Ivanov was formed.
It became widespread in the eighties of the last century after the publication of an article in the Ogonyok magazine. The works of the village philosopher aroused incredible public interest, and numerous followers reached out to him.
Porfiry Ivanov died in April of the eighty-third year of the last century, a year after the publication of an article about him. The cause of death has not been clarified. After himself, he left not too much work. Basically, all his thoughts, ideas and advice were contained in three hundred handwritten notebooks. Until now, they have been published more than once with corrections and comments. If desired, these works in the original version can be found on the pages of information resources on the relevant topics.
Ivanov's life before epiphany
To better understand Porfiry Ivanov's ideas about hardening and fasting, it is necessary to study his life in more detail. Until the age of twelve, the boy grew up very active and mobile. It is known that he studied quite well, but was forced to leave school to help his family.
From the age of twelve, the boy was hired to work for more prosperous neighbors, and three years later he began to work in the mine. This work was very hard, but it made it possible to support a family quite well.
At the age of nineteen, in the midst of hostilities, Porfiry was called to the front. However, he did not have a chance to fight: a truce was concluded, and the young man returned home unharmed. Almost immediately, he got married and began to live in his own home.
The future creator of the he alth system often changed jobs and moved from one place of residence to another. The family always followed him, despite the fact that Porfiry could hardly be called an exemplary husband and father. He often drank, rowdy and even once was convicted of theft. It is known that for about one year he left his family and went to another woman. The future healer returned back with a firm intention to change his life. On the twenty-fifth of April of the thirty-third year of the last century, a great Idea was born in his head. It was she who laid the foundation for his teaching, which completely changed the life of Porfiry himself and many of his followers.
The essence of Ivanov's teachings
The teaching of Porfiry Ivanov is understandable to every person. It is based on the idea of the unity of man and nature. Over the years of evolution, people have almost completely broken away from the natural conditions of life. They began to pursue comfort, expressed in warm clothes, delicious food and the desire to live in apartments away from the village. For all this, a person pays with problems, including mental ones, and with his he alth. Moreover, the greater the level of comfort people have, the more often diseases cling to them.
Ivanov urged to strive for unity with nature and live regardless of external conditions. He believed that a person could well get by with water, air and land. This is enough to feel he althy and help others.
Porfiry himself began an experiment on himself, gradually abandoningclothes, and brought his body to such a state that even in the most severe cold he could manage with only knee-high underpants. This became his usual outfit in which he showed up on the street. In the future, he often arranged curative fasting for up to fifty days or more and could not imagine his life without ice douches. Porfiry Ivanov even created a whole hardening system based on daily douches in the fresh air. In an adapted version, it was even used in Soviet kindergartens.
Many were amazed and admired Ivanov's ability to endure cold and other austerities absolutely calmly. Therefore, later, some of the followers deified their teacher, especially given his gift for healing. However, official medicine could not confirm or deny such cases of miraculous healing due to treatment according to the Porfiry Ivanov system.
Development of the idea: a new stage in the life of Parshek
As a new idea penetrated Ivanov's mind, he increasingly appeared on the street without clothes. Two years after the main essence of the teaching was formed, he decided to promote the ideas of healing among the people. For this, he was detained by the police and placed in a psychiatric clinic. After treatment, Ivanov was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Because of this, during the war he was not drafted into the army, but he happened to be in the territory occupied by the Nazis.
From 1951 to 1968, Ivanov was regularly kept in psychiatric hospitals of the former USSR. More than once criminal cases were initiated against him, and after that heagain returned to compulsory treatment. Naturally, all this affected Parshek's he alth, but he did not give up his ideas and continued to firmly adhere to the system he created.
Long-awaited recognition
By the seventies of the last century, Porfiry Ivanov was handed over to his students in an extremely deplorable state. According to unverified reports, he was injected with experimental drugs that almost killed Parshek. However, the disciples, having taken him away, poured cold water on him almost every hour, and after a while he regained consciousness. And a day later he returned to his usual way of life.
The followers built the Teacher's House for their guru. In it he lived and received people who came to him in droves for advice and healing. The house was located on the Upper Kondryuchy farm and was well known to all the locals.
Books and manuscripts
Approximately at the same stage of life appeared the first books of Porfiry Ivanov, if you can call them that. Of course, these were not full-fledged publications, but rather manuscripts with recommendations and advice. But later they found their readership and are now being published.
Among them, the collection of recommendations "Baby" is the most popular. Porfiry Ivanov created it after a sensational article in Ogonyok that made him famous. Today, many begin to study the ideas of Parshek from this collection.
He also creates an unusual anthem "Glory of Life". It had only eight lines in volume, but in them allthe essence of the healing doctrine, which was recognized on the territory of the USSR.
Unverified information from Ivanov's biography
There are quite a lot of similar facts around Parshek. Some of them he confirmed, while others simply did not comment. For example, Ivanov's followers claimed that he showed them the way to immortality. Since he was the first to embark on the road of restrictions, which in the end were to completely transform his body and open up new horizons.
In the thirties, Ivanov discovers the gift of healing. He developed methods of treatment on his own, individually approaching a person in each case.
During the occupation of his city by the Nazis, Parshek personally met with General Paulus and had a long conversation with him about something. As a result, he was issued a special document confirming his uniqueness and value. However, this did not save him from a series of experiments, during which Ivanov was buried naked in the snow all night at an air temperature below twenty degrees Celsius and doused with ice water. In the dungeons of the Gestapo, he spent almost a month and remained unharmed.
Followers of Parshek claim that at the dawn of the eighties of the last century, their teacher went without food for five months. At the same time, most of this time was the so-called dry fasting. It involves not only the refusal of food, but also a prolonged restriction in the use of water.
Also, some contemporaries of Porfiry Korneevich say that one day hepredicted the birth of a man who would become not only the actual king of the country, but would also rule the whole world. According to his assumptions, this unique personality should have been born in 1975 near his native village.
It is extremely difficult to verify all the information we have listed in this section, but many take it at face value and literally elevate Ivanov to the rank of saints or holy fools, who in ancient times were always especially revered in Russia.
Porfiry Ivanov: "Baby"
After Ivanov's healing system was summarized in print and he became famous, many began to ask the teacher to create a set of rules that would help them change their lives. Then Parshek wrote his twelve commandments, which were called "Baby".
Keep in mind that most reprints of Ivanov's manuscripts retain the author's style, manner of presentation and punctuation. Do not forget that he graduated from only four classes and often made many mistakes in words. At the same time, Porfiry Korneevich did not even try to follow certain rules for writing texts. Many said that he writes with his soul and heart.
Advice from Porfiry Ivanov
We have already mentioned that the Teacher of the people left behind a lot of handwritten diaries and letters. All of them contain his reflections on life, advice and recommendations. In Soviet times, they were distributed using photocopies, later publications with edited text were published. However, ontoday, if you are interested in Ivanov's work, you will most likely stumble upon his original style on the Internet. Indeed, deep folk wisdom is hidden in a simple and uncomplicated language.
Parshek's advice on a he althy lifestyle and relationships with the world is especially popular. Moreover, doctors and scientists believe that they are not devoid of a certain meaning and, with some reservation, can be used by anyone.
He alth group or sect?
Surprisingly, until now, despite the fact that Porfiry Ivanov's merits in creating a universal he alth improvement system are generally recognized, his personality causes a lot of controversy in society. The teachings of Parshek were carefully studied by various specialists, including religious scholars. They noted that it clearly shows a mixture of various philosophical and religious currents from around the world. The features of Taoism, neo-paganism and Buddhism stand out most clearly. You can also find certain characteristics that make Ivanov's teachings similar to the basic foundations of yoga. However, all experts unanimously argue that this mixture has created something new, which is fundamentally different from most Eastern practices.
Today, there are a lot of Ivanov's followers in Russia and abroad, but they can be divided into two categories. Some openly adhere to Parshek's advice and recommendations regarding a he althy lifestyle. They regularly douse themselves in cold water, walrus, harden their children andpractice curative fasting. Such associations can be attributed to he alth groups that do no harm.
But another category of followers of Ivanov's teaching finds in him a religious and mystical component. Ivanovtsy, as they are called, draw a clear parallel between Christ and Porfiry Korneevich. They elevate their teacher to the rank of god and create a large number of associations where they preach on his behalf. Such organizations are recognized as totalitarian sects, and their activities are defined as illegal. To date, three such sects are known, whose work has been suspended: "The Cult of Porfiry", "Ivan's Porfiry's Children" and "Ivanovskaya Zhizn".
Death
The cause of Porfiry Ivanov's death has not yet been clarified. He died quietly in his home and was buried by his disciples on the fourth day after his death. An autopsy was not performed on his body, and therefore scientists can only guess what caused the death of Parshek.
Some researchers of his life believe that, having lived to eighty-five years, he could well have died of natural causes. Others claim that he starved himself to death, and the body simply could not withstand the next load.
But most often there is a version that the Teacher of the people got gangrene, which developed as a result of hypothermia. A few days before his death, he complained of severe pain in his leg, which he even wrote about in his diaries. However, similar pains are also associated with his last stay in a psychiatric clinic.
Whateverwas, but this is how the life of a man ended, whose ideas still excite the minds of people and have a large number of followers. But whether Porfiry Ivanov was a hoaxer is unknown. Perhaps this is for everyone to decide for themselves.
