Prophecy of the monk Abel: the death of three Russian emperors and the death of the empire. Mystery of History: Monk Abel's Ominous Predictions
He was a prophet who foretold the major events of the 19th and 20th centuries. The seer Abel predicted the death of the Romanov dynasty.
During the reign of Catherine II, a seer monk lived in the Solovetsky Monastery, his name was Abel. Abel began to prophesy about the death of the Empress. The walls, even the monastic ones, have ears - for his predictions, Abel was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress "under the strongest guard." After the death of Catherine, who died in strict accordance with the prophecy of Abel, the monk was amnestied by Paul I himself. The emperor wished to meet with the elder and listen to new forecasts from him. Abel described in detail the death of the emperor, and at the same time the unenviable future of the Romanov dynasty.
"Your reign will be short, and I see your sinful, cruel end. On Sophronius of Jerusalem from unfaithful servants you will accept a martyr's death, in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal chest. On Holy Saturday they will bury you… These villains, trying to justify their great sin of regicide, will proclaim you insane, will revile your good memory… But the Russian people with their true soul will understand and appreciate you and will carry their sorrows to your tomb, asking for your intercession and softening the hearts of the unrighteous and cruel. The number of your years is like a book count". (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
The prediction that the Russian people will appreciate Paul I has not yet come true. If a survey were conducted today about the attitude of Russians towards past autocrats, then Pavel would certainly be one of the outsiders.
About Alexander I
Abel was released in peace to the Nevsky Monastery, for a new monastic vows. It was there, at the second tonsure, that he received the name Abel. But the prophet did not sit in the capital's monastery. Already a year after the conversation with Pavel, he appears in Moscow, where he gives predictions to local aristocrats and wealthy merchants for money. Having earned some money, the monk goes to the Valaam Monastery. But even there, Abel does not live in peace: he again takes up the pen and writes books of predictions, where he reveals the imminent death of the emperor. Abel was brought in shackles to St. Petersburg and locked up in the Peter and Paul Fortress - "for indignation peace of mind His Majesty.” Immediately after the death of Paul I, Abel was again released from prison. This time, Alexander I becomes the liberator. The new emperor warily sends the monk to the Solovetsky Monastery, without the right to leave the walls of the monastery. There, Abel writes another book in which he predicts the capture of Moscow by Napoleon in 1812 and the burning of the city. The prediction reaches the king, and he orders to calm the imagination of Abel in the Solovetsky prison.
"The Frenchman will burn Moscow in His presence, and He will take Paris from him and call him Blessed. But secret grief will become unbearable to Him, and the royal crown will seem heavy to Him. He will be righteous in the sight of God: he will be a white monk in the world. I saw above the Russian land the star of the great saint of God. It burns, it flares up. This ascetic will transform the whole fate of Alexandrov ...". (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
According to legend, Alexander I did not die in Taganrog, but turned into the elder Fyodor Kuzmich and went wandering around Russia.
About Nicholas I
When in 1812 the Russian army surrenders Moscow to the French, and Belokamennaya, as the monk predicted, almost burns to the ground, the impressed Alexander I orders: “Let Abel out of the Solovetsky Monastery, give him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries, provide him with money and clothes ". Once free, Abel decided not to annoy royal family, and went on a trip to the Holy places: he visited Athos, Jerusalem, Constantinople. Then he settled in the Trinity-Sergeeva Lavra. For some time he behaves quietly, until, after the accession of Nicholas I, he breaks through again. The new emperor did not like to stand on ceremony, so “for humility” he sent the monk into confinement in the Suzdal Spaso-Efimov Monastery, where in 1841 Abel reposed to the Lord.
"The beginning of the reign of your son Nicholas will begin with a fight, with a Voltairian rebellion. This will be an evil seed, a destructive seed for Russia. If it were not for the grace of God that covers Russia, then ... About a hundred years later, the House of the Most Holy Theotokos will become impoverished, the Russian State will turn into an abomination of desolation"(Prophecies of the monk Abel)
About Alexander II
After the death of Abel, his name was not forgotten. By the end of the 19th century, there was even a cult among intellectuals: they wanted to make the monk Abel the Russian Nostradamus. God saved - the letter that Abel gave to Paul I was "waiting in the wings" in the Gatchina Palace. According to the emperor's will, it was to be opened 100 years after Paul's death.
"Your grandson, Alexander II, was destined by the Tsar-Liberator. He will fulfill your plan - he will free the peasants, and then he will beat the Turks and the Slavs will also give freedom from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive him for his great deeds, they will start hunting for him, they will kill him in the middle of a clear day, in the capital of a loyal subject with renegade hands. Like you, he will seal the feat of his service with royal blood... ". (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
About Alexander III
One hundred years expired in 1901. Emperor Nicholas and his family came to the Gatchina Palace. According to memoirs, they were cheerful and cheerful. However, after reading the letter, Nikolai's mood seriously deteriorated.
"The Tsar-Liberator will be succeeded by the Tsar-Peacemaker, his son, and your great-grandson, Alexander the Third. Glorious will be his reign. He will besiege the cursed sedition, he will bring peace and order." (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
About Nicholas II
What he read made Nicholas II seriously think ...
« Nicholas II - the holy tsar, like the long-suffering Job. He will have the mind of Christ, long-suffering and dove-like purity. Scripture testifies about him: Psalms 90, 10 and 20 revealed to me his whole fate. He will replace the royal crown with a crown of thorns, he will be betrayed by his people, as once the Son of God. There will be a redeemer, he will redeem his people with himself - like a bloodless sacrifice. War will be Great War, world. Through the air, people, like birds, will fly, under water, like fish, they will swim, they will begin to exterminate each other with a fetid gray. On the eve of victory, the royal throne will collapse. Change will grow and multiply. And your great-grandson will be betrayed, many of your descendants will whiten their clothes with the blood of a lamb in the same way, a peasant with an ax will take power in madness, but he himself will cry afterward. The plague of Egypt will indeed come". (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
About a new turmoil
Perhaps the knowledge of fate explains much in the behavior of Nicholas II in recent years. His humility before his own fate, paralysis of will, political apathy. The Emperor saw his Golgotha and ascended it. And his fate, like the kings that preceded him, was predicted by the monk Abel.
"Blood and tears will water the damp earth. Bloody rivers will flow. Brother will rise up against brother. And packs: fire, a sword, an invasion of foreigners and an enemy, the godless internal power, the Jew will scourge the Russian land like a scorpion, rob its shrines, close the churches of God, execute the best people Russians. This is the permission of God, the wrath of the Lord for the denial of Russia from her God-anointed. And whether there will be! The Angel of the Lord is pouring out new bowls of calamity so that people come to their senses. Two wars, one more bitter than the other. The new Batu in the West will raise his hand. People between fire and flame. But it will not be destroyed from the face of the earth, as if the prayer of the tortured king". (Prophecies of the monk Abel)
A significant role in the dissemination of warning revelations was played by the prophetic monk Abel (Vasily Vasilyev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of the members of the family of the Russian throne and the entire Russian empire for the sins of the autocratic power.
A significant role in the dissemination of warning revelations was played by the prophetic monk Abel (Vasily Vasilyev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of the members of the family of the Russian throne and the entire Russian empire for the sins of the autocratic power. In historical materials, evidence of him as a seer of God has been preserved, in the uttered revelations he predicted major state upheavals in the Russian empire. What, respectively, for the impartial prophecies of God revealed to the Russian rulers, for this he had to endure the heavy burden of persecution, punishment and imprisonment by the vicious Russian government.
Having lived for more than 80 years, for his long life, for the uttered prophecies, he had to stay in prison for more than 20 years. Monk Abel, as a true prophet of God, who did not strive in earthly life to acquire material values, he had a very hard time carrying out a worthy prophetic service, but with self-forgetfulness, he devoted his life entirely to serving the Lord.
The rulers of the Russian state, having heard about God's prophet, immediately called him to them in order to receive flattering revelations about their reign, glorifying their power, strength and power. In accordance with how it happened before the furious wrath of the Lord in the corrupt Jewish government: "For these are a rebellious people, lying children, children who do not want to hear the law of the Lord, who say to seers: `cease to see,' and to the prophets: `do not prophesy us the truth, speak flattering things to us, predict pleasant things” (Is. 30:9-10).
Regardless of the faces of the Russian state leadership, the monk Abel showed them exactly those impartial God's revelations that they really deserved. The monk Abel pointed out to the Russian emperors about their sinful situation, pointed out the need for their correction and turning to Heaven, otherwise, warning that they would suffer tragic fates.
Of people, telling the truth in the eyes of the rulers, they are not loved in any state. They are either liquidated, or “conserved” for a long time in prisons, or, if the sovereign is a civilized person, they are simply deprived of citizenship and sent to tell the truth to other sovereigns. Actually, this is understandable. Well, what to do with people who make predictions to rulers? Predictions indicating the exact day of death, and besides, not at all a royal place - a toilet. "During the days great Catherine in the Solovetsky Monastery there lived a monk of high life. His name was Abel.
He was far-sighted, and his disposition was distinguished by the simplest, and because what was revealed to his spiritual eye, he announced publicly, not caring about the consequences. The hour came and he began to prophesy: they say, such and such a time will pass, and the Queen will die, and he even indicated what death. No matter how far the Solovki were from St. Petersburg, Abel's word soon reached the Secret Chancellery. Request to the abbot, and the abbot, without thinking twice, Abel - in the sleigh and in St. Petersburg; - and in St. Petersburg the conversation is short: they took and planted the prophet in the fortress ... ”This is how the prophets act in their own country. For his predictions, Abel was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress "under the strongest guard."
True, the essence of the prophecy, unfortunately, this has not changed. After the prediction of Abel, as they say, came into force - Catherine the Great died on that day and in that very place - the monk was amnestied by Paul I himself. The emperor wished to meet with the elder and listen to new forecasts from him. Abel described in detail the death of the emperor, and at the same time the unenviable future of the Romanov dynasty. Paul I swallowed it all, ordered the elder to give a prediction in writing; so a sealed envelope appeared in the Gatchina Palace ... Abel was released in peace to the Nevsky Monastery, for a new vows as a monk. It was there, at the second tonsure, that he received the name Abel.
But the prophet did not sit in the capital's monastery. Already a year after the conversation with Pavel, he appears in Moscow, where he gives predictions to local aristocrats and wealthy merchants for money. Having earned some money, the monk goes to the Valaam Monastery.
But even there, Abel does not live in peace: he again takes up the pen and writes books of predictions, where he reveals the imminent death of the emperor. The monk does not have the habit of writing on the table, so the entire monastery will learn about the content of the “centuries” of Russian Nostradamus. Some time later, by order of the emperor, Abel was brought in shackles to St. Petersburg and locked up in the Peter and Paul Fortress - "for disturbing the peace of mind of His Majesty." Immediately after the death of Paul I, Abel is again released from prison. Alexander I is already becoming the liberator of the prophetic monk. The new emperor warily sends the monk away, to the Solovetsky Monastery, without the right to leave the walls of the monastery. There, the monk writes another book in which he predicts the capture of Moscow by Napoleon in 1812 and the burning of the city.
The prediction reaches the king, and he orders to calm the imagination of Abel in the Solovetsky prison. But then the year 1812 comes, the Russian army surrenders Moscow to the French, and Belokamennaya, as the monk predicted, almost burns to the ground. Impressed, Alexander I orders: “Let Abel out of the Solovetsky Monastery, give him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries, provide him with money and clothes.” Once free, Abel decided not to annoy the royal family anymore, but went on a trip to the Holy places: he visited Athos, Jerusalem, Constantinople. Then he settled in the Trinity-Sergeeva Lavra. For some time he behaves quietly, until, after the accession of Nicholas I, he breaks through again. The new emperor did not like to stand on ceremony, therefore, “for humility”, he sent the monk to imprisonment in the Suzdal Spaso-Efimov Monastery, where in 1841 Abel presented himself to the Lord. For 60 years, this name did not annoy the House of Romanov, until one fine morning Nicholas II opened the envelope of Paul I.
What did Abel predict?
About Paul I
“Your reign will be short, and I see your sinful, fierce end. On Sophronius of Jerusalem from unfaithful servants you will accept a martyr's death, in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal chest. On Holy Saturday they will bury you... They, these villains, seeking to justify their great sin of regicide, will proclaim you insane, will vilify your good memory... But the Russian people with their truthful soul will understand and appreciate you and will bear their sorrows to your tomb , asking for your intercession and softening of the hearts of the unrighteous and cruel. The number of your years is like a beech count. The prediction that the Russian people will appreciate Paul I has not yet come true. If today we were to conduct a survey on the attitude of Russians to past autocrats, then Pavel would certainly be one of the outsiders.
About Alexander I
“The Frenchman will burn Moscow under Him, and He will take Paris from him and call him Blessed. But secret grief will become unbearable to Him, and the royal crown will seem heavy to Him. He will be righteous in the sight of God: he will be a white monk in the world. I saw above the Russian land the star of the great saint of God. It burns, it flares up. This ascetic will transform the whole fate of Alexandrov ... ". According to legend, Alexander I did not die in Taganrog, but turned into the elder Fyodor Kuzmich and went wandering around Russia.
About Nicholas I
“The beginning of the reign of your son Nicholas will begin with a fight, with a Voltairian rebellion. This will be an evil seed, a destructive seed for Russia. If it were not for the grace of God that covers Russia, then ... About a hundred years later, the House of the Most Holy Theotokos will become impoverished, the Russian State will turn into an abomination of desolation.
About Alexander II
“Your grandson, Alexander II, was destined by the Tsar-Liberator. He will fulfill your plan - he will free the peasants, and then he will beat the Turks and the Slavs will also give freedom from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive him for his great deeds, they will start hunting for him, they will kill him in the middle of a clear day, in the capital of a loyal subject with renegade hands. Like you, he will seal the feat of his service with royal blood ... "
About Alexander III
“The Tsar-Liberator is succeeded by the Tsar-Peacemaker, his son, and your great-grandson, Alexander the Third. Glorious will be his reign. He will lay siege to the accursed sedition, he will bring peace and order.
About Nicholas II
“To Nicholas II - the holy king, like Job, the long-suffering one. He will have the mind of Christ, long-suffering and dove-like purity. Scripture testifies about him: Psalms 90, 10 and 20 revealed to me his whole fate. He will replace the royal crown with a crown of thorns, he will be betrayed by his people, as once the Son of God. There will be a redeemer, he will redeem his people with himself - like a bloodless sacrifice. There will be a war, a great war, a world war. Through the air, people, like birds, will fly, under water, like fish, they will swim, they will begin to exterminate each other with a fetid gray. On the eve of victory, the royal throne will collapse. Change will grow and multiply. And your great-grandson will be betrayed, many of your descendants will whiten their clothes with the blood of a lamb in the same way, a peasant with an ax will take power in madness, but he himself will cry afterward. The plague of Egypt will indeed come."
About the new turmoil in Russia
“Blood and tears will water the damp earth. Bloody rivers will flow. Brother will rise up against brother. And again: fire, a sword, an invasion of foreigners and an enemy of internal godless power, a Jew will scour the Russian land like a scorpion, rob its shrines, close the churches of God, execute the best Russian people. This is the permission of God, the wrath of the Lord for the denial of Russia from her God-anointed. And whether there will be! The Angel of the Lord is pouring out new bowls of calamity so that people come to their senses. Two wars, one more bitter than the other. The new Batu in the West will raise his hand. People between fire and flame. But it will not be destroyed from the face of the earth, as if the prayer of the tortured king is sufficient for him.
The name of Emperor Paul I, one of the most tragic figures on the Russian throne, is associated with many mystical legends. Paul's life was amazingly full of omens, predictions, prophecies, often gloomy, promising misfortune and death.
The only but unloved son of Empress Catherine II, Pavel Petrovich, early felt his own rejection. His mother constantly tried to remove him from the court and even intended to transfer the royal crown, bypassing the crown prince, the legitimate heir to the throne, to his eldest grandson, Alexander Pavlovich. And yet, after the death of Catherine, it was Paul who was destined to ascend the throne. However, his reign was short-lived, ended in a terrible crime and left behind a bad memory.
Pavel from his youth was fond of mystical secrets that surrounded him like dark ghosts. He seemed to attract to himself and took all sorts of troubles to heart. Distinguished by a nervous, timid character, Paul could not indifferently perceive the gloomy prophecies concerning his own fate. It always seemed to him that this was not fiction at all, prophecies not only could come true, but it was about to happen. Of course, each person believes that he can deceive fate, avoid what was predicted, and Paul, to the best of his understanding, did everything he could to change the destiny. 
Tsesarevich Pavel Petrovich
Having spent his youth in Prussia, Paul became friends with Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, the nephew and heir of King Frederick II. Later, Friedrich Wilhelm, on the instructions of the Prussian king, came to St. Petersburg. The king was worried about the friendship of the members of the Russian imperial house with the Austrian emperor Joseph, whom he considered his competitor, and sent the heir prince to visit Catherine and Paul, hoping to neutralize the influence of the “Austrian”.
Catherine received the Prussian prince coldly, confident that he was just a dumb bumpkin, but Paul, who did not have many friends, found an interesting interlocutor in Friedrich Wilhelm. The prince was fascinated by esotericism and willingly talked about European trends in the search for sacred meaning life. Mystical philosophy, ancient gods of Valhalla, interpretation of runes, Holy Grail, spiritualism, secret knowledge ancient egypt, other worlds and the prediction of fate - all these were amazing and mysterious topics that the prince and Grand Duke discussed for hours, secluded in the palace library. Paul was attracted by everything mysterious and supernatural. 
Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia
When the Empress Catherine "honorably" escorted the dear Prussian guest home, Paul managed to establish a secret channel of correspondence with his new friend, and the prince continued to introduce the heir to the Russian throne to the world of esoteric secrets. This communication greatly influenced the formation of the views and interests of the Tsarevich. The predetermination of fate no longer seemed to him a strange and impossible thing, he saw in everything some kind of intervention of secret forces ...
One of the mystical incidents that happened to Tsarevich Paul became known from his own words, but, nevertheless, did not cause anyone to doubt the veracity of the narrator. This is a story about an allegedly amazing meeting between Grand Duke Paul and the spirit of his great-grandfather Peter I. According to legend, the words “poor Paul”, uttered by the ghost of the reformer tsar in the address of the Grand Duke, became a household word. But not everyone knows that this episode came to contemporaries and descendants due to the fact that Paul's story about what happened was recorded by none other than Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. Later, the name of the victorious Napoleon disappeared from the pages of books about Paul I (historians left the friendship of these two people “behind the screen”), and the story about the spirit of Peter, who appeared to Paul on the streets of St. Petersburg, roams through various sources, turning into a kind of myth...
Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov)
Kutuzov, in November 1791, appointed Russian envoy to the Ottoman Empire, came to Grand Duke Paul in Gatchina to say goodbye. They received Mikhail Illarionovich cordially, as always - not many high-ranking officials risked openly demonstrating warm feelings for the Tsarevich, fearing to displease the Empress, and Pavel Petrovich sincerely considered those who were above these petty intrigues to be his friends. At dinner the conversation touched upon various strange and mystical incidents. Pavel told about an amazing incident that happened to him, and Kutuzov, from fresh memory, wrote down his story. “... It happened three years ago, in early spring, -
Pavel started. - We sat up late with Kurakin, we talked a lot; and my head hurt. "Let's go, prince, let's take a walk along the embankment," I said. Come out, let's go. A lackey is in front, I am behind him, a little further is the prince, and behind him is another footman. It was dark, quiet. We go silently. Suddenly I see - on the left in the niche of the house is a tall man, wrapped in a raincoat, his hat pulled down over his eyes. “Who is this,” I think, “maybe a guardsman of which of the guards? I didn't call anyone." We go further, caught up with this man, and he inaudibly walked next to me. I even got a cold on my left side. "Who is it? I ask Kurakin in an undertone. "Where, Your Highness?" - "Goes to my left." “There is a wall to your left, there is no one,” the prince replies. I touched the wall with my hand, but he did not lag behind. And suddenly he spoke. The voice is muffled and low. "Paul!" - "What do you need?" I exploded. “Poor Pavel! Poor prince! - "Who are you?" - I ask. - "Who am I? I am the one who takes part in your destiny and who wants you not to be particularly attached to this world, because you will not stay in it for long. Live according to the laws of justice, and your end will be calm. Fear the reproach of conscience; for a noble soul there is no more severe punishment. Now goodbye. You will see me here again,” the man waved his hand, pointing to Senate Square, which we were just passing by. He took off his hat and smiled, I recognized my great-grandfather Peter the Great and cried out. "What's the matter with you, Your Highness?" asked Kurakin. I said nothing and looked around: my great-grandfather had already disappeared. Surprisingly, in the same place, mother erected a monument to him.
How sincere was Paul in this conversation? Maybe he slightly embellished the incident or to some extent wishful thinking (you won’t lie, you won’t tell, as they say), but he is unlikely to completely invent such an amazing story from beginning to end, and then fool respected people with his fantasies Lee was capable. This was not in keeping with the spirit of chivalry that Paul cultivated from his youth. The Grand Duke, presumably, had a certain vision ... Thanks to Kutuzov, this story (or legend) became widely known, but in the life of Pavel Petrovich there were still many mystical secrets, and not each of them received such wide publicity.
The Tsarevich told about the meeting with the late emperor and his mother, Empress Catherine II, and was sure that, under the impression of his story, she decided to erect a monument to Peter - the famous Bronze Horseman - exactly at the place indicated by the ghost of the great ruler.
Later, Paul claimed that he met the shadow of the famous ancestor of Peter I more than once, and could not hide the fear caused by these meetings. When in the Peter and Paul Fortress, during the solemn service on the occasion of the opening of the Bronze Horseman, the Metropolitan approached the tomb of Peter and, touching it with his staff, said: “Arise now, great monarch, and look at the works of your hands!”, Paul was horrified, waiting, that the great-grandfather would indeed rise from the tomb to admire the city he founded.
Other mystical stories associated with the name of Paul, could not have been composed by himself and seem at first glance absolutely incredible, and, nevertheless, are an example of a prophecy that has come true.
A certain Abel, a monk from the Kostroma monastery, who managed to predict the exact day and hour of the death of Empress Catherine a year before the sad event, ended up in prison for his “evil speeches”. From the inquiry into the case, conducted by a political investigation, Abel was saved only by the fact that the empress really died at the time indicated by him. Paul, who replaced the late empress on the throne, ordered the release of the soothsayer, appointed him an audience and asked him to tell about his own fate. Abel told ... He did not hide what concerned the terrible death of the emperor, because he saw the dying Paul with his inner eye.
Elder Abel
A lot of evidence of quite respected people has been preserved about the amazing predictions of Abel, including the future conqueror of the Caucasus, General A.P. Yermolov, who personally knew the elder. The illustrious general wrote in his memoirs: “At that time, a certain Abel lived in Kostroma, who was gifted with the ability to correctly predict the future. Once at the table of Governor Lump, Abel predicted the day and hour of the death of Empress Catherine with extraordinary fidelity. Having said goodbye to the inhabitants of Kostroma, he announced to them his intention to talk to the sovereign Pavel Petrovich, but was, by order of His Majesty, planted in a fortress, from which, however, he was soon released. ... Abel also predicted the day and hour of the death of Emperor Paul. Everything predicted by Abel literally came true..
Alas, Abel's revelations regarding the fate of Paul led the soothsayer only to a new imprisonment in the Valaam Monastery (from where the monk was released only by Emperor Alexander I, who ascended the throne through his father's blood).
General A.P. Ermolov
So, Pavel Petrovich did not believe Abel, but the prophecies were repeated ... One of the gloomy predictions was received by Pavel in the Ostankino estate of Count Sheremetev near Moscow. This place has long been considered "bad", often passed from hand to hand, and some of the owners of Ostankino tragically ended their lives. From century to century, there lived a legend about a humpbacked old woman who appears to people and tells about future misfortunes. Meetings with the old woman were so afraid that superstitious people they preferred not to visit Ostankino at all, if only not to receive a terrible prophecy. 
Count Nikolai Sheremetev
The owners of the estate in the eighteenth century were not very fond of this place, and only in the 1790s, under Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, Ostankino flourished. A new palace with a magnificent theater was erected, where the count's serf troupe gave performances. When Emperor Paul I arrived in Moscow in the spring of 1797 to traditionally be crowned king in the Moscow Kremlin, on May 1 Count Nikolai Sheremetev gave a sumptuous reception for the Emperor in Ostankino. At the moment of celebration, a hunchbacked old woman in rags suddenly appeared before the emperor. No one could understand where she came from. They tried to kick her out, but for some reason it failed. The old woman kept trying to say something to the sovereign, and Pavel Petrovich, becoming interested, asked to be left alone with the unknown old woman. What they talked about remained a mystery, but after this conversation, Paul said to the owner of the house: “Now I know when I will be killed ...”
Ostankino
Pavel Petrovich took the old woman's words with attention, but still did not fully believe them. A prediction is a prediction; may or may not come true. The emperor took care of his own security measures. He alienated from himself people who, in his opinion, one way or another could join the conspirators. Moreover, potential conspirators began to be actively searched for... Members of the Smolensk officers' political circle, founded by Alexander Kakhovsky, the uncle of the Decembrist Pyotr Kakhovsky, were suspected of plotting against the emperor and punished. The activity of the political circle was stopped...
While Paul reigned, he had a chance to escape what was predicted. He knew that the Smolensk free-thinkers, who took as their motto the words: "To the Sovereign!", often called on each other to take up arms in order to overthrow the monarchy. The idea that some desperate heads might try to storm the royal palace did not seem wild and improbable to him. Starting the construction of a new metropolitan residence, he decided to turn the palace into a real fortress.
Pavel cherished the dream of building his own palace in St. Petersburg ever since he traveled to European capitals in his youth and got acquainted with the residences of foreign rulers. But it was this palace, named after St. Michael Mikhailovsky, that became the personification of gloomy secrets ...
“I would like to die where I was born,” Paul I once threw a careless phrase.
Probably, Pavel Petrovich meant that he dreams of living all his life in his homeland, never knowing what exile is. Maybe he was talking about St. Petersburg, a city that since childhood he loved more than Moscow. But fate fulfilled the wish of the emperor literally ... 
Catherine gave birth to Pavel in the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, built on the Moika, opposite the Summer Garden. Having ascended the throne, Paul ordered to dismantle the dilapidated Summer Palace and build in its place a new imperial residence, which he had dreamed of for so long. It was here that he was destined to meet his death.
Pavel Petrovich entrusted construction management to Vasily Bazhenov. The talented architect at one time fell under the disgrace of Catherine, but he found a patron in the person of Grand Duke Paul. Bazhenov developed all the initial projects of the new palace. In February 1797, the imperial couple laid the first bricks and a foundation board into the foundation of the building with their own hands. But after returning from Moscow after the coronation celebrations (and the fateful prediction of the Ostankino old woman), Pavel decisively changed his approach to the principles of construction. The new palace began to be called a castle, and impregnability was now considered its main advantage. It was necessary to build in such a way that potential intruders under no circumstances could get into the emperor's chambers. (It never occurred to Paul that there would be intruders among those close to him who entered his rooms). To implement the emperor's new ideas, another architect, Vincenzo Brenne, was invited, since Bazhenov did not want to redo his project on the go. 
The building was surrounded by water on all sides - Moika, Fontanka and two artificial canals made its walls impregnable; only on drawbridges it was possible to enter the gates of the castle. At night, the bridges were raised, and the castle turned out to be on an impregnable island. The area in front of the facade of the building was reinforced with moats and a granite parapet with semi-bastions. Here you could take a real fight.
From the chambers of Pavel Petrovich, located on the second floor, a secret staircase led to the lower rooms, well disguised from prying eyes. Pavel believed that in case of danger he would be able to leave the castle and hide. Alas, what was planned speculatively did not help in case of real danger - it was possible to get on the stairs only from a small vestibule between Paul's bedroom and the library, and the conspirators, who burst into the emperor's bedroom just from the side of the library, cut off his retreat ...
Another secret staircase did not lead down, but up - above the chambers of the emperor were the rooms of his favorite, Katenka Lopukhina-Gagarina, whom the emperor was going to visit whenever he pleased.
The bedroom of Pavel's wife Maria Feodorovna also adjoined his bedroom, their rooms were separated only by a door. Apparently, despite some cooling, Pavel Petrovich was not going to infringe on his wife in anything: her chambers, overlooking the Summer garden, were splendidly finished, she could at any moment enter the adjacent bedroom to her husband, but ... Soon Pavel Petrovich preferred to lock this door with a key.
Empress Maria Feodorovna
Pavel I expected to build the building in a rough draft in one year and spend another year on furnishing and finishing. He hoped that he would be safe in his new home, the prophecies would not come true, and fate could be deceived. But construction works progress was not as fast as he would have liked. All forces were thrown at the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle. Pavel hurried the builders - it seemed to him that only the walls of the Mikhailovsky Castle could protect him from trouble. For the sake of building materials, Catherine's dacha in Pella and some buildings in Tsarskoe Selo were dismantled; for the castle they even used marble prepared for the decoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Finishing materials it took a lot. Pavel personally thought over the interiors and design details, the plots of the paintings and the style of stucco, attaching great importance to military symbols. Some of the "finds" of the emperor shocked his contemporaries - on the chest of the double-headed eagle, the coat of arms of Russia, the image of which adorned the premises of the castle, there was a large eight-pointed Maltese cross; and the first thing that a visitor came across when climbing the front staircase of the castle was a marble sculpture in a niche, and it depicted ... Cleopatra dying after being bitten by a snake. In this story, too, they will soon see a bad omen ... 
Those subjects of Emperor Paul who were distinguished by religious sentiments were offended by the inscription made on the frieze of the main portal: "The shrine of the Lord is fitting for your house in the longitude of days." It was a modified line from a psalm of David, and these changes seemed to all audacious blasphemy. After all, the psalm spoke of the holiness of the Lord's House, that is, the temple: "Holiness befits your house, Lord ..."
The construction of the castle was nearing completion. ended and Last year turbulent eighteenth century - 1800. As always at the turn of the century there was no shortage of predictions. Those of them that concerned the fate of the crowned were still rather gloomy. On Christmas Eve, a rumor spread around St. Petersburg: the holy fool Xenia, who lives at the Smolensk cemetery, prophesies a quick death for Emperor Paul. “The tsar-father will live for as many years as the letters were inscribed on his new house,” said the blessed old woman, known in the city for her amazing prophecies. The townspeople rushed to the Mikhailovsky Castle to count the letters. “The holiness of the Lord is fitting for your house in the length of days” - it turned out 47 letters ... The forty-seventh year of the emperor's life fell on the upcoming year 1801. Petersburg froze in anticipation ... 
On February 1, 1801, Emperor Pavel and his family moved to the barely completed and not yet fully finished Mikhailovsky Castle. There were 40 days left before the fatal night that brought him death... The emperor's nerves were stretched to the limit. Pavel was disturbed by terrible visions, sometimes it seemed to him that blood was flowing along the walls of the palace ... These were just stains of dampness on wet plaster, but the emperor looked at everything through the prism of mystical secrets. He understood that many subjects would prefer to see his son Alexander on the throne, and could not help but remind Sashka of the bitter fate of another Tsarevich - Alexei Petrovich, who dared to stand up against his own father, Tsar Peter I. Alexander seems to have understood the hint ...
On the night of March 11-12, a group of conspirators led by the governor of St. Petersburg, Count Palen, broke into the emperor's chambers. Pavel was doomed... The conspirators, mostly guards officers, who gave the emperor an oath of allegiance, killed him with incredible cruelty. The next morning, the people announced that the sovereign had died from a sudden apoplexy. A black joke spread around St. Petersburg that there was an apoplexy blow to the temple with a snuffbox.
Emperor Paul could not deceive fate. An incredible prediction came true ... To the throne Russian Empire the new sovereign Alexander I entered.
Monument to Paul I, erected in the courtyard of the Mikhailovsky Castle in 2003
Many Petersburgers are sure that the shadow of the murdered emperor still walks through the halls of the Mikhailovsky Castle. Somewhere in the empty rooms of the castle, parquet creaks, as if the sound of footsteps is heard, then spurs tinkle, then the sounds of a harpsichord are heard, then the light of a candle flickers ... By themselves, in the complete absence of wind, doors slam and windows swing open. The employees of the museum, which has now been turned into the Mikhailovsky Castle, have an unwritten rule: as soon as you hear a mysterious sound closer to the night, you should turn your face in the direction from which it came, bow respectfully and say: “Good night, your Majesty!”. And then the spirit of Emperor Paul, touched by attention, will calm down and will not cause any harm.
On November 2, 1894, Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor, ascended the throne. With all death royal family During the Revolution of 1918, the monarchy in Russia fell. That this would happen, Nicholas II knew in advance. We have collected several mysterious predictions that were made to the emperor.
1. While still heir to the throne, in 1891, Nicholas II went to trip around the world, which ended in Japan. On April 29, according to the old style, an attempt was made on him by a Japanese fanatic. A few days earlier, by chance, he met near Kyoto with a Buddhist hermit and soothsayer Terakuto. In the memoirs of the translator accompanying Nicholas, Marquis Ito, there is a record of the prophecy of this hermit. Terakuto predicted danger to the prince's life: "Danger hovers over your head, but death will recede, and the cane will be stronger than the sword, and the cane will shine with brilliance." Indeed, the fanatic hit him on the head with a sword, but Prince George, who accompanied the crown prince, prevented the second blow with his cane. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, by order of Alexander III, this cane was decorated with many diamonds and really “shone”. The second part of Terakuto's prophecy is less known: "...Great sorrows and upheavals await you and your country... Everyone will be against you... You will sacrifice for all your people, as a redeemer for their recklessness...". All those who accompanied him in those days (even before the assassination attempt) noted that the emperor was deeply saddened. Nevertheless, Nikolai was very young then and hardly thought deeply about the second part of the prediction.
2. The second prediction about his violent death, Nicholas II learned in August 1896, when shortly after the coronation he was with his wife Alexandra on an official visit to England. The Russian Emperor learned about the prediction of the astrologer Louis Hamon, better known under the pseudonym Cairo, from the Prince of Wales, the future King of Great Britain. The fact is that shortly before the visit of Nicholas II, the prince asked a famous astrologer to make a forecast for his relatives. Cairo had a special talent for predicting natural or other death. famous people. Luis Hamon himself died in California in 1936, exactly at the time and place he had predicted for himself. Nicholas's birth data sheet read: “Whoever this man may be, his date of birth, numbers and other data show that during his life he will often deal with the danger of the horrors of war and bloodshed; that he will do everything in his power to prevent it, but his Fate is so deeply connected with such things that his name will be tacked to the two most bloody and damned wars that have ever been known, and that at the end of the Second War he will lose everything he loved most; his family will be slaughtered and he himself will be forcibly killed” (“Heiro's Memoirs”, 2008).
3. March 1901 marked the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Paul the Great. All Russian tsars after him knew that in the Gatchina Palace his widow, Maria Fedorovna, left a special casket with a letter from the monk Abel sealed by Paul's personal seal: "To open to my descendant on the 100th day of my death." True, since the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, mistress of the Gatchina Palace and mother of Nikolai, was in Denmark in March 1901, Nikolai and Alexandra got acquainted with this letter, apparently in April, when she returned to Gatchina. “That morning, the Sovereign and Empress were very lively and cheerful, planning to go from the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace to Gatchina to reveal the age-old secret. They were preparing for this trip as for a festive merry walk, which promised them uncommon entertainment. They set off merrily, but returned pensive and sad, and they said nothing to anyone, not even to me, with whom they had the habit of sharing their impressions, about what they found in that casket. After this trip, I noticed that the Sovereign began to recall the future year of 1918 as fatal for him personally and for the dynasty. (Memoirs of M.F. Goeringer, Chief Kamerfrau of Empress Alexandra).
What was in this letter remains a mystery. In 1930, the “historical legend The Prophetic Monk” was published in Berlin - World War I veteran Pyotr Nikolaevich Shabelsky-Bork, known for his collection of rarities from the time of Paul the First, published this letter in the form of a dialogue between Paul the First and Abel. It is known that Nikolai and Alexandra returned from Gatchina very gloomy and saddened. That April, Nikolai went to Gatchina five more times to visit his mother. From the same time, evidence begins that Nikolai "is not afraid of anything until 1917."
4. On July 20, 1903, at the celebrations of glorification in Sarov, Nicholas II was presented with a message from the illustrious holy land of Russia, Reverend Seraphim of Sarov, to whom his great-great-grandfather Alexander I traveled to the desert. . It is not known what was in the letter. According to eyewitnesses, Nikolai hid this thick package over the side of his uniform and said that he would read it in the evening. And after that, she and Alexandra went to the illustrious blessed Pasha of Sarov, with a large retinue, with all the great princes. At this meeting, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna almost fainted, shouting: "It's not true, I don't believe you." They left the cell in full view of the whole retinue, simply dead. Some say that Nicholas II had tears in his eyes. The fact is that the blessed Pasha, already in front of witnesses, predicted to Nicholas and Alexander the bitter fate of Russia and their tragic end.
But what was in the letter of Seraphim of Sarov? Probably, in the evening, Nicholas II read the message of Seraphim. The journal of the Valaam Society of America, The Russian Pilgrim, reported in 1990: “Princess Natalia Vladimirovna Urusova was in correspondence with E. Yu. Kontsevich, who left us letters, as well as Memoirs of the late princess. Here is what she reports: “I know about the prophecy of St. Seraphim about the fall and restoration of Russia; I personally know this. When Yaroslavl burned at the beginning of 1918 and I fled with my children to Sergiev Posad, then there I met Count Olsufiev, still relatively young. In order to save some documents that should be destroyed by the diabolical power of Bolshevism, he managed to get a job at the library of the Trinity-Sergius Academy. Soon he was shot. He once brought me a letter to read, with the words: "I keep this as the apple of my eye". The letter, yellowed with time, with heavily faded ink, was written by his own hand. Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky - Motovilov. The letter contained a prediction about the horrors and disasters that would befall Russia, and I only remember what was said in it about the pardon and salvation of Russia.
Every Russian knows Nostradamus and his prophecies. Although this medieval poet and physician was not really a soothsayer, his so-called "prophecies" are known more for their exaggerated popularity than for their real value. A true soothsayer, capable of not only foreseeing the future with amazing certainty, but also writing entire books of prophecy, lived with us in Russia. This man was Vasily Vasiliev, who became famous as the monk Abel. His predictions foretold the death of many Russian emperors.
The predictions of the monk Abel for rulers are a special article. Since ancient times, every ruler always had his own court seer. Predictors of the future were especially in demand in the east, because even the founder of medicine Avicenna himself made horoscopes and studied the influence of planets on the fate of people.
There were enough prophets in Russia too, but the most amazing and, perhaps, the most famous is the monk Abel. According to historical records and archival documents, all of his predictions of the monk Abel about the emperors of Russia came true with incredible accuracy. However, the figure of the monk Abel is so overgrown with myths that it is not known whether some facts about his life are true or fiction.
Biography
Here in the biographical dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron is: “Abel monk-soothsayer, was born in 1757. Peasant origin. For his predictions of the days and hours of the death of Catherine II and Paul I, the invasion of the French and the burning of Moscow, he was imprisoned many times, and in total he spent about 20 years in prison. By order of Emperor Nicholas I, he was imprisoned in the Spaso-Efimevsky Monastery, where he died in 1841. A short, dry reference, behind which is almost the fate of Russia.
The future prophet was born in the village of Akulovo, Tula region. And he lived for himself, like all the peasants of that time, not shining with talents, until the age of 28. Toward the middle of his life, Vasily suddenly abandoned his family and went to the Valaam Monastery, where he took the tonsure under the name of the monk Adam. The reason for leaving was that the parents forcibly married Vasily, who himself had no desire to get a wife and was generally considered an unsociable person (which did not prevent him from having three children).
Adam lived in a monastery for a year, and then asked the abbot for leave and went to the skete. And it was there, escaping in prayer and loneliness, that Adam received the gift of prophecy. He himself wrote in his books that he had visions, as if a voice called him to heaven and showed him a book there, which contained many secrets of the earthly world. Adam read from there what concerned the Romanov dynasty and Russia - to the very end, and then the voice told him to convey what he had read to the emperor, more precisely, to Empress Catherine the Great, who then ruled Russia.
In order to fulfill the will of unknown forces, Adam went across Russia, and when he ended up in the Nikolo-Babevsky Monastery, he wrote his first book there, in which he said in plain text that Catherine would rule for only 40 years (and the fortieth year had just come her reign), that the throne is inherited not by her beloved grandson Alexander, but by her son Paul, and stuff like that.
When Catherine found out about this, she became furious and ordered the monk to be caught, cut and put in prison. Peter and Paul Fortress. Adam was indeed cut off and taken into custody. He was under arrest until the predictions of the monk Abel began to come true and the empress died at the time he predicted ...
Of course, Paul I, who generally believed in all sorts of mystical phenomena and prophecies, became interested in the prophetic monk. Prince Kurakin, after the death of Catherine, became the Prosecutor General of the Senate - it was he who brought the book of predictions of this newly-born prophet to the emperor. As a result, a conversation took place between the ruler and the Tula defrocked monk.
What they were talking about, no one knew exactly then, and today it is completely unknown. But it is believed that Adam directly told Paul the date of his death: “Your reign will be short. On Sophronius of Jerusalem (a saint whose day of remembrance coincides with the day of the death of the emperor) in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal chest. It is said in the Gospel: "The enemies of a man are his household," - this is how some sources quote this revelation. And one more thing: supposedly the monk revealed to the tsar the whole future of his descendants and all of Russia.
However, most likely, this is a beautiful fiction. If the monk Abel had predicted such a death for Paul, then it is unlikely that Paul issued the highest rescript on December 14, 1796, commanding, at Adam's desire, to tonsure him again as a monk.
When Vasily Vasilyev was tonsured again, he received the name by which he is known as one of the most sinister and accurate soothsayers in Russia. After that, the monk went on a journey - he first lived in St. Petersburg, then ended up in Moscow, where for some time he prophesied and predicted for money to everyone, and then briefly returned to Valaam, where he wrote his second book.
In this work, he predicted the death of the emperor who warmed him. And then he showed his creation to the abbot. He was frightened and sent the book to St. Petersburg Metropolitan Ambrose. Ambrose gave the book to the right person, and lo and behold, it ended up in the hands of Paul. The book indicated not only the death of the emperor and its detailed description and time, but also said why he was destined for such a death - for an unfulfilled promise to build a church and dedicate it to Archangel Michael. Paul, according to the monk, has as much left to live as there should be letters in the inscription above the gates of the Mikhailovsky Castle, which is being built instead of the promised church.
Paul, of course, was indignant at such ingratitude and ordered him to be imprisoned again in the very fortress from which he had been released. And he spent as much time there as during the previous imprisonment - ten months and ten days. Exactly until this prediction of the monk Abel came true ... True, it is believed that Paul, although he was angry with the monk, nevertheless ordered all his prophecies regarding the Romanov dynasty to be written down and locked in a casket, which was allowed to be opened exactly after a hundred years after the death of the king.
The monk Abel himself was taken under escort to the Solovetsky Monastery and forbidden to walk around Russia and confuse minds. But he was not going to wander - he sat down for a new book, in which he described the fire of 1812 and other horrors of the war with the French. These predictions of the monk Abel so shocked those who read them that the third book fell into the hands of the third emperor, Alexander I. The young tsar was also not happy with such a prophecy and ordered Abel to be imprisoned in Solovki and not released from there until the predicted came true.
And it came true. Then Alexander ordered that the prophet come to him in St. Petersburg, even sending money for travel and a passport. True, hegumen Hilarion, who treated the imprisoned monk very badly, fearing royal disgrace, did not want to let him go. And only after receiving the prediction of the monk Abel about the death of his own and all the other monks of the monastery, he got scared and sent the predictor away. True, this did not help and the prophecy came true - a strange illness claimed both Illarion himself and his wards.
And the soothsayer arrived in Petersburg and had a conversation with Prince Golitsyn. It is not known what he told him there, but Golitsyn hurried to send the soothsayer on pilgrimages to holy places and with all his might prevented his meeting with the emperor. Moreover, a decree was issued by which the monk Abel was forbidden to publicly prophesy and generally make predictions. For disobedience, a prison threatened.
Therefore, Abel did not predict anything for quite a long time, but only traveled to holy places and corresponded with noble ladies and nobles, who did not lose hope of receiving any valuable prophecy from him.
However, over the years of his life in the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery, the soothsayer nevertheless wrote another book, The Life and Suffering of the Father and Monk Abel, hinting at his holiness with the title. The book contained many complex and incomprehensible mystical drawings, a description of the creation of the world and detailed story about his life, meetings with kings, about visions and wanderings.
Alexander I, of course, was informed about the new predictions of the monk Abel, who spoke of the death of the emperor, but the emperor did not take any punitive measures against him. Maybe because he received a similar divination from Seraphim of Sarov. Both "forecasts", as you know, came true.
Therefore, Abel could safely prophesy further, which he did. This time he spoke publicly about the fate of the new emperor - Nicholas I. But the monk, taught by bitter experience - after the prediction of the monk Abel flew around Moscow and St. Petersburg - disappeared from the monastery and went on the run.
However, Nicholas I did not understand humor and was not afraid of predictors. Abel was caught rather quickly - in his native village, where he returned after many years, and imprisoned in the prison department of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimevsky Monastery.
From there he never left. This one is buried amazing person behind the altar of the monastic Nikolskaya church. None of his books - and it is not even known exactly how many of them he wrote three or five - has survived. The records of predictions that were in the casket that went to Nicholas II also disappeared. All the prophecies of the "Russian Nostradamus" are known only from letters and documents, fragments and inaccurate quotations.
Little information has come down to us about the most terrible book written by the soothsayer - a book about the coming of the Antichrist. Allegedly, the monk indicated the exact date of the end of the world. But where this book is now and who is reading it is unknown. Maybe this is for the best - and so there are enough black predictions and unkind prophecies in our dysfunctional world.
