The prophecy of the monk Abel: the death of three Russian emperors and the downfall of the empire. The Mystery of History: The Ominous Predictions of Monk Abel
He was a prophet who foretold the main events of the 19th and 20th centuries. The seer Abel also 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 exact accordance with the prophecy of Abel, the monk was amnestied by Paul I. The emperor wished to meet with the elder and hear from him new predictions. 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, sinful, fierce end of yours. You will accept a martyr's death against Sophronius of Jerusalem from the unfaithful servants, in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal bosom. On Holy Saturday they will bury you ... They, these villains, striving to justify their great sin of regicide, will proclaim you insane, they 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 the softening of the hearts of the unrighteous and cruel. The number of your years is like a beech account"(Prophecies of the monk Abel)
The prediction that the Russian people will appreciate Paul I has not yet come true. If today they conducted a survey about the attitude of Russians to the 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 tonsure. It was there, during the second tonsure, that he received the name Abel. But the prophet did not sit in the capital monastery. A year after talking with Pavel, he appears in Moscow, where for money he gives predictions to local aristocrats and wealthy merchants. After earning some money, the monk goes to the Valaam monastery. But Abel does not live peacefully there either: he again takes up his pen and writes books of predictions, where he reveals the imminent death of the emperor. Abel in shackles is brought 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 is released from prison again. This time Alexander I became the liberator. The new emperor sent the monk to the Solovetsky Monastery with a warning, 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 with Him, and He will take Paris from him and will be called the Blessed. But the secret grief will become unbearable to Him, and the crown of the Royal Feat of service to the Royal will seem heavy to Him He will replace with the feat of fasting and prayer. He will be righteous in the eyes 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, flares up. This ascetic will fulfill the whole destiny of Aleksandrov ..."(Prophecies of the monk Abel)
According to legend, Alexander I did not die in Taganrog, but turned into the elder Fyodor Kuzmich and went to wander 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 ashes, 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 clothing ". Once free, Abel decided not to annoy him anymore. royal family, and went on a journey to the Holy Places: visited Athos, Jerusalem, Constantinople. Then he settles in the Trinity-Sergeeva Lavra. For a while, it behaves quietly, until, after the accession of Nicholas I, it breaks through again. The new emperor did not like to stand on ceremony, so "for humility" he sent the monk to prison in the Suzdal Spaso-Efimovsky Monastery, where in 1841 Abel reposed to the Lord.
"The beginning of the reign of your son Nicholas will begin with a fight, a Voltairean rebellion. This will be a malicious seed, a harmful seed for Russia. If not the grace of God covering Russia, then ... About a hundred years after that, 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, even a certain cult arose among intellectuals: they wanted to make the monk Abel a Russian Nostradamus. God saved - the letter that Abel gave to Paul I "was waiting in the wings" in the Gatchina Palace. According to the will of the emperor, it was to be opened 100 years after the death of Paul.
"Your grandson, Alexander the Second, destined Tsar-Liberator. Your plan will be fulfilled - he will free the peasants, and then he will beat the Turks and give the Slavs freedom from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive him for great deeds, they will start hunting for him, kill him in the middle of a clear day, in the capital loyal to the hands of the renegade. 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 Nikolai and his family arrived at the Gatchina Palace. According to the recollections, they were cheerful and cheerful. However, after reading the letter, Nikolai's mood seriously deteriorated.
"The Tsar-Liberator will be inherited by the Tsar-Peacemaker, his son, and your great-grandson, Alexander III. His reign will be glorious. He will besiege the accursed sedition, he will establish peace and order." (Prophecies of Monk Abel)
About Nicholas II
What he read made Nicholas II seriously think ...
« Nicholas II - the holy tsar, Job the long-suffering like. He will have the mind of Christ, patience and dove-like purity. Scripture testifies to him: Psalms 90, 10 and 20 revealed to me his whole destiny. He will replace the royal crown with a wreath of thorns, he will be betrayed by his people, as the Son of God once did. The Redeemer will, will redeem his people - like a bloodless sacrifice. There will be war Great War, world. In the air, people, like birds, will fly, under water, like fish, they will swim, they will begin to destroy each other with a gray fetid smell. On the eve of victory, the royal throne will collapse. Treason 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 man with an ax will take power in madness, but he himself will weep afterwards. There will truly be an Egyptian execution"(Prophecies of the monk Abel)
About a new turmoil
Perhaps the knowledge of fate explains a lot in the behavior of Nicholas II in recent years. His humility before his own fate, paralysis of will, political apathy. The emperor saw his calvary 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, sword, invasion of foreigners and the enemy is the inner power of godlessness, the Jew will scourge the Russian land with a scorpion, rob its shrines, close the churches of God, execute the best people Russians. This is God's permission, the Lord's wrath for Russia's renunciation of her Anointed One. And then there will still be! The Angel of the Lord is pouring out new bowls of calamity so that people come into the mind. Two wars, one more bitter than the other, will be. New Batu In the West will raise his hand. The 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 dominates him"(Prophecies of the monk Abel)
A significant role in the dissemination of warning revelations was played by the prophetic monk Abel (Vasily Vasiliev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of the family members 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 Vasiliev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of the family members of the Russian throne and the entire Russian empire for the sins of the autocratic power. Historical materials have preserved evidence of him as a seer of God, in the revelations uttered he predicted major state upheavals in the Russian Empire. What, accordingly, for the unpleasant prophecies of God revealed to the Russian rulers, for this he had to endure the heavy burden of persecution, punishment and imprisonment from the vicious Russian government.
Having lived more than 80 years, during his long life, for the prophecies being spoken, he had to stay in prison for over 20 years. Monk Abel, as a true prophet of God, who did not strive in earthly life for the acquisition of material values, he had a very difficult time to carry a worthy prophetic ministry, but with self-forgetfulness, he completely devoted his life to serving the Lord.
The rulers of the Russian state, having heard about God's prophet, immediately called him to themselves in order to receive flattering revelations about their rule, glorifying their power, strength and might. In accordance with how it happened before the fierce wrath of the Lord in the corrupted Jewish government: “For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children who do not want to listen to the law of the Lord, who say to the seers:“ stop seeing ”, and to the prophets:“ do not prophesy truth to us, tell us flattering things, predict pleasant things ”(Is.30: 9-10).
Regardless of the faces of the Russian state leadership, monk Abel showed them exactly those unpleasant revelations of God that they really deserved. Monk Abel pointed out to the Russian emperors about their sinful position, pointed out the need to correct them and turn to Heaven, otherwise, warning that tragic fate would befall them.
Of people, speaking the truth in the eyes of the rulers, they are not loved in any state. They are either liquidated, or "canned" for a long time in prisons, or, if the sovereign is a civilized person, they are simply deprived of their 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, it is not at all a royal place - the toilet. "During the days great Catherine in the Solovetsky Monastery there lived a monk of high life. His name was Abel.
He was perspicacious, and had a simple disposition, and because it opened up to his spiritual eye, he announced publicly, not caring about the consequences. The hour came and he began to prophesy: say, such and such a time will pass, and the Tsarina will die, and he even indicated by what death. No matter how far Solovki were from St. Petersburg, the word of Abel soon reached the Secret Chancellery. Request to the abbot, and the abbot, without thinking twice, Abel - to the sleigh and to St. Petersburg; - and in St. Petersburg the conversation is short: they took the prophet into the fortress ... ”This is how the prophets do 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, did not change. After the prediction of Abel, as they say, came into force - Catherine the Great died on that day and in the same place - the monk was amnestied by Paul I. The emperor wished to meet with the elder and hear from him new predictions. Abel described in detail the death of the emperor, and at the same time the unenviable future of the Romanov dynasty. Paul I swallowed all this, ordered the elder to give a prediction in writing; this is how a sealed envelope appeared in the Gatchina Palace ... Abel was released in peace to the Nevsky Monastery for a new monastic tonsure. It was there, during the second tonsure, that he received the name Abel.
But the prophet did not sit in the capital monastery. A year after talking with Pavel, he appears in Moscow, where for money he gives predictions to local aristocrats and wealthy merchants. After earning some money, the monk goes to the Valaam monastery.
But Abel does not live peacefully there either: he again takes up his 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 whole monastery will learn about the content of the "centurias" of Russian Nostradamus. After some time, by order of the emperor, Abel was brought in shackles to St. Petersburg and locked up in the Peter and Paul Fortress - "for the indignation of the peace of mind of his majesty." Immediately after the death of Paul I, Abel is released from prison again. Alexander I is already becoming the liberator of the prophetic monk. The new emperor cautiously 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 comes 1812, the Russian army surrenders Moscow to the French, and White Stone, as the monk predicted, almost burns to the ground. Impressed, Alexander I orders: "Abel be released from the Solovetsky Monastery, give him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries, and provide him with money and clothing." 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 settles in the Trinity-Sergeeva Lavra. For a while, it behaves quietly, until, after the accession of Nicholas I, it breaks through again. The new emperor did not like to stand on ceremony, therefore, "for humility", he sent the monk to prison in the Suzdal Spaso-Efimovsky monastery, where in 1841 Abel introduced 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, sinful, fierce end of yours. You will accept a martyr's death against Sophronius of Jerusalem from the unfaithful servants, in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal bosom. On Holy Saturday they will bury you ... They, these villains, striving to justify their great sin of regicide, will proclaim you insane, they 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 the softening of the hearts of the unrighteous and cruel. The number of your years is like the counting of a beech. " The prediction that the Russian people will appreciate Paul I has not yet come true. If today we were to conduct a survey about the attitude of Russians to the past autocrats, then Pavel would certainly be one of the outsiders.
About Alexander I
“The Frenchman will burn Moscow with Him, but He will take Paris from him and be called the Blessed. But the secret grief will become unbearable to Him, and the crown of the Royal Feat of service to the Royal will seem heavy to Him He will replace with the feat of fasting and prayer. He will be righteous in the eyes 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, flares up. This ascetic will fulfill the whole destiny of Aleksandrov ... ". According to legend, Alexander I did not die in Taganrog, but turned into the elder Fyodor Kuzmich and went to wander around Russia.
About Nicholas I
“The beginning of the reign of your son Nicholas will begin with a fight, a Voltairean rebellion. This will be a malicious seed, a harmful seed for Russia. If not the grace of God covering Russia, then ... About a hundred years after that, 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 the Second, destined Tsar-Liberator. Your plan will be fulfilled - he will free the peasants, and then he will beat the Turks and give the Slavs freedom from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive him for great deeds, they will start hunting for him, kill him in the middle of a clear day, in the capital loyal to the hands of the renegade. Like you, he will seal the feat of his service with the royal blood ... "
About Alexander III
“The Tsar-Liberator is inherited by the Tsar-Peacemaker, his son, and your great-grandson, Alexander the Third. His reign will be glorious. He will besiege the accursed sedition, he will bring peace and order. "
About Nicholas II
“Nicholas the Second - a holy tsar, Job like a long-suffering one. He will have the mind of Christ, patience and dove-like purity. Scripture testifies to him: Psalms 90, 10 and 20 revealed to me his whole destiny. He will replace the royal crown with a wreath of thorns, he will be betrayed by his people, as the Son of God once did. The Redeemer will, will redeem his people - like a bloodless sacrifice. There will be war, a great war, world war. In the air, people, like birds, will fly, under water, like fish, they will swim, they will begin to destroy each other with a gray fetid smell. On the eve of victory, the royal throne will collapse. Treason 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 man with an ax will take power in madness, but he himself will weep afterwards. There will truly be an Egyptian execution. "
On the new turmoil in Russia
“Blood and tears will water the damp earth. Bloody rivers will flow. Brother will rise up against brother. And packs: fire, sword, invasion of foreigners and the enemy is an internal godless power, the Jew will scourge the Russian land with a scorpion, rob its shrines, close the churches of God, execute the best Russian people. This is God's permission, the Lord's wrath for Russia's renunciation of her Anointed One. And then there will still be! The Angel of the Lord is pouring out new bowls of calamity so that people come into the mind. Two wars, one more bitter than the other, will be. New Batu In the West will raise his hand. The 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 dominates him. "
Many mystical legends are associated with the name of Emperor Paul I, one of the most tragic figures on the Russian throne. Paul's life was amazingly full of omens, predictions, prophecies, more often gloomy, promising trouble and death.
The only but unloved son of Empress Catherine II, Pavel Petrovich felt his own rejection early on. His mother constantly tried to remove him from the court and even intended to transfer the royal crown to the eldest grandson, Alexander Pavlovich, bypassing the Tsarevich son, the legal heir to the throne. 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 an unkind memory.
From his youth, Paul was fond of mystical secrets that surrounded him like dark ghosts. He seemed to attract and take all sorts of troubles to heart. Distinguished by a nervous, fearful character, Paul could not indifferently perceive the gloomy prophecies concerning his own fate. It always seemed to him that these were not fictions at all, the prophecies not only could come true, but it was about to happen. Of course, everyone believes that he can deceive fate, avoid the foretold, and Paul, to the best of his understanding, did everything he could to change the destiny. 
Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich
Having visited Prussia in his youth, Paul became friends with Prince Frederick William, nephew and heir to King Frederick II. Later, Frederick 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 rival, 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 lump, but Paul, who did not have so many friends, found an interesting companion in Friedrich Wilhelm. The prince was fascinated by esotericism and willingly talked about European trends in the search sacred meaning life. Mystical philosophy, the ancient gods of Valhalla, the interpretation of the runes, the Holy Grail, spiritualism, secret knowledge Ancient egypt, other worlds and the prediction of destinies - all these were amazing and mysterious topics that the prince and Grand Duke discussed for hours in seclusion in the palace library. Paul was attracted by everything mysterious and supernatural. 
Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia
When Empress Catherine "honorably" sent 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 affair, he saw in everything some kind of interference of secret forces ...
One of the mystical incidents that happened to Tsarevich Pavel 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 amazing meeting of the Grand Duke Paul with the spirit of his great-grandfather Peter I. The words "poor Paul", according to legend, uttered by the ghost of the reformer king to the Grand Duke, have become common nouns. But not everyone knows that this episode reached his 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 winner of Napoleon disappeared from the pages of books about Paul I (historians left the friendship of these two people "behind a screen"), and the story of the spirit of Peter, who appeared to Paul on the streets of St. Petersburg, wanders according to various sources, turning into a kind of myth ...
Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (Golenishchev-Kutuzov)
Kutuzov, appointed in November 1791 by the Russian envoy to the Ottoman Empire, came to Grand Duke Pavel 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 those who were above these small intrigues, Pavel Petrovich sincerely considered his friends. At dinner the conversation touched upon various strange and mystical cases. Pavel told about an amazing incident that happened to him, and Kutuzov wrote down his story from fresh memory. “... It happened about three years ago, in early spring, -
Paul began. - We sat up late with Kurakin, talked a lot; and I had a headache. “Let's go, prince, take a walk along the embankment,” I said. Come out, let's go. Ahead is a footman, behind him I, a little further the prince, and behind him another footman. It was dark and quiet. We go in silence. Suddenly I saw a tall man, wrapped in a cloak, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, on the left in a niche of the house. “Who is,” I think, “maybe a guard of some kind? I have not called anyone. " We go further, we caught up with this man, and he silently walked next to me. Even my left side got cold. "Who is this? 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 answers. I touched the wall with my hand, and he does not lag behind. And suddenly he spoke. The voice is deaf and low. "Paul!" - "What do you need?" - I flared up. “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 become particularly attached to this world, because you will not stay in it for a long time. Live by the laws of justice, and your end will be calm. Fear the reproach of conscience; there is no more sensitive punishment for a noble soul. Now, goodbye. You will still see me here, ”the man waved his hand, pointing to the Senate Square, which we were just passing by. He took off his hat and smiled, I recognized my great-grandfather Peter the Great and screamed. "What's the matter with you, Your Highness?" Kurakin asked. 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, passed off wishful thinking (you can't lie, you can't tell it, as they say), but completely inventing such an amazing story from beginning to end, and then fooling respected people with his fantasies, he is unlikely whether he was capable. This did not correspond to the spirit of chivalry that Paul cultivated from his youth. Presumably, the Grand Duke had some kind of 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 every one of them received the same 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 had more than once met with the shadow of the famous ancestor of Peter I, and could not hide the fear caused by these meetings. When in the Peter and Paul Fortress, during the solemn divine 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: "Rise now, great monarch, and behold 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 invented by him himself and seem at first glance to be absolutely incredible, and, nevertheless, are an example of a fulfilled prophecy.
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". Abel was saved from the inquiry in the case, carried out by a political investigation, only by the fact that the empress really died at the time indicated by him. Paul, who succeeded the late empress on the throne, ordered the release of the fortuneteller, appointed him an audience and asked him to tell about his own fate. Abel told ... He did not hide the fact that the terrible death of the emperor, because he saw the dying Paul with his inner gaze.
Elder Abel
A lot of testimonies of quite respected people have survived about Abel's amazing predictions, including the future conqueror of the Caucasus, General A.P. Ermolov, who personally knew the elder. The illustrious general wrote in his memoirs: “At this time, a certain Abel lived in Kostroma, who was gifted with the ability to correctly predict the future. Once at the table with 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 speak to Tsar Pavel Petrovich, but was, by order of His Majesty, imprisoned in a fortress, from which, however, 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 came to the throne by the blood of his father).
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 estate of Count Sheremetev Ostankino 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 hunchbacked old woman who appears to people and tells about future misfortunes. They were so afraid of meeting the old woman that superstitious people they preferred not to visit Ostankino at all, just not to receive a terrible prophecy. 
Count Nikolay Sheremetev
The owners of the estate in the eighteenth century did not like this place too much, and only in the 1790s, under Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, Ostankino flourished. A new palace was erected with a magnificent theater, 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, Count Nikolai Sheremetev hosted a sumptuous reception for the emperor in Ostankino on May 1. At the moment of the triumph, a hunchbacked old woman in rags suddenly appeared in front of the emperor. No one could understand where it came from. They tried to expel her, but for some reason they did not succeed. The old woman kept trying to say something to the emperor, and Pavel Petrovich, becoming interested, asked to leave him 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 was attentive to the words of the old woman, but nevertheless he did not completely believe them. Prediction is prediction; may or may not come true. The emperor took care of his own safety measures. He alienated from himself people who, in his opinion, could one way or another join the conspirators. Moreover, they began to actively search for potential conspirators ... Members of the Smolensk officer's political circle, founded by Alexander Kakhovsky, the uncle of the Decembrist Pyotr Kakhovsky, were suspected of conspiring against the emperor and punished. The activities of the political circle were suppressed ...
While Paul reigned, he had a chance to escape the foretold. He knew that the Smolensk freethinkers, who took as their motto the words: "On the sovereign!", Often urged each other to take up arms for the sake of overthrowing the monarchy. The idea that some desperate heads might try to take the royal palace by storm did not strike him as wild and implausible. Starting the construction of a new capital 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 dark secrets ...
“I would like to die where I was born,” Paul I once threw out an incautious phrase.
Probably, Pavel Petrovich meant that he dreams of living his whole life in his homeland, never knowing what exile is. Maybe he was talking about St. Petersburg, a city that from childhood loved more than Moscow. But fate fulfilled the emperor's wish literally ... 
Catherine gave birth to Paul in the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, built on the Moika River, 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 the construction management to Vasily Bazhenov. The talented architect fell under the disgrace of Catherine at one time, but he found a patron in the person of Grand Duke Paul. Bazhenov developed all the initial designs for the new palace. In February 1797, the imperial couple personally laid the first bricks and a mortgage board into the foundation of the building. But after returning from Moscow after the coronation celebrations (and the fatal prediction of the old woman of Ostankino), Pavel decisively changed his approach to the principles of construction. The new palace became known as a castle, and its main advantage was now considered inaccessibility. It was necessary to build in such a way that potential intruders under any guise could not get into the chambers of the emperor. (It never occurred to Pavel that intruders would be found among the confidants who entered his rooms). To implement the new ideas of the emperor, another architect, Vincenzo Brenne, was invited, since Bazhenov did not want to redo his project on the go. 
The building was surrounded on all sides by water - Moika, Fontanka and two artificial canals made its walls impregnable; only on the drawbridges it was possible to enter the castle gates. At night, the bridges were raised, and the castle found itself on an impregnable island. The square in front of the building's façade was reinforced with moats and a granite parapet with half-bastions. It was here that a real battle could be fought.
From the chambers of Pavel Petrovich, located on the second floor, a secret staircase led to the lower rooms, well disguised from prying eyes. Paul believed that in case of danger he would be able to leave the castle and hide. Alas, what was projected speculatively did not help in case of real danger - one could get to 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 escape route ...
Another secret staircase led not down, but up - above the emperor's chambers 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 was also adjacent to 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 Summer garden, were superbly finished, she could at any moment enter her husband's adjoining bedroom, but ... Soon Pavel Petrovich preferred to lock this door with a key.
Empress Maria Feodorovna
Paul I hoped to build the building in one year and spend another year on furnishings and furnishings. He hoped that in his new home he would be safe, the prophecies would not come true and fate would be deceived. But construction works not moving as fast as he wanted. All forces were thrown into 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 harm. For the sake of building materials, Catherine's dacha in Pella and some buildings in Tsarskoye Selo were dismantled; even marble was used for the castle, prepared for the decoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Finishing materials it took a lot. Pavel personally thought through the interiors and design details, the plots of the paintings and the style of stucco molding, attaching great importance to military symbols. Some of the "finds" of the emperor shocked his contemporaries - on the chest of the two-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 faced, ascending the main staircase of the castle, was a marble sculpture in a niche, and it depicted ... Cleopatra dying after being bitten by a snake. In this plot, they will soon also see a bad omen ... 
Those subjects of Emperor Paul, who were distinguished by their religious sentiments, were hurt by the inscription on the frieze of the front portal: "The shrine of the Lord is due to your house in the length of days." This was an altered line from a psalm of David, and these alterations seemed like a bold blasphemy. After all, the psalm spoke of the holiness of the Lord's House, that is, the temple: "A sanctuary befits your house, Lord ..."
The construction of the castle was nearing completion. Ended and Last year stormy eighteenth century - 1800. As always, there was no shortage of predictions at the turn of the century. Those of them that concerned the fate of the crown bearer were still rather gloomy. On the eve of Christmas, a rumor spread throughout St. Petersburg: the holy fool Xenia, who lives at the Smolensk cemetery, prophesies an imminent death to 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 shrine of the Lord befits your house in the length of days” - it turned out 47 letters ... The forty-seventh year of the emperor's life fell on the coming 1801. Petersburg froze in anticipation ... 
On February 1, 1801, Emperor Paul and his family moved to the barely completed and not yet fully finished Mikhailovsky Castle. Until the fateful night that brought him death, there were 40 days ... The emperor's nerves were stretched to the limit. Paul was disturbed by terrible visions, at times it seemed to him that blood was flowing along the walls of the palace ... These were only streaks of dampness on the 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 resist reminding Sasha of the bitter fate of another Tsarevich - Alexei Petrovich, who dared to stand up against his own father, Tsar Peter I. Alexander seemed to understand the hint ...
On the night of March 11-12, a group of conspirators, led by the Governor of St. Petersburg, Count Palen, burst into the emperor's chambers. Paul was doomed ... The conspirators, mostly guards officers, who swore allegiance to the emperor, killed him with incredible cruelty. The next morning, the people were announced that the sovereign had died of a sudden apoplectic stroke. A black joke spread across St. Petersburg that there was an apoplectic 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 is still walking 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, spurs tinkle, the sounds of the harpsichord are heard, then the light of a candle flickers ... By themselves, in the complete absence of wind, doors slam and vents swing open. The staff of the museum, which is now the Mikhailovsky Castle, has an unwritten rule: as soon as you hear a mysterious sound closer to night, you should turn your face in the direction it came from, 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 the death of all royal family during the Revolution of 1918, the monarchy in Russia fell. Nicholas II knew in advance that this would happen. 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, Old Style, he was assassinated by a Japanese fanatic. A few days earlier, by chance, he met near Kyoto with a Buddhist hermit and fortuneteller Terakuto. In the memoirs of the translator who accompanied Nicholas, Marquis Ito, there is a record of the prophecy of this hermit. Terakuto predicted danger to the Tsarevich'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 struck him on the head with his sword, but the second blow was prevented by Prince George, who was accompanying the crown prince, with his cane. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, by order of Alexander III, this cane was adorned with many diamonds and really "shone". Less known is the second part of Terakuto's prophecy: "... 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 follies ...". 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. Nicholas II learned the second prediction about his violent death 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 the prince, shortly before the visit of Nicholas II, asked the famous astrologer to make a forecast for his relatives. Cairo had a special talent for predicting natural or other death. famous people... Louis Jamon himself died in California in 1936, exactly at the time and place that he had predicted for himself. On the sheet with the birth data of Nicholas it was written: “Whoever this person is, 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 Destiny is so deeply tied to such things that his name will be sealed with two of the bloodiest and most damned wars ever known, and that at the end of the II war he will lose all that he loved the most; his family will be massacred and he himself will be forcibly killed ”(Memoirs of Heiro, 2008).
3. March 1901 marked the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Paul the First. All Russian tsars after him knew that in the Gatchina Palace his widow, Maria Feodorovna, had left a special box with a letter from the monk Abel sealed with Paul's personal seal: "To reveal to my descendant on the 100-year-old day of my death." True, since the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, mistress of the Gatchina Palace and mother of Nicholas, was in Denmark in March 1901, Nicholas and Alexandra got acquainted with this letter, apparently in April, when she returned to Gatchino. “That morning the Tsar and Empress were very lively and cheerful, getting ready from the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace to go to Gatchino to reveal the age-old secret. They were preparing for this trip as for a festive joyful walk that promised to deliver them extraordinary entertainment. They rode merry, but returned thoughtful and sad, and they did not say anything about what they had found in that casket, not even me, with whom they had a habit of sharing their impressions. After this trip, I noticed that the Tsar began to remember the future 1918 as fatal for him personally and for the dynasty. " (Memoirs of M.F. Geringer, chief chamberlain of Empress Alexandra).
What was in this letter remains a mystery. In 1930, Berlin published the "historical legend of the Prophetic Monk" - a 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 Gatchino very gloomy and saddened. That April Nikolai went to Gatchino five more times to see his mother. At the same time, evidence began that Nikolai "was not afraid of anything until 1917".
4. On July 20, 1903, at the glorification celebrations in Sarov, Nicholas II received a message from the glorified saint of the Russian land, the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, to whom his great-great-grandfather Alexander I also traveled to the wilderness. ... It is not known what was in the letter. According to eyewitnesses, Nikolai hid this thick bag 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 glorified blessed Pasha of Sarov, with a large retinue, with all the great dukes. At this meeting, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna almost fainted, shouted: "This is not true, I do not believe you." They left the cell in full view of the entire retinue, simply killed. Some say that there were tears in the eyes of Nicholas II. The fact is that blessed Pasha, already with witnesses, predicted to Nikolai and Alexandra 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 “Russian Pilgrim” reported in 1990: “Princess Natalya Vladimirovna Urusova was in correspondence with E. Yu. Kontsevich, who left us letters, as well as Memories of the late princess. Here is what she says: “I know about the prophecy of the Monk Seraphim about the fall and restoration of Russia; I personally know that. When at the beginning of 1918 Yaroslavl was on fire and I fled with the children to Sergiev Posad, there I met Count Olsufiev, still relatively young. To save some documents that had to be destroyed by the devilish force of Bolshevism, he managed to get a job at the library of the Trinity-Sergius Academy. Soon he was shot. Once he brought me a letter to read, with the words: "I keep this as the apple of my eye." The letter, yellow with age, with badly faded ink, was written with his own hand Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky - Motovilov. The letter contained a prediction about the horrors and disasters that will befall Russia, and I only remember what it said about the pardon and salvation of Russia. "
Every Russian knows Nostradamus and his prophecies. Although in reality this medieval poet and healer was not a fortuneteller, his so-called "prophecies" are known, rather, because of their hyped popularity, and not because of their real value. A true predictor, able not only to foresee the future with amazing certainty, but also to write entire books of prophecy, lived with us in Russia. This man was Vasily Vasiliev, who became famous as the monk Abel. His predictions predicted the death of many Russian emperors.
Monk Abel's predictions for rulers are a special article. Since ancient times, each ruler has always had his own court seer. Predictors of the future in the east were especially in demand, because even the founder of medicine, Avicenna, compiled horoscopes and studied the influence of planets on the fate of people.
There were also enough prophets in Russia, but the most amazing and, perhaps, the most famous is the monk Abel. According to the evidence of historical records and archival documents, all 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 fictional.
Biography
Here in the biographical dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron it is: “Abel is a fortune-teller monk, was born in 1757. The origin of the peasant. 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 repeatedly imprisoned, and in total he spent about 20 years in prison. By order of Emperor Nicholas I, he was imprisoned in the Spaso-Efimievsky Monastery, where he died in 1841 ”. A short dry reference, behind which lies almost the fate of Russia.
The future prophet was born in the village of Akulovo, Tula region. And he lived for himself, like all peasants of that time, without sparkling talents, until he was 28 years old. Toward the middle of his life, Vasily suddenly abandoned his family and went to the Valaam monastery, where he was tonsured under the name of 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 spent a year in the monastery, and then asked the abbot for leave and went to the skete. And it was there, saving himself in prayer and loneliness, 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 read to the emperor, more precisely, to Empress Catherine the Great, who then ruled Russia.
To fulfill the will of unknown forces, Adam went across Russia, and when he found himself in the Nikolo-Babevsky Monastery, he wrote his first book there, in which he spoke in plain text that Catherine would rule for only 40 years (and the fortieth year had already 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 flew into a rage and ordered the monk to catch, cut and put in 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 predicted by him ...
Of course, Paul I, who generally believed in all sorts of mystical phenomena and prophecies, became interested in the prophetic monk. After the death of Catherine, Prince Kurakin became the Prosecutor General of the Senate - it was he who brought the emperor the book of predictions of this newly-minted prophet. 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 not known at all. But it is believed that Adam directly told Paul the date of his death: “Your reign will be short. On Sophronius of Jerusalem (the saint, whose memory day coincides with the day of the emperor's death) in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal bosom. It is said more in the Gospel: "A man's enemies are his own household," - this is how some sources quote this revelation. And one more thing: the monk allegedly revealed to the tsar the entire future of his descendants and all of Russia.
However, most likely, this is a beautiful invention. If the monk Abel predicted such a death to Paul, then it is unlikely that Paul issued on December 14, 1796 the highest rescript, commanding, at the request of Adam, to tonsure him again as a monk.
During the second tonsure, Vasily Vasilyev received the name by which he is known as one of the most sinister and accurate predictors in Russia. After that, the monk went on a journey - he lived first in St. Petersburg, then ended up in Moscow, where for some time he divined and predicted for money to everyone, and then briefly returned to Valaam, where he wrote his second book.
In this essay, 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 handed the book over to whoever he should, and now - it was 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 the Archangel Michael. Pavel, according to the monk, has as long as the letters should be in the inscription above the gates of the Mikhailovsky Castle, which is being built instead of the promised church.
Pavel, of course, was indignant at such ingratitude and ordered him to be imprisoned again in the very fortress from which he was released. And he spent there as much as during the previous confinement - 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 to write down all his prophecies regarding the Romanov dynasty and lock them in a casket, which was allowed to be opened exactly after a hundred years after the day of the death of the king.
The monk Abel himself was escorted to the Solovetsky monastery and was forbidden to walk around Russia and confuse the minds. But he was not going to wander - he sat down to 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 king was also not happy with such a prophecy and ordered Abel to be imprisoned on Solovki and not released from there until the predicted come true.
And it came true. Then Alexander ordered the prophet to come to him in Petersburg, even sending money for travel and a passport. True, Abbot Hilarion, who treated the imprisoned monk very badly, fearing the tsar's disfavor, 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 other monks of the monastery, he was frightened and dismissed the soothsayer. True, this did not help and the prophecy came true - a strange illness took away both Hilarion himself and his wards.
And the fortuneteller arrived in Petersburg and had a conversation with Prince Golitsyn. It is not known what he said to him there, but Golitsyn hastened to send the soothsayer on pilgrimages to holy places and by all means prevented him from meeting the emperor. Moreover, a decree was issued, which forbade the monk Abel from publicly prophesying and, in general, making predictions. For disobedience, prison was threatened.
Therefore, Abel did not predict anything for 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 Father and Monk Abel," hinting at his holiness in 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, visions and wanderings.
Alexander I, of course, was informed about the new predictions of the monk Abel, which spoke of the death of the emperor, but the emperor did not take any punitive measures regarding him. Perhaps because he received a similar divination from Seraphim of Sarov. Both "predictions" are known to have come true.
Therefore, Abel could calmly prophesy further, which he did. This time, he publicly spoke 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 quickly caught - in his native village, where he returned after many years, and was imprisoned in the prison department of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimievsky monastery.
He never left there. Buried this amazing person behind the altar of the monastery St. Nicholas Church. None of his books - and it is not even known exactly how many of them he wrote, three or five - have survived. The records of the predictions that were in the casket, inherited by Nicholas II, also disappeared. All the prophecies of the "Russian Nostradamus" are known only from letters and documents, scraps and inaccurate quotations.
Scarce information has reached us about the most terrible book written by a fortuneteller - the 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.
