For more than two centuries, rumors about the mysterious prophecies of the monk Abel, allegedly exactly fulfilled, have not been interrupted. Abel allegedly predicted the deaths of Catherine II and Paul I, the fire of Moscow in 1812, the Decembrist uprising, the main events of the reigns of all Russian autocrats in the 19th century, both world wars, the revolution in Russia, etc.
Documented biography
Monk Abel was born in 1757. In the world he was Vasily Vasiliev, the son of a serf peasant of the counts Naryshkins. He learned to read and write. Having received his freedom, he wandered for some time, hiring in various jobs, and at the age of 27 he took monastic vows. He made pilgrimages and reached Constantinople. At some point, he began to prophesy. He wrote down his predictions in notebooks, which were then copied and distributed by well-wishers who were seduced by his visions. In addition to predictions, he confusedly expounded some teachings about omnipotent spirits. Both attracted the attention of the authorities, who saw in the prophecies incitement to rebellion, and in other scriptures - blasphemy against the Lord and the Church.
In 1796, Abel was arrested. He was charged with an insult to the majesty and the preaching of heresy. The investigation was reported to Catherine II herself, who commanded that, although the aforementioned monk deserves the death penalty for her crimes, she mercifully replaces it with life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg fortress. Under Paul, Abel, like many other figures imprisoned by Catherine (in particular, the revolutionary-democrat A. N. Radishchev and the Polish patriot T. Kosciuszko) was released. But in May 1800 he was again planted - this time in the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from where, upon the accession of Alexander I in March 1801, he was transferred to the prison of the Solovetsky Monastery.
Alexander I returned freedom to Abel in October of the same year, allowing him to join the monastic brethren of the Solovetsky Monastery. According to some reports, Abel left there soon, according to others - only in 1812. Wandering, he did not stop his prophecies, until in 1823, at the behest of the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov), he was imprisoned in the Vysotsky monastery in Serpukhov, from where he fled in 1826. In the same year he was caught and placed for humility in the Spaso-Euthymius Monastery in Suzdal, where he ended his days in 1831, at the age of 74.
False prophecies
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Information about Abel is contained in his investigative file of 1796, in the letters of officials in the subsequent time, as well as in the memoirs of his contemporaries, including the nephew of General A. P. Ermolova, dashing hussar Denis Davydov, count M. V. Tolstoy, L. N. Engelhardt, as well as in the letters of Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
It is characteristic that in all the memories of Abel's predictions are recorded post facto, after an event that happened, allegedly predicted by a monk. In most cases, these records are copied, as if under tracing paper, one another, that is, they are based on one source. Moreover, such records often contradict the information contained in the documents.
"Prophecies" of Abel, which became reliably known before the events predicted by them, are few. And they are all erroneous, that is, according to church terminology, false prophecies. In 1796, during interrogation, Abel predicted the death of Catherine II, but attributed it to 1802 (“he will reign for 40 years” - 1762-1802). Meanwhile, the Empress died that same year, shortly after Abel's imprisonment. In the memoirs of contemporaries, thanks to rumors spreading in society, this was transformed into an allegedly fulfilled prophecy about the imminent death of the queen.
During the same interrogation, Abel assured that Catherine would die due to the fact that her son and heir Paul would rise up against her. This "prediction" was the main motive behind the heavy conviction of the false prophet. Meanwhile, Catherine died peacefully, and the throne passed to Paul without effort on his part.
It is not known why exactly Abel was imprisoned by Paul. Notes of contemporaries, made decades later, claim that at a dinner at the Kostroma governor, Abel predicted Paul's death at the hands of conspirators. At the same time, the memoirists claim that after this Abel was imprisoned in Shlisselburg, and not in the Peter and Paul Fortress, as it was in reality. There are also serious contradictions among the authors as to when it was done and how exactly Abel's prophecy sounded about the capture by the enemy and the burning of Moscow.
In one of his "heretical" notebooks, Abel predicted his death at the age of 84. Meanwhile, according to the documents, he died ten years earlier. The date of his death found in some sources - allegedly in 1841 - was rigged by his admirers in order to give the appearance of "fulfillment of prophecy".
Later legends about Abel
The death of Abel did not lead to an end to speculation on his supposedly "prophetic gift." After the revolution, in exile, this pseudo-news began to snowball. Then “evidence” appeared that Abel predicted the monasticism of Alexander I under the guise of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich, the murder of Alexander II by the revolutionaries, the upheaval of Russia in the twentieth century, and also that “Russia will then be great, throwing off the godless yoke.”
The legend of the "Gatchina casket" has been widely circulated in the ultra-right émigré publications, and since the early 1990s - within Russia as well. As if Paul I, having learned about the predictions of Abel and before imprisoning him, ordered to take the monk to his palace in Gatchina, where Abel wrote down his prophecies. Paul left this secret chest to his descendants with an order to open it a hundred years later, which was done by Nicholas II.
In addition to the complete absurdity of the decision attributed to Emperor Paul - why was it necessary to hide these predictions for a whole century, since they (supposedly) contained information that was important for the kings who ruled in the 19th century? - The bringing of a monk to Gatchina does not find a single confirmation in the correspondence of officials in the case of Abel in 1800.
Sources of "prophecies"
As the church historian N. Kolchurinsky notes, Abel's “prophecies” were of a pronounced political character: “One cannot but notice the temporary connection between the appearance of these prophecies and crisis situations in the history of Russia. The anti-government nature of his predictions, which could serve as a weapon in the psychological anti-government struggle, cannot but be striking … If you believe the memoirs of D. Davydov, in 1826 he calls Nicholas I the word “serpent”. All this suggests that Abel could have been used by interested persons to create certain moods in society - whether he “prophesied” himself or deliberately spread rumors about his “prophecies” before the events or after the fact”.
That Abel himself served as a translator of such sentiments by no means disinterestedly can be evidenced by the fact of his wealth: in case of his death, the monk, who spent most of his life in prisons and wanderings, bequeathed 10,500 rubles to the Spaso-Euthymius Monastery in bank notes (about 110,000 dollars in current money) …
Yaroslav Butakov
