For almost two centuries, the legend about Emperor Alexander I has lived in the people's memory: as if he did not die in 1825 in Taganrog, but abdicated and went to wander around Russia in the guise of the righteous elder Fyodor Kuzmich.
In the fall of 1836, an elderly, neatly dressed peasant appeared at the threshold of the village smithy in Perm province. He politely asked the blacksmith to shoe his horse. Surprised by the stranger's easy-going speech and refined manners, the blacksmith suspected something was wrong: this old man did not look like a simple peasant. A vigilant artisan reported "where to go," the stranger was detained. During interrogation, he introduced himself as Fyodor Kuzmich, who does not remember his kinship. In those days, they did not stand on ceremony with vagabonds: the old man was whipped with whips and sent to Siberia. His venerable age allowed him to avoid hard labor, the elder was allowed to wander through the villages and earn his daily bread by teaching children to read and write, history and the Holy Scriptures. Fedor Kuzmich always refused money, taught only for shelter and food. The elder was well-read and very devout,therefore, he soon became known as a man of righteous life and great intelligence.
In 1842, the Cossack of the Beloyarskaya stanitsa Sidorov persuaded Fyodor Kuzmich to settle in the neighborhood and built a hut for him. Once his friend, the Cossack Berezin, who had served in St. Petersburg for a long time, came to visit Sidorov. Seeing Fyodor Kuzmich, the old campaigner was numb with amazement: “Your Majesty! But how is that? The elder hurried to hide in his hut, and the shocked Berezin swore that this man was Emperor Alexander I. Idle people began to flock to the refuge of Fyodor Kuzmich, and the elder had to leave.
In 1849 he settled in the village of Krasnorechenskoye, with a wealthy peasant, Latyshev. According to the recollections of the villagers, Fyodor Kuzmich honored the day of St. Alexander Nevsky especially solemn for himself, celebrating it like his own name day. The elder often told how the festivities in honor of the blessed prince were held in Petersburg: about the festivities of the townspeople, the illumination in the streets. Of course, a peasant could visit the capital, but how did he know the French language in which he communicated with the Irkutsk Bishop Athanasius who visited him?
By the way, about the French. The elder often recalled the war of 1812, describing the course of the battles like a military officer. He told how Emperor Alexander I prayed tearfully in front of the relics of Sergius of Radonezh and heard a voice calling to entrust Kutuzov with the destruction of the enemy. And who knows: did the blessed elder retell one of the folk legends, or did Alexander the Blessed himself share his spiritual torments with the peasants? The Tomsk ethnographer I. Chistyakov, who personally knew Fyodor Kuzmich, wrote: “He said that when Alexander I entered Paris in 1814, silk scarves and fabrics were spread under the feet of his horses, and the ladies threw flowers and bouquets on the road; that Alexander was very pleased; during this entry, Count Metternich rode to the right of Alexander and had a pillow under him on the saddle. Too many precise details and details for a simple legend.
Fyodor Kuzmich told many amazing stories, but there was one forbidden topic for him - his own past. The elder resolutely stopped talking about himself as Alexander I, but did not give his real name. He spent the last years of his life in Tomsk, in the mansion of the merchant Khromov. When Fyodor Kuzmich was on his deathbed, Khromov asked him a question that tormented everyone: is it true they say that you are Emperor Alexander? According to the merchant, Fyodor Kuzmich crossed himself and said: "Wonderful are your deeds, Lord … There is no secret that would not be revealed." The elder was buried in the cemetery of the Tomsk Mother of God-Alekseevsky monastery. A cross was installed on the grave with the inscription: "The body of the Great Blessed Elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who died on January 20, 1864, is buried here." Alexander I was also called the Blessed One …Elder Fyodor Kuzmich was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as the righteous Theodore of Tomsk.
The transformation of the sovereign into a "vagabond who does not remember kinship" seems insane only at first glance. Contemporaries recall that in the last years of his reign, Alexander I repeatedly expressed a desire to renounce the hateful power, spent a lot of time in prayer. The death of his father, Paul I, in which he was indirectly involved, lay as a heavy stone on the emperor's conscience. There are many contradictions in the circumstances of the death of Alexander himself: some eyewitnesses claimed that the emperor died suddenly, others that he was dying painfully for two weeks. At the same time, no document indicates the exact time of death. In addition, according to eyewitnesses, the dead Alexander was not at all like himself: despite the abundant embalming (even the white gloves on the hands of the deceased turned yellow), the emperor's face turned black. Therefore, the people began to say: "They are taking someone else's body."These words accompanied the funeral cortege all the way from Taganrog to St. Petersburg.
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Was the "alien body" buried in the tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral? This is not an idle question. In 1989, the Soviet writer and historian N. Eidelman told about the documentary evidence he found about the autopsy of the imperial tombs in 1921. One of them turned out to be empty - Alexander I. Isn't that why back in the 1960s. the authorities three times denied the famous anthropologist and sculptor M. Gerasimov in requests to study the remains of Alexander? “No reasons are given. Like some kind of wall!”- Gerasimov said irritably to his colleague. Until now, a genetic examination of the remains of Fyodor Kuzmich has not been carried out, and in fact it can remove all questions. In 2008, Archbishop Rostislav of Tomsk and Asinovsky said that the diocese did not object to the examination. What was the cause?
The people talked not only about the “departure” of Alexander I, but also about the spiritual feat of his wife, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who did not die in 1826, but shut up in the Novgorod Syrkov monastery under the name of Vera the Silencer. The image of the imperial couple, leaving earthly blessings and moving away from the vain light, is so poetic and close to the Russian soul. The blessed elder and his wife became part of Russian history and folk legends. And legends do not need expertise.