Everywhere in the world, the astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus is known, who composed the famous quatrains that tell about the destinies of various countries. However, few people know that in Russia at the turn of the XVIII and XIX centuries lived his own Nostradamus - the humble monk Abel.
A couple of books from the heavenly office
The peasants Vasily and Ksenia from the village of Akulovo could hardly have imagined that their son Vasily would become a seer and become famous throughout Russia for his amazing predictions. For the time being, he lived like all the people around him: he worked, got married, had children. But one day he managed to get a ransom from his master and, without asking anyone, moved away from the village. His wanderings brought Basil to Valaam, where he was tonsured, spent a year among the brethren, and then received a blessing from the hegumen to go into hermits. In solitude, the monk, tonsured under the name Abel, did not sit for a long time, went to wander around Russia, and only a few years later he settled in the Kostroma region, in the Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery. It was there that for the first time he decided to tell the world about his prophecies. One of the first predictions in a book written by a monk was the message thatthat Empress Catherine the Great had eight months to live.
Abel presented the compiled book to his father-abbot, plunging him into considerable frustration. The abbot decidedly did not know what to do with the wicked, and therefore thought it best to send him to the Bishop of Kostroma and Galicia for exhortation and decision of further fate. The bishop read the manuscript and undertook to admonish the heretic with threats and abuse. Abel did not heed, continued to persist and did not refuse his words. Since the sedition manifested by the monk was not church, but state, the bishop decided to excommunicate Abel from the monastic rank and hand him over to the governor. The same, in turn, fused the prophet under the strictest guard to St. Petersburg in charge of the Secret Expedition.
The capital investigators were very interested in the prophecies of Abel, they asked him in detail about who inspired the ideas written in the book to him. The monk did not try to deny, willingly talked about how he was "taken to heaven", there he saw two books, what he read in them, he wrote about that. From the very day of the vision, Abel said, he wanted and was afraid to tell the empress how much time she had. The attorney general was reported about the clairvoyant, and he decided to report him to the empress. The one, as they said, became ill from the predictions of Abel. At first, Catherine ordered to execute Abel "for daring", but then relented and ordered to put him under arrest in the Shlisselburg fortress, and keep the book in the archives. In the Schlisselburg casemate, Abel spent almost a year when he learned from the overseer the news that struck the empire about the death of Catherine II. The Empress died on November 6, 1796 - in exact accordance with the prophet's prediction.
Unfulfilled vow
Promotional video:
On the throne was the son of Catherine - Paul, a romantic man and inclined to mysticism. Various prophecies, especially those concerning himself, he could not ignore. Therefore, when the new prosecutor general found among the papers the book of Abel with a prophecy about the death of the empress, he immediately handed it over to the emperor. Intrigued, Paul demanded that the clairvoyant be brought to the court for the highest audience. History is silent about what the prophet and the emperor talked about, but the result of their meeting is known: Paul treated Abel favorably and even ordered to issue a special decree on the second tonsure of the monk. Abel returned to Balaam, from where he left a few years before. And there he began to compile a new book of prophecies, in which he named the date of the death of the emperor who had been kind to him. Abel predicted Paul's murder down to the smallest detail:according to the monk's description,
the emperor was to be killed in his own bedroom by the villains, who had been warmed up on the royal chest. The death of Paul, according to the prophecy, was to become a retribution for an unfulfilled vow to build a church in honor of the Archangel Michael. Instead of a temple, he built the Mikhailovsky Castle for himself, for which reckoning awaited him. According to the prediction, the sovereign was destined to live for as many years as there were letters in the words carved above the castle gates. It is interesting that this prediction was made simultaneously with Abel by another famous prophetess - Ksenia of Petersburg.
Alexander Smirnov. & quot; Fire of Moscow & quot;. After 1812. Museum-panorama "Battle of Borodino"
As in the first time, Abel did not hide his prophecies: he gave the notes to the monastery authorities, who, frightened, sent them to the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, and from him the book got to the emperor. Pavel was offended in the best feelings - he caressed the monk, and in return he promised him a terrible and quick death! Abel was again escorted under escort to the capital, where he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Meanwhile, all his predictions came true on the night of March 12, 1801, when Paul was killed before he reached the age of 47 (exactly by the number of letters on the facade of his beloved palace). After the death of the emperor, the fortuneteller himself was sent to Solovki without the right to leave the monastery. However, the authorities did not guess to prohibit the monk from making new prophecies about the sovereigns and the future of the Russian state.
It's better to know, but to be silent
The beginning of the 19th century turned out to be stormy and bloody, and the restless seer, of course, could not keep his mouth shut. Abel's new manuscript narrated about the capture of Moscow by the French and its burning in 1812. Alarmed by the prophecy, Alexander I ordered the monk to be imprisoned in the Solovetsky prison and kept there until his words were fulfilled. The monk's record came true in September 1812, when Napoleon's army entered flaming Moscow. Having learned about the Moscow fires, the emperor remembered his order and ordered to send an order to Solovki to release the prophet and, having provided him with "a passport, dress and money", send him to Petersburg.
In the capital he was met by Prince Golitsyn (the sovereign was not in the country at that time) and had a long talk with the seer about the future of the country and the imperial family. Abel, as always, frankly told the courtier about all his visions, from what the prince was told was horrified: many more trials awaited Russia and its rulers. Golitsyn did not want to upset the emperor with Abel's forecasts, and therefore provided the monk with sufficient funds for pilgrimage to holy places and sent him home. Separately, it was agreed that he would not tell anyone else any of his visions. Apparently, the prince was convincing enough, since for several years Abel stopped writing books and sharing his predictions. The Prophet visited Jerusalem, Athos and Constantinople, returning to Russia, settled in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. His fame during these years became widespread, from all parts of Russia those who wanted to know the future were drawn to him. However, Abel was steadfast: he answered those in need that he was speaking not from his own head, but from the words of the Lord, and that he was now forbidden to prophesy in public by decree.
However, nothing could close his mouth for a long time. By the middle of 1825, rumors spread in Moscow about the imminent death of Alexander I, who allegedly would “die a monk”, about the abdication of Konstantin Pavlovich, who did not want to repeat the fate of his father, about noble “indignation”, other horrors and troubles. All this information came from Abel, who again “had visions” of the future. Since the monk knew that the authorities would hardly praise him for his new divinations, he fled from the monastery to his native village, where he was arrested in August 1826 and sent to the prison of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal. According to legend, there he wrote another book of prophecies, intended for the next tsar, Nicholas I. It is not known what she told about, but, apparently, the addressee did not like it either, because the prophet no longer saw freedom. He died in 1841 and was buried behind the altar of the St. Nicholas Church of the Savior-Evfimiev Monastery. His books seemed to be lost in the police archives, but one prediction remains to wait in the wings.
Mystery for posterity
Legend says that after reading the book of Abel's prophecies, Paul I left a sealed casket to his descendants, which was supposed to be opened by the current ruler of the empire exactly 100 years after the casket was locked. In 1901, Nicholas II, the Russian emperor, went to Gatchina to find out what secret inheritance his ancestor had left him. According to the testimony of the courtiers, the king went on a trip in anticipation of a rare entertainment. However, he returned to Tsarskoe Selo pensive and sad, did not tell anyone what he read in the notes from the casket, but later repeatedly said that 1918 would be fatal for him and the state. Perhaps it was Abel's prophecy that made Nicholas indifferent and passive, because he knew what awaited him and did not try to resist his tragic fate.
Ipatiev House. Place of execution of the royal family
Abel's predictions were not always about the ruling family. He “saw” two world wars, the Civil War in Russia, the “godless yoke,” which for 70 years of “desolation and misery” was supposed to capture the country. There are lines in the books about "Boris II" who will destroy the state, about new wars and new rulers until 2892, when the end of the world comes. There is a version that the collection of Abel's prophecies was not lost, but passed from the tsarist secret police to the Soviet security officers, and from them to the Russian special services. However, none of the researchers can boast of having held it in their hands.
Source: "Secrets of the XX century"