Everyone is well aware of the famous predictors who have gone down in world history. These are Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Wanga … However, there is another category of prophets. These are the holy fools …
So much for your bishop's hat
The Kiev holy fool Paisiy, walking past a house under construction, brandished a dirty shirt and muttered something. To the question of the builders working there, what happened to him, Paisiy answered: • We must wash the shirt as soon as possible. It will come in handy in half an hour. " His words turned out to be prophetic - after half an hour one of the workers fell from the woods and died. It was at this moment that the holy fool returned to the house under construction, holding his shirt, wet after washing. Stretching it out to the companions of the deceased, he said: "Dress the deceased, I washed it for him" …
In the midst of the wedding of the Rostov prince Savva Obolensky and Daria Lopukhovskaya, a local fool named Isidor suddenly appeared in front of the guests. He brought with him a kind of headdress woven from herbs and wildflowers. With his usual careless expression on his face, drooling, he went up to the groom and said: "Here is the bishop's hat for you." Those present, introducing the statesman Obolensky to the reading of the prayer, laughed merrily. But the fun is over, everyday life has come. Less than a year later. how Daria suddenly fell ill and died. Having buried the young princess, Savva remained in deep sadness for a long time. Grieving, he was surprisingly tonsured to everyone and began a new life in the Ferapont monastery. And in 1481, the prince really put on a bishop's hat, becoming the archbishop of Rostov.
In one Siberian village, a feeble-minded lad Afanasy was not even entrusted with grazing cattle. One day he gathered the villagers and, choking with laughter, announced that the mill would soon have red flour, only the mill owner would no longer need it. Laughing at him as usual, the villagers dispersed. The meaning of what Athanasius said became clear only after two weeks. On that day, the owner of the mill accidentally fell under the rotating millstones, and the flour was stained with his blood.
There will be a fire in this house
Promotional video:
In January 1789, in Moscow, at the house of the merchant Akhlopkov, an unknown man of about sixty in monastic attire was noticed. After standing for a while, he suddenly began to grab handfuls of snow and throw it into the windows of the house. At the same time he kept repeating: "Fire will be in this house!" The strange passerby's actions seemed suspicious. and he was detained for identification. A certain Login Kochkarev was detained. The next day, the merchant's house suddenly caught fire, and blazed so much that only the embers remained. And then they remembered - Kochkarev said something about the fire.
The mysterious incident was immediately reported to Governor-General Yeropkin. He wished to speak personally with the detainee. When the general asked who he was and how he learned about the future fire. Kochkarev replied: "I am a wanderer of God, but then it seemed to me that the house was already on fire." And then Eropkin asked an unexpected question: "Tell me, what awaits me these days?" - "Tomorrow you will be very happy." the stranger answered without hesitation. The next day, the governor-general, indeed, was expecting joy - he received as a gift from Catherine II a gold snuffbox inlaid with precious stones, with a portrait of the Empress herself.
Having ordered to deliver Kochkarev to him, Eropkin began to inquire about what other events he could predict. And then the wanderer said that exactly 23 years later, “innumerable enemy forces would invade Russia and capture Moscow, from which there would be no stone unturned,” and a hundred years later there would be another, more terrible war. After such predictions, the prophet, of course, was imprisoned. The general explained this by the fact that he prophesies not only good events, but also trouble.
Soon it became known to the empress herself, and Yeropkin received the highest order: to send Kochkarev under heavy guard to the palace. The further fate of the holy fool is unknown.
Even kings revered them
On Red Square, there is the world-famous St. Basil's Cathedral, who was known as an outstanding prophet. However, his predictions were expressed in a rather unusual form. Once at a feast at Ivan the Terrible, Vasily allowed himself something that no one could afford, even from the tsar's inner circle. He spilled wine three times on the floor from a cup brought to him by the autocrat himself. He explained his behavior with the words: “I put out a fire in Novgorod-. A messenger was immediately sent there, who, upon returning, confirmed: it was on that day and hour that a strong fire really broke out in Novgorod, burning almost half of the city. The holy fool made such predictions quite often …
After Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov had a son, Alexander, they ordered to find the best prophet who could determine the future of their descendant. This prophet turned out to be a holy fool known for his accurate predictions named Theodore. He was taken to the palace and escorted to the baby. Glancing at the kid with a meaningless look, the holy fool said: "He will be glorious and mighty, he will be one of the greatest sovereigns in the world." Then, covering his face with his hands, he continued with a trembling voice: "But he is destined to die in red boots." And although the secret meaning of his last words was not entirely clear, they made a rather heavy impression on Alexandra Feodorovna. The holy fool could not explain his words.
Another case of predicting the future is known to Alexander Nikolaevich. In 1867, a novice lived in the monastery of the Sergievskaya Pustyn. He was mentally disabled, more than once he was kept in a home for the insane, so no one took him seriously. And, I must say, in this very monastery hung a huge portrait of Alexander II, depicted in full growth. Once the holy fool Suddenly grabbed a red-hot poker from the fireplace and rushed with it to the portrait. Everyone froze and watched what would happen next. And the novice, laying the poker at the foot of the portrait, shouted in a wild voice: “The sovereign will be without legs! The Emperor will be without legs! Those around him took such an act for another trick of the wretched and left him unattended.
As you know, on March 1, 1881, a review of the elite troops of His Imperial Majesty was scheduled on the parade ground of the Mikhailovsky Palace, and Alexander Nikolayevich visited it as usual. On his return to the palace, he was attacked by terrorists: a bomb was thrown at his feet. When the smoke cleared, those around with horror instead of legs saw a bloody mess. Soon the sovereign was gone.
How can you explain such an amazing gift? After all, predicting events, the holy fools often do not realize what they are doing. Despite the lack of a clear and precise formulation of such predictions, there is still common sense in them. Probably, the lack of reason and ability to express thoughts in the holy fools is replaced by this very gift of God, just as in the blind, the loss of sight is compensated by phenomenal hearing.
Vladimir Lotokhin. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 18 2010