What was written in the letter of Paul 1. The prophecies of Abel during the monarchy of Catherine II and Paul I

Card IV Emperor Master means straightforwardness, willingness to bear responsibility, closeness to reality, prudence, order and clarity. Often it is too hastily interpreted as a symbol of excessive rigidity and soullessness, forgetting that its strength lies

In our great state there were enough seers who, thanks to their majestic gift, were subjected to exile and disgrace. One of these predictors was the powerful and pious Abel. It was quite difficult for him, like many others, to live peacefully in our fatherland, because he was distinguished by surprisingly accurate and rather terrible predictions, especially in relation to Russian rulers. Who is this mysterious old man who prophesied on behalf of the Almighty? Let's find out from our article.

The future great seer was born in 1757 in a small village located in the Tula region. He grew up among many sisters and brothers, in love and justice. As soon as Abel reached adolescence, he decided to try his hand at carpentry. He spent only a short time in this area. The future soothsayer decided to become a monk and devote his entire life to God. The young man's parents were categorically against this, but Abel, despite their lamentations, went his own way. Without informing his parents, the young man married a girl from his village, but after living with her for some time, he left her and decided to go to the Vladimir Monastery to devote his life to the Christian faith.

How a monk had an epiphany

Abel lived in the Vladimir Church for only a year. During this time, the monk was overtaken by a serious illness. As mentioned in the publication about the life of the fortuneteller, during his illness he felt some strange emotions and forces, thanks to which he carried out absolutely inexplicable actions.

While living in the monastery, Abel spoke about certain beings reminiscent of heavenly angels, who appeared to him in a dream and endowed him with the ability to see. Later, the fortuneteller began to hear voices accompanying him everywhere; as it turned out, it was they who whispered unmistakable prophecies to him.

Abel claimed that he was taken to heaven, where he was shown two holy books in which great future events were predicted. After that, he wanted to write his own prophetic work, in which he would try to repeat what he saw. Later, the monk Abel heard a voice that gave him instructions as to who to predict what and how to act in a given situation.

Predictions for Catherine the Great

Monk Abel, whose prophecies affected many rulers, also described Catherine II in his book. He predicted no less than 40 years of reign for the empress, and also touched upon some facts of her death, for which he was exiled to St. Petersburg. Later, Catherine took pity on him and ordered him to be imprisoned until the end of his days. On November 5, the Empress was found lifeless on the floor. She died exactly as Abel’s prophecies said.

Prediction to Paul I

After Catherine the Great, her son Paul took the throne. He was constantly frightened by the thought that the monk Abel, whose predictions haunted him, could tell exactly about his death. But, despite his fear, he still went to the prophet in the fortress with his devoted favorite Lopukhina. After visiting Abel, Pavel was very excited and frightened, and his companion burst into bitter tears. The emperor could not sleep a wink all night, and in the morning he wrote a letter with the note: “To be opened on the 100th anniversary of my death.”

Lopukhina told one of her lovers what Abel prophesied to Pavel. The fortune teller monk told about his imminent death from those whom he warmed under his heart. And so it happened, the emperor died at the hands of his eldest son Alexander in 1801.

How Abel died

The fortune-telling monk passed away in the imperial prison, however, more about this later.

Having become the new emperor, Alexander freed Abel. He has been free for over a year. During this time, he wrote a book in which he prophesied the detailed capture of Moscow. For such a cruel prediction, Alexander again imprisoned the prophet, but in the Solovetsky prison. Abel was to remain there until his vision came true. This happened 10 years later (during this time the monk underwent many severe tests), he was released, after which the prophet, tortured by captivity, decided to go to Jerusalem. Since the hour of his departure to another world was very close, Abel decided to meet his death in his homeland, but before that he could not resist again and spoke about his vision: after the death of Alexander, not Constantine (the eldest son), but Nicholas (the very less).

As soon as this happened, Abel was again imprisoned, where he died. This happened in 1831.

Prophecy by the Romanovs

On the 100th anniversary of Paul's death, 1901, Nicholas II opened the envelope. This event was accompanied by a ball and a luxurious banquet. After reading the cherished letter, the emperor did not say a word. It is only known that after some time he, together with the empress, left the palace in tears and bitter despair.

To this day no one knows what was written in the letter. But when, at the beginning of 1903, an unbearable panic arose in the gazebo where the tsar was resting, only the emperor remained unshakable. He then said that at the moment he had nothing to fear, because his death was still far away, so until 1918 he and his family had nothing to fear. And so it happened, the entire Romanov family was shot in

One of the editions talked about another prophecy regarding the Romanovs. What did Abel see? The fortune teller monk foresaw that not the entire family was going to die. One of the royal daughters, Anastasia, will survive, and she will rule the great state. According to Abel, this is evidenced by her majestic name, because Anastasia means “resurrected.”

Unfortunately, no one knows whether the girl survived or not, all that is known is that she was raised so that she was ready to ascend the imperial throne.

Many are interested in why Nicholas II, knowing about the date of his death, did not warn his family. Some historians suggest that the dead were not the Romanovs at all, because during the study, one of the daughters was 13 cm taller. There is also an assumption that the imperial family found refuge in England. But, unfortunately, there is no reliable data about this.

Monk Abel about the future of Russia

All the soothsayer’s predictions were kept strictly under the supervision of security services, but the leak still occurred during the collapse of the USSR.

Prophecies said that for 70 years Russia would be ruled by vile devils. And after this long time, they will slowly begin to leave the country. But a few demons will still remain. This is how Abel thought about our former government.

The predictor monk also spoke about a second Boris, who would leave his leadership post when no one expected it. After him, a short man will come to power, his face will be black, and his body will be half bald and half hairy. Monk Abel, whose prophecies regarding the future of Russia are not entirely comforting, said that this man would cause a lot of grief and at least two wars. One is on the Promethean Mountains, the second is the third Tauride (that is, Crimean).

Afterwards, a stupid boy will sit on the throne, but soon he and his retinue will be defeated.

What awaits Russia in the near future?

What did Abel say about the near future? The monk-fortuneteller said that after the short man, some 10 terrible kings would rule for an hour, then a faceless sword-bearer, shedding blood, would appear, as well as a man who would emerge from the swamp with green eyes, and he would take the leading position for a while.

Monk Abel also mentions Russia as an almost fallen state. His next prophecy speaks of some long-nosed, then marked character, as well as a person with unclean skin. The fortuneteller also mentions a lame man, as well as a golden-haired woman, who will be followed by 3 golden chariots.

Fortunately, Monk Abel talked a lot about the future of Russia, so we can say with confidence that peace in our native state will still come with the arrival of a certain “Great Chosen One of God”, who will protect the country from all the evil things on earth. According to God's prophet, this person will be spiritually enlightened, intelligent and successful, he will truly love his state and his people. Under his leadership, the country will rise, mature, be strong and influential. According to the prophet, the people themselves will smell and understand that this man has finally come. The seer did not name the name, he only said that it would appear in Russian history twice.

Also, the monk Abel, whose predictions were always accurate, mentioned that two more people, called impostors, would rule before him. These people will occupy the throne, but in no case the royal one, because it is prepared for the person who is sent by the Lord himself. Well, we'll wait.

What about the end of the world?

All of Abel’s prophecies end in the year 2896, when, in his opinion, the end of the world should occur, that is, the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are no exact data and details regarding this, because, as stated, all the books that the prophet devoted to this topic burned or were destroyed.

Many of the monk’s prophecies came true exactly, so I want to believe that our country will soon experience great prosperity.

The Spasko-Evfimievy Monastery of the city of Suzdal, by decree of Empress Catherine II, became a state prison in 1766. The so-called “mad sorcerers” were kept here. Punishments were carried out for criminal cases, for crimes of a religious nature and political crimes. The abbot of the monastery became the warden of this prisoner. The first prisoners were members of the clergy, among them was the monk Abel, whose name became known to most people only recently.

In 1757, in the Tula region in the village of Akulovo, a certain Vasily Vasiliev was born. He will become the prophet Abel in the future. This man did not stand out in anything special, but at the age of 28 he abandoned everything, including his family. Unexpectedly for everyone, Vasiliev took monastic vows in the Valaam Monastery in 1785, now his name is Adam.

A year later, the future predictor leaves the monastery and finds solitude, all on the same island, in the desert. Here the gift of foresight was revealed to him, and then he himself said that it is unclear how, but he ended up in heaven, where he read a couple of books. From then on, monk Abel began to communicate with a certain voice, this voice told him that he should not hide knowledge in himself. He must bring them to the mighty of this world, that is, to the sovereigns. After some time, Vasily Vasiliev created a book of prophecies, or rather, its first part.

Abel's predictions directly related to the reign of Catherine II, for this queen they turned out to be outrageous. The matter eventually reached the empress herself and the Synod. In Russia, the third decade of the reign of Catherine II was coming to an end, Abel's predictions about Russia They said that she would rule the country for 40 years. The throne, after the death of the empress, according to the prophecies of the monk, was to be given to Paul, whom Catherine II hated; with all her soul she wanted the crown for her beloved grandson Alexander, the empress was angry. Catherine II, for prophecies, Abel sentenced to death, later the death penalty was changed to life imprisonment in a fortress called Shlisselburg.

In 1796 Abel's predictions about Russia exactly what came true: Catherine II died after her forty years of reign, and Paul I received the crown. The new ruler had mystical moods, and when he learned about what they were Abel's predictions, Paul orders the prophet to be brought to him. Here a series of oddities begins: there are rumors that the tsar secretly had a conversation with Vasiliev, who told him some predictions regarding the fate of the Romanovs. Paul even writes down these prophecies. He places “Letters to a Descendant” in the archive, where there is a note: “Open in 100 years.” Another oddity: Vasily Vasiliev is no longer tormented by prisons, moreover, he is again allowed to become a monk, in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in 1796, he again takes monastic vows, this time Abel.

And again monk Abel, having lived for some time in the monastery, leaves its walls in order to begin traveling around Russia. The fortuneteller returned to Valaam, where he creates the second part of the book of prophecies, in which he describes the fate of Paul and his rapidly approaching death. Again predictions of monk Abel lead his life path to the secret chancellery and to the Shlisselburg fortress. Less than ten months had passed since Paul I was killed, Alexander I freed the prophet and exiled him to Solovki. It should be noted that the new ruler did not previously believe in mysticism. On Solovki monk Abel writes the third book of prophecies, it describes the reign of Alexander and the near future of Russia: the war with the French, the burning of Moscow. The king, angry at the end, creates a decree to imprison Abel in a prison-monastery.

After Abel's predictions about Russia began to come true: the war with Napoleon, the ruin of Moscow; Alexander I tries to let the monk go. Abel was given a passport, money and permission to move freely throughout the country and beyond. At that time, the predictor was 56 years old. Possessing a strong spirit and body, he embarks on a long journey, monk Abel visited many places in Russia, visited Constantinople and Jerusalem. Upon returning to his homeland, he found his monastery in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The fame of the monk-prophet resounded everywhere, he was constantly visited by officials and their families with trivial requests, Abel did not welcome this and constantly retired. In the monastery, he created two books: “The Book of Genesis” and “The Life and Sufferings of the Monk Father Abel,” which touched upon questions of the creation of the world and the creation of man.

After writing books, fortune teller Abel leaves the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for new wanderings. Again the monk Abel predicts unpleasant events for Alexander I regarding his death and the rebellion of the nobles. The Emperor did not carry out reprisals against Vasiliev, but Alexander’s brother Nicholas I did not tolerate such freethinking. By his decree on August 27, 1826, Abel was imprisoned in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery-Prison, where on November 29, 1831 the monk died from a long illness. He was 74 years old. Abel was buried behind the altar of the Church of St. Nicholas, and the Orthodox Church honors and remembers him, Memorial Day is November 29. Abel bequeathed the accumulated 5 thousand rubles and his meager property to the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery.

Abel's predictions forgotten, just like him. Many years passed, and in 1901, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II opened the “Letter to a Descendant,” which, at one time, was written by Paul I after communicating with Abel. The letter was opened exactly 100 years later. One can only guess about its contents; Nicholas II set it on fire immediately after reading it. Many are inclined to think that in that envelope there was a prediction of the fate of the last king, and perhaps Abel's predictions about Russia. They also say that people who were with Nicholas II at that moment saw how the emperor changed his face and said: “Now I know that I have nothing to fear until 1918.” As you know, Nicholas II and his family were shot exactly this year. Not a single book of Abel has survived to this day in its entirety; only small fragments and copies remain.

Some of Abel's predictions:

Catherine II (1762-1796) - Abel predicted that she would sit on the throne for four decades.
- Paul I (1796-1801) - Abel predicted that he would not rule for long, and his death would be terrible, that he would die at the hands of his servants, that he would be strangled in his own bedroom. The monk also predicted that the king’s killers would declare him insane and begin to insult his memory. It turns out that the Intercession Monastery to this day retains the secret of the 30s of the 20th century. There is hard work ahead in the archives, and now the questions are not getting smaller.
- Alexander I (1801-1825) - The fortuneteller predicted that under his rule Napoleon would burn Moscow, in response to which the Russian Tsar would take Paris. Also, Abel said that the royal share would become difficult for Alexander I, and he would replace it with fasting and prayers...
- Nicholas I (1825-1855) - the monk predicted that his reign would begin with a riot and a fight.
- Alexander II (1855-1881) - monk Abel dedicated such lines that he will be called the king, liberator of serfs. It was also predicted that this sovereign would defeat the Turks. And Abel also predicted that Alexander would be killed by rebels in broad daylight.
- Alexander III (1881-1894) - Abel wrote that this ruler would restore order in the country, but he would not sit on the throne for long.
- Nicholas II (1894-1917) – The monk predicted such a fate that he would have the mind of Jesus Christ, great patience and purity of soul, that he would replace the crown with a crown of thorns. Abel predicted a war, that people would fly in the sky, swim under water, and kill each other with sulfur. It also came true that Nicholas would die on the eve of victory, that a civil war would begin, that power would change and people would renounce their faith.

Predictions of Monk Abel

Prophet in his Fatherland

Abel (Vasily Vasiliev)
03/18/1757, village of Akulovo, Tula province - 11/29/1841, Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery,
church prison, Suzdal
“His life passed in sorrows and hardships, persecutions and troubles, in fortresses and strong castles, in terrible judgments and in difficult trials...”
"The Life and Sufferings of Father and Monk Abel", published in 1875.

“These books of mine are amazing and amazing, and those books of mine are worthy of wonder and horror.”
Abel to Paraskeva Potemkina

On the night of November 1, 1787 (“...in the year from Adam 7295”) Abel had one “wonderful and wondrous vision,” which lasted “no less than thirty hours.” The Lord told him about the secrets of the future, ordering him to convey these predictions to the people:“The Lord... speaks to him, telling him something secret and unknown, what will happen to him and what will happen to the whole world.” “And from that time Father Abel began to know everything and understand everything and prophesy.”
He left the hermitage and the monastery and went as a wanderer through the Orthodox land. This is how the prophetic monk Abel began the path of prophet and predictor.
“He walked around different monasteries and deserts for nine years,” until he stopped at the Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery of the Kostroma diocese. It was there, in a tiny monastery cell, that he wrote the first prophetic book, in which he predicted that the reigning Empress Catherine II would die in eight months. The newly minted fortuneteller showed this book to the abbot in February 1796. And he went with the book to Bishop Pavel of Kostroma and Galicia, since the abbot decided that he had a higher rank and a higher forehead, let him sort it out.
The bishop read and tapped his forehead with his staff. Of course, Abel, supplementing his opinion with an expressive phrase that has not reached us in the original, apparently no one dared to write down such a number of swear words. Bishop Pavel advised the seer to forget about what was written and return to the monastery - to atone for his sins, and before that point to the one who taught him such sacrilege. But “Abel told the bishop that he wrote his book himself, did not copy it, but composed it from a vision; for, being in Valaam, he came to the church for matins, just as the Apostle Paul was caught up into heaven and there he saw two books, and what he saw, he wrote the same...”
The bishop was warped by such sacrilege - wow, the blue-footed prophet, he was “caught up” into heaven, he compares himself with the prophet Paul! Not daring to simply destroy the book, which contained “various royal secrets,” the bishop shouted at Abel: “This book is written for the death penalty!” But this did not bring the stubborn man to his senses. The bishop sighed, spat, swore rashly, crossed himself, and remembered the decree of October 19, 1762, which for such writings provided for the removal of monks and imprisonment. But it immediately emerged in the bishop’s head that “the water is dark in the clouds,” who knows, this prophet. Suddenly he really knew something secret, yet he prophesied not to someone, but to the empress herself. The Bishop of Kostroma and Galicia did not like responsibility, so he threw the stubborn prophet from his hands into the hands of the governor.
The governor, having read the book, did not invite the author to dinner, but slapped him in the face and put him in prison, from where the poor fellow was taken to St. Petersburg under strict guard, so that along the way he would not confuse people with unreasonable speeches and delusional predictions. In St. Petersburg there were people who were sincerely interested in his predictions. They served in the Secret Expedition and carefully recorded everything the monk said in the interrogation reports. During interrogations by investigator Alexander Makarov, simple-minded Abel did not retract a single word, claiming that he had been tormented by his conscience for nine years, since 1787, from the day of the vision. He wanted and was afraid “to tell Her Majesty about this voice.” And so, in the Babaevsky Monastery, he nevertheless wrote down his visions.
If it were not for the royal family, most likely the seer would have been ruined or rotted in remote monasteries. But since the prophecy concerned a royal person, the essence of the matter was reported to Count Samoilov, the prosecutor general. How important everything concerning the crowned heads was, follows from the fact that the count himself arrived on the Secret Expedition, talked for a long time with the seer, leaning towards the fact that he was a holy fool. He talked with Abel “in high tones,” hit him in the face, shouted at him: “How did you, evil head, dare to write such words against an earthly god?” Abel stood his ground and just mumbled, wiping his broken nose: “God taught me how to make secrets!”
After much doubt, they decided to report the fortuneteller to the queen. Catherine II, having heard the date of her own death, felt ill, which, however, in this situation is not surprising. Who would feel good with such news?! At first, she wanted to execute the monk “for this daring and riotousness,” as provided for by law. But still she decided to show generosity and by decree of March 17, 1796, “Her Imperial Majesty... deigned to indicate that Vasily Vasilyev... to be imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress... And the above-mentioned papers written by him to be sealed with the seal of the Prosecutor General, kept in the Secret Expedition "
Abel spent ten months and ten days in the damp Shlisselburg casemates. In the casemate, he learned the news that shocked Russia, which he had known about for a long time: on November 6, 1796, at 9 o’clock in the morning, Empress Catherine II suddenly died. She died exactly the same day, according to the prediction of the prophetic monk.
Pavel Petrovich ascended the throne. As always, with a change of power, officials also changed. The Prosecutor General of the Senate also changed; this post was taken by Prince Kurakin. While sorting out especially sensitive papers, he came across a package sealed with the personal seal of Prosecutor General Count Samoilov. Having opened this package, Kurakin discovered predictions written in terrible handwriting, which made his hair stand on end. What struck him most of all was the fulfillment of the fateful prediction about the death of the empress. The cunning and experienced courtier Prince Kurakin knew well Paul I’s inclination towards mysticism, so he presented the “book” of the prophet who was sitting in the casemate to the emperor. Quite surprised by the fulfillment of the prediction, Pavel, quick to make decisions, gave the order, and on December 12, 1796, striking the imagination of the monarch, smelling of the mold of the Shlisselburg casemate, the predictor appeared before the royal eyes...
One of the first to meet Abel, who left a written testimony about this, was none other than A.P. Ermolov. Yes, yes, that same Ermolov, the future hero of Borodin and the formidable pacifier of the rebellious Caucasus. But that comes later. In the meantime, the disgraced future hero, who served three months in the Peter and Paul Fortress due to false libel, was exiled to Kostroma. There A.P. Ermolov met with the mysterious monk. This meeting, fortunately, was preserved not only in Ermolov’s memory, but was also captured by him on paper. “...A certain Abel lived in Kostroma, who was gifted with the ability to correctly predict the future. Once, at the table of the Kostroma governor Lumpa, Abel publicly predicted the day and night of the death of Empress Catherine II. And with such amazing accuracy, as it later turned out, that it was like a prophet’s prediction. Another time, Abel announced that he intended to talk with Pavel Petrovich, but was imprisoned in the fortress for this insolence. Returning to Kostroma, Abel predicted the day and hour of death of the new Emperor Paul I. Everything Abel predicted literally came true.”
As already mentioned, the heir to the throne, Paul I, was prone to mysticism and could not ignore the terrible prediction, which came true with terrifying accuracy. On December 12, Prince A.B. Kurakin announced to the commandant of the Shlisselburg fortress Kolyubyakin to send prisoner Vasiliev to St. Petersburg.
The audience was long, but it took place face to face, and therefore precise evidence of the content of the conversation has not been preserved. Many claim that it was then that Abel, with his characteristic directness, named the date of Paul’s own death and predicted the fate of the empire two hundred years in advance. It was then that the famous will of Paul I allegedly appeared.
Some articles dedicated to the seer cite his prediction to Paul I: “Your reign will be short. On Sophronius of Jerusalem (a saint, the day of remembrance coincides with the day of the death of the emperor) in your bedchamber you will be strangled by the villains whom you warm on your royal bosom. It is said in the Gospel: “A man’s enemies are his own household.” The last phrase is a hint at the participation of Paul’s son, Alexander, the future emperor, in the conspiracy.
I think, based on further events, it is unlikely that Abel predicted Paul’s death, because the emperor showed sincere interest in him, treated him kindly, showed his affection, and even issued the highest rescript on December 14, 1796, ordering Abel to be tonsured as a monk at his request. Then, instead of the name Adam, he takes the name Abel. So this prediction is pure literature, not supported by any evidence from contemporaries. All other predictions of the prophetic monk are confirmed by interrogation reports and testimonies of contemporaries.
For some time, monk Abel lived in the Nevsky Lavra. The prophet is bored in the capital, he goes to Valaam. Then, unexpectedly, the eternal recluse appears in Moscow, where he preaches and prophesies for money to everyone. Then, just as unexpectedly, he leaves back for Valaam. Finding himself in a more familiar habitat, Abel immediately takes up his pen. He writes a new book in which he predicts... the date of death of the emperor who caressed him. Like the last time, he did not hide the prediction, introducing it to the monastery pastors, who, after reading it, were frightened and sent the book to Metropolitan Ambrose of St. Petersburg. The investigation carried out by the Metropolitan yields the conclusion that the book “was written secret and unknown, and nothing is clear to him.” Metropolitan Ambrose himself, who was unable to decipher the predictions of the prophetic monk, reported in a report to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod: “Monk Abel, according to the note he wrote in the monastery, revealed it to me. I am enclosing this discovery of his, written by himself, for your consideration. From the conversation I did not find anything worthy of attention, except for the insanity in the mind revealed in it, hypocrisy and stories about my secret visions, from which the hermits even come to fear. However, God knows.” The Metropolitan forwards the terrible prediction to the secret chamber...
The book is placed on the table of Paul I. The book contains a prophecy about the imminent violent death of Pavel Petrovich, about which during a personal meeting the monk either wisely remained silent, or there was no revelation to him yet. Even the exact date of death of the emperor is indicated - supposedly death will be his punishment for an unfulfilled promise to build a church and dedicate it to the Archangel Michael, and the sovereign has only as long to live as the letters should be in the inscription above the gates of the Mikhailovsky Castle, which is being built instead of the promised church. The impressionable Pavel is furious and gives the order to put the soothsayer in a dungeon. On May 12, 1800, Abel was imprisoned in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress. But he won’t sit there for long - the clouds around Paul’s crowned head are thickening. The holy fool Ksenia of Petersburg, who, like Abel, predicted the death of Catherine II, prophesies throughout the city the same thing as Abel - the life span allotted to Paul I is the number of years that coincides with the number of letters in the biblical inscription above the gate. People flocked to the castle to count the letters. There were forty-seven letters.
The vow broken by Paul I was again associated with mysticism and vision. Archangel Michael appeared to the guard in the old Summer Palace built by Elizabeth and ordered to build a new one on the site of the old palace, dedicated to him, the archangel. That's what the legends say. Abel, who foresaw all the secret phenomena, reproached Paul for the fact that the Archangel Michael ordered the construction of not a castle, but a temple. Thus, Paul, having built the Mikhailovsky Castle, erected a palace for himself instead of a temple. Although in the luxurious halls of the palace, biblical motifs seemed to come to life on tapestries embroidered with gold and silver. The magnificent parquet flooring of Guarenghi shone with its graceful lines. Silence and solemnity reigned around the palace. A soft, dim light was poured into the palace halls.
The appearance of his great-grandfather, Peter the Great, to Pavel is also known, who twice repeated the now legendary phrase: “Poor, poor Pavel!” All the predictions came true on the night of March 11-12, 1801. “Poor, poor Pavel” died from an “apoplectic blow” inflicted on the temple with a golden snuffbox. The “Russian Hamlet” reigned for four years, four months and four days, not even reaching the age of forty-seven years; he was born on September 20, 1754.
As they say, on the night of the murder, a huge flock of crows fell from the roof, resounding with terrifying cries around the castle. They say that this happens every year on the night of March 11-12.
The prophecy of the prophetic monk came true again(!) after ten months and ten days. After the death of Paul I, Abel was released, sent under strict supervision to the Solovetsky Monastery, forbidden to leave it.
But no one can prevent a prophetic monk from doing magic.

The life and deeds of Abel during the reigns of Alexander I and Nicholas I

In 1802, Abel secretly writes a new book in which he predicts absolutely incredible events, describing “how Moscow will be taken by the French and in what year.” At the same time, the year 1812 is indicated and the burning of Moscow is predicted.
The prediction becomes known to Emperor Alexander I. Concerned not so much about the prediction itself, which seemed wild and absurd at the time, but rather about the fact that rumors about this prediction would spread and spread by word of mouth, the sovereign ordered the monk-foreteller to be imprisoned in the island prison of Solovki and “he should be there.” until his prophecies come true.”
The prophecies came true on September 14, 1812, ten years and ten months later (!). Napoleon entered the throne room abandoned by Kutuzov. Alexander I had an excellent memory and immediately, upon receiving news of a fire that had started in Moscow, he dictated to his assistant, Prince A. N. Golitsyn, a letter to Solovki: “Monk Abel should be excluded from the number of convicts and included among the monks with complete freedom. If he were alive and well, he would come to us in St. Petersburg, we want to see him and talk to him about something.”
The letter was received in Solovki on October 1 and caused a nervous tremor in the Solovetsky abbot Illarion. Apparently, he did not stand on ceremony with the prisoner, so the meeting between Abel and the emperor did not bode well for him personally. Surely the prisoner will complain, but the sovereign will not forgive for the insults. Hilarion writes that “now Father Abel is sick and cannot be with you, but perhaps next year in the spring.”
The Emperor guessed what kind of “illness” the prophetic monk had and through the Synod ordered: “Monk Abel must certainly be released from the Solovetsky Monastery and given him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries. And so that he is happy with everything, the dress and the money.” Hilarion was separately instructed to “Give Father Abel money for the journey to St. Petersburg.”
After such a decree, Hilarion decided to starve the obstinate old man to death. The indignant Abel predicted imminent death for him and his assistants. The frightened Hilarion, who knew about Abel’s prophetic gift, let him go. But there is no escape from prophecy. That same winter, a strange pestilence occurred on Solovki, Hilarion himself died, and “God knows from what disease” his henchmen, who were doing evil to Abel, died.
The monk himself arrived in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1813. Emperor Alexander I was abroad at that time, and Abel was received by Prince Golitsyn, who “was very glad to see him and asked about the destinies of God.” The conversation was long, its contents were unknown to anyone, since the conversation took place face to face. According to the monk himself, he told the prince “everything from beginning to end.” Having heard in the “secret answers” ​​the prophetic monk’s predictions, according to rumors, of the fate of all sovereigns until the end of centuries, before the coming of the Antichrist, the prince was horrified and did not dare introduce the soothsayer to the sovereign, providing him with funds and sending him on a pilgrimage to holy places. Countess P. A. Potemkina took care of his material well-being and became his patron and admirer.
Despite the hardships and hardships he endured, monk Abel was strong in body and powerful in spirit. He visited the Greek Athos, Constantinople-Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Having been in prison, he was wary of prophesying, and Prince Golitsyn probably also made him serious suggestions; at least he refrained from prophesying. After his wanderings, he settled in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and lived without being denied anything.
By this time, the fame of his prophecies had spread throughout Russia. Those thirsty for prophecies began to come to his monastery, and persistent secular ladies especially annoyed him. But to all questions the monk stubbornly answered that he himself does not predict the future, he is only a conductor of the words of the Lord. He also refuses to respond to numerous requests to read out some of his prophecies.
To a similar request from Countess Potemkina, he answers his patroness with the same refusal, only explaining the reasons more directly: “I recently received two letters from you, and you write in them: to tell you prophecies this and that. Do you know what I will tell you: I am forbidden to prophesy by personal decree. So it is said: if the monk Abel begins to prophesy out loud to people or to whom to write on charters, then take those people into secret, and the monk Abel himself too, and keep them in prisons or jails under strong guards. You see, Praskovya Andreevna, what our prophecy or insight is. It is better to be in prisons or free, for the sake of reflection... I agreed now that it is better not to know anything and to be free, rather than to know and to be in prisons and under captivity. It is written: be wise like serpents and pure like doves; that is, be wise, but be silent more; There is also what is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent, and the like; This is what we have come to with our wisdom and our reason. So, now I’ve decided it’s better not to know anything, even if I know and remain silent.”
In short, to her disappointment, the countess did not acquire a home soothsayer. But since she patronized the fortuneteller, Abel agreed to give her advice on housekeeping and other matters instead of prophecies. The Countess happily agreed. If only she knew how the soothsayer’s advice would turn out for her!
What happened was the following: the countess’s son, Sergei, quarreled with his mother, not sharing the cloth factory with her. Being an efficient man, he decided to influence his obstinate mother through her home adviser. Young Potemkin began to court the monk in every possible way, inviting him to visit, giving him water and food. In the end, he offered Abel a bribe of two thousand rubles, “for the pilgrimage.” The monk was prophetic, but he was not incorruptible. He succumbed to temptation and persuaded the countess to give up the plant to her son.
Potemkina, who was under the enormous influence of Abel, gave in to his requests and did as he advised. But Sergei was a cunning fellow, having received his, he showed Abel an indecent gesture instead of money. The offended monk began to turn the mother against her son, demanding two thousand rubles from her, apparently, the amount sunk into his soul. The Countess apparently figured it all out. She was very upset and died from grief. Abel was left without a patroness; he had to go on his travels without two thousand rubles.
Abel “knew and was silent” for a long time. On October 24, 1823, he entered the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery. His prophecies have not been heard for almost nine years. Probably at this time he wrote the book “The Life and Suffering of the Father and Monk Abel,” which tells about himself, his wanderings and predictions, and another one that has come down to us, “The Book of Genesis.” This book talks about the emergence of the earth, the creation of the world. Unfortunately, there are no prophecies in the text; the words are simple and understandable, which cannot be said about the drawings in the book made by the seer himself. According to some assumptions, they resemble horoscopes, but for the most part they are simply not understandable at all.
The monk's silence was broken soon after moving to the Vysotsky Monastery. Persistent rumors spread throughout Moscow about the imminent death of Alexander I, that Constantine would abdicate the throne, fearing the fate of Paul I. Even an uprising on December 25, 1825 was predicted. The source of these terrible predictions was, of course, the prophetic monk.
Oddly enough, this time it happened, no sanctions followed, prison and scrip escaped the desperate predictor. Perhaps this happened because shortly before this, Emperor Alexander I went to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, and he predicted to him almost the same thing that the monk Abel prophesied.
The fortuneteller should have lived quietly and humbly, but he was ruined by an absurd oversight. In the spring of 1826, the coronation of Nicholas I was being prepared. Countess A.P. Kamenskaya asked Abel whether there would be a coronation. He, contrary to his previous rules, replied: “You won’t have to rejoice at the coronation.” A rumor immediately began to circulate in Moscow that Nicholas I would not be a sovereign, since everyone accepted and interpreted Abel’s words that way. The meaning of these words was different: the sovereign was angry with Countess Kamenskaya because peasants, tortured by oppression and extortion, rebelled on her estates, and she was forbidden to appear at court. Moreover, to attend the coronation. Taught by bitter everyday experience, Abel realized that he would not get away with such prophecies, and considered it best to sneak out of the capital. In June 1826, he left the monastery “to no one knows where and never appeared.”
But by order of Emperor Nicholas I, he was found in his native village near Tula, taken into custody and, by decree of the Synod of August 27 of the same year, sent to the prison department of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery, the main church prison.
While in the Vysotsky Monastery, he may have written another “very terrible” book and, as was his custom, sent it to the sovereign for review. This hypothesis was expressed more than a hundred years ago by an employee of the Rebus magazine, a certain Serbov, in a report on the monk Abel at the first All-Russian Congress of Spiritualists. What could Abel predict to Emperor Nicholas I? Probably the inglorious Crimean campaign and premature death. There is no doubt that the sovereign did not like the prediction, so much so that the predictor was no longer released.
The interrogation reports mention five notebooks, or books. Other sources speak of only three books written by Abel in his entire life. One way or another, alas, they all disappeared without a trace in the 19th century. These books were not books, in the understanding of the modern reader. These were sheets of paper sewn together. These books contained from 40 to 60 sheets.
On March 17, 1796, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire opened a “Case about a peasant of the estate of L. A. Naryshkin named Vasily Vasilyev, who was in the Babaevsky Monastery under the name of Hieromonk Adam, and then called himself Abel, and about a book he composed, on 67 pages.”
As already mentioned, only two books of the soothsayer have survived: “The Book of Genesis” and “The Life and Sufferings of Father and Monk Abel.” There are no prophecies in either book. Only a description of predictions that have already come true. But Emperor Paul I got acquainted with the notebooks attached to the investigative file, moreover, he talked with the monk himself, according to numerous legends, after which the famous will of Paul I appeared, which was repeatedly mentioned by many memoirists. M. F. Goeringer, née Adelung, Chief Camerfrau of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wrote in her diary: “In the Gatchina Palace... in the enfilade of the hall there was one small hall, in the middle of it on a pedestal stood a rather large patterned casket with intricate decorations. The casket was locked with a key and sealed... It was known that this casket contained something that was deposited by the widow of Paul I, Empress Maria Feodorovna, and that she bequeathed to open the casket and take out what was stored in it only when she turned one hundred years old from the day of the death of Emperor Paul I, and, moreover, only to those who will occupy the Royal Throne in Russia that year. Pavel Petrovich died on the night of March 11-12, 1801.”
This casket contained a prediction written by Abel, at the request of Paul I. But Nicholas II was destined to learn the true secret of the casket in 1901. In the meantime...
The “life and suffering” of the monk Abel ended in the prison cell. This happened in January or February 1841 (according to another version - November 29, 1841). Inspired by the holy sacraments, the “Russian Nostradamus” was buried behind the altar of the prisoner’s church of St. Nicholas.
But what about his prophecy, sealed for posterity by Paul I?
Let's return to the memoirs of Chief Kamerfrau M.F. Goeringer:
“On the morning of March 12, 1901, both the Sovereign and Empress were very lively and cheerful, getting ready to go from the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace to Gatchina to reveal a centuries-old secret. They prepared for this trip as if it were an interesting festive outing that promised to provide them with extraordinary entertainment. They went away cheerfully, but returned thoughtful and sad, and did not tell anyone anything about what they found in this casket. After this trip, the Emperor began to remember 1918 as a fatal year both for him personally and for the Dynasty.”
According to numerous legends, the prophecy of the prophetic Abel predicted exactly everything that had already happened to the Russian sovereigns, and Nicholas II - his tragic fate and death in 1918.
It should be noted that the sovereign took the prediction of the long-dead monk very seriously. It wasn’t even that all his prophecies came true exactly (to be fair, we note that not all of them, for example, he predicted to Alexander I that he would die as a monk. However, there are numerous legends about the mysterious elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who was rumored to be the king Alexander I, who went into seclusion to atone for the sin of parricide), but that Nicholas II already knew other prophecies about his unfortunate fate.
While still an heir, in 1891, he traveled around the Far East. In Japan, he was introduced to the famous fortune teller, the hermit monk Terakuto. A diary entry of the prophecy that accompanied the sovereign translator Marquis Ito has been preserved: “... great sorrows and upheavals await you and your country... You will make a sacrifice for all your people, as a redeemer for their follies...”. The hermit allegedly warned that there would soon be a sign confirming his prophecy. A few days later, on April 29, in Nagasaki, the fanatic Tsuda Satso rushed at the heir to the Russian throne with a sword. Prince George, who was next to the heir, repelled the blow with a bamboo cane, the sword inflicted a glancing wound on the head. Later, by order of Alexander III, this cane was showered with diamonds. The joy of salvation was great, but still a vague uneasiness remained from the hermit monk’s prediction. And these predictions were probably remembered by Nicholas II when he read the terrible prophecies of the Russian soothsayer.
Nikolai fell into heavy thoughtfulness. And soon he finally believed in the inevitability of fate. On July 20, 1903, when the royal couple arrived in the city of Sarov for the celebrations, Elena Mikhailovna Motovilova, the widow of the servant of St. Seraphim of Sarov, a glorified and revered saint, handed over a sealed envelope to the sovereign. This was the saint's posthumous message to the Russian sovereign. The exact contents of the letter remained unknown, but judging by the fact that the sovereign was “contrite and even wept bitterly” upon reading, the letter contained prophecies concerning the fate of the state and Nicholas II personally. This is indirectly confirmed by the royal couple’s visit to the blessed Pasha of Sarov on the same days. According to eyewitnesses, she predicted the martyrdom and tragedy of the Russian state for Nicholas and Alexandra.
Perhaps this knowledge of fate explains much of the mysterious behavior of the last emperor of Russia in recent years, his indifference to his own fate, paralysis of will, and political apathy. He knew his fate and consciously walked towards it. And his fate, like all the kings who preceded him, was predicted by the monk Abel. The notebooks, or, as he himself calls them, “books” with the predictions of the monk Abel are now either destroyed or lost in the archives of monasteries or detective orders. Lost, just as the books of prophecies of John of Kronstadt and Seraphim of Sarov were lost.
When getting to know the personality of Father Abel, you pay attention to the following mystical circumstance: his predictions always appear from oblivion on time and always reach the addressee. Abel predicted the war of 1812 ten years before it began and the date of death of all Russian tsars and emperors. The surprisingly accurate prediction about the reign of Nicholas I remains inexplicable: “The serpent will live for thirty years” (Denis Davydov. Works, 1962, p. 482).
According to many scientists, unknown texts of prophecies (for example, it is known that Father Abel had a long correspondence with Countess Praskovya Potemkina. Books of secret knowledge were written for her, which “are kept in a secret place; some of my books are amazing and amazing, those of my books are worthy surprise and horror") of monk Abel were seized by the Secret Expedition and kept secret, apparently to this day kept in the archives of Lubyanka or in the hands of those in power. Thus, in the notes of monk Abel, known to modern researchers, there is practically no mention of the “godless Jewish yoke” predicted by Father Abel, which came after the abdication of Nicholas II, interrupted by Stalin and resumed after the collapse of the USSR.
Compiling a complete list of the future rulers of Russia, Father Abel indicated “the last one will be the king who ascends the throne between March and April.” Like other great prophets, the wanderer Vasily is interesting for his special aesthetics of reticence. The terrible truth of his predictions lies in the knowledge of those times when the Russian people will lose their statehood. From this point of view, voicing the dates of life and death and periods of reign of half a dozen rulers of Russia should be considered nothing more than the boyish fun of the Russian genius.
In addition to the fact that the Prophetic Abel accurately predicted the fate of all Russian sovereigns, he predicted both world wars with their characteristic features, the Civil War and the “godless yoke” and much more, up to 2892, according to the prophet - the year of the end of the world. Although all these are retellings of versions and stories of contemporaries, his prophecies themselves, as already written, have not yet been found. There are many versions about this, “sensational” articles appear with headlines like this: “Did Putin know about Abel’s prediction?” It is possible that Abel’s predictions are hidden somewhere in the archives of the secret department, which was headed by the security officer Bokiy. The top-secret department was engaged in the search for Shambhala, paranormal phenomena, prophecies and predictions. All materials from this top-secret department have allegedly not yet been discovered.
In “gratitude” for his prophecies, Abel spent more than twenty years of his life in prison.
“His life was spent in sorrows and hardships, persecutions and troubles, in fortresses and strong castles, in terrible judgments and in difficult trials,” says the “Life and Suffering of Father and Monk Abel.”
Fatal date - 2892 years, that is, the end of the world, is often mentioned in works about the monk Abel, but is not confirmed by the predictions recorded by the prophet himself. It is believed that the book about the coming of the Antichrist is the “main” book of Abel, “worthy of surprise and horror.”
Until she is found, we know nothing about the time of the coming of the Antichrist. And do you really need to know - after all, this is, by the way, the end of the world. The end of everything.

A significant role in the dissemination of warning revelations was played by the prophetic monk Abel (Vasily Vasilyev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of members of the family of the Russian throne and the entire Russian empire for the sins of the autocratic government.

A significant role in the dissemination of warning revelations was played by the prophetic monk Abel (Vasily Vasilyev), who foreshadowed the tragic fate of members of the family of the Russian throne and the entire Russian empire for the sins of the autocratic government. Historical materials have preserved evidence of him as God’s seer; in his spoken revelations he predicted major state upheavals in the Russian Empire. That accordingly, God’s impartial prophecies revealed to the Russian rulers, for this he had to endure the difficult burden of persecution, punishment and imprisonment from the vicious Russian government.

Having lived more than 80 years, during his long life, for the prophecies he uttered, he had to remain in prison for over 20 years. Monk Abel, as a true prophet of God, who did not strive in earthly life to acquire material values, it was very difficult for him to carry out a worthy prophetic service, however, 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 them to receive flattering revelations about their rule, glorifying their power, strength and power. According to how it happened before the fierce wrath of the Lord in the corrupt Jewish government: “For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not listen to the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, “Cease to see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy.” tell us the truth, tell us flattering things, predict pleasant things” (Is. 30:9-10).

Despite the faces of the Russian government leadership, Monk Abel showed them exactly those impartial revelations of God that they really deserved. Monk Abel pointed out to the Russian emperors about their sinful situation, pointed out the need for their correction and appeal to Heaven, otherwise, warning that they would suffer tragic fates.

People who speak the truth to the eyes of rulers are not liked 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 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, moreover, in a completely non-royal place - a toilet. “In the days of the great Catherine, there lived a monk of high life in the Solovetsky Monastery. His name was Abel.

He was perspicacious, and had a simple disposition, and because what was revealed to his spiritual eye, he announced it publicly, not caring about the consequences. The hour came and he began to prophesy: ​​such and such a time would pass, and the Queen would die, and he even indicated what kind of death. No matter how far Solovki were from St. Petersburg, Abel’s word soon reached the Secret Chancellery. A request to the abbot, and the abbot, without thinking twice, sent Abel to the sleigh and to St. Petersburg; - and in St. Petersburg the conversation is short: they took and put the prophet in a fortress ...” This is how they act as prophets 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 Abel’s prediction, as they say, came into force - Catherine the Great died on that very day and in that very place - the monk was amnestied by Paul I himself. The Emperor wished to meet with the elder and hear new forecasts from him. 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 vow. It was there, at his second tonsure, that he received the name Abel.

But the prophet could not sit in the capital’s monastery. A year after his conversation with Pavel, he appears in Moscow, where he gives predictions to local aristocrats and wealthy merchants for money. Having earned some money, the monk goes to the Valaam Monastery.

But even there Abel does not live in peace: he again takes up the 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 entire monastery learns about the contents of the “centuries” of the 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 disturbing the peace of mind of His Majesty.” Immediately after the death of Paul I, Abel was again released from prison. Alexander I is already becoming the liberator of the prophetic monk. The new emperor warns that he sends the monk further 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 down the imagination of Abel in the Solovetsky prison. But then 1812 comes, the Russian army surrenders Moscow to the French, and Belokamennaya, as the monk predicted, almost burns to the ground. Impressed, Alexander I orders: “Release Abel from the Solovetsky Monastery, give him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries, provide him with money and clothes.” Once free, Abel decided not to irritate the royal family any longer, but went on a trip to the Holy Places: he visited Mount Athos, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. Then he settles in the Trinity-Sergeyeva Lavra. For some time he behaves quietly, until, after the accession of Nicholas I, he breaks through again. The new emperor did not like to stand on ceremony, therefore, “for the sake of humility,” he sent the monk into captivity 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, sinner, your cruel end. You will suffer martyrdom at the hands of Sophronius of Jerusalem from unfaithful servants; you will be strangled in your bedchamber by the villains whom you warm in your royal bosom. On Holy Saturday they will bury you... They, these villains, trying to justify their great sin of regicide, will declare you insane, will revile 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 softening the hearts of the unrighteous and cruel. The number of your years is like counting beech trees.” 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 towards past autocrats, Pavel would certainly be one of the outsiders.

About Alexander I

“The Frenchman will burn Moscow down under Him, and He will take Paris from him and call Him Blessed. But secret sorrow will become unbearable to Him, and the Royal crown will seem heavy to Him. He will replace the feat of Royal service 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 the star of the great saint of God over the Russian land. It burns, it flares up. This ascetic will transform Alexandrov’s entire destiny...” According to legend, Alexander I did not die in Taganrog, but turned into elder Fyodor Kuzmich and went to wander around Rus'.

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 destructive seed for Russia. If it weren’t for the grace of God covering Russia, then... About a hundred years after that, the House of the Most Holy Theotokos will become impoverished, and the Russian Power will turn into an abomination of desolation.”

About Alexander II

“Your grandson, Alexander II, destined to be the Tsar-Liberator. He will fulfill your plan - he will free the peasants, and then he will beat the Turks and also give the Slavs freedom from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive him for his great deeds, they will begin to hunt him, they will kill him in the middle of a clear day, in the capital of a loyal subject with the hands of renegades. Like you, he will seal the feat of his service with royal blood...”

About Alexander III

“The Tsar-Liberator will be succeeded 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 restore peace and order.”

About Nicholas II

“To Nicholas II - the holy king, like the long-suffering Job. He will have the mind of Christ, long-suffering and dove-like purity. Scripture testifies about him: Psalms 90, 10 and 20 revealed to me his whole fate. He will replace the royal crown with a crown of thorns; he will be betrayed by his people, as the Son of God once was. The Redeemer will be, he will redeem his people with himself - like a bloodless sacrifice. There will be a war, a great war, a world war. People will fly through the air like birds, swim under water like fish, and begin to destroy each other with foul-smelling brimstone. 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 then he himself will cry. The Egyptian execution will truly come.”

About the new unrest in Russia

“Blood and tears will water the damp earth. Bloody rivers will flow. Brother will rise up against brother. And again: fire, sword, invasion of foreigners and an internal enemy, godless power, the Jew will scourge the Russian land like a scorpion, plunder its shrines, close the churches of God, execute the best Russian people. This is God’s permission, God’s wrath for Russia’s renunciation of its God-anointed One. Or else there will be more! The Angel of the Lord pours out new bowls of tribulation so that people will come to their senses. Two wars, one worse than the other. The new Batu in the West will raise his hand. People between fire and flame. But he will not be destroyed from the face of the earth, for the prayer of the martyred king is sufficient for him.”

Every Russian knows Nostradamus and his prophecies. Although in reality this medieval poet and healer was not a fortuneteller, and his so-called “prophecies” are known, rather, because of their inflated popularity, rather than because of their real value. A true predictor, capable of not only foreseeing the future with amazing reliability, but also writing entire books of prophecies, lived here in Russia. This man was Vasily Vasiliev, who became famous as the monk Abel. His predictions predicted the death of many Russian emperors.

The predictions of the monk Abel for rulers are a special article. Since ancient times, every ruler always had his own court seer. Predictors of the future were especially in demand in the east, because even the founder of medicine, Avicenna himself, compiled horoscopes and studied the influence of planets on people’s destinies.

There were also plenty of prophets in Russia, but the most amazing and, perhaps, the most famous is the monk Abel. According to historical records and archival documents, all of his predictions by 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 unknown whether some facts about his life are true or fiction.

Biography

Here in the biographical dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron it says: “Abel, a monk-fortuneteller, born in 1757. Peasant origin. 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-Efimevsky Monastery, where he died in 1841.” A short, dry note, behind which lies almost the fate of Russia.

The future prophet was born in the village of Akulovo, Tula region. And he lived like all the peasants of that time, not shining with talent, until he was 28 years old. Towards the middle of his life, Vasily suddenly abandoned his family and went to the Valaam Monastery, where he took monastic vows under the name of the monk Adam. The reason for leaving was that his parents forcibly married Vasily, who himself had no desire to have a wife and was generally considered an unsociable person (which did not stop him from having three children).

Adam lived in the monastery for a year, and then asked the abbot for leave and went to the monastery. And it was there, saving himself in prayers and solitude, that Adam received the gift of prophecy. He himself wrote in his books that he had visions, as if a certain voice called him to heaven and showed him there a book that contained many secrets of the earthly world. Adam read from there what related to the Romanov dynasty and Russia - until the very end, and then a voice told him to convey what he read to the emperor, more precisely, to the Empress Catherine the Great, who then ruled Russia.

To fulfill the will of unknown forces, Adam walked across Russia, and when he found himself in the Nikolo-Babevsky monastery, he wrote his first book there, in which he said in plain text that Catherine would rule for only 40 years (and the fortieth year had already arrived her reign), that the throne will be inherited not by her beloved grandson Alexander, but by her son Paul, and everything like that.

When Catherine found out about this, she became furious and ordered the monk to be caught, stripped and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Adam was indeed stripped of his hair 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 he predicted...

Of course, Paul I, who generally believed in all sorts of mystical phenomena and prophecies, became interested in the prophetic monk. Prince Kurakin, after the death of Catherine, 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 monk.

No one knew exactly what they were talking about then, and today it is completely unknown. 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 memorial 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 chest. It is said in the Gospel: “A man’s enemies are his own household,” - this is how some sources quote this revelation. And one more thing: supposedly the monk revealed to the tsar the entire future of his descendants and all of Russia.

However, most likely this is a beautiful fiction. If the monk Abel had predicted such a death for Paul, then it is unlikely that Paul issued the highest rescript on December 14, 1796, commanding Adam to tonsure him again as a monk at Adam’s request.

When he was tonsured again, Vasily Vasiliev received the name by which he is known as one of the most sinister and accurate predictors in Rus'. After this, the monk went on a journey - he lived first in St. Petersburg, then ended up in Moscow, where for some time he prophesied and predicted for money to everyone, and then returned briefly to Valaam, where he wrote his second book.

In this work, he predicted the death of the emperor who warmed him. And he immediately showed his creation to the abbot. He got scared and sent the book to Metropolitan Ambrose of St. Petersburg. Ambrose gave the book to the right person, and lo and behold, it ended up in Paul’s hands. 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. Paul, according to the monk, has as long to live as the letters should be in the inscription above the gates of the Mikhailovsky Castle, which is being built instead of the promised church.

Paul, 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 the same amount of time there as during his previous imprisonment - 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, still ordered all his prophecies regarding the Romanov dynasty to be written down and locked in a casket, which could be opened exactly after a hundred years after the death of the king.

The monk Abel himself was taken under escort to the Solovetsky Monastery and forbidden to walk around Russia and confuse minds. But he had no intention of wandering around - 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 about such a prophecy and ordered Abel to be imprisoned in Solovki and not released from there until what was predicted came true.

And it came true. Then Alexander ordered the prophet to come to him in St. Petersburg, even sending money for travel and a passport. True, Abbot Hilarion, who treated the imprisoned monk very poorly, fearing the royal disfavor, did not want to let him go. And only after receiving the prediction of the monk Abel about the death of himself and all the other monks of the monastery, he got scared and sent the predictor away. True, this did not help and the prophecy came true - a strange illness claimed both Hilarion himself and his charges.

And the fortuneteller arrived in St. Petersburg and had a conversation with Prince Golitsyn. It is not known what he said to him there, but Golitsyn hastened to send the fortuneteller on pilgrimages to holy places and did his best to prevent his meeting with the emperor. Moreover, a decree was issued by which the monk Abel was forbidden to publicly prophesy and generally make predictions. Disobedience was punishable by prison.

Therefore, Abel did not predict anything for quite 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, during the years of his life in the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery, the fortuneteller nevertheless wrote another book, “The Life and Suffering of Father and Monk Abel,” hinting at his holiness with the title. The book contained many complex and incomprehensible mystical drawings, a description of the creation of the world and a 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 against him. Perhaps because he received a similar prophecy from Seraphim of Sarov. Both “predictions,” as we know, came true.

Therefore, Abel could calmly prophesy further, which is what 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 caught quite quickly - in his native village, where he returned after many years, and was imprisoned in the prison department of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimevsky Monastery.

He never left there. This amazing man was buried behind the altar of the monastery St. Nicholas Church. None of his books - and it is not even known exactly how many he wrote, three or five - have survived. The records of predictions that were in the casket that went to Nicholas II also disappeared. All prophecies of the “Russian Nostradamus” are known only from letters and documents, fragments and inaccurate quotes.

Little information has reached us about the most terrible book written by the predictor - 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 better - there are already enough dark predictions and unkind prophecies in our dysfunctional world.