Was the Extraordinary Deception of Russian Tsar Alexander I (Feodor Kuzmiç) Real?
Was the Extraordinary Deception of Russian Tsar Alexander I (Feodor Kuzmiç) Real?
On December 2, 1825, the Russian people were informed that their ruler, Tsar Alexander I, had breathed his last the day before. However, he was not old, he was 47 years old. It was and still is unknown why he died: such things are none of the public's business anyway. From the doctors who were with him until his death
one of whom is Dr. Wyllie said it was malaria. Another, surgeon Tarassov, said gallbladder disease. On the other hand, they both concluded that there was a stroke in the brain. Whether their diagnosis was wrong or absurd is unclear. The new Tsar Nicholas I, for some unknown reason, destroyed many documents related to Alexander's death. These may not be enough for conspiracy theorists, but they are generally sufficient findings for history; The story doesn't end here.
Death after weather change
Alexander I, who was tsar between 1801 and 1825, was the emperor who was about to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte and start a march towards Paris. However, in the post-Napoleonic period of reaction, his own government's return to the harsh pre-revolutionary repression made him feel regretful. The Tsar was reportedly passionate about freedom and, paradoxically, a staunch Jacobin for an absolutist ruler, even establishing a committee for the liberation of the people.
His own appointee, Count Arakcheyev, was called "Russia's evil genius" by his contemporaries. Harsh military colonies exploited peasants throughout Russia. Stories of discontent spread. The Tsar was a mystic, but happiness seemed to elude him. In 1824, his daughter died of tuberculosis. His wife was almost devastated with sadness. Aleksandr became increasingly interested in the rural environment, becoming more mystical, religious and chatting with mediums. His marriage was not a refuge for his melancholic mood, and when his only child, his daughter, died, it seemed that he had no family life left.
A few weeks ago, Tsarina Elizabeta Fiodorovna (born Marie-Louise de Baden) felt extremely tired and the imperial couple went south to Taganrog on the Sea of Azov. Shortly after their arrival, Tsarice recovered and the couple decided to stay longer./p>
The Tsar also traveled around Crimea to attack the Ottoman Empire, which he dreamed of. Then he also went to the Saint George Monastery in Balaklava. He said to Prince Volkonski: “Soon I will retire here to live like an ordinary mortal. I did my duty for 20 years. "A soldier in this situation needs retirement."
On his return to Taganrog, Alexander was struck by a severe fever. Fire surrounded his whole body. Perhaps, as he often said at the end of his life, he was "crushed under the crown." Then he was declared dead. According to tradition, he had to be mummified. Dr. Wyllie handled the job alone. And again, according to tradition, the corpse was exhibited in the Taganrog Cathedral for a month. Perhaps the doctor had done his job wrong, because when the body was taken back to Tsarskoye Selo for re-display, some people close to the Tsar were surprised at the thinness of his body and the color of his face. It had become pitch black. He was buried after the exhibitions were finished.
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Years after Alexander's death, a monk named Feodor Kuzmich entered the stage of history. In the Tomsk region, located in the taiga east of the Ural Mountains, a “staretz” (spiritual leader or holy person in the Russian Orthodox Church) named Fiodor Kuzmich appeared. Starets were familiar figures in Russian life of that time, wandering monks, soothsayers and healers with sometimes miraculous abilities. This man settled in an “izba” (traditional rural dwelling in Russia). He appeared to have walked a lot to get to the monastery where he worshiped. He spoke little. It was assumed that he was intimate with the members of the imperial court, due to the very rare words that came out of his mouth.
Rumors about him reached the ears of the Metropolitan of Irkoutsk, 1000 km away on Lake Baikal, who asked him to visit him. When Kuzmich arrived, the Metropolitan screamed in surprise, opened his arms and bowed before his visitor, to the astonishment of the witnesses. Kuzmich picked him up and gave him the kiss of peace. The two men then shut up and no one could find out what they were talking about for a long time.
From that day on, he became Metropolitan, going to Tomsk to visit Fiodor Kuzmich. The inhabitants of Tomsk concluded from this that this saint was a priest of high rank. “I'm just a secularist,” the man explained. But he was undoubtedly no ordinary man: he spoke French and English, and his actions sufficiently revealed that he knew court etiquette. The cleanliness of his clothes, his beard and his carefully combed hair distinguished him from otherstarets, who were generally wild-looking.
One day, the soldiers who were taking a group of convicts to Nertchinsk passed by Kuzmich's izba, and when their commander saw him, he shouted: “Oh my God! But this is our father Alexander! This is Tsar Alexander Pavlovich!”> The monarch had died many years earlier, and his younger brother, Nicholas I, had inadvertently inherited the heavy crown after a palace rebellion in favor of his brother Constantine. The commander's excitement was not convincing; he could not properly recognize a ruler he had only seen from afar after many years.
The people of Tomsk were convinced and continued to think that Kuzmich was actually the tsar who was allegedly in Taganrog. He was holding his cloak with his right hand, just like Alexander's mantle, the writings were similar and the most important detail was that Kuzmich was deaf in one ear, just like the tsar.
Kuzmich died on January 20, 1864. A huge crowd followed his coffin to the Saint-Alexis monastery, where he was buried. On the tombstone there was an inscription: "Here lies the great staretz Fiodor Kuzmich (blagoslovennyi), the old man blessed by God."”.
What a strange coincidence that this definition of “blagoslovennyi” was the same as the Holy Synod and Senate's definition of Alexander I.
This strange story seems to be explainable as follows: Kuzmich was very similar to Alexander I, and the Metropolitan of Irkoutsk was "carried away by delusions". Then, according to the process described above, the public inflated the legend. Then who was this cultured staretz? A sumptuous life at once A courtier who abandoned his life and lived as a monk would certainly attract attention; However, this is not the case. No chronicler mentioned such a disappearance.
The tyrannical and error-ridden rule of Alexander's father, Emperor Paul, raised suspicions of mental illness and paranoia. In 1801, a group of commanders decided to depose him and make Alexander emperor. They promised him that they would not do any undesirable behavior towards Paul. But when the coup d'etat took place, the coup leaders killed Paul in the presence of Alexander. Undoubtedly, Aleksandr lived with great guilt and constantly felt regret.
After the death of the young tsar in the secluded town of Taganrog, gossip spread quickly: the young and vigorous emperor was not dead, but had abdicated to confess the sin of patricide. His role in the assassination of Paul I was unclear. There was evidence that he hoped that his unpopular father would be exiled peacefully and not killed. On the other hand, Alexander Pushkin, who started the biography of Tsar Alexander, was of the opposite opinion and accused him of complicity.
Could Fodor Kuzmich really be Alexander I? This seems plausible at first glance, as the Tsar had complained many times about the crushing weight of his duty. In this case, he would have been 87 years old, an advanced age for the period. But then, everyone in the Tsar's entourage, his wife, his two doctors, and his entourage would have to cooperate in a body-swapping operation; Dr.Wyllie was going to embalm this unknown person.
Let's come to the 1920s in the last part of the story: The Soviets are the last people who would want to evoke a distinct emotion. However, they opened the tsar's tombs to draw public attention to their old form of government. In fact, they might have intended to plunder the tombs, but when the tomb was found completely empty, the calculations changed. They came across an empty coffin with a lead sheet inside. They were all convinced of one thing: There was no body.
So who stole the body from the imperial tomb? Perhaps Elizabeta Fyodorovna, as the noble representative of the privileges of the monarchy, would have preferred to have the body of a commoner lie in the grave of her master.
She didn't accept it.
Resources:
- Who was Feodor Kuzmich? https://backpackerverse.com/feodor-kuzmich/ access:20.01.2019
- Gerald Messadie. 4000 Years of Historical Hoaxes. Trans. Kaya S.E. Istanbul: Pegasus Publications, 2013: 206-211.
- The Emperor and the Hermit: Tsar Alexander & Feodor Kuzmich. hermitary.com/lore/alexander.html access:20.01.2019