Emperor Pavel - life and tragic end

Thank You very much

Paul may not have been the most stable leg on the table, but  do not really think he was actually mad.  Some of his intended reforms were actually  very progressive.  He did threaten the staus quo of certain classes, however. And certain alliances. A very complicated person to say the least. See the Hugh Ragsdale books.

I've read somewhere that the Russians want to canonize Tsar Paul I as Tsar Martyr ... I also saw an icon of him made for that reason ...does anyone know anything more ?
And Tsar Peter I the Great was also in one icon I saw ....I hope that if they will be officially canonized as saints that I will get the chance to buy their icons as I already have 2 icons of the Holy Royal Martyrs , Tsar Nicholas II's family !

I do not know where you read that nonsense, but Paul was certainly not a religious figure for the Orthodox church.  He was very close to the Pope in Rome.  He also accepted the Mastership of the CATHOLIC order of the Knights of Malta, in exile. This is a very controversial issue, as  a corresponding Orthodox order was also founded by him, bit is not recognised by Rome, also Alexander returned the honours when he came to the throne].
 As for Peter I l, he abolished the Patriarchate and subjugated to clergy to his. State will. This establishment the Holy Synod lasted until the revolution.
 Both monarchs were far more friendly to the Western ideals, religion among them, than  Orthodoxy
 Any icons you may see are not religious, sanctioned by the RO church, but merely souvenirs.

If you´re interested in this topic I must recommend a theatre play from Dimitri Merezkovsky, called "Death of Paul I."  Now it´s performed by Brno City Theatre (I´m from Czech Republic), I saw it this April. I find it historically correct and the characters are excellent. I hope some theatres in the world have (or will have) this play on hteir repertoir.

I can recommend a book that is a little off track for Romanov scholars.  It is  Living With Ghosts by Prince Michael of Greece.

Prince Michael feels that he has some sort of 6th sense that allows him to see and talk with "dead people".

The book is a little strange, but Chapter 7 - The Misunderstood Ghost - is his "conversation" with Empress Marie Feodorovna wherein she defends her husband Paul I and explains that he was truly a good man who was misunderstood and hated by his mother Catherine the Great and numerous other members of the Russian imperial family.

It is an interesting take on Paul and his life, but as to the accuracy and/or veracity of the Prince Michael's story - who knows?

Thank you, Alixz,
 I find objective  books about Paul are hard to come by. I do have a couple, though,  by Hugh Ragsdale.
 That Prince Michael has a sort of 6th sense does not surprise me in the least, he has the heritage and experience to be familiar with the past. He is also cognizant of his history and very unpretentious about it.  That he would  write about Paul is most interesting, I shall look for the book.

Robert - you are welcome.

However, I do want to emphasize that only that one chapter is about Paul or any other member of the Romanov family.  The rest are stories of "hauntings" that Prince Michael experienced in other countries and other country homes.

I was a little disappointed in it, but I am glad to have a copy if just because Prince Michael wrote it and it is interesting to see what he is doing with his life.

Pavel I
[by Anton Losenko]

Paul Ist baptised "Michael" his last son, the only child he had after the death of his mother. Therefore, we may believe he felt free to choose the name he wanted.
During the same period, he planned to build a chapel to St Michael and, with the help of a "vision" a soldier had about it, he appeared to be himself blessed with divine inspiration, a "fact" that the Orthodox Church uses today to declare him a saint martyr.
As everyone knows, he extended his plans from a chapel to a fortified castle, which allow us to say that St Michael was in his view supposed to protect him.
Of course, we remember that "Michael" was the Christian name of the first Romanov to reign.  That could be part of the explanation.
And, as everybody knows, Paul I was to be killed in the Michailovsky.

Does anybody have any document or historical fact to quote to say more about this short lived kind of mystic link between St Michael and Paul I?

Thanks to all

Ekaterina Nelidova

i`m fully aware of the fact that pavel I was a far more complex figure that is commonly regarded to be. and there are many factors tat influenced his state of mind and behavior. but for me he appears to be an oppressor who did his best to do away with many basic liberties.

who would be pleased if their sovereign ordered than no one except for midwives and doctors could move around the city after 9 p.m. pavel also forbade certain models of hats or trousers and to ake sure that people obeyed his orders a group of 200 dragons moved around st petersburg. he also introduced mmore severe censorship e.g. having closed down private publising houses and having introduced control over import of books and magazines from abroad. this is what his daughter-inlaw elizaveta alexeevna wrote to her mother on 20.03/01.04.1801 :" Dear Mother, now, when Russia is a European country again and foreign books arrive to us again, could you please inform me about new books?"
Pavel might have been thinking about certain reforms that might have benefitted the country but having limited basic human rights that were respected by his late mother he provoked a stream of very negative feelings.
   

I don`t claim to be an expert on Pavel`s reign (but I`m going to read a book on Pavel by Nikolay Shilder who wrote two magnificent books on Alexander I and Nicholas I thoug the latter remained unfinished because Shilder died). I peceive him through general books on Russian hhistory or through books on other Romanovs e.g. Catherine II. A very interesting evidence is provided by the letters of his daughter -in-law Elizaveta Alexevna. According to her, he was prone to mood changes:one day he adored soeone ,the next  day he started to persecute this person. It`s clearly stated that Elizaveta loved Catherine II and regretted her death. She often refers in very positive terms to her reign not only because of the benefits of her reign but also due to personal reasons. Alexandr and her enjoyed more freedom in Catherine1s times but when Pavel ascended the throne he treated his family and his surroundings as soldiers in is Gatchina regiment.   

This is MArsovo Field in St.Petersburg. In the background you can see Mikhailovskiy palace where Pavel was murdered