Emperor Alexander I vs Fedor Kuzmitch - a mystery

[bluetoria]

On every family tree the date of Alexander I's death is 1825 but according to a book by Lord Longford, he:
"...visited Father [i.e. St.] Seraphim in 1825. It is an historical fact that Alexander soon afterwards vacated the throne and lived in Siberia until 1864 under the name of Staretz Fedor Kuzmitch."

Could anyone tell me more aboutthis, please...or if it's been discussed before, point me in the right direction?
Thank you in anticipation

[helenazar]

There is a fascinating legend that Alexander I faked his own death and "retired" from life under another name.
At one point a man named Fedor Kuzmich appeared in Tomsk and local residents suspected that this might well be Tsar Alexander himself. In 1864 Kuzmich was lying on his death bed, his last words being, "God only knows my real name!"
Allegendly, in 1865, Tsar Nicholas attempted to quell the rumors about his brother and had his casket opened. Rumors soon spread about the casket being empty. Then in 1926, over one hundred years after Alexander's death his casket was opened again and was officially declared empty. To this day, supposedly no one really knows where he lays buried.

[bluetoria]

Thank you, Helen, for that information. So it's still all quite a mystery!

[hikaru]

Is is also said that the wife of Alexandr - Tsarina Ekuzaveta went after him to Siberia.
Nobody knows if it is right or rong.

[bluetoria]

That's very interesting hikaru, I hadn't heard that. Do you know in what year is she 'supposed' to have died?
It would be interesting to find out more but I suppose it's one of those mysteries that you never get to the bottom of.

[hikaru]

Oh, It is quite long story.
Alexandr died unexpectedly in Taganrog ( the house is still their) on November 1825. He was buried only in March 1826 in St.Petersburg  in closed coffin.
His wife Elizaveta Alexeevna (nee Luiza of Baden Baden)
died misteriously at the beginning of the 1826 year on the her way back from Taganrog (near Azov sea)
to the Sankt Petersburg.Maybe she died, Maybe she went to Siberia and lived with husband, maybe she went to Tikhvin Monastery near Petersburg.
Grand Duke Nikolay Mikhaylovich Romanov , faymouse
historian , was trying to clarify this mistery but in vain.
But he proved that the handwriting of Alexandr and Fyodor Kuzymich was different.
Leo Tolstoy wrote in a novel about the Fyodor Kuzymich,
he was sure that he is Alexandr .

[bluetoria]

Thank you, Hikaru
Do you know the name of the Tolstoy novel so I can read it, please?

[hikaru]

The name of Tolstoy ' s novel: "Posmertnye zapisky
startsa Phyodora Kuzymicha" (After dead notes of the
oldman Phyodor Kyzymich) .
This novel was prohibited in Tsarist Russia.
The tomb of the Fyodor Kuzymich in the Tomsk Alexeev Monastery.
In 1988 he was proclaimed as the Saint by the Russian Orthodox Churche.

[kmerov]

It all sounds very strange. I meen an emperors death would generate some kind of attention from people around him. If he faked his death some people must have been involved, and lying to a lot of people. But quit a mystery with the empty grave..

[hikaru]

Some said that the body was changed with the dead body of a soldier similar to the Emperor.
Besides, he died in Taganrog - there were not so many people around him.
He was just ill, catched a cold, nobody thought that he would die.

[bluetoria]

It's fascinating! What about his wife, though? If she followed him, was someone buried in her place, too?

(Thanks for the book information, too, Hikaru - I'll have to see if I can find it in translation

[Georgiy]

Bluetoria,
There is a book in English about this, called, I think "Imperial Mystery". I can't remember who wrote it though. I think there is a thread about it in the book section.

[bluetoria]

Thanks a lot, Georgiy - I'll see if I can find it!  

[strom]

I heard that when the tomb of Alx.I was opened they found only boulders!  Thank you Hikaru for the note on the canonization of St. Kuzemich.  There is something here very close to the history of the Alexander palace.  

[helenazar]

Some said that the body was changed with the dead body of a soldier similar to the Emperor.

But then why was the grave empty when they opened it?