Alexander I was born on 12 December 1777, the year of the great flood in Saint Petersburg, which afflicted hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands

Alexander I was born on 12 December 1777, the year of the great flood in Saint Petersburg, which afflicted hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands. The Emperor died on 1 December 1825, 12 months and 12 days after the second-largest flood in the city's history. Many saw in this a special mysticism, but what then of the theory that Alexander I in fact lived out his remaining days in Siberia under the name of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich? One wonders whether the numerologists would see in the date of death of the righteous Fyodor of Tomsk, 20 January 1864, some connection with floods, or with the number 12, which is supposed to have been sacred to the Tsar