Divine Office, Menaion, Mass on who is damned

 Divine Office, Menaion, Mass, Catechism on who is damned:

The Byzantine version of Divine Office where Arius and Macedonius are declared damned:

Before the ages before the morning star, Thou wast begotten of the womb of the Father without mother; yet Arius calleth Thee a creature, refusing to glorify Thee as God, with audacity mindlessly confusing Thee, the Creator, with a creature, laying up for himself fuel for the everlasting fire. But the Council in Nicæa proclaimed Thee to be the Son of God, Who art equally enthroned with the Father and the Spirit. --COMMEMORATION OF THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE FIRST SIX ECUMENICAL COUNCILS At Great Vespers

The mindless Arius, showing himself to be a servant of a created being, and Macedonius, likewise revealed as abominable, are tormented together in the fire of Gehenna with the heathen.--COMMEMORATION OF THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE FIRST SIX ECUMENICAL COUNCILS At Matins, Ode III

Also,

Irmos:I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of Thy dispensation; I have understood Thy works, and have glorified Thy divinity. 

With the torrent of thy tongue thou didst hurl the betrayer of Christ, like Judas, into a place of fœtor, O blessed Alexander.

Like a fruitful olive-tree standing in the house of God, O John, thou therein didst bring forth those who believe on Him, like ripe fruit.--Menaion, August, THE 30TH DAY OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST, Matins, Ode IV: Canon of the Holy Hierarchs

 In the same matins:

Irmos: The Lord Who was glorified on the holy mountain, and by the fire in the bush revealed to Moses the mystery of the Ever-virgin, hymn ye and exalt Him supremely for all ages! 

Slaying the wicked Arius by thine earnest supplications, O divinely wise Alexander, thou didst dispatch him to a vile place, like another Judas, since he had apostatized in like manner. 

The mindless Arius, the enemy of God, who as a traitor rent asunder the robe of Christ, fell headlong, and now, like another Judas, lieth in torment in hell, O thrice-blessed Alexander. 

Through abstinence and unsurpassed vigils thou wast shown to be as one of the incorporeal beings, and in thy constant teachings thou becamest a rich wellspring of paradise for all ages, O John.--Menaion, August, THE 30TH DAY OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST, Matins, Ode VIII: Canon of the Holy Hierarchs

 The Tridentine Latin Mass alludes to Judas' damnation:

O God, from whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession: grant unto us the full fruit of Thy clemency; that even as in His Passion, our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each a retribution according to his merits, so having taken away our old sins, He may bestow upon us the grace of His Resurrection.

Deus, a quo et Iudas reátus sui pœnam, et confessiónis suæ latro prǽmium sumpsit, concéde novis tuæ propitiatiónis efféctum: ut sicut in passióne sua Iesus Christus Dóminus noster divérsa utrísque íntulit stipéndia meritórum; ita nobis, abláto vetustátis erróre, resurrectiónis suæ grátiam largiátur:--Collect for Holy Thursday

Likewise, the Catechism of Trent in passing says Judas is damned:

Some are attracted to the priesthood by ambition and love of honours; while there are others who desire to be ordained simply in order that they may abound in riches, as is proved by the fact that unless some wealthy benefice were conferred on them, they would not dream of receiving Holy Orders. It is such as these that our Saviour describes as hirelings, who, in the words of Ezechiel, feed themselves and not the sheep, and whose baseness and dishonesty have not only brought great disgrace on the ecclesiastical state, so much so that hardly anything is now more vile and contemptible in the eyes of the faithful, but also end in this, that they derive no other fruit from their priesthood than was derived by Judas from the Apostleship, which only brought him everlasting destruction. --Catechism of Trent (aka Roman Catechism):THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS: Right Intention 

The Matins of the Divine Office for the now extinct Feast of the Garden of Gethsemane.

Then He saith: “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” (Matth. xxvi. 31.) He was sorrowful because He was leaving us orphans. But how resolutely He was giving Himself up to die is sufficiently clear by what followed, when He went to meet those that sought Him, when He calmed the agitated, when He nerved the timid, when He received the traitor himself with the condescension of a kiss. Neither is it other than the truth to say that He was sorrowful for their sakes who were hunting Him down, since He knew what a punishment they were to undergo for that unutterable crime. And because of all these things He said: "Let this cup pass from Me!” It was not that the Divine Son Of the Divine Being was afraid to die, but He would not that even wicked men should perish on His account.--Office in Memory of the Prayer of Our Lord JESUS Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matins, Ninth Lesson. page 239

 Around Constantinople I, Pope Damasus plainly spoke of the damnation of Apollinaris

If any one speaks of Christ as having had less of manhood or of Godhead, he is full of devils’ spirits, and proclaims himself a child of hell.

“Why then do you again ask me for the condemnation of Timotheus? Here, by the judgment of the apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, he was condemned, together with his teacher, Apollinarius, who will also in the day of judgment undergo due punishment and torment. But if he succeeds in persuading some less stable men, as though having some hope, after by his confession changing the true hope which is in Christ, with him shall likewise perish whoever of set purpose withstands the order of the Church.--Letter of Damasus bishop of Rome found in: The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret, Book V, Chapter X

The Menaion says the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian is damned:

The wretched and most mindless Leo, infected with the heresy of Mamon, dashed himself against thee as against a hard stone, O God-pleasing Nicephorus, and hath quickly broken asunder in hell.--Menaion, June: June 2: St. Nicephorus the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople: Matin, Ode I 

Pope Sylvester in Byzantine Menaion

Sometimes Orthodox apologists claim Rome was largely, if not completely, irrelevant in the first ecumenical council of Nicea (Nicaea).

However, the Menaion that the Orthodox Church prays says otherwise:

O God-bearing father Sylvester, thou wast shown to be a pillar of fire leading the sacred council in sanctity, an overshadowing cloud leading the faithful away from the deception of Egypt and ever guiding them on toward the divine land by thy constant teachings. Wherefore, we honor thy right glorious and most sacred memory.--Menaion, 2nd Day of the Month of January, At Vespers (Tone VIII) (translated by Isaac Lambertsen) 

Thou didst show thyself to be the leader of the sacred council, O initiate of the sacred mysteries, and didst adorn the cathedra of the preëminent of the disciples, crying: Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord!--Menaion, 2nd Day of the Month of January, At Matins, Ode VIII, Canon of the Hierarch (translated by Isaac Lambertsen)

Another translation of the Vespers above is found on a Ukrainian Greek Catholic website:

O holy Father Sylvester, bearer of God,* you revealed yourself to be a pillar of fire.* You convoked a sacred council and were the cloud which gives shade.* You led the faithful away from the Egyptian heresy* and always brought them to the divine land by your true teaching.* Therefore, we venerate your blessed and all-holy memory. --Menaion, 2nd Day of the Month of January, At Vespers (Tone VIII) (translation by RoyalDoors) also found on Archeparchy of Pittsburgh

Tsar Nicholas II family/court and the Occult

Sources, many primary and secondary claiming "St." Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia dabbled in the occult.

The last Emperor of Russia was canonized along with his family and servants by the Russian Orthodox church as passion bearers, though many simply regard them proper martyrs. (Initially, even the Lutheran and Catholic servants were canonized by the ROCOR as saints until it was revealed they were not Orthodox!) The typical explanation for the canonization is that he was a pious Christian ruler and a good father. His quality of rule is very dubious, but this is not the subject of this article. The quality of his fatherhood seems an odd reason for canonization considering Christ alludes to even heathens being good parents. Rather, him and his wife's obsession with mystics and the occult suggest they were not very pious in a theological sense. A number of those close the Imperial family bemoaned the Emperor's gullibility and lack of will, especially when it came to supposed mystics that his wife fell under the spell of: Concerning the influence of the Empress Alexandra, the Count Sergei Witte wrote:

She might have been a good enough consort for a petty German prince, and she might have been harmless even as the Empress of Russia, were it not for the lamentable fact that His Majesty has no will power at all. The extent of Alexandra’s Influence upon her husband can hardly be exaggerated. In many cases she actually directs his actions as the head of the Empire. On one occasion, I recall, Nicholas referred to Her Majesty as “a person in whom I have absolute faith.” The fate of many millions of human beings is actually in the hands of that woman. Surely the poor Emperor, and ah’ of us who are his devoted servants, and, above all, Russia, would have been much happier had Princess Alix married a German Duke or Count.--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 198. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC. 

Empress Alexandra was the favorite granddaughter of Queen of England, Victoria. Queen Victoria was herself a believer in the occult, it seems fitting that Alexandra would like fall victim to occult 'masters'. The occult was widespread in Europe and other western countries among the aristocracy. Abraham Lincoln is even believed to have attended a seance, Arthur Conan Doyle was a devout Spiritualist, and many blurred the lines between medicine and magic/superstition (which exists today in some fields of psychology).

One such prominent occultist was Philippe (Philippe Nizier-Anthelme Vachod), a French medical school dropout who was fined for practicing medicine without a license until he found another to operate his quack practice under.

Another occultist master who some dealings with the Imperial court was Gérard Anaclet Vincent Encausse aka Papus.

In 1910 the head of both the Martinists and the Ordre de la Rose-Croix was Gerard Encausse (1865-1916). better known by his "occult" name, "Papus". Papus was the author of dozens of the best-known occult texts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an expert on everything from alchemy to Kabbala to the tarot. He also held high-ranking Masonic and Rosicrucian posts.... 

Papus reestablished and updated the Martinist order, which soon achieved great popularity in Russia and Italy.  Between 1900 and 1905, on one of several visits to Russia, Papus reputedly established a Martinist lodge at the court in St. Petersburg, together with another, Dr Philippe (Philippe Nizier-Anthelme Vachod, also Maitre Philippe de Lyon, 1849-1905), the monk Grigory Rasputin's predecessor as "friend" to the court of Nicholas II. Rumors persist that Tsar Nicholas II belonged to the Lodge of the Cross and Star; his uncles Nikolai Nikolaevich and Petr Nikolaevich, as well as the grand duke Georgy Mikhailovich, were members. It is true that Martinism had become very popular in Russia by 1905; it waned after 1916.--The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture. p 149. (1997). United Kingdom: Cornell University Press.

Emperor Nicholas spoke fondly of the occultist Philippe:

"During that time 'our friend' Philippe was sitting with Alix and talking with her. We showed him our daughters and prayed together with him in the bedroom!--Emperor Nicholas, Diary 11 July 1901 at Tsarskoe Selo. Found in A Lifelong Passion, p 206

Felix Yusupov has nothing nice to say about the Emperor's mystics, speaking of two occultist sisters in the Imperial Court from Montenegro:  

"They were much interested in occultism and lived surrounded by soothsayers and questionable prophets. It was through them that a French charlatan named Philippe, and later Rasputin had access to the Imperial Court. Their palace, Znamenka, was the central point of the powers of evil.    

One day as my father was walking by the seaside in the Crimea, he met the Grand Duchess Militsa driving with a stranger. My father bowed, but she did not respond. Meeting her by change a few days later, he asked her why she had cut him. 'You couldn't have seen me,' said the Grand Dutchess, 'for I was with Doctor Philippe and when he wears a hat he is invisible and so are those who are with him.'    

One of the Grand Dutchess's sisters told me that as a child she had once hidden behind a curtain and seen Philippe enter the room; to her astonishment, all those present knelt and kissed his hand."--Felix Yusupov, Memoirs. Found in A Lifelong Passion, p 206-207

A member of the Court named Ania spoke of the con-man Philippe:

Before I came to Court there was a Frenchman, Dr Philippe in whim they reposed the greatest confidence, believing him to be one in whom the gift of prophecy existed. I never knew Dr Philippe hence I can speak of him only as a sort of forerunner of Rasputin, because, as the Empress told me, his coming was foretold by Dr Philippe. Very shortly before his death the French mystic told them they would have another friend authorised to speak to them from God, and when Rasputin appeared he was accepted as that friend...--Ania Vyrubova, Memoirs. From A Lifelong Passion, p 425

Lev Tikhomirov, former revolutionary that became a conservative monarchist:

"That Philippe is the most shameful occurrence for the Imperial Family. He is some sort of foreign charlatan, hypnotist, magnetizer, and magician presenting himself as the possessor of occult powers."--Lev Tikhomirov, November 1902, quoted in Smith, D. (2016). Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. page 44. United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The follow is by an ex-hieromonk, Sergei Michailovich Trufanov, who left Orthodoxy for Protestantism after the Revolution and came to the USA from Russia:

Melancholy and ghost-ridden as he was, in constant fear for his life, pursued by invisible hands, it was natural for him to suppose that God spoke to him through idiots, and that in consequence these idiots should often have influenced the relations of Russia with foreign powers. Fetichism and spiritualism dominated the czar's whole existence. On his person he carried all sorts of charms and talismans, the most precious of which in later years was a lock of Rasputin's hair. He wore this in a ring, and gazed upon it fixedly before making any momentous decision.--The Mad Monk of Russia, Iliodor, page 177

Note the attendance of the Emperor to seances is mostly second (or third) hand accounts.

According to Count Sergei Witte, the Tsar and his wife attended seances conducted by Philippe:

And it was through the good offices of these Montenegrins that Philippe gained access to the Grand Dukes, and later to their Majesties. Empress Alexandra was on intimate terms with none of the female members of the Imperial family except those Montenegrin women, who were to her a cross between bosom-friends and chambermaids. For months Philippe secretly lived in St. Petersburg and in the Summer residences of his high patrons. Consultations and mystic seances were continuously going on there with the participation of their Majesties, the Grand Dukes, and their Montenegrin wives.--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 203. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC. 

James L. Houghteling Jr, a man working the in the US embassy at the time, relayed similar rumors that the Emperor attended a seance to bring up the recently assassinated Rasputin:

Monday February 19 [1917]: I heard yesterday the story of the spiritualist seance engineered by Protopopoff for the Tsar. It was at Tsarskoe  Selo. The Tsar, Tsarina, their two eldest daughters, the minister and his right-hand man gathered around the table. Suddenly Protopopoff grew rigid, with set eyes and tense arms outstretched; then after some minutes he pulled himself together and said, “There has just appeared to me the spirit of St. Gregory Rasputin ; and he bids us continue to strengthen the Holy Autocracy.” The Tsar sat staring and believed every word of it. I hear this story is current, with some variations, and is regarded  as gospel truth, in many “well-informed circles.”--A Diary of the Russian Revolution. page  35-36. (1918). JAMES L. HOUGHTELING. JR United States: Dodd, Mead and Company.

The most detailed account  of the Emperor at a seance is found in Maurice Paleologue's memoir:

In 1900 the magician Papus (his real name was Dr. Encausse) who revived alchemy in France, came to St. Petersburg and soon made an enthusiastic clientle for himself. In the years following he was seen there on several occasions during the residence of his great friend, the magician Philippe of Lyons ; ' the Emperor and Empress honoured him with their whole confidence. His last visit was in February, 1906..... 

Madame R , who is both a professing spiritualist and a disciple of Rasputin, has been explaining this consternation to me by reference to a strange prophecy which is worth recording: the death of Papus presages nothing less than the downfall of tsarism in the near future. This is how it comes about: 

...October, 1905, Papus was sent to St. Petersburg by some of his highly-placed followers who badly needed his guidance in the...crisis through which Russia was then passing. The disasters in Manchuria had produced revolutionary agitation in every part of the Empire, bloody strikes, outbreaks of looting, massacre and arson. The Emperor was living in a state of torturing anxiety... 

The very day on which Papus arrived in St. Petersburg, a riot spread terro... The magician was immediately summoned to Tsarskoie- Selo. After a summary talk with the Emperor and Empress, a... seance was arranged... Apart from the sovereigns there was only one spectator...Captain Mandryka....By... concentration of will and a prodigious expenditure of fluid dynamism, the “Spiritual Master” succeeded in calling up the spirit of ...Alexander III..... 

Nicholas II bluntly asked...whether he should...resist the current of liberalism... The spirit replied: 

At any cost you must crush the revolution now beginning; but it will spring up again one day and its violence will be proportionate to the severity with which it is put down to-day. But what does it matter! Be brave, my son! Do not give up the struggle!”

While the horrified sovereigns were reflecting on this appalling prophecy, Papus told them that his magic powers enabled him to avert the threatened catastrophe, but that the efiicacy of his spells would cease the moment he himself ceased to be “on the physical plane.” Then he solemnly performed the necessary rites.--Paléologue, Maurice (1925). An Ambassador's Memoirs: Volume III. pages 97-98.  United Kingdom: George Doran.

The Count Witte notes the influence Philippe exercised over the Empress Alexandra:

Empress Alexandra fell completely under the influence of the impostor. Among other things she actually believed that “Dr.” Philippe had an enchanted life and could not be harmed by physical means. Nothing will better illustrate the extent and nature of his ascendancy over the Empress than the following incredible, yet well authenticated, incident. At the time when she was under the sway of the charlatan she was very anxious to have a son, because the four children who had previously been born to their Majesties were all girls. Dr. Philippe made Her Majesty believe that she was going to give birth to a boy, and she convinced herself that she was pregnant.--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 204. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC.

Towards the end of the Romanov, Philippe was still referenced by the Empress Alexandra:

At a time, such as we are now living through, one needs to hear your voice uplifted in protest and reprimand when they continue not obeying your orders, when they dawdle in carrying them out.     They must learn to tremble before you - you remember M. Philippe and Grigory say the same thing too.--Letter from Alix to Nicky, 1 June 1916 - Tsarskoe Selo from A Lifelong Passion, p. 425-426

"Remember even M. Philippe said one dare not give constitution, as it would be your and Russia's ruin, and all true Russians say the same."--A Lifelong Passion, p 490. Diary of Alexandra Romanov 14 December 1916 

St Serafim of Serov was canonized through Philippe's convincing:

"In 1903 the Orthodox church canonized Serafim Sarovsky. This was done, it was said, at the insistence of Nicholas, and on the advice of Philippe. Rumours spread that bathing at the source near the monastery, where Serafim had lived and died, cured people of ailments and brought the fulfillment of wish...."-- A Lifelong passion, Historical Afterword, p 643

Count Witte suspected there was a secret plot to get Seraphim canonized which included another Russian Orthodox saint, John Kronstadt:

At the Summer residence of Grand Duke Peter, Philippe met a number of ecclesiastics, among them the notorious Father John of Kronstadt. It was apparently there that the project was hatched of canonizing the staretz (saintly man) Seraphim of Sarov.--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 204. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC. 

The Count then states he spoke with Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, a layman that functioned as the Emperor's supervisor over the Russian church synod (an expression of the caesaropapism inherited from the Byzantines), about the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov.  He states the following:

This incident was related to me by K. P. Pobiedonostzev himself. One fine morning he was invited...to take luncheon with their Majesties. The invitation came unexpectedly, because at that time relations between their Majesties and Pobiedonostzev were rather strained, although he had been instructor both to the Emperor and his most august father. After breakfast, at which Pobiedonostzev was alone with his Imperial hosts, the Emperor, in the presence of the Empress, asked his guests to submit to him a decree canonizing Father Seraphim, on the day when the memory of that saintly man is celebrated, which was. a few weeks off. Pobiedonostzev replied... that canonization lay within the province of the Holy Synod and must be preceded by a thorough investigation of the candidate’s life and of the people’s views on the subject... To this the Empress replied by remarking that “everything is within the Emperor’s province.” This opinion I have heard from Her Majesty on various occasions. Nevertheless, the Emperor gave heed to his guest’s arguments, and Pobiedonostzev, on the evening of the same day, received from the Emperor an amiable note, expressing agreement with the opinion about the impossibility of immediately canonizing Seraphim, and ordering Pobiedonostzev to carry out the canonization the following year. 

Pobiedonostzev obeyed. Their Majesties were present at the ceremony of consecrating the relics. In the course of that celebration there were several cases of miraculous recovery. At night the Empress bathed in a healing fountain. The conviction prevailed, it was said, that the Sarov saint would give Russia an Heir Apparent, after four grand duchesses...--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 204-205. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC. 

The Count also comments on the occultist sisters in the Emperor's court meddling in the affairs of the church:

During the revolutionary days which followed the act of October 17th, Prince A. D. Obolensky, then Procurator of the Holy Synod, repeatedly complained to me about the interference of the Montenegrin Princesses in the affairs of the Holy Synod.--Yarmolinsky, A., Witte, S. I. (2018). The Memoirs of Count Witte. p 205. United States: Creative Media Partners, LLC. 

The Emperor's drug dealer/Alexander II's godson:

"The Empress would not rest until he had consulted the quack Badmaiev, an ingenious disciple of the Mongol sorcerers. The charlatan soon discovered in his pharmacopoeia the remedy appropriate to the case of his august patient: it is an elixir compounded of 'Tibetan herbs' according to a magic formula and has to be prescribed very strictly...Judging by its effects, the elixir must be a mixture of henbane and hashish...--Maurice Paleologue, Memoirs, 6 November 1916. From A lifelong passion. p. 480

Paleologue claimed (somewhat comically) that Badmaiev eventually formed an alliance with Rasputin by seeing a fellow huckster in him when treating the Tsar's son who suffered from hemophilia (a disease that almost certainly stemmed from the fact the Emperor and his wife were 2nd cousins):

On several occasions the Emperor and Empress have called him in to the Tsarevitch when ordinary doctors seemed powerless to stop the child’s haemorrhage. It was thus that he met Rasputin. Their respective charlatanisms at once recognized each other and coalesced.--Paléologue, M. (1925). An Ambassador's Memoirs. p. 144. United Kingdom: George H. Doran.

Paleologue also records a story of rivalry and hatred among charlatans---Papus and Rasputin:

“ It is twelve years or so,” said Madame T——, “since Papns was in Russia; but he has kept up a correspondence with Their Majesties. Several times he tried to convince them that Rasputin’s influence on them was evil, because he got it from the Devil. The result was that Father Grigori loathed Papus and when Their Majesties mentioned his name, he would burst out : “Why do you listen to that charlatan? What’s he poking his nose into now ? If he wasn’t a low schemer, he’d have his hands full enough with all the evildoers and pharisees he has around him. There are more sins over there in the West than anywhere else in the world; nowhere else is the crucified Jesus so continuously affronted... How often have I told you that everything that comes out of the Europes is wicked and harmful! ”----Paléologue, Maurice (1925). An Ambassador's Memoirs: Volume III. page 174.  United Kingdom: George Doran.

Madame T is probably Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova (née Taneyeva), a 'lady in waiting'.

Rasputin's rise some attribute in part to the desire to have an ethnic Russian to influence the Emperor, rather than foreigners, other men were attempted to influence the Emperor. 

Its noteworthy, though the occultist necromancer Philippe laid the foundation for Rasputin, Rasputin did discourage certain occultism in the Court like séances and automatic writing:

Rasputin made Munya promise to stop attending spiritualist séances and practicing automatic writing under the influence of spirits. He told her these things they called spirits were in fact demons, tricking us into thinking we were in contact with the souls of our departed loved ones. Only those rare persons with pure souls free of the sins of the world could make contact with these true spirits, Rasputin told Munya and her mother, and for others to even try was to engage in sin....From that day Munya and Lyubov remained devote to Rasputin for the rest of their lives.--Rasputin, Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs, p.349

The reasoning at the end may just be a means to eliminate any spiritual competition. 

A partial list of other "mystics", "prophets", "holy fools" etc. that the Tsar entertained:

Matronushka the Barefoot

Pasha Sarovskaya 

Vasily Tkachenko 

Miron 

Darya Ossipova 

Antony 

Mitya aka Mitka Kolyaba

In addition, a weatherman that Emperor seemed to misunderstand his abilities.

For more information about the Emperor and his wife's obsession with mystics and the occult, including the list above see the article on jstor by Robert D/ Warth called Before Rasputin: Piety and the Occult at the Court of Nicholas II 

The obsession with the occult was nothing new to the Russian Emperors. Emperor Boris Godunov sought the help of English sorcerer John Dee. Emperor Alexander II, Emperor Nicholas's forebearer in the 1860s likewise.

In the 1860s the Romanov palaces were all in the thrall of spiritualist seances. Communing with spirits was appropriate in the palaces, where the ghosts of murdered emperors wandered...But for the new emperor, it was not merely a nod to fashion. Having decided to embark on great reforms, he thought it would not be amiss to chat with his late father. A famous "table-turner" was brough from Paris. At the very first seance, the late emperor made an appearance....Present were the emperor and empress; the dowager empress; Kostya; his wife, of course; Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna's brother...Anna Tyutcheva....Once Anna Tyutcheva returned to her room, she wrote down everything.--Radzinsky, E. (2006). Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar. p. 120. United States: Free Press. 

to be continued....