The Beauharnais Effect

In 1812, Beauharnais, having spent the night at the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod, saw Venerable Savva in his cell, who had died 400 years before these events. The saint asked Beauharnais not to ravage the monastery and promised that, in return, the general would return home. Beauharnais did not dare disobey—and the prophecy came true. After Savva left the cell, an icon remained in the spot where he had stood—a mysterious relic that would still play its part in the lives of several generations.