Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a great ruler, was extremely devout and deeply believing—but at the same time he was strikingly superstitious. He believed in sorcery, in spells whispered against health, and in being bewitched.
Even during Alexei Mikhailovich’s father, Mikhail Fedorovich’s time, so-called "quack" cases were conducted. People accused of "black magic" were put into prison cells and sent into exile. Alexei Mikhailovich took the fight against "witchcraft" even further.
In 1649, at the Zemsky Sobor, the "Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649" was adopted, according to which execution was provided for heresy, other faith, blasphemy, and other "secret abominable dealings with unclean forces."
In the audiobook "The Trial of a Witch," one of these "witchcraft" cases is told about the former regiment physician, Ondreyka Fedotov.