The biography of Grigory Rasputin interests people to this day. There is hardly a Russian person who has never heard of this famous person, which left a significant mark on last years Russian Empire. Many fiction books, studies, dissertations and simply abstracts were written based on the life of this man, who had outstanding, downright extraordinary data, physical and spiritual.
In the article:
Grigory Rasputin's childhood
The patronymic of this legendary personality is Efimovich, and Grigory was born in the family of an ordinary Russian peasant from Pokrovskoe village, which is still located in the former Tobolsk province. He was born in the sixty-ninth year of the nineteenth century, at a time when popular movements were already beginning to gain strength, and the kings felt how the hitherto resigned people were raising their heads, protesting against tyranny.
Rasputin Grigory Efimovich
He was born a frail and weak child, but survived, unlike his sisters and brothers, who left this world at the age of less than a year. They baptized him the morning after his birth and named him Gregory, which means awake. Because of his health, he could not indulge in children's games with his peers, who did not accept him as equals. As a result, the boy withdrew into himself, became unsociable, and began to show a craving for solitude and reflection alone with himself. Like many elders, saints and other miracle workers, for example, it was at the age of childhood, because of his rejection, that he felt a craving for religion and found peace of mind in it.
At the same time, Gregory did not forget about earthly activities: he helped his father, tended cattle, mowed hay, planted and harvested crops, and, like everyone else, went to carts. But due to his health, he quickly got tired and weakened. Therefore, his fellow villagers considered him flawed and not like them, although the boy tried to be useful to the family.
At the age of fourteen, Gregory was struck by a serious illness, from which he fell ill and almost died. The family was already preparing to bury their only son, when suddenly the teenager’s condition improved, and soon he completely recovered, amazing those around him. According to Rasputin, he was healed by the Mother of God, appearing to him in a dream. After his illness, he became even more religious and immersed himself in the study of theological texts. There was no school in the village, but he had such a thirst for knowledge that he got information from everywhere. Even without knowing how to read, he learned many prayers by heart, memorizing them by ear.
The son of an illiterate peasant, who never attended class and never read the alphabet, he had an amazing gift of insight, which determined his entire future fate. Who could have imagined that even after a century and a half, people would remember how Grigory Rasputin once lived, whose biography would become the basis for many scientific works and works of art- from the cartoon "Anastasia", where he is depicted as a demonic villain, to comics, books and films? This was a truly extraordinary person.
Rasputin Grigory Efimovich - biography of adults
Grigory Rasputin and Iliodor
At eighteen years old, what modern times means entry into adult life, Gregory made a pilgrimage to many monasteries and temples. He did not take monastic vows and vows, but started many useful acquaintances with priests, pilgrims, representatives of white and black clergy of all ranks. This helped him a lot in the future.
Years later, already in mature age, Grigory Rasputin arrived in the capital. This happened in the third year of the twentieth century, in St. Petersburg, where the doors of the imperial palace were opened to a wanderer with amazing abilities. Just arriving in the city on the banks of the Neva, Gregory did not have a penny to his name. Looking for help, he came to Bishop Sergius, who was the rector of the theological academy. He brought him together with the right person - Archbishop Feofan, the spiritual mentor of the entire royal family. He had heard a lot about Rasputin’s prophetic gift, since rumors had already spread throughout the vast country.
Colonel Dmitry Loman, Grigory Rasputin and Prince Mikhail Putyatin
Rasputin made acquaintance with the royal family during difficult times for the Russian Empire. Revolutionary movements such as “Narodnaya Volya” gained considerable influence, reaching all segments of the population. Workers went on strike every now and then. They demanded tough decisions and strong-willed actions from the tsar, and Nicholas II, who was gentle in character, feeling enormous pressure, became confused. This is probably why a simple peasant from Siberia was able to make such an impression on the tsar that he talked with him for hours. Being the so-called “holy elder,” Grigory Rasputin had an incredible influence on the entire imperial family, but especially on the Empress, Alexandra Feodorovna, who trusted her newly-minted spiritual mentor in everything.
Many historians believe that the main factor in acquiring such influence was the completely successful treatment of the heir to the throne Alexei Nikolaevich, the empress’s beloved only son. He was seriously ill with hemophilia - a rare hereditary disease, characterized by chronic bleeding and poor blood clotting. Rasputin somehow calmed the boy down. The Prophet eased his pain, and it seemed that he was recovering as much as possible with folk remedies.
So a simple peasant son became a confidant of the emperor himself, his personal adviser and a man with colossal influence on the fate of the entire country. Rasputin Grigory Efimovich, whose biography amazes with the dizziness of his rise, has been and remains the subject of controversy. To this day, people's opinions on him vary wildly. Some believe that Gregory was a man of amazing spiritual strength, patient and intelligent, who only wanted the best for Russia. Others call him Grishka and say that he was a greedy self-lover, indulging in debauchery, who, taking advantage of the indecision of Nicholas II, only pushed the empire towards destruction.
Be that as it may, Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, whose biography begins in a remote village, even without school, lived in the emperor’s palace in his mature years. No one could be appointed to the post without a preliminary meeting with Rasputin. Possessing amazing insight, this “man of God” could open the king’s eyes to the secret thoughts of the courtiers, the true essence of a person, advise him to bring someone closer or dissuade him from rewarding him. He participated in all palace affairs, having eyes and ears everywhere.
Attempts on Rasputin and his death
Before committing the murder of Rasputin, who was interfering with their plans, his opponents tried in every possible way to denigrate Gregory in the eyes of the emperor. Rasputin was accused of witchcraft, drunkenness, debauchery, embezzlement and theft. Gossip and slander had no result: Nicholas II continued to unconditionally trust his adviser.
As a result, a conspiracy of the great princes arose who wanted to remove the old man who was interfering with them from the political arena. Acting State Councilor Vladimir Purishevich, Prince and, in the future, Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of the Russian Empire, Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr., as well as Prince Felix Yusupov, seriously set out to destroy Rasputin. The conspiracy was made on top level, but in the end everything did not go smoothly.
Khionia Guseva
The first time they sent a shooter to Grigory - Khionia Guseva. The elder received a serious wound and was on the verge of life and death. At this time, left without an adviser, who in every possible way dissuaded him from participating in the war, Nicholas II declared general mobilization and announced the beginning of the war. When Rasputin began to recover, the emperor continued to consult with him, take an interest in Rasputin's opinion on his actions and trust the seer.
This did not suit the great conspiratorial princes at all. They were determined to see the matter through to completion. For this purpose, Rasputin was invited to the palace of Prince Yusupov, where potassium cyanide, a deadly poison, was mixed into his food and drink, which, however, did not kill the old man. Then he was shot - but even with bullets in his back, Rasputin continued to fiercely fight for his life. He ran out into the street in an attempt to escape from the killers pursuing him. However, his wounds quickly weakened him and the chase was not long. They threw Grigory onto the pavement and began to beat him severely. Then he, almost beaten to death and having lost a lot of blood, was thrown from the Petrovsky Bridge into the Neva. Even in icy water, the elder and prophet Grigory Rasputin lived for several more hours before death finally took him.
This man was distinguished by truly titanic fortitude and desire for life, but by the will of the great princes he was sentenced. Nicholas II, left without an adviser and assistant, was overthrown in just two and a half months. Almost when Rasputin’s life ended, the history of the House of Romanov, which ruled Russia for several centuries, also ended.
Rasputin's terrible predictions
A little earlier we called this old man a seer. It is indeed believed that the Siberian peasant had the gift of seeing the future. Rasputin's predictions made him famous throughout Russia and eventually brought him to the imperial palace. So what did he prophesy?
The most famous prophecies of Grigory Rasputin include the prediction of the catastrophic year 17, the brutal destruction of the royal family, the horrors of the war between the whites and the reds that engulfed Russia. In their "Pious Reflections" Rasputin wrote that, hugging one of the royal children, he felt them as dead - and this terrible insight caused him the deepest horror. He also said that if he was killed by people in whom imperial blood flows, the entire house of Russian rulers would not last even two years, they would all be killed for the shed blood of the elder.
Skeptical people say that Rasputin's prophecies are too much like. Maybe it is so. But the quatrains themselves indicate the appearance on Russian soil such a person as Rasputin. It is likely that the elder could have been influenced by familiarization with.
Rasputin's predictions are perhaps one of the most significant prophecies made in the twentieth century. Despite the fact that many of them came true, there are also those that were not confirmed. For example, the coming of the Antichrist and the Apocalypse in two thousand and thirteen. Therefore, we can confidently say that not all of the visions of the prophetic elder were accurate.
Rasputin's predictions about Russia
Regarding our days, Gregory left almost no prophecies. In any case, as unambiguous as about the twentieth century in which he lived. Rasputin's predictions about Russia have an alarming message: many temptations, probable death if the country succumbs Antichrist temptations and will lose his way.
Basically, Rasputin's prophecies about the future of Russia are as follows, if you make a dry summary of the facts: if Russia manages to avoid all temptations, it will take significant place in the world. If not, then only death, decay and ashes await her. Like the other powers of Europe, if they are seduced by the gifts of the Antichrist and lose their moral values.
There is no doubt that, being an extremely religious man, deeply religious, Rasputin was under the enormous influence of biblical prophecies. In his speeches there were often references to Christian motifs - in particular, to the Apocalypse. Decline for Rasputin moral values, the rejection of Orthodox virtues, atheism, and the impending triumph of science were harbingers of the onset of bad times for the church. He was right: after the overthrow royal power The Bolsheviks oppressed the church for a long time, denying religion as a necessary component of people's lives.
Slandered martyr, sorcerer, hero-lover, German spy or heresiarch? “Around the World” figured out who the latter’s favorite really was Russian Emperor
Grigory Rasputin. Photo from 1900
Grigory Rasputin had a different last name
Yes.
Nicholas II officially allowed the “elder” to be called Grigory Rasputin-Novy, or simply Grigory Novy, at his request. “Living in the village of Pokrovskoye, I bear the surname of Rasputin, while many fellow villagers bear the same surname, which can cause all sorts of misunderstandings,” explained Gregory in a petition addressed to the emperor dated December 15, 1906. Probably, the “elder” also wanted to neutralize the negative associations that the surname Rasputin evoked.
Peasant Rasputin was the only spiritual mentor “from among the people” at court
No. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the highest circles of the Russian Empire, it became fashionable to communicate with the bearers of the “folk faith” - all kinds of healers, miracle workers, blessed, poor wanderers. Rasputin had predecessors at court, in particular the holy fool Mitya Kozelsky and the clique Daria Osipova.
German group Boney M, performers of the 1978 hit Rasputin, in Moscow
Rasputin enjoyed incredible success with women
Yes. According to numerous testimonies, Rasputin was surrounded by a crowd of admirers, including noble and influential ladies. Women noted that the seemingly unattractive “old man” had an inexplicable attractiveness. “Spiritual mentoring” looked ambiguous in the eyes of society when Rasputin visited the bathhouse with his fans or laid them next to him on the bed, but the “elder” claimed that in this way he freed the ladies from the sin of fornication and pride, and he himself abstained. Several times, however, Gregory happened to get hit in the face by an interlocutor who did not see the difference between “spiritual practice” and harassment.
Rasputin (left) with Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Photo from 1908
Rasputin was a monk or priest
No. The daughter of the “elder” Matryona said in 1919: “It seems that he had the idea of entering a monastery, but then he abandoned this idea. He said that he did not like monastic life, that monks did not observe morality and that it was better to be saved in the world.” Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko indignantly pointed out to the emperor that Rasputin, not having a rank, wears a priest's cross, assigned to a priest. Gregory's followers called him "elder" - a spiritual mentor, which a layman could also be.
Tsarevich Alexei. Photo from the early 1910s
The “elder” knew how to heal the attacks of Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia.
Yes. There is numerous evidence of this. Researchers believe that the reason is in the “old man’s” ability to influence by suggestion. According to geneticist John Haldane, if a patient's stress is relieved using hypnotic techniques, this can cause the small vessels of the arterial system to constrict and thereby reduce bleeding. Professor Alexander Kotsyubinsky believes that Rasputin inspired the Tsarevich with the idea of improving his condition, and also reassured the boy’s relatives, which helped him overcome the crisis.
Khlystov's zeal
Rasputin was a sectarian
No. “What a whip I am. God forbid. “I go to church, I acknowledge all the dogmas, I pray,” the “elder” declared. However, many suspected Rasputin of sectarianism because of his exalted behavior, vegetarianism, and especially because of the custom of visiting the bathhouse with admirers: this “spiritual practice” was very reminiscent of Khlyst’s zeal, which often turned into orgies. According to religious scholar Sergei Firsov, during his travels Rasputin also communicated with religious freethinkers, from whom he could gain unorthodox ideas. But for the Khlyst, the meaning of life is the interests of his community (“ship”), and Rasputin was too independent and self-centered.
A page from the diary of Grigory Rasputin
Rasputin was uneducated
Yes. According to a contemporary, Grigory counted money like this: “Two hundred rubles, three hundred,” then he had “thousands,” which he juggled completely arbitrarily. He taught himself to write, but knew neither spelling nor punctuation; Rasputin's two books were taken from dictation and extensively edited.
Sculptor Naum Aronson at work on a bust of Rasputin. 1915
The "Elder" was a German spy
No. "The favorite of the court, strange man Rumor recognized Grigory Rasputin as a German agent pushing the Tsar to a separate peace with Germany,” recalled singer Fyodor Chaliapin. Russian counterintelligence officer Alexander Rezanov, who verified these rumors, stated: “I must say in all conscience that I have no reason to consider him a German agent.” For a spy, Rasputin expressed his German sympathies too openly. The British ambassador George Buchanan, whose informants followed the “elder”, came to the same conclusion: if Rasputin supplied the enemy power with valuable information, it was involuntarily, having the habit of blurting out the content of his conversations with the tsar in society.
Portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna. Nikolai Bondarevsky. 1907
Rasputin was the Empress's lover
Hardly. In 1912, deputy Guchkov published her letter to the “elder”: “I am only at peace in my soul, I rest, when you, teacher, sit next to me, and I kiss your hands and bow my head on your blessed shoulders.” “Only those who did not know the empress, her sublime spirit and crystal clear family life“Only deeply vicious people, fanatics or scandal-lovers could see in this letter confirmation of outrageous slander,” said Alexander Spiridovich, head of the palace security. In the reports of the secret police agents assigned to Rasputin, there is no hint of a dangerous connection.
Researchers believe the third shot was fired from a revolver Webley, weapons of the British army
Rasputin was killed by a British intelligence officer
Hardly. As you know, the “elder”, after an unsuccessful attempt to poison him, was shot dead by monarchist conspirators on the night of December 16-17 (old style), 1916, in the palace of Prince Yusupov on the Moika in St. Petersburg. Retired British detective Richard Cullen and intelligence history specialist Andrew Cook, pointing to inconsistencies in the details of the participants' description of the murder, suggested that Felix Yusupov and deputy Vladimir Purishkevich were hiding information about the third shooter, British intelligence agent Oswald Rayner, a friend of the prince. However, the professor of forensic medicine, Dmitry Kosorotov, who performed the autopsy of the “elder”’s body, testified that only one bullet was found and it was impossible to determine the number of shooters. There is no hard evidence for Rayner's presence at the crime scene. The British intelligence services had every reason to want the death of Rasputin, who advocated a separate peace between Russia and Germany, but Russian elite She had enough of her own motives to eliminate the “old man,” and she did not hide it.
Image of Rasputin according to the canons of icon painting
Rasputin canonized as a saint
No. The movement for the canonization of the “elder” began in the 1990s, several iconographic images were created, it is claimed that among them there are also myrrh-streaming ones. At the 2004 Council of Bishops, the hierarchs officially expressed the position of the Russian Orthodox Church: there are no sufficient grounds for canonizing Grigory Rasputin. “He discredited the monarchy and the last Russian emperor, which the enemies of the fatherland took advantage of. “I see no reason to reconsider the role of Rasputin in the history of Russia,” said Patriarch Alexy II back in 2002.
Movie. "Mad Monk"
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"Rasputin and the Empress". Director: Richard Boleslavsky. Lionel Barrymore plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin" ("Rasputin, demon of women"). Director: Adolf Trotz. Conrad Veidt plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin" ("Tragedy of the Empire"). Director: Marcel L'Herbier. Garry Bohr plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin: The Mad Monk". Director: Don Sharp. Christopher Lee plays Rasputin. |
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"Nikolai and Alexandra". Director: Franklin Scheffner. Tom Baker plays Rasputin. |
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"Agony". Director: Elem Klimov. Alexey Petrenko plays the role of Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin". Director: Uli Edel. Alan Rickman plays Rasputin. |
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"Anastasia". Cartoon studio Disney. Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. Rasputin is voiced by Christopher Lloyd. |
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"Hellboy". Director: Guillermo del Toro. Karel Roden plays Rasputin. |
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"CONSPIRACY". Director: Stanislav Libin. In the role of Rasputin Ivan Okhlobystin. |
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"Rasputin". Director: Jose Dayan. In the role of Rasputin is Gerard Depardieu. |
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"Gregory R.". Director: Andrey Malyukov. In the role of Rasputin, Vladimir Mashkov. |
Photo: Alamy / Legion-media, AKG / East News (x2), Mary Evans / Legion-media, Library of Congress, Alexey Varfolomeev / RIA Novosti, Fine Art images (x2), Alamy, Everett collection (x5) / Legion- media, Getty Images, Diomedia (x3), PhotoXPress.ru, ITAR-TASS/ Press service of “The Walt Disney Company Russia & CIS”, Orthodox33
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (Novykh). Born January 9 (21), 1869 - killed December 17 (30), 1916. Peasant of the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province. He gained worldwide fame due to the fact that he was a friend of the family of Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
In the 1900s, among certain circles of St. Petersburg society, he had a reputation as a “royal friend,” “elder,” seer and healer. The negative image of Rasputin was used in revolutionary and later Soviet propaganda; there are still many rumors about Rasputin and his influence on the fate of the Russian Empire.
The ancestor of the Rasputin family was “Izosim Fedorov’s son.” The census book of the peasants of the village of Pokrovsky for 1662 says that he and his wife and three sons - Semyon, Nason and Yevsey - came to Pokrovskaya Sloboda twenty years earlier from the Yarensky district and “set up arable land.” Nason's son later received the nickname "Rosputa". From him came all the Rosputins, who became early XIX centuries by Rasputin.
According to the yard census of 1858, there were more than thirty peasants in Pokrovskoye who bore the surname “Rasputins,” including Efim, Gregory’s father. The surname comes from the words “crossroads”, “thaw”, “crossroads”.
Grigory Rasputin was born on January 9 (21), 1869 in the village of Pokrovsky, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province, into the family of coachman Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin (1841-1916) and Anna Vasilievna (1839-1906) (nee Parshukova).
Information about Rasputin's date of birth is extremely contradictory. Sources give various dates of birth between 1864 and 1872. Historian K.F. Shatsillo, in an article about Rasputin in the TSB, reports that he was born in 1864-1865. Rasputin himself in his mature years did not add clarity, reporting conflicting information about his date of birth. According to biographers, he was inclined to exaggerate his true age, to more closely match the image of the “old man”.
At the same time, in the metric book of the Slobodo-Pokrovskaya Mother of God Church of the Tyumen district of the Tobolsk province, in part one “About those born” there is a birth record on January 9, 1869 and an explanation: “Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin and his wife Anna Vasilievna of the Orthodox religion had a son, Gregory.” He was baptized on January 10. The godfathers (godparents) were uncle Matfei Yakovlevich Rasputin and the girl Agafya Ivanovna Alemasova. The baby received his name according to the existing tradition of naming the child after the saint on whose day he was born or baptized.
The day of the baptism of Grigory Rasputin is January 10, the day of celebration of the memory of St. Gregory of Nyssa.
I was sick a lot when I was young. After a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Monastery, he turned to religion.
Grigory Rasputin's height: 193 centimeters.
In 1893, he traveled to the holy places of Russia, visited Mount Athos in Greece, and then to Jerusalem. I met and made contacts with many representatives of the clergy, monks, and wanderers.
In 1900 he set off on a new journey to Kyiv. On the way back, he lived in Kazan for quite a long time, where he met Father Mikhail, who was associated with the Kazan Theological Academy.
In 1903, he came to St. Petersburg to visit the rector of the Theological Academy, Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky). At the same time, the inspector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archimandrite Feofan (Bistrov), met Rasputin, introducing him also to Bishop Hermogenes (Dolganov).
By 1904, Rasputin had gained the fame of an “old man”, “fool” and “fool” from part of high society society. God's man", which "secured the position of a “saint” in the eyes of the St. Petersburg world,” or at least he was considered a “great ascetic.”
Father Feofan told about the “wanderer” to the daughters of the Montenegrin prince (later king) Nikolai Njegosh - Militsa and Anastasia. The sisters told the empress about the new religious celebrity. Several years passed before he began to clearly stand out among the crowd of “God’s men.”
On November 1 (Tuesday) 1905, Rasputin’s first personal meeting with the emperor took place. This event was honored with an entry in the diary of Nicholas II. The mentions of Rasputin do not end there.
Rasputin gained influence on the imperial family and, above all, on Alexandra Feodorovna by helping her son, heir to the throne Alexei, fight hemophilia, a disease against which medicine was powerless.
In December 1906, Rasputin submitted a petition to the highest name to change his surname to Rasputin-Novykh, citing the fact that many of his fellow villagers have the same last name, which could lead to misunderstandings. The request was granted.
Grigory Rasputin. Healer at the throne
Accusation of "Khlysty" (1903)
In 1903, his first persecution by the church began: the Tobolsk Consistory received a report from the local priest Pyotr Ostroumov that Rasputin was behaving strangely with women who came to him “from St. Petersburg itself,” about their “passions from which he relieves them... in the bathhouse”, that in his youth Rasputin “from his life in the factories of the Perm province brought acquaintance with the teachings of the Khlyst heresy.”
An investigator was sent to Pokrovskoye, but he did not find anything discrediting, and the case was archived.
On September 6, 1907, based on a denunciation from 1903, the Tobolsk Consistory opened a case against Rasputin, who was accused of spreading false teachings similar to Khlyst’s and forming a society of followers of his false teachings.
The initial investigation was carried out by priest Nikodim Glukhovetsky. Based on the collected facts, Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, a member of the Tobolsk Consistory, prepared a report to Bishop Anthony with the attachment of a review of the case under consideration by sect specialist D. M. Berezkin, inspector of the Tobolsk Theological Seminary.
D. M. Berezkin noted in his review of the conduct of the case that the investigation was carried out “persons who have little knowledge of Khlystyism” that only the residential area was searched two-storey house Rasputin, although it is known that the place where the celebrations take place “it is never placed in living quarters... but is always located in the backyard - in bathhouses, in sheds, in basements... and even in dungeons... The paintings and icons found in the house are not described, yet they usually contain the solution to the heresy ».
After which Bishop Anthony of Tobolsk decided to conduct a further investigation into the case, entrusting it to an experienced anti-sectarian missionary.
As a result, the case “fell apart” and was approved as completed by Anthony (Karzhavin) on May 7, 1908.
Subsequently, the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko, who took the file from the Synod, said that it soon disappeared, but then “The case of the Tobolsk spiritual consistory about the Khlystyism of Grigory Rasputin” in the end it was found in the Tyumen archive.
In 1909, the police were going to expel Rasputin from St. Petersburg, but Rasputin was ahead of them and he himself went home to the village of Pokrovskoye for some time.
In 1910, his daughters moved to St. Petersburg to join Rasputin, whom he arranged to study at the gymnasium. At the direction of the Prime Minister, Rasputin was placed under surveillance for several days.
At the beginning of 1911, Bishop Feofan suggested that the Holy Synod officially express displeasure to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in connection with Rasputin’s behavior, and a member Holy Synod Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) reported to Nicholas II about negative impact Rasputin.
On December 16, 1911, Rasputin had a clash with Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Bishop Hermogenes, acting in alliance with Hieromonk Iliodor (Trufanov), invited Rasputin to his courtyard; on Vasilievsky Island, in the presence of Iliodor, he “convicted” him, striking him several times with a cross. An argument ensued between them, and then a fight.
In 1911, Rasputin voluntarily left the capital and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
By order of the Minister of Internal Affairs Makarov on January 23, 1912, Rasputin was again placed under surveillance, which continued until his death.
The second case of “Khlysty” (1912)
In January 1912, the Duma announced its attitude towards Rasputin, and in February 1912, Nicholas II ordered V.K. Sabler to resume the case of the Holy Synod, the case of Rasputin’s “Khlysty” and transfer it to Rodzianko for the report, “and the palace commandant Dedyulin and transferred to him the Case of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory, which contained the beginning of Investigative Proceedings regarding the accusation of Rasputin of belonging to the Khlyst sect.”
On February 26, 1912, at an audience, Rodzianko suggested that the tsar expel the peasant forever. Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) openly wrote that Rasputin is a whip and is participating in zeal.
The new (who replaced Eusebius (Grozdov)) Tobolsk Bishop Alexy (Molchanov) personally took up this case, studied the materials, requested information from the clergy of the Church of the Intercession, and repeatedly talked with Rasputin himself. Based on the results of this new investigation, the conclusion of the Tobolsk Church was prepared and approved on November 29, 1912 spiritual consistory, sent to many high-ranking officials and some deputies of the State Duma. In conclusion, Rasputin-Novy was called “a Christian, a spiritually minded person and a seeker of the truth of Christ." Rasputin no longer faced any official charges. But this did not mean at all that everyone believed in results of a new investigation.
Rasputin's prophecies
During his lifetime, Rasputin published two books: “The Life of an Experienced Wanderer” (1907) and “My Thoughts and Reflections” (1915).
In his prophecies, Rasputin speaks of “God’s punishment,” “bitter water,” “tears of the sun,” “poisonous rains” “until the end of our century.”
Deserts will advance, and the earth will be inhabited by monsters that will not be people or animals. Thanks to “human alchemy”, flying frogs, kite butterflies, crawling bees, huge mice and no less will appear. huge ants, as well as the monster “kobaka”. Two princes from the West and the East will dispute the right to world domination. They will have a battle in land of four demons, but the western prince Grayug will defeat his eastern enemy Blizzard, but he himself will fall. After these misfortunes, people will again turn to God and enter “earthly paradise.”
The most famous was the prediction of the death of the Imperial House: "As long as I live, the dynasty will live".
Some authors believe that Rasputin is mentioned in Alexandra Feodorovna’s letters to Nicholas II. In the letters themselves, Rasputin’s surname is not mentioned, but some authors believe that Rasputin in the letters is designated by the words “Friend”, or “He” in capital letters, although this has no documentary evidence. The letters were published in the USSR by 1927, and in the Berlin publishing house Slovo in 1922.
The correspondence was preserved in State Archives RF - Novoromanovsky archive.
Grigory Rasputin with the Empress and the Tsar's children
In 1912, Rasputin dissuaded the emperor from intervening in the Balkan War, which delayed the start of the First World War by 2 years.
In 1915, anticipating the February Revolution, Rasputin demanded an improvement in the capital's supply of bread.
In 1916, Rasputin spoke out strongly in favor of Russia's withdrawal from the war, concluding peace with Germany, renouncing rights to Poland and the Baltic states, and also against the Russian-British alliance.
Press campaign against Rasputin
In 1910, the writer Mikhail Novoselov published several critical articles about Rasputin in Moskovskie Vedomosti (No. 49 - “Spiritual guest performer Grigory Rasputin”, No. 72 - “Something else about Grigory Rasputin”).
In 1912, Novoselov published in his publishing house the brochure “Grigory Rasputin and Mystical Debauchery,” which accused Rasputin of being a Khlysty and criticized the highest church hierarchy. The brochure was banned and confiscated from the printing house. The newspaper "Voice of Moscow" was fined for publishing excerpts from it.
After that in State Duma followed by a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the legality of punishing the editors of Voice of Moscow and Novoye Vremya.
Also in 1912, Rasputin’s acquaintance, former hieromonk Iliodor, began distributing several scandalous letters from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses to Rasputin.
Copies printed on a hectograph circulated around St. Petersburg. Most researchers consider these letters to be fakes. Later, Iliodor, on advice, wrote a libelous book “Holy Devil” about Rasputin, which was published in 1917 during the revolution.
In 1913-1914 the Masonic Supreme Council VVNR attempted to launch a propaganda campaign regarding Rasputin's role at court.
Somewhat later, the Council made an attempt to publish a brochure directed against Rasputin, and when this attempt failed (the brochure was delayed by censorship), the Council took steps to distribute this brochure in a typed copy.
Assassination attempt by Khionia Guseva on Rasputin
In 1914, an anti-Rasputin conspiracy matured, headed by Nikolai Nikolaevich and Rodzianko.
On June 29 (July 12), 1914, an attempt was made on Rasputin in the village of Pokrovskoye. He was stabbed in the stomach and seriously wounded by Khionia Guseva, who came from Tsaritsyn.
Rasputin testified that he suspected Iliodor of organizing the assassination attempt, but could not provide any evidence of this.
On July 3, Rasputin was transported by ship to Tyumen for treatment. Rasputin remained in the Tyumen hospital until August 17, 1914. The investigation into the assassination attempt lasted about a year.
Guseva was declared mentally ill in July 1915 and released from criminal liability, being placed in a psychiatric hospital in Tomsk. On March 27, 1917, on the personal orders of A.F. Kerensky, Guseva was released.
Murder of Rasputin
Rasputin was killed on the night of December 17, 1916 (December 30, new style) in the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. Conspirators: F. F. Yusupov, V. M. Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, British intelligence officer MI6 Oswald Rayner.
Information about the murder is contradictory, it was confused both by the killers themselves and by the pressure on the investigation by the Russian imperial and British authorities.
Yusupov changed his testimony several times: in the St. Petersburg police on December 18, 1916, in exile in Crimea in 1917, in a book in 1927, sworn to in 1934 and in 1965.
Starting from naming the wrong color of the clothes that Rasputin was wearing according to the killers and in which he was found, to how many and where bullets were fired.
For example, forensic experts found three wounds, each of which was fatal: to the head, liver and kidney. (According to British researchers who studied the photograph, the shot to the forehead was made from a British Webley revolver 455.)
After a shot in the liver, a person can live no more than 20 minutes and is not capable, as the killers said, of running down the street in half an hour or an hour. There was also no shot to the heart, which the killers unanimously claimed.
Rasputin was first lured into the basement, treated to red wine and a pie poisoned potassium cyanide. Yusupov went upstairs and, returning, shot him in the back, causing him to fall. The conspirators went outside. Yusupov, who returned to get the cloak, checked the body; suddenly Rasputin woke up and tried to strangle the killer.
The conspirators who ran in at that moment began to shoot at Rasputin. As they approached, they were surprised that he was still alive and began to beat him. According to the killers, the poisoned and shot Rasputin came to his senses, got out of the basement and tried to climb over the high wall of the garden, but was caught by the killers, who heard a dog barking. Then he was tied with ropes hand and foot (according to Purishkevich, first wrapped in blue cloth), taken by car to a pre-selected place near Kamenny Island and thrown from the bridge into the Neva polynya in such a way that the body ended up under the ice. However, according to the investigation, the discovered corpse was dressed in a fur coat, there was no fabric or ropes.
The corpse of Grigory Rasputin
The investigation into the murder of Rasputin, led by the director of the Police Department A.T. Vasilyev, progressed quite quickly. Already the first interrogations of Rasputin’s family members and servants showed that on the night of the murder, Rasputin went to visit Prince Yusupov. Policeman Vlasyuk, who was on duty on the night of December 16-17 on the street not far from the Yusupov Palace, testified that he heard several shots at night. During a search in the courtyard of the Yusupovs' house, traces of blood were found.
On the afternoon of December 17, passers-by noticed blood stains on the parapet of the Petrovsky Bridge. After exploration by divers of the Neva, Rasputin’s body was discovered in this place. The forensic medical examination was entrusted to a famous professor Military Medical Academy D. P. Kosorotov. The original autopsy report has not been preserved; the cause of death can only be speculated.
Conclusion of the forensic expert Professor D.N. Kosorotova:
“During the autopsy, very numerous injuries were found, many of which were inflicted posthumously. All Right side The head was crushed and flattened due to the bruise of the corpse when it fell from the bridge. Death resulted from heavy bleeding due to a gunshot wound to the stomach. The shot was fired, in my opinion, almost point-blank, from left to right, through the stomach and liver, with the latter being fragmented in the right half. The bleeding was very profuse. The corpse also had a gunshot wound in the back, in the spinal area, with a crushed right kidney, and another point-blank wound in the forehead, probably of someone who was already dying or had died. The chest organs were intact and were examined superficially, but there were no signs of death by drowning. The lungs were not distended, and there was no water or foamy fluid in the airways. Rasputin was thrown into the water already dead.”
No poison was found in Rasputin's stomach. Possible explanations for this are that the cyanide in the cakes has been neutralized by sugar or high temperature when cooking in the oven.
His daughter reports that after Guseva’s assassination attempt, Rasputin suffered increased acidity and avoided sweet foods. It is reported that he was poisoned with a dose capable of killing 5 people.
Some modern researchers suggest that there was no poison - this is a lie to confuse the investigation.
There are a number of nuances in determining the involvement of O. Reiner. At that time, there were two British MI6 intelligence officers serving in St. Petersburg who could have committed the murder: Yusupov’s friend from University College (Oxford) Oswald Rayner and Captain Stephen Alley, who was born in the Yusupov Palace. The former was suspected, and Tsar Nicholas II directly mentioned that the killer was Yusupov's friend from college.
In 1919, Reiner was awarded the Order British Empire, he destroyed his papers before his death in 1961.
Compton's driver's log contains entries that a week before the murder he brought Oswald to Yusupov (and to another officer, Captain John Scale), and last time- on the day of the murder. Compton also directly hinted at Rayner, saying that the killer was a lawyer and was born in the same city as him.
There is a letter from Alley written to Scale on January 7, 1917, eight days after the murder: "Although not everything went according to plan, our goal was achieved... Reiner is covering his tracks and will undoubtedly contact you...". According to modern British researchers, the order to three British agents (Rayner, Alley and Scale) to eliminate Rasputin came from Mansfield Smith-Cumming (the first director of MI6).
The investigation lasted two and a half months until the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on March 2, 1917. On this day, Kerensky became Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government. On March 4, 1917, he ordered a hasty termination of the investigation, while investigator A.T. Vasiliev was arrested and transported to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was interrogated by the Extraordinary Commission of Investigation until September, and later emigrated.
In 2004, the BBC aired a documentary "Who killed Rasputin?", brought new attention to the murder investigation. According to the version shown in the film, the “glory” and the plan for this murder belong to Great Britain, the Russian conspirators were only the perpetrators, the control shot to the forehead was fired from the British officers’ Webley 455 revolver.
Who killed Grigory Rasputin
According to the researchers who published the books, Rasputin was killed with the active participation of the British intelligence service Mi-6; the killers confused the investigation in order to hide the British trace. The motive for the conspiracy was the following: Great Britain feared Rasputin’s influence on the Russian Empress, which threatened the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany. To eliminate the threat, the conspiracy against Rasputin that was brewing in Russia was used.
Rasputin's funeral service was conducted by Bishop Isidor (Kolokolov), who was well acquainted with him. In his memoirs, A.I. Spiridovich recalls that Bishop Isidore celebrated the funeral mass (which he had no right to do).
At first they wanted to bury the murdered man in his homeland, in the village of Pokrovskoye. But due to the danger of possible unrest in connection with sending the body across half the country, they buried it in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoe Selo on the territory of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov, which was being built by Anna Vyrubova.
M.V. Rodzianko writes that in the Duma during the celebrations there were rumors about Rasputin’s return to St. Petersburg. In January 1917, Mikhail Vladimirovich received a paper with many signatures from Tsaritsyn with a message that Rasputin was visiting V.K. Sabler, that the Tsaritsyn people knew about Rasputin’s arrival in the capital.
After the February Revolution, Rasputin's burial place was found, and Kerensky ordered Kornilov to organize the destruction of the body. For several days the coffin with the remains stood in a special carriage. Rasputin's body was burned on the night of March 11 in the furnace of the steam boiler of the Polytechnic Institute. Was compiled official act about the burning of Rasputin's corpse.
Personal life of Grigory Rasputin:
In 1890 he married Praskovya Fedorovna Dubrovina, a fellow pilgrim-peasant, who bore him three children: Matryona, Varvara and Dimitri.
Grigory Rasputin with his children
In 1914, Rasputin settled in an apartment at 64 Gorokhovaya Street in St. Petersburg.
Various dark rumors quickly began to spread around St. Petersburg about this apartment, saying that Rasputin had turned it into a brothel and was using it to hold his “orgies.” Some said that Rasputin maintains a permanent “harem” there, while others say he collects them from time to time. There was a rumor that the apartment on Gorokhovaya was used for witchcraft, etc.
From the testimony of Tatyana Leonidovna Grigorova-Rudykovskaya:
"...One day Aunt Ag. Fed. Hartmann (mother's sister) asked me if I wanted to see Rasputin closer. ... Having received an address on Pushkinskaya Street, on the appointed day and hour I showed up at the apartment of Maria Alexandrovna Nikitina, my aunt friends. Entering the small dining room, I found everyone already assembled. At an oval table set for tea, there were 6-7 young interesting ladies sitting. I knew two of them by sight (they met in the halls of the Winter Palace, where it was organized by Alexandra Fedorovna sewing linen for the wounded). They were all in the same circle and were animatedly talking to each other in low voices. Having made a general bow in English, I sat down next to the hostess by the samovar and talked with her.
Suddenly there was a sort of general sigh - Ah! I looked up and saw in the doors located at opposite side, from where I entered, a powerful figure - the first impression - a gypsy. The tall, powerful figure was clad in a white Russian shirt with embroidery on the collar and fastener, a twisted belt with tassels, untucked black trousers and Russian boots. But there was nothing Russian about him. Black thick hair, large black beard, a dark face with predatory nostrils of the nose and some kind of ironic, mocking smile on the lips - the face is certainly impressive, but somehow unpleasant. The first thing that attracted attention was his eyes: black, red-hot, they burned, piercing right through, and his gaze on you was simply felt physically, it was impossible to remain calm. It seems to me that he really had a hypnotic power that subjugated him when he wanted it...
Everyone here was familiar to him, vying with each other to please and attract attention. He sat down at the table cheekily, addressed everyone by name and “you,” spoke catchily, sometimes vulgarly and rudely, called them to him, sat them on his knees, felt them, stroked them, patted them on soft places, and everyone “happy” was thrilled with pleasure. ! It was disgusting and offensive to watch for women who were humiliated, who lost both their feminine dignity and family honor. I felt the blood rushing to my face, I wanted to scream, punch, do something. I was sitting almost opposite the “distinguished guest”; he perfectly sensed my condition and, laughing mockingly, each time after the next attack he stubbornly stuck his eyes into me. I was a new object unknown to him...
Impudently addressing someone present, he said: “Do you see? Who embroidered the shirt? Sashka! (meaning Empress Alexandra Feodorovna). No one decent man I would never give away the secrets of a woman's feelings. My eyes grew dark from tension, and Rasputin’s gaze unbearably drilled and drilled. I moved closer to the hostess, trying to hide behind the samovar. Maria Alexandrovna looked at me with alarm...
“Mashenka,” a voice said, “do you want some jam?” Come to me." Mashenka hurriedly jumps up and hurries to the place of summoning. Rasputin crosses his legs, takes a spoonful of jam and knocks it over the toe of his boot. “Lick it,” the voice sounds commanding, she kneels down and, bowing her head, licks the jam... I couldn’t stand it anymore. Squeezing the hostess’s hand, she jumped up and ran out into the hallway. I don’t remember how I put on my hat or how I ran along Nevsky. I came to my senses at the Admiralty, I had to go home to Petrogradskaya. She roared at midnight and asked never to ask me what I saw, and neither with my mother nor with my aunt did I remember about this hour, nor did I see Maria Alexandrovna Nikitina. Since then, I could not calmly hear the name Rasputin and lost all respect for our “secular” ladies. Once, while visiting De-Lazari, I answered the phone and heard the voice of this scoundrel. But I immediately said that I know who is talking, and therefore I don’t want to talk..."
The Provisional Government conducted a special investigation into the Rasputin case. According to one of the participants in this investigation, V. M. Rudnev, sent by order of Kerensky to the “Extraordinary Investigative Commission to investigate abuses former ministers, chief managers and other senior officials” and who was then a comrade prosecutor of the Yekaterinoslav District Court: “the richest material for illuminating his personality from this side turned out to be in the data of that very secret surveillance of him, which was conducted by the security department; at the same time, it turned out that Rasputin’s amorous adventures do not go beyond the framework of night orgies with girls of easy virtue and chansonnet singers, and also sometimes with some of his petitioners."
Daughter Matryona in her book “Rasputin. Why?" wrote:
"... that, with all the saturated life, the father never abused his power and ability to influence women in a carnal sense. However, one must understand that this part of the relationship was of particular interest to the father’s ill-wishers. I note that they received some real food for their tales ".
Rasputin's daughter Matryona emigrated to France after the revolution and subsequently moved to the USA.
The remaining members of Rasputin's family were subjected to repression by the Soviet authorities.
In 1922, his widow Praskovya Fedorovna, son Dmitry and daughter Varvara were deprived voting rights as "malicious elements". Even earlier, in 1920, Dmitry Grigorievich’s house and entire peasant farm were nationalized.
In the 1930s, all three were arrested by the NKVD, and their trace was lost in the special settlements of the Tyumen North.
A Russian peasant who became famous for his “fortunes” and “healings” and had unlimited influence on the imperial family, Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was born on January 21 (January 9, old style) 1869 in the Ural village of Pokrovsky, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province (now located in the Tyumen region ). In memory of St. Gregory of Nyssa, the baby was baptized with the name Gregory. His father, Efim Rasputin, was a driver and was a village elder, his mother was Anna Parshukova.
Grigory grew up as a sickly child. He did not receive an education, since there was no parochial school in the village, and remained illiterate for the rest of his life - he wrote and read with great difficulty.
He began to work early, at first he helped herd cattle, went with his father as a carrier, then he took part in agricultural work and helped harvest the crops.
In 1893 (according to other sources in 1892) Gregory
Rasputin began to wander to holy places. At first, the matter was limited to the nearest Siberian monasteries, and then he began to wander throughout Russia, mastering its European part.
Rasputin later made a pilgrimage to the Greek monastery of Athos (Athos) and to Jerusalem. He made all these journeys on foot. After his travels, Rasputin invariably returned home for sowing and harvesting. Upon returning to his native village, Rasputin led the life of an “old man,” but far from traditional asceticism. Religious views Rasputin were distinguished by great originality and did not coincide in everything with canonical Orthodoxy.
In his native places he gained a reputation as a seer and healer. According to numerous testimonies from contemporaries, Rasputin indeed, to a certain extent, possessed the gift of healing. He successfully dealt with various nervous disorders, relieved tics, stopped bleeding, easily relieved headaches, and banished insomnia. There is evidence that he had extraordinary powers of suggestion.
In 1903, Grigory Rasputin visited St. Petersburg for the first time, and in 1905 he settled there and soon attracted everyone's attention. The rumor about the “holy elder” who prophesies and heals the sick quickly reached the highest society. IN a short time Rasputin became fashionable and famous person in the capital and began to enter high society drawing rooms. Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Militsa Nikolaevna introduced him to the royal family. The first meeting with Rasputin took place in early November 1905 and left a very pleasant impression on the imperial couple. Then such meetings began to happen regularly.
The rapprochement between Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with Rasputin was of a deeply spiritual nature; in him they saw an old man who continued the traditions of Holy Rus', wise in spiritual experience, and capable of giving good advice. He gained even greater trust from the royal family by providing assistance to the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, who was ill with hemophilia (incoagulability of blood).
At the request of the royal family, Rasputin was given a different surname - Novy - by a special decree. According to legend, this word was one of the first words that the heir Alexei uttered when he began to speak. Seeing Rasputin, the baby shouted: “New! New!”
Taking advantage of his access to the Tsar, Rasputin approached him with requests, including commercial ones. Receiving money for this from interested people, Rasputin immediately distributed part of it to the poor and peasants. He had no clear political views, but firmly believed in the connection between the people and the monarch and the inadmissibility of war. In 1912 he opposed Russia's entry into the Balkan Wars.
There were many rumors in the St. Petersburg world about Rasputin and his influence on the government. Around 1910, an organized press campaign began against Grigory Rasputin. He was accused of horse stealing, belonging to the Khlysty sect, debauchery, and drunkenness. Nicholas II expelled Rasputin several times, but then returned him to the capital at the insistence of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
In 1914, Rasputin was wounded by a religious fanatic.
Opponents of Rasputin prove that the influence of the “old man” on Russian foreign and domestic policy was almost comprehensive. During the First World War, every appointment in the highest echelon of government services, as well as at the top of the church, passed through the hands of Grigory Rasputin. The Empress consulted with him on all issues, and then persistently sought from her husband the government decisions she needed.
Authors who sympathize with Rasputin believe that he did not have any significant influence on the foreign and domestic policies of the empire, as well as on personnel appointments in the government, and that his influence related mainly to the spiritual sphere, as well as to his miraculous abilities to alleviate the suffering of the crown prince.
In court circles, the “elder” continued to be hated, considered guilty of the decline in the authority of the monarchy. A conspiracy against Rasputin matured in the imperial entourage. Among the conspirators were Felix Yusupov (husband of the imperial niece), Vladimir Purishkevich (State Duma deputy) and Grand Duke Dmitry ( cousin Nicholas II).
On the night of December 30 (December 17, old style) 1916, Grigory Rasputin was invited to visit by Prince Yusupov, who served him poisoned wine. The poison did not work, and then the conspirators shot Rasputin and threw his body under the ice in a tributary of the Neva. When Rasputin's body was discovered a few days later, it turned out that he was still trying to breathe in the water and even freed one hand from the ropes.
At the insistence of the empress, Rasputin's body was buried near the chapel of the imperial palace in Tsarskoe Selo. After the February Revolution of 1917, the body was dug up and burned at the stake.
The trial of the murderers, whose act aroused approval even among the emperor’s circle, did not take place.
Grigory Rasputin was married to Praskovya (Paraskeva) Dubrovina. The couple had three children: a son, Dmitry (1895-1933), and two daughters, Matryona (1898-1977) and Varvara (1900-1925). Dmitry was exiled to the north in 1930, where he died of dysentery. Both daughters of Rasputin studied in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) at the gymnasium. Varvara died in 1925 from typhus. In 1917, Matryona married officer Boris Solovyov (1893-1926). The couple had two daughters. The family emigrated first to Prague, then to Berlin and Paris. After the death of her husband, Matryona (who called herself Maria abroad) performed in dance cabarets. Later she moved to the USA, where she began working as a tamer in a circus. After she was injured by a bear, she left this profession.
She died in Los Angeles (USA).
Matryona wrote memoirs about Grigory Rasputin in French and German, published in Paris in 1925 and 1926, as well as short notes about her father in Russian in the emigrant magazine Illustrated Russia (1932).
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Name: Rasputin Grigory Efimovich
State: Russian empire
Field of activity: Politics, religion
Greatest Achievement: Became an adviser to the imperial family, had influence on Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova and through her on state policy
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was born in 1869 in the West Siberian village of Pokrovskoye.
As a child, he had developmental problems, as a result of which in his youth he led an immoral lifestyle and violated the law.
Tired of this way of life, Rasputin turned to faith. He became a religious elder, a traveling healer.
The people recognized a certain healing and prophetic gift in Rasputin, which one day led to his acquaintance with the imperial family.
Rasputin was the only one who could cope with the symptoms of hemophilia that tormented Tsarevich Alexei, which allowed the elder to constantly be at court and also influence the decisions of the empress.
The activities of Rasputin and his influence on the royal family could not but cause protest from part of the top of the state, which subsequently led to the murder of Rasputin by Felix Yusupov.
He was considered a miracle worker and an anarchist: Grigory Rasputin was born into a farming family and rose to become an adviser to the family of the Russian emperor. Not everyone appreciated his soaring career. In 1916, Rasputin became the victim of a brutal murder.
On December 19, 1916, a man was discovered on the ice of the Neva River in St. Petersburg. His face was disfigured, his skull was dented, and his right eye was knocked out. He was shot several times. However, this man was still alive and tried to remove the shackles. This almost dead man was Grigory Rasputin.
In their report, the police wrote that on the days of the funeral, many came to the banks of the Neva to scoop up water into buckets and glasses - with water was the power of the dead, which could work miracles, as was believed at that time in Russia.
Life of Rasputin
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was born in 1869 in the West Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. He called himself "The Elder", a mendicant. A religious preacher who never had a theological education. How this pious vagabond became one of the most influential figures in Russia, posthumously eulogized in the song by Boney M. “Lover of the Russian Queen” is considered one of the most popular mysteries of the 20th century.
The sources available today allow us to analyze his life in some detail, because almost all the people around him wrote something about him: the Imperial Family, his Jewish secretary, his assassins. Several years ago, Russian playwright and historian Edward Radzinsky made a valuable addition to The Rasputin X-Files. Radzinsky received from an auction at Sotheby's (One of the oldest auction houses in the world) a carefully bound 426-page material about the death of Rasputin, published in 1917.
Provincial People's Prophet
Although assessments about Rasputin vary greatly - some noted black spots in his mouth, unpleasant smell, others, on the contrary, admired his white strong teeth - in any case, it was undeniable how powerful the provincial people's prophet. Rasputin was given offices and even ministerial positions. He served the imperial family as a confessor, healer and advisor.
Some are inclined to believe that there was a romantic and even sexual relationship between Rasputin. But, in particular, Edward Radzinsky and other historians see no signs sexual relations between the Empress and Rasputin. In fact, he was not that close to the royal family and visited the royal court quite rarely. However, on the eve of the revolution, the aristocracy returned to normal life, but they still found a potential “sinner” in the monk. The end of his life also marked the end of imperial power in Russia. He was killed in December 1916. Literally two months later, a revolution began in the country.
In his Siberian village, Rasputin was considered a failure. His fellow villagers called him “Grishka the Fool.” He stole a lot, drank everything that burned, and led a very riotous lifestyle. But at some point, Rasputin decided to turn to faith and began to wander from one monastery to another.
At the end of 1903, Rasputin moved to St. Petersburg. There, the respected priest John of Kronstadt confirmed his faith and gave him parting words (since the diaries of neither Rasputin nor John have survived, it is not yet possible to find out reliable details of this meeting). Rasputin comes to the imperial court, where his healing abilities came in handy. He made a very strong impression on him.
The fact is that the son of Nicholas II suffered from hemophilia (low blood clotting). When he was diagnosed with blood poisoning in the fall of 1907, royal family summoned Rasputin. A miraculous healer blesses the room, reads prayers - and the boy is unexpectedly cured.
At least since that day, Rasputin has been an indispensable person in the Tsar's court. The queen considers him a messenger of God.
But even after this, the anarchist Rasputin is clearly not happy with this government. He criticizes the Tsar, attacks the nobility, advocates for a constitution, and blames the landowners for depriving farmers of education and land. In aristocratic circles, he is positioned as a plebeian.
Rasputin was a great favorite of women. There was an opinion among the people that he led a rather riotous lifestyle and they even accused him of immorality. Some even claimed that he collected a whole harem in his home.
Many rumors began to form around Rasputin. Newspapers conducted entire campaigns against Rasputin, reporting on his alleged victims.
Murder of Rasputin
Since the royal family ordered Rasputin to be guarded, any attempts to kill him were stopped by the police. In November 1916, the dispute about the dubious elder began to arise in the State Duma. Right-wing deputies massively attack the Tsar and the “German Tsarina.” MP Vladimir Purishkevich, known for his anti-Semitic views, argued that the country was being run by “ dark forces" “All this comes from Rasputin, it threatens the existence of the empire.”
They also thought for a long time in court circles, including Prince Felix Yusupov and the young Grand Duke Dmitry. Together with Purishkevich, they developed a plan to assassinate Rasputin in December 1916.
So, Prince Yusupov invited Rasputin to his place to introduce him to his attractive wife. But, instead of a lady, in the basement of the Yusupov palace there was an abundance of wine. First, he was offered tea with eclairs, into which potassium cyanide had been diluted in advance. But this did not affect Rasputin’s condition at all. Neither eclairs with potassium cyanide nor poisoned wine took him. Then Yusupov shot Rasputin. But despite this, after the shot, he woke up and tried to run, but the killers caught up with him, tied him up and threw him from the bridge into the river. But even then he was still alive. This is believed because when his body was found, there was no cloth or ropes on it.
“I am lost,” said the Tsar after the news of Rasputin’s death. Although, this bloody act showed the discord in the Romanov family: Some family members demanded in the petition that the murder be recognized as a patriotic act. In general, many people reacted positively to Rasputin's death. The State Duma organized a whole celebration on this occasion.
Although the tsar refused, Yusupov, who later lived serenely in Paris, was banished to the estate. Later, Maria Rasputina, Gregory’s daughter, wrote that her father was called a “spy,” “holy devil,” and “horse thief.”
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