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Rasputin (1865?-1916)
A Russian mystic and prophet whose malign influence over the
Russian imperial family contributed directly to the collapse of the Romanov dynasty shortly after his
own death.
Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, originally
surnamed Novykh, was born into a peasant family in Siberia and spent much of his youth in
debauchery, receiving the name Rasputin ('debaucher'). After entering the church, however,
he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary, and afterwards gained fame locally as a faith
healer. Appearing at the imperial court in the Russian capital St. Petersburg about 1907,
Rasputin soon acquired a reputation as a mystic and healer, and became a favorite of
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna and through her influenced Nicholas II. Rasputin's hold over
Alexandra stemmed from his hypnotic power to alleviate the suffering of the hemophiliac
crown prince, Aleksei, and from her belief that this scruffy self-styled priest was a
genuine representative of the Russian people.
When Nicholas took personal command of
Russian troops in 1915, Alexandra and Rasputin were virtually in charge of the government.
Rasputin's licentious personal behavior increasingly scandalized the Russian public. In
1916 a group of conservative nobles, concerned over Rasputin's pernicious political
influence, plotted to assassinate him. Rasputin predicted his own death in a letter,
stating that he would not live beyond January 1 1917; he also predicted the downfall of
the royal family within two years, and the destruction of the aristocracy within a
generation.
At the end of December 1916 Rasputin
was invited to tea at the house of one of the noble conspirators and was fed cake and wine
laced with cyanide. Unaffected by the poison, he was then shot several times and beaten
with an iron bar. Still alive, he was dragged to the frozen River Neva, tied-up, and
thrown through a hole in the ice. Within two years Tsar Nicholas and his family were dead,
executed by the Bolsheviks; within a generation, Stalinist policies had eliminated the old
Russian aristocracy.
Related audio:
Rasputin (Pocket
Biography Series).
Related videos:
A & E
Biography - Rasputin.
Rasputin.
Rasputin - The
Mad Monk.
Related books:
Rasputin the Holy
Devil : The Holy Devil.
Rasputin: The
Saint Who Sinned.
The Man Who
Killed Rasputin: Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Murder That Helped Bring Down the
Russian Empire.
Further info:
Rasputin:
The Mysterious One.
The Evil Monk - The life
and times of Gregory Efimovich Rasputin.
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