Originally posted on sciy.org by Rich Carlson on Mon 08 Jun 2009 12:42 PM PDT
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin
(ГригоÌрий ЕфиÌмович РаÑпуÌтин) (January
10, 1869 - December 16, 1916 (O.S.)) was a Russian mystic with an
influence in the later days of Russia's Romanov dynasty.
He
was also known as the Mad Monk, although he was not actually a monk,
but a starets (ÑтаÌрец), or religious pilgrim. He was believed
to have been a faith healer. He can be considered one of the more
controversial characters in 20th century history, although Rasputin
is viewed by most historians today as a scapegoat. He played a small
but extremely pivotal role in the downfall of the Romanov dynasty
that finally led to Bolshevik victory and the establishment of the
Soviet Union.
Rasputin played an important role in the lives
of the Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra and their
only son, the Tsarevich Alexei, who was a hemophilia patient and
suffered from a lot of pain.
The name Rasputin in Russian does
not mean "licentious", as is often claimed. However there's
very similar Russian adjective "rasputnii" (раÑпуÌтный)
which does in fact mean "licentious". Name Rasputin may
also bear the connotation of "mud", as in rasputitsa
(раÑпуÌтица) — "mud season" (i.e., "rainy
season"). However, most historians agree that his name
signifies, roughly, a place where two rivers meet, which describes
the area from which the Rasputin family originates. It is said that
Rasputin tried to have his name changed to the inconspicuous "Novykh"
(ÐовыÌÑ…, "New Man") after his first pilgrimage to the
Holy Land, but this is a subject of dispute. In fact, "Rasputin"
is a not-uncommon surname, and does not have a "disgraceful"
meaning, as the contemporary Russian writer, Valentin Rasputin, would
be quick to explain.
Rasputin, whose date of birth is a matter
of dispute (generally ranging from 1869 to 1871), was born into a
Siberian peasant family in the Tyumen district. He was regarded as
the last resort of the desperate Tsar and Tsarina. They had tried
everywhere to find a cure for their son and in 1905 asked the
charismatic peasant healer for help. He was said to possess the
ability to heal through prayer, and he was indeed able to give the
boy some relief. Skeptics have claimed that he did so by hypnosis,
though during a particularly grave crisis, Rasputin, from his home in
Siberia, apparently eased the suffering of the tsarevich (in Saint
Petersburg) through prayer. Since this was not the first time that he
healed the tsarevich, it does not prove that the healing resulted
from prayer rather than from a psychosomatic effect, but it does cast
grave doubt on the hypnosis hypothesis.
The Tsar referred to
Rasputin as 'our friend', a sign perhaps of the trust the family put
in him. Especially on Alexandra he had a considerable personal and
political influence. They considered him to be a man of God and a
religious prophet. Their relationship can also be viewed in the
context of the very strong, traditional, age-old bond between the
Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian leadership.
Rasputin
in the meantime became a controversial figure, leading a scandalous
personal life with his mostly female followers from the Saint
Petersburg high society. Furthermore, he was frequently seen picking
up prostitutes and often drank himself into a stupor. According to
Rasputin's daughter, Maria, Rasputin did "look into" the
Khlysty sect, and rejected them. While the Western world is
particularly interested in the sexual aspects of this sect
(supposedly tied to a belief that one can obtain humility only by
debasing oneself), Rasputin was particularly appalled by the belief
that grace is found by harming one's body. Like most Orthodox
Christians, Rasputin was brought up with the belief that the body is
a sacred gift from God. (Attaining divine grace through sin seems to
have been one of the central secret doctrines that Rasputin preached
to [and practiced with] his inner circle of society ladies). The idea
that one can attain grace through sin is not secret. It is also
understood that sin is an inescapable part of the human condition,
and the responsibility of a believer is to be keenly aware of his
sins, and willing to confess them, thereby attaining humility.
A
1916 cartoon suggesting Rasputin's influence over the Tsar and
TsarinaDuring World War I he became a focus of accusations of
unpatriotic influence at court; the unpopular Tsarina was of German
descent, and her confidante Rasputin was accused of being a spy in
German employ. Nobles in influential positions around the tsar as
well as some parties of the Duma, the Russian parliament, clamoured
for his removal from the court of the tsar.
Prince Felix
Yusupov and the Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch Romanov,
important members of the St. Petersburg elite, finally took the lead
in the decision to murder Rasputin. On the night of December
29/December 30, 1916 (16 December according to the Julian calendar
that was still used in Russia at the time), Yusupov invited Rasputin
to his palace on the pretext of his wife Irina needing his attentions
as a healer. In a dining room in the palace basement, the two plied
their guest with poisoned wine and cakes; when the Siberian peasant
failed to die, they repeatedly shot Rasputin in the chest, back and
head, and beat him around the head with a dumb-bell handle. They then
tied the purported corpse into a sheet and dropped it through a hole
in the ice into the river Neva, where the sturdy peasant finally
drowned, having drifted under the ice, still fighting to free
himself.
On the night of his murder, Rasputin said to Yusupov:
"The aristocrats can't get used to the idea that a humble
peasant should be welcome at the Imperial Palace. They are consumed
with envy and fury. But I'm not afraid of them. They can't do
anything to me. I'm protected against ill fortune. There have been
several attempts on my life but the Lord has always frustrated these
plots. Disaster will come to anyone who lifts a finger against me."
Within three months Nicholas II and the Romanov dynasty were
overthrown; within 19 months the tsar and his family were all
dead.
The contemporary press as well as sensationalist
articles and books that were published in the 1920s and 1930s (one of
them even by Yusupov, Rasputin's main murderer) turned the
charismatic peasant into something of a 20th-century folk myth. To
Westerners, Rasputin became the embodiment of the purported Russian
backwardness, superstition, irrationality and licentiousness, and an
object of sensational interest; to the Russian Communists, he
represented all that was evil in the old regime and had been overcome
in the revolution. Yet to the ordinary Russian people, he remained a
symbol of the voice of the peasantry, and many (Russians) to this day
reject the myths, honoring the man. In fact, after the fall of the
Communist government, key documentation was discovered, and the
Church considered canonizing Rasputin as a martyr.
Since the
end of Communism in Russia in the 1990s, some Russian nationalists
appeared to have tried to whitewash Rasputin's reputation and use the
powerful 20th century archetype that he has become for their own end.
New evidence that has surfaced since the end of the Soviet Union,
however, at first appeared to refute their claims of his
saintliness.
This documentation is primarily in the form of
notes written by individuals who were paid to keep surveillance on
Rasputin's apartment, recording his comings and goings as well as
visitors to the apartment. That this was being done was not a secret
at the time, and Rasputin occasionally expressed annoyance at this.
It has been noted in books written as early as 1919 that those notes
are, at best, highly questionable, intended to "prove" the
allegations of those who paid to have such "proof"
documented.
A brand of vodka, made in Germany, and heavily
advertised in Russia, also bears the name Rasputin, featuring a
hologram of Rasputin' face, which appears to wink when the viewing
angle is changed.
The fantasy with which Catherine the Great
viewed Rasputin; was lost for his death was by the wealthy - the
underlying power of mother russia. Grigori Rasputin
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