WHO WAS RASPUTIN?

As a follow-up to last week's blog about The Last Czar, Nicholas II and Alexandra of Russia, this week my blog features the mystical advisor who many feel played a pivotal role in the fall of the Romanov dynasty and the advent of the Russian Revolution. Rasputin, born in 1869 and assassinated in 1916, was known as The Mad Monk.

Born to a Siberian peasant family around 1869, Grigori Rasputin received little schooling and probably never learned to read or write. In his early years, some people of his village said he possessed supernatural powers, while others cited examples of extreme cruelty.

His early life was ordinary for the time and place but changed 1892 when he spent months in a monastery although never took holy orders to become a monk. He left the monastery at age nineteen presumably to get married. He had five children although two died shortly after birth. Grigori Rasputin left his family and traveled to Greece and the Middle East, making several pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

In 1903, Rasputin's wanderings brought him to St. Petersburg, where he arrived with a reputation as a mystic and faith healer. Two years later, he was introduced to Russian Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, who were seeking help for their sickly son, Alexis. Rasputin quickly gained their confidence by seemingly curing the boy of hemophilia. This action won him the passionate support of Alexandra.

Between 1906 and 1914, various politicians and journalists used Rasputin's association with the imperial family to undermine the dynasty's credibility and push for revolution. Rasputin helped their cause by claiming to be the Czarina's advisor. Accounts of his lewd behavior emerged in the press, solidifying contempt among state officials. In truth, Rasputin's influence at this time was limited to the health of Alexis.

As Russia entered World War I, Rasputin predicted that calamity would befall the country. Nicholas II took command of the Russian Army in 1915, and Alexandra took responsibility for domestic policy. Always Rasputin's defender, she dismissed ministers who were said to be suspicious of the mad monk. Government officials tried to warn her of Rasputin's undue influence, but she continued to defend him, giving the impression that Rasputin was her closest advisor.

On the night of December 29, 1916, a group of conspirators, including the czar's first cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and Prince Felix Yusupov, invited Rasputin to Yusupov's palace and fed him wine and cakes laced with cyanide. Though Rasputin eventually became rather drunk, the poison seemed to have no effect. This was refuted by a relative of Rasputin who said he didn't like sweets and wouldn't have eaten the cakes. Baffled but not deterred, the conspirators finally shot Rasputin multiple times. He was then wrapped in a carpet and thrown into the Neva River, where his body was discovered three days later.

His death was officially listed as December 30, 1916 (December 17^th on the Russian calendar in use at the time). Not only did he survive the initial poisoning, it was noted that water was found in his lungs indicating he also survived the shooting and actually died by drowning.

Although Rasputin was gone, the last of his prophecies still lingered. Shortly before his death, he told Nicholas that if he were killed by government officials, the entire imperial family would be killed by the Russian people. His prophecy came true fifteen months later, when the czar, his wife and all of their children were murdered by assassins during the Russian Revolution.