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| Gregory Efimovich Rasputin ( 1869 or 1872-1916),Gregory Efimovich Rasputin came from solid peasant stock. Gregory Efimovich was born on January 10, in Prokovskoe, a small village in Siberia on the banks of the Tura River. As a young lad, Rasputin shocked his village by constantly finding ways to get into trouble with the authorities. Drunkenness, stealing and womanizing were activities particularly enjoyed by the dissolute young man. Rasputin in fact was developing into a rake, a man with a debauched, and endless, sexual appetite. Rasputin was a mystic and court figure, whose pervasive influence over the imperial family helped to destroy its reputation in prerevolutionary Russia. He was born in Pokrovskoye, Siberia. Rasputin acquired a wide reputation as a wandering holy man and faith healer. He also became well known for his debauched behavior. In 1905 Rasputin was presented at court and made a deep impression on Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. He soon became the most influential person in the tsarina's entourage. After 1911 many high government offices were filled by his appointees, and he exerted great influence in the government. In 1916 a group of aristocrats assassinated him. No other figure in recent Russian history has received the amount of vilification and contempt heaped upon Gregory Rasputin. The self-styled monk, who received practically little education in the intricacies of the Russian Orthodox faith, came from the rural areas of Russia and achieved great recognition as a "staretz," or holy man in the highest circles of St. Petersburg society. From rags to social prominence the life of Gregory Rasputin holds many of the events leading to the eventual overthrow of the Russian imperial system, the dethronement of the House of Romanov and the assassination of the Imperial Family. |
By the time he reached his early thirties, Rasputin had traveled to the Holy land and back. It was while in Kazan that the mysterious traveling monk made an impression among the local clergy. It was with the recommendations of these fooled priests that Rasputin headed to St. Petersburg for his first visit. In the year was 1902, while in the Russian capital, Rasputin's presence attracted the attention of many of the country's leading religious leaders.
In 1903 the infant heir to the Russian thrown, Alexis, was diagnosised with hemophilia. One day Alexis hit his head on his crib and as a result he bleed terribly. The doctors on hand could not stop bleeding. The Tsarevich was another victim of the dreaded disease inherited from his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, Hemophilia. Nicholas accepted this new trial with stoic fatalism, Alexandra blamed herself for her son's affliction. The Tsar's brother-in-law, Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovich, once said that Alexandra "refused to surrender to fate...she talked incessantly of the ignorance of the physicians. She professed an open preference for medicine men. She turned toward religion...but her prayers were tainted with a certain hysteria. The stage was set for the appearance of a miracle worker."
In the midst of this tragedy within the imperial family, Rasputin returned to St. Petersburg after a two-year hiatus. Initially, Rasputin moved prudently in the Russian capital's aristocratic circles. He tried, unsuccessfully, to restrain his debauched, womanizing ways, yet temptation was overwhelming. Within months, Rasputin, the saintly sinner, had achieved recognition and a small following in St. Petersburg. Besides gaining the friendship of Grand Duchess Militza and Anastasia, Rasputin also gained the trust of Anna Vyrubova, Empress Alexandra's trusted companion. It was under the recommendation of the Grand Duchesses and Anna Vyrubova that Rasputin was summoned to appear before Alexandra.
Rasputin managed to bring calm and hope into the lives of Nicholas and Alexandra. Most importantly, he was capable of putting a stop to the Alexis' bleedings. Many people have tried to explain the nature of Rasputin's power over the poor little boy. Some have claimed that Rasputin did indeed have holy powers. Others, believe that Rasputin was able to hypnotize Alexis and therefore cause the bleedings to stop. However Rasputin managed to stop Alexis' suffering, the truth of the matter was that he gained Nicholas and Alexandra's undivided support.
As the monk's star rose in St. Petersburg, so did the number of his enemies. Many of the Orthodox clergymen who had initially supported Rasputin became skeptical about his relationship with the imperial couple. St. Petersburg society also failed to understand the bonds that brought Rasputin into such close proximity to the throne. Nicholas and Alexandra had refused to inform their subjects about Alexis' sickness, thus it baffled many to see the imperial couple in dealings with such a lecherous rake as Rasputin. Soon enough, the rumor mills of St. Petersburg accused Alexandra of being romantically, and even sexually involved with the monk. More pernicious gossips even extended the rumors to include the couple's four daughters who supposedly had become Rasputin's sex toys. It is inconceivable that someone as upright and unbending as Alexandra would have ever considered such vile behavior. Yet it is also inconceivable that the rumors were allowed to continued while the reputation of the imperial couple fell to pieces. No one was more responsible for the growing rumors than Rasputin himself. During his many drunken parties, the monk would boast of his exploits with the Empress and her daughters, even going as far as proclaiming that the Tsar was at his fingertips.
Nicholas's secret police quickly informed the Tsar of these rumors. A penitent Rasputin was summoned to appear before the infuriated Tsar, but Alexandra defended the staretz. Nicholas punished Rasputin by sending him back to the provinces, but no sooner had Rasputin left when another bleeding crisis almost killed Alexis. Rasputin's influence over the boy guaranteed the monk's return to St. Petersburg. His position within the imperial circle was never again challenged. Alexandra grew completely dependent on the man, who not only became her son's faith healer, but also the Empress' confidant. The evil monk's presence among the Tsar and his family would further alienate them from the capital and all those circles that had traditionally been the mainstay of tsarism. Nicholas and Alexandra were doomed.
The Grand Duke Nicholas' reactions towards Rasputin exemplified the high level of frustration felt by the Romanov family concerning the relationship of Nicholas and Alexandra and the hated monk. As the war progressed, the Russian government simply collapsed under the weight of the enormous efforts demanded by the armies and the obtuse leadership provided by Tsar Nicholas II. It certainly did not help matters when it was discovered that Nicholas was also relying on Alexandra for the day-to-day handling of governmental affairs. And since Alexandra and Rasputin were in close contact, many believed that indeed it was Rasputin who had become the true lord of All the Russias. Nicholas's family, even his mother, desperately tried to have the monk removed from the imperial couple's proximity. The Romanovs, never really fond of Alexandra, constantly approached the Tsar and demanded that Rasputin be sent away. Nicholas, blinded by his love for Alexandra and fearful of risking Alexis' life, rudely dismissed his family's entreaties. Rasputin's influence continued and the Imperial Family's image continued to be tainted with opprobrium and scandal emanating from the actions of the evil monk.
Within three months of Rasputin's death, Nicholas lost his throne, the imperial family were imprisoned and many of the Romanov cousins arrested. In then end almost twenty members of the Romanov family were massacred by Bolshevik firing squads. No other epitaph to Rasputin's death better exemplifies the repercussions of the monk's death than that written by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlova, sister, in her Memoirs: "His death came to late to change the course of events. His dreadful name had become too thoroughly a symbol of disaster. The daring of those who killed him to save their country was miscalculated. All of the participants in the plot, with the exception of Prince Youssoupov later understood that in raising their hands to preserve the old regime they struck it, in reality, its final blow."