Grigori Rasputin was a Siberian monk who gained fame as a healer and advisor to the Russian royal family. He helped the Tsarevich Alexei with his haemophilia, but also advised the Tsar on official business and was involved in controversial religious practices. His influence caused controversy among the elite, and he was eventually killed in 1916, with theories ranging from poisoning to being shot by a British Intelligence officer.
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, known as “The Mad Monk”, was born in a poor Siberian village on January 10, 1869. Little is known about his life before the age of 18, when he left to study at Verkhoturye Monastery and to follow in the footsteps of a holy man local named Makariy. Empowered by Makariy, he eventually left his wife and four children to become a pilgrim. After 12 years of pilgrimage, Rasputin arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia and quickly gained a reputation as a holy man with healing powers.
Rasputin’s first contact with the imperial family was in 1905. The one-year-old Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov, who suffered from haemophilia, had an accident while on vacation with his family and suffered severe internal bleeding which doctors seemed unable to control. Following the advice of a friend, the tsarina contacted Rasputin, who is said to have helped the boy through remote prayer. After this, Rasputin became a trusted confidant of the royal family, who called him “our friend, the holy man”. He stayed close to Alexei and eventually got a job as a court official.
Skeptics believe that one of the reasons Rasputin was able to help the Tsarevich is that the monk recommended stopping all medical treatment. One of the most common medicines of the time was aspirin, a blood thinner that probably contributed to the pain and swelling in the boy’s joints. If the stories are true, the recommendation to stop treatment would have helped the Tsarevich significantly.
As his power grew stronger, Rasputin began advising the tsar on official business. It was because of his advice that Russian troops withdrew from World War I and that Tsar Nicholas II made the mistake of moving to the Eastern Front to command his own troops. Rasputin was also famous for his religious practices. He was a follower of the Khlysty sect, which advocated extremes such as mass orgies and flogging.
Rasputin’s presence in the imperial house caused a lot of controversy among the St. Petersburg elite. Both the Russian Orthodox Church and many nobles were increasingly dissatisfied with the power and influence of man. Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich are believed to have conspired to have him killed on 16 December 1916.
There are several theories about Rasputin’s death. Some say he was poisoned with cyanide but he survived, only to be shot by Yusupov in the back. New evidence suggests that things may be a little more complex than originally thought. It is now believed that he was shot to death by a British Intelligence Service (SIS) officer as a favor to Yusupov.
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