Rasputin

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin has been called a Russian mystic among other things, he was also called a "Holy Devil" by Iliodor (Sergei Trufanov) the monk-priest of Tsarytsin. Much which is known about the early life of Rasptin may be more legend than fact, because to the Russian peasants he was a hero, their man. One thing is certain, though, he was a product of his Siberian culture.

There are only indications of Rasputin's paranormal powers during childhood. One is that he loved animals, especially horses. He loved playing in his father's stable. He would climb upon the horses' backs, touch them with his hand and cheek. With an invented child's language he would talk to them. Of these incidences he eventually would tell the young Tsesarvich Alesha to comfort him.

Only one incidence, whether fact or legend, of Rasputin's exceptional powers seems to be recorded. As was the habit in Siberian villages like Pokrovskoe, Rasputin's home, most inhabitants would meet in homes in the evening. On this night the gathering was in the home of Rasputin's parents. The boy was sick but he heard the low conversation concerning the theft of a horse. Soon the boy got up in his nightshirt and pointed to one of the guests declaring him to be the thief. His parents were embarrassed, but after the gathering broke up some of the villagers who were curious at the boy's words went to the man's property to later see him with the stolen horse. The next morning many returned to the house of Rasputin's parents making the sign of the Cross and saying invocations to the Mother of God and Saint George as they marvelled over the boy's power.

Rasputin's first recognized appearance among Orthodox Churchmen was at a Siberian Academy of Theology. He was in a discussion with a group of seminarians when their teacher and the academy's rector Father Feofan entered the room unnoticed. The seminarians had already recognized how easily Rasputin grasped the Holy Scriptures while they toiled over their books studying their meanings.

Rasputin was wandering as a pilgrim in Siberia when he heard reports of Tsarevich Alexei's (the youngest child and the only son of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia ) illness. It was not publicly known in 1904 that Alexei had haemophilia, a disease that was widespread among European royalty descended from the British Queen Victoria, who was Alexei's great-grandmother. When doctors could not help Alexei, the Tsaritsa looked everywhere for help, ultimately turning to her best friend, Anna Vyrubova, to secure the help of the charismatic peasant healer Rasputin in 1905. He was said to possess the ability to heal through prayer and was indeed able to give the boy some relief, in spite of the doctors' prediction that he would die. Every time the boy had an injury which caused him internal or external bleeding, the Tsaritsa called on Rasputin, and the Tsarevich subsequently got better. This made it appear that Rasputin was effectively healing him. The Tsar referred to Rasputin as "our friend" and a "holy man", a sign of the trust that the family had placed in him.

Rasputin soon became a controversial figure, becoming involved in a paradigm of sharp political struggle involving monarchist, anti-monarchist, revolutionary and other political forces and interests. He was accused by many eminent persons of various misdeeds, ranging from an unrestricted sexual life (including raping a nun) to undue political domination over the royal family.

Political figures of that time had documented that Rasputin had "satanic eyes" and possessed a powerful and hypnotic stare which he used to look in the eyes of any person with penetrating and intimidating pressure. Rasputin also often used verbal abuse and intimidation, including the most dirty profanities, in order to intimidate and manipulate people into submission.

His Murder :

On December 16, 1916, having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Tsaritsa had made him a far-too-dangerous threat to the empire, a group of nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and the right-wing politician Vladimir Purishkevich, apparently lured Rasputin to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace, by intimating that Felix's wife, Princess Irina would be present and receiving friends (In point of fact, she was away at the Crimea). The group led him down to the cellar, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with a massive amount of cyanide. Rasputin was unaffected, although Vasily Maklakov had supplied enough poison to kill five men.

Determined to finish the job, Yusupov became anxious about the possibility that Rasputin might live until the morning, leaving the conspirators no time to conceal his body. Yusupov ran upstairs to consult the others and then came back down to shoot Rasputin through the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell, and the company left the palace for a while. Yusupov, who had left without a coat, decided to return to get one, and, while at the palace, he went to check up on the body. Suddenly, Rasputin opened his eyes and lunged at Prince Yusupov. When he grabbed Prince Yusupov he ominously whispered in Yusupov's ear "you bad boy" and attempted to strangle him. At that moment, however, the other conspirators arrived and fired at him. After being hit three times in the back, Rasputin fell once more. As they neared his body, the party found that, remarkably, he was still alive, struggling to get up. They clubbed him into submission and castrated him. After binding his body and wrapping him in a carpet, they threw him into the icy Neva River. He broke out of the his bonds and the carpet wrapping him, but drowned in the river.

Three days later, the body of Rasputin, poisoned, shot four times, badly beaten, and drowned, was recovered from the Neva River. An autopsy established that THE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS DROWNING. His arms were found in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice. There is a report that after his body was recovered, water was found in the lungs, supporting the idea that he was still alive before submersion into the partially frozen river.