Rasputin

1869 - 1916

The Czar's mystical monk

( )

Grigory Yefimovich Novykh was born on July 10, 1869 in Siberia and died on December 30, 1916. His entire childhood is cloaked in mystery, but what is known about him was likely passed down by oral tradition of his family. He had two siblings (that we know of) named Maria and Dmitri. This seems like a plausible idea since he named two of his children Maria and Dmitri. Grigory, better known as Rasputin, is thought to have had supernatural powers. Throughout his childhood, slight indications were brought to the attention of his village. In one instance, he was able to tell when a guest had stolen a horse from his father. When older he confessed that he had never stolen anything because he always knew when someone else had stolen, and therefore thought everybody possessed the same supernatural power as he.

After working like his father as a carter, he met a man who introduced him to Khlysty, a sect off the Russian Orthodox Church. Rasputin joined the monastery, and after a short time, he felt God was calling him to do something greater. Therefore, he left his family and his home to go and teach Khlysty to the Russians. He accumulated quite a following, mostly women, who followed him throughout the cities. Rasputin’s reputation began to grow, people believed he could heal the sick with his supernatural powers. In St. Petersburg, Rasputin made friends with Father Feofan and Bishop Hermogen. Through these two men, he also was introduced to the royal court who became deeply interested in him.

The Russian Empress, Tsaritsa Alexandra, suffered from the terrible disease, Hemophilia. When Tsaritsa Alexandra and the Tsar had a son, they named him Alexei. Soon they found out that he was afflicted with the terrible disease also. Fortunately, their other two female children were not afflicted with the disease. Unfortunately, Alexei was the heir to the throne of Russia. This disease, Hemophilia is very rare, but if the person is bumped or cut, they bleed profusely, internally and externally, without stop. Rasputin however, was brought to the boy and miraculously healed him. The Tsaritsa felt indebted to Rasputin, and took a great liking to him. Rasputin, in turn, followed the way of Ballam (Numbers 22) and sought the wealth and prestige of relationship with royalty.

While residing in Russia, Rasputin made great friends with the Tsar, and through him, he became greatly involved in politics. Through these politics he became a very powerful man, along with power came enemies. One young prince named Yusupov, was quite a bored young man. He became so bored that he decided to commit murder to try to put excitement into his life. Conveniently enough, Yusupov held quite a grudge towards Rasputin for the way Rasputin treated women, and how he treated the royals as equals even though he was a mere peasant. One night, Yusupov invited Rasputin over to his house for dinner. Unknown to Rasputin, Yusupov had laced his wine with cyanide. He eagerly awaited Rasputin’s death after his consumption of the wine, yet Rasputin did not die. Yusupov became so irritated and impatient, he took up his gun and shot Rasputin himself.

Sources:
Rasputin. The Mystica. 13 Dec. 2003. <http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/r/Rasputin.html>

Rasputin: the mad monk. Disinformation. 13 Dec. 2003. <http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id291/pg1>

Rasputin. Palace biographies. 13 Dec. 2003. <http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/Rasputin.html>