What is Rasputin famous for? Who was Grigory Rasputin really?

Slandered martyr, sorcerer, hero-lover, German spy or heresiarch? “Around the World” figured out who the favorite of the last Russian emperor really was

Grigory Rasputin. Photo from 1900

Grigory Rasputin had a different last name

Yes. Nicholas II officially allowed the “elder” to be called Grigory Rasputin-Novy, or simply Grigory Novy, at his request. “Living in the village of Pokrovskoye, I bear the surname of Rasputin, while many fellow villagers bear the same surname, which can cause all sorts of misunderstandings,” Gregory explained in a petition addressed to the emperor dated December 15, 1906. Probably, the “elder” also wanted to neutralize the negative associations that the surname Rasputin evoked.

Peasant Rasputin was the only spiritual mentor “from among the people” at court

No. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the highest circles of the Russian Empire it became fashionable to communicate with the bearers of the “folk faith” - all kinds of healers, miracle workers, blessed, beggar wanderers. Rasputin had predecessors at court, in particular the holy fool Mitya Kozelsky and the clique Daria Osipova.

German group Boney M, performers of the 1978 hit Rasputin, in Moscow

Rasputin enjoyed incredible success with women

Yes. According to numerous testimonies, Rasputin was surrounded by a crowd of admirers, including noble and influential ladies. Women noted that the seemingly unattractive “old man” had an inexplicable attractiveness. “Spiritual mentoring” looked ambiguous in the eyes of society when Rasputin visited the bathhouse with his fans or laid them next to him on the bed, but the “elder” claimed that in this way he freed the ladies from the sin of fornication and pride, and he himself abstained. Several times, however, Gregory happened to receive a slap in the face from an interlocutor who did not see the difference between “spiritual practice” and harassment.

Rasputin (left) with Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Photo from 1908

Rasputin was a monk or priest

No. The daughter of the “elder” Matryona said in 1919: “It seems that he had the idea of entering a monastery, but then he abandoned this idea. He said that he did not like monastic life, that monks did not observe morality and that it was better to be saved in the world.” Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko indignantly pointed out to the emperor that Rasputin, not having a rank, wears a priest's cross, assigned to a priest. Gregory's followers called him "elder" - a spiritual mentor, which a layman could also be.

Tsarevich Alexei. Photo from the early 1910s

The “elder” knew how to heal the attacks of Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia.

Yes. There is numerous evidence of this. Researchers believe: the reason is in the “old man’s” ability to influence by suggestion. According to geneticist John Haldane, if a patient's stress is relieved using hypnotic techniques, this can cause the small vessels of the arterial system to constrict and thereby reduce bleeding. Professor Alexander Kotsyubinsky believes that Rasputin inspired the Tsarevich with the idea of improving his condition, and also reassured the boy’s relatives, which helped him overcome the crisis.

Khlystov's zeal

Rasputin was a sectarian

No. “What a whip I am. God forbid. “I go to church, I acknowledge all the dogmas, I pray,” the “elder” declared. However, many suspected Rasputin of sectarianism because of his exalted behavior, vegetarianism, and especially because of the custom of visiting the bathhouse with admirers: this “spiritual practice” was very reminiscent of Khlyst’s zeal, which often turned into orgies. According to religious scholar Sergei Firsov, during his travels Rasputin also communicated with religious freethinkers, from whom he could gain unorthodox ideas. But for the Khlyst, the meaning of life is the interests of his community (“ship”), and Rasputin was too independent and self-centered.

A page from the diary of Grigory Rasputin

Rasputin was uneducated

Yes. According to a contemporary, Grigory counted money like this: “Two hundred rubles, three hundred,” then he had “thousands,” which he juggled completely arbitrarily. He taught himself to write, but knew neither spelling nor punctuation; Rasputin's two books were taken from dictation and extensively edited.

Sculptor Naum Aronson at work on a bust of Rasputin. 1915

The "Elder" was a German spy

No. “The favorite of the court, the strange man Grigory Rasputin, was recognized by rumor as a German agent pushing the Tsar to a separate peace with Germany,” recalled singer Fyodor Chaliapin. Russian counterintelligence officer Alexander Rezanov, who verified these rumors, stated: “I must say in all conscience that I have no reason to consider him a German agent.” For a spy, Rasputin expressed his German sympathies too openly. The British ambassador George Buchanan, whose informants followed the “elder”, came to the same conclusion: if Rasputin supplied the enemy power with valuable information, it was involuntarily, having the habit of blurting out the content of his conversations with the tsar in society.

Portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna. Nikolai Bondarevsky. 1907

Rasputin was the Empress's lover

Hardly. In 1912, deputy Guchkov published her letter to the “elder”: “I am only at peace in my soul, I rest, when you, teacher, sit next to me, and I kiss your hands and bow my head on your blessed shoulders.” “Only those who did not know the empress, her sublime spirit and crystal clear family life, only deeply vicious people, fanatics or scandal-lovers could see in this letter confirmation of outrageous slander,” stated Alexander Spiridovich, head of the palace guard. In the reports of the secret police agents assigned to Rasputin, there is no hint of a dangerous connection.

Researchers believe the third shot was fired from a revolver Webley, weapons of the British army

Rasputin was killed by a British intelligence officer

Hardly. As you know, the “elder”, after an unsuccessful attempt to poison him, was shot dead by monarchist conspirators on the night of December 16-17 (old style), 1916, in the palace of Prince Yusupov on the Moika in St. Petersburg. Retired British detective Richard Cullen and intelligence history specialist Andrew Cook, pointing to inconsistencies in the details of the participants' description of the murder, suggested that Felix Yusupov and deputy Vladimir Purishkevich were hiding information about the third shooter, British intelligence agent Oswald Rayner, a friend of the prince. However, the professor of forensic medicine, Dmitry Kosorotov, who performed the autopsy of the “elder”’s body, testified that only one bullet was found and it was impossible to determine the number of shooters. There is no hard evidence for Rayner's presence at the crime scene. The British intelligence services had every reason to want the death of Rasputin, who advocated a separate peace between Russia and Germany, but the Russian elite had enough of its own motives for eliminating the “old man,” and it did not hide it.

Image of Rasputin according to the canons of icon painting

Rasputin canonized as a saint

No. The movement for the canonization of the “elder” began in the 1990s, several iconographic images were created, it is claimed that among them there are also myrrh-streaming ones. At the 2004 Council of Bishops, the hierarchs officially expressed the position of the Russian Orthodox Church: there are no sufficient grounds for canonizing Grigory Rasputin. “He discredited the monarchy and the last Russian emperor, which the enemies of the fatherland took advantage of. I see no reason to reconsider the role of Rasputin in the history of Russia,” said Patriarch Alexy II back in 2002.

Movie. "Mad Monk"

	"Rasputin and the Empress". Director: Richard Boleslavsky. Lionel Barrymore plays Rasputin.
	"Rasputin" ("Rasputin, demon of women"). Director: Adolf Trotz. Conrad Veidt plays Rasputin.
	"Rasputin" ("Tragedy of the Empire"). Director: Marcel L'Herbier. Garry Bohr plays Rasputin.
	"Rasputin: The Mad Monk". Director: Don Sharp. Christopher Lee plays Rasputin.
	"Nikolai and Alexandra". Director: Franklin Scheffner. Tom Baker plays Rasputin.
	"Agony". Director: Elem Klimov. Alexey Petrenko plays the role of Rasputin.
	"Rasputin". Director: Uli Edel. Alan Rickman plays Rasputin.
	"Anastasia". Cartoon studio Disney. Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. Rasputin is voiced by Christopher Lloyd.
	"Hellboy". Director: Guillermo del Toro. Karel Roden plays Rasputin.
	"CONSPIRACY". Director: Stanislav Libin. In the role of Rasputin Ivan Okhlobystin.
	"Rasputin". Director: Jose Dayan. In the role of Rasputin is Gerard Depardieu.
	"Gregory R.". Director: Andrey Malyukov. In the role of Rasputin, Vladimir Mashkov.

Photo: Alamy / Legion-media, AKG / East News (x2), Mary Evans / Legion-media, Library of Congress, Alexey Varfolomeev / RIA Novosti, Fine Art images (x2), Alamy, Everett collection (x5) / Legion- media, Getty Images, Diomedia (x3), PhotoXPress.ru, ITAR-TASS/ Press service of “The Walt Disney Company Russia & CIS”, Orthodox33

Rasputin Grigory Efimovich (real name of the Novykhs) (1864 or 1865-1916), political adventurer, Old Believer, favorite of Emperor Nicholas II.

Born in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province (now in the Tyumen region) into a peasant family. From his youth he was distinguished by bad behavior - hence the nickname, which later became a surname; More than once he was beaten by his fellow villagers for horse stealing.

By the age of 30, he became close to sectarians and, wandering through holy places, discovered the gift of a powerful psychological influence on believers, especially women. The parishioners who listened to his sermons sometimes fell into a hysterical trance.

Mysticism and the search for new sensations in communicating with people “of the people” were in fashion among the aristocracy of St. Petersburg; Rasputin was brought into this environment by the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Feofan (1904-1905). Secular ladies turned out to be greedy for the exalted sermons of the “old man,” as Rasputin began to be called.

The new prophet became his own man in the salons of the Northern capital. However, he has already gained the reputation of a seducer and deceiver. Soon the “holy elder” ended up in the palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, and in 1907 - in the royal palace.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna unsuccessfully sought help from various healers and holy fools for her only son Alexei, who was terminally ill with hemophilia (incoagulability of the blood). Rasputin won the trust of the royal family precisely because he knew how to “charm” the blood of the heir. The boy felt better, Nicholas II and Alexandra were happy and tried not to notice that the “elder” was taking advantage of their location for unseemly purposes.

The Emperor did not want to listen to police reports about Rasputin's scandalous behavior. Having convinced the tsar that only he could save Alexei and the autocracy through his prayers, Rasputin advised who to appoint and remove from the highest church and government officials up to the prime minister, and arranged profitable financial combinations. A large group of politicians and financiers formed around him, high-ranking admirers and petitioners crowded around him, and various political and commercial adventures were carried out through him.

Prominent monarchists united against Rasputin. On the night of December 30, 1916, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Prince F. F. Yusupov and V. M. Purishkevich killed Rasputin, luring him to Yusupov’s palace under the pretext of a meeting with the owner’s wife.

Rasputin turned out to be unusually strong and tenacious. After the poisoned cakes and Madeira had no effect on him, the “old man” was finished off with several shots at point-blank range, and his body was pushed under the ice of Malaya Nevka. An autopsy showed that Rasputin died only after several hours in the river.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (real name of the Novykhs) was born in 1871 (according to various sources, 1864, 1865 or 1872) in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tyumen province, into a peasant family. Many facts from the biography of Grigory Rasputin are known only from his own words.
Rasputin's father was a coachman.
The healer never studied anything, including not even a basic medical education, since he was illiterate.
Rasputin received his nickname and surname in his native village “for fornication.”
1890 - Rasputin marries a girl from his village; her name is Praskovya Fedorovna. Three children are born in the marriage: Dmitry, Maria and Varvara.
1892 - Rasputin makes his first pilgrimage to the monastery at Verkhotur (Perm province).

Marriage does not stop either the temper of Grigory Rasputin or his desire to wander. While still relatively young, he walks to the Greek monastery of Athos, and then to Jerusalem. Upon returning to Pokrovskoye, Rasputin declares himself the chosen one of God, the owner of a miraculous healing gift. Perhaps he really had some abilities (for example, he had hypnosis), perhaps he was just a good actor. One way or another, rumors about Grigory Rasputin begin to spread throughout Siberia, and then further. People from afar come to the “elder” and receive, if not healing, then consolation.
1900 - the healer, as always on foot, goes to Kyiv. Here he meets Archimandrite Chrysanthus, who sends him to St. Petersburg, to the inspector of the Theological Academy and at the same time the famous mystic Father Theophan.
1903 - Rasputin visits St. Petersburg for the first time.
According to the stories of Rasputin himself, one fine day the Mother of God appeared to him and informed him that Alexei Nikolaevich, the only heir to the Russian throne, was ill. And only he, the Siberian elder, can save the crown prince. So, at the direction of the Mother of God, Grigory Rasputin again goes to the capital.
1905 - Rasputin appears in St. Petersburg. There is a wave of strikes and industrial action in the city. The Siberian healer easily earns his authority in the revolutionary chaos. He preaches, heals, even predicts the future. Following the people, representatives of high society turn to him. Gradually, the fame of the wonderful old man reaches the imperial court.
1907 - another attack for the Tsarevich. The heir suffers from hemophilia, an incurable disease characterized by incoagulability of blood. For a patient with hemophilia, any scratch or bruise is deadly... The doctors declare themselves powerless to save Alexei, and the empress in despair turns to Grigory Rasputin. An old man saves a child.
The same year - Rasputin publishes the book “The Life of an Experienced Wanderer.”
One can argue a lot about Rasputin's abilities, but one thing is known - he really could stop blood. And at moments when the best doctors of the empire threw up their hands, and the Russian people gradually began to prepare for the death of the only heir to the throne, Rasputin came to the rescue and eased the boy’s suffering. “The heir will live as long as I live,” he declared. It is not surprising that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna gradually begins to idolize the elder and completely submits to his influence.
This is how Rasputin finds himself close to the royal court. He not only treats Alexei, but also leads an active social life and gets acquainted with the cream of St. Petersburg society.
Gradually, through Maria Feodorovna, Rasputin begins to influence Russian politics. Under the pressure of his wife, Nicholas II has to “promote” to government positions those whom the Siberian healer points out. Rasputin's friends receive high positions for which they clearly do not correspond (there is a well-known scandal when an illiterate fellow villager of the healer becomes the Bishop of Tobolsk); his children are placed in the best gymnasiums in the capital. For the healer himself, his chosenness and faith do not in the least prevent him from organizing drunken brawls and orgies, the fame of which spreads throughout St. Petersburg.
1915 is the apogee of Rasputin's power. The First World War is underway. Nicholas II is constantly in Mogilev, the Empress remains in St. Petersburg. She really wants to help her husband, but she discusses her every step with Rasputin. As a result, all government appointments and all supply issues go through him. It comes to the point that, at his insistence, Nikolai removes his relative, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, from command of the Russian army and begins to command himself.
The same year, Grigory Rasputin Novykh’s book “My Thoughts and Reflections” was published.
1915 - 1916 - in a few months, four prime ministers change in Russia, not to mention lower positions. The imperial court begins to talk about Rasputin's favoritism.
The closeness of “Grishka Rasputin” to the imperial family gives rise to many rumors. Not only are they unpleasant in themselves, but they also undermine the authority of the emperor. Gossip that the empress is too close and friendly with the healer overwhelms the patience of Nicholas II and his entourage. A conspiracy is brewing against Rasputin.
Autumn 1916 - the healer writes a letter-testament addressed to the Tsar. In it, he says that he will give up his life before January 1, 1917 and predicts the future of Russia. If a relative of Nicholas becomes the killer, writes Rasputin, then “none of your (the emperor’s) children or relatives will survive... they will be killed by the Russian people.” The letter was drawn up according to all the rules by a lawyer and handed over to the addressee.
December 30 (17), 1916 - Prince Felix Yusupov, deputy of the IV State Duma Vladimir Purishkevich and Prince Dmitry Pavlovich (the emperor’s cousin) plan an assassination attempt on the elder. They invite him to a party, where they first try to poison him - potassium cyanide is added to the wine and food. However, the poison has no effect on Rasputin. Yusupov shoots at him, but only wounds him. Purishkevich and Romanov “finish off” the healer. The body is thrown into the hole.
At the request of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the elder’s body was raised from the bottom of the Neva. During the autopsy, the incredible is revealed: poisoned with a lethal dose of poison and riddled with bullets, Grishka Rasputin came to his senses under water and fought for his life until he choked. He was buried near the chapel of the imperial palace in Tsarskoe Selo. The investigation into the murder, begun by the emperor, naturally came to naught. In 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, the body of Grigory Rasputin was exhumed and burned.

Saint and devil, “man of God” and sectarian, peasant and courtier: there seemed to be no end to the definitions characterizing Rasputin. The central and dominant feature of his personality was, without a doubt, the duality of nature: the “old man” was capable of playing one role with extraordinary skill, and then its complete opposite. And it was precisely thanks to the contradictions inherent in his character that he became a great actor.

Mediumistic intuition, coupled with the cunning typical of peasants, turned Rasputin into a creature with supernatural capabilities: he always managed to discover the vulnerable side of a person and benefit from it. When the “elder” firmly established himself in the Alexander Palace, he immediately revealed the weaknesses of the imperial couple; he never flattered them, addressed them only as "you", calling them "mom" and "dad". In communicating with them, he allowed himself all sorts of familiarity and realized that his worn-out boots, peasant shirt and even unkempt beard had an irresistible attractive effect on their august patrons.

Before the empress he played the role of “elder,” which she liked most; as during a large theatrical performance, he demonstrated his talent on the stage of the Alexander Palace. It did not matter that there might be a false saint, a libertine or a sectarian in the imperial residence; All that mattered was what Alexandra Fedorovna wanted to see and hear. Everything else - as she thought - was nothing more than baseness, slander and malice of those who dreamed of alienating her from this “holy man”.

The world in which the empress lived was rather simple and limited, and Rasputin, with his intuition, quickly understood how to win her favor. Surrounded by supposedly enlightened, but in fact depraved courtiers to the core, Alexandra Fedorovna decided that in the person of this ignorant peasant she had met the only one who could bring her and the tsar closer to the people. This man, sent to her by God himself and who came from a Russian village, combined in himself a peasant and a saint; the fact that Rasputin had the gift of healing was, in the eyes of the empress, another manifestation of his holiness. All this took place away from the outside world, in a residence similar to an ancient Russian tower.

And indeed, almost only women lived in the Alexander Palace; the empress, her ubiquitous friends, four daughters, as well as a great many teachers, governesses and maids. As in the days of ancient Russian towers, women from the family of Nicholas II were not supposed to be seen by male persons, except for close relatives, church representatives and high-ranking dignitaries. Alexandra Fedorovna did not consider Rasputin’s presence to be something unacceptable, since the “elder” was a holy man for her and directly expressed the will of the Almighty.

Rasputin did not live in the Alexander Palace, but when he was received there, he was given complete freedom: he entered the rooms of the young princesses at any time of the day, kissed all the women, claiming that the apostles also did this as a sign of greeting, and always found an explanation for his behavior . Rasputin was by nature a rude, primitive and vulgar man, but when he entered the palace, he turned into an “old man” to whom Alexandra Fedorovna and her daughters turned with hope; he was their guiding star, which enlightened them and pointed them in the right direction in the complex whirlpool of life. You just need to follow his advice, Rasputin said, and he will be able to help the imperial family overcome all the troubles that have befallen it: thanks to his gift of a seer, he will take it beyond fate and divine Providence itself.

The “elder” understood perfectly well that he had become necessary for the imperial couple. In addition, he had an irresistible magnetic influence, and a variety of people had already experienced, finding themselves unable to resist, the hypnotic spell of his gaze. Perhaps this is how Rasputin stopped the little crown prince’s bleeding, although it will never be possible to accurately establish his methods of “treatment.” Everything happened in the presence of only relatives and servants, and no one - even those who knew the secret of the Romanovs - could act as a witness.

Rasputin’s role in state affairs should not be exaggerated, since in reality he did not have any specific program: the “old man” was a real devil in psychology, but a complete layman in politics. Dramatic events began during the war, when Alexandra Fedorovna herself, together with Rasputin, had to control the situation in raging Petrograd. Undoubtedly, the “elder” managed to impose on the emperor people he liked, Rasputin, to influence the appointment of new ministers: and indeed, from that moment on, ministers began to replace one another with dizzying speed, and they were all under Rasputin’s heel. However, at that time the entire state machine was in such a deplorable state, and in addition there was such a shortage of suitable people, that there is no basis for asserting that without the direct intervention of the “old man” things would have gone better.

Rasputin's real conquest was his close relationship with the imperial couple, friendly and trusting; everything else came later, as a natural consequence of this closeness, which only he, the “Man of God,” was awarded. Rasputin - a healer or Rasputin - a political adviser to the sovereign is nothing compared to Rasputin - an “old man” devoted to the imperial family: it was he who was the real mentor for the Romanovs. Only he was able to alleviate the mental suffering of those to whom history had placed too heavy a burden on their shoulders. The phenomenon of Rasputin originated in the minds of these people themselves, and its appearance became possible precisely because of the weak character of Nicholas II in combination with the mystical exaltation of Alexandra Fedorovna. In other words, the Tsar and Tsarina themselves opened the doors to the swindler, a worthy follower of the numerous charlatans who infested the Russian court in past centuries.

This dissolute man, as such, never existed for them: Rasputin was only a projection of the imagination of two confused creatures, suppressed by the seriousness of the events taking place and by nature prone to irrationality. At all times, monarchs loved to surround themselves with flatterers and mediocre personalities, but, unlike the jesters of bygone eras, Rasputin appeared as a “saint” who also possessed supernatural power. So, Nikolai and Alexandra unconsciously joined a game that could satisfy their spiritual needs, but this home game turned into a tragedy for the entire country.

Outside the walls of the Alexander Palace, Rasputin again became himself: a drunkard, a lover of prostitutes, especially willing to resort to violence against women. Fanfare and bragging, he boasted of his successes at court and, having drunk heavily, told obscene details, sometimes invented by himself. His house was a meeting place for a variety of people: great princes, the priesthood, ladies of high society and simple peasant women came to him to get to the sovereign. And everyone, without exception, asked for royal mercy and intercession.

But no matter what Rasputin did, he always took all precautions so that in Tsarskoye Selo the image of a holy man that he managed to create would remain untarnished, which was the real secret of his success. Thanks to his resourcefulness and tenacity, this man knew how to defend the positions he had conquered; Moreover, here he did not encounter any particular difficulties, since Alexandra Fedorovna was unable to admit that he had at least one negative trait. The Empress always rejected all stories about Rasputin’s unseemly behavior, considering them fictitious and slanderous, and could not believe that “her old man” could have another face. Moreover, this illiterate man was absolutely necessary for her, since he personified the traditional triumvirate of the Russian nation: the tsar, the church and the people.

When Rasputin felt that there was a real threat to his career, he relied primarily on the eternal fears and deep religiosity of Alexandra Fedorovna. He used psychological blackmail, describing the future of her and her loved ones in gloomy tones; he also convinced the queen that they could not survive without him, and these predictions sounded like the death knell for the king and his dynasty.