Was he a saint, a demon, or just a depraved charlatan? Today Grigory Efimovich Rasputin would probably be called a psychic and would be greeted in the same way everywhere. And then, at the beginning of the 20th century, a Siberian man with a reputation as a great healer reached the very top, becoming the personal physician of Queen Alexandra and her hemophiliac son...
Treatment consisted mainly of relaxation techniques and avoidance of aspirin, at that time the newest drug that was used to treat everything and which was contraindicated in hemophilia. For the royal family, Rasputin was a savior. The rest treated him differently - some with respect, some with disgust, but everyone agreed that he had too much influence on the royal family, not limiting himself to “healing” and getting into everything. In addition, Rasputin behaved in accordance with his telling surname and dissipated recklessly, believing that it is useful for a believer to sin - after all, the more you repent, the purer you become.
By the beginning of the First World War, society was already opposed to both the Tsar and Rasputin, seeing in them all the troubles of Russia. Attempts began on the life of the “holy elder,” but each time he managed to mystically survive. Only in December 1916 was another attempt to kill him successful. Interesting fact: after the execution of the royal family, medallions with a photograph of Rasputin were found on the chests of all women. Apparently, he had to protect and heal them even after his death, and they prayed to him as a saint. What was this man's secret?
Brutal murder
As unusual and amazing as Rasputin's life was, his death was just as crazy. A group of conspirators - all from high-ranking families - under the leadership of Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich decided to put an end to Rasputin's influence on the Tsarina, the Tsar and the entire Russian government.
On December 30, 1916, they lured him to a late dinner, promising sex with Felix Yusupov’s wife (and the old man, unlike Felix, was eager for women). At dinner they tried to poison him with potassium cyanide, mixing the poison into cakes and wine. There was so much poison that Rasputin should have died on the spot, but it seemed to have no effect on this man.
Felix Yusupov got tired of waiting and shot Rasputin in the back - he fell. But the shot only provoked Rasputin - he rushed at Yusupov, trying to strangle him and saying: “Bad boy.” His rich noble friends came to the aid of the prince: they shot at Rasputin several more times. He managed to get up and run out into the street, but they caught up with him and beat him with sticks, and then, as if this was not enough, they castrated him. Then they wrapped the body in a carpet and threw it into the hole - but after autopsy of the found corpse, it turned out that Rasputin got into the water while still alive and tried to get out, but became hypothermic and drowned. 
Numerous attempts on life
This was the last, but not the first attempt on Rasputin’s life, it’s just that the previous ones were unsuccessful. So, in 1914, Rasputin was visiting his native village of Pokrovskoye near Tobolsk, and one day a woman rushed at him right on the street with a dagger and shouting: “I killed the Antichrist!” She really almost succeeded: the blow to the stomach was strong, just a little more - and she could have gutted Rasputin like a fish. However, he managed to grab the shaft lying on the ground and hit the woman on the head.
The attacker's name was Khionia Kuzminichnaya Guseva, and she was under the strong religious influence of the Black Hundred hieromonk Iliodor. Iliodor (what a gift) was a strong opponent of Rasputin and threatened to kill him many times, declaring that he had already prepared 120 bombs for this purpose. He did not use these bombs, but - it happened - he ran after Rasputin with an ax, threatening to emasculate him.
However, not Iliodor alone! There was also such a holy man named Mitya the Blessed - so he also attacked Rasputin, trying to tear him into pieces. 
The story of Rasputin's severed genitals
Even after death, Rasputin continued to influence the minds of people - at least some part of his body. Rasputin's severed 30cm penis was rumored to have been found by a lady and kept in a safe place, and later resurfaced in Paris as a fetish for a group of Russian aristocratic women who used it as a sex amulet. Rasputin's daughter Matryona heard about this and demanded that the sacred be returned to her. It is said that she kept her father's genitals as a great treasure until her death in 1977.
Then Matryona Grigorievna’s things were sold, and later a certain man named Michael Augustin tried to sell the dried “Rasputin’s penis” at auction, but it turned out that it was a sea cucumber. Then, already in 2004, the head of the prostate research center at the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Igor Knyazkin, opened the Erotica Museum named after. Rasputin. He claims that among the museum’s exhibits there is a jar with the preserved genital organ of the “mad monk”, purchased from a certain French collector. 
Predicting your own death
Rasputin cemented his reputation as an all-knowing seer when he predicted his own doom. Shortly before the murder, he wrote a will with terrible prophecies and sent it to Tsar Nicholas. In particular, it says: “If hired killers, Russian peasants, my brothers kill me, then you, Russian Tsar, have no one to fear. Stay on the throne and reign. And you, Russian Tsar, do not worry about your children. They will rule Russia for hundreds of years more. If the boyars and nobles kill me and shed my blood, then their hands will remain stained with my blood, and for twenty-five years they will not be able to wash their hands. They will leave Russia. Brothers will rebel against brothers and will kill each other, and for twenty-five years there will be no nobility in the country.” 
He was illiterate... and wasn't even a monk
Somehow Rasputin managed to spend several years in a rural school, and then a couple of years in a monastery, without ever learning to read. It’s true: the man who practically “ruled” the Russian government in 1914 and 1915, while the Tsar was missing at the front and the Tsarina was completely under the influence of the “elder,” was indeed illiterate.
We, of course, understand that the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province, was hardly a hotbed of science and culture, but you had to be a very self-confident person to hang around at the very top with such baggage. By the way, Rasputin, in fact, was not a monk either: there is unverified information that for two years he was a novice at the Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Monastery, but left it at the age of 19 and went to wander around Mother Russia and “help people " 
Altruism and bribery
Leaving his personal life aside, we can say that Rasputin was a fighter for social justice of his time. In 1914 he spoke out against the war. He also advocated for equal rights for everyone (including Jews, which was then extremely unpopular, to say the least), for supporting the poor, and against the death penalty.
There were several cases when Rasputin protected people from the Jewish business community from state persecution. For example, in 1913 in Kyiv there was such a high-profile trial, accompanied by an anti-Semitic campaign - the Beilis case, when the Jew Menachem Mendel Beilis was accused of the ritual murder of a 12-year-old student of the Kiev-Sophia Theological School. Rasputin acted on the side of the defense. Beilis was acquitted.
However, Rasputin would not be himself if he did not know how to obtain material benefits even from his beliefs. So, if he was asked to put in a good word at the imperial court in order, say, not to send his only son to the army, it cost 200 rubles (a lot of money!). 
Russian sex machine
The song of the group Boney M about Rasputin does not lie: this man really was the “Russian sex machine” and a tireless womanizer. There were rumors that he was having a sexual relationship with the queen, but this seems unlikely given her extreme prudishness. This woman even ordered the bathtub to be covered when not in use, so that this item would not embarrass anyone.
But it seems that she was practically the only aristocrat in St. Petersburg who did not succumb to Rasputin’s insane sexual charisma. He actually had a lot of fans - they gathered in crowds on the street in front of his house and waited for him to come out to them. Sometimes they waited for several days just to look at the “holy elder” and give him their gifts. He invited selected lucky women to his place for a private conversation. It looks like the sofa in his office has seen so much in its lifetime that we never even dreamed of it. 
Indecent behavior in society
Most historians are inclined to believe that Rasputin did not have a sexual relationship with Tsarina Alexandra, but this did not stop him from boasting and saying that he actually had.
One day Rasputin was in a restaurant with a large crowd of people and, as was his custom, began to boast about the strong influence he had over the Tsar and Tsarina, and about the fact that he had slept with an “old woman.” People at the neighboring tables became interested and asked if he was really the same Rasputin. In response, he stood up and pulled down his pants, exposing his huge 30-centimeter penis for everyone to see - apparently, this was enough proof.
When such rumors were conveyed to the queen, she refused to believe them and claimed that these were the tricks of some impostor running around the city posing as Grigory Efimovich. 
Terrible Military Advisor
Grand Duke Nicholas, uncle of Nicholas II, was an enemy of Rasputin and resented his influence over the Tsarina. It just so happened that Tsar Nicholas was not a particularly strong man and often succumbed to pressure from his wife. It went so far that the Grand Duke threatened to hang Rasputin. This is why in 1915 Rasputin advised Nicholas II to remove Grand Duke Nicholas from his post as commander of the Russian army.
In fact, he, taking advantage of his position as a “holy man,” predicted that Russia would not win the war until the Tsar himself led the troops - and the Tsar was not ready for this task. This decision was decisive. The Russian army numbered more than a million people, and Europe was already in the fire of the First World War.
Yet the tsar followed Rasputin’s advice and took command of the army himself. He left the management of the country to the queen, and she practically handed over the reins of government to Rasputin, completely trusting him. An extremely short-sighted step, I must say. It was the problems associated with the war and economic problems that led to the growing popularity of Bolshevik sentiments in Russia. 
A unique interpretation of sin and redemption
Rasputin's ideas about sin and redemption are quite unusual. He said that sin brings a person closer to God, and he himself successfully put this philosophy into practice every day. That is, the best way to be saved is to be in a constant state of sin. The more drunkenness and sexual orgies, the better, and after pleasure you just go and ask God for forgiveness, and the ideal situation is when you constantly ask for forgiveness for your sins.
According to Rasputin’s perverted philosophy, a woman who enters into a relationship with a “holy man” takes on part of his holiness and is thus purified. So sex with him is a holy, godly thing. And this philosophy worked great! They say that Rasputin also had a habit of leading women into the forest, where they danced naked, burned incense, and then had an orgy. 
Hypnotic abilities
Back in 1901, in Pokrovskoye, a local priest accused Rasputin of belonging to the apocalyptic sect of the “Khlysty”, who performed ecstatic rituals of “zeal” tied to self-flagellation, sex and paganism. There is no evidence of this, and Rasputin himself denied it, but in St. Petersburg, for example, he began to organize spiritualistic seances. He was credited with incredible hypnotic powers and was said to be able to make a person's pupils dilate at will. They also said that such a strong influence on the royal family was explained by nothing more than a hypnotic effect.
In general, rumors about Rasputin’s healing powers circulated during his youth, but his parents, for example, did not have a very high opinion of their son’s abilities. Rasputin's father said that Grigory became a pilgrim only because he was extremely lazy. 
Lack of personal hygiene
Do you think that if this man was so popular with women, then he was some kind of macho or metrosexual? No matter how it is. Take a close look at the photo. Looks like the dude didn't believe in personal hygiene and didn't try to practice it, but that didn't bother anyone.
His long beard was always full of stuck crumbs after eating, he washed extremely rarely and even boasted that he once did not change his underwear for six months. He smelled like a goat, and his teeth looked like black stumps. It is not clear why all this did not become an obstacle to sexual life, but for some reason it did not. 
Unusual rituals
But we must admit that Rasputin often went to the bathhouse - not necessarily for the purpose of washing, mainly for a slightly different purpose, as we understand. He went there with women whom he chose from many admirers, and enjoyed life in every possible way. After the steam room, he was whipped with brooms, and then he usually went to church to repent. “Without sin there is no repentance,” let us remind you.
In addition to personal rituals, Rasputin also had quasi-religious rituals of his own creation. According to Matryona Rasputina's book, her father's admirers worshiped his penis in the literal sense of the word. Their meetings, as a rule, began with some kind of religious ritual, during which he began to caress the women’s breasts, and it all ended with a complete sin. Then Rasputin indulged in meditation for several hours. 
Tireless drinker and party animal
Another passion of Rasputin, besides sex, was alcohol. Eyewitness accounts of the last day of his life have been preserved.
Rasputin spent the night before December 30, 1916, the day he was killed, drinking somewhere. He returned home early in the morning and was "dead drunk." Having slept only a few hours (it is known that he slept very little in general), Rasputin went along his usual bath-sexual route, and in the intervals between entertainments he managed to consume another 12 bottles of 20-degree Madeira (over about 12 hours).
In the evening, still standing firmly on his feet, Grigory Efimovich went to a party with Prince Yusupov - where, as he thought, fun, sex and alcohol awaited him again. Well, the party was a success. 
Perfect marriage?
At the age of 18, Rasputin married a peasant woman, Praskovya Fedorovna Dubrovina, who was three years older than him. They had three children. Praskovya remained to live in Pokrovskoye, while her husband Grigory set sail for St. Petersburg to his glory and his destruction.
He visited her periodically, and - surprisingly - she was completely calm about his wild lifestyle, knowing very well about him. Or maybe she was just tired or had no choice. They say she used to say: “There is enough for everyone.” Praskovya remained faithful to her husband until the very end.
By the way, regarding Rasputin’s love affairs: he never had any problems with cuckolded husbands, since he knew how to convince them that he was not doing anything bad - only good.
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (1864/65 or 1872-1916) - In 1905, Grigory Rasputin appeared at the royal court.The background story of his appearance in St. Petersburg is as follows. Grand Duchess Anastasia, wife of Nikolai Nikolaevich, and her sister Militsa went on a pilgrimage to Kyiv. They stayed in the courtyard of the St. Michael's Monastery. One morning they noticed an ordinary wanderer in the courtyard of the monastery, chopping wood, and asked him several questions. He told them about his travels to holy places and about his life. The Grand Duchesses went on pilgrimage incognito, and they were bored. They began to invite Rasputin - and it was he - for tea, and talked to him. Rasputin said that he was from the peasants of the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province, where he had a wife, Praskovya, a son and two daughters. Gregory also proudly reported that he attracted many people with his religious sermons, and he managed to defeat learned missionaries and theologians in religious disputes. And indeed, there was something in Rasputin’s personality that attracted people to him, and especially women. When he informed the grand duchesses that he had the ability to cure all diseases, including hemophilia, they decided to invite Rasputin to treat the heir.
Rasputin arrived in St. Petersburg not by rail, but on foot and barefoot. He stayed at the monastery hotel as a guest of Archimandrite Theophan. In Tsarskoe Selo, Rasputin was expected with impatience, but was received with restraint. He left a pleasant impression and behaved calmly and with dignity. He treated the sick prince with special consideration. Rasputin had the gift of influencing people in a calming way, and thanks to his care, the heir's health improved significantly. Whenever the boy’s health deteriorated and at the slightest ailment, a miracle worker was called upon: he had an inexplicable power over the boy. And thanks to the fact that the empress and emperor were convinced that Rasputin was necessary for the heir, this man acquired enormous influence over the royal couple.
Rasputin was a strong man, of medium height, with light gray, deep-set eyes, and long brown hair that fell to his shoulders. Few could withstand his piercing gaze.
Rasputin's admirers can be divided into two categories. Some believed in his supernatural powers and his holiness, in his divine purpose, while others simply considered it fashionable to look after him or tried to achieve some advantages for themselves or their loved ones through him. When Rasputin was reproached for his weakness for the female sex, he usually replied that his guilt was not so great, since many high-ranking officials directly hang their mistresses and even wives around his neck in order to achieve some benefits from him for themselves. . And most of these women entered into intimate relations with him with the consent of their husbands or loved ones. Rasputin had admirers who visited him on holidays to congratulate him, and at the same time hugged his tar-soaked boots. Rasputin, laughing, said that on such days he especially generously smears his boots with tar so that the elegant ladies lying at his feet would get more dirty on their silk dresses. Rasputin's fabulous success with the royal couple made him some kind of deity. One word from Rasputin was enough for officials to receive high orders or other distinctions, positions that they did not even dare to dream of. At Rasputin's whim, ministers and advisers lost their jobs; at his will, some inconspicuous official could make a dizzying career. It was an amazing picture when Russian princesses, countesses, famous artists, all-powerful ministers and high-ranking officials courted a drunken man. He treated them worse than footmen and maids. At the slightest provocation he swore in the most obscene words that would make the grooms blush.
Rasputin's wife came to St. Petersburg to visit her husband and children who lived with him only once a year and stayed for a very short time. During her visits, the elder did not embarrass himself, but treated her very kindly. She did not pay much attention to his love affairs and said: “He can do whatever he wants. He has enough for everyone." He kissed his aristocratic admirers in the presence of his wife, and she was even flattered by it. A passionate reveler, Rasputin was on the best terms with all the playwrights of the capital. The mistresses of grand dukes, ministers and financiers were close to him. Therefore, he knew all the scandalous stories, connections of high-ranking officials, the nightly secrets of the big world and knew how to use all this to expand his influence in government circles. St. Petersburg high society ladies, cocottes, famous artists - everyone was proud of their relationship with the favorite of the royal couple. It often happened that Rasputin called one of his friends from this circle and invited her to a famous restaurant. Invitations were always accepted, and revelry and debauchery began. However, debauchery is not of the kind that, according to rumors, Rasputin indulged in before arriving in the capital, living in Pokrovskoye. Gregory's fellow villagers recalled that in the evening Rasputin gathered his followers of both sexes and led them into the forest. There they lit a fire and boiled herbs with incense, and danced around the fire. Gradually the dance accelerated and became completely wild. When the fire went out, Rasputin shouted: “Obey the flesh!” - and everyone threw themselves on the ground. The orgy began.
It is difficult to judge how truthful this information is, but the sources about Rasputin’s capital and Moscow revelries are quite reliable. Thus, Colonel Semenov, the bailiff of the 2nd precinct of the Sushchevskaya part of Moscow, testified about such an evening in the Yar restaurant on March 26, 1915. Rasputin arrived there with the widow of A.I. Reshetnikova, employee of Moscow and St. Petersburg newspapers N.N. Soedov and an unidentified young woman. The whole company was already tipsy. Having occupied the office, the arrivals called the editor-publisher of the Moscow newspaper “News of the Season” S.L. Kugulsky and invited a women's choir to sing and dance for them. Rasputin danced the “Russian” and then began to open up with the singers about the Tsarina. Further, Rasputin’s behavior took on the completely ugly character of some kind of sexual psychopathy: he allegedly exposed his genitals and in this form continued to conduct a conversation with the singers, handing out notes to them with the inscriptions: “Love unselfishly,” etc. To the comments of the choir director Regarding the indecency of his behavior, the elder noted that he always behaves this way in front of women.
One of the most famous women who came under the influence of Rasputin was the maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna A.A. Taneyeva (Vyrubova). Here is how an eyewitness, Hieromonk Iliodor, tells about their relationship, which he had the opportunity to observe: “We arrived at the Marble Palace. Rasputin actually danced around Vyrubova, with his left hand he pulled his beard, and with his right he grabbed his shoulders and hit his hips with his palm, as if wanting to calm the playful horse. Vyrubova stood obediently. He kissed her. I, sinfully, thought: “Ugh, disgusting! And how her tender, beautiful face endures these nasty hard cheeks...” And Vyrubova endured and, it seemed, that she even found some pleasure in these old man’s kisses... Finally, Vyrubova said: “Well , they are waiting for me in the palace; I must go, farewell, holy father "... Something fabulous happened here, and if others had said it, I would not have believed it, otherwise I saw it myself. Vyrubova fell to the ground like a simple penitent peasant, touched both of Rasputin’s feet with her forehead, then got up, kissed Grigory three times on the lips and kissed his dirty hands several times and left.”
Iliodor also told in his notes how in Tsaritsyn, in one of the houses, Grigory Rasputin “blessed” all the beautiful and young ladies and girls with kisses. I kissed them several times in the house, kissed them in the yard and outside the gate. The old women also tried to sanctify themselves with the elder’s kisses, but he pushed them away. One priest from Saratov said that while Rasputin was visiting him, his wife’s young sister came to visit them. The elder invited her to walk into the city, and during the walk he grabbed the girl, began to knead her, kiss her, grab her by different parts of her body and press her against the wall. The girl broke free and ran into the house all in tears... Novice Ksenia told how Rasputin once, left alone with her, ordered her to undress him, then undress herself and go to bed with him. Rasputin began to kiss her... And tormented her for four hours, and then sent her home.
And here are some recordings from surveillance data of Grigory Rasputin, made in 1915.
“On February 19, Rasputin at 10:15 in the evening left building 1 on Spasskaya Street from the Solovyovs with two ladies and left in a taxi, and at 3:00 in the morning he returned home alone.
10th of March. About 1 am, about 7-8 men and women came to Rasputin... and stayed until 3 am. The whole company shouted, sang songs, danced, knocked, and all the drunks went out with Rasputin and went to God knows where.
11th of March. At 10:15 a.m. Rasputin was met alone on Gorokhovaya Street and taken to No. 8 on Pushkinskaya Street to the prostitute Tregubova, and from there to the bathhouse.
March 13. Miller bought Rasputin a hat. At 6.50 pm Rasputin went with two ladies to house 76 along the Catherine Canal, to the Savelyevs, where he stayed until 5 am and lay sick all day.
April 3. Rasputin brought some woman to his apartment at 1 am, who spent the night with him.
In the summer he went to Pokrovskoye, where he continued his wild life, from time to time sending telegrams to Tsarskoye Selo and Vyrubova. And women came here to him from everywhere. More and more women's names appeared in the reports. The same thing continued in 1916. Rasputin gained increasing influence over the empress. Obviously, not without his participation, she believed that she alone was destined to save Orthodox Russia. And she had no doubt that Rasputin’s patronage and his “high spiritual qualities” were necessary for success. She consulted with him on every occasion and asked for his blessing. But the queen’s relationship with Gregory was shrouded in secrecy. Not a word was written about them in the newspapers. In society they spoke about this in whispers, and only among those closest to each other, as about a shameful secret into which it was better not to go deeper.
Everyone knew that Rasputin himself rarely visited the palace, but saw the queen most often at Vyrubova’s, in her apartment on Srednyaya Street, where he sometimes spent several hours with both women.
However, there were people in society who were outraged by Rasputin’s position and power in the country. And they understood that the only way to stop the influence of an illiterate man on the royal couple was to kill Grigory Rasputin. Several unsuccessful attempts were made on the elder's life. Finally, the plan was a success.
The conspiracy was led by Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. Cakes soaked in potassium cyanide were prepared. The same poison was dissolved in a glass of wine. Rasputin was invited to the prince. At first, Rasputin refused to eat the cakes, but then he swallowed one after another. The poison in each would be enough to kill a person, and Yusupov waited for the result, but in vain. Then he invited Rasputin to drink Madeira. The elder drank and complained of a slight burning sensation in his throat, and drank more wine. Again, no use. When Rasputin asked Yusupov to sing, he went out to get a guitar, but took a revolver and, returning, shot Rasputin in the heart. When the prince's accomplices wanted to hide the body, he came to life. He was shot four more times, and his body was thrown into Malaya Nevka.
The Empress was beside herself with grief, and the people were triumphant. People hugged in the street and went to light candles in the Kazan Cathedral. However, some considered this murder fatal in the history of the empire. Rasputin himself allegedly wrote in his will that if the nobles killed him, then “brothers will rise up against brothers and kill each other...” Although, it would seem, how blind one would have to be to not understand, seeing all the abomination of the Russian reality of those years, that the country and people are heading towards disaster. And the fact that the princesses secluded themselves in separate rooms with a dirty man-fraudster and lay at his feet is clear evidence of this.
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin-Novykh is a legendary man from a remote Siberian village, who managed to get close to the August Family of Nicholas II as a medium and adviser and, thanks to this, went down in history.Historians are contradictory in assessing his personality. Who was he - a cunning charlatan, a black magician, a drunkard and a libertine, or a prophet, a holy ascetic and a miracle worker who had the gift of healing and foresight? There is no consensus to this day. Only one thing is certain - the uniqueness of nature.
Childhood and youth
Gregory was born on January 21, 1869 in the rural settlement of Pokrovskoye. He became the fifth, but the only surviving child in the family of Efim Yakovlevich Novykh and Anna Vasilievna (before Parshukova’s marriage). The family was not in poverty, but due to the alcoholism of its head, all property was sold under the hammer shortly after Gregory’s birth.Since childhood, the boy was not very strong physically, he was often sick, and from the age of 15 he suffered from insomnia. As a teenager, he surprised his fellow villagers with his strange abilities: he allegedly could heal sick cattle, and once, using clairvoyance, he pinpointed exactly where the neighbor’s missing horse was located. But in general, until the age of 27, he was no different from his peers - he worked a lot, drank, smoked, and was illiterate. His dissolute lifestyle gave him the nickname Rasputin, which stuck tightly. Also, some researchers attribute to Gregory the creation of a local branch of the Khlyst sect, preaching “dumping sin.”
In search of work, he settled in Tobolsk, got a wife, a religious peasant woman Praskova Dubrovina, who gave birth to a son and two daughters, but the marriage did not curb his temperament, eager for female affection. It was as if some inexplicable force was attracting the opposite sex to Gregory.
Around 1892, a dramatic change occurred in the man's behavior. Prophetic dreams began to bother him, and he turned to nearby monasteries for help. In particular, I visited Abalaksky, located on the banks of the Irtysh. Later, in 1918, it was visited by the royal family exiled to Tobolsk, who knew about the monastery and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God kept there from Rasputin’s stories.
The decision to start a new life finally matured for Gregory when in Verkhoturye, where he came to venerate the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, he had a sign - the heavenly patron of the Ural land himself came in a dream and ordered him to repent, go wander and heal people. The appearance of the saint shocked him so much that he stopped sinning, began to pray a lot, gave up eating meat, stopped drinking and smoking, and set out on wanderings to introduce spirituality into his life.
He visited many holy places in Russia (in Valaam, Solovki, Optina Desert, etc.), and visited beyond its borders - on the holy Greek Mount Athos and in Jerusalem. During the same period, he mastered reading and writing and the Holy Scriptures, and in 1900 he made a pilgrimage to Kyiv, then to Kazan. And all this - on foot! Wandering across the Russian expanses, he delivered sermons, made predictions, cast spells on demons, and talked about his gift of working miracles. Rumors about his healing powers spread throughout the country, and suffering people from different places began to come to him for help. And he treated them, having no idea about medicine.
Petersburg period
In 1903, the healer, who had already become famous, found himself in the capital. According to legend, the Mother of God appeared to him with orders to go and save Tsarevich Alexei from illness. Rumors about the healer reached the empress. In 1905, during one of the attacks of hemophilia, which was inherited by the son of Nicholas II through Alexandra Feodorovna, the “people's doctor” was invited to the Winter Palace. Through the laying on of hands, whispered prayers, and a poultice of steamed tree bark, he was able to stop what could have been a fatal nosebleed and calm the boy. 
In 1906, he changed his last name to Rasputin-Novykh.
The subsequent life of the wanderer-seer in the city on the Neva was inextricably linked with the August family. For more than 10 years, he treated the Tsarevich, successfully driving away the empress’s insomnia, sometimes doing this simply over the phone. The distrustful and cautious autocrat did not welcome frequent visits from the “elder,” but noted that after talking with him, even his soul felt “light and calm.”
Soon, the extraordinary visionary acquired the image of an “adviser” and “friend of the king,” gaining enormous influence over the couple of rulers. They did not believe the rumors that circulated about his drunken brawls, orgies, performing black magic rituals and obscene behavior, as well as that he accepted bribes for the promotion of certain projects, including fateful decisions for the country, and for the appointment of officials to high positions. For example, at the behest of Rasputin, Nicholas II removed his uncle Nikolai Nikolaevich from the post of supreme commander-in-chief of the army, since he clearly saw Rasputin as an adventurer and was not afraid to tell his nephew about it.
Rasputin was forgiven for drunken brawls and shameless antics like carousing in the Yar restaurant in the nude. “The legendary debauchery of Emperor Tiberius on the island of Capri becomes moderate and banal after this,” the American ambassador recalled about the parties in Gregory’s house. There is also information about Rasputin's attempt to seduce Princess Olga, the emperor's younger sister.
Communication with a person of such a reputation undermined the authority of the emperor. In addition, few knew about the Tsarevich’s illness, and the healer’s closeness to the Court began to be explained by his more than friendly relations with the Empress. But, on the other hand, he had a striking effect on many representatives of secular society, especially women. He was admired and considered a saint.
Personal life of Grigory Rasputin
Rasputin married at the age of 19, after returning to Pokrovskoye from the Verkhoturye Monastery, to Praskovya Fedorovna, nee Dubrovina. They met at an Orthodox holiday in Abalak. In this marriage three children were born: in 1897 Dmitry, a year later daughter Matryona and in 1900 Varya.In 1910, he took his daughters to his capital and enrolled them in a gymnasium. His wife and Dima stayed at home, in Pokrovskoye, on the farm, where he periodically visited. She supposedly knew very well about his riotous lifestyle in the capital, and was completely calm about it.
After the revolution, daughter Varya died from typhoid and tuberculosis. The brother, mother, wife and daughter were sent into exile to the North, where they all soon passed away.
The eldest daughter managed to live to old age. She got married and gave birth to two daughters: the eldest in Russia, the youngest in exile. In recent years she lived in the USA, where she passed away in 1977.
Death of Rasputin
In 1914, an attempt was made on the life of the seer. Khionia Guseva, the spiritual daughter of the far-right hieromonk Iliodor, shouting “I killed the Antichrist!” wounded him in the stomach. The emperor's favorite survived and continued to participate in state affairs, causing sharp protest among the tsar's opponents. 
Shortly before his death, Rasputin, feeling a threat looming over him, sent a letter to the Empress, in which he indicated that if any of the relatives of the royal family became his killer, then Nicholas II and all his relatives would die within 2 years, - they say, it was to him such a vision. And if a commoner becomes a murderer, then the imperial family will flourish for a long time.
A group of conspirators, including the husband of the sovereign’s niece Irina, Felix Yusupov and the autocrat’s cousin, Dmitry Pavlovich, decided to put an end to the influence of the unwanted “adviser” on the imperial family and the entire Russian government (they were spoken of in society as lovers).
Felix then shot him in the back, but again to no avail. The guest ran out of the mansion, where the killers shot him point-blank. And it did not kill the “man of God.” Then they started finishing him off with batons, castrated him, and threw his body into the river. Later it turned out that even after these bloody atrocities, he remained alive and tried to get out of the icy water, but drowned.
Rasputin's predictions
During his life, the Siberian soothsayer made about a hundred prophecies, including:Your own death;
The collapse of the empire and the death of the emperor;
The Second World War, describing in detail the blockade of Leningrad (“I know, I know, they will surround St. Petersburg, they will starve! How many people will die, and all because of this nonsense! But you can’t see the bread on the palm of your hand! That’s death in the city ". But you won't see St. Petersburg! If we go wrong, we'll die hungry, but we won't let you in! "- he once shouted in his hearts to a German who insulted him. Anna Vyrubova, a close friend of Empress Alexandra, wrote about this in her diary);
Flights into space and landing a man on the Moon (“the Americans will walk on the Moon, leave their shameful flag and fly away”);
The formation of the USSR and its subsequent collapse (“There was Russia - there will be a red hole. There was a red hole - there will be a swamp of the wicked, who dug a red hole. There was a swamp of the wicked - there will be a dry field, but there will be no Russia - there will be no hole");
Nuclear explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (claimed to have seen two islands burned to the ground in fire);
Genetic experiments and cloning (the birth of “monsters without a soul or an umbilical cord”);
Terrorist attacks at the beginning of this century.
Grigory Rasputin. Documentary.
One of his most impressive predictions is considered to be a statement about “the world in reverse” - this is the upcoming disappearance of the sun for three days, when fog will cover the earth, and “people will wait for death as salvation,” and the seasons will change places.
All this information was gleaned from the diaries of his interlocutors, so there is no prerequisite to consider Rasputin a “fortuneteller” or “clairvoyant.”
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,” explained Gregory 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, poor 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 get hit in the face by 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 that 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 “old man,” 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"
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"Rasputin and the Empress". Director: Richard Boleslavsky. Lionel Barrymore plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin" ("Rasputin, demon of women"). Director: Adolf Trotz. Conrad Veidt plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin" ("Tragedy of the Empire"). Director: Marcel L'Herbier. Garry Bohr plays Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin: The Mad Monk". Director: Don Sharp. Christopher Lee plays Rasputin. |
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"Nikolai and Alexandra". Director: Franklin Scheffner. Tom Baker plays Rasputin. |
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"Agony". Director: Elem Klimov. Alexey Petrenko plays the role of Rasputin. |
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"Rasputin". Director: Uli Edel. Alan Rickman plays Rasputin. |
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"Anastasia". Cartoon studio Disney. Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. Rasputin is voiced by Christopher Lloyd. |
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"Hellboy". Director: Guillermo del Toro. Karel Roden plays Rasputin. |
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"CONSPIRACY". Director: Stanislav Libin. In the role of Rasputin Ivan Okhlobystin. |
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"Rasputin". Director: Jose Dayan. In the role of Rasputin is Gerard Depardieu. |
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"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
Edward Radzinsky's book “Rasputin: Life and Death,” which was published in December 2000, created a real sensation. The materials from Rasputin’s investigative case, which the writer used in his work, revealed many secrets enveloping the mysterious “old man.” Radzinsky cites in this book excerpts from interrogations of fans and admirers of Rasputin, government officials, and clergy. In the last issues of the past year, FACTS published some chapters from the book by Edward Radzinsky. In today's issue we bring to our readers the final part of the collection about the man, without whom the queen herself could not imagine her life.
The Empress reacted painfully to any remark concerning Rasputin
Theophan, to whom someone brought these rumors, retold them to the monks in the Lavra:
“Having discussed all this, we decided that we are monks, and he is a married man, and therefore only his behavior is more free and seems strange to us However, rumors about Rasputin began to grow, and they began to say about him that he goes to the bathhouse with women Suspect in bad it’s very hard"
The St. Petersburg baths had “family rooms”, and, of course, not only legal spouses visited them. It was very difficult for the ascetic Theophan to turn to Gregory, whom he considered a man of holy life, with a question about baths! But Rasputin, apparently, knew about the rumors spreading in the Lavra, and began the conversation himself.
From Feofan’s testimony: “Chance helped.” Rasputin let slip that he happens to be with women in the bathhouse. We told him directly that from the point of view of the holy fathers this was unacceptable, and he promised us to avoid doing this. We did not dare to condemn him for debauchery, because we knew that he was a simple man, and we read that in the Olonets and Novgorod provinces men wash in the bathhouse together with women. Moreover, this does not indicate a decline in morals, but about the patriarchal nature of the way of life and its special purity, because they do not allow anything. In addition, from the lives of Saints Simeon and John the Fools, it is clear that both of them deliberately went to the bathhouse with women, and that for this they were reviled and insulted, but they were nevertheless great saints.”
It was probably Rasputin himself who spoke about Saints Simeon and John - holy fools who went to the bathhouse with women - because he would often use this example later. Referring to the great saints who tested their virtue by looking at a naked female body, “in his defense, Rasputin announced that he wanted to test himself to see if he had killed his passion.”
But Feofan warned Rasputin: “Only great saints are capable of this, and by doing this he is in self-delusion and is on a dangerous path.”
However, rumors about the man’s suspicious going to the bathhouse with society ladies continued. And soon they were truly heard “from all sides.”
Sablin, a friend of the Royal Family, heard about this with amazement. “I began to hear rumors that he was cynical about ladies, for example, he took them to the bathhouse At first I did not believe the rumors. It seemed impossible that any society lady, except, perhaps, a psychopath, could give herself to such an unkempt man,” Sablin showed in “That Case.”
But he did not dare to talk to the Empress about these rumors. “The slightest distrust, especially mockery of him, had a painful effect on her This blind faith of her, like the Emperor, I explain by their boundless love for the heir.. They grabbed hold of the faith if the heir is alive, then thanks to the prayers of Rasputin I reported to the Emperor: so as not teasing society, wouldn't it be better to send Rasputin back to Tobolsk? But the Emperor, due to his character, gave evasive answers or said: “Talk to the Empress about this.” Sablin did not know that Nikolai at that time already had a special justification for Rasputin and therefore did not attach any importance to any rumors.
Meanwhile, the same rumors reached Rasputin’s friend Sazonov. Let us quote his testimony: “In view of the rumors that reached us that Rasputin goes to the bathhouse with the ladies, I once asked him Rasputin answered in the affirmative and added that the Emperor knows too I don’t go alone, but in a group and explained that the greatest sin is he considers it pride. Secular ladies are undoubtedly filled with this pride and in order to knock down this pride, you need to humiliate them, force them to go to the bathhouse with a dirty man To me, a person who deeply knows the people’s soul, this seemed understandable, but I asked Rasputin not to do this again . He gave me his word."
Two years later, the police will record Rasputin visiting the family baths with Sazonov’s wife! And they will come there together - without “company”
Rumors about the baths were supplemented by rumors about the Tobolsk investigation. At court they told how Rasputin founded the Khlyst sect in Siberia and also took his fans to the notorious bathhouse.
Apparently, this is why Nikolai, to his wife’s indignation, decided to interrupt Rasputin’s visits for now. Alix asked the man not to be angry and to pray for them. He prayed, but was angry. Sablin in “That Case” tells how he was at Vyrubova’s when Rasputin called her, vainly seeking an appointment: “And with his heart he said: “They ask to pray, but they are afraid to receive.”
Alix decides to whitewash “Our Friend”. And he comes up with a brilliant move.
In 1917, investigators from the Extraordinary Commission appeared at a monastery not far from the Verkhoturye Monastery, where a certain elder Macarius lived as a hermit. Macarius, known for his holy life, was a shepherd at a monastery from his childhood. He fasted for months, herded pigs, and stood for hours in prayer in the dense forest. Illiterate, he knew about Christ only from church services, and learned prayers by voice. But Macarius was considered Rasputin’s confessor, which is why his interrogation took place in a dilapidated cell. It was not easy to interrogate - Macarius was tongue-tied (however, perhaps he was trying to avoid answering questions in this way).
The “elder” claimed that his God allows him to reject church canons
The sixty-year-old monk testified: “I recognized Elder G. E. Rasputin about 12 years ago, when I was still a monastery shepherd. Then Rasputin came to our monastery to pray and met me I told him about the sorrows and hardships of my life, and he told me to pray to God.” After which Macarius became a monk and began to live as a hermit.
“Apparently, Rasputin told the former Tsar about me, because money came from the Tsar to the monastery to set up a cell for me In addition, money was sent for my trip to St. Petersburg and I then came to Tsarskoye Selo, talked with the Tsar and his family about our monastery and your life in it. I didn’t notice any bad behavior by Rasputin or those who came to see us with him.”
That's all they could extract from him about Rasputin.
But Macarius did not tell the investigators that he was not called to Tsarskoe Selo to tell the kings about his monastic life.
“June 23, 1909 After tea, Feofan, Gregory and Macarius came to us,” Nikolai wrote in his diary.
It was then that Alix told all three of her idea. Knowing “the doubts about Rasputin” that Feofan had, she decided to introduce the bishop to Macarius, who revered Rasputin so much, and invite all three of them to go together to the homeland of “Our Friend.” She believed that this trip would again make Feofan friends with “Father Gregory”, dispel all his doubts, and then Feofan, with his authority, would be able to stop the growing (and already frightening the queen) rumors.
At that time, Feofan was ill. But the queen’s request is the law. “I overcame myself and in the second half of June 1909 set off on the road together with Rasputin and the monk of the Verkhoturye Monastery Macarius, whom Rasputin called and recognized as his “elder,” Feofan testified in “That Case.”
Thus began this journey, which would have the most dramatic consequences for Feofan.
First they went to Rasputin's favorite monastery - Verkhotursky. Already on the road the man amazed the bishop. “Rasputin began to behave without embarrassment I used to think that he began to wear expensive shirts for the sake of the royal court, but in the same shirt he rode in the carriage, filling it with food, and again put on the same expensive shirt” Most likely, Grigory simply decided to demonstrate To Theophanes, Alix's mercy - the Tsarina's shirts. But, apparently, someone had really turned the bishop against Rasputin, and now he was suspicious of everything.
Further more. The ascetic Theophan was amazed when “approaching the Verkhoturye Monastery, we fasted, according to the custom of pilgrims, in order to venerate the shrines on an empty stomach. Rasputin ordered food for himself and cracked nuts.” The man, realizing his strength, allowed himself not to pretend. His God is joyful, he allows us to reject the dull canons of church institutions.
Everything offended Feofan. “Rasputin assured us that he revered Simeon of Verkhoturye. However, when the service began in the monastery, he went somewhere into the city.” The bishop was also offended by Rasputin's two-story house - how different it was from the home of Theophan himself, which he turned into a monastic cell. No, this is not what the home of the one he so recently revered should be like.
We can imagine the furnishings of Rasputin’s house quite accurately from the inventory of his property made after his death. The first floor, where he lived with his family, was an ordinary peasant hut. But the second one Here the man arranged everything in a city style. The second floor was intended for “ladies” and guests coming from St. Petersburg. There he settled Feofan. The bishop indignantly noted the “worldly things”: a piano, a gramophone, to which Rasputin loved to dance, soft plush burgundy armchairs, a sofa, a desk Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, there were “Viennese” chairs around the rooms, wide beds with spring mattresses, a couch - This is how yesterday’s half-poor peasant realized his idea of urban luxury. Two clocks with weights, in black wooden cases, struck majestically, and on the wall there was another clock Feofan was especially outraged by the “large soft carpet covering the entire floor”,
Rasputin showed the bishop his followers - Arsenov, Raspopov and Nikolai Rasputin, “brothers in spiritual life.” But, as Feofan noted, “they sang harmoniously, but overall they made an unpleasant impression.” A widely educated mystic, well acquainted with heresies, apparently felt something Khlyst in these chants
He probably tried to talk about this with Macarius, but
“Monk Macarius is a mystery to me. Most of the time he says something incomprehensible, but sometimes he will say such a word that will illuminate his whole life.”
But Macarius, who can “illuminate your whole life,” at that time clearly said “something incomprehensible”
Grigory Rasputin believed in his impunity, because he knew: the queen would wither away without him
Having considered everything he saw, Feofan concluded that Rasputin “is not at a high level of spiritual life.” On the way back, he “stopped at the Sarov Monastery and asked God and Saint Seraphim (patron of the Royal Family - Author) for help to correctly resolve the question: what is Rasputin like.” The bishop returned to Petrograd “with the conviction that Rasputin is on the wrong path.”
In the capital, he held his last council with his friend Archimandrite Veniamin. After which they called Rasputin to the Lavra.
“When Rasputin then came to us, we unexpectedly accused him of arrogant pride, that he thought of himself more than he should, that he was in a state of spiritual delusion.”
It was a terrible accusation.
“You need a special spiritual height to prophesy and heal When this is not there, the gift becomes dangerous, a person becomes a sorcerer, falls into a state of spiritual delusion. Now he is seduced by the devil, now with the power of the Antichrist he works his miracles,” a monk told me in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
“We told him that for the last time we demanded that he change his way of life, and that if he himself did not do this, then we would interrupt relations with him and openly declare everything and bring it to the attention of the emperor.”
Rasputin never expected to hear this from Feofan. “He was confused, burst into tears, did not make excuses, admitted that he had made mistakes and agreed, at our request, to withdraw from the world and obey my instructions.”
But this was a non-binding promise. The man knew that the queen would never allow him to “retire.” And it’s not just about healing the heir - she herself will wither away without him. He could have foreseen the future fate of the simple-minded Theophan, who never understood the queen - he lived in a different place. The bishop asked Rasputin “not to tell anyone about our conversation with him.” He promised. “Rejoicing at the success, we served a prayer service But, as it turned out, then he went to Tsarskoe Selo and told everything there in a light favorable to himself and unfavorable to us,” Feofan recalled.
The guy didn't have to invent anything. It is enough to tell the queen the truth - Feofan does not believe in his spiritual height and does not want him to be close to the “kings”. And yesterday’s confessor of the Empress is forever barred from entering Tsarskoye Selo.