Rasputin's birthplace. Brief biography of Grigory Rasputin

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RASPUTIN'S PERSONALITY

In appearance, Rasputin was a real Russian peasant. He was a strong man, of average height. His light gray, sharp eyes were set deep. His gaze was piercing. Only a few could stand it. It contained a suggestive force that only rare people could resist. He wore long hair that flowed over his shoulders, which made him look like a monk or priest. His brown hair was heavy and thick.

Rasputin did not rank clergy highly. He was a believer, but did not pretend to be, he prayed little and reluctantly, he loved, however, to talk about God, to have long conversations on religious topics and, despite his lack of education, he loved to philosophize. He was greatly interested in the spiritual life of man. He was an expert on the human psyche, which was of great help to him. He did not like regular work, as he was lazy, but could, if necessary, work hard physically. At times physical work was necessary for him.

Countless legends have gathered around Rasputin. I do not intend to compete with the authors of all sorts of scandalous stories and want only to convey my observations of the real Rasputin.

Rasputin had a bump on his forehead, which he carefully covered with his long hair. He always carried a comb with him, with which he combed his long, shiny and always oiled hair. His beard was almost always in disarray. Rasputin only occasionally brushed her with a brush. In general, he was quite clean and often bathed, but at the table he behaved with little culture. He used a knife and fork only on rare occasions and preferred to take food from plates with his bony and dry fingers. He tore large pieces like an animal. Only a few could look at him without disgust. His mouth was very large, but instead of teeth, some black roots were visible in it. While eating, food remnants often got stuck in his beard. He never ate meat, sweets or cakes. His favorite dishes were potatoes and vegetables, which were brought to him by his admirers. Rasputin was not anti-alcoholic, but he did not think highly of vodka either. Of other drinks, he preferred Madeira and port. He was accustomed to sweet wines in monasteries and could tolerate them in very large quantities. In his clothing, Rasputin always remained faithful to his peasant attire. He wore a Russian shirt, belted with a silk cord, wide trousers, high boots and a hoodie over his shoulders. In St. Petersburg, he willingly put on silk shirts, which were embroidered for him and presented to him by the queen and his admirers. With them, he also wore high patent leather boots.

Rasputin loved to teach people. But he spoke little and limited himself to short, abrupt and often even incomprehensible phrases. Everyone had to listen carefully to him, since he had a very high opinion of his words.

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.

His fabulous success with the royal couple made him some kind of deity. All St. Petersburg officials were in a state of excitement. One word from Rasputin was enough for officials to receive high orders or other distinctions. Therefore, everyone sought his support. Rasputin had more power than any high official.

You didn’t need any special knowledge or talent to make the most brilliant career with his help. Rasputin's whim was enough for this.

Assignments that required long-term service were carried out by Rasputin in a few hours. He brought people positions that they had never dared to dream of before. He was an all-powerful miracle worker, but at the same time more accessible and reliable than some high-ranking person or general.

No tsar's favorite has ever achieved such power in Russia as he did.

Rasputin did not try to adopt the manners and habits of well-bred St. Petersburg society. He behaved in aristocratic salons with impossible rudeness.

Apparently, he deliberately showed his peasant rudeness and bad manners.

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 scolded these aristocratic ladies in the most obscene manner and in words that would make the grooms blush. His impudence was indescribable.

He treated ladies and girls from society in the most unceremonious manner, and the presence of their husbands and fathers did not bother him at all. His behavior would have outraged the most notorious prostitute, but despite this, there were almost no cases when anyone showed their indignation. Everyone was afraid of him and flattered him. The ladies kissed his food-stained hands and did not disdain his black nails. Without using cutlery, at the table he distributed pieces of food among his fans with his hands, and they tried to assure him that they considered this some kind of bliss. It was disgusting to watch such scenes. But Rasputin’s guests got used to this and accepted it all with unprecedented patience.

I have no doubt that Rasputin often behaved outrageously and disgracefully in order to show his hatred of the nobility. With special love, he cursed and mocked the nobility, called them dogs and claimed that not a drop of Russian blood flowed in the veins of any nobleman. When talking with peasants or his daughters, he did not use a single swear word. His daughters had a special room and never entered rooms where guests were. The room of Rasputin's daughters was well furnished, and from it a door led to the kitchen, in which Rasputin's nieces Nyura and Katya lived, who watched his daughters. Rasputin's own rooms were almost completely empty and contained very little of the cheapest furniture. The table in the dining room was never covered with a tablecloth. Only in the work room there were several leather armchairs, and this was the only more or less decent room in the entire apartment. This room served as a place for intimate meetings between Rasputin and representatives of high society in St. Petersburg. These scenes usually proceeded with impossible simplicity, and Rasputin in such cases would escort the lady in question out of his workroom with the words: “Well, well, mother, everything is all right!”

After such a lady's visit, Rasputin usually went to the bathhouse located opposite his house. But the promises made in such cases were always fulfilled.

During Rasputin's love affairs, it was striking that he could not stand intrusive persons. But, on the other hand, he annoyingly pursued ladies who did not give in to his lusts. In this regard, he even became an extortionist and refused all assistance in the affairs of such persons. There were also cases when ladies who came to him with requests directly offered themselves, considering this a necessary prerequisite for the fulfillment of their request. In such cases, Rasputin played the role of the indignant and read the most severe moral teaching to the petitioner. Their requests were still fulfilled.

RASPUTIN'S HOUSE

A very diverse group usually gathered in Rasputin's dining room. Each visitor considered it his duty to bring something edible. Meat dishes were not revered. They brought a lot of caviar, expensive fish, fruits and fresh bread. In addition, there were always potatoes, sauerkraut and black bread on the table. A huge boiling samovar always stood on the table. Rasputin's pantry was always filled with all kinds of supplies. Everyone who came could treat themselves as they wished. Sometimes one could watch a scene when Rasputin threw pieces of black bread into a bowl with fish soup, pulled these pieces out of the fish soup with his own hands and distributed them among his guests. The latter accepted these pieces with enthusiasm and ate them with pleasure. There was always a pile of black bread crackers and salt on the table. Rasputin loved these crackers, and also offered them to his guests, among whom there were constantly candidates for ministerial posts and other high positions. Rasputin's crackers were very popular in St. Petersburg. His household was run by his nieces Nyura and Katya. He did not keep servants.

I delivered food supplies to Rasputin’s home. I made sure that Rasputin and his family received everything they needed; He and I had a tacit agreement on this matter. Nicholas II knew that as long as his favorite was in my care, he would not need anything. Rasputin accepted my services, but never asked about their motives. He wasn't even interested in where I got the money from. In case of any need, he always simply turned to me.

Rasputin's life required enormous sums, and I always got them. Recently, by order of the Tsar, five thousand rubles were released monthly from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but given Rasputin’s wide lifestyle and carousing, this amount was never enough. My personal funds were also not enough to cover all expenses. Therefore, I obtained money from special sources for Rasputin, which, so as not to harm my coreligionists, I would never give out.

If Rasputin had thought only about his own benefits, he would have accumulated large amounts of capital. It would not have cost him much effort to receive monetary rewards from the persons for whom he arranged positions and all sorts of other benefits. But he never demanded money. He received gifts, but they were not of high value. For example, they gave him clothes or paid his bills for carousing. He accepted money only in cases where he could help someone with it. There were times when, at the same time as some rich man, he had a poor man asking for help. In such cases, he suggested that the rich man give the poor a few hundred rubles. With particular pleasure, he helped the peasants who turned to him for help. It happened that he sent his petitioners to the Jewish millionaires Gunzburg, Soloveichik, Manus, Kaminka and others with notes about giving them one or another amount. These requests were always granted. When M. Gunzburg visited Rasputin, he usually took away all the cash he had on him and distributed it among the poor people who always crowded his house. In such cases, he liked to express himself: there is a rich man in the house who wants to distribute his money among the poor. But he did not demand anything for himself. I tried to interest him in my affairs, but he always refused. If they wanted to thank him, then they had to look for special ways. By nature he had a good heart. It only happened very rarely that he refused to fulfill any request. In serious cases, he always showed himself to be very delicate and always ready to help. He questioned his petitioners in great detail, and it was very unpleasant for him if he could not help them. He willingly spoke out for the offended and humiliated and accepted complaints against those in power.

Between ten and eleven he always had a reception that any minister could envy. The number of petitioners sometimes reached up to two hundred people, and among them were representatives of a wide variety of professions. Among these persons one could meet a general who was personally beaten by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, or a government official who was dismissed due to abuse of power. Many came to Rasputin to get a promotion or other benefits, others again with complaints or denunciations. Jews looked to Rasputin for protection against the police or military authorities. But the men were lost in the mass of women who came to Rasputin with all kinds of requests and for a wide variety of reasons.

If he did not sleep after a night of revelry, he usually went out to this motley crowd of petitioners who filled all the corners of his apartment. He bowed low, looked around the crowd and said:

You all came to me to ask for help. I will help everyone.

Rasputin almost never refused his help. He never wondered whether the applicant was worth his help and whether he was suitable for the requested position. About those convicted by the court, he said: “Condemnation and the fear experienced are already sufficient punishment.”

For Rasputin, it was decisive that the petitioner needed his help. He always helped whenever possible, and he loved to humiliate the rich and powerful if he could thereby show his sympathy for the poor and peasants. If there were generals among the petitioners, he would mockingly tell them: “Dear generals, you are accustomed to always being accepted first. But here are Jews without rights, and I must first let them go. Jews, come. I want to do everything for you.”

After the Jews, Rasputin addressed other visitors and only at the very end did he accept the requests of the generals. He loved to repeat during his receptions: “Everyone who comes to me is dear to me. People should live hand in hand and help each other.”

Rasputin's wife came to St. Petersburg to visit her husband and children only once a year and stayed for a very short time. During her visits, Rasputin did not embarrass himself, but treated her very kindly and loved her in his own way. She did not pay much attention to her husband's love affairs and in such cases said: “He can do what 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. Usually very stubborn, easily angered, intolerant of contradictions and always ready to fight with his opponent, Rasputin was very pliable towards his wife. They lived in cordial friendship and never argued with each other.

Once Rasputin’s father also came to St. Petersburg to take a close look at his son’s successes. He stayed in St. Petersburg for a very short time, went back home and soon died there. Rasputin's son Dimitri was a very quiet and good-natured boy. He had little talent and studied poorly. After attending theological school for two years, he returned to the village of Pokrovskoye, became a peasant there and now still lives there with his wife and mother. During the war, he became liable for military service, but his father did not let him go to the front, but gave him a job as an assistant orderly on the imperial ambulance train.

RASPUTIN IS PARTYING

The 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 importance in government circles. St. Petersburg high society ladies, cocottes, famous artists and cheerful aristocrats - all were proud of their relationship with the favorite of the royal couple. They were all blinded by his success. Friendship with Rasputin gave them the opportunity to know many different secrets, do their own dark deeds and make their own careers or those of people close to them. Various playgirls had a special influence in St. Petersburg at that time and occupied some special position in pre-revolutionary times.

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 the revelry began. These ladies took advantage of the opportunity to petition Rasputin for their friends, lovers and relatives. Many of these ladies enriched themselves in this way, since Rasputin was very pliable in such cases.

The owner of the country restaurant "Villa Rode" built a special house for Rasputin's nightly revelries. There you could often meet people with very big names and titles; at the same time, ladies from society tried to interrupt the chorus girls and chansonettes with their antics. Usually a gypsy choir was called in, since Rasputin was very fond of gypsy singing. He was also a passionate dancer and excelled in Russian dances. In this regard, it was difficult even for professional dancers to compete with him.

When going on revelries, Rasputin always filled his pockets with various gifts: sweets, silk scarves and ribbons, powder compacts, perfumes and the like. Rasputin was very happy if, after his arrival at the restaurant, all these things were stolen from his pockets, and shouted cheerfully: “The gypsies robbed me!”

It happened very rarely that at such revelries some minister or candidate for minister was not present.

Once, during such a revelry, an attempt was made to kill Rasputin.

Several young people and officers managed to gain access to the place of revelry. At first everything was quiet; but when Rasputin walked into the middle of the room, inviting his partner to dance, the officers jumped up and drew their swords. The civilians began holding revolvers in their hands. Rasputin jumped to the side, looked at the conspirators with a terrible look and cried out: “You want to put an end to me!”

The conspirators stood petrified, as if paralyzed. They could not turn away from Rasputin's gaze. Everyone fell silent. The incident made a strong impression on everyone present.

Rasputin explained: “You were my enemies, but now you are no longer enemies. You saw that my power has turned white. Do not regret that you came here, but do not be glad that you can leave. There is no longer such a power that could would turn you against me. Go home. I want to stay here with my family and rest."

The young people knelt before Rasputin and begged him to forgive them.

“I won’t forgive you,” Rasputin replied, “since I didn’t invite you here.” I was not happy when you came, and I am not sad when you leave. Now leave. You are cured. Your disastrous intentions are gone.

The conspirators left the premises.

RASPUTIN AND THE ROYAL FAMILY

In St. Petersburg, rumors were actively spreading that Rasputin was in an intimate relationship with the queen and was also behaving indecently towards the royal daughters. These rumors had not the slightest basis.

Rasputin never came to the palace when the Tsar was not there. I don’t know whether he did this on his own initiative or on the royal instructions. Rasputin occasionally met with the Tsarina in her infirmary, but always in the presence of his retinue.

Also, there is not a word of truth in the rumors about the royal daughters. Rasputin was always attentive and benevolent towards the royal children. He was against the marriage of one of the royal daughters to Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, warning her and even advising her not to shake hands with him, since he suffered from a disease that could be contracted by shaking hands. If a handshake is inevitable, then Rasputin advised immediately afterwards to wash with Siberian herbs.

Rasputin's advice and instructions always turned out to be useful, and he enjoyed the full confidence of the royal family. The royal children had in him a faithful friend and adviser. If they displeased him, he disgraced them. His attitude towards them was purely paternal. The entire royal family believed in Rasputin's divine appointment.

He often reproached the queen for her stinginess. He was very dissatisfied that, due to frugality, the royal daughters went poorly dressed. The queen's stinginess at court became a proverb. She tried to save even in small things. It was so hard for her to part with money that she even bought dresses in installments.

Dirty gossip gave me a reason for frequent conversations with Rasputin about his relationship with the Tsarina and her daughters. These malicious gossip worried me greatly, and I considered it unconscionable to spread ugly rumors about the impeccably behaved queen and her daughters. Pure and impeccable girls did not deserve these accusations spread by unscrupulous sensationalists.

Despite their high position, they were defenseless against this kind of rumors.

It was a shame that even the king’s relatives and high dignitaries also spread these rumors. Their behavior can be called all the more base because they knew for certain the absurdity of these rumors. Rasputin was outraged by these rumors, but due to his innocence, he did not take them particularly warmly to heart. I considered the situation in this regard differently and considered it necessary to speak out against these rumors and often reproached Rasputin for his indifference to this issue.

“What do you want from me,” Rasputin shouted at me during such conversations. - What can I do? Am I to blame for being slandered in this way?

“But it’s unacceptable that because of you, ridiculous gossip about the Grand Duchesses is being spread,” I objected. “You must understand that everyone feels sorry for the poor girls and that even the queen is mixed up in this dirt.”

“Get to hell,” Rasputin shouted. - I did not do anything. People must understand that no one pollutes the place where he eats. I serve the king and will never dare to do anything like that. I am incapable of such ingratitude. And what do you think the king would do in such a case?..

Everything happens because you are constantly chasing skirts. Leave these women alone. You can't let a single woman pass you by.

Am I to blame? - Rasputin objected. - I don't rape them. They themselves come to me so that I can work for them with the king. What should I do? I am a healthy man and I cannot resist when a beautiful woman comes to me. Why shouldn't I take them? It is not I who seek them, but they who come to me."

But by doing this you are harming the entire royal family. With this you have outraged all of Russia, the nobility and even abroad. It's time to finish. You are not harming me, but in your own interests, you must end this before it is too late. Otherwise you will be lost.

Rasputin paid little attention to my warnings. When, tormented by particularly bad premonitions, I insisted strenuously, he usually answered:

Just wait. First I must make peace with Wilhelm, and then I will go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

This kind of conversation once also took place in the presence of Vyrubova, the Voskoboinikov sisters, Mrs. von Dehn, Nikitina and others. I saw that they all agreed with me, but not one of them had the courage to openly express their opinion.

NICHOLAS II

Rasputin royal family personality

In essence, I always felt sorry for Nicholas II. Without a doubt, he was a deeply unhappy man. He could not impress anyone, and his personality evoked neither fear nor respect. He was an ordinary person. But justice still requires confirmation that at the first meeting he left a deeply charming impression.

He was simple and easily accessible, and in his presence the king was completely forgotten. In his personal life he was extremely undemanding. But his character was contradictory. He suffered from two shortcomings that ultimately destroyed him: too weak a will and inconstancy. He didn't trust anyone and suspected everyone. Rasputin once conveyed to me the following expression of the Tsar: “For me, there are honest people only up to the age of two. As soon as they reach the age of three, their parents are already glad that they know how to lie. All people are liars.”

Rasputin objected to this, but to no avail.

As a result, no one believed the king. Nicholas II seemed very attentive and helpful during the conversation, but no one could be sure that he would keep his word. It happened very often that the king’s associates had to take care of him fulfilling his given word, since he himself did not care about it. Nikolai lived in the belief that everyone was deceiving him, trying to outwit him, and no one was coming to him with the truth. This was the tragedy of his life. Therefore, it was very difficult to conduct anything with him. In the consciousness that he was hated by his own mother and relatives, he lived in constant fear of the court of the Empress Mother, that is, the so-called old court, whose relationship with the king is still to be discussed. He even considered his life to be in danger. The ghost of a palace coup constantly flashed before his eyes. He often expressed fear that the fate of the Serbian King Alexander, who was killed along with his wife and the corpses were thrown through the window into the street, awaited him. It was clear that the murder of the Serbian king made a special impression on him and filled his soul with trembling for his fate.

The king showed a special interest in spiritualism and everything supernatural. There was a great danger in this. When he heard about some fortune teller, spiritualist or hypnotist, a desire immediately arose in him to get to know him.

This explains that so many swindlers and dubious personalities, who under other conditions would not have dared to dream of a royal court, gained access to the palace with relative ease.

It is enough just to name the name of Philip, who had a very great influence on Nicholas.

Also, Rasputin primarily owed his unparalleled success to the tsar’s penchant for the supernatural. Many people were looking for dark personalities to present to the king as people with supernatural powers. There were hundreds of such individuals and only a few became known to the public.

Among the people who knew how to interest Nicholas II in the supernatural even before the appearance of Rasputin, Countess Nina Sarnekau, the illegitimate daughter of the Prince of Oldenburg, occupied a special place.

Nicholas II constantly arranged spiritualistic seances with her and asked the spirits through her about his fate. I tried once, but without success, to use this tendency for my purposes under the following circumstances. My good friend, the Romanian violinist Gulesko, a favorite of St. Petersburg society, was organizing an evening for some occasion. He invited his friends over for a plate of “Romanian soup.” Among the guests were: the Caucasian prince Nikolai Nisheradze, the Tsar's chamberlain Ivan Nakashidze, a member of the main board of the Red Cross, Prince Ucha-Dadiani, the Tsar's aide-de-camp Prince Alexander Eristov, the Kutaisi governor-general and the father of a famous court lady, Prince Orbeliani and others. After a hefty drink we felt the need to continue elsewhere. We called Countess Sarnekau and were invited by her to her apartment. This is where the real revelry began. We all, including our hostess, were already heavily drunk when suddenly the royal favorite, Prince Alek-Amilakhvari, drove up to the countess’s house in a palace car with His Majesty’s offer to the countess to immediately go to Tsarskoe Selo. Although very reluctant, the countess still did not consider it possible to refuse the royal invitation. At this time we were joking about the countess’s spiritualistic abilities. Suddenly it occurred to me to ask her to plead with the spirits in favor of Russian Jews.

The spirits were supposed to influence the tsar in the sense of abolishing restrictive laws for Jews in Russia.

My idea was supported by Georgian officers. However, unfortunately, the Countess did not dare to engage in political summoning of the spirits. Perhaps she did not want my idea to be implemented at all, since she belonged to the highest society in St. Petersburg, which was always hostile to Jews.

Anti-Semitism among high society in St. Petersburg was generally not as difficult to eradicate as is commonly thought. Nicholas II’s hostile attitude towards Jews is explained by his upbringing...

Rasputin repeatedly said that the Tsar was being incited against the Jews by his relatives and ministers. The Tsar himself told him that during their reports his ministers constantly spoke out against the Jews and thus he was being turned against them. He is constantly bombarded with stories about the so-called “Jewish dominance.” It is not surprising that this persecution had its consequences. The Empress had no idea about the Jewish question at all and only later learned what anti-Semitism was. Jews were always busy at the royal court, and no one saw anything reprehensible in this. It is known that the tsar, immediately after taking command of the army, abolished the inhuman oppression of Jews practiced by Nikolai Nikolaevich.

Rasputin told me that the Tsar did this on his own initiative, and admitted the possibility that the Tsar was quite willing to listen to the requests of the Jews when approached.

The young ladies of the court were generally alien to anti-Semitism, in any case, it was not noticeable among them. Even Vyrubova was unfamiliar with this question, and when talking about it, she only shrugged her shoulders.

Nicholas II was a supporter of strict absolutism, but he was greatly constrained by the court etiquette obligatory for him as a monarch.

He willingly avoided it. It was a great pleasure for him to talk with regulars of St. Petersburg entertainment houses, who did not always behave appropriately with him. I don’t want to give details here, but I can only note that the Tsar really liked the Romanian Gulesko.

The main reason for this was that he composed a song in which he sang about the officers of the royal convoy who forgot to pay the bill in a brothel. The song ended with the refrain: “Give me my three rubles,” and the king laughed a lot about this song.

The Tsar's younger brother, George, who before the birth of Alexei was considered the heir to the throne, died of tuberculosis in Abastumane. The immediate cause of death was overwork that followed a bicycle race, in which his companion Gellstrem, who rose to the rank of captain of the second rank in the Russian navy, persuaded him to participate. He was considered the illegitimate son of Alexander III and one court lady. He looked remarkably like him. The Empress Dowager could never see him without worry. He received a pension from the imperial court and, in addition, repeated financial benefits from the Dowager Empress and Grand Duke Michael. Due to his guilt in the death of Grand Duke George, Empress Maria was very embittered against him, but still received him quite often. He constantly complained about his illegitimate birth, which deprived him of his rights to the royal throne, and led a very frivolous lifestyle.

TWO YARDS

There was an acute, irreconcilable enmity between the court of Tsar Nicholas II and the court of his mother, the consequences of which were fatal. Almost all of the king's relatives were on the side of the old court.

This enmity did not date back to the time of Rasputin, but was much older. Knowing circumstances explained the beginning of this enmity by the reluctance of the old empress to see her eldest son on the throne. It was said that a conspiracy was even hatched in Crimea to elevate the second son of Alexander III, George, his mother’s favorite, to the throne. Some guards regiments were also supposed to participate in this conspiracy. But for some reason the plan of this conspiracy went wrong.

It was no secret that all of Nicholas’s relatives were against granting the people the right to participate in government. When Nicholas II finally signed the constitution in 1905, everyone was terribly indignant against him. This attitude of his relatives greatly contributed to Nicholas’s wavering policy in subsequent years. This was confirmed to me more than once by Count Witte, the creator of the 1905 constitution, who himself feared the revenge of the old court. Everyone in Tsarskoe Selo knew that, as a result of the promise given to his father, the mother and relatives of Nicholas II demanded unconditional respect for autocracy. They even hinted to him quite openly that otherwise the consequences for him could be very undesirable. These circumstances forced some friends to suggest that the king require a second oath from his relatives.

All the king's supporters, who supported him in the fight against the old court, condemned him for connivance towards his obvious enemies. Rasputin also disagreed with the tsar in this regard. He knew that his close relationship with Nicholas was a dangerous weapon in the hands of his enemies, and he was sure that the Tsar’s relatives hated him no less than the Tsar himself. This made Rasputin the worst enemy of the old court and all the royal relatives. At every opportunity he set the tsar against the great dukes, but Nicholas did not dare to take serious measures against his relatives. He was afraid of them and tried to resolve all misunderstandings and quarrels peacefully. Rasputin did not hide his dissatisfaction and often reproached the Tsar for this.

Why don't you act as a king should act? You are the king. If I were a king, I would show how a king should act and how it is done. Nobody thinks about you, nobody needs you. Everyone is only trying to intimidate you. Your relatives will kill you. You don’t know how to attract people to you. Everyone is at enmity with you, but you just remain silent...

This is roughly what Rasputin said to the Tsar. He wanted to force him to resist. But the king could not decide to fight his enemies. If someone from the royal family was too guilty, he imposed penalties, but they were so insignificant that everyone was amazed at his gentleness. His weakness is best characterized by his behavior after the murder of Rasputin: he did not even dare to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nikolai also did not have confidence in his personal convoy. He was always afraid of a conspiracy in favor of the old court. Therefore, he attracted Tatars and Georgians to the convoy. He was always personally guarded by the Caucasian princes. He loved them and was calmer since they were at court.

The idea of involving Caucasians in the palace service came from the Empress-Mother, who assumed that Caucasians would help elevate her son George to the throne. However, Nikolai was ahead of her and attracted the Caucasians to his side.

The king knew the weaknesses of his faithful. He saw that they were not particularly cultured and were prone to revelry and excess. But he was sure that each of them was ready to die for him and would kill anyone on his orders. He was proud of this, and Caucasians stood high in his eyes. They led a wonderful life with him, but often abused his good nature. He often paid off their gambling debts, and their performances even amused him. The Tsar's favorite, Prince Dadiani, surprised the Tsar after some drinking party with the statement that he had pawned his epaulettes, which meant that he had pledged his word of honor to pay the gambling debt.

The emperor often turned a blind eye to the tricks of his favorites.

It happened that the convoy officers behaved outrageously in various public places, but they were devoted body and soul to their king. Fortunately for General Ruzsky and deputies Shulgin and Guchkov, they were absent when demanding the abdication of the throne. Without a doubt, not one of these gentlemen would have survived. They say that General Ruzsky even threatened the Tsar with a revolver. This could only be allowed by the always drunk palace commandant Voeikov.

I maintained the best friendly relations with all the officers of the royal convoy.

One day I received an invitation from the convoy officers on duty to appear in their duty room, where a card game was to take place. I followed the invitation and we played Macau. Suddenly the king unexpectedly appeared in a night suit. At first he was dissatisfied and scolded us for playing cards, but then he gave us each ten rubles in new two-kopeck pieces and sat down at the card table himself.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BIRTH OF THE HEIR TO THE THRONE

The story told to me about the birth of the heir is so fantastic that it is really difficult to believe it. But I heard it from people who deserve absolute trust.

It is known that in the first years of marriage, only daughters were born to the queen. This was the reason for much ridicule. In the end, the royal couple themselves almost ceased to believe in the possibility of having a son. The tsar attributed the blame to himself for the fact that only girls were born to his wife, and this idea was probably inspired to the tsar by some soothsayer. Therefore, he allegedly came to the incredible decision to temporarily renounce the rights of a husband and leave his wife to another man. The hope that the birth of an heir would interfere with the plans of his relatives to overthrow him from the throne could be decisive in this matter.

The queen's choice fell on the commander of the Uhlan regiment named after her, General Orlov, a very handsome man and, moreover, a widower. As they claimed, the queen, with the consent of her husband, entered into an intimate relationship with Orlov. The goal of this relationship was achieved, and the queen gave birth to a son, who received the name Alexei at baptism.

But during this time, as it was reported, the queen developed a strong love for her forced lover. The father of her son, to whom she became attached with all the strength of her maternal heart, also won her heart as a woman.

But Nicholas II was not prepared for such an outcome of this strange method of obtaining an heir.

The birth was very difficult and surgery was required as the baby was in an abnormal position. Since the queen was very dissatisfied with her obstetrician, Professor Ott, the queen’s physician, Timofeev, who was not a women’s doctor, was also invited to a consultation. He informed the king about the danger of the situation and asked for his instructions on who to save in case of emergency, the mother or the child.

The king replied: “If it is a boy, then save the child and sacrifice the mother.” But thanks to the operation, both mother and child were saved. However, the operation was not performed successfully and therefore the queen ceased to be a woman. That in extreme cases they would have sacrificed her during childbirth became known to the queen and made a depressing impression on her. Her relationship with Orlov continued. An open scandal was brewing, and the tsar decided to send Orlov to Egypt. Before leaving, he invited him to dinner. What happened at this dinner between the Tsar and Orlov, I could not find out. But they told me that after dinner Orlov was carried out of the palace in an unconscious state. After this, he was hastily sent to North Africa, but before reaching it he died on the way. His body was taken back to Tsarskoe Selo and buried there with great pomp. The queen was sure of the tsar’s guilt in Orlov’s death and could never forget it.

The queen's suffering was too much for her, and for a long time after this she remained alien to her husband. Then, although good relations were gradually restored between them, still at times the queen did not speak to her husband.

On such days, they sent letters to each other through their close associates. Adjutant Sablin, the commandant of the royal yacht "Standard", was a conciliator in such cases, and the Tsar and Tsarina after that left the impression of internally connected people. She had a very strong influence on him. But who hasn't?

After Orlov’s tragic death, the queen visited his grave for a whole year, decorating it with magnificent flowers. At the grave she cried and prayed a lot. The king did not interfere with her.

Since then, she often suffered from severe hysterical attacks.

ATTEMPT ON THE HEIR.

One cannot pass over in silence the terrible incident that occurred in Tsarskoe Selo, which served as the starting point for further complications. In this regard, one cannot help but recall the illness of the heir, the oddities of the queen and other painful phenomena, which must include the story of Rasputin, a fascination with various spiritualistic personalities and interest in persons with supernatural abilities. It is possible that the painful tension that reigned at court had other reasons, but, in any case, the incident, which will be discussed later, played a large role. I know the details of the terrible event from primary sources. The Russian public, as far as I know, knew nothing about this. I don't want to blame anyone and therefore I won't give all the details. But the correctness of my information was also confirmed to me by Rasputin, before whom there were no secrets at the royal court.

Many of the readers have probably seen a photograph of the heir, in which he is depicted in the arms of his uncle, a tall sailor. At one time they said that the heir fell on the imperial yacht "Standart" and injured his leg in the fall. Soon after this, newspapers reported that the captain of the Shtandart, Rear Admiral Chagin (Sablin's predecessor), committed suicide with a rifle shot. Chagin's suicide was associated with an accident that happened to the heir. They said that Admiral Chagin was forced to commit suicide because an accident happened to the heir on the ship he commanded.

Still, this reason is not sufficient for suicide. According to my information, there was no accident at all with the heir, and the boy became the victim of an assassination attempt on him in Tsarskoe Selo. I was told that the Tsar's relatives turned to Admiral Chagin with a request to recommend two sailors for service in Tsarskoye Selo. They were supposed to go there as laborers. At court, a procedure was established according to which only people who had previously worked in one of the palaces or famous houses were accepted to perform even the simplest jobs... This was a good method for selecting reliable personnel.

Both sailors recommended by Chagin were first used for gardening work at the Anichkov Palace. In Tsarskoe Selo they were also appointed garden workers. No one could even imagine that both sailors had the task of killing the prince.

One day the boy was playing in the presence of a valet in the palace garden, where both sailors were busy trimming bushes. One of them rushed with a large knife at little Alexei and wounded him in the leg. The prince screamed. The sailor ran. A nearby valet caught up with the sailor and strangled him right there.

The second sailor was also caught and, by order of the tsar, hanged without trial.

It was established that both sailors ended up in Tsarskoye Selo on the recommendation of Chagin. This incident shocked Chagin so much that he committed suicide, since the thought of being suspected of participating in the assassination attempt on the heir was unbearable for him. He filled the rifle barrel with water and shot himself in the mouth. His head was literally blown to pieces. Chagin left a letter to the emperor, in which he outlined the entire history of this case.

After the assassination attempt, the royal couple experienced a terrible time. Alexei's situation was very dangerous, and he recovered very slowly. After this, the parents feared for the life of their son. They were afraid of new assassination attempts by their relatives and did not dare trust him to anyone. His mother almost never left him alone. Her maternal love was becoming painful. The king was also greatly shocked and could not find a way out. This explains much of his strange actions.

The entire reign of Nicholas II was filled with events suitable for a sensational novel. In this respect he surpassed all his predecessors. In many ways he himself is to blame, and much lies on his conscience.

A huge tangle of bloody events and crimes was woven with his participation, and much of it awaits explanation. I must leave this task to the future historian, and I only want to limit myself to conveying my impressions and observations of the last decade before the revolution. It is very difficult to separate facts from the legends surrounding them. This is also the case with the history of the birth of an heir.

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Brief biography of Rasputin

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was born on January 21, 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province. He grew up in a simple family and saw with his own eyes all the hardships and sorrows of peasant life.

His mother's name was Anna Vasilyevna, and his father's name was Efim Yakovlevich - he worked as a coachman.

Childhood and youth

Rasputin’s biography was marked from birth, because little Grisha was his parents’ only child who managed to survive. Before him, three children were born into the Rasputin family, but they all died in infancy.

Gregory led a rather secluded life and had little contact with his peers. The reason for this was poor health, because of which he was teased and avoided communicating with him.

While still a child, Rasputin began to show a keen interest in religion, which would accompany him throughout his biography.

From early childhood he liked to be close to his father and help him with housework.

Since there was no school in the village in which Rasputin grew up, Grisha did not receive any education, however, like other children.

One day, at the age of 14, he became so ill that he was close to death. But suddenly, in some miraculous way, his health improved and he completely recovered.

It seemed to the boy that he owed his healing to the Mother of God. It was from this moment in his biography that the young man began to study the Holy Scriptures and memorize prayers in various ways.

Pilgrimage

Soon the teenager discovered that he had a prophetic gift, which in the future would make him famous and radically influence both his own life and, in many ways, the life of the Russian Empire.

Upon turning 18 years old, Grigory Rasputin decides to make a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Monastery. Then he, without stopping, continues his wanderings, as a result of which he visits Mount Athos in Greece, and.

During this period of his biography, Rasputin met various monks and representatives of the clergy.

The Royal Family and Rasputin

The life of Grigory Rasputin changed radically when, at the age of 35, he visited.

At first he experienced serious financial difficulties. But since during his wanderings he managed to meet various spiritual figures, Gregory was provided with support through the church.

Thus, Bishop Sergius not only helped him financially, but also introduced him to Archbishop Feofan, who was the confessor of the royal family. At that point in time, many had already heard about the insightful gift of an unusual wanderer named Gregory.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was going through some hard times. In the state, peasant strikes occurred in one place after another, accompanied by attempts to overthrow the current government.

Added to all this was the Russo-Japanese War, which ended, which became possible thanks to special diplomatic qualities.

It was during this period that Rasputin met and made a strong impression on him. This event becomes a turning point in the biography of Grigory Rasputin.

Soon the emperor himself was looking for an opportunity to talk with the wanderer on various topics. When Grigory Efimovich met Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, he endeared her to himself even more than her royal husband.

It is worth noting that such a close relationship with the royal family was also explained by the fact that Rasputin participated in the treatment of their son Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia.

The doctors could not do anything to help the unfortunate boy, but the old man somehow miraculously managed to treat him and have a beneficial effect on him. Because of this, the empress idolized and defended her “savior” in every possible way, considering him a man sent from above.

This is not surprising, because how else can a mother react to a situation when her only son is severely suffering from attacks of illness, and the doctors cannot do anything. As soon as the wondrous old man took the sick Alexei in his arms, he immediately calmed down.

The Royal Family and Rasputin

According to historians and biographers of the tsar, Nicholas 2 repeatedly consulted with Rasputin on various political issues. Many government officials knew about this, and therefore Rasputin was simply hated.

After all, not a single minister or adviser could influence the emperor’s opinion the way an illiterate man who came from the outback could do.

Thus, Grigory Rasputin took part in all state affairs. It is also worth noting that during this period of his biography he did everything possible to prevent Russia from being drawn into the First World War.

As a result of this, he made himself many powerful enemies from among the officials and nobility.

Conspiracy and murder of Rasputin

So, a conspiracy was drawn up against Rasputin. Initially, they wanted to politically destroy him through various accusations.

He was accused of endless drunkenness, dissolute behavior, magic and other sins. However, the imperial couple did not take this information seriously and continued to trust him completely.

When this idea was unsuccessful, they decided to literally destroy it. The conspiracy against Rasputin involved Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr. and Vladimir Purishkevich, who held the post of state councilor.

The first unsuccessful assassination attempt was made by Khionia Guseva. The woman pierced Rasputin’s stomach with a knife, but he still survived, although the wound was really serious.

At that moment, when he was lying in the hospital, the emperor decided to participate in the military conflict. However, Nicholas 2 still completely trusted “his friend” and consulted with him on the correctness of certain actions. This aroused hatred even more among the king's opponents.

Every day the situation became tense, and a group of conspirators decided to kill Grigory Rasputin at any cost. On December 29, 1916, they invited him to the palace of Prince Yusupov, under the pretext of meeting a beauty who was looking for a meeting with him.

The elder was led into the basement, assured that the lady herself would now join them. Rasputin, not suspecting anything, calmly went downstairs. There he saw a table laid with delicious treats and his favorite wine - Madeira.

While waiting, he was offered to try cakes that had been previously poisoned with potassium cyanide. However, after he ate them, for some unknown reason the poison had no effect.

This brought supernatural horror to the conspirators. Time was extremely limited, so after some deliberation they decided to shoot Rasputin with a pistol.

He was shot several times in the back, but this time he did not die, and was even able to run out into the street. There he was shot several more times, after which the killers began beating and kicking him.

The victim's body was then wrapped in a carpet and thrown into the river. Below you can see Rasputin's body recovered from the river.

An interesting fact is that medical examination proved that even being in icy water, after poisoned cakes and many point-blank shots, Rasputin was still alive for several hours.

Personal life of Rasputin

The personal life of Grigory Rasputin, like, in fact, his entire biography, is shrouded in many secrets. What is known for certain is that his wife was a certain Praskovya Dubrovina, who bore him daughters Matryona and Varvara, as well as a son, Dmitry.

Rasputin with his children

In the 30s of the 20th century, the Soviet authorities arrested them and sent them to special settlements in the North. Their further fate is unknown, except for Matryona, who in the future managed to escape to.

Predictions of Grigory Rasputin

At the end of his life, Rasputin made several predictions about the fate of Emperor Nicholas II and the future of Russia. In them, he prophesied that Russia would face several revolutions and that the emperor and his entire family would be killed.

In addition to this, the elder foresaw the creation of the Soviet Union and its subsequent collapse. Rasputin also predicted Russia's victory over Germany in the great war and its transformation into a powerful state.

He also spoke about our days. For example, Rasputin argued that the beginning of the 21st century would be accompanied by terrorism, which would begin to flourish in the West.

He also prophesied that in the future, Islamic fundamentalism, known today as Wahhabism, would be formed.

Photo of Rasputin

The widow of Grigory Rasputin Paraskeva Feodorovna with her son Dmitry and his wife. The housekeeper is standing behind.
Accurate recreation of the murder site of Grigory Rasputin
Rasputin's killers (from left to right): Dmitry Romanov, Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich

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peasant of the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province; gained worldwide fame due to the fact that he was a friend of the family of Russian Emperor Nicholas II

Grigory Rasputin

short biography

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (New; January 21, 1869 - December 30, 1916) - peasant of the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province. He gained worldwide fame due to the fact that he was a friend of the family of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. In the 1910s, in certain circles of St. Petersburg society he had a reputation as a “royal friend,” “elder,” seer and healer. The negative image of Rasputin was used in revolutionary, and later Soviet, propaganda. Until now, there are numerous disputes surrounding the personality of Rasputin and his influence on the fate of the Russian Empire.

Ancestors and etymology of the surname

The ancestor of the Rasputin family was “Izosim Fedorov’s son.” The census book of the peasants of the village of Pokrovsky for 1662 says that he and his wife and three sons - Semyon, Nason and Yevsey - came to Pokrovskaya Sloboda twenty years earlier from the Yarensky district and “set up arable land.” Nason's son later received the nickname "Rosputa". From him came all the Rosputins, who became Rasputins at the beginning of the 19th century. According to the yard census of 1858, there were more than thirty peasants in Pokrovskoye who bore the surname “Rasputins,” including Efim, Gregory’s father. The surname comes from the words “crossroads”, “thaw”, “crossroads”.

Birth

Born on January 9 (21), 1869 in the village of Pokrovsky, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province, in the family of coachman Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin (1841-1916) and Anna Vasilievna (1839-1906; nee Parshukova). In the metric book of the Slobodo-Pokrovskaya Mother of God Church of the Tyumen district of the Tobolsk province, in part one “About those born,” there is a birth record on January 9, 1869 and an explanation: “Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin and his wife Anna Vasilievna of the Orthodox religion had a son, Gregory.” He was baptized on January 10. The godfathers (godparents) were uncle Matfei Yakovlevich Rasputin and the girl Agafya Ivanovna Alemasova. The baby received his name according to the existing tradition of naming the child after the saint on whose day he was born or baptized. The day of the baptism of Grigory Rasputin is January 10, the day of celebration of the memory of St. Gregory of Nyssa.

Rasputin himself in his mature years reported conflicting information about his date of birth. According to biographers, he was inclined to exaggerate his true age in order to better fit the image of an “old man.” Sources give various dates for Rasputin's birth between 1864 and 1872. Thus, historian K.F. Shatsillo, in an article about Rasputin in the TSB, reports that he was born in 1864-1865.

Beginning of life

In his youth, Rasputin was sick a lot. After a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Monastery, he turned to religion. In 1893, Rasputin traveled to the holy places of Russia, visited Mount Athos in Greece, and then Jerusalem. I met and made contacts with many representatives of the clergy, monks, and wanderers.

In 1890 he married Praskovya Fedorovna Dubrovina, a fellow pilgrim-peasant, who bore him three children: Matryona, Varvara and Dimitri.

In 1900 he set off on a new journey to Kyiv. On the way back, he lived in Kazan for quite a long time, where he met Father Mikhail, who was associated with the Kazan Theological Academy.

Petersburg period

In 1903, he came to St. Petersburg to visit the rector of the Theological Academy, Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky). At the same time, the inspector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archimandrite Feofan (Bistrov), met Rasputin, introducing him also to Bishop Hermogenes (Dolganov).

By 1904, Rasputin had gained the fame of an “old man,” a “fool,” and a “man of God” among a part of high society society, which “secured the position of a ‘saint’ in the eyes of the St. Petersburg world,” or at least he was considered a “great ascetic.” Father Feofan told about the “wanderer” to the daughters of the Montenegrin prince (later king) Nikolai Njegosh - Militsa and Anastasia. The sisters told the empress about the new religious celebrity. Several years passed before he began to clearly stand out among the crowd of “God’s men.”

On November 1 (Tuesday) 1905, Rasputin’s first personal meeting with the emperor took place. This event was honored with an entry in the diary of Nicholas II:

At 4 o'clock we went to Sergievka. We drank tea with Militsa and Stana. We met the man of God - Gregory from Tobolsk province.
From the diary of Nicholas II

Rasputin gained influence on the imperial family and, above all, on Alexandra Feodorovna by helping her son, heir to the throne Alexei, fight hemophilia, a disease against which medicine was powerless.

In December 1906, Rasputin submitted a petition to the highest name to change his surname to Rasputin-Novykh, citing the fact that many of his fellow villagers have the same last name, which could lead to misunderstandings. The request was granted.

Rasputin and the Orthodox Church

Later life writers of Rasputin (O. A. Platonov, A. N. Bokhanov) tend to see some broader political meaning in the official investigations conducted by the church authorities in connection with Rasputin’s activities.

The first charge of "Khlysty", 1903

In 1903, his first persecution by the church begins: the Tobolsk Consistory receives a report from the local priest Pyotr Ostroumov that Rasputin behaves strangely with women who come to him “from St. Petersburg itself,” about their “passions from which he delivers them... in the bathhouse,” that in his youth Rasputin “from his life in the factories of the Perm province brought acquaintance with the teachings of the Khlyst heresy.” E. S. Radzinsky notes that an investigator was sent to Pokrovskoye, but he did not find anything discrediting, and the case was archived.

The first case of Rasputin’s “Khlysty”, 1907

On September 6, 1907, based on a denunciation from 1903, the Tobolsk Consistory opened a case against Rasputin, who was accused of spreading false teachings similar to Khlyst’s and forming a society of followers of his false teachings.

Elder Macarius, Bishop Theophan and G. E. Rasputin. Monastic photo studio. 1909

The initial investigation was carried out by priest Nikodim Glukhovetsky. Based on the collected facts, Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, a member of the Tobolsk Consistory, prepared a report to Bishop Anthony with the attachment of a review of the case under consideration by sect specialist D. M. Berezkin, inspector of the Tobolsk Theological Seminary.

D. M. Berezkin, in a review of the conduct of the case, noted that the investigation was carried out by “persons with little knowledge of Khlystyism,” that only Rasputin’s two-story residential house was searched, although it is known that the place where the zeal takes place “is never placed in residential premises ... and always takes place in the backyard - in bathhouses, in sheds, in cellars... and even in dungeons... The paintings and icons found in the house are not described, yet they usually contain the solution to the heresy...". After which Bishop Anthony of Tobolsk decided to conduct a further investigation into the case, entrusting it to an experienced anti-sectarian missionary.

As a result, the case “fell apart” and was approved as completed by Anthony (Karzhavin) on May 7, 1908.

Subsequently, the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko, who took the file from the Synod, said that it soon disappeared, but, according to E. Radzinsky, “The Case of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory on the Khlystism of Grigory Rasputin” was eventually found in the Tyumen archive.

The first “Case of Khlysty,” despite the fact that it exonerates Rasputin, causes an ambiguous assessment among researchers.

According to E. Radzinsky, the unspoken initiator of the case was Princess Militsa of Montenegro, who, thanks to her power at court, had strong connections in the Synod, and the initiator of the hasty closure of the case due to pressure “from above” was one of Rasputin’s St. Petersburg fans, General Olga Lokhtina. The same fact of Lokhtina’s patronage as a scientific discovery of Radzinsky is cited by I. V. Smyslov. Radzinsky associates the relationship between princesses Militsa and Anastasia with the Tsarina that soon deteriorated precisely with Militsa’s attempt to initiate this case (quote: “... they were together indignant at the “black women” who dared to organize a shameful investigation against the “man of God”).

O. A. Platonov, seeking to prove the falsehood of the charges against Rasputin, believes that the case appeared “out of nowhere,” and the case was “organized” by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (husband of Anastasia of Chernogorsk), who before Rasputin occupied the place of the royal family’s closest friend and adviser. O. A. Platonov especially highlights the prince’s affiliation with Freemasonry. A. N. Varlamov does not agree with Platonov’s version of Nikolai Nikolaevich’s intervention, not seeing a motive for him.

According to A. A. Amalrik, Rasputin was saved in this matter by his friends Archimandrite Feofan (Bistrov), Bishop Hermogenes (Dolganev) and Tsar Nicholas II, who ordered to “hush up” the matter.

Historian A. N. Bokhanov claims that the “Rasputin case” is one of the first cases of “black PR” not only in Russia, but also in world history. The Rasputin theme is “the clearest indicator of the most severe spiritual and psychological split in the country, a split that became the detonator of the revolutionary explosion of 1917.”

O. A. Platonov in his book provides in detail the contents of this case, considering a number of testimonies against Rasputin hostile and/or fabricated: surveys of village residents (priests, peasants), surveys of St. Petersburg women who, after 1905, began to visit Pokrovskoye. A. N. Varlamov nevertheless considers these testimonies to be quite reliable, and analyzes them in the corresponding chapter of his book. A. N. Varlamov identifies three charges against Rasputin in the case:

Rasputin acted as an impostor doctor and was engaged in healing human souls without a diploma; he himself did not want to become a monk (“He said that he did not like monastic life, that monks do not observe morality and that it is better to be saved in the world,” Matryona testified at the investigation), but he also dared others; as a result of which two Dubrovina girls died, who, according to fellow villagers, died due to “Grigory’s bullying” (according to Rasputin’s testimony, they died from consumption);
Rasputin’s craving for kissing women, in particular, the episode of the forced kiss of 28-year-old prosphora Evdokia Korneeva, about which the investigation arranged a confrontation between Rasputin and Korneeva; “the accused denied this testimony partly completely, and partly making a forgettable excuse (“6 years ago”)”;
testimony of the priest of the Church of the Intercession, Father Fyodor Chemagin: “I went (by chance) to the accused and saw how the latter returned wet from the bathhouse, and after him all the women who lived with him came from there - also wet and steamy. The accused confessed, in private conversations, to the witness about his weakness to caress and kiss the “ladies,” admitted that he was with them in the bathhouse, that he stood in the church absent-mindedly.” Rasputin “objected that he went to the bathhouse long before the women, and, having become very angry, lay in the dressing room, and came out really steamy - shortly before the women (arrived there).”

The appendix to the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly (Poyarkov) at the bishops’ council, held in the fall of 2004, states the following: “ The case of G. Rasputin being accused of Khlysty, stored in the Tobolsk branch of the State Archive of the Tyumen Region, has not been thoroughly investigated, although lengthy excerpts from it are given in the book by O. A. Platonov. In an effort to “rehabilitate” G. Rasputin, O. A. Platonov, who, by the way, is not a specialist in the history of Russian sectarianism, characterizes this case as “fabricated.” Meanwhile, even the extracts he cited, including the testimony of the priests of the Pokrovskaya settlement, indicate that the question of G. Rasputin’s closeness to sectarianism is much more complicated than it seems to the author, and in any case still requires a special and competent analysis».

Covert police surveillance, Jerusalem - 1911

In 1909, the police were going to expel Rasputin from St. Petersburg, but Rasputin was ahead of them and he himself went home to the village of Pokrovskoye for some time.

In 1910, his daughters moved to St. Petersburg to live with Rasputin, whom he arranged to study at the gymnasium. At the direction of Prime Minister Stolypin, Rasputin was placed under surveillance for several days.

At the beginning of 1911, Bishop Theophan suggested that the Holy Synod officially express displeasure to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in connection with Rasputin’s behavior, and a member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky), reported to Nicholas II about the negative influence of Rasputin.

On December 16, 1911, Rasputin had a clash with Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Bishop Hermogenes, acting in alliance with Hieromonk Iliodor (Trufanov), invited Rasputin to his courtyard; on Vasilievsky Island, in the presence of Iliodor, he “convicted” him, striking him several times with a cross. An argument ensued between them, and then a fight.

In 1911, Rasputin voluntarily left the capital and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

By order of the Minister of Internal Affairs Makarov on January 23, 1912, Rasputin was again placed under surveillance, which continued until his death.

The second case of Rasputin's "Khlysty" in 1912

In January 1912, the Duma announced its attitude towards Rasputin, and in February 1912, Nicholas II ordered V.K. Sabler to resume the case of the Holy Synod on Rasputin’s “Khlystism” and hand over Rodzianko for the report, “and the palace commandant Dedyulin and handed over to him The case of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory, which contained the beginning of Investigative Proceedings regarding the accusation of Rasputin of belonging to the Khlyst sect.” On February 26, 1912, at an audience, Rodzianko suggested that the tsar expel the peasant forever. Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) openly wrote that Rasputin is a whip and is participating in zeal.

The new (who replaced Eusebius (Grozdov)) Tobolsk Bishop Alexy (Molchanov) personally took up this case, studied the materials, requested information from the clergy of the Church of the Intercession, and repeatedly talked with Rasputin himself. Based on the results of this new investigation, the conclusion of the Tobolsk Church was prepared and approved on November 29, 1912 spiritual consistory, sent to many high-ranking officials and some deputies of the State Duma. In conclusion, Rasputin-Novy was called “a Christian, a spiritually minded person who seeks the truth of Christ.” results of a new investigation.

Rasputin’s opponents believe that Bishop Alexy “helped” him in this way for selfish purposes: the disgraced bishop, exiled to Tobolsk from the Pskov See as a result of the discovery of a sectarian St. John’s monastery in the Pskov province, stayed at the Tobolsk See only until October 1913, that is, only a year and a half, after which he was appointed Exarch of Georgia and elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Kartalin and Kakheti with the title of member of the Holy Synod. This is seen as the influence of Rasputin.

However, researchers believe that the rise of Bishop Alexy in 1913 took place only thanks to his devotion to the reigning house, which is especially visible from his sermon delivered on the occasion of the 1905 manifesto. Moreover, the period in which Bishop Alexy was appointed Exarch of Georgia was a period of revolutionary ferment in Georgia.

According to Archbishop Anthony Karzhavin, it should also be noted that Rasputin’s opponents often forget about another exaltation: Bishop of Tobolsk Anthony (Karzhavin), who brought the first case of “Khlysty” against Rasputin, was moved in 1910 from cold Siberia to the Tver See and to Easter was elevated to the rank of archbishop. But, according to Karzhavin, they remember that this translation took place precisely because the first case was sent to the archives of the Synod.

Prophecies, writings and correspondence of Rasputin

During his lifetime, Rasputin published two books:

Rasputin, G. E. Life of an Experienced Wanderer. - May 1907.
G. E. Rasputin. My thoughts and reflections. - Petrograd, 1915.

In his prophecies, Rasputin speaks of “God’s punishment,” “bitter water,” “tears of the sun,” “poisonous rains” “until the end of our century.” Deserts will advance, and the earth will be inhabited by monsters that will not be people or animals. Thanks to “human alchemy”, flying frogs, kite butterflies, crawling bees, huge mice and equally huge ants will appear, as well as the monster “kobaka”. Two princes from the West and the East will challenge the right to world domination. They will have a battle in the land of four demons, but the western prince Grayug will defeat his eastern enemy Blizzard, but he himself will fall. After these misfortunes, people will again turn to God and enter “earthly paradise.”

The most famous was the prediction of the death of the Imperial House: “As long as I live, the dynasty will live.”

Some authors believe that Rasputin is mentioned in Alexandra Feodorovna’s letters to Nicholas II. In the letters themselves, Rasputin’s surname is not mentioned, but some authors believe that Rasputin in the letters is designated by the words “Friend”, or “He” in capital letters, although this has no documentary evidence. The letters were published in the USSR by 1927, and in the Berlin publishing house “Slovo” in 1922. The correspondence was preserved in the State Archive of the Russian Federation - Novoromanovsky Archive.

Attitude to war

In 1912, Rasputin dissuaded the emperor from intervening in the Balkan War, which delayed the start of the First World War by 2 years. In 1914, he repeatedly spoke out against Russia's entry into the war, believing that it would only bring suffering to the peasants. In 1915, anticipating the February Revolution, Rasputin demanded an improvement in the capital's supply of bread. In 1916, Rasputin spoke out strongly in favor of Russia's withdrawal from the war, concluding peace with Germany, renouncing rights to Poland and the Baltic states, and also against the Russian-British alliance.

Anti-Rasputin campaign in the press

In 1910, the writer Mikhail Novoselov published several critical articles about Rasputin in Moskovskie Vedomosti (No. 49 - “Spiritual guest performer Grigory Rasputin”, No. 72 - “Something else about Grigory Rasputin”).

In 1912, Novoselov published in his publishing house the brochure “Grigory Rasputin and Mystical Debauchery,” which accused Rasputin of being a Khlysty and criticized the highest church hierarchy. The brochure was banned and confiscated from the printing house. The newspaper "Voice of Moscow" was fined for publishing excerpts from it. After this, the State Duma followed up with a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the legality of punishing the editors of Voice of Moscow and Novoye Vremya. Also in 1912, Rasputin’s acquaintance, former hieromonk Iliodor, began distributing several scandalous letters from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses to Rasputin.

Copies printed on a hectograph circulated around St. Petersburg. Most researchers consider these letters to be forgeries. Later, Iliodor, on the advice of Gorky, wrote a libelous book “Holy Devil” about Rasputin, which was published in 1917 during the revolution.

In 1913-1914, the Masonic Supreme Council of the All-Russian People's Republic attempted to launch a propaganda campaign regarding the role of Rasputin at court. Somewhat later, the Council made an attempt to publish a brochure directed against Rasputin, and when this attempt failed (the brochure was delayed by censorship), the Council took steps to distribute this brochure in a typed copy.

Assassination attempt by Khionia Guseva

In 1914, an anti-Rasputin conspiracy matured, headed by Nikolai Nikolaevich and Rodzianko.

On June 29 (July 12), 1914, an attempt was made on Rasputin in the village of Pokrovskoye. He was stabbed in the stomach and seriously wounded by Khionia Guseva, who came from Tsaritsyn. Rasputin testified that he suspected Iliodor of organizing the assassination attempt, but could not provide any evidence of this. On July 3, Rasputin was transported by ship to Tyumen for treatment. Rasputin remained in the Tyumen hospital until August 17, 1914. The investigation into the assassination attempt lasted about a year. Guseva was declared mentally ill in July 1915 and released from criminal liability, being placed in a psychiatric hospital in Tomsk.

Guseva's assassination attempt made international news. Rasputin's condition was reported in newspapers in Europe and the USA; The New York Times made the story front page. In the Russian press, Rasputin's health received more attention than the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Murder

Wax figures of participants in the conspiracy against Grigory Rasputin (from left to right) - State Duma deputy V. M. Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Lieutenant S. M. Sukhotin. Exhibition at the Yusupov Palace on the Moika

Letter to the. K. Dmitry Pavlovich to father V. to Pavel Alexandrovich about his attitude to the murder of Rasputin and the revolution. Isfahan (Persia) April 29, 1917. Finally, the last act of my stay in Petrograd was a completely conscious and thoughtful participation in the murder of Rasputin - as a last attempt to give the Emperor the opportunity to openly change course, without taking responsibility for the removal of this man. (Alix wouldn’t let him do that.)

Rasputin was killed on the night of December 17, 1916 (December 30, new style) in the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. Conspirators: F. F. Yusupov, V. M. Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, British intelligence officer MI6 Oswald Reiner.

Information about the murder is contradictory, it was confused both by the killers themselves and by the pressure on the investigation by the Russian imperial and British authorities. Yusupov changed his testimony several times: in the St. Petersburg police on December 18, 1916, in exile in Crimea in 1917, in a book in 1927, sworn to in 1934 and in 1965. Initially, Purishkevich’s memoirs were published, then Yusupov echoed his version. However, they radically diverged from the testimony of the investigation. Starting from naming the wrong color of the clothes that Rasputin was wearing according to the killers and in which he was found, to how many and where bullets were fired. For example, forensic experts found three wounds, each of which was fatal: to the head, liver and kidney. (According to British researchers who studied the photograph, the shot to the forehead was made from a British Webley 455 revolver.) After a shot in the liver, a person can live no more than 20 minutes and is not capable, as the killers said, of running down the street in half an hour or an hour. There was also no shot to the heart, which the killers unanimously claimed.

Rasputin was first lured into the basement, treated to red wine and a pie poisoned with potassium cyanide. Yusupov went upstairs and, returning, shot him in the back, causing him to fall. The conspirators went outside. Yusupov, who returned to get the cloak, checked the body; suddenly Rasputin woke up and tried to strangle the killer. The conspirators who ran in at that moment began to shoot at Rasputin. As they approached, they were surprised that he was still alive and began to beat him. According to the killers, the poisoned and shot Rasputin came to his senses, got out of the basement and tried to climb over the high wall of the garden, but was caught by the killers, who heard a dog barking. Then he was tied with ropes on his hands and feet (according to Purishkevich, first wrapped in blue cloth), taken by car to a pre-selected place near Kamenny Island and thrown from the bridge into the Neva polynya in such a way that his body ended up under the ice. However, according to the investigation, the discovered corpse was dressed in a fur coat, there was no fabric or ropes.

The investigation into the murder of Rasputin, led by the director of the Police Department A.T. Vasilyev, progressed quite quickly. Already the first interrogations of Rasputin’s family members and servants showed that on the night of the murder, Rasputin went to visit Prince Yusupov. Policeman Vlasyuk, who was on duty on the night of December 16-17 on the street not far from the Yusupov Palace, testified that he heard several shots at night. During a search in the courtyard of the Yusupovs' house, traces of blood were found.

On the afternoon of December 17, passers-by noticed blood stains on the parapet of the Petrovsky Bridge. After exploration by divers of the Neva, Rasputin’s body was discovered in this place. The forensic medical examination was entrusted to the famous professor of the Military Medical Academy D. P. Kosorotov. The original autopsy report has not been preserved; the cause of death can only be speculated.

“During the autopsy, very numerous injuries were found, many of which were inflicted posthumously. The entire right side of the head was crushed and flattened due to the bruise of the corpse when it fell from the bridge. Death resulted from heavy bleeding due to a gunshot wound to the stomach. The shot was fired, in my opinion, almost point-blank, from left to right, through the stomach and liver, with the latter being fragmented in the right half. The bleeding was very profuse. The corpse also had a gunshot wound in the back, in the spinal area, with a crushed right kidney, and another point-blank wound in the forehead, probably of someone who was already dying or had died. The chest organs were intact and were examined superficially, but there were no signs of death by drowning. The lungs were not distended, and there was no water or foamy fluid in the airways. Rasputin was thrown into the water already dead.”
Conclusion of the forensic expert Professor D.N. Kosorotova

No poison was found in Rasputin's stomach. There are explanations that the cyanide in the cakes was neutralized by sugar or high heat during oven cooking. On the other hand, Doctor Stanislav Lazovert, who was supposed to poison the cakes, said in a letter addressed to Prince Yusupov that instead of poison he put a harmless substance.

There are a number of nuances in determining O. Reiner's involvement. At that time, there were two British MI6 intelligence officers serving in St. Petersburg who could have committed the murder: Yusupov’s friend from University College (Oxford) Oswald Rayner and Captain Stephen Alley, who was born in the Yusupov Palace. The former was suspected, and Tsar Nicholas II directly mentioned that the killer was Yusupov's friend from college. In 1919, Rayner was awarded the Order of the British Empire, he destroyed his papers before his death in 1961. Compton's driver's log records that he brought Oswald to Yusupov (and to another officer, Captain John Scale) a week before the assassination, and last time - on the day of the murder. Compton also directly hinted at Rayner, saying that the killer was a lawyer and was born in the same city as him. There is a letter from Alley written to Scale on January 7, 1917, eight days after the assassination: “Although not everything went according to plan, our goal was achieved... Rayner is covering his tracks and will undoubtedly contact you...”.

The investigation lasted two and a half months until the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on March 2, 1917. On this day, Kerensky became Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government. On March 4, 1917, he ordered a hasty termination of the investigation, while investigator A.T. Vasilyev was arrested and transported to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was interrogated by the Extraordinary Commission of Investigation until September, and later emigrated.

Version about the English conspiracy

In 2004, the BBC aired the documentary Who Killed Rasputin?, which brought new attention to the murder investigation. According to the version shown in the film, the “glory” and the plan for this murder belong to Great Britain, the Russian conspirators were only the perpetrators, the control shot to the forehead was fired from the British officers’ Webley 455 revolver.

According to British researchers, Rasputin was killed with the active participation of the British intelligence service Mi-6; the killers confused the investigation in order to hide the British trail. The plot was motivated by British concerns about Rasputin's influence on the Russian Empress and the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany.

The murder of Rasputin, version of Felix Yusupov

Events immediately preceding the murder

At the end of August 1915, it was officially announced that Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was removed from the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, whose duties were assumed by Emperor Nicholas II. A. A. Brusilov wrote in his memoirs that the impression in the troops from this replacement was the most negative and “it never occurred to anyone that the tsar would take upon himself the responsibilities of the supreme commander in chief in this difficult situation at the front. It was common knowledge that Nicholas II understood absolutely nothing about military affairs and that the title he assumed would be only nominal.”

Felix Yusupov claimed in his memoirs that the emperor took command of the army under pressure from Rasputin. Russian society greeted the news with hostility, as the understanding of Rasputin's permissiveness grew. With the departure of the sovereign to Headquarters, taking advantage of the unlimited favor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Rasputin began to regularly visit Tsarskoe Selo. His advice and opinions acquired the force of law. Not a single military decision was made without Rasputin's knowledge. “The queen trusted him blindly, and he solved pressing, and sometimes secret, state issues.”

Felix Yusupov was struck by the events associated with his father, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov. In his memoirs, Felix wrote that on the eve of the war, the administrations of Russian cities and large enterprises, including Moscow, were controlled by the Germans: “German arrogance knew no bounds. German surnames were carried both in the army and at court.” Most of the ministers who received the ministerial portfolio from Rasputin were Germanophiles. In 1915, Felix's father received an appointment from the Tsar to the post of Moscow Governor-General. However, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov was unable to fight the German encirclement: “traitors and spies ruled the roost.” The orders and instructions of the Moscow Governor-General were not carried out. Outraged by the state of affairs, Felix Feliksovich went to Headquarters. He outlined the situation in Moscow - no one had yet dared to openly tell the truth to the sovereign. However, the pro-German party that surrounded the sovereign was too strong: upon returning to Moscow, my father learned that he had been removed from the post of governor general for untimely stopping anti-German pogroms.

Members of the imperial family tried to explain to the sovereign how dangerous Rasputin’s influence was for the dynasty, as well as for Russia as a whole. There was only one answer: “Everything is slander. Saints are always slandered." The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna wrote to her son, begging him to remove Rasputin and prohibit the queen from interfering in state affairs. Nicholas told the queen about this. Alexandra Fedorovna ended relations with people who were “pressuring” the sovereign. Elizaveta Feodorovna, also almost never visiting Tsarskoe, came to talk with her sister. However, all arguments were rejected. According to Felix Yusupov, the German General Staff continuously sent spies into Rasputin’s entourage.

Felix Yusupov claimed that “the tsar was weakening from the narcotic potions with which he was drugged daily at the instigation of Rasputin.” Rasputin received virtually unlimited power: “he appointed and dismissed ministers and generals, pushed around bishops and archbishops...”.

There was no hope left to “open the eyes” of Alexandra Feodorovna and the sovereign. “Without agreement, everyone alone (Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich) came to the same conclusion: Rasputin must be removed, even at the cost of murder.”

Murder

Felix hoped to find “decisive people ready to act” to implement his plan. A narrow circle of people was formed who were ready for decisive action: Lieutenant Sukhotin, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Purishkevich and Doctor Lazovert. After discussing the situation, the conspirators decided that “poison is the surest way to hide the fact of the murder.” Yusupov's house on the Moika River was chosen as the location of the murder:

I was going to receive Rasputin in the semi-basement apartment, which I was decorating for that purpose. Arcades divided the basement hall into two parts. The larger one housed a dining room. In the smaller one, the spiral staircase, which I already wrote about, led to my apartment on the mezzanine. Halfway there was an exit to the courtyard. The dining room, with its low vaulted ceiling, received light from two small sidewalk-level windows overlooking the embankment. The walls and floor of the room were made of gray stone. In order not to arouse suspicion in Rasputin by the appearance of a bare cellar, it was necessary to decorate the room and give it a residential appearance

Felix ordered the butler Grigory Buzhinsky and the valet Ivan to prepare tea for six people by eleven, buy cakes and cookies, and bring wine from the cellar. Felix led all the accomplices into the dining room and for some time those who arrived silently examined the scene of the future murder. Felix took out a box of potassium cyanide and placed it on the table next to the cakes.

Doctor Lazovert put on rubber gloves, took several crystals of poison from it, and ground it into powder. Then he removed the tops of the cakes and sprinkled the filling with enough powder, he said, to kill an elephant. There was silence in the room. We watched his actions excitedly. All that remains is to put the poison in the glasses. We decided to put it in at the last moment so that the poison would not evaporate.

In order to maintain a pleasant mood in Rasputin and not allow him to suspect anything, the killers decided to make everything look like a finished dinner: they moved the chairs away and poured tea into the cups. It was agreed that Dmitry, Sukhotin and Purishkevich would go up to the dress circle and start the gramophone, choosing more cheerful music.

The lazovert, dressed as a driver, started the engine. Felix put on his fur coat and pulled his fur hat down over his eyes, since it was necessary to secretly deliver Rasputin to the house on the Moika. Felix agreed on these actions, explaining to Rasputin that he did not want to “advertise” his relationship with him. We arrived at Rasputin's place after midnight. He was waiting for Felix: “put on a silk shirt embroidered with cornflowers. He girded himself with a crimson cord. The black velvet trousers and boots were brand new. The hair is slicked, the beard is combed with extraordinary care.”

Arriving at the house on the Moika, Rasputin heard American music and voices. Felix explained that these were his wife's guests and would be leaving soon. Felix invited the guest to go into the dining room.

“We went down. Before he could enter, Rasputin took off his fur coat and began to look around with curiosity. The one with the boxes was especially attractive to him. He amused himself like a child, opening and closing doors, looking inside and out.”

Felix tried for the last time to persuade Rasputin to leave St. Petersburg, but was refused. Finally, having talked through “his favorite conversations,” Rasputin asked for tea. Felix poured him a cup and offered him eclairs with potassium cyanide.

I looked in horror. The poison should have taken effect immediately, but, to my amazement, Rasputin continued to talk as if nothing had happened.

Then Felix offered Rasputin poisoned wine.

I stood next to him and watched his every move, expecting that he was about to collapse... But he drank, smacked, savored the wine like a true connoisseur. Nothing changed in his face.

Under the pretext of seeing him off, Yusupov went up to his “wife’s guests.” Felix took the revolver from Dmitry and went down to the basement - aimed at the heart and pulled the trigger. Sukhotin dressed up as an “old man”, wearing his fur coat and hat. Following the developed plan, taking into account the presence of surveillance, Dmitry, Sukhotin and Lazovert were supposed to take the “old man” in Purishkevich’s open car back to his home. Then, in Dmitry’s closed car, return to the Moika, pick up the corpse and deliver it to the Petrovsky Bridge. However, the unexpected happened: with a sharp movement, the “killed” Rasputin jumped to his feet.

He looked creepy. His mouth was foaming. He screamed in a bad voice, waved his arms and rushed at me. His fingers dug into my shoulders, trying to reach my throat. The eyes bulged out of their sockets, blood flowed from the mouth. Rasputin repeated my name quietly and hoarsely.

Purishkevich came running to Yusupov’s call. Rasputin, “wheezing and growling,” quickly moved to the secret exit into the courtyard. Purishkevich rushed after him. Rasputin ran to the middle gate of the courtyard, which was not locked. “A shot rang out... Rasputin swayed and fell into the snow.”

Purishkevich ran up, stood by the body for a few moments, was convinced that this time it was all over, and quickly went to the house.

Dmitry, Sukhotin and Lazovert went to pick up the corpse in a closed car. They wrapped the corpse in canvas, loaded it into a car and drove to Petrovsky Bridge, where they threw the body into the river.

Consequences of the murder

On the evening of January 1, 1917, it became known that Rasputin’s body was discovered in the Malaya Nevka in an ice hole under the Petrovsky Bridge. The body was taken to the Chesme almshouse five miles from St. Petersburg. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna demanded the immediate execution of Rasputin's killers.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, having arrived from Pskov, where the headquarters of the Northern Front was located, told how the news of Raputin’s murder was greeted with wild delight by the troops. “No one doubted that now the sovereign would find honest and loyal people.” However, according to Yusupov: “Rasputin’s poison poisoned the highest spheres of the state for many years and devastated the most honest, most ardent souls. As a result, some did not want to make decisions, while others believed that there was no need to make them.”

At the end of March 1917, Mikhail Rodzianko, Admiral Kolchak and Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich offered Felix to become emperor.

The murder of Rasputin, memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich

According to the published memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, on December 17, 1916 in Kyiv, the adjutant with enthusiasm and joy informed Alexander Mikhailovich that Rasputin was killed in the house of Prince Yusupov, personally by Felix, and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich became his accomplice. Alexander Mikhailovich was the first to inform the Dowager Empress (Maria Feodorovna) about the murder of Rasputin. However, “the thought that her granddaughter’s husband and her nephew had their hands stained with blood caused her great suffering. As an Empress she sympathized, but as a Christian she could not help but be against the shedding of blood, no matter how valiant the motives of the perpetrators.”

It was decided to obtain Nicholas II’s consent to come to St. Petersburg. Members of the Imperial Family asked Alexander Mikhailovich to intercede for Dmitry and Felix before the Emperor. At the meeting, Nikolai hugged the prince, as he knew Alexander Mikhailovich well. Alexander Mikhailovich made a defensive speech. He asked the Emperor not to look at Felix and Dmitry Pavlovich as ordinary murderers, but as patriots. The Emperor, after a pause, said: “You speak very well, but you will agree that no one - be he a Grand Duke or a simple man - has the right to kill.”

The Emperor promised to be merciful in choosing punishments for the two culprits. Dmitry Pavlovich was exiled to the Persian Front at the disposal of General Baratov, and Felix was ordered to go to his Rakitnoye estate near Kursk.

Funeral

Facsimile of the official act of burning the corpse of G. E. Rasputin

Rasputin's funeral service was conducted by Bishop Isidor (Kolokolov), who was well acquainted with him. In his memoirs, A.I. Spiridovich recalls that Isidore did not have the right to perform a funeral mass. Afterwards there were rumors that Metropolitan Pitirim, who was approached about the funeral service, rejected this request. Also in those days, a legend was started, mentioned in the reports of the English embassy, that the wife of Nicholas II was allegedly present at the autopsy and funeral service. At first they wanted to bury the murdered man in his homeland, in the village of Pokrovskoye. But due to the danger of possible unrest in connection with the sending of the body, he was interred in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoe Selo on the territory of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov, which was being built by Anna Vyrubova.

M.V. Rodzianko wrote that during the celebrations there were rumors in the Duma about Rasputin’s return to St. Petersburg. In January 1917, Mikhail Vladimirovich received a paper with many signatures from Tsaritsyn with a message that Rasputin was visiting V.K. Sabler, that the Tsaritsyn people knew about Rasputin’s arrival in the capital.

After the February Revolution, Rasputin's burial place was found, and Kerensky ordered Kornilov to organize the destruction of the body. The coffin with the remains stood in a special carriage for several days, and then Rasputin’s corpse was burned on the night of March 11 in the furnace of the steam boiler of the Polytechnic Institute. An official act on the burning of Rasputin’s corpse was drawn up:

Lesnoye. March 10-11, 1917
We, the undersigned, between 7 and 9 o’clock in the morning, jointly burned the body of the murdered Grigory Rasputin, transported by car by the authorized representative of the temporary committee of the State Duma, Filipp Petrovich Kupchinsky, in the presence of a representative of the Petrograd public mayor, captain of the 16th Uhlan Novoarkhangelsk regiment, Vladimir Pavlovich Kochadeev. The burning itself took place near the high road from Lesnoy to Peskarevka, in the forest in the absolute absence of strangers except us, who laid hands below:
Representative from the Society. Petrogr. Gradon.
Captain of the 16th Ulan Novoarch. P. V. KOCHADEV.,
Authorized Time Com. State Duma KUPCHINSKY.
Students of Petrograd Polytechnic
Institute:
S. BOGACHEV,
R. FISCHER,
N. MOKLOVICH,
M. SHABALIN,
S. LIKHVITSKY,
V. VLADIMIROV.
Round seal: Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, head of security.
Note below: The act was drawn up in my presence and I certify the signatures of those who signed it.
Guard duty officer.
Ensign PARVOV

Three months after Rasputin's death, his grave was desecrated. At the site of the burning two inscriptions were inscribed, one of which is in German: “ Hier ist der Hund begraben” (“A dog is buried here”) and further “The corpse of Rasputin Grigory was burned here on the night of March 10-11, 1917.”

The fate of the Rasputin family

Rasputin's daughter Matryona emigrated to France after the revolution and subsequently moved to the USA. In 1920, Dmitry Grigorievich’s house and entire peasant farm were nationalized. In 1922, his widow Praskovya Fedorovna, son Dmitry and daughter Varvara were deprived of voting rights as “malicious elements.” In the 1930s, all three were arrested by the NKVD, and their trace was lost in the special settlements of the Tyumen North.

Accusations of immorality

Rasputin and his admirers (St. Petersburg, 1914).
Top row (from left to right): A. A. Pistolkors (in profile), A. E. Pistolkors, L. A. Molchanov, N. D. Zhevakhov, E. Kh. Gil, unknown, N. D. Yakhimovich, O. V. Loman, N. D. Loman, A. I. Reshetnikova.
In the second row: S. L. Volynskaya, A. A. Vyrubova, A. G. Gushchina, Yu. A. Den, E. Ya. Rasputin.
In the last row: Z. Timofeeva, M. E. Golovina, M. S. Gil, G. E. Rasputin, O. Kleist, A. N. Laptinskaya (on the floor).

In 1914, Rasputin settled in an apartment at 64 Gorokhovaya Street in St. Petersburg. Various dark rumors quickly began to spread around St. Petersburg about this apartment, for example, that Rasputin turned it into a brothel. Some said that Rasputin maintains a permanent “harem” there, while others say he collects them from time to time. There was a rumor that the apartment on Gorokhovaya was used for witchcraft.

From the memories of witnesses

...One day Aunt Agnes. Fed. Hartmann (mother's sister) asked me if I would like to see Rasputin closer. ……..Having received an address on Pushkinskaya Street, on the appointed day and hour I showed up at the apartment of Maria Alexandrovna Nikitina, my aunt’s friend. Entering the small dining room, I found everyone already assembled. Around 6-7 young interesting ladies were sitting at an oval table set for tea. I knew two of them by sight (they met in the halls of the Winter Palace, where Alexandra Feodorovna organized sewing of linen for the wounded). They were all in the same circle and were animatedly talking to each other in low voices. Having made a general bow in English, I sat down next to the hostess at the samovar and talked with her.
Suddenly there was a sort of general sigh - Ah! I looked up and saw in the doorway, located on the opposite side from where I was entering, a powerful figure - the first impression was a gypsy. The tall, powerful figure was clad in a white Russian shirt with embroidery on the collar and fastener, a twisted belt with tassels, untucked black trousers and Russian boots. But there was nothing Russian about him. Black thick hair, a large black beard, a dark face with predatory nostrils of the nose and some kind of ironic, mocking smile on the lips - the face is certainly impressive, but somehow unpleasant. The first thing that attracted attention was his eyes: black, red-hot, they burned, piercing right through, and his gaze on you was simply felt physically, it was impossible to remain calm. It seems to me that he really had a hypnotic power to subjugate him when he wanted it. ...
Everyone here was familiar to him, vying with each other to please and attract attention. He sat down at the table cheekily, addressed everyone by name and “you,” spoke catchily, sometimes vulgarly and rudely, called them to him, sat them on his knees, felt them, stroked them, patted them on soft places, and everyone “happy” was thrilled with pleasure. ! It was disgusting to look at and it was insulting for the women who were being humiliated, losing both their feminine dignity and family honor. I felt the blood rushing to my face, I wanted to scream, punch, do something. I was sitting almost opposite the “distinguished guest”; he perfectly sensed my condition and, laughing mockingly, each time after the next attack he stubbornly stuck his eyes into me. I was a new object unknown to him. ...
Impudently addressing someone present, he said: “Do you see? Who embroidered the shirt? Sasha! (meaning Empress Alexandra Feodorovna). No decent man would ever reveal the secrets of a woman's feelings. My eyes grew dark from tension, and Rasputin’s gaze unbearably drilled and drilled. I moved closer to the hostess, trying to hide behind the samovar. Maria Alexandrovna looked at me with alarm. ...
“Mashenka,” a voice said, “do you want some jam?” Come to me." Mashenka hurriedly jumps up and hurries to the place of summoning. Rasputin crosses his legs, takes a spoonful of jam and tips it over the toe of his boot. “Lick it,” the voice sounds commanding, she kneels down and, bowing her head, licks the jam... I couldn’t stand it anymore. Squeezing the hostess’s hand, she jumped up and ran out into the hallway. I don’t remember how I put on my hat or how I ran along Nevsky. I came to my senses at the Admiralty, I had to go home to Petrogradskaya. She roared at midnight and asked never to ask me what I saw, and neither with my mother nor with my aunt did I remember this hour, nor did I see Maria Alexandrovna Nikitina. Since then, I could not calmly hear the name of Rasputin and lost all respect for our “secular” ladies. Once, while visiting De Lazari, I answered the phone and heard the voice of this scoundrel. But I immediately said that I know who is talking, and therefore I don’t want to talk...
Grigorova-Rudykovskaya, Tatyana Leonidovna

The Provisional Government conducted a special investigation into the Rasputin case. According to the materials of the investigation of V. M. Rudnev, who was sent by order of Kerensky to the “Extraordinary Investigative Commission to investigate the abuses of former ministers, chief managers and other senior officials” and who was then a comrade prosecutor of the Yekaterinoslav District Court:

... it turned out that Rasputin’s amorous adventures did not go beyond the framework of night orgies with girls of easy virtue and chansonnet singers, and also sometimes with some of his petitioners. As for the proximity to the ladies of high society, in this regard, no positive observational materials were obtained by the investigation.
...In general, Rasputin by nature was a man of broad scope; the doors of his house were always open; the most varied crowd always crowded there, feeding at his expense; In order to create a halo of benefactor around himself according to the word of the Gospel: “the hand of the giver will not fail,” Rasputin, constantly receiving money from petitioners for satisfying their petitions, widely distributed this money to the needy and in general to people of the poor classes, who also turned to him with any requests , not even of a material nature..

Daughter Matryona in her book “Rasputin. Why?" wrote:

...that with all his life, the father never abused his power and ability to influence women in a carnal sense. However, one must understand that this part of the relationship was of particular interest to the father’s ill-wishers. I note that they received some real food for their stories.

From the testimony of Prince M. M. Andronikov to the Extraordinary Investigative Commission:

...Then he would go to the phone and call all kinds of ladies. I had to do bonne mine mauvais jeu - because all these ladies were of extremely dubious character...

French Slavic philologist Pierre Pascal wrote in his memoirs that Alexander Protopopov denied Rasputin’s influence on the minister’s career. However, Protopopov spoke about an act of pederasty in which Metropolitan Pitirim, Prince Andronikov and Rasputin participated.

Rasputin in 1914. Author E. N. Klokacheva

Estimates of Rasputin's influence

Mikhail Taube, who was a fellow minister of public education in 1911-1915, cites the following episode in his memoirs. One day a man came to the ministry with a letter from Rasputin and a request to appoint him as an inspector of public schools in his native province. The minister (Lev Kasso) ordered this petitioner to be lowered from the stairs. According to Taube, this incident proved how exaggerated all the rumors and gossip about Rasputin's behind-the-scenes influence were.

According to the recollections of courtiers, Rasputin was not close to the royal family and generally rarely visited the royal palace. Thus, according to the memoirs of the palace commandant Vladimir Voeikov, the head of the palace police, Colonel Gherardi, when asked how often Rasputin visited the palace, answered: “once a month, and sometimes once every two months.” The memoirs of maid of honor Anna Vyrubova say that Rasputin visited the royal palace no more than 2-3 times a year, and the king received him even less often. Another maid of honor, Sophia Buxhoeveden, recalled:

“I lived in the Alexander Palace from 1913 to 1917, and my room was connected by a corridor with the chambers of the Imperial children. I never saw Rasputin during all this time, although I was constantly in the company of the Grand Duchesses. Monsieur Gilliard, who also lived there for several years, also never saw him.”

During all the time he spent at court, Gilliard recalls his only meeting with Rasputin: “One day, getting ready to go out, I met him in the hallway. I managed to look at him while he was taking off his fur coat. He was a tall man, with a gaunt face, with very sharp gray-blue eyes from under unkempt eyebrows. He had long hair and a big peasant beard.” Nicholas II himself in 1911 told V.N. Kokovtsov about Rasputin that:

...personally, he almost doesn’t know “this little guy” and has seen him briefly, it seems, no more than two or three times, and at that at very long distances.

From the memoirs of the director of the Police Department A.T. Vasiliev (he served in the secret police of St. Petersburg since 1906 and headed the police in 1916-1917, later he led the investigation into the murder of Rasputin):

Many times I had the opportunity to meet with Rasputin and talk with him on various topics.<…>His intelligence and natural ingenuity gave him the opportunity to soberly and insightfully judge a person he had only met once. The queen also knew this, so she sometimes asked his opinion about this or that candidate for a high post in the government. But from such harmless questions to the appointment of ministers by Rasputin is a very big step, and this step neither the Tsar nor the Tsarina, undoubtedly, ever took<…>And yet people believed that everything depended on a piece of paper with a few words written in Rasputin's hand... I never believed this, and although I sometimes investigated these rumors, I never found convincing evidence of their veracity. The incidents I relate are not, as some may think, my sentimental inventions; they are evidenced by reports from agents who worked for years as servants in Rasputin's house and therefore knew his daily life in great detail.<…>Rasputin did not climb into the front rows of the political arena, he was pushed there by other people seeking to shake the foundation of the Russian throne and empire... These harbingers of the revolution sought to make a scarecrow out of Rasputin in order to carry out their plans. Therefore, they spread the most ridiculous rumors, which created the impression that only through the mediation of a Siberian peasant could one achieve high position and influence.

A. Ya. Avrekh believed that in 1915 the Tsarina and Rasputin, having blessed the departure of Nicholas II to Headquarters as supreme commander, carried out something like a “coup d’etat” and appropriated a significant part of the power to themselves: as an example, A. Ya. Avrekh cites their intervention in the affairs of the southwestern front during the offensive organized by A. A. Brusilov. A. Ya. Avrekh believed that the queen significantly influenced the king, and Rasputin influenced the queen.

A. N. Bokhanov, on the contrary, believes that the entire “Rasputiniada” is the fruit of political manipulation, “black PR.” However, as Bokhanov says, it is well known that information pressure only works when certain groups not only have the intentions and capabilities to establish a desired stereotype in the public consciousness, but also society itself is prepared to accept and assimilate it. Therefore, just to say, as is sometimes done, that the widely circulated stories about Rasputin are a complete lie, even if this is really true, means not to clarify the essence: why were the fabrications about him taken on faith? This basic question remains unanswered to this day.

At the same time, the image of Rasputin was widely used in revolutionary and German propaganda. In the last years of the reign of Nicholas II, there were many rumors in the St. Petersburg world about Rasputin and his influence on the government. It was said that he himself absolutely subjugated the Tsar and Tsarina and ruled the country, either Alexandra Feodorovna seized power with the help of Rasputin, or the country was ruled by a “triumvirate” of Rasputin, Anna Vyrubova and the Tsarina.

The publication of reports about Rasputin in print could only be partially limited. By law, articles about the imperial family were subject to preliminary censorship by the head of the office of the Ministry of the Court. Any articles in which the name of Rasputin was mentioned in combination with the names of members of the royal family were prohibited, but articles in which only Rasputin appeared were impossible to prohibit.

On November 1, 1916, at a meeting of the State Duma, P. N. Milyukov made a speech critical of the government and the “court party,” in which the name of Rasputin was mentioned. Miliukov took the information he provided about Rasputin from articles in the German newspapers Berliner Tageblatt dated October 16, 1916 and Neue Freie Press dated June 25, regarding which he himself admitted that some of the information reported there was erroneous. On November 19, 1916, V. M. Purishkevich gave a speech at a meeting of the Duma in which great importance was attached to Rasputin. The image of Rasputin was also used by German propaganda. In March 1916, German Zeppelins scattered a cartoon over the Russian trenches depicting Wilhelm leaning on the German people and Nikolai Romanov leaning on Rasputin's penis.

According to the memoirs of A. A. Golovin, during the First World War, rumors that the empress was Rasputin’s mistress were spread among officers of the Russian army by employees of the opposition Zemstvo-City Union. After the overthrow of Nicholas II, the chairman of Zemgor, Prince Lvov, became the chairman of the Provisional Government.

After the overthrow of Nicholas II, the Provisional Government organized an emergency commission of inquiry, which was supposed to look for crimes of tsarist officials and, among other things, investigated the activities of Rasputin. The commission carried out 88 surveys and interrogated 59 people, prepared “stenographic reports,” the chief editor of which was the poet A. A. Blok, who published his observations and notes in the form of a book entitled “The Last Days of Imperial Power.”

The commission has not finished its work. Some of the interrogation protocols of senior officials were published in the USSR by 1927. From the testimony of A.D. Protopopov to the Extraordinary Investigative Commission on March 21, 1917:

CHAIRMAN. Do you know the importance of Rasputin in the affairs of Tsarskoe Selo under the Tsar? - Protopopov. Rasputin was a close person, and, like a close person, they consulted with him.

Opinions of contemporaries about Rasputin

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia in 1911-1914, Vladimir Kokovtsov, wrote with surprise in his memoirs:

... oddly enough, the question of Rasputin involuntarily became the central issue of the near future and did not leave the scene for almost the entire time of my chairmanship of the Council of Ministers, leading me to resignation a little over two years later.

In my opinion, Rasputin is a typical Siberian varnak, a tramp, smart and trained himself in the well-known manner of a simpleton and a holy fool and plays his role according to a memorized recipe.
In appearance, he lacked only a prisoner's coat and an ace of diamonds on his back.
In terms of habits, this is a person capable of anything. He, of course, does not believe in his antics, but he has developed firmly memorized techniques with which he deceives both those who sincerely believe all his eccentricities, and those who deceive themselves with their admiration for him, having in fact only intended to achieve through it benefits that are not provided in any other way.

Rasputin's secretary Aron Simanovich writes in his book:

How did contemporaries imagine Rasputin? Like a drunken, dirty man who infiltrated the royal family, appointed and fired ministers, bishops and generals, and for a whole decade was the hero of the St. Petersburg scandalous chronicle. In addition, there are wild orgies in the “Villa Rode”, lustful dances among aristocratic fans, high-ranking henchmen and drunken gypsies, and at the same time an incomprehensible power over the king and his family, hypnotic power and faith in his special purpose. That was all.

The confessor of the royal family, Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev:

Rasputin is “a completely God-fearing and believing person, harmless and even rather useful for the Royal Family... He talks with them about God, about faith.”

Doctor, life physician of the family of Nicholas II Evgeny Botkin:

If there had been no Rasputin, then the opponents of the royal family and the preparers of the revolution would have created him with their conversations from Vyrubova, if there had been no Vyrubova, from me, from whomever you want.

The investigator in the case of the murder of the royal family, Nikolai Alekseevich Sokolov, writes in his book of judicial investigation:

The head of the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs, Pokhvisnev, who held this position in 1913-1917, testifies: “According to the established procedure, all telegrams submitted to the Sovereign and Empress were presented to me in copies. Therefore, all the telegrams that were sent to Their Majesties from Rasputin were known to me at one time. There were a lot of them. It is, of course, impossible to remember their contents sequentially. In all honesty, I can say that Rasputin’s enormous influence with the Tsar and Empress was clearly established by the contents of the telegrams.”

Hieromartyr Archpriest Philosopher Ornatsky, rector of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, describes the meeting of John of Kronstadt with Rasputin in 1914 as follows:

Father John asked the elder: “What is your last name?” And when the latter answered: “Rasputin,” he said: “Look, it will be your name.”

Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov), an elder of the Sedmiezernaya Hermitage, spoke very harshly about Rasputin: “Kill him like a spider: forty sins will be forgiven...”

Attempts to canonize Rasputin

Religious veneration of Grigory Rasputin began around 1990 and originated from the so-called. The Mother of God Center (which changed its name over the following years).

Some extremely radical monarchist Orthodox circles have also, since the 1990s, expressed thoughts about canonizing Rasputin as a holy martyr.

Well-known supporters of these ideas were: editor of the Orthodox newspaper “Blagovest” Anton Zhogolev, writer of the Orthodox-patriotic, historical genre Oleg Platonov, singer Zhanna Bichevskaya, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Orthodox Rus'” Konstantin Dushenov, “Church of St. John the Evangelist”, etc.

The ideas were rejected by the Synodal Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church for the canonization of saints and criticized by Patriarch Alexy II: “There is no reason to raise the question of the canonization of Grigory Rasputin, whose dubious morality and promiscuity cast a shadow on the August family of the future royal martyrs of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.”

According to Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov, a member of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints:

Of course, the opposition used Rasputin, inflating the myth of his omnipotence and omnipotence. He was portrayed as worse than he was. Many hated him with all their hearts. For Tsarevna Olga Nikolaevna, for example, he was one of the most hated people, because he destroyed her marriage with Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, which prompted the latter to participate in the murder of Rasputin.

Rasputin in culture and art

According to the research of S. Fomin, during March-November 1917, theaters were filled with “dubious” productions, and more than ten “libelous” films about Grigory Rasputin were released. The first such film was a two-part "sensational drama""Dark forces - Grigory Rasputin and his associates"(produced by G. Liebken joint-stock company). In the same row stands A. Tolstoy’s widely demonstrated play “The Conspiracy of the Empress.”

Grigory Rasputin became the central character in playwright Konstantin Skvortsov’s play “Grishka Rasputin.”

Rasputin and his historical significance had a great influence on both Russian and Western culture. Germans and Americans are to some extent attracted to his figure as a kind of “Russian bear”, or “Russian peasant”.
In the village Pokrovskoe (now Yarkovsky district of the Tyumen region) there is a private museum of G.E. Rasputin.

Documentary films about Rasputin

Historical chronicles. 1915. Grigory Rasputin
Last of the Czars. The Shadow of Rasputin, dir. Teresa Cherf; Mark Anderson, 1996, Discovery Communications, 51 min. (released on DVD in 2007)
Who killed Rasputin? (Who Killed Rasputin?), dir. Michael Wedding, 2004, BBC, 50 min. (released on DVD in 2006)

Rasputin in theater and cinema

It is not known for certain whether there were any newsreel footage of Rasputin. Not a single tape has survived to this day on which Rasputin himself was depicted.

The very first silent feature short films about Grigory Rasputin began to be released in March 1917. All of them, without exception, demonized the personality of Rasputin, showing him and the Imperial Family in the most unsightly light. The first such film, entitled “Drama from the Life of Grigory Rasputin,” was released by Russian film magnate A . O. Drankov, who simply made a film edit of his 1916 film “Washed in Blood,” based on M. Gorky’s story “Konovalov.” Most of the other films were shot in 1917 by the then largest film company “G. Libken Joint Stock Company.” In total, more than a dozen of them were released and there is no need to talk about any of their artistic value, since even then they caused protests in the press due to their “pornography and wild eroticism”:

Dark forces - Grigory Rasputin and his associates (2 episodes), dir. S. Veselovsky; in the role of Rasputin - S. Gladkov
Holy Devil (Rasputin in Hell)
People of sin and blood (Tsarskoye Selo sinners)
The love affairs of Grishka Rasputin
Rasputin's funeral
Mysterious murder in Petrograd on December 16
Trading house of Romanov, Rasputin, Sukhomlinov, Myasoedov, Protopopov and Co.
Tsar's guardsmen

etc. (Fomin S.V. Grigory Rasputin: investigation. vol. I. Punishment with truth; M., Forum publishing house, 2007, pp. 16-19)

Nevertheless, already in 1917, the image of Rasputin continued to appear on the silver screen. According to IMDB, the first person to portray the image of the old man on screen was actor Edward Conelli (in the film “The Fall of the Romanovs”). The same year, the film “Rasputin, the Black Monk” was released, where Montague Love played Rasputin. In 1926, another film about Rasputin was released - “Brandstifter Europas, Die” (in the role of Rasputin - Max Newfield), and in 1928 - three at once: “The Red Dance” (in the role of Rasputin - Dimitrius Alexis), “Rasputin - Saint Sinner" and "Rasputin" are the first two films where Rasputin was played by Russian actors - Nikolai Malikov and Grigory Khmara, respectively.

In 1925, A. N. Tolstoy’s play “The Conspiracy of the Empress” (published in Berlin in 1925) was written and immediately staged in Moscow, where the murder of Rasputin is shown in detail. Subsequently, some Soviet theaters also staged the play. At the Moscow Theater named after. N.V. Gogol played the role of Rasputin by Boris Chirkov. And on Belarusian television in the mid-60s, a television play “The Collapse” was filmed based on Tolstoy’s play, in which Roman Filippov (Rasputin) and Rostislav Yankovsky (Prince Felix Yusupov) played.

In 1932, the German “Rasputin - a Demon with a Woman” was released (famous German actor Conrad Veidt played the role of Rasputin) and the Oscar-nominated “Rasputin and the Empress”, in which the title role went to Lionel Barrymore. In 1938, Rasputin was released with Harry Baur in the title role.

Cinema returned to Rasputin again in the 50s, which was marked by productions with the same name "Rasputin", released in 1954 and 1958 (for television) with Pierre Brasseur and Narzmes Ibanez Menta in the roles of Rasputin, respectively. In 1967, the cult horror film “Rasputin - the Mad Monk” was released with the famous actor Christopher Lee in the role of Grigory Rasputin. Despite many errors from a historical point of view, the image he created in the film is considered one of the best film incarnations of Rasputin.

The 1960s also saw the release of The Night of Rasputin (1960, starring Edmund Pardom), Rasputin (a 1966 TV production starring Herbert Stass), and I Killed Rasputin (1967), where The role was played by Gert Fröbe, known for his role as Goldfinger, the villain from the James Bond film of the same name.

In the 70s, Rasputin appeared in the following films: “Why the Russians Revolutionized” (1970, Rasputin - Wes Carter), the television production “Rasputin” as part of the “Play of the Month” series (1971, Rasputin - Robert Stevens), “Nicholas and Alexandra” (1971, Rasputin - Tom Baker), the television series "Fall of Eagles" (1974, Rasputin - Michael Aldridge) and the television play "A Cárné összeesküvése" (1977, Rasputin - Nandor Tomanek)

In 1981, the most famous Russian film about Rasputin was released - "Agony" Elem Klimov, where the image was successfully embodied by Alexey Petrenko. In 1984, “Rasputin - Orgien am Zarenhof” was released with Alexander Conte in the role of Rasputin.

In 1992, stage director Gennady Egorov staged the play “Grishka Rasputin” based on the play of the same name by Konstantin Skvortsov at the St. Petersburg Drama Theater “Patriot” ROSTO in the genre of political farce.

In the 90s, the image of Rasputin, like many others, began to deform. In the parody sketch of the show "Red Dwarf" - "The Melt", released in 1991, Rasputin was played by Steven Micallef, and in 1996 two films about Rasputin were released - "The Successor" (1996) with Igor Solovyov as Rasputin and "Rasputin", where he was played by Alan Rickman (and young Rasputin by Tamas Toth). In 1997, the cartoon “Anastasia” was released, where Rasputin was voiced by the famous actor Christopher Lloyd and Jim Cummings (singing).

The films “Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh” (2002, for television, Rasputin - Oleg Fedorov and “Killing Rasputin” (2003, Rasputin - Ruben Thomas), as well as “Hellboy: Hero from Hell", where the main villain is the resurrected Rasputin, have already been released. played by Karel Roden. The film was released in 2007. "CONSPIRACY", directed by Stanislav Libin, where the role of Rasputin is played by Ivan Okhlobystin.

In 2011, the French-Russian film “Rasputin” was shot, in which the role of Gregory was played by Gerard Depardieu. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, it was this work that gave the actor the right to receive Russian citizenship.

In 2014, the Mars Media studio produced an 8-episode television film “Gregory R.” (dir. Andrey Malyukov), in which the role of Rasputin was played by Vladimir Mashkov.

In music

The disco group Boney M. released the album “Nightflight to Venus” in 1978, one of the hits of which was the song “Rasputin”. The lyrics of the song were written by Frank Farian and contain Western cliches about Rasputin - “Russia's greatest love machine”, “lover of the Russian queen”. The music used motifs from popular Turkic "Kyatibim", the song “mimics” Eartha Kitt’s performance of the Turk (Kitt’s exclamation “Oh! those Turks” Boney M copied as “Oh! those Russians"). On the road Boney M In the USSR, this song was not performed at the insistence of the host party, although it was later included in the release of the group’s Soviet record. The death of one of the band members, Bobby Farrell, occurred exactly on the 94th anniversary of the night of the murder of Grigory Rasputin in St. Petersburg.
Alexander Malinin's song "Grigory Rasputin" (1992).
The song by Zhanna Bichevskaya and Gennady Ponomarev “The Spiritualized Wanderer” (“Elder Gregory”) (c. 2000) from the music album “We are Russians” is aimed at exalting “holiness” and canonizing Rasputin, where there are the lines “ Russian elder with a staff in his hand, a miracle worker with a staff in his hand».
The thrash band Corrosion of Metal has a song “Dead Rasputin” in the album “Sadism”, released in 1993.
In 2002, the German power metal band Metalium recorded their own song “Rasputin” (album “Hero Nation - Chapter Three”), presenting their view of the events around Grigory Rasputin, without the cliches that have developed in pop culture
Finnish folk/Viking metal band Turisas released the single “Rasputin” in 2007 with a cover version of the song by the group “Boney M”. A video clip was also shot for the song “Rasputin”.
In 2002, Valery Leontyev performed the Russian version of Boney M Rasputin’s song “New Year” at RTR’s “New Year’s Attraction” (“Ras, Let’s open the doors wide, and let all of Russia join a round dance...”)

Rasputin in poetry

Nikolai Klyuev more than once compared himself to him, and in his poems there are frequent references to Grigory Efimovich. “They are following me,” wrote Klyuev, “millions of charming Grishkas.” According to the memoirs of the poet Rurik Ivnev, the poet Sergei Yesenin performed the then fashionable ditties “Grishka Rasputin and the Tsarina.”

The poetess Zinaida Gippius wrote in her diary dated November 24, 1915: “Grisha himself rules, drinks and eats his maids of honor. And Fedorovna, out of habit.” Z. Gippius was not a member of the inner circle of the imperial family, she simply passed on rumors. There was a proverb among the people: “The Tsar-Father is with Yegor, and the Tsarina-Mother is with Gregory.”

Commercial use of Rasputin's name

Commercial use of the name Grigory Rasputin in some trademarks began in the West in the 1980s. Currently known:

Vodka Rasputin. Produced in various forms by Dethleffen in Flexburg (Germany).
Beer "Old Rasputin". Produced by North Coast Brewing Co. (California, USA) (from 04/21/2017)
Beer "Rasputin". Manufactured by Brouwerij de Moler (Netherlands)
Cigarettes “Rasputin black” and “Rasputin white” (USA)
In Brooklyn (New York) there is a restaurant and nightclub “Rasputin” (from 04/21/2017)
In Encio (California) there is a grocery store "Rasputin International Food"
In San Francisco (USA) there is a music store “Rasputin”
In Toronto (Canada) there is a famous vodka bar Rasputin http://rasputinvodkabar.com/ (from 04/21/2017)
In Rostock (Germany) there is a Rasputin supermarket
In Andernach (Germany) there is a Rasputin club
In Dusseldorf (Germany) there is a large Russian-language disco “Rasputin”.
In Pattaya (Thailand) there is a Russian cuisine restaurant Rasputin.
In Moscow there is a men's club "Rasputin"
The men's erotic magazine "Rasputin" is published in Moscow

In St. Petersburg:

Since the mid-2000s, the interactive show “Horrors of St. Petersburg” has been operating, the main character of which is Grigory Rasputin.
Beauty salon "Rasputin's House" and the hairdressing school of the same name
Hostel "Rasputin"

Categories:

Popular biographies

Name: Grigory Rasputin

Age: 47 years old

Place of Birth: With. Pokrovskoye

A place of death: Saint Petersburg

Activity: peasant, friend of Tsar Nicholas II, seer and healer

Family status: was married

Grigory Rasputin - biography

A long time ago, back in the 17th century, Izosim Fedorov’s son came to the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye and “began to arable land.” His children received the nickname “Rasputa” - from the words “crossroads”, “razputitsa”, “crossroads”. From them came the Rasputin family.

Childhood

In the middle of the 19th century, the coachman Efim and his wife Anna Rasputin had a son. He was baptized on January 10, on the feast day of St. Gregory of Nyssa, after whom he was named. Grigory Rasputin subsequently hid his exact age and clearly exaggerated it in order to better fit the image of an “old man.”

Grisha Rasputin was born frail, and was not particularly strong or healthy. As a child, I did not know how to read and write - there was no school in the village, but I was trained in peasant labor from an early age. He married a girl from a neighboring village, Praskovya, who bore him three children: Matryona, Varvara and Dmitry. Everything would have been fine, but Gregory’s illnesses tormented him: in the spring he did not sleep for forty days, suffered from insomnia, and even wet his bed.

There were no doctors in the village; sorcerers and healers did not help. There is only one path left for the simple Russian peasant - to the holy saints, to atone for his sins. I went to the Verkhoturye Monastery. This is where the transformation of Grigory Rasputin began.

Rasputin: in fasting and prayer

The saints helped: Grigory Rasputin gave up drunkenness and meat-eating. He went on journeys, endured a lot, and tortured himself with fasting. I didn’t change my clothes for six months, I wore chains for three years. I met with murderers and saints and talked about life. At home in the stable he even dug a cave in the form of a grave - at night he hid in it and prayed.

Then his fellow villagers noticed something strange in Rasputin: Grigory was walking around the village, waving his arms, muttering to himself, threatening someone with his fist. And one day he ran around in the cold in just his shirt like a madman all night, calling people to repentance. In the morning he fell near the fence and lay unconscious for a day. The villagers were excited: what if their Grishka really was a man of God? Many believed, began to go for advice, for a cure. Even a small community gathered.

Grigory Rasputin - “Lighter of the Royal Lamps”

In the early 1900s, Gregory and his family arrived in St. Petersburg. Met with the bishop, Father Sergius, the future patriarch. A thread was pulled, and high-society doors began to open for the Siberian healer, right up to the palace doors. And after he was awarded the title of “lighter of the royal lamps,” even fashion spread throughout the capital: not to visit Rasputin is as ashamed as not to hear Chaliapin.

According to another version, it all started in the Kyiv Lavra. Grigory was chopping wood in the yard, looking scary, all in black. Two pilgrims, who turned out to be the Montenegrin princesses Militsa and Stana, approached him, met, and started talking. Grishka boasted that he could heal with his hands, and that he could speak to any disease.

Then the sisters remembered the heir. They reported to the empress, and Rasputin pulled out his lucky ticket: the empress called him to her. The grief of a mother who has a terminally ill child in her arms is easy to understand. Many of God's people, both domestic and foreign, visited the court. The queen grasped at every opportunity like a straw. And then a Friend came!

The debut of the healer Gregory stunned many. The prince developed a severe nosebleed. The “elder” pulled out a lump of oak bark from his pocket, crushed it and covered the boy’s face with the mixture. The doctors just clasped their hands: the blood stopped almost instantly! And Rasputin healed with his hands. He puts his palms on the sore spot, holds it for a while and says: “Go.” He also treated with words: he would whisper, whisper, and the pain would go away as if by hand. Even at a distance, by phone.

Grigory Rasputin: the power of a look

Grigory knew how to recognize people right away. He looks from under his brows and already knows what kind of person is in front of him, a decent person or a scoundrel.

His heavy, hypnotic gaze subjugated many. The all-powerful Stolypin only by force of will kept himself on the brink of reason. Rasputin's future killer, Prince Yusupov, lost consciousness upon meeting him. And women simply went crazy from Grishka’s power, they became slaves regardless of age and position in the world, they were ready to lick the honey from their boots.

Grigory Rasputin - predictions and prophecies

Rasputin also had another amazing gift - to see the future, and there is eyewitness evidence of this.

For example, Bishop Feofan of Poltava, the empress’s confessor, said: “At that time, Admiral Rozhdestvensky’s squadron was sailing. So we asked Rasputin: “Will the meeting with the Japanese be successful?” Rasputin responded to this: “I feel in my heart that he will drown...” And this prediction later came true in the battle of Tsushima.”

Once, while in Tsarskoe Selo, Gregory did not allow the imperial family to dine in the dining room. He told us to move to another room because the chandelier might fall. They listened to him. And two days later the chandelier really fell...

They say that the elder left behind 11 pages of prophecies. Among them is a terrible disease, whose description resembles AIDS, and sexual promiscuity, and even an invisible killer - radiation. Rasputin also wrote - allegorically, of course - about the invention of television and mobile phones.

He was extolled and at the same time feared: where did his gift come from - from God or from the Devil? But the king and queen believed Gregory. Only the nobility whispered: Grishka’s demonic telephone number is “64 64 6.” Hidden in it is the number of the Beast from the Apocalypse.

And then everything collapsed, taking the ground from under our feet. Admirers turned into bitter enemies. Rasputin, who only yesterday played with destinies, became an obstacle in someone else's game.

Grigory Rasputin: Life after death

On December 17 (December 30, new style), 1916, Grigory arrived at a party at the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. The reason for the visit was far-fetched: supposedly Felix’s wife Irina wanted to meet the “old man.” He was met by former friends: Prince Felix Yusupov, State Duma deputy Vladimir Purishkevich, a member of the royal family, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov, lieutenant of the Preobrazhensky regiment Sergei Sukhotin and military doctor Stanislav Lazovert.

First, the conspirators invited Gregory to the basement and treated him to Madeira and cakes with potassium cyanide. Then they shot, beat him with a weight, stabbed him with a knife... However, the “old man,” as if under a spell, continued to live. He tore off the shoulder strap from Yusupov's uniform and tried to run away, but he was caught. They tied him up and lowered him under the ice into the ice hole on Malaya Nevka, not far from Kamenny Island. Divers found the body three days later. Rasputin's lungs were full of water - he managed to untie his bonds and almost escaped, but was unable to break through the thick ice.

At first they wanted to bury Gregory in his homeland, in Siberia. But they were afraid to transport the body across all of Russia - they buried it in Tsarskoe Selo, then in Pargolovo. Later, by order of Kerensky, Rasputin’s body was exhumed and burned in the firebox of the Polytechnic Institute. But they didn’t rest on that either: they scattered the ashes to the wind. They were afraid of the “old man” even after his death.

With the murder of Rasputin, the royal family also split; everyone quarreled because of him. Clouds were gathering over the country. But the “elder” warned the emperor:

“If the nobles, your relatives, kill me, then none of your children will live even two years. The Russian people will kill them.”

That's how it turned out. Of the children of Rasputin himself, only Matryona survived. The son Dmitry and his wife and the widow of Grigory Efimovich perished in Siberian exile already under Soviet rule. Daughter Varvara died suddenly of consumption. And Matryona went to France, and then to the USA. She worked as a dancer in a cabaret, and as a governess, and as a tamer. The poster read: “Tigers and the daughter of a mad monk, whose exploits in Russia surprised the world.”

Recently, a film about the life of Grigory Rasputin was released on screens across the country. The film is based on historical materials. The role of Grigory Rasputin was played by a famous actor

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.

Rasputin's birthplace. Brief biography of Grigory Rasputin

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