What Role Did Grigori Rasputin Play In Russia

Michael Sommers
Professor McFarland
D410
8 October 2014
Grigori Rasputin Grigori Rasputin played a major role in Russia from 1906 to 1916, but who was this man? Why was he was worshiped by the peasants, loved by the Tsar and Tsarina, and hated by other nobles. This man is such a controversial figure in Russian history. He is seen to some as man of God, a healer, and a profit. To many others he is seen as a drunk who lived a life of debauchery, and put fear into the people of Russia by threatening them with his power. It is most commonly agreed that Grigori Rasputin was born in 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoe in Siberia. However, Rasputin was born into a peasant family, so reliable records were not kept, and Rasputin’s exact year of
birth is debated. Since Rasputin was born a peasant, he did not go through much schooling, and could not read or write well. Rasputin was close with his siblings and enjoyed playing with them. At the age of eight, tragedy struck the family. While Grigori and his brother Dmitry were playing near the river. Dmitry went into the river and got stuck in the mud. Rasputin came to help his brother, but they both fell into the river and traveled downstream where a farmer rescued them. Both boys spent the next few days resting in their beds, but while Grigori’s condition improved, Dmitry’s condition worsened. Dmitry developed pneumonia, and eventually died from his condition. This tragic even in Rasputin’s life is seen as a turning point for him. After his brother’s death, Grigori’s attitude turned terrible. Even his mother said that his attitude had changed and began to have uncontrollable fits of rage. A few years later when Rasputin was around the age of twelve, he was sick in his bed with a fever. He overheard his father and a few other townspeople discussing the recent theft of a horse. Grigori made his way out of his be to the room where the men were discussing the theft and pointed to one of the men and accused him of stealing the horse. His father quickly apologized to the man, and sent Grigori back to bed. Later that evening, two men who were at Rasputin’s home at the time of this incidence followed the mad he had accused and found him with the missing horse. This was the first time that Rasputin is reported to have a special gift. As Rasputin grew older, his behavior did not improve.
He became known for both his terrible behavior, and his prophetic abilities. By the age of fifteen, Rasputin began to drink, and have sexual contact with women. There are many stories of him walking up to a woman and unbuttoning her shirt out in public. Rasputin also enjoyed going to parties in villages close by and doing the same to those women. It was at one of these parties where he met his wife, Praskovaya Dubrovina. He was nineteen years old at the time, and Praskovaya was four years older than he. Grigori is said to have fallen in love with her because she was unlike any of the other women he had met, and refused his advances. After six months of dating, the two were married. Rasputin’s parents were very happy that their son was married. They knew of his behavior, and that the people of the village called him a “sniveller” and a
“snotnose.” Although Grigori had married Praskovaya, and claimed to love her, he was not ready to give up his lifestyle. After being married, his behavior actually began to grow worse. Grigori began to drink more heavily, and added thievery to his list of misdeeds. In 1917, one of Rasputin’s neighbors claimed to have caught Rasputin stealing pieces of his fence. The neighbor tried to drag Rasputin to the authorities, but he refused so the neighbor “hit him with a stake so strongly that a stream of blood poured from his nose and mouth,” and after a few more hits, Rasputin “actually came of his own accord.” Not long after this, the same neighbor accused Rasputin and two of his friends of stealing two horses from him. Rasputin was eventually cleared of this crime, but was sentenced to a short banishment from Pokrovskoe for a smaller charge. Grigori asked for a different sentence. He offered to do penance at the Verkhoturie Monastery 260 miles away from Pokrovskoe. It is believed that Rasputin’s reason for asking to take this pilgrimage was because he and Praskovaya had suffered a tragedy; their first child died at six months old. Rasputin left for his journey in 1885, and stayed for three months. This trip is known as a turning point in his life, and is what set him on his path to power and fame.5 While at Verkhoturie, Rasputin became interested in Makary, who was one of Russia’s most celebrated religious figures. Makary told Rasputin that his son’s death was a sign from God. He encouraged Grigori to return to Pokrovskoe and become a man of God, and help others. The village of Pokrovskoe was amazed at the change in his behavior when he returned. Grigori seemed restless and nervous. Rasputin also would alternate between happily shouting the word of God and becoming severely depressed and isolating himself. The village saw him as abnormal and also believed he was going crazy. Rasputin also changed in a few other ways. He gave up alcohol, tobacco, and meat. He began to shun people and prayed continuously. While doing all of this, Rasputin also attracted followers. The “services” that Rasputin led would often begin with women bathing him, and then they would move to the basement of Grigori’s house where they would sing and dance. His neighbors believed that he had jointed the khlysty, or “Flagellants,” a radical religious sect. The Russians believed that the members of this sect group would blend religious ecstasy and sex. The sect would supposedly gather late at night, form a circle, and join hands as they chanted, sang, and prayed. At the end of the ritual, the members would throw of their clothes, and joined in on sexual intercourse. The khlysty was one of the religious groups that the Tsar Nicholas II would not legalize, and being accused of being Flagellant was serious. Rasputin however, was not Flagellant. The Flagellants did influence Rasputin in certain ways however. The members of his group would sing khlyst hymns and would all bathe together. Not long after his return Pokrovskoe, when he had a vision of the Virgin Mary. This further confirmed to Rasputin what Makary had told him his life work should be. According to Rasputin’s daughter Maria, the Virgin did not speak to him, but beckoned him toward the horizon. Rasputin took this as a sign that he should become a strannik, or wondering pilgrim, and travel the country of Russia teaching and counseling people in return for their hospitality. Rasputin began his travels in the late 1880’s. It is hard to establish what exactly Rasputin did from the late 1880’s to 1902, but this period in his life is important. It is during this period that Rasputin’s reputation was extended beyond his village and into towns all throughout Russia. During these years, Praskovaya gave birth to three children, and Rasputin’s father helped care for them. Rasputin would be gone for up to a year at a time, leaving his Praskovaya to care for their children. However, according to Grigori’s daughter, Maria, if her mother was objected to Rasputin leaving on his travels, she never told anyone. During this time, leaders of the Orthodox Church in Russia were weary of Rasputin and his teachings.
Upon his return from one of his journeys in 1902, Father Peter, the village priest reported Rasputin to the authorities. He accused Rasputin of being a khlyst. The police came to Rasputin’s house hoping to find signs of the Flagellants, but the first time they appear, Praskovaya was so furious that she scared the police away. They returned not much later and this time searched the whole house and cellar. The police tore apart the cellar and are said to have emerged covered in flour from tearing the bags open to search them. After the search was over, Rasputin knew they would still try to come after him. Rasputin did not go into hiding, or wait for them to build their case. Instead, he decided to begin counter attack by growing more powerful, and set off to Kazan.7 After arriving in Kazan, Rasputin met a furrier by the name of Katkov, who allowed Rasputin to stay with him at his home. Katlov introduced Rasputin to many church leaders in Kazan. On one of these occasions, Rasputin was introduced to Bishop Andrew, who insisted that Rasputin visit church leaders in St. Petersburg. Bishop Andrew took Rasputin to St. Petersburg in 1903 and met with Feofan, the Inspector of the St. Petersburg Seminary. This first visit to the capital only lasted five months before Rasputin returned to
Kazan. Rasputin returned back to St. Petersburg in 1905 during the revolution. When he returned, Feofan introduced him to the Montenegrin sisters, Militsa and Anastasia, who were the daughters of the king of Montenegro. The sisters were very interested in Rasputin and his teachings. Rasputin told them that he could heal any illness, foretell the future, and charm away unhappiness. The sisters then took this information to Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra. On October 31, 1905 the Tsar and Tsarina invited the Montenegrin sisters and Rasputin to dine with them. This is the first known contact between the royal family and Rasputin. In a excerpt from his journal, Nicholas wrote “We became acquainted today with Grigori, a man of God form Tobolsk province.” After the initial encounter, it is unclear how many more times Rasputin visited the Tsar and Tsarina. It is known however, that he did make many more visits to their home. The Tsar and Tsarina had four daughters and one son, Alexis. They were relieved to have a son to pass the throne to, but Alexis suffered from hemophilia, and was often sick. The Tsar wanted to hide his son’s condition from the rest of Russia, only letting a few doctors and close family know of the disease. Not many records were kept of Alexis’ condition, since they were trying to hide it. It is believed to be in 1906 when the Tsarina in a last effort to save her son called upon Rasputin. Alexis had fallen on the playground, and was suffering from major internal bleeding. He had been in bed for three days, and all the doctors agreed that he would not make it. Rasputin arrived to the palace late at night. He entered Alexis’s room, put his hand on his forehead, and began to pray. After he was done, he looked at the Tsarina and told her that her son would be fine. A few minutes passed, and Alexi opened his eyes and was speaking. This event gained him the trust of the Tsarina, and she saw him as a man form god. Rasputin quickly became the only person the Tsarina would call when her son fell ill. As time went on, Rasputin’s ties with the royal family increased. The Tsar and Tsarina adored him. However, this was not the case for many others in the government. In 1908, the Prime Minister, Peter Stolypin, began to build a case against Rasputin. One Rasputin discovered what was happening, he had the Tsar put an end to it. The Tsar also set up a meeting between the two, believing that if Stolypin met Rasputin he would see that he was a good man. However, this encounter between the two proved just the opposite. Stolypin did not like Rasputin, and told him if he had noting to hide he should allow the police to continue their investigation into his life. After this, Rasputin began to try to hypnotize him. “He ran his pale eyes over me, mumbled mysterious and inaccurate words from scriptures, made strange movements with his hands, and I began to feel an indescribable loathing for this vermin sitting opposite me,” Stolypin recalled. After this, Stolypin secretly dug up everything in Rasputin’s past, and believed if the Tsar saw it for himself, he would send Rasputin away. Wanting to rid himself of the annoyance, the Tsar told Stolypin that he would not see Rasputin again (but made no mention of his wife). Stolypin believed this gave him permission to exile Rasputin from the city; however, once the Tsar learned of this he put an immediate stop to it. This shows how close Rasputin was becoming with the royal family. Rasputin eventually became the royal advisor to the Tsarina, thus giving him more power. Sometime after being in St. Petersburg, Rasputin began to exhibit his old behavior. He started drinking, and having sex with several women. When many would bring this to the attention of the Tsarina, she said it was his way of showing Christian love, just as the apostles had done. Many more in the government urged the Tsar to dismiss him form the court, but the Tsar knew how much his wife adored Rasputin and wanted to make her happy. Others also knew of the Tsarina’s affection for Rasputin, and knew that if they could become close with him, they would also in turn become close with the royal family. Rasputin also saw this happening, and used it to his advantage. He would often threaten people by telling them that he would tell the Tsarina that they had done something wrong, and get them arrested. This put fear into many people, and the hatred of Rasputin and the royal family began to grow. During this time in Russia, the general population was very displeased with the government, and is beginning to lose faith in Tsar Nicholas. They can see that he is weak, and indecisive, and that his wife can easily control him. Putting Rasputin in power was part of the downfall of the Tsar. People saw Rasputin as a terrible person, and saw this as a sign of corruption in the government. However, many of the peasants saw Rasputin as their hero. He was one of them that made it to the top, and showed that even a peasant has a chance. As tensions among both the nobles, and common people rose, many assassination attempts were made on Rasputin. Finally on December 16, 1916, Rasputin predicted in a letter to the Tsar, “I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st. I wish to make known to the Russian people, to Papa (the Tsar), to the Russian Mother (the Tsarina) and to the Children what they must understand. If I am killed by common assassins, and especially by my brothers the Russian peasants, you, the Tsar of Russia, will have nothing to fear for your children, they will reign for hundreds of years. But if I am murdered by boyars, nobles, and if they shed my blood, their hands will remain soiled with my blood for twenty-five years and they will leave Russia. Brothers will kill brothers, and they will kill each other and hate each other, and for twenty-five years there will be no peace in the country…” Not long after this, on December 30, 1916 Rasputin was murdered by nobles. However, killing such a great man did not come easy. Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, and Vladmir Purichkevich, all wished to get rid of Rasputin and his influence. Yusupov invited Rasputin to his home, and fed him wine and his favorite cake laced with poison. The men claimed it was enough poison to kill an elephant, however Rasputin did not see phased by this. After a few hours, Yusupov grew tired of waiting, and shot Rasputin. The men believed that he was finally dead, but awhile later, Rasputin got up and staggered outside. At this time, Purichkevich ran after him and shot him three more times in the back. The men then wrapped Rasputin in a carpet and threw him in the icy river. When his body was found two days later an autopsy was performed. The results show that Rasputin didn’t die from poison, or getting shot; he died from drowning in the river. Rasputin’s prediction was correct. Ten weeks after his death, the Romanov dynasty was overthrown during the spring Russian Revolution in 1917. I believe that Rasputin played a key role in the History of Russia, and should be discussed more in class. This man was a peasant that somehow mingled his way into the royal family, bringing the other nobles to hate him. The events in Russia at the time show just how fragile the government was, and bringing Rasputin into it was probably the worst thing that the Tsar could’ve done. The people saw his behavior, and heard of his threats, further showing their belief that their government was corrupt and needed to change. His death also helped give rise to the revolution, because the peasants cared about him. After other nobles killed him, the peasants became angry, and most likely is what pushed them to help with the revolution and bring about change. In the end, who was Rasputin? In his lifetime, he was referred to as a noble, a peasant, a man of God, a drunk, and a terrible person. Rasputin was all of these, and while he was not very beneficial to the government of Russia, there should be no argument that he did not play a distinctive role in the life of the last Tsar. He saved their son, but helped bring about the end of the Romanov dynasty in Russia.