Grigori Rasputin

Errors, omissions, rumors and fabrications abound in retellings of the life story of Grigori Rasputin. Born to a peasant family in a small village in Siberia, Rasputin was an unusual child and, like many unusual children, believed that he was going to change the world. From a young age, Rasputin believed himself to be a mystic, a spiritual being who was closer to God than anyone else he encountered. Rasputin never held an official position in the Orthodox Church in which he was raised. Instead, he followed his own spiritual code and quickly amassed a dedicated group of followers who believed him to be a true staret (holy man). Had Rasputin's followers been exclusively of the peasant class his life would likely have had little impact on modern Russian history. But, through a series of introductions and invitations, Rasputin eventually made the acquaintance of the most powerful couple in the country, tsar Nicholas II and tsarina Alexandra. Rasputin's remarkable ability to seemingly heal the tsar and tsarina's son, and heir to the Russian throne, Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia, made him indispensable to the imperial couple. Over the years of Rasputin's friendship with Nicholas and Alexandra he increasingly used his influence to meddle in the affairs of both Church and State, accruing a number of powerful enemies in the process. With Russia's entry into the First World War, the popularity of the tsar and tsarina reached an all-time low. Rasputin too had a terrible reputation as a drunkard, an abuser of women and an opportunist who readily took bribes, even from German sympathizers. All of this may have been true. The Russian people couldn't understand the hold Rasputin had over the imperial couple and, when Rasputin finally met his violent end, the nation rejoiced. The story of Rasputin's death is almost as difficult to unravel as that of his life. The most reliable account of Rasputin's murder describes him being lured to the palace of Prince Felix Yusupov where he was poisoned, shot and badly beaten. Presumed dead he was thrown into the icy Neva River where he eventually drowned. A Soviet policy that aimed to strictly control how information about the Soviet Union circulated in the world and sought to limit what we know about Nicolas II and his reign has made it difficult for biographers to confirm details about Rasputin's life. The date he was born, details about his parents, how he lived and, finally, how he died, have been debated by scholars over the years until archival information released by Russia in the early nineties helped to give clearer answers. The question of whether Rasputin was a saint or satanic, whether he was a holy man or a debauched lunatic, cannot be answered satisfactorily using archive material. Although undeniably a spiritual man, Rasputin was painfully human and the trajectory of his life entered its downward spiral due to painfully human failings. Lust, greed and a desire for power brought Rasputin down, as it has done many men and women throughout history. We may never understand why Rasputin reached the heights he did, nor why he became so reviled, but we can at least understand how.