The mysterious life of Grigori Rasputin, Russia’s ‘Mad Monk’
If you are familiar with all things Russian, you may have heard of Grigori Rasputin. He was a (in)famous Russian mystic who, according to legends, was called the ‘Mad Monk.’ Why? Well, he was believed to be endowed with supernatural abilities who had a close connection with God.
Born on 22nd January 1869 as Grigori Yefimovich Nivykh (a Catholic Christian) at Pokrovskoye, near Tyumen in Siberia (the area in those times belonged to the Russian Empire), he acquired his nickname Rasputin much later.
According to legends, Rasputin's supernatural gifts existed since he was young and he was well aware of it. However, he exploited his powers, travelled across the country and got involved in debauchery. This earned him the title Rasputin at the age of 15. ‘Rasputin’, in Russian, means ‘debauched one’.
But soon, Rasputin supposedly had a series of visions where a saint kept asking him to be one with God. By the age of 18, he decided to renounce his past life of fraud and undergo a religious conversion and started following the Khlysty (Flagellants) sect during one of his pilgrimages. Khlysty sect was a spiritual Christian sect that split from Russian Orthodox Church and existed in the country from early 17th century to late 20th century. They believed in direct communication with the holy spirit and its embodiment in living beings; and renounced monkhood, holy books and veneration of the saints.
At the age 19, he returned to his hometown and married Proskovya Fyodorovna Dubrovina. Together they birthed four children. However, it wasn’t before long that Rasputin abandoned his family in search of orthodox Christian piety (a way of behaviour that shows deep respect to God).
But here’s the twist. He soon got involved in a lot of other activities ranging from aiding the military to influencing royal decisions. Intriguing, isn’t it? Even after living a variant and colourful life, the mysteries and myths surrounding this man are aplenty. Let’s look at some of the interesting incidents of his life and dig into the baffling death stories that have emerged.
Rasputin ‘healed’ the prince
Rasputin's wanderings in search of a way to serve God brought him to St. Petersburg in 1903. There, two years later, he got acquainted with the royal family and in 1908 was called upon to meet Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra at the palace. Guess why he was called? To find a cure for hemophilia, a condition that causes continuous bleeding. Turns out, the prince who was a hemophiliac by birth suffered a hip injury and was almost bleeding to death when the royals got reminded of Rasputin’s supernatural powers and called for him.
During his session with the boy, Rasputin somehow managed to stop the bleeding for some time. Amazed by his ‘mystical’ power, Tsarina immediately made him her close advisor. However, experts believe that the bleeding likely stopped because Rasputin insisted on disallowing the use of blood-thinning medication and not because of his supernatural abilities.
He became the ‘secret ruler’ of Russia
It was also believed that Rasputin secretly ruled Russia. This was because he was constantly present in the royal court. As a result, many people thought that Tsarina had started becoming dependent on him for all sorts of advice. In fact, he was also known to offer military advice to royal family but whether or not that was ever helpful still remains unknown. Nonetheless, Rasputin held great power being Tsarina’s personal advisor, even though she was the one in charge. It is also said that he appointed church officials, ministers and public officials. Interestingly, if records are to be believed, it was Rasputin who had publicly opposed Tsar Nicholas’ decision that Russia would invade Germany and Austria.
Rasputin faced many murder attempts
Since 1915, Rasputin attained the height of his influence at the Russian court. With power, position, and fame came enemies who were unhappy with him for meddling in royal affairs. Maybe that’s why there were numerous attempts to kill Rasputin.
For instance, once a beggar woman stabbed him in the stomach. Though Rasputin suffered extreme blood loss and was close to death, he recovered. Two years later, in 1916, a group of nobles under the leadership of Prince Feliks Yusupov (who was married to the Tsar’s niece) hatched a plan to assassinate Rasputin. On the night of 30th December 1916, Yusupov invited Rasputin to dinner at his house. His intention was to poison Rasputin using cyanide. But to their dismay, despite having a heavy and poisoned meal comprising of wine and dessert, Rasputin did not show any symptoms. Desperate to kill him, Yusupov and company decided to shoot Rasputin and dump his body into the Malaya Nevka river. But legends has it, he did not die yet.
Wait what? That’s right! However, after several days a body, suspected to be Rasputin’s was recovered in the frozen waters of the Malaya Nevka river. But the postmortem reports showed that the body did not have any trace of poison or bullet. This is when many urban legends started emerging. The most popular one was that Rasputin did not die despite being poisoned, shot, and thrown into the ice-cold river. Instead, he either swam to the nearest shore or was dragged from the river by a passersby. It is believed that he went on to live a life of mystic till he died of natural causes at a very old age. Now, whether or not this is truth or myth, no one knows for sure.
However, there might be two logical explanations. As for the poison, the cyanide may have turned inactive due to prolonged exposure to air or sunlight. Coming to the bullet wound, many pistols in those days failed to make lethal wounds, observe experts.