Rasputin

This infamous “holy man” was born Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin in 1872.  Rasputin was a Siberian peasant, so some peasants were proud of him when he rose to power because he was one of them.  Other poor Russians, however, nourished a deep hatred for “Father Grigori.”  While in his mid-thirties, Rasputin joined a religious sect, and in 1907, he met Nicholas and Alexandra to help their son.  Rasputin’s supposed ability to heal Alexei won him influence in the court. 

But Rasputin was not the holy man he claimed to be.  He was a self-centered, greedy man who lived a very debauched life, and since 1905, his activities were being watched by the secret police.  Although Rasputin had a wife in his hometown of Pokrovskoe, he used his religious status to convince women to sleep with him.  The mystic’s one redeeming quality was his generosity towards the poor; when wealthy patrons gave him large sums of money, he gave it to his more unfortunate visitors. 

Noblemen were resentful of Rasputin’s influence over “Papa” and the “Old Lady,” as Rasputin called the Tsar and Tsarina, and they worried that commoners’ hatred of Rasputin would turn into hatred of the Tsar.  Even men in the Orthodox Church who had once helped him eventually distanced themselves from Alexandra’s prophet.  Rasputin was supposed to be banished from St. Petersburg, but the order was never executed.  Again in 1911, Prime Minister Stolypin wanted Rasputin to leave.  With encouragement from the Tsar, he left on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  By March 1912, Rasputin was back.  A telegram to ease the fears of the distressed Tsarina at Spala, where Alexei seemed near death, in October 1912 cemented his close relationship with Alexandra because the Tsarevitch miraculously healed.    

Tired of the mystic’s meddling in affairs of state, Prince Felix Yussupov (heir to the largest fortune in Russia), Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch (the Tsar’s cousin), Duma member Vladimir Purishkevitch, an army doctor, and an army officer decided to kill Rasputin.  On December 29, 1916, Yussupov invited Rasputin over to his home.  Yussupov offered the “holy man” cakes and Madeira filled with poison.  Although Rasputin ate heartily, he did not die.  After two hours, Yussupov borrowed the Grand Duke’s revolver and shot Rasputin in the back.  Rasputin was pronounced dead, but then he lunged at Yussupov, who ran and hid.  He then crawled out to the courtyard and ran for the gate.  Purishkevitch followed him and finally felled him with another bullet.  The body was wrapped in a curtain, driven to the Petrovsky Bridge, and pushed into the icy Neva River.