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Our talk this month was on a topic that took us far from the local scene, to the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Russian Empire in fact, as our speaker set about trying to paint picture of the man credited by some with the destruction of the Romanov empire.
We heard of a boy born into a moderately well-off Siberian family in a small village in 1853. Of a boy traumatised when his older bother died after an accident in the local river. A boy who, after a period of withdrawal with only animals as close companions, showed signs of being a seer.
The boy grew to manhood and married at the age of twenty and already had a reputation of being a womaniser. He decided to visit a monastery and walked the 250 miles to get there. He learnt to read but not to write and absorbed the ideas and styles of the many trained seers who studied at the monastery but he never formally trained himself being content to let everyone believe that he has done so.
He attracted the attention of the authorities when he became popular back in the village and upset the local priests who reported him to the secret police. The investigation showed nothing wrong. He earned the reputation of being a Peasant Philosopher and became even more popular, gathering many disciples, particularly ladies.
At the age of 40 he travelled to St Petersburg and healed a sick woman who became hi patron giving him a home and introducing him to her friends. He became a successful healer and was at one point the Czar and Czarina were introduced to him. Nikolai was a weak man who was easy prey to conmen and ineffectual advisors. Alexandra was less easily led but she took to Rasputin Having heard of his powers of healing, which were very genuine according to witnesses including doctors, he was asked to help Prince Alexi who suffered from Haemophilia and was suffering a back reaction. The result of his intervention saw the boy recover and Alexandra thought that Siberian peasant was a saint and could do no wrong. He was welcomed into the family circle and often dined with the royal family and played with the children. He also went out after such evenings picked up prostitutes and boasted of his mate the Czar. He also became very rich.
By arranging favours for people who paid him he accumulated money. Poor peasants he helped free and often gave money to anyone asking. He also expected women who wanted him to use his influence to pay him in kind, often dragging the unfortunate petitioner into his room and having his pleasure even tough people in the ante-room could hear her protests.
Of course his antics and influence at the palace earned him enemies. Again then police were involved and in 1911 a photograph of him standing in a circle of naked women, the background of which, showed that it was taken in his palace. He was advised by the Czar to lie low and he went off to Jerusalem for a time.
In 1912 he cured Alexi of another bout of bleeding even though he was a thousand miles away. After praying he sent a telegram to say that the boy would recover and he was right. He became more powerful and was choosing ministers and advisors with good results because he had a very good judge of character. Again his enemies tried to remove him but the Czarina would hear no ill of him. Eventually one of the many women who had suffered at his hands managed to stab him almost to death. Although he survived he was never the same. His judgement went. He was weak physically and when he prayed to cure some one the effort drained him to a point where there was nothing left.
By 1916 the war, which he said that he would have persuaded Nikolai not enter had he been able to talked to him, was going badly and many nobles were blaming Rasputin's influence for the bad appointments and blunders. A conspiracy to murder the bad influence was entered into by Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Vladimir Purishkevich, a member of the Duma. In spite of three warnings about an plot, one of which specified the price as involved, Rasputin still accepted an invitation to go to the Prince's palace on the promise of dalliance with a lady. Once there the plotters provided a selection of cakes, biscuits and drinks all so heavily laced with cyanide that one mouthful should be enough to kill. He survived the lot. The Price fetched an automatic an d shot the victim, he still lived. A revolver was used and eventually it appeared that there was success. The conspirators took the body to a bridge over the river but had sent chains designed to weigh down the body off on a hospital train, so they made a hole in the ice and pushed the corpse into the water
The murder and the culprits were soon discovered. The body floated under the ice; they had left bloody tracks from the palace.
A full post-mortem was never carried out because the Czarina intervened. Rasputin's daughter later said that water had been in her father's lings when examined. What ever had been the final cause of death he was dead and when the Bolsheviks took power in Autumn of 1917 his body was burned on a lonely roadside.
The story we had heard was neither that of a mad monk conning gullible royalty to gain power nor of a saintly folk healer. Rather we appear to been introduced to man who acquired a power of healing which he used to help others. A min who had a gift of good judgement of character which helped his sovereign. A man who had an imposing presence. He was also a man flawed by earthly desires who used his charm and, at times, he power to get what he wanted, particularly from women. Neither a saint nor yet a devil but a manlike many others at the time but with one extra factor, he became the favourite of one of the most powerful rulers of the time.
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