Grigory Efimovich Rasputin short biography. Grigory Rasputin - biography, photo, personal life, predictions and prophecies, murder When Grigory Rasputin was born

Biography, life story of Rasputin Grigory Efimovich

Birth

Born on January 9 (January 21), 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tyumen district, Tobolsk province, in the family of coachman Efim Vilkin and Anna Parshukova.

Information about Rasputin's date of birth is extremely contradictory. Sources give various dates of birth between 1864 and 1872. TSB (3rd edition) reports that he was born in 1864-1865.

Rasputin himself in his mature years did not add clarity, reporting conflicting information about his date of birth. According to biographers, he was inclined to exaggerate his true age in order to better fit the image of an “old man.”

According to the writer Edward Radzinsky, Rasputin could not have been born earlier than 1869. The surviving metric of the village of Pokrovsky reports the date of birth as January 10 (old style) 1869. This is St. Gregory's Day, which is why the baby was named that way.

Beginning of life

In his youth, Rasputin was sick a lot. After a pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Monastery, he turned to religion. In 1893, Rasputin traveled to the holy places of Russia, visited Mount Athos in Greece, and then Jerusalem. I met and made contacts with many representatives of the clergy, monks, and wanderers.

In 1890 he married Praskovya Fedorovna Dubrovina, a fellow pilgrim-peasant, who bore him three children: Matryona, Varvara and Dimitri.

In 1900 he set off on a new journey to Kyiv. On the way back, he lived in Kazan for quite a long time, where he met Father Mikhail, who was related to the Kazan Theological Academy, and came to St. Petersburg to visit the rector of the theological academy, Bishop Sergius (Stragorodsky).

In 1903, the inspector of the St. Petersburg Academy, Archimandrite Feofan (Bistrov), met Rasputin, introducing him also to Bishop Hermogenes (Dolganov).
St. Petersburg since 1904

In 1904, Rasputin, apparently with the assistance of Archimandrite Feofan, moved to St. Petersburg, where he gained from part of high society the fame of “an “old man,” “a holy fool,” “a man of God,” which “secured the position of a “saint” in the eyes of the St. Petersburg world.” . It was Father Feofan who told about the “wanderer” to the daughters of the Montenegrin prince (later king) Nikolai Njegosh - Militsa and Anastasia. The sisters told the empress about the new religious celebrity. Several years passed before he began to clearly stand out among the crowd of “God’s men.”

CONTINUED BELOW

G. Rasputin and the imperial family

The date of the first personal meeting with the emperor is well known - on November 1, 1905, Nicholas II wrote in his diary:

"November 1st. Tuesday. Cold windy day. It was frozen from the shore to the end of our canal and a flat strip in both directions. Been very busy all morning. Had breakfast: book. Orlov and Resin (deux.). I took a walk. At 4 o'clock we went to Sergievka. We drank tea with Militsa and Stana. We met the man of God - Gregory from Tobolsk province. In the evening I went to bed, studied a lot and spent the evening with Alix".

There are other mentions of Rasputin in the diaries of Nicholas II.

Rasputin gained influence on the imperial family and, above all, on Alexandra Feodorovna by helping her son, heir to the throne Alexei, fight hemophilia, a disease against which medicine was powerless.

Rasputin and the church

Later life writers of Rasputin (O. Platonov) tend to see some broader political meaning in the official investigations conducted by the church authorities in connection with the activities of Rasputin; but investigative documents (the Khlysty case and police documents) show that all cases were the subject of their investigation into very specific acts of Grigory Rasputin, which encroached on public morality and piety.

The first case of Rasputin's "Khlysty" in 1907

In 1907, following a denunciation of 1903, the Tobolsk Consistory opened a case against Rasputin, who was accused of spreading false teachings similar to Khlyst’s and forming a society of followers of his false teachings. The work began on September 6, 1907, and was completed and approved by Bishop Anthony (Karzhavin) of Tobolsk on May 7, 1908. The initial investigation was carried out by priest Nikodim Glukhovetsky. Based on the collected “facts,” Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, a member of the Tobolsk Consistory, prepared a report to Bishop Anthony with the attachment of a review of the case under consideration by Dmitry Mikhailovich Berezkin, inspector of the Tobolsk Theological Seminary.

Covert police surveillance, Jerusalem - 1911

In 1909, the police were going to expel Rasputin from St. Petersburg, but Rasputin was ahead of them and he himself went home to the village of Pokrovskoye for some time.

In 1910, his daughters moved to St. Petersburg to join Rasputin, whom he arranged to study at the gymnasium. At the direction of the Prime Minister, Rasputin was placed under surveillance for several days.

At the beginning of 1911, Bishop Theophan suggested that the Holy Synod officially express displeasure to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in connection with Rasputin’s behavior, and a member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky), reported to Nicholas II about the negative influence of Rasputin.

On December 16, 1911, Rasputin had a clash with Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Bishop Hermogenes, acting in alliance with Hieromonk Iliodor (Trufanov), invited Rasputin to his courtyard; on Vasilievsky Island, in the presence of Iliodor, he “convicted” him, striking him several times with a cross. An argument ensued between them, and then a fight.

In 1911, Rasputin voluntarily left the capital and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

By order of the Minister of Internal Affairs Makarov on January 23, 1912, Rasputin was again placed under surveillance, which continued until his death.

The second case of Rasputin's "Khlysty" in 1912

In January 1912, the Duma declared its attitude towards Rasputin, and in February 1912, Nicholas II ordered V.K. Sabler to resume the case of the Holy Synod with the case of Rasputin’s “Khlysty” and transfer Rodzianko for a report, “ and the palace commandant Dedyulin and handed over to him the Case of the Tobolsk Spiritual Consistory, which contained the beginning of Investigative Proceedings regarding the accusation of Rasputin belonging to the Khlyst sect" On February 26, 1912, at an audience, Rodzianko suggested that the tsar expel the peasant forever. Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) openly wrote that Rasputin is a whip and is participating in zeal.

The new (who replaced Eusebius (Grozdov)) Tobolsk Bishop Alexy (Molchanov) personally took up this matter, studied the materials, requested information from the clergy of the Intercession Church, and repeatedly talked with Rasputin himself. Based on the results of this new investigation, a conclusion of the Tobolsk Ecclesiastical Consistory was prepared and approved on November 29, 1912, which was sent to many high-ranking officials and some deputies of the State Duma. In conclusion, Rasputin-Novy is called “a Christian, a spiritually minded person who seeks the truth of Christ.” Rasputin no longer faced any official charges. But this did not mean that everyone believed in the results of the new investigation. Rasputin’s opponents believe that Bishop Alexy “helped” him in this way for selfish purposes: the disgraced bishop, exiled to Tobolsk from the Pskov See as a result of the discovery of a sectarian St. John’s monastery in the Pskov province, stayed at the Tobolsk See only until October 1913, that is, only a year and a half, after which he was appointed Exarch of Georgia and elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Kartalin and Kakheti with the title of member of the Holy Synod. This is seen as the influence of Rasputin.

However, researchers believe that the rise of Bishop Alexy in 1913 took place only thanks to his devotion to the reigning house, which is especially visible from his sermon delivered on the occasion of the 1905 manifesto. Moreover, the period in which Bishop Alexy was appointed Exarch of Georgia was a period of revolutionary ferment in Georgia.

It should also be noted that Rasputin’s opponents often forget about another elevation: Bishop of Tobolsk Anthony (Karzhavin), who brought the first case of “Khlysty” against Rasputin, was moved in 1910 from cold Siberia to the Tver See for this very reason and was elevated to the rank of archbishop on Easter. But they remember that this translation took place precisely because the first case was sent to the archives of the Synod.

Prophecies, writings and correspondence of Rasputin

During his lifetime, Rasputin published two books:
Rasputin, G. E. Life of an experienced wanderer. - May 1907.
G. E. Rasputin. My thoughts and reflections. - Petrograd, 1915..

The books are a literary record of his conversations, since the surviving notes of Rasputin testify to his illiteracy.

The eldest daughter writes about her father:

"... my father was, to put it mildly, not fully trained in reading and writing. He began taking his first writing and reading lessons in St. Petersburg".

In total there are 100 canonical prophecies of Rasputin. The most famous was the prediction of the death of the Imperial House:

"As long as I live, the dynasty will live".

Some authors believe that Rasputin is mentioned in Alexandra Feodorovna’s letters to Nicholas II. In the letters themselves, Rasputin’s surname is not mentioned, but some authors believe that Rasputin in the letters is designated by the words “Friend”, or “He” in capital letters, although this has no documentary evidence. The letters were published in the USSR by 1927, and in the Berlin publishing house “Slovo” in 1922. The correspondence was preserved in the State Archive of the Russian Federation - Novoromanovsky Archive.

Anti-Rasputin campaign in the press

In 1910, the Tolstoyan M.A. Novoselov published several critical articles about Rasputin in Moskovskie Vedomosti (No. 49 - “Spiritual guest performer Grigory Rasputin”, No. 72 - “Something else about Grigory Rasputin”).

In 1912, Novoselov published in his publishing house the brochure “Grigory Rasputin and Mystical Debauchery,” which accused Rasputin of being a Khlysty and criticized the highest church hierarchy. The brochure was banned and confiscated from the printing house. The newspaper "Voice of Moscow" was fined for publishing excerpts from it. After this, the State Duma followed up with a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the legality of punishing the editors of Voice of Moscow and Novoye Vremya.

Also in 1912, Rasputin’s acquaintance, former hieromonk Iliodor, began distributing several scandalous letters from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses to Rasputin.

Copies printed on a hectograph circulated around St. Petersburg. Most researchers consider these letters to be forgeries. Later, Iliodor, on the advice of Gorky, wrote a libelous book “Holy Devil” about Rasputin, which was published in 1917 during the revolution.

In 1913-1914 The Supreme Council of the All-Russian People's Republic attempted a propaganda campaign regarding Rasputin's role at court. Somewhat later, the Council made an attempt to publish a brochure directed against Rasputin, and when this attempt failed (the brochure was delayed by censorship), the Council took steps to distribute this brochure in a typed copy.

Assassination attempt by Khionia Guseva

On June 29 (July 12), 1914, an attempt was made on Rasputin in the village of Pokrovskoye. He was stabbed in the stomach and seriously wounded by Khionia Guseva, who came from Tsaritsyn. Rasputin testified that he suspected Iliodor of organizing the assassination attempt, but could not provide any evidence of this. On July 3, Rasputin was transported by ship to Tyumen for treatment. Rasputin remained in the Tyumen hospital until August 17, 1914. The investigation into the assassination attempt lasted about a year. Guseva was declared mentally ill in July 1915 and released from criminal liability, being placed in a psychiatric hospital in Tomsk. On March 27, 1917, on the personal orders of A.F. Kerensky, Guseva was released.

Murder

Rasputin was killed on the night of December 17, 1916 in the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. Conspirators: F. F. Yusupov, V. M. Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, British intelligence officer MI6 Oswald Rayner (officially the investigation did not count him as murder).

Information about the murder is contradictory, it was confused both by the killers themselves and by the pressure on the investigation by the Russian, British and Soviet authorities. Yusupov changed his testimony several times: in the St. Petersburg police on December 16, 1916, in exile in Crimea in 1917, in a book in 1927, sworn to in 1934 and in 1965. Initially, Purishkevich’s memoirs were published, then Yusupov echoed his version. However, they radically diverged from the testimony of the investigation. Starting from naming the wrong color of the clothes that Rasputin was wearing according to the killers and in which he was found, and to how many and where bullets were fired. For example, forensic experts found 3 wounds, each of which was fatal: to the head, liver and kidney. (According to British researchers who studied the photograph, the control shot to the forehead was made from a British Webley .455 revolver.) After a shot in the liver, a person can live no more than 20 minutes, and is not able, as the killers said, to run down the street in half an hour or an hour. There was also no shot to the heart, which the killers unanimously claimed.

Rasputin was first lured into the basement, treated to red wine and a pie poisoned with potassium cyanide. Yusupov went upstairs and, returning, shot him in the back, causing him to fall. The conspirators went outside. Yusupov, who returned to get the cloak, checked the body; suddenly Rasputin woke up and tried to strangle the killer. The conspirators who ran in at that moment began to shoot at Rasputin. As they approached, they were surprised that he was still alive and began to beat him. According to the killers, the poisoned and shot Rasputin came to his senses, got out of the basement and tried to climb over the high wall of the garden, but was caught by the killers, who heard a dog barking. Then he was tied with ropes hand and foot (according to Purishkevich, first wrapped in blue cloth), taken by car to a pre-selected place near Kamenny Island and thrown from the bridge into the Neva polynya in such a way that the body ended up under the ice. However, according to the investigation materials, the discovered corpse was dressed in a fur coat, there was no fabric or ropes.

The investigation into the murder of Rasputin, led by the director of the Police Department A.T. Vasilyev, progressed quite quickly. Already the first interrogations of Rasputin’s family members and servants showed that on the night of the murder, Rasputin went to visit Prince Yusupov. Policeman Vlasyuk, who was on duty on the night of December 16-17 on the street not far from the Yusupov Palace, testified that he heard several shots at night. During a search in the courtyard of the Yusupovs' house, traces of blood were found.

On the afternoon of December 17, passers-by noticed blood stains on the parapet of the Petrovsky Bridge. After exploration by divers of the Neva, Rasputin’s body was discovered in this place. The forensic medical examination was entrusted to the famous professor of the Military Medical Academy D. P. Kosorotov. The original autopsy report has not been preserved; the cause of death can only be speculated.

« During the autopsy, very numerous injuries were found, many of which were inflicted posthumously. The entire right side of the head was crushed and flattened due to the bruise of the corpse when it fell from the bridge. Death resulted from heavy bleeding due to a gunshot wound to the stomach. The shot was fired, in my opinion, almost point-blank, from left to right, through the stomach and liver, with the latter being fragmented in the right half. The bleeding was very profuse. The corpse also had a gunshot wound in the back, in the spinal area, with a crushed right kidney, and another point-blank wound in the forehead, probably of someone who was already dying or had died. The chest organs were intact and were examined superficially, but there were no signs of death by drowning. The lungs were not distended, and there was no water or foamy fluid in the airways. Rasputin was thrown into the water already dead"- Conclusion of the forensic expert Professor D.N. Kosorotova.

No poison was found in Rasputin's stomach. Possible explanations for this are that the cyanide in the cakes was neutralized by sugar or high temperature when cooked in the oven. His daughter reports that after Guseva's assassination attempt, Rasputin suffered from high acidity and avoided sweet foods. It is reported that he was poisoned with a dose capable of killing 5 people. Some modern researchers suggest that there was no poison - this is a lie to confuse the investigation.

There are a number of nuances in determining O. Reiner's involvement. At that time, there were two MI6 officers in St. Petersburg who could have committed murder: Yusupov's school friend Oswald Rayner and Captain Stephen Alley, who was born in the Yusupov Palace. Both families were close to Yusupov, and it is difficult to say who exactly killed. The former was suspected, and Tsar Nicholas II directly mentioned that the killer was Yusupov’s school friend. Reiner was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1919, and destroyed his papers before his death in 1961. Compton's driver's log records that he brought Oswald to Yusupov (and another officer, Captain John Scale) a week before the assassination, and for the last time - on the day of the murder. Compton also directly hinted at Rayner, saying that the killer was a lawyer and was born in the same city as him. There is a letter from Alley written to Scale 8 days after the murder: “ Although not everything went according to plan, our goal was achieved... Rayner is covering his tracks and will undoubtedly contact you for instructions.“According to modern British researchers, the order to three British agents (Rayner, Alley and Scale) to eliminate Rasputin came from Mansfield Smith-Cumming (the first director of MI6).

The investigation lasted two and a half months until the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on March 2, 1917. On this day, Kerensky became Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government. On March 4, 1917, he ordered a hasty termination of the investigation, while investigator A. T. Vasiliev (arrested during the February Revolution) was transported to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was interrogated by the Extraordinary Commission of Investigation until September, and later emigrated.

Version about the English conspiracy

In 2004, the BBC aired the documentary Who Killed Rasputin?, which brought new attention to the murder investigation. According to the version shown in the film, the “glory” and the idea of ​​this murder belongs exclusively to Great Britain, the Russian conspirators were only the perpetrators, the control shot to the forehead was fired from the British officers’ Webley .455 revolver.

According to researchers motivated by the film and who published books, Rasputin was killed with the active participation of the British intelligence service Mi-6; the killers confused the investigation in order to hide the British trace. The motive for the conspiracy was the following: Great Britain feared Rasputin’s influence on the Russian Empress, which threatened the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany. To eliminate the threat, the conspiracy against Rasputin that was brewing in Russia was used.

It is also stated there that the next murder the British intelligence services planned immediately after the revolution was the murder of Joseph Stalin, who most loudly sought peace with Germany.

Funeral

Rasputin's funeral service was conducted by Bishop Isidor (Kolokolov), who was well acquainted with him. In his memoirs, A.I. Spiridovich recalls that Bishop Isidore celebrated the funeral mass (which he had no right to do).

They said later that Metropolitan Pitirim, who was approached about the funeral service, rejected this request. In those days, a legend was spread that the Empress was present at the autopsy and funeral service, which reached the English Embassy. It was a typical piece of gossip directed against the Empress.

At first they wanted to bury the murdered man in his homeland, in the village of Pokrovskoye. But due to the danger of possible unrest in connection with sending the body across half the country, they buried it in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoe Selo on the territory of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov, which was being built by Anna Vyrubova.

The burial was found, and Kerensky ordered Kornilov to organize the destruction of the body. For several days the coffin with the remains stood in a special carriage. Rasputin's body was burned on the night of March 11 in the furnace of the steam boiler of the Polytechnic Institute. An official act on the burning of Rasputin's corpse was drawn up.

Three months after Rasputin's death, his grave was desecrated. At the site of the burning, two inscriptions are inscribed on a birch tree, one of which is in German: “Hier ist der Hund begraben” (“A dog is buried here”) and then “The corpse of Rasputin Grigory was burned here on the night of March 10-11, 1917.” .

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin is an outstanding personality in history. His image is quite ambiguous and mysterious. Disputes about this man have been going on for almost a century.

Birth of Rasputin

Many still have not been able to decide who Rasputin is and what he actually became famous for in the history of Russia. He was born in 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoye. Official information about the date of his birth is quite contradictory. Some historians believe that Grigory Rasputin's life years are 1864-1917. In his mature years, he himself did not clarify things, reporting various untrue data about the date of his birth. Historians believe that Rasputin liked to exaggerate his age in order to fit the image of an old man he himself created.

In addition, many explained such a strong influence on the royal family precisely by the presence of hypnotic abilities. Rumors about Rasputin's healing powers had been spreading since his youth, but even his parents did not believe in it. His father believed that he became a pilgrim only because he was very lazy.

Assassination attempt on Rasputin

There were several attempts on the life of Grigory Rasputin. In 1914, he was stabbed in the stomach and seriously wounded by Khionia Guseva, who came from Tsaritsyn. At that time she was under the influence of Hieromonk Iliodor, who was an opponent of Rasputin, since he saw him as his main competitor. Guseva was placed in a psychiatric hospital, considered mentally ill, and after some time she was released.

Iliodor himself more than once chased Rasputin with an ax, threatening to kill him, and also prepared 120 bombs for this purpose. In addition, there were also several more attempts on the life of the “holy elder,” but all of them were unsuccessful.

Predicting your own death

Rasputin had an amazing gift of providence, so he not only predicted his own death, but also the death of the royal family, and many other events. The empress's confessor, Bishop Feofan, recalled that Rasputin was once asked what the outcome of the meeting with the Japanese would be. He replied that Admiral Rozhdestvensky’s squadron would drown, which is what happened in the battle of Tsushima.

Once, while with the imperial family in Tsarskoe Selo, Rasputin did not allow them to have dinner in the dining room, saying that the chandelier might fall. They obeyed him, and literally 2 days later the chandelier actually fell.

They say that he left behind 11 more prophecies that are gradually coming true. He also predicted his own death. Shortly before the murder, Rasputin wrote a will with terrible prophecies. He said that if he was killed by peasants or hired killers, then nothing would threaten the imperial family and the Romanovs would remain in power for many years. And if the nobles and boyars kill him, then this will bring destruction to the House of Romanov and there will be no nobility in Russia for another 25 years.

The story of Rasputin's murder

Many people are interested in who Rasputin is and why he is famous in history. Moreover, his death was unusual and surprising. A group of conspirators were from wealthy families, under the leadership of Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, they decided to put an end to the unlimited power of Rasputin.

In December 1916, they lured him to a late dinner, where they tried to poison him by mixing potassium cyanide into cakes and wine. However, potassium cyanide had no effect. Yusupov got tired of waiting and shot Rasputin in the back, but the shot only provoked the old man more, and he rushed at the prince, trying to strangle him. His friends came to Yusupov’s aid, who shot Rasputin several more times and beat him severely. After that, they tied his hands, wrapped him in cloth and threw him into the hole.

According to some reports, Rasputin fell into the water while still alive, but could not get out, became hypothermic and choked, from which he died. However, there are records that he received mortal wounds while still alive and fell into the water of the Neva already dead.

Information about this, as well as the testimony of his killers, is quite contradictory, so it is not known exactly how this happened.

The series "Grigory Rasputin" is not entirely true to reality, since in the film he was made to be a tall and powerful man, although, in fact, he was short and sickly in his youth. According to historical facts, he was a pale, frail man with an exhausted appearance and sunken eyes. This is confirmed by police records.

There are quite contradictory and interesting facts in the biography of Grigory Rasputin, according to which he did not possess any extraordinary abilities. Rasputin is not the old man’s real name, it is just his pseudonym. Real name is Vilkin. Many believed that he was a ladies' man, constantly changing women, but contemporaries noted that Rasputin sincerely loved his wife and constantly remembered her.

There is an opinion that the “holy elder” was fabulously rich. Since he had influence at court, he was often approached with requests for large rewards. Rasputin spent part of the money on himself, as he built a 2-story house in his native village and purchased an expensive fur coat. He spent most of his money on charity and built churches. After his death, security services checked the accounts, but found no money in them.

Many said that Rasputin was actually the ruler of Russia, but this is absolutely not true, because Nicholas II had his own opinion on everything, and the elder was only allowed to sometimes advise. These and many other interesting facts about Grigory Rasputin show that he was completely different from what he was thought to be.

Healer, healer, Siberian prophet, a person close to Her Imperial Majesty, the personality of Grigory Rasputin, in the history of Russia, one of the most mysterious! All known facts about him are not documented, but are based on the words of people who lived in those days. This information was passed on from one person to another and was distorted accordingly.

Rasputin Grigory Efimovich, was born on July 29, 1871 (according to other sources, January 9, 1869) in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province. The place of his birth was previously almost inaccessible to many of his fans, because of this, information about Rasputin in his native places is inaccurate and fragmentary, and their author was mainly Grigory. They do not exclude the possibility that he might have monastic rank, but there is still a high probability that he simply had excellent acting skills and brilliantly played his holiness and exceptionally close Divine connection.

Rasputin with children in Pokrovskoye. On the left is daughter Varvara, on the right is son Dmitry. Daughter Maria in her arms.

Upon reaching the age of eighteen, Gregory went as a pilgrim to the Verkhoturye Monastery, but did not become a monk. A year later, he returned to his native village and there he married Dubrovina Praskovya Fedorovna, who bore him three children: Dmitry in 1897, Maria in 1898, and Varvara in 1900.

Maria Rasputina in exile

Varvara Rasputina (probably)

Marriage did not interfere with the continuation of pilgrimage activities. Rasputin continues to visit holy places, visiting the Greek monastery of Athos and Jerusalem. He made all these journeys on foot.

As a result of visits to such shrines, Gregory felt his divine chosenness and announced the holiness bestowed upon him, and also told everyone about his exceptional healing gift. News about the Siberian healer spreads throughout the Russian Empire, and now people make pilgrimages to Rasputin. People come to him from the farthest corners of Russia. It is also worth mentioning that the famous healer had no education, was illiterate, and did not understand medicine at all. But thanks to his acting abilities, he could pretend to be a great healer: he calmed the desperate, provided assistance with advice, prayers, and had the gift of persuasion.

One day, when Gregory was plowing a field, he had a vision of the Mother of God. She told him about the illness of Tsarevich Alexei, he was the only son of Nicholas II (he suffered from hemophilia, which was inherited from his mother), and gave him instructions to go to St. Petersburg and help save the heir to the throne.

In 1905, Grigory finds himself in St. Petersburg at the most convenient moment. At that time, the church really needed “prophets” - people who inspired trust in people. This role suited Rasputin perfectly; he had typical peasant appearance, simple speech, and a tough temper. But his opponents spread rumors that this false prophet was using religion only for profit, to satisfy his base needs and gain power.

In 1907, Rasputin received an invitation from the imperial family, which was due to the aggravation of the prince’s illness. All members of the royal family carefully concealed the fact that the crown prince had hemophelia, in order to avoid public unrest. Because of this, for some time they did not want to allow Rasputin to see the heir, but during a severe exacerbation of the illness, the tsar gave his permission.

During Rasputin's subsequent life in St. Petersburg, he was closely associated with concerns about the prince. Having become a frequent guest of the imperial family, Rasputin acquired many acquaintances in high St. Petersburg society, and all representatives of the capital's elite really wanted to get acquainted with the Siberian healer, who was nicknamed “Grishka Rasputin” behind his back.

In 1910, both of Rasputin’s daughters came to the capital and, under the patronage, entered the gymnasium.

St. Petersburg, Gorokhovaya street, the house in which Rasputin lived.

The emperor did not approve of Gregory's frequent visits to the palace. At that time, gossip spread throughout the capital about Rasputin’s indecent lifestyle. Rumors circulated about how Gregory, with his great influence over the Empress, took bribes (in money and in kind) to promote certain projects or help advance his career. His riotous drinking sessions and real pogroms horrified the residents of the capital. There was also talk about Rasputin's intimate relationship with Alexandra Fedorovna, which greatly undermined the authority of the imperial family, and especially Nicholas II.

Soon, a conspiracy against the Siberian healer matured in the imperial entourage. Felix Yusupov (husband of the Tsar's niece), Vladimir Purishkevich (State Duma deputy) and Grand Duke Dmitry (cousin of Nicholas II). On December 30, 1916, Rasputin received an invitation to the Yusupov Palace, ostensibly to meet with the imperial niece, who was one of the most beautiful women in the capital. The sweets and drinks that Gregory treated himself to contained cyanide, but for some reason the poison had no effect at all. Losing patience, the trio of conspirators decided to use another surefire method. Yusupov fired a shot at Rasputin, but he was lucky again. Running out of the palace, he met the other two members of the conspiracy, who, in turn, shot him at point-blank range. Rasputin even after that tried to get up and run away from his pursuers. But they tied the “Siberian elder” tightly, put him in a bag of stones, took him out in a car and threw him off the bridge into the Neva wormwood. new healing abilities and the gift of foresight!!! It is not for today’s “historians” to judge in a negative way the extraordinary personality of the mighty Siberian peasant, who did everything to maintain legitimate power in the country and prevent the unrest (color revolution) caused by the West!!! Even the fact that his enemies were indoctrinated by English politicians with the help of British intelligence services, its very existence confirms the sincere patriotism of the hero of that time!!! The complete lack of will and political weakness of the tsar played a cruel joke on Rasputin, and then on the tsar himself, his dynasty and, ultimately, on Russia!!!

Historians are contradictory in assessing his personality. Who was he - a cunning charlatan, a black magician, a drunkard and a libertine, or a prophet, a holy ascetic and a miracle worker who had the gift of healing and foresight? There is no consensus to this day. Only one thing is certain - the uniqueness of nature.

Childhood and youth

Since childhood, the boy was not very strong physically, he was often sick, and from the age of 15 he suffered from insomnia. As a teenager, he surprised his fellow villagers with his strange abilities: he could supposedly heal sick cattle, and once, using clairvoyance, he pinpointed exactly where the neighbor’s missing horse was located. But in general, until the age of 27, he was no different from his peers - he worked a lot, drank, smoked, and was illiterate. His dissolute lifestyle gave him the nickname Rasputin, which stuck tightly. Also, some researchers attribute to Gregory the creation of a local branch of the Khlyst sect, preaching “dumping sin.”

In search of work, he settled in Tobolsk, got a wife, a religious peasant woman Praskova Dubrovina, who gave birth to a son and two daughters, but the marriage did not curb his temperament, eager for female affection. It was as if some inexplicable force was attracting the opposite sex to Gregory.

Around 1892, a dramatic change occurred in the man's behavior. Prophetic dreams began to bother him, and he turned to nearby monasteries for help. In particular, I visited Abalaksky, located on the banks of the Irtysh. Later, in 1918, it was visited by the royal family exiled to Tobolsk, who knew about the monastery and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God kept there from Rasputin’s stories.

The decision to start a new life finally matured for Gregory when in Verkhoturye, where he came to venerate the relics of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, he had a sign - the heavenly patron of the Ural land himself came in a dream and ordered him to repent, go wander and heal people. The appearance of the saint shocked him so much that he stopped sinning, began to pray a lot, gave up eating meat, stopped drinking and smoking, and set out on wanderings to introduce spirituality into his life.

He visited many holy places in Russia (in Valaam, Solovki, Optina Desert, etc.), and visited beyond its borders - on the holy Greek Mount Athos and in Jerusalem. During the same period, he mastered reading and writing and the Holy Scriptures, and in 1900 he made a pilgrimage to Kyiv, then to Kazan. And all this - on foot! Wandering across the Russian expanses, he delivered sermons, made predictions, cast spells on demons, and talked about his gift of working miracles. Rumors about his healing powers spread throughout the country, and suffering people from different places began to come to him for help. And he treated them, having no idea about medicine.

Petersburg period

In 1906, he changed his last name to Rasputin-Novykh.

The subsequent life of the wanderer-seer in the city on the Neva was inextricably linked with the August family. For more than 10 years, he treated the Tsarevich, successfully driving away the empress’s insomnia, sometimes doing this simply over the phone. The distrustful and cautious autocrat did not welcome frequent visits from the “elder,” but noted that after talking with him, even his soul felt “light and calm.”

Soon, the extraordinary visionary acquired the image of an “adviser” and “friend of the king,” gaining enormous influence over the couple of rulers. They did not believe the rumors that circulated about his drunken brawls, orgies, performing black magic rituals and obscene behavior, as well as that he accepted bribes for the promotion of certain projects, including fateful decisions for the country, and for the appointment of officials to high positions. For example, at the behest of Rasputin, Nicholas II removed his uncle Nikolai Nikolaevich from the post of supreme commander-in-chief of the army, since he clearly saw Rasputin as an adventurer and was not afraid to tell his nephew about it.

Rasputin was forgiven for drunken brawls and shameless antics like carousing in the Yar restaurant in the nude. “The legendary debauchery of Emperor Tiberius on the island of Capri becomes moderate and banal after this,” the American ambassador recalled about the parties in Gregory’s house. There is also information about Rasputin's attempt to seduce Princess Olga, the emperor's younger sister.

Communication with a person of such a reputation undermined the authority of the emperor. In addition, few knew about the Tsarevich’s illness, and the healer’s closeness to the Court began to be explained by his more than friendly relations with the Empress. But, on the other hand, he had a striking effect on many representatives of secular society, especially women. He was admired and considered a saint.

Personal life of Grigory Rasputin

In 1910, he took his daughters to his capital and enrolled them in a gymnasium. His wife and Dima stayed at home, in Pokrovskoye, on the farm, where he periodically visited. She supposedly knew very well about his riotous lifestyle in the capital, and was completely calm about it.

After the revolution, daughter Varya died from typhoid and tuberculosis. The brother, mother, wife and daughter were sent into exile to the North, where they all soon passed away.

The eldest daughter managed to live to old age. She got married and gave birth to two daughters: the eldest in Russia, the youngest in exile. In recent years she lived in the USA, where she passed away in 1977.

Death of Rasputin

Shortly before his death, Rasputin, feeling a threat looming over him, sent a letter to the Empress, in which he indicated that if any of the relatives of the royal family became his killer, then Nicholas II and all his relatives would die within 2 years, - they say, it was to him such a vision. And if a commoner becomes a murderer, then the imperial family will flourish for a long time.

A group of conspirators, including the husband of the sovereign’s niece Irina, Felix Yusupov and the autocrat’s cousin, Dmitry Pavlovich, decided to put an end to the influence of the unwanted “adviser” on the imperial family and the entire Russian government (they were spoken of in society as lovers).

Felix then shot him in the back, but again to no avail. The guest ran out of the mansion, where the killers shot him point-blank. And it did not kill the “man of God.” Then they started finishing him off with batons, castrated him, and threw his body into the river. Later it turned out that even after these bloody atrocities, he remained alive and tried to get out of the icy water, but drowned.

Rasputin's predictions

Your own death;

The collapse of the empire and the death of the emperor;

The Second World War, describing in detail the blockade of Leningrad (“I know, I know, they will surround St. Petersburg, they will starve! How many people will die, and all because of this nonsense! But you can’t see bread on the palm of your hand! That’s death in the city ". But you won't see St. Petersburg! We'll die hungry, but we won't let you in!" he once shouted in his heart to a German who had insulted him. Anna Vyrubova, a close friend of Empress Alexandra, wrote about this in her diary);

Flights into space and landing a man on the Moon (“the Americans will walk on the Moon, leave their shameful flag and fly away”);

The formation of the USSR and its subsequent collapse (“There was Russia - there will be a red hole. There was a red hole - there will be a swamp of the wicked, who dug a red hole. There was a swamp of the wicked - there will be a dry field, but there will be no Russia - there will be no hole");

Nuclear explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (claimed to have seen two islands burned to the ground in fire);

Genetic experiments and cloning (the birth of “monsters without a soul or an umbilical cord”);

Terrorist attacks at the beginning of this century.

Grigory Rasputin. Documentary.

One of his most impressive predictions is considered to be a statement about “the world in reverse” - this is the upcoming disappearance of the sun for three days, when fog will cover the earth, and “people will wait for death as salvation,” and the seasons will change places.

All this information was gleaned from the diaries of his interlocutors, so there is no prerequisite to consider Rasputin a “fortuneteller” or “clairvoyant.”

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

Politics is a dirty business. And also very interesting and profitable. If a weak-willed person is at the helm of the state, creepy people will certainly appear next to him, who at different times were called “favorites”, “gray cardinals” or “informal leaders”. They are the ones who govern the country: they distribute top positions, control lawmaking and foreign policy. The political career of most behind-the-scenes intriguers is short, and their fate is simple and unenviable. Only one such “favorite” is still assessed ambiguously. His life is shrouded in a magical aura. It has become one of the most popular myths of twentieth century popular culture.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

In the mid-19th century, a peasant from the village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk province, Efim Yakovlevich Rasputin, at the age of twenty, married a twenty-two-year-old girl, Anna. The wife repeatedly gave birth to daughters, but they died. The first boy, Andrei, also died. From the census of the village population for 1897, it is known that on the tenth of January 1869 (the day of Gregory of Nyssa according to the Julian calendar), her second son was born, named after the calendar saint. However, the registry books of the rural church have not been preserved, and later Rasputin always gave different dates of his birth, hiding his real age, so the exact day and year of Rasputin’s birth is still unknown.

The village of Pokrovskoye on the river. Ture. 1912

Color photographs by S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky

"Debauch" means a dissolute, immoral person. Previously, the names Rasputa and Besputa were in use. Later, through patronymics, they turned into surnames (for example, Savka, Rasputin's son), especially popular in the North.

Rasputin's father drank a lot at first, but then he came to his senses and started a household. In the winter he worked as a coachman, and in the summer he plowed the land, fished and unloaded barges. Young Gregory was frail and dreamy, but this did not last long - as soon as he matured, he began to fight with his peers and parents, and to go for walks (once he managed to drink away a cart with hay and horses at a fair, after which he walked home eighty miles on foot). Fellow villagers recalled that already in his youth he possessed powerful sexual magnetism. Grishka was caught more than once with girls and beaten.

Rasputin in a carriage

Rasputin's house in Pokrovskoye

Soon Rasputin began to steal, for which he was almost deported to Eastern Siberia. Once he was beaten for yet another theft - so much so that Grishka, according to the villagers, became " weird and stupid" Rasputin himself claimed that after being stabbed in the chest with a stake, he was on the verge of death and experienced "the joy of suffering".

The trauma did not pass without a trace - Rasputin stopped drinking and smoking, married Praskovya Dubrovina from a neighboring village (choosing, like his father, an older girl), had children and began visiting holy places.

Rasputin with children (from left to right): Matryona, Varya, Mitya.

His family laughed at him. He did not eat meat or sweets, heard different voices, walked from Siberia to St. Petersburg and back, and ate alms. In the spring, he had exacerbations - he did not sleep for many days in a row, sang songs, shook his fists at Satan and ran in the cold in only a shirt. His prophecies included calls to repentance, " until trouble comes" Sometimes, by pure coincidence, trouble happened the very next day (huts burned, livestock got sick, people died) - and the peasants began to believe that the blessed man had the gift of foresight. He gained followers... and followers.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

This went on for about ten years. Rasputin learned about the Khlysty (sectarians who beat themselves with whips and suppressed lust through group sex), as well as the Skoptsy (preachers of castration) who separated from them. It is assumed that he adopted some of their teachings and more than once personally “and amused"Pilgrim from sin in the bathhouse.

Grigory Rasputin with fellow villagers, Pokrovskoye village

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

At the “divine” age of 33, Gregory begins to storm St. Petersburg. Having secured recommendations from provincial priests, he settles with the rector of the Theological Academy, Bishop Sergius, the future Stalinist patriarch. He, impressed by the exotic character, introduces the “old man” (long years of wandering on foot gave the young Rasputin the appearance of an old man) to the powers that be. Thus began the journey " man of God" to glory.

Patriarch Sergius (in the world Ivan Nikolaevich Stragorodsky

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

Rasputin's first loud prophecy was the prediction of the death of our ships at Tsushima. Perhaps he got it from newspaper news reports that a squadron of old ships had sailed to meet the modern Japanese fleet without observing secrecy measures.

Ave, Caesar!

The last ruler of the House of Romanov was distinguished by lack of will and superstition: he considered himself Job, doomed to trials, and kept meaningless diaries, where he shed virtual tears, looking at how his country was going downhill. The queen also lived in isolation from the real world and believed in the supernatural power of the “elders of the people.” Knowing this, her friend, the Montenegrin princess Milica, took outright scoundrels to the palace. The monarchs listened to the ravings of swindlers and schizophrenics with childish delight. The war with Japan, the revolution and the illness of the prince finally unbalanced the pendulum of the weak royal psyche. Everything was ready for Rasputin's appearance.

Milica and Stana Montenegrin

Militsa Chernogorskaya

For a long time, only daughters were born in the Romanov family. To conceive a son, the queen resorted to the help of the French magician Philip. It was he, and not Rasputin, who was the first to take advantage of the spiritual naivety of the royal family. The scale of the chaos that reigned in the minds of the last Russian monarchs (one of the most educated people of that time) can be judged by the fact that the queen felt safe thanks to a magic icon with a bell that supposedly rang when evil people approached.

Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia

The first meeting of the Tsar and Tsarina with Rasputin took place on November 1, 1905 at the palace over tea. He dissuaded the weak-willed monarchs from escaping to England (they say they were already packing their things), which most likely would have saved them from death and would have sent Russian history in a different direction. The next time, he gave the Romanovs a miraculous icon (found from them after the execution), then allegedly healed Tsarevich Alexei, who had hemophilia, and eased the pain of Stolypin’s daughter, wounded by terrorists. The shaggy man forever captured the hearts and minds of the august couple.

Please note that in all photographs Rasputin always holds one hand raised.

The Emperor personally arranges for Gregory to change his dissonant surname to “New” (which, however, did not stick). Soon Rasputin-Novykh acquires another lever of influence at court - the young maid of honor Anna Vyrubova (a close friend of the queen) who idolizes the “elder”. He becomes the confessor of the Romanovs and comes to the tsar at any time without making an appointment for an audience.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Anna Vyrubova

At court, Gregory was always “in character,” but outside the political scene he was completely transformed. Having bought himself a new house in Pokrovskoye, he took noble St. Petersburg fans there. There the “elder” put on expensive clothes, became self-satisfied, and gossiped about the king and nobles. Every day he showed the queen (whom he called “mother”) miracles: he predicted the weather or the exact time of the king’s return home.

It was then that Rasputin made his most famous prediction: “ As long as I live, the dynasty will live».

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

Rasputin at his home on Gorokhovaya Street in Petrograd.

The growing power of Rasputin did not suit the court. Cases were brought against him, but each time the “elder” very successfully left the capital, going either home to Pokrovskoye or on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1911, the Synod spoke out against Rasputin. Bishop Hermogenes (who ten years ago expelled a certain Joseph Dzhugashvili from the theological seminary) tried to drive out the devil from Gregory and publicly beat him on the head with a cross. Rasputin was under police surveillance, which did not stop until his death.

Elder Macarius, Bishop Theophan and Grigory Rasputin.

Rasputin, Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor

Secret agents watched through the windows the most piquant scenes from the life of a man who would soon be called " holy damn" Once suppressed, rumors about Grishka’s sexual adventures began to swell with renewed vigor. The police recorded Rasputin visiting bathhouses in the company of prostitutes and wives of influential people. Copies of the Tsarina’s tender letter to Rasputin circulated around St. Petersburg, from which it could be concluded that they were lovers. These stories were picked up by the newspapers - and the word " Rasputin"became known throughout Europe.

G.E. Rasputin with Major General Prince M.S. Putyatin

And Colonel D.N. Loman. Petersburg. 1904-1905.

Public health

People who believed in Rasputin's miracles believe that he himself, as well as his death, are mentioned in the Bible itself: “ And if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16-18).

Today no one doubts that Rasputin really had a beneficial effect on the physical condition of the prince and the mental stability of his mother. How did he do it?

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna at the bedside of the sick heir Alexei

Rasputin and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna drink tea

Rasputin, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with children

Contemporaries noted that Rasputin’s speech was always incoherent; it was very difficult to follow his thoughts. Huge, with long arms, a tavern floorman's hairstyle and a spade beard, he often talked to himself and patted his thighs. Without exception, all of Rasputin's interlocutors recognized his unusual look - deeply sunken gray eyes, as if glowing from within and fettering your will. Stolypin recalled that when he met Rasputin, he felt that they were trying to hypnotize him.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

This certainly influenced the king and queen. However, it is difficult to explain the repeated relief of the royal children from pain. Rasputin's main healing weapon was prayer - and he could pray all night long. One day in Belovezhskaya Pushcha the heir began to experience severe internal bleeding. Doctors told his parents that he would not survive. A telegram was sent to Rasputin asking him to heal Alexei from a distance. He quickly recovered, which greatly surprised the court doctors.

Kill the dragon

The man who called himself " small fly” and who appointed officials by telephone call was illiterate. He learned to read and write only in St. Petersburg. He left behind only short notes filled with terrible scribbles. Until the end of his life, Rasputin looked like a tramp, which repeatedly hindered him " take off» prostitutes for daily orgies. The wanderer quickly forgot about a healthy lifestyle - he drank, and drunk called ministers with various " petitions", the failure of which was career suicide.

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

Rasputin did not save money, either starving or throwing it left and right. He seriously influenced the country’s foreign policy, twice persuading Nicholas not to start a war in the Balkans (inspiring the Tsar that the Germans were a dangerous force, and the “brothers,” i.e., the Slavs, were pigs).

Facsimile of Rasputin's letter with a request for some of his protégés

When World War I finally began, Rasputin expressed a desire to come to the front to bless the soldiers. The commander of the troops, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, promised to hang him on the nearest tree. In response, Rasputin gave birth to another prophecy that Russia would not win the war until an autocrat (who had a military education, but showed himself to be an incompetent strategist) stood at the head of the army. The king, of course, led the army. With consequences known to history.

Politicians actively criticized the queen - “n German spy y", not forgetting about Rasputin. It was then that the image was created eminence grise", deciding all state issues, although in fact Rasputin's power was far from absolute. German Zeppelins scattered leaflets over the trenches, where the Kaiser leaned on the people, and Nicholas II on Rasputin’s genitals. The priests also did not lag behind. It was announced that the murder of Grishka was a benefit for which “ forty sins will be removed».