tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72387277892737011282024-03-08T02:14:53.786-08:00Grigori Efimovici Rasputin Official Site Blog - Biography DeathWe collect all Rasputin information.
The secrets of Rasputin deathUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238727789273701128.post-57935307567179310102010-10-13T01:36:00.000-07:002010-10-13T01:36:03.426-07:00Rasputin's real Death ?<div class="articleBody"> <h1 class="articlePageTitle">Rasputin's Death</h1>When <strong>Prince Felix Yusupov</strong> invited Rasputin to his home on Dec. 29, 1916, it wasn't for pleasantries. Married to the niece of Czar Nicholas, Yusupov plotted with a group of nobles to murder Rasputin in an effort to save <a href="http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/history-of-russia.htm">Russia</a> from imminent collapse.<br />
<div style="float: right; padding-bottom: 3px; text-align: center; width: 200px;"><img alt="rasputin military" class="article" height="306" src="http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/rasputin-5.jpg" width="200" /><br />
<span class="credit">Hulton Archive/<a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://www.gettyimages.com">Getty Images</a></span><br />
<span class="caption">Rasputin with Russian military officials in 1910. </span></div>Since the details of the night rely on eyewitness testimony, disputes have arisen regarding what exactly happened. Generally, historians believe that the prince wooed Rasputin to his home with the prospect of meeting his attractive wife. Yusopov laced pastries and <a href="http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/winemaking.htm">wine</a> with enough cyanide to poison several men. However, after Rasputin arrived and began eating and drinking, the poison had no effect, and Yuspov panicked. Determined to end Rasputin's life, Yusupov pulled out a <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/gun-roundup.htm">gun</a> and shot Rasputin, striking him in the back [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YcYIbtQTTl0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA239,M1">Yusupov</a>].<br />
After Rasputin fell to floor and was presumed dead, Yusupov and his friends celebrated upstairs. A little later, Yusupov checked on the body. The prince checked the pulse, feeling no sign of life and even shook Rasputin. Somehow still alive, Rasputin opened his eyes, which Yusopov described as the "green eyes of a viper" [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YcYIbtQTTl0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA239,M1">Yusupov</a>], and he attempted to escape. Yusopov and his co-conspirators chased Rasputin out into the yard, shooting him two more times and beating him with a rubber club. To ensure he didn't rouse again, the men tied Rasputin in a blanket and dumped his body into the <a href="http://geography.howstuffworks.com/asia/the-neva-river.htm">Neva River</a>.<br />
Adding another layer of mystery to Rasputin's death, his body was found with his right arm outstretched, presumably to make the sign of the cross, indicating that he was still alive when he hit the <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/h2o.htm">water</a> and managed to partially free himself [source: <a href="http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/rasputin3.htm#wilson">Wilson</a>]. The autopsy report listed <a href="http://travel.howstuffworks.com/how-to-avoid-hypothermia.htm">hypothermia</a> from the freezing water as Rasputin's cause of death. However, the autopsy also revealed that he had been shot in the forehead, leading some to believe that he must have been dead before being dumped in the Neva River [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://books.google.com/books?id=k3W8ZyxLq4cC&printsec=frontcover#PPA114,M1" title="blocked::http://books.google.com/books?id=k3W8ZyxLq4cC&printsec=frontcover#PPA114,M1">Moynahan</a>]. Interestingly, it showed no evidence of poison in the body.<br />
The murder investigation was brief since Yusopov and his friends' involvement was well-known [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://books.google.com/books?id=k3W8ZyxLq4cC&printsec=frontcover#PPA114,M1" title="blocked::http://books.google.com/books?id=k3W8ZyxLq4cC&printsec=frontcover#PPA114,M1">Moynahan</a>]. Additional factors about the specifics of Rasputin's death have floated around over the years, including whether he was castrated by his murderers.<br />
Months later, the <a href="http://history.howstuffworks.com/asian-history/house-of-romanov.htm">Romanov</a> dynasty collapsed with the <a href="http://history.howstuffworks.com/cold-war/communism.htm"><strong>Bolshevik Revolution</strong></a> in 1917. A letter reportedly written by Rasputin that his secretary Simanovich recovered after the czarina's death prophesied his demise along with the royal family's. He wrote, "if it was one of your relations who have wrought my death, then no one in the family…none of your relations will remain alive for more than two years" [source: <a href="http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/rasputin3.htm#wilson">Wilson</a>]. On July 16, 1918, Nicholas II, Alexandra and their five children were murdered by revolutionaries.<br />
More recently, retired Scotland Yard detective Richard Cullen and historian Andrew Cook proposed a new theory behind Rasputin's death. In 2004, they claimed that his death stemmed from a British Secret Intelligence plot involving two officers, Oswald Rayner and John Scales. They based their conclusions on a connection between Yusupov and Rayner and information Scales had recorded on Rasputin [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/09_september/19/rasputin.shtml">BBC</a>].<br />
Similarly, it was proposed in 2007 that a British conspiracy hatched by Prime Minister David Lloyd George led to Rasputin's murder [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1555030/Britain-killed-Rasputin%2C-claims-Russian-film.html">Blomfield</a>]. Both theories are based on Russia's important role in World War I for Britain. With Russia fighting Germany from the East, it provided an important buffer for the Allies since the Germans could not use all of their strength for combat in the West [source: <a href="http://howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=european-history/rasputin.htm&url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1555030/Britain-killed-Rasputin%2C-claims-Russian-film.html">Blomfield</a>].<br />
While neither of the theories has gained much acceptance among historians, Rasputin's death remains one of the most fascinating. To learn more about Russian history, read the links on the next page.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7238727789273701128.post-73638143802534291282010-10-06T13:54:00.000-07:002010-10-08T14:22:52.472-07:00Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin Biography ( English Romanian )<table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content"><tbody>
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</tbody></table><b>Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin</b> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language">Russian</a>: <span lang="ru">Григорий Ефимович Распутин</span> <span class="IPA" title="Pronunciation in IPA"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Russian" title="Wikipedia:IPA for Russian">[ɡrɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪʨ rɐˈspʊtʲɪn]</a></span>) (22 January <small>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates" title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S.</a> 10 January]</small> 1869 – 29 December <small>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates" title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S.</a> 16 December]</small> 1916) was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians" title="Russians">Russian</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism" title="Mysticism">mystic</a> who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia" title="Nicholas II of Russia">Nicholas II</a>, his wife <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Feodorovna_%28Alix_of_Hesse%29" title="Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)">Alexandra</a>, and their only son <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Nikolaevich,_Tsarevich_of_Russia" title="Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia">Alexei</a>. Rasputin had often been called the "Mad Monk",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mad_Monk_0-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Mad_Monk-0">[1]</a></sup> while others considered him a "strannik" (or religious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim" title="Pilgrim">pilgrim</a>) and even a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starets" title="Starets">starets</a> (<span lang="ru">ста́рец</span>, "elder", a title usually reserved for monk-confessors), believing him to be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic" title="Psychic">psychic</a> and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healer" title="Faith healer">faith healer</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mad_Monk_0-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Mad_Monk-0">[1]</a></sup><br />
It has been argued<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-1">[2]</a></sup> that Rasputin helped to discredit the tsarist government, leading to the fall of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Romanov" title="House of Romanov">Romanov dynasty</a>, in 1917. Contemporary opinions saw Rasputin variously as a saintly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism" title="Mysticism">mystic</a>, visionary, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healer" title="Healer">healer</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet" title="Prophet">prophet</a> or, on the contrary, as a debauched religious charlatan. There has been much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and influence as accounts of his life have often been based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mad_Monk_0-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Mad_Monk-0">[1]</a></sup><br />
<table class="toc" id="toc"><tbody>
<tr> <td><div id="toctitle"><h2>Contents</h2><span class="toctoggle">[<a class="internal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</span></div><ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Early_life"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Early life</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Healer_to_Alexei"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Healer to Alexei</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Controversy"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Controversy</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Murder"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Murder</span></a> <ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Recent_evidence"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span> <span class="toctext">Recent evidence</span></a></li>
</ul></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Daughter"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Daughter</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Name_meaning"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Name meaning</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#In_popular_culture"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">In popular culture</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Notes_and_citations"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">Notes and citations</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#References"><span class="tocnumber">9</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#Further_reading"><span class="tocnumber">10</span> <span class="toctext">Further reading</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">11</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li>
</ul></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life">Early life</span></h2>Rasputin was born a peasant in the small village of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokrovskoye,_Tyumen_Oblast" title="Pokrovskoye, Tyumen Oblast">Pokrovskoye</a>, along the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tura_River" title="Tura River">Tura River</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobolsk" title="Tobolsk">Tobolsk</a> <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guberniya" title="Guberniya">guberniya</a></i> (now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyumen_Oblast" title="Tyumen Oblast">Tyumen Oblast</a>) in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">Siberia</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wilson_2-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Wilson-2">[3]</a></sup> The date of his birth remained in doubt for some time and was estimated sometime between 1863 and 1873.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-3">[4]</a></sup> Recently, new documents surfaced revealing Rasputin's birth date as 10 January 1869 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates" title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S.</a> (equivalent to 22 January 1869 N.S.)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-4">[5]</a></sup><br />
Not much is known about his childhood and what is known was most likely passed down through his family members. He had two known siblings, a sister called Maria and an older brother named Dmitri. His sister Maria, said to have been <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epileptic" title="Epileptic">epileptic</a>, drowned in a river.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wilson_2-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Wilson-2">[3]</a></sup> One day, when Rasputin was playing with his brother, Dmitri fell into a pond and Rasputin jumped in to save him. They were both pulled out of the water by a passerby but Dmitri eventually died of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia" title="Pneumonia">pneumonia</a>. Both fatalities affected Rasputin and he subsequently named two of his children Maria and Dmitri.<br />
The myths surrounding Rasputin portray him as showing indications of supernatural powers throughout his childhood. One ostensible example of these reputed powers was when Efim Rasputin, Grigori's father, had one of his horses stolen and it was claimed that Rasputin was able to identify the man who had committed the theft.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wilson_2-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Wilson-2">[3]</a></sup><br />
When he was around the age of eighteen Rasputin spent three months in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkhoturye" title="Verkhoturye">Verkhoturye</a> Monastery, possibly as a penance for theft. His experience there, combined with a reported vision of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Mary" title="Virgin Mary">Mother of God</a> on his return, turned him towards the life of a religious mystic and wanderer. It also appears that he came into contact with the banned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christian</a> sect known as the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khlysty" title="Khlysty">khlysty</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellant" title="Flagellant">flagellants</a>), whose impassioned services, ending in physical exhaustion, led to rumors that religious and sexual ecstasy were combined in these rituals. Suspicions (which have not generally been accepted by historians) that Rasputin was one of the Khlysts threatened his reputation right to the end of his life. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Guchkov" title="Alexander Guchkov">Alexander Guchkov</a> charged him with being a member of this illegal and orgiastic sect. The Tsar perceived the very real threat of a scandal and ordered his own investigations but did not, in the end, remove Rasputin from his position of influence; on the contrary he fired his minister of the interior for a "lack of control over the press" (censorship being a top priority for Nicholas then). He then pronounced the affair to be a private one closed to debate.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-5">[6]</a></sup><br />
Shortly after leaving the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery" title="Monastery">monastery</a>, Rasputin visited a holy man named Makariy whose hut was nearby. Makariy had an enormous influence on Rasputin and he modelled himself after him. Rasputin married Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina in 1889 and they had three children; Dmitri, Varvara and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Rasputin" title="Maria Rasputin">Maria</a>. Rasputin also had another child with another woman. In 1901 he left his home in Pokrovskoye as a <i>strannik</i> (or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim" title="Pilgrim">pilgrim</a>) and, during the time of his journeying, travelled to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece" title="Greece">Greece</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem" title="Jerusalem">Jerusalem</a>. In 1903 he arrived in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a> where he gradually gained a reputation as a <i>starets</i> (or holy man) with healing and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet" title="Prophet">prophetic</a> powers.<br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Healer_to_Alexei">Healer to Alexei</span></h2><div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width: 222px;"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD_%281914-1916%29b.jpg"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" height="292" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD_%281914-1916%29b.jpg/220px-%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD_%281914-1916%29b.jpg" width="220" /></a> <br />
<div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a class="internal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD_%281914-1916%29b.jpg" title="Enlarge"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" width="15" /></a></div>Rasputin</div></div></div>Rasputin was wandering as a pilgrim in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">Siberia</a> when he heard reports of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Nikolaevich,_Tsarevich_of_Russia" title="Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia">Tsarevich Alexei</a>'s illness. It was not publicly known in 1904 that Alexei had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemophilia" title="Haemophilia">haemophilia</a>, a disease that was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemophilia_in_European_royalty" title="Haemophilia in European royalty">widespread among European royalty</a> descended from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Victoria of the United Kingdom">the British Queen Victoria</a>, who was Alexei's great-grandmother. When doctors could not help Alexei, the Tsaritsa looked everywhere for help, ultimately turning to her best friend, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Vyrubova" title="Anna Vyrubova">Anna Vyrubova</a>, to secure the help of the charismatic peasant healer Rasputin in 1905.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Massie185_6-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Massie185-6">[7]</a></sup> He was said to possess the ability to heal through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer" title="Prayer">prayer</a> and was indeed able to give the boy some relief, in spite of the doctors' prediction that he would die.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Massie185_6-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-Massie185-6">[7]</a></sup> Every time the boy had an injury which caused him internal or external bleeding, the Tsaritsa called on Rasputin, and the Tsarevich subsequently got better.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2007">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup> This made it appear that Rasputin was effectively healing him.<br />
Skeptics have claimed that he did so by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis" title="Hypnosis">hypnosis</a>, which, in one study, actually has proven to relieve symptoms because it lowers stress levels and therefore diminishes the symptomatology of haemophilia.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-7">[8]</a></sup> However, during a particularly grave crisis at Spala in Poland in 1912, Rasputin sent a telegram from his home in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">Siberia</a>, which is believed to have eased the suffering. His pragmatic advice include suggestions such as "Don't let the doctors bother him too much; let him rest." This was thought to have helped Alexei to relax and allow the child's own natural healing process some headroom.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-8">[9]</a></sup> Others have made the less likely suggestion that he used <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leech" title="Leech">leeches</a> to attempt to treat the boy. As leech saliva contains <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticoagulants" title="Anticoagulants">anticoagulants</a> such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirudin" title="Hirudin">hirudin</a>, this treatment would most likely have exacerbated his haemophilia instead of providing relief. Diarmuid Jeffreys has pointed out that Rasputin's healing suggestions included halting the administration of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin" title="Aspirin">aspirin</a>, a then newly-available (since 1899) pain-relieving (analgesic) "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panacea_%28medicine%29" title="Panacea (medicine)">wonder drug</a>". As aspirin is also an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticoagulant" title="Anticoagulant">anticoagulant</a>, this intervention would have helped to mitigate the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemarthrosis" title="Hemarthrosis">hemarthrosis</a> causing Alexei's joints' swelling and pain.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-9">[10]</a></sup><br />
The Tsar referred to Rasputin as "our friend" and a "holy man," a sign of the trust that the family had placed in him. Rasputin had a considerable personal and political influence on Alexandra,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-10">[11]</a></sup> and the Tsar and Tsaritsa considered him a man of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God" title="God">God</a> and a religious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet" title="Prophet">prophet</a>. Alexandra came to believe that God spoke to her through Rasputin. Of course, this relationship can also be viewed in the context of the very strong, traditional, age-old bond between the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church" title="Russian Orthodox Church">Russian Orthodox Church</a> and the Russian leadership. Another important factor was probably the Tsaritsa's German-Protestant origin: she was definitely highly fascinated by her new Orthodox outlook — the Orthodox religion puts a great deal of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith" title="Faith">faith</a> in the healing powers of prayer.<br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Controversy">Controversy</span></h2><div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width: 222px;"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rasputin_Photo.jpg"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" height="175" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Rasputin_Photo.jpg/220px-Rasputin_Photo.jpg" width="220" /></a> <br />
<div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a class="internal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rasputin_Photo.jpg" title="Enlarge"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" width="15" /></a></div>Rasputin among admirers, 1914</div></div></div>Rasputin soon became a controversial figure, becoming involved in a paradigm of sharp political struggle involving monarchist, anti-monarchist, revolutionary and other political forces and interests. He was accused by many eminent persons of various misdeeds, ranging from an unrestricted sexual life (including raping a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nun" title="Nun">nun</a>)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-11">[12]</a></sup> to undue political domination over the royal family.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2007">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup> Some of these allegations of sexual misconduct were no doubt encouraged by his frequently embarrassing drunken behavior, on one occasion documented by a <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_Channel" title="History Channel">History Channel</a> documentary he is said to have opened his pants and waved his penis in front of shocked diners at a Saint Petersburg restaurant whilst inebriated.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from September 2010">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup><br />
While fascinated by him, the Saint Petersburg <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite" title="Elite">elite</a> did not widely accept Rasputin: he did not fit in with the royal family, and he and the Russian Orthodox Church had a very tense relationship. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Synod" title="Holy Synod">Holy Synod</a> frequently attacked Rasputin, accusing him of a variety of immoral or evil practices. Because Rasputin was a court official, though, he and his apartment were under 24-hour surveillance, and, accordingly, there exists some credible evidence about his lifestyle in the form of the famous "staircase notes" — reports from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police" title="Police">police</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage" title="Espionage">spies</a> which were not given only to the Tsar but also published in <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspapers" title="Newspapers">newspapers</a>.<br />
According to Rasputin's daughter, Maria, Rasputin did "look into" the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khlysty" title="Khlysty">Khlysty</a> sect but rejected it. One Khlyst practice was known as "rejoicing" (радение), a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual" title="Ritual">ritual</a> which sought to overcome human sexual urges by engaging in group sexual activities so that, in consciously sinning together, the sin's power over the human was nullified.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-12">[13]</a></sup> Rasputin is said to have been particularly appalled by the belief that grace is found through <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-flagellation" title="Self-flagellation">self-flagellation</a>.<br />
Like many spiritually minded Russians, Rasputin spoke of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation" title="Salvation">salvation</a> as depending less on the clergy and the church than on seeking the spirit of God within. He also maintained that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin" title="Sin">sin</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repentance" title="Repentance">repentance</a> were interdependent and necessary to salvation. Thus, he claimed that yielding to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temptation" title="Temptation">temptation</a> (and, for him personally, this meant sex and alcohol), even for the purposes of humiliation (so as to dispel the sin of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity" title="Vanity">vanity</a>), was needed to proceed to repentance and salvation. Rasputin was deeply opposed to war, both from a moral point of view and as something which was likely to lead to political catastrophe. During the years of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a>, Rasputin's increasing drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and willingness to accept <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribes" title="Bribes">bribes</a> (in return for helping petitioners who flocked to his apartment), as well as his efforts to have his critics dismissed from their posts, made him appear increasingly cynical. Attaining <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_grace" title="Divine grace">divine grace</a> through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin" title="Sin">sin</a> seems to have been one of the central secret doctrines which Rasputin preached to (and practiced with) his inner circle of society ladies.<br />
During <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a>, Rasputin became the focus of accusations of unpatriotic influence at court; the unpopular Tsaritsa, meanwhile, was of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">German</a> descent, and she came to be accused of acting as a <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_agent" title="Secret agent">spy</a> in German employ.<br />
When Rasputin expressed an interest in going to the front to bless the troops early in the war, the Commander-in-Chief, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Nicholas" title="Grand Duke Nicholas">Grand Duke Nicholas</a>, promised to hang him if he dared to show up there. Rasputin then claimed that he had a revelation that the Russian armies would not be successful until the Tsar personally took command. With this, the ill-prepared Tsar Nicholas proceeded to take personal command of the Russian army, with dire consequences for himself as well as for Russia.<br />
While Tsar Nicholas II was away at the front, Rasputin's influence over Tsaritsa Alexandra increased immensely. He soon became her <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidant" title="Confidant">confidant</a> and personal adviser, and also convinced her to fill some governmental offices with his own handpicked candidates. To further the advance of his power, Rasputin cohabited with upper-class women in exchange for granting political favours. Because of World War I and the ossifying effects of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism" title="Feudalism">feudalism</a> and a meddling government <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy" title="Bureaucracy">bureaucracy</a>, Russia's economy was declining at a very rapid rate. Many at the time laid the blame with Alexandra and with Rasputin, because of his influence over her. Here is an example:<br />
<blockquote><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Purishkevich" title="Vladimir Purishkevich">Vladimir Purishkevich</a> was an outspoken member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duma" title="Duma">Duma</a>. On November 19, 1916, Purishkevich made a rousing speech in the Duma, in which he stated, "The tsar's ministers who have been turned into <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marionettes" title="Marionettes">marionettes</a>, marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna — the evil genius of Russia and the tsaritsa ... who has remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its people." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Yusupov" title="Felix Yusupov">Felix Yusupov</a> attended the speech and afterwards contacted Purishkevich, who quickly agreed to participate in the murder of Rasputin.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-13">[14]</a></sup></blockquote>Rasputin's influence over the royal family was used against him and the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanov" title="Romanov">Romanovs</a> by politicians and journalists who wanted to weaken the integrity of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasty" title="Dynasty">dynasty</a>, force the Tsar to give up his absolute political power and separate the Russian Orthodox Church from the state. Rasputin unintentionally contributed to their propaganda by having public disputes with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy" title="Clergy">clergy</a> members, bragging about his ability to influence both the Tsar and Tsaritsa, and also by his dissolute and very public lifestyle. Nobles in influential positions around the Tsar, as well as some parties of the Duma, clamored for Rasputin's removal from the court. Perhaps inadvertently, Rasputin had added to the Tsar's subjects' diminishing respect for him.<br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Murder">Murder</span></h2><table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content"><tbody>
<tr> <td class="mbox-image"><div style="width: 52px;"><img alt="" height="40" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Ambox_content.png" width="40" /></div></td> <td class="mbox-text">This article <b>may contain <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">original research</a></b>. Please <a class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grigori_Rasputin&action=edit" rel="nofollow">improve it</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifying</a> the claims made and adding <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:References" title="Wikipedia:References">references</a>. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Grigori_Rasputin" title="Talk:Grigori Rasputin">talk page</a>. <small><i>(November 2009)</i></small></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>The legends surrounding the death of Rasputin are perhaps even more mysterious and bizarre than his life. According to Greg King's 1996 book <i><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Man_Who_Killed_Rasputin&action=edit&redlink=1" title="The Man Who Killed Rasputin (page does not exist)">The Man Who Killed Rasputin</a></i>, a previous attempt on Rasputin's life had failed: Rasputin was visiting his wife and children in Pokrovskoye, his hometown along the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tura_River" title="Tura River">Tura River</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">Siberia</a>. On June 29, 1914, after either just receiving a <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram" title="Telegram">telegram</a> or exiting church, he was attacked suddenly by <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khionia_Guseva" title="Khionia Guseva">Khionia Guseva</a>, a former <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitute" title="Prostitute">prostitute</a> who had become a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_%28Christianity%29" title="Disciple (Christianity)">disciple</a> of the monk <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliodor" title="Iliodor">Iliodor</a>. Iliodor, who once was a friend of Rasputin but had grown disgusted with his behaviour and disrespectful talk about the royal family, had appealed to women who had been harmed by Rasputin to form a mutual support group. Guseva thrust a knife into Rasputin's abdomen, and his <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrails" title="Entrails">entrails</a> hung out of what seemed like a mortal wound. Convinced of her success, Guseva supposedly screamed, "I have killed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist" title="Antichrist">antichrist</a>!"<br />
After intensive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgery" title="Surgery">surgery</a>, however, Rasputin recovered. It was said of his survival that "the soul of this cursed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzhik" title="Muzhik">muzhik</a> was sewn on his body." His daughter, Maria, observed in her memoirs that he was never the same man after that: he seemed to tire more easily and frequently took <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium" title="Opium">opium</a> for pain relief.<br />
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width: 222px;"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YusupovPalace_Moyka.jpg"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" height="165" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/YusupovPalace_Moyka.jpg/220px-YusupovPalace_Moyka.jpg" width="220" /></a> <br />
<div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a class="internal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YusupovPalace_Moyka.jpg" title="Enlarge"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" width="15" /></a></div>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moika_Palace" title="Moika Palace">Moika Palace</a>, along the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moika_River" title="Moika River">Moika River</a>, where Rasputin was supposedly lured and murdered</div></div></div>The murder of Rasputin has become a legend, some of it invented by the very men who killed him, which is why it has become difficult to discern the actual course of events. On December 16, 1916, having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Tsaritsa had made him a threat to the empire, a group of nobles led by Prince <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Yusupov" title="Felix Yusupov">Felix Yusupov</a> and the Grand Duke <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Pavlovich_of_Russia" title="Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia">Dmitri Pavlovich</a> and the right-wing politician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Purishkevich" title="Vladimir Purishkevich">Vladimir Purishkevich</a> apparently lured Rasputin to the Yusupovs' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moika_Palace" title="Moika Palace">Moika Palace</a><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-14">[15]</a></sup> by intimating that Yusupov's wife, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Irina_Alexandrovna_of_Russia" title="Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia">Princess Irina</a>, would be present and receiving friends. (In point of fact, she was away in the Crimea.)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-15">[16]</a></sup> The group led him down to the cellar, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with a massive amount of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide" title="Cyanide">cyanide</a>. According to legend, Rasputin was unaffected, although <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Maklakov" title="Vasily Maklakov">Vasily Maklakov</a> had supplied enough <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison" title="Poison">poison</a> to kill five men. Conversely, Maria's account asserts that, if her father did eat or drink poison, it was not in the cakes or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine" title="Wine">wine</a>, because after the attack by Guseva he suffered from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperacidity" title="Hyperacidity">hyperacidity</a> and avoided anything with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar" title="Sugar">sugar</a>. In fact, she expresses doubt that he was poisoned at all. It has been suggested, on the other hand, that Rasputin had developed an immunity to poison due to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridatism" title="Mithridatism">Mithridatism</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-16">[17]</a></sup><br />
Determined to finish the job, Prince Yusupov became anxious about the possibility that Rasputin might live until the morning, leaving the conspirators no time to conceal his body. Yusupov ran upstairs to consult the others and then came back down to shoot Rasputin through the back with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver" title="Revolver">revolver</a>. Rasputin fell, and the company left the palace for a while. Yusupov, who had left without a coat, decided to return to get one, and while at the palace, he went to check on the body. Suddenly, Rasputin opened his eyes and lunged at Yusupov. He grabbed Yusupov, ominously whispered in his ear, "you bad boy," and attempted to strangle him. At that moment, however, the other conspirators arrived and fired at Rasputin. After being hit three times in the back, he fell once more. As they neared his body, the party found that, remarkably, he was still alive, struggling to get up. They clubbed him into submission. Some accounts say that his killers also sexually <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutilation" title="Mutilation">mutilated</a> him, severing his penis (subsequently resulting in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend" title="Urban legend">urban legends</a> and claims that certain third parties were in possession of the organ).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rasputina_17-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-rasputina-17">[18]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-anotheramerica_18-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-anotheramerica-18">[19]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-museumofhoaxes_19-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-museumofhoaxes-19">[20]</a></sup> After binding his body and wrapping him in a carpet, they threw him into the icy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neva_River" title="Neva River">Neva River</a>. He broke out of his bonds and the carpet wrapping him, but drowned in the river.<br />
Three days later, Rasputin's body, poisoned, shot four times, badly beaten, and drowned, was recovered from the river. An <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy" title="Autopsy">autopsy</a> established that the cause of death was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowning" title="Drowning">drowning</a>. His arms were found in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice. It was found that he had indeed been poisoned, and that the poison alone should have been enough to kill him. There is a report that after his body was recovered, water was found in the lungs, supporting the idea that he was still alive before submersion into the partially frozen river.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-20">[21]</a></sup><br />
Subsequently, the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Fyodorovna_of_Hesse" title="Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse">Tsaritsa Alexandra</a> buried Rasputin's body in the grounds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsarskoye_Selo" title="Tsarskoye Selo">Tsarskoye Selo</a>, but after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution" title="February Revolution">February Revolution</a>, a group of workers from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a> uncovered the remains, carried them into the nearby woods, and burned them. As the body was being burned, Rasputin appeared to sit up in the fire. His apparent attempts to move and get up thoroughly horrified bystanders. The effect can probably be attributed to improper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation" title="Cremation">cremation</a>;<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from September 2009">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup> since the body was in inexperienced hands, the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendons" title="Tendons">tendons</a> were probably not cut before burning. Consequently, when the body was heated, the tendons shrank, forcing the legs to bend and the body to bend at the waist, resulting in its appearing to sit up. This final happenstance only further fueled the legends and mysteries surrounding Rasputin, which continue to live on long after his death. The official report of his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy" title="Autopsy">autopsy</a> disappeared during the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin" title="Stalin">Stalin</a> era, as did several research assistants who had seen it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-21">[22]</a></sup><br />
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Recent_evidence">Recent evidence</span></h3><table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content"><tbody>
<tr> <td class="mbox-image"><div style="width: 52px;"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg"><img alt="Question book-new.svg" height="39" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" width="50" /></a></div></td> <td class="mbox-text">This article <b>needs additional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citations</a> for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>.</b><br />
<small>Please help <a class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grigori_Rasputin&action=edit" rel="nofollow">improve this article</a> by adding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources">reliable references</a>. Unsourced material may be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation_needed" title="Template:Citation needed">challenged</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>. <i>(September 2009)</i></small></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dead_Rasputin.jpg"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" height="146" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Dead_Rasputin.jpg/200px-Dead_Rasputin.jpg" width="200" /></a> <br />
<div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a class="internal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dead_Rasputin.jpg" title="Enlarge"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" width="15" /></a></div>Post-mortem photograph of Rasputin showing the bullet hole in his forehead</div></div></div>The details of the killing given by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Yusupov" title="Felix Yusupov">Felix Yusupov</a> have never stood up to scrutiny. He changed his account several times; the statement given to the St. Petersburg police on December 16, 1916, the accounts given whilst in exile in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea" title="Crimea">Crimea</a> in 1917, his 1927 book, and, finally, the accounts given, under oath, to libel juries in 1934 and 1965 all differ to some extent, and until recently no other credible, evidence-based theories have been available.<br />
According to the unpublished 1916 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy" title="Autopsy">autopsy</a> report by Professor Kossorotov, as well as subsequent reviews by Dr. <a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Zharov&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Vladimir Zharov (page does not exist)">Vladimir Zharov</a> in 1993 and Professor <a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Derrick_Pounder&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Derrick Pounder (page does not exist)">Derrick Pounder</a> in 2004/05, no active <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison" title="Poison">poison</a> was found in Rasputin's stomach. A possible explanation would be that the cyanide had vaporized due to the high temperatures during the baking in the oven.<br />
It could not be determined with certainty that he drowned, as the water found in his lungs is a common non-specific autopsy finding. All three sources agree that Rasputin had been systematically beaten and attacked with a bladed weapon, but, most importantly, there were discrepancies regarding the number and caliber of handguns used.<br />
This discovery may significantly change the whole premise and account of Rasputin's death. British intelligence reports, sent between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London">London</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a> in 1916, indicate that the British were not only extremely concerned about Rasputin's displacement of pro-British ministers in the Russian government but, even more importantly, his apparent insistence on withdrawing Russian troops from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a>. This withdrawal would have allowed the Germans to transfer their Eastern Front troops to the Western Front, leading to a massive outnumbering of the Allies, and threatening their defeat. Whether this was actually Rasputin's intent or whether he was simply concerned about the huge number of casualties (as the Tsaritsa's letters indicate) is in dispute, but it is clear that the British perceived him as a real threat to the war effort.<br />
Professor Pounder tells us that of the four shots fired into Rasputin's body, the third (which entered his forehead) was instantly fatal. This third shot also provides some intriguing evidence. In Pounder's view, with which the Firearms Department of London's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum" title="Imperial War Museum">Imperial War Museum</a> agrees, the third shot was fired from a different gun from those responsible for the other three wounds. The "size and prominence of the abraded margin" suggested a large lead <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet#The_modern_bullet" title="Bullet">non-jacketed</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet" title="Bullet">bullet</a>. At the time, the majority of weapons used hard metal-jacketed bullets, with Britain virtually alone in using lead unjacketed bullets in their officers' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webley_Revolver" title="Webley Revolver">Webley revolvers</a>. Pounder came to the conclusion that the bullet which caused the fatal shot was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.455_Webley" title=".455 Webley">Webley .455 inch</a> unjacketed round, the best fit with the available forensic evidence.<br />
There were two officers of the British <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Intelligence_Service" title="Secret Intelligence Service">Secret Intelligence Service</a> (SIS) in St. Petersburg at the time. Witnesses stated that at the scene of the murder, the only man present with a Webley revolver was Lieutenant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Rayner" title="Oswald Rayner">Oswald Rayner</a>, a British officer attached to the SIS station in St. Petersburg. This account is further supported by an audience between the British Ambassador, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Buchanan_%28diplomat%29" title="George Buchanan (diplomat)">Sir George Buchanan</a>, and Tsar Nicholas, when Nicholas stated that he suspected a young Englishman who had been an old school friend of Yusupov (Rayner certainly had known Yusupov at <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University" title="Oxford University">Oxford</a>). The second SIS officer in St. Petersburg at the time was Captain <a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephen_Alley&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Stephen Alley (page does not exist)">Stephen Alley</a>, born in the Yusupov Palace in 1876. Both families had very strong ties, so it is difficult to come to any conclusion about whom to hold responsible.<br />
Confirmation that Rayner met with Yusupov (along with another officer, Captain <a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Scale&action=edit&redlink=1" title="John Scale (page does not exist)">John Scale</a>) in the weeks leading up to the killing can be found in the diary of their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauffeur" title="Chauffeur">chauffeur</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Compton" title="William Compton">William Compton</a>, who recorded all visits. The last entry was made on the night after the murder. Compton said that "it is a little known fact that Rasputin was shot not by a Russian but by an Englishman" and indicated that the culprit was a lawyer from the same part of the country as Compton himself. There is little doubt that Rayner was born some ten miles from Compton's hometown and, throughout his life, described himself as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrister" title="Barrister">barrister-at-law</a>, despite never having practised in that profession.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from September 2009">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup><br />
Evidence that the attempt had not gone quite according to plan is hinted at in a letter which Alley wrote to Scale eight days after the murder: "Although matters here have not proceeded entirely to plan, our objective has clearly been achieved. ... a few awkward questions have already been asked about wider involvement. Rayner is attending to loose ends and will no doubt brief you."<br />
On his return to England, Oswald Rayner not only confided to his cousin, Rose Jones, that he had been present at Rasputin's murder but also showed family members a bullet which he claimed to have acquired at the murder scene.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from April 2009">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup> Conclusive evidence is unattainable, however, as Rayner burned all his papers before he died in 1961 and his only son also died four years later.<br />
Newspaper reporter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Smith_%28newspaper_reporter%29" title="Michael Smith (newspaper reporter)">Michael Smith</a> wrote in his book that British Secret Intelligence Bureau head <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_Cumming" title="Mansfield Cumming">Mansfield Cumming</a> ordered three of his agents in Russia to eliminate Rasputin in December 1916.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-22">[23]</a></sup><br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Daughter">Daughter</span></h2>Rasputin's daughter, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Rasputin" title="Maria Rasputin">Maria Rasputin</a> (Matryona Rasputina) (1898–1977), emigrated to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France" title="France">France</a> after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">October Revolution</a>, and then to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">U.S.</a> There she worked as a <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancer" title="Dancer">dancer</a> and then a tiger-trainer in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus" title="Circus">circus</a>. She left memoirs<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-23">[24]</a></sup> about her father, wherein she painted an almost saintly picture of him, insisting that most of the negative stories were based on <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander" title="Slander">slander</a> and the misinterpretations of facts by his enemies.<br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Name_meaning">Name meaning</span></h2><table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content"><tbody>
<tr> <td class="mbox-image"><div style="width: 52px;"><img alt="" height="40" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Ambox_content.png" width="40" /></div></td> <td class="mbox-text">This article <b>may contain <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">original research</a></b>. Please <a class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grigori_Rasputin&action=edit" rel="nofollow">improve it</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifying</a> the claims made and adding <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:References" title="Wikipedia:References">references</a>. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Grigori_Rasputin" title="Talk:Grigori Rasputin">talk page</a>. <small><i>(April 2008)</i></small></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>The name <i>Rasputin</i> is not an uncommon surname in Russia, and it is not considered in any way untoward. In <b>Russian</b>, it does not mean "<a class="extiw" href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/licentious" title="wikt:licentious">licentious</a>", which has often been claimed. There is, however, a very similar Russian adjective, <i>rasputny</i> (распу́тный), which <i>does</i> mean "licentious" — as well as the corresponding noun, распу́тник "rasputnik". Some even suggest that his name meant "dissolute".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin#cite_note-24">[25]</a></sup> There are at least two options for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_%28linguistics%29" title="Root (linguistics)">root-word</a>: one of them is <i>"put"</i>, which means "way", "road", and other close nouns are <i>rasputye</i>, a place where the roads diverge or converge, and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa" title="Rasputitsa">rasputitsa</a></i> (распу́тица), "muddy road season". Some historians argue that the name Rasputin may be a place name, since it does roughly signify "a place where two <b>rivers</b> meet", describing the area from which the Rasputin family originates and where his sibling died. Yet another possibility is the just-mentioned <i>"put'"</i> giving rise to the verb "putat", which means to "entangle" or "mix up" — "rasputat' " being its <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonym" title="Antonym">antonym</a> — "disentangle", "untie", "clean up a misunderstanding". However, the most well-founded explanation is a standard Russian surname derivation from the old Slavic name "Rasputa" ("Rasputko") (recorded as early as in sixteenth century), with the meaning "ill-behaved child", the one whose ways are against traditions or the will of parents.<br />
It is said that Rasputin tried to have his name changed to the more inconspicuous "Novykh" (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language">Russian</a>: <span lang="ru">Новыx</span>) after his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land — "Novykh" (from the Russian Новый, meaning "New") connotes "Novice" — but that is the subject of much dispute.<br />
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="In_popular_culture">In popular culture</span></h2><div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputin_in_popular_culture" title="Rasputin in popular culture">Rasputin in popular culture</a></div>Numerous film and stage productions have been based on the life of Rasputin, and he has appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in numerous other media, as well as having several beverages named after him.<br />
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<b>Grigori Efimovici Rasputin</b> (în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limba_rus%C4%83" title="Limba rusă">limba rusă</a> Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин) (<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_ianuarie" title="10 ianuarie">10 ianuarie</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1869" title="1869">1869</a> – <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_decembrie" title="16 decembrie">16 decembrie</a> <small>(<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stil_vechi" title="Stil vechi">stil vechi</a>)</small>/<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_decembrie" title="29 decembrie">29 decembrie</a> <small>(<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stil_nou" title="Stil nou">stil nou</a>)</small> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916" title="1916">1916</a>) a fost un <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misticism" title="Misticism">mistic</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus" title="Rus">rus</a> care a avut o mare influență asupra familiei ultimului țar al dinastiei <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanov" title="Romanov">Romanov</a>. Rasputin a jucat un rol foarte important în viața <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Aar" title="Țar">țarului</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_al_II-lea_al_Rusiei" title="Nicolae al II-lea al Rusiei">Nicolae al II-lea</a>, a <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C8%9Aarin%C4%83&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Țarină — pagină inexistentă">țarinei</a> <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_de_Hesse" title="Alexandra de Hesse">Alexandra</a> și a unicului lor fiu, <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C8%9Aarevici&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Țarevici — pagină inexistentă">țareviciul</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Aareviciul_Alexei_al_Rusiei" title="Țareviciul Alexei al Rusiei">Alexei</a>, care era suferind de <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemofilie" title="Hemofilie">hemofilie</a>.<br />
Rasputin a fost denumit și <b>Călugărul nebun</b>, în ciuda faptului că el nu a fost niciodată <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C4%83lug%C4%83r" title="Călugăr">călugărit</a> și nu a ținut niciodată secret faptul că era căsătorit. Este posibil să fi fost <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stare%C8%9B&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Stareț — pagină inexistentă">stareț</a> al congregației religioase nerecunoscute oficial a <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hl%C3%AEst&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Hlîst — pagină inexistentă">hlîstilor</a> și despre el se credea că este vindecător care folosea puterea credinței. El este unul dintre cele mai controversarte personalități ale <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secolul_al_XX-lea" title="Secolul al XX-lea">secolului al XX-lea</a>, deși, în zilele noastre, Rasputin este văzut de cei mai mulți istorici ca un <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C8%9Aap_isp%C4%83%C8%99itor&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Țap ispășitor — pagină inexistentă">țap ispășitor</a>. El a jucat un rol minor, dar spectaculos, în prăbușirea dinastiei Romanov.<br />
Data de naștere a lui Rasputin nu este cunoscută cu certitudine, cea mai des amintită fiind cea de <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_ianuarie" title="10 ianuarie">10 ianuarie</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1869" title="1869">1869</a>. Datele avansate de mulți cercetători și de numeroșii lui biografi sunt cuprinse între anii <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1863" title="1863">1863</a> și <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1873" title="1873">1873</a>.<br />
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</tbody></table><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Primii_ani_de_via.C8.9B.C4.83">Primii ani de viață</span></h2>Grigori Efimovici Rasputin s-a născut în familia unor țărani într-un sătuc <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">siberian</a> de pe râul <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tura&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Tura — pagină inexistentă">Tura</a>, Pokrovskoie, în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubernie" title="Gubernie">gubernia</a> <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobolsk" title="Tobolsk">Tobolsk</a> (în zilele noastre <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiunea_Tiumen" title="Regiunea Tiumen">regiunea Tiumen</a>). Pe la 18 ani, a petrecut trei luni într-o mânăstire. Aici a intrat în secta desprinsă din <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biserica_Ortodox%C4%83_Rus%C4%83" title="Biserica Ortodoxă Rusă">Biserica Ortodoxă Rusă</a> a <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hl%C3%AEst&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Hlîst — pagină inexistentă">hlîstilor</a>. La scurtă vreme după ce a părăsit mânăstirea, a vizitat un om venerat ca sfânt, care avea o colibă în zonă, Macarie. Macarie a avut o influență uriașa asupra tânărului. Rasputin s-a căsătorit în 1889 cu Parascovia Fiodorovna, având împreună trei copii. În 1901 a părăsit satul natal și a plecat în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelerinaj" title="Pelerinaj">pelerinaj</a>. În timpul călătoriei sale, a vizitat <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grecia" title="Grecia">Grecia</a> și <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ierusalim" title="Ierusalim">Ierusalimul</a>. În 1903, Rasputin a ajuns la <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrograd" title="Petrograd">Petrograd</a>, unde s-a proclamat <i>stareț</i> posesor al unor puteri tămăduitoare egale cu ale <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profet" title="Profet">profeților</a>.<br />
<h2><span class="editsection"></span> <span class="mw-headline" id="Vindec.C4.83torul_.C8.9Bareviciului">Vindecătorul țareviciului</span></h2>Țareviciul Alexei suferea de <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemofilie" title="Hemofilie">hemofilie</a>, boală pe care o moștenise de la străbunica sa pe linie maternă, <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_I_a_Regatului_Unit" title="Victoria I a Regatului Unit">regina Victoria</a>. Rasputin a fost considerat de către țar și țarină ultima speranță pentru vindecarea copilului lor. Cei doi părinți au căutat neîncetat un tratament pentru însănătoșirea fiului lor și, în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905" title="1905">1905</a>, au apelat la carismaticul țăran să-l vindece pe bolnav. Se spunea că Rasputin avea puterea de a vindeca prin puterea rugăciunilor și se pare că, într-adevăr, starea țareviciul s-a îmbunătățit într-o oarecare măsură. Scepticii au pretins că el ar fi obținut ceva rezultate prin intermediul <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipnoz%C4%83" title="Hipnoză">hipnozei</a>. Se povestește că în timpul unei crize grave a țareviciului, Rasputin, aflat în acel moment în casa sa din Siberia, ar fi reușit să-i ușureze suferința copilului aflat în <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrograd" title="Petrograd">Petrograd</a> prin intermediul rugăciunilor.<br />
Țarul îl numea pe Rasputin <i>prietenul nostru</i>, probabil un semn al încrederii de care se bucura acesta în ochii membrilor familiei imperiale. Rasputin a avut asupra țarinei Alexandra o influență personală și politică considerabilă, în mod special după ce Alexei a fost atacat de o <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albin%C4%83" title="Albină">albină</a> în vara anului <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905" title="1905">1905</a>. După cum se povestește, Rasputin ar fi alergat în ajutorul băiatului și ar fi strigat "Ужальте его и вы умретe!" ("Înțeapă-l și vei muri!”). Albina a zburat din preajma bolnavului și asta a fost interpretată ca o manifestare a puterilor sfinte ale lui Rasputin.<br />
Poziția lui Raputin în biserică i-au permis să-și crească influența asupra lui Alexei. Este verificat că mai înainte de a-l cunoaște pe Rasputin, țarina se plângea că fiul ei <i>l-a întristat pe Iisus</i> cu purtările lui hulitoare. După întâlnirea cu Rasputin, țarina declara fericită că țareviciul <i>a recunoscut injustețea drumului pe care se angajase</i>. Țarul și țarina îl considerau pe Rasputin un om al lui <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumnezeu" title="Dumnezeu">Dumnezeu</a> și un <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profet" title="Profet">profet</a>, iar țarina credea sincer că Dumnezeu vorbește prin gura lui Rasputin. Această relație poate fi apreciată și în contextul relației tradiționale, vechi și foarte puternice între <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biserica_ortodox%C4%83_rus%C4%83" title="Biserica ortodoxă rusă">Biserica ortodoxă rusă</a> și pătura conducătoare a imperiului. Un alt factor important era probabil originea germană protestantă a țarinei: ea era foarte fascinată de noua sa religie ortodoxă, dar se pare că îi lipsea discernământul asupra unora dintre practicile religiei rușilor.<br />
<h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Controversele">Controversele</span></h2>În acest timp, Rasputin a devenit un personaj extrem de controversat, ducând o viață scandaloasă alături de femeile-discipol din înalta societate petersburgheză. Mai mult, a fost văzut de multe ori apelând la serviciile <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prostituat%C4%83&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Prostituată — pagină inexistentă">prostituatelor</a>, sau bând până la pierderea cunoștinței, sau participând la chefuri de zile și nopți neîntrerupte. Era un tip libidinos, bădăran, murdar, de multe ori purtându-se în mod scandalos în public.<br />
Deși fascina pe multe dintre femeile de condiție bună din Sankt Peterburg, el nu era acceptat de societatea aristocratică din capitala imperiului, care considera că pur și simplu nu se potrivește cu rangul familiei imperiale.<br />
Trebuie spus însă că între Rasputin și biserica ortodoxă rusă au existat relații tensionate. <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sf%C3%A2ntul_Sinod" title="Sfântul Sinod">Sfântul Sinod</a> l-a atacat frecvent pe Rasputin și, datorită acestui fapt, au fost lansate o mulțime de zvonuri neadevărate despre viața sa. De aceea, o mulțime de povești despre isprăvile lui trebuie privite cu o doză de scepticism. Datorită faptului ca Rasputin era un oficial al curții imperiale, apartamentele sale erau supravegheate neîncetat, așa că există și dovezi credibile despre modul său de viață.<br />
În conformitate cu afirmațiile fiicei lui Rasputin, Maria, acesta a "cercetat" secta <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hl%C3%AEst&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Hlîst — pagină inexistentă">hlîstilor</a>, dar nu a devenit un membru al ei, mai mult chiar, a respins-o. În vreme ce lumea occidentală era interesată mai degrabă de practicile sexuale ale sectanților, (legată se pare de credința că smerenia poate fi atinsă numai prin autopervertire), Rasputin era înfricoșat de credința conform căreia iertarea divină poate fi obținută prin <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoflagelare" title="Autoflagelare">autoflagelare</a>, (o altă practică a sectanților).<br />
Precum cei mai mulți creștini-ortodocși, Rasputin credea cu tărie că trupul lumesc este un dar sacru oferit de Dumnezeu. Dobândirea <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har" title="Har">harului</a> divin prin afundarea în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%83cat" title="Păcat">păcat</a> pare să fi fost una dintre învățăturile secrete pe care le-a predicat și practicat Rasputin în cercul aristocratelor. Ideea că dobândirea harului divin se poate face prin îndreptarea păcatelor nu era una nouă. Se înțelegea că păcatul este o parte de neseparat a condiției umane, responsabilitatea credincioșilor fiind aceea de a fi conștienți de păcatele lor și de a fi dispuși să le mărturisească, prin aceasta ajungând la smerenia creștină.<br />
În timpul <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primul_r%C4%83zboi_mondial" title="Primul război mondial">primului război mondial</a>, Rasputin a devenit ținta acuzațiilor de influență nepatriotică la curte. Nepopulara țarină era descendentă a unor principi germani, iar "prietenul" ei, Rasputin, era era acuzat că ar fi <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_secret" title="Agent secret">spion</a> german.<br />
Când Rasputin s-a arătat interesat să meargă pe front ca să binecuvânteze trupele la începutul războiului, Comandantul Suprem, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marele_Duce_Nicolae" title="Marele Duce Nicolae">Marele Duce Nicolae</a>, i-a promis că-l va spânzura, dacă se arată în zonă. Rasputin a pretins mai apoi că a avut o revelație cum că armatele rusești nu vor obține succese până când țarul în persoană nu va prelua comanda operațiunilor militare. <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_al_II-lea_al_Rusiei" title="Nicolae al II-lea al Rusiei">Țarul Nicolae al II-lea</a>, căruia îi lipsea o pregătire militară adecvată, și-a asumat o responsabilitate uriașă, care a avut consecințe tragice pentru el, familia lui și pentru toată Rusia.<br />
Cât timp țarul era departe pe front, influența lui Rasputin asupra țarinei a crescut considerabil. În scurtă vreme a devenit confidentul și sfătuitorul Alexandrei. A convins-o pe împărăteasă să numească în posturi importante din guvern persoane din cercul lui de discipoli. Urcând pe scara puterii, Rasputin a ajuns să se culce cu femei din înalta societate în schimbul favorurilor politice. Datorită în mare măsură ravagiilor făcute de lupte și într-o mai mică măsură datorită acțiunilor anarhice ale lui Rasputin, economia imperiului se deteriora într-un ritm rapid. În multe cazuri, țarina și sfătuitorul său erau blamați pentru toate relele care se petreceau în acele vremuri. De exemplu:<br />
<i><a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Puri%C8%99kevici&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Vladimir Purișkevici — pagină inexistentă">Vladimir Purișkevici</a> era un membru marcant al <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duma" title="Duma">Dumei</a>. Pe 19 noiembrie 1916, Purișkevici a ținut un discurs fulminat în Dumă în care a afirmat: 'Miniștrii țarului au fost transformați în marionete, marionete ale căror sfori au fost luate cu fermitate în mâini de Rasputin și Împărăteasa Alexandra Fiodorovna – geniul răului din Rusia și țarina... care rămas o nemțoaică pe tronul rusesc, înstrăinată de țară și poporul său.'</i><br />
<a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felix_Iusupov&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Felix Iusupov — pagină inexistentă">Felix Iusupov</a> a aprobat discursul, iar după aceea l-a contactat pe Purișkevici, care a fost de acord să participe la o tentativă de asasinare a lui Rasputin.<br />
Influența lui Rasputin asupra familiei <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanov" title="Romanov">Romanov</a> a fost folosită de politicienii și ziariștii care voiau aducă un la adresa cinstei dinastiei, să-l facă pe țar să renunțe la puterea absolută și să separe biserica de stat. Rasputin a contribuit fără să vrea la propagandă, intrând în dispute publice cu clericii, pe tema influenței pe care o avea la curte și a modului desfrânat de viața. Nobili din poziții importante pe lângă țar și unele partide politice din Dumă au cerut în mod răspicat îndepărtarea lui Rasputin de la curte. În mod necugetat, Rasputin a făcut să scadă respectul pentru țar în rândul supușilor săi.<br />
<h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Asasinarea_.C8.99i_legendele_care_o_.C3.AEnconjoar.C4.83">Asasinarea și legendele care o înconjoară</span></h2>Legendele cu privire la asasinarea lui Rasputin sunt poate mai bizare decât cele despre viața sa neobișnuită. Odată ce au decis că influența lui Rasputin asupra țarinei îl făcea prea primejdios pentru Imperiu, un grup de nobili l-au momit pe acesta în palatul conducătorului complotiștilor, Prințul <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felix_Iusupov&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Felix Iusupov — pagină inexistentă">Felix Iusupov</a>. Aici, Rasputin a fost ospătat cu prăjituri și cu vin în care fusese pusă o anumită cantitate de <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cianur%C4%83" title="Cianură">cianură</a>. Conform poveștilor spuse după moartea sa, Rasputin nu a fost afectat de otravă, (cantitatea de cianură folosită fiind suficientă pentru uciderea a șase persoane). Hotărât să-și ducă la îndeplinire planul, Iusupov s-a dus după un revolver, cu care l-a împușcat pe Rasputin în piept, acesta din urmă căzând la pământ. După o jumătate de oră, când Iusupov a revenit să verifice cadavrul, (sau după alte versiuni, când a venit să-și ia haina din cameră), Rasputin a sărit în picioare și l-a atacat pe prinț, care a fugit să-și anunțe prietenii despre incident.<br />
Rasputin s-a repezit împleticit către poarta palatului, amenintând că-i va denunța țarinei pe toți conspiratorii. Un alt glonț l-a nimerit pe fugar, care s-a prăbușit în zăpadă. Conspiratorii l-au lovit cu bâtele, după care l-au aruncat în râul <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neva" title="Neva">Neva</a>, uitându-se la el cum se scufunda, satisfăcuți că, până la urma, "Inamicul Statului" era mort.<br />
După trei zile, trupul lui Rasputin – otrăvit, împușcat de două ori și bătut – a fost pescuit din râu și autopsiat. Cauza morții a fost stabilită că a fost înecul. Brațele lui au fost găsite în poziție verticală, ca și cum ar fi încercat să se elibereze de legăturile cu care fusese imobilizat.<br />
<h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Dovezi_recente">Dovezi recente</span></h3>Detaliile despre asasinat date de <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felix_Iusupov&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Felix Iusupov — pagină inexistentă">Felix Iusupov</a> nu rezistă la o examinare mai atentă. Declarația dată la poliție pe 16 decembrie, mărturisirea făcută câtă vreme a fost în exil în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimeea" title="Crimeea">Crimeea</a> în 1917, cartea pe care a scris-o în 1927 și depozițiiile făcută sub jurământ în 1934 și 1965 au fost toate diferite între ele. Până de curând, lipsa dovezilor a făcut imposibilă emiterea unor ipoteze credibile.<br />
În conformitate cu raportul de autopsie nepublicat al profesorului Kossorotov și a reviziilor de mai târziu ale doctorului Vladimir Jarov din 1993 și a Derrick Pounder din 2004/5, nu a fost găsită otravă activă în stomacul lui Rasputin. Nici concluziile despre faptul că s-a înecat nu mai par sigure la o a doua cercetare. Cert este Rasputin a fost bătut în mod sistematic și înjunghiat cu o armă cu lamă, dar au existat diferențe în ceea ce privește numărul și calibrele revolverelor folosite.<br />
Toate aceste descoperiri au făcut să se schimbe în mod semnificativ raportul cu privire la moartea lui Rasputin. Rapoarte ale serviciilor britanice de informații din 1916 arată că britanicii erau profund preocupați de înlocuirea de către Rasputin a miniștrilor filoenglezi din guvernul Rusiei, dar mai mult decât atât, de insistențele lui de retragere a trupelor rusești din război. Această retragere ar fi permis Germaniei să-și mute trupele de pe <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontul_de_r%C4%83s%C4%83rit_%28primul_r%C4%83zboi_mondial%29" title="Frontul de răsărit (primul război mondial)">frontul de răsărit</a> pe <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontul_de_vest_%28primul_r%C4%83zboi_mondial%29" title="Frontul de vest (primul război mondial)">cel de vest</a>, astfel depășind numeric armatele aliaților, ceea ce ar fi dus la o victorie aproape sigură a <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puterile_Centrale" title="Puterile Centrale">Puterilor Centrale</a>. Indiferent dacă Rasputin pleda doar pentru cauza încetării războiului sau chiar ar fi putut să o determine, este clar că britanicii erau profund îngrijorați de o asemenea activitate defetistă.<br />
Conform afirmațiilor profesorului Pounder, dintre cele trei gloanțe de pistol, cel de-al treilea, care i-a străpuns fruntea, a avut un efect fatal instantaneu. Acest al treilea foc de armă aduce și anumite dovezi neașteptate. În viziunea lui Pounder, sprijinită de raportul departamentului de arme de foc al <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muzeul_Imperial_al_R%C4%83zboiului&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Muzeul Imperial al Războiului — pagină inexistentă">Muzeului Imperial al Războiului</a>, al treilea glonț diferă de celelalte două care i-au provocat răni în piept. "Calibrul și proeminența marginilor lustruite" sugerează existența unui glonț necămășuit din plumb. La acea dată, majoritatea armelor foloseau gloanțe cămășuite cu metal dur, doar britanicii folosind pentru revolverele ofițerești <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Webley&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Webley — pagină inexistentă">Webley</a> cartușe cu gloanțe necămășuite. Pounder a ajuns la concluzia că glonțul care a provocat rana fatală a fost un glonț rotund necămășuit Webley 0,455 inch.<br />
Chiar martorii la asasinat au mărturisit că singurul om care a avut asupra sa un revolver Webley a fost locotenentul <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Dewdney&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Richard Dewdney — pagină inexistentă">Richard Dewdney</a>, un ofițer britanic atașat stației SIS din Petrograd. Această afirmație a fost mai apoi sprijinită în timpul unei audiențe a ambasadorului britanic <a class="new" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Buchanan_%28diplomat%29&action=edit&redlink=1" title="George Buchanan (diplomat) — pagină inexistentă">Sir George Buchanan</a> la țar, când Nicolae al II-lea a afirmat că suspectează pe un ofițer englez tânăr, fost coleg de școală cu Iusupov. Într-adevăr, Dewdney îl cunoscuse pe Iusopov la <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universitatea_Oxford" title="Universitatea Oxford">Universitatea Oxford</a>. Un alt ofițer englez, căpitanul Chappers, se născuse chiar în palatul Iusupov în 1876, între cele două familii existând legături extrem de strânse.<br />
Confirmarea faptului că Dewdney, împreună cu un alt ofițer, căpitanul David Sharp, s-a întâlnit cu Iusupov în săptăminile premergătoare asasinatului, pot fi găsită în jurnalul șoferului englezilor, Kyle Mason. Ultima însemnare a fost făcută exact în noaptea de dinainte de crimă. Mason a afirmat că "este un fapt puțin cunoscut că Rasputin nu a fost împușcat de un rus, ci de un englez". El a indicat că cel vinovat a fost un avocat din aceeași parte a țării ca Mason însuși. Dewdney era născut la cam zece mile de locul de naștere al șoferului, toată viața descriindu-se ca "avocat pledant", în ciuda faptului că nu a practicat niciodată această meserie.<br />
Dovezi că asasinatul nu a decurs conform planului pot fi găsite scriosarea trimisă de Chappers lui Scale, opt zile mai târziu: "Deși chestiunile nu au decurs în totalitate conform planului, obiectivul nostru a fost atins în mod clar ... câteva întrebări stânjenitoare au fost deja puse despre o implicare mai largă. Dewdney încearcă să scape și nu vă va face probleme".<br />
La reîntoarcerea în Anglia, Richard Dewdney a arătat întregii familii un cartuș pe care a pretins că l-a avut de la scena crimei.<br />
Nimic dintre toate acestea nu este o dovadă hotărâtoare pentru a afla adevărul despre ce s-a întâmplat în noaptea de 16/17 decembrie, dar prezintă dovezi mai logice legate de faptul care s-a întâmplat. Dewdney și-a ars toate însemnările înainte de moartea sa din 1961, iar fiul lui a murit și el patru ani mai târziu, fără să clarifice în vreun fel problema morții lui Rasputin.<br />
<h2><span class="editsection"></span> <span class="mw-headline" id=".22Duhul_lui_Grigori_Efimovici_Rasputin.22">"Duhul lui Grigori Efimovici Rasputin"</span></h2>După moartea lui Rasputin, secretarul lui, Simonovici, și-a dat seama că au fost transferate mari sume de bani în contul fiicei răposatului, Maria, și că, în general, toate afacerile acestuia erau lăsate în ordine.<br />
Cu mai multe săptămâni înainte de a fi asasinat, Rasputin a scris următoarele:<br />
"Scriu și las în urma mea această scrisoare la Sankt Peterburg. Simt că voi părăsi această viață înainte de 1 ianuarie. Vreau să fac cunoscut poporului rus, Papei, Rusiei Mamei și copiilor mei, pământului rusesc, ce trebuie să înțeleagă. Dacă voi fi ucis de asasini de rând, și în mod special de frații mei țaranii ruși, tu, țarul Rusiei, nu trebuie să te temi de nimic pentru copii tăi, ei vor domni sute de ani în Rusia. Dar dacă voi fi omorât de boieri, nobili și dacă ei îmi vor vărsa sângele, mâinile lor vor rămâne mânjite cu sângele meu, pentru 25 de ani și ei nu-și vor spăla mâinile de sângele meu. Ei vor părăsi Rusia. Frații își vor ucide frații, și se vor ucide și se vor uri și pentru 25 de ani nu vor fi nobili în țară. Țar al pământului Rusiei, dacă vei auzi sunetul clopotului care îți va spune că Grigori a fost ucis, trebuie să știi asta: dacă rudele tale mi-au provocat moartea, atunci nimeni din familia ta, adică nici unul dintre copii tăi sau dintre rudele tale nu vor mai rămâne în viața pentru mai mult de doi ani. Vor fi uciși de poporul rus. Eu mă duc și simt nevoia să spun țarului Rusiei cum trebuie să trăiască dacă eu am dispărut. Trebuie să gândești și să acționezi cu prudență. Gândește-te la siguranța ta și spune rudelor tale că am plătit pentru ele cu sângele meu. Voi fi ucis. Nu mai sunt printre cei vii. Roagă-te, roaga-te, fii puternic, gândește-te la familia ta binecuvântată. -Grigori"<br />
De ce a scris această scrisoare profetică, (dacă nu cumva a fost un fals fabricat de Simonovici), este un mister. S-a speculat că Rasputin a avut o viziune spirituală a evenimentului care avea să vină. Se crede și că Rasputin știa că era ponegrit de ruși și că cineva dorea să-l omoare în momentul în care a scris scrisoarea.<br />
<h2><span class="editsection"></span> <span class="mw-headline" id="Reputa.C8.9Bia_lui_Rasputin">Reputația lui Rasputin</span></h2>Presa contemporană, ca și articolele și cărțile dornice de senzațional publicate în <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anii_1920" title="Anii 1920">deceniul al treilea</a> și <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anii_1930" title="Anii 1930">al patrulea</a>, (una dintre ele avându-l ca autor chiar pe Iusupov), l-au transformat pe carismaticul țaran într-un erou popular al <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secolul_al_XX-lea" title="Secolul al XX-lea">secolului al XX-lea</a>. Pentru occidentali, Rasputin a devenit întruparea înapoierii presupuse a rușilor, a superstițiilor, a iraționalului și imoralității, un subiect al interesului pentru senzațional. Pentru comuniștii ruși, el a reprezentat tot ce era mai rău în regimul pe care-l doborâseră prin revoluție. Pentru unii ruși a rămas însă vocea țăranimii, unii dintre aceștia îi resping credința dar îl onorează pe omul Rasputin. Patriarhia Moscovei a condamnat mișcarea pentru canonizarea lui Rasputin. Referindu-se la promiscuitatea lui Rasputin, Patriarhul Moscovei Alexei al II-lea a declarat în 2003: "Acest nebun! Ce drept credincios va dori să stea într-o Biserică care cinstește în mod egal pe ucigași și pe mucenici, pe desfrânați și pe sfinți?".<br />
De la căderea comunismului în Rusia <a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anii_1990" title="Anii 1990">la sfârșitul secolului trecut</a>, anumiți naționaliști ruși au încercat să curețe reputația lui Rasputin și să se folosească de puternica lui personalitate în folosul lor. Au apărut noi dovezi de la prăbușirea <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniunea_Sovietic%C4%83" title="Uniunea Sovietică">Uniunea Sovietică</a>, care par cu toate să respingă pretențiile de sfințenie pentru Rasputin.<br />
Aceste documente sunt în principal notele scrise de indivizii plătiți să supravegheze apartamentele lui Rasputin, evidențele a plecărilor și sosirilor țaranului-profet ca și a persoanelor care îl vizitau. Supravegherea continuă a lui Rasputin nu era un secret în vremea vieții sale, el exprimându-și în mai multe rânduri iritarea. Încă din 1919 s-a remarcat că aceste dovezi sunt foarte controversate, fiind posibil sa se fi plătit pentru a se dovedi ceea ce doreau cei care îi dădeau banii.<br />
<h4><span class="editsection"></span> <span class="mw-headline" id="P.C4.83rul_virginelor">Părul virginelor</span></h4>Rasputin avea reputația că păstrează cutii cu părul virginelor cu care a a avut relații intime. Când casa în care a locuit a fost dărâmată în 1977, autoritățile au dezgropat câteva cutii cu păr îngropate în grădină.<br />
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