Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (/ræˈspjuːtɪn/; Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn]; 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916) was a Russian mystic and holy man. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire.
Rasputin was born
to a family of peasants in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye, located within
Tyumensky Uyezd in Tobolsk Governorate (present-day Yarkovsky District in
Tyumen Oblast). He had a religious conversion experience after embarking on a
pilgrimage to a monastery in 1897 and has been described as a monk or as a
strannik (wanderer or pilgrim), though he held no official position in the
Russian Orthodox Church. In 1903 or in the winter of 1904–1905, he travelled to
Saint Petersburg and captivated a number of religious and social leaders,
eventually becoming a prominent figure in Russian society. In November 1905,
Rasputin met Nicholas II and his empress consort, Alexandra Feodorovna.
In late 1906, Rasputin began acting as a faith healer for Nicholas' and Alexandra's only son, Alexei
Nikolaevich, who suffered from hemophilia. He was a divisive figure at
court, seen by some Russians as a mystic, visionary and prophet, and by others
as a religious charlatan. The extent of Rasputin's power reached an all-time
high in 1915, when Nicholas left Saint Petersburg to oversee the Imperial
Russian Army as it was engaged in the First World War. In his absence, Rasputin
and Alexandra consolidated their influence across the Russian Empire. However,
as Russian military defeats mounted on the Eastern Front, both figures became
increasingly unpopular, and in the early morning of 30 December [O.S. 17
December] 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by a group of conservative Russian
noblemen who opposed his influence over the imperial family.
Historians often suggest that Rasputin's scandalous and
sinister reputation helped discredit the Tsarist government, thus precipitating
the overthrow of the House of Romanov shortly after his assassination. Accounts
of his life and influence were often based on hearsay and rumor; he remains a
mysterious and captivating figure in popular culture.
Early life
Grigori Yefimovich
Rasputin was born a peasant in the small village of Pokrovskoye, along the
Tura River in the Tobolsk Governorate (now Tyumen Oblast) in the Russian
Empire. According to official records, he was born on 21 January [O.S. 9
January] 1869 and christened the following day. He was named for St. Gregory of
Nyssa, whose feast was celebrated on 10 January.
There are few records of Rasputin's parents. His father, Yefim (1842 – 1916), was a peasant
farmer and church elder who had been born in Pokrovskoye and married Rasputin's
mother, Anna Parshukova (c. 1840 –
1906), in 1863. Yefim also worked as a government courier, ferrying people and
goods between Tobolsk and Tyumen. The couple had seven other children, all of
whom died in infancy and early childhood; there may have been a ninth child,
Feodosiya. According to historian Joseph
T. Fuhrmann, Rasputin was certainly close to Feodosiya and was godfather to
her children, but "the records that
have survived do not permit us to say more than that".
According to historian Douglas
Smith, Rasputin's youth and early adulthood are "a black hole about which we know almost nothing", though
the lack of reliable sources and information did not stop others from
fabricating stories about Rasputin's parents and his youth after his rise to
prominence. Historians agree, however, that like most Siberian peasants,
including his mother and father, Rasputin was not formally educated and
remained illiterate well into his early adulthood. Local archival records
suggest that he had a somewhat unruly youth—possibly involving drinking, small
thefts and disrespect for local authorities—but contain no evidence of his
being charged with stealing horses, blasphemy or bearing false witness, all
major crimes later imputed to him as a young man.
In 1886, Rasputin traveled to Abalak, some 250 km
east-northeast of Tyumen and 2,800 km east of Moscow, where he met a peasant
girl named Praskovya Dubrovina.
After a courtship of several months, they married in February 1887. Praskovya
remained in Pokrovskoye throughout Rasputin's later travels and rise to
prominence, and remained devoted to him until his death. The couple had seven
children, though only three survived to adulthood: Dmitry (b. 1895), Maria (b.
1898) and Varvara (b. 1900).
Religious conversion
In 1897, Rasputin developed a renewed interest in religion
and left Pokrovskoye to go on a pilgrimage. His reasons are unclear; according
to some sources, he left the village to escape punishment for his role in horse
theft. Other sources suggest Rasputin had a vision of the Virgin Mary or of St.
Simeon of Verkhoturye, while still others suggest that his pilgrimage was
inspired by a young theological student, Melity
Zaborovsky. Whatever his reasons, Rasputin cast off his old life: he was 28
years old, married ten years, with an infant son and another child on the way.
According to Smith, his decision "could
only have been occasioned by some sort of emotional or spiritual crisis".
Rasputin had undertaken earlier, shorter pilgrimages to the
Holy Znamensky Monastery at Abalak and to Tobolsk's cathedral, but his visit to
the St. Nicholas Monastery at Verkhoturye in 1897 transformed him. There, he
met and was "profoundly
humbled" by a starets (elder) known as Makary. Rasputin may have spent
several months at Verkhoturye, and it was perhaps here that he learned to read
and write. However, he later claimed that some of the monks at Verkhotuyre
engaged in homosexuality and criticized monastic life as too coercive. He
returned to Pokrovskoye a changed man, looking disheveled and behaving
differently. He became a vegetarian, swore off alcohol, and prayed and sang
much more fervently than he had in the past.
Rasputin spent the years that followed as a strannik (a holy
wanderer or pilgrim), leaving Pokrovskoye for months or even years at a time to
wander the country and visit a variety of holy sites. It is possible he
wandered as far as Mount Athos—the center of Eastern Orthodox monastic life—in
1900.
By the early 1900s, Rasputin had developed a small circle of
followers, primarily family members and other local peasants, who prayed with
him on Sundays and other holy days when he was in Pokrovskoye. Building a
makeshift chapel in Yefim's root cellar—Rasputin was still living within his
father's household at the time—the group held secret prayer meetings there.
These meetings were the subject of some suspicion and hostility from the
village priest and other villagers. It was rumored that female followers were
ceremonially washing Rasputin before each meeting, which the group sang strange
songs, and even that Rasputin had joined the Khlysty, a religious sect whose
ecstatic rituals were rumored to include self-flagellation and sexual orgies.
According to Fuhrmann, however, "repeated
investigations failed to establish that Rasputin was ever a member of the
sect", and rumors that he was a Khlyst appear to have been unfounded.
Rise to prominence
Word of Rasputin's activity and charisma began to spread in
Siberia during the early 1900s. At some point during 1904 or 1905, he traveled
to the city of Kazan, where he acquired a reputation as a wise starets who
could help people resolve their spiritual crises and anxieties. Despite rumors
that Rasputin was having sex with female followers, he made a favorable
impression on several local religious leaders. Among these were Archimandrite
Andrei and Bishop Chrysthanos, who gave Rasputin a letter of recommendation to
Bishop Sergei, the rector of the theological seminary at the Alexander Nevsky
Monastery, and arranged for him to travel to Saint Petersburg.
Upon arriving at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Rasputin was
introduced to church leaders, including Archimandrite Theofan, inspector of the
theological seminary, who was well-connected in Saint Petersburg society and
later served as confessor to the imperial family. Theofan was so impressed with
Rasputin that he invited him to stay in his home; he went on to become one of
Rasputin's most important friends in Saint Petersburg, gaining him entry to
many of the influential salons where the local aristocracy gathered for
religious discussions. It was through these meetings that Rasputin attracted
some of his early and influential followers—many of whom would later turn
against him.
Alternative religious movements such as spiritualism and
theosophy had become popular among Saint Petersburg's aristocracy before
Rasputin's arrival, and many of the aristocracy were intensely curious about
the occult and the supernatural. Rasputin's ideas and "strange manners" made him the subject of intense
curiosity among the city's elite, who according to Fuhrmann were "bored, cynical, and seeking new
experiences" during this period. Rasputin's appeal may have been
enhanced by the fact that he was also a native Russian, unlike other
self-described "holy men"
such as Nizier Anthelme Philippe and
Gérard Encausse, who had previously
been popular in Saint Petersburg.
According to Fuhrmann, Rasputin stayed in Saint Petersburg
for only a few months on his first visit and returned to Pokrovskoye in the
fall of 1903. Smith, however, argues that it is impossible to know whether
Rasputin stayed in Saint Petersburg or returned to Pokrovskoye at some point
between his first arrival and 1905. Regardless, by 1905 Rasputin had formed
friendships with several members of the aristocracy, including the "Black Princesses", Militsa and Anastasia of Montenegro, who had married cousins of Tsar Nicholas II (Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich and Prince George Maximilianovich Romanowsky) and were instrumental in
introducing Rasputin to the tsar and his family.
Rasputin first met Nicholas on 1 November 1905, at the
Peterhof Palace. The tsar recorded the event in his diary, writing that he and
his empress consort, Alexandra
Feodorovna, had "made the
acquaintance of a man of God – Grigory, from Tobolsk province". Rasputin
returned to Pokrovskoye shortly after their first meeting and did not return to
Saint Petersburg until July 1906. On his return, he sent Nicholas a telegram
asking to present the tsar with an icon of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye. He met
with Nicholas and Alexandra on 18 July and again in October, when he first met
their children.
At some point, Nicholas and Alexandra became convinced that
Rasputin possessed the miraculous power to heal their only son, Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, who
suffered from hemophilia. Historians disagree over when this happened:
according to Orlando Figes, Rasputin
was first introduced to the tsar and tsarina as a healer who could help their
son in November 1905, while Joseph T.
Fuhrmann has speculated that it was in October 1906 that Rasputin was first
asked to pray for the health of Alexei.
Healer to Alexei
Nikolaevich
Much of Rasputin's influence with the imperial family
stemmed from the belief by Alexandra and others that he had on several
occasions eased Alexei's pain and stopped his bleeding. According to historian Marc Ferro, the tsarina had a "passionate attachment" to
Rasputin, believing he could heal her son's affliction. Harold Shukman wrote that Rasputin became "an indispensable member of the royal entourage". It is
unclear when Rasputin first learned of Alexei's hemophilia, or when he first
acted as a healer. He may have been aware of Alexei's condition as early as
October 1906, and was summoned by Alexandra to pray for the tsarevich when he
had an internal hemorrhage in the spring of 1907. Alexei recovered the next
morning. Alexandra's friend Anna Vyrubova became convinced that Rasputin had
miraculous powers shortly thereafter and became one of his most influential
advocates.
In November 1906, Rasputin suddenly paid a visit to the
Baratynsky family in Kazan and told them he could read people's minds. Olga Ilyin's description of Rasputin
and his behavior in "Visits to the
Imperial Court" is a small but no doubt valuable contribution to
history.
At the very beginning of dinner, when Nastya was about to
put a plate of soup in front of Rasputin, he wanted to get out a comb, and he
began to run it through his oily hair. The plate was quickly cleared away, and
Nastya waited with stony disdain for him to finish his task.
During the summer of 1912, Alexei developed a hemorrhage in
his thigh and groin after a jolting carriage ride near the imperial hunting
grounds at Spała, which caused a large hematoma. In severe pain and delirious
with fever, the tsarevich appeared close to death. In desperation, Alexandra
asked Vyrubova to send Rasputin (who was in Siberia) a telegram, asking him to
pray for Alexei. Rasputin wrote back quickly, telling the tsarina that "God has seen your tears and heard your
prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow the doctors
to bother him too much." The next morning, Alexei's condition was
unchanged, but Alexandra was encouraged by the message and regained some hope
that he would survive. His bleeding stopped the following day. Dr. S. P. Fedorov, one of the
physicians who attended Alexei, admitted that "the recovery was wholly inexplicable from a medical point of
view." Later, Dr. Fedorov admitted that Alexandra could not be blamed
for seeing Rasputin as a miracle man: "Rasputin
would come in, walk up to the patient, look at him, and spit. The bleeding
would stop in no time.... How could the empress not trust Rasputin after that?"
Historian Robert K.
Massie has called Alexei's recovery "one
of the most mysterious episodes of the whole Rasputin legend". The cause
of his recovery is unclear: Massie speculated that Rasputin's suggestion not to
let doctors disturb Alexei had aided his recovery by allowing him to rest and
heal, or that his message may have aided Alexei's recovery by calming his
mother and reducing the tsarevich's emotional stress. Alexandra believed that
Rasputin had performed a miracle, and concluded that he was essential to Alexei's
survival. Some writers and historians, such as Ferro, claim that Rasputin
stopped Alexei's bleeding on other occasions through hypnosis. Still other
historians–including memoirist Pierre
Gilliard, Alexei's French-language tutor–have speculated that Rasputin
controlled Alexei's bleeding by disallowing the administration of aspirin, then
widely used to relieve pain, but unknown as an anti-clotting agent until the
1950s.
Relationship with
royalty's children
Alexei and his siblings were also taught to view Rasputin as
"our friend" and to share
confidences with him. In the autumn of 1907, their aunt, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, was escorted to the nursery by
Nicholas to meet Rasputin. Maria, her sisters and brother Alexei were all
wearing their long white nightgowns. "All
the children seemed to like him," Olga Alexandrovna recalled. "They were completely at ease with
him."
Rasputin's friendship with the tsar's children was evident
in the messages he sent to them. "My
Dear Pearl M!" Rasputin wrote the nine-year-old Maria in one telegram
in 1908. "Tell me how you talked
with the sea, with nature! I miss your simple soul. We will see each other
soon! A big kiss." In a second telegram, Rasputin told the child, "My Dear M! My Little Friend! May the
Lord help you to carry your cross with wisdom and joy in Christ. This world is
like the day, look it's already evening. So it is with the cares of the world."
In February 1909, Rasputin sent all of the children a telegram, advising
them to, "Love the whole of God's
nature, the whole of His creation in particular this earth. The Mother of God
was always occupied with flowers and needlework."
One of the girls' governesses, Sofia Ivanovna Tyutcheva, was horrified in 1910 when Rasputin was
permitted access to the nursery when the four girls were in their nightgowns.
Tyutcheva wanted Rasputin barred from the nurseries. In response to her
complaints, Nicholas asked Rasputin to end his nursery visits. "I am so afr(aid) that S.I. [Tyutcheva]
can speak ... about our friend something bad," Maria's twelve-year-old
sister Tatiana wrote to her mother on 8 March 1910, after begging Alexandra to
forgive her for doing something she did not like. "I hope our nurse will be nice to our friend now."
Alexandra eventually had Tyutcheva fired.
Tyutcheva took her story to other members of the imperial
family, who were scandalized by the reports, though Rasputin's contacts with
the children were by all accounts completely innocent. Nicholas's sister, Grand
Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, was horrified by Tyutcheva's story. Xenia wrote on
15 March 1910 that she could not understand "...the
attitude of Alix and the children to that sinister Grigory (whom they consider
to be almost a saint, when in fact he's only a khlyst!) He's always there, goes
into the nursery, visits Olga and Tatiana while they are getting ready for bed,
and sits there talking to them and caressing them. They are careful to hide him
from Sofia Ivanovna, and the children don't dare talk to her about him. It's
all quite unbelievable and beyond understanding."
Another of the nursery governesses claimed in the spring of
1910 that she was raped by Rasputin.
Maria Ivanovna Vishnyakova had at first been a devotee of Rasputin, but
later was disillusioned by him. Alexandra refused to believe Vishnyakova "and said that everything Rasputin does
is holy". Grand Duchess Olga
Alexandrovna was told that Vishnyakova's claim had been immediately
investigated, but "they caught the
young woman in bed with a Cossack of the Imperial Guard." Vishnyakova
was dismissed from her post in 1913.
It was whispered in society that Rasputin had seduced not
only Alexandra but also the four grand duchesses. Rasputin had released ardent
letters written to him by the tsarina and the grand duchesses, which circulated
throughout society and fueled the rumors. Pornographic cartoons also circulated
that depicted Rasputin having sexual relations with the tsarina, with her four
daughters and Anna Vyrubova nude in
the background. Nicholas ordered Rasputin to leave Saint Petersburg for a time,
much to Alexandra's displeasure, and Rasputin went on a pilgrimage to
Palestine.
Despite the scandal, the imperial family's association with
Rasputin continued until his murder on 17 December 1916. "Our Friend is so contented with our girlies, says they have gone
through heavy 'courses' for their age and their souls have much
developed," Alexandra wrote to Nicholas on 6 December 1916. In his
memoirs, A. A. Mordvinov reported
that the four grand duchesses appeared "cold
and visibly terribly upset" by Rasputin's death and sat "huddled up closely together"
on a sofa in one of their bedrooms on the night they received the news.
Mordvinov reported that the young women were in a gloomy mood and seemed to
sense the political upheaval that was about to be unleashed. Rasputin was
buried with an icon signed on its reverse side by the grand duchesses and their
mother.
Controversies
The imperial family's belief in Rasputin's healing powers
brought him considerable status and power at court. Nicholas appointed Rasputin
his lampadnik (lamplighter), charged with keeping the lamps lit before
religious icons in the palace, which gained him regular access to the palace
and imperial family. By December 1906, Rasputin had become close enough to ask
a special favor of the tsar: that he be permitted to change his surname to
Rasputin-Noviy (Rasputin-New). Nicholas granted the request and the name change
was speedily processed, suggesting that Rasputin already had the tsar's favor
at that early date. Rasputin used his position to full effect, accepting bribes
and sexual favors from admirers and working diligently to expand his influence.
Rasputin soon became a controversial figure; he was accused
by his enemies of religious heresy and rape, was suspected of exerting undue
political influence over the tsar and was even rumored to be having an affair
with the tsarina. Opposition to Rasputin's influence grew within the Eastern
Orthodox Church. In 1907, the local clergy in Pokrovskoye denounced Rasputin as
a heretic, and the Bishop of Tobolsk launched an inquest into his activities,
accusing him of "spreading false,
Khlyst-like doctrines". In Saint Petersburg, Rasputin faced opposition
from even more prominent critics, including Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin and the Okhrana, the tsar's secret
police. Having ordered an investigation into Rasputin's activities, Stolypin
confronted Nicholas but did not succeed in reining in Rasputin's influence or
exiling him from Saint Petersburg. In 1909, Kehioniya Berlatskaya, one of Rasputin's early supporters, accused
him of rape. Betlatskaya sought aid from Theofan, who became convinced that
Rasputin was a danger to the monarchy. Rumors multiplied that Rasputin had
assaulted female followers and behaved inappropriately on visits with the
imperial family—and particularly with Nicholas's teenage daughters Olga and
Tatiana.
During this period the First World War, the dissolution of
feudalism and a meddling government bureaucracy all contributed to Russia's
rapid economic decline. Many laid the blame on Alexandra and Rasputin. One
outspoken member of the Duma, far-right politician Vladimir Purishkevich,
stated in November 1916 that he held the tsar's ministers had "been turned into marionettes,
marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and the
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna—the evil genius of Russia and the Tsarina… who has
remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its
people". (The tsarina had been born a German princess.)
Failed assassination
attempt
On 12 July [O.S. 29 June] 1914, a 33-year-old peasant woman
named Chionya Guseva attempted to
assassinate Rasputin by stabbing him in the stomach outside his home in
Pokrovskoye. Rasputin was seriously wounded, and for a time it was not clear if
he would survive. After surgery and some time in a hospital in Tyumen, he
recovered.
Guseva was a follower of Iliodor, a former priest who had
supported Rasputin before denouncing his sexual escapades and self-aggrandizement
in December 1911. A radical conservative and anti-semite, Iliodor had been part
of a group of establishment figures who had attempted to drive a wedge between
Rasputin and the imperial family in 1911. When this effort failed, Iliodor was
banished from Saint Petersburg and was ultimately defrocked. Guseva claimed to
have acted alone, having read about Rasputin in the newspapers and believing
him to be a "false prophet and even
an Antichrist". Both the police and Rasputin, however, believed that
Iliodor had instigated the assassination attempt. Iliodor fled the country
before he could be questioned, and Guseva was found to be not responsible for
her actions by reason of insanity.
Assassination
A group of nobles led by Purishkevich, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov decided that Rasputin's influence over
Alexandra threatened the Russian Empire. They concocted a plan in December 1916
to kill Rasputin, apparently by luring him to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace.
Rasputin was murdered during the early morning on 30
December [O.S. 17 December] 1916 at the home of Prince Yusupov. He died of
three gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to his forehead.
Little is certain about his death beyond this, and the circumstances of his
death have been the subject of considerable speculation. According to Smith, "what really happened at the Yusupov
home on 17 December will never be known". The story that Yusupov
recounted in his memoirs, however, has become the most frequently told version
of events.
According to Yusupov's account, Rasputin was invited to his
palace shortly after midnight and ushered into the basement. Yusupov offered
tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. After initially refusing the
cakes, Rasputin began to eat them and, to Yusupov's surprise, appeared
unaffected by the poison. Rasputin then asked for some Madeira wine (which had
also been poisoned) and drank three glasses, but still showed no sign of distress.
At around 2:30 am, Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs, where his fellow
conspirators were waiting. He took a revolver from Pavlovich, then returned to
the basement and told Rasputin that he'd "better
look at the crucifix and say a prayer", referring to a crucifix in the
room, then shot him once in the chest. The conspirators then drove to
Rasputin's apartment, with Sukhotin wearing Rasputin's coat and hat in an
attempt to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home that night. Upon
returning to his palace, Yusupov went back to the basement to ensure that
Rasputin was dead. Suddenly, Rasputin leaped up and attacked Yusupov, who freed
himself with some effort and fled upstairs. Rasputin followed Yusupov into the
palace's courtyard, where he was shot by Purishkevich. He collapsed into a
snowbank. The conspirators then wrapped his body in cloth, drove it to the
Petrovsky Bridge and dropped it into the Little Nevka River.
In an unsubstantiated claim, Grand Duchess Tatiana, who was earlier alleged to have been raped
by Rasputin, was present at the site of Rasputin's murder, "disguised as a lieutenant of the Chevaliers-Gardes, so that she
could revenge herself on Rasputin who had tried to violate her". Maurice Paléologue, the French
ambassador to Russia, wrote that Tatiana had supposedly witnessed Rasputin's
castration, but he doubted the credibility of the rumor.
In a modern analysis of Rasputin's death, published on the
100th anniversary of the event, Dr
Carolyn Harris of the University of Toronto notes that the actual
circumstances were apparently less dramatic than Yusupov's account. Rasputin's
daughter recorded that her father disliked sweet food and would not have eaten
the supposedly poisoned cakes. An autopsy account by the official surgeon
involved has no record of poisoning or drowning but simply records death by a
single bullet fired into the head at close range.
Death and aftermath
News of Rasputin's murder spread quickly, even before his
body was found. According to Smith, Purishkevich spoke openly about the murder
to two soldiers and to a policeman who was investigating reports of shots
shortly after the event, but urged them not to tell anyone else. An
investigation was launched the next morning. The Stock Exchange Gazette ran a
report of Rasputin's death "after a
party in one of the most aristocratic homes in the center of the city"
on the afternoon of 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916.
After two workmen discovered blood on the railing of the
Petrovsky Bridge and a boot on the ice below, police began searching the area.
Rasputin's body was found under the river ice on 1 January (O.S. 19 December)
approximately 200 meters downstream from the bridge. Dmitry Kosorotov, the city's senior autopsy surgeon, examined the
body. Kosorotov's report was lost, but he later stated that Rasputin's body had
shown signs of severe trauma, including three gunshot wounds (one at close
range to the forehead), a slice wound to his left side and other injuries, many
of which Kosorotov felt had been sustained post-mortem. Kosorotov found a
single bullet in Rasputin's body but stated that it was too badly deformed and
of a type too widely used to trace. He found no evidence that Rasputin had been
poisoned. According to both Smith and Fuhrmann, Kosorotov found no water in
Rasputin's lungs and reports that Rasputin had been thrown into the water alive
were incorrect. Some later accounts claimed that Rasputin's penis had been
severed, but Kosorotov found his genitals intact.
Rasputin was buried on 2 January (O.S. 21 December) at a
small church that Vyrubova had been building at Tsarskoye Selo. The funeral was
attended only by the imperial family and a few of their intimates. Rasputin's
wife, mistress and children were not invited, although his daughters met with
the imperial family at Vyrubova's home later that day. The imperial family
planned to build a church over Rasputin's grave site. However, his body was
exhumed and burned by a detachment of soldiers on the orders of Alexander Kerensky shortly after
Nicholas abdicated the throne in March 1917, so that his grave would not become
a rallying point for supporters of the old regime.
Prominent children
Maria Rasputin
Rasputin's daughter, Maria
Rasputin (born Matryona Rasputina;
1898–1977), emigrated to France after the October Revolution and then to the
United States. There, she worked as a dancer and then a lion tamer in a circus.
In popular culture
Rasputin and the
Empress (1932), a film directed by Richard
Boleslavsky and Charles Brabin
starring Lionel Barrymore as Grigori
Rasputin, Ralph Morgan as the Czar, Ethel Barrymore as the Czarina and John Barrymore as Prince Paul
Chegodireff.
Rasputin the Mad Monk
(1966), a Hammer horror film directed by Don
Sharp and starring Christopher Lee as
Grigori Rasputin, and Barbara Shelley.
I Killed Rasputin
(1967), an Italo-Franco biographical film directed by Robert Hossein about the death of Grigori Rasputin.
Nicholas and Alexandra
(1971), a British epic historical drama film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Rasputin is portrayed by Tom Baker.
Agony (1973–1975,
released only in 1981), a Soviet film directed by Elem Klimov, with a score by Alfred
Schnittke.
Rasputin (1978), a
popular song by the German-Caribbean vocal group Boney M.
Rasputin, a stage
name of British-German rock musician Jon
Symon who performed mainly in the 1970s under this pseudonym.
Rasputin: Dark Servant
of Destiny (1996), a biographical historical drama television film which
chronicles the last four years (1912–1916) of Grigori Rasputin's stint as a
healer to Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich
of Russia.
Anastasia (1997),
an animated musical starring Christopher
Lloyd as Grigori Rasputin.
Grigoriy R.
(2014), Russian TV miniseries (sometimes marketed under the name Rasputin)
The Last Czars
(2019), Netflix docudrama miniseries following the reign of Nicholas II.
Rasputin is portrayed by Ben Cartright.
The King's Man
(2021), an action/drama film which includes scenes illustrating the British
agent theory of Rasputin's assassination.
The Power of the
Doctor (2022), Doctor Who special, portrayed by Sacha Dhawan as an alias of The Master.
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