Rasputin
English 10 Honors 8*
May 22, 2000
English 10 Honors 8*
May 22, 2000
Rasputin
Throughout history there have been many odd characters.
Russian history was not excluded. Grigory Rasputin, who was an assistant to the Royal Russian family, was an unusual man.Grigory Yefimovich Novykh was born on January 23, 1871, in Tobolsk, Russia (DISCovering). He earned the name Rasputin which is Russian for debauched one (Rasputin).
Grigory Rasputin was born in western Siberia, in the town of Pokrovskoe,says another source (Fuhrmann 1). The name Grigory indicates Rasputin may have been born on January 10, the day dedicated to St. Grigory of Nicea (Fuhrmann 1). Although the actual date and place of birth cannot be determined, one fact is known for certain: Rasputin had an influence over the health of the young Aleksey Nickolayovich, hemophiliac heir to the Russian throne (Rasputin).
Grigory had been against war, but was recognized for his drunkeness (Radzinsky 271). Before Rasputin got his job with the Russian family, he lived off donations from peasants because of his claim of being a self- proclaimed holy man (Rasputin).Grigory underwent a religious conversion at 18, where he was introduced to the Khlysty sect (Rasputin). Rasputins ideas were heretical from the chruchs viewpoint, however he was charged with using religion to impress people and advance himself (Fuhrmann 44). A doctrine of the Khlysty sect states that one was nearest God
when feeling holy passionlessness and that the best way to reach such a state was through the sexual exhaustion that came after prolonged debauchery (Rasputin). After marrying Proskovia Fyodorovna and bearing four children, Rasputin left home and wandered through Greece and Jerusalem.
(Rasputin). He was a strict father. His daughters werent allowed to go outside alone and Sundays were devoted to home worship (Fuhrmann 33).
Rasputins loyalty to the czar and his family made him immune to the attempts of exile from Russia (DISCovering). Aleksey Nickolayevich was a hemophiliac (Rasputin). On one certain occasion, doctors were called in to check on the young heir.
After nothing seemed to help, Grigory Rasputin, who was reported to have miraculous powers of faith healing, was brought to Alexandra (Massie 259). Rasputin didnt cure Aleksey of hemophilia, but his ability to control the symptoms was indisputable (Fuhrmann 26). In December 1916, a group of conservative aristocrats laced Rasputins wine with potassium cyanide at a soiree in the Yousoupov Palace (DISCovering). The poison wasnt strong enough to kill Rasputin.
He was shot once, lurched at his attackers and they shot him again (DISCovering). The assumed to be dead body was thrown in a river. On December 19, a corpse surfaced in the Malaya Neuka River. Evidence showed the hands had been trying to untie the ropes and were raised (Radzinsky 483).Grigory Rasputin, who was eccentric, assisted the young heir Aleksey with his hemophilia.
There are arguments surrounding Rasputins birth time and place. Rasputin
formed his own religious sect. He also survived two gunshot wounds before dying. Rasputin was a controversial man.
Works Cited
Discovering Biography. The Gale Group.
9 May 2000 .
Fuhrmann, Joseph T. Rasputin, A Life. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990.
Massie, Robert K. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter.
New York: Random House,
1995.
Radzinsky, Edvard. The Rasputin File. New York: Nan A.
Talese, 2000.
Rasputin, Grigory Yefimovich. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 9 May 2000
http://search.
eb.com/bol/topic?eu=64340&sctn=1.
