Rasputin!!

[Rainbow.]

I read about Rasputin a few years ago, and was fascinated by what i read.
Last night i watched a film about him and it got me thinking. Although he was thought as holy by some due to his healing abilities and prophesy, he also lived a debauched life style .
Im still trying to figure out what kind of power he had. It's very confusing! lol. Does anyone have any thoughts on this strange and mysterious man?
For those of you who have no idea who Rasputin was, heres a brief run down.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Grigory Rasputin is without question one of the most scandalous figures in Russian history. This mystic from Siberia arrived in St. Petersburg in 1911 and within a few years had become one of the most influential men in government circles. His ability to remain in such a high position despite widely publicized bouts of drinking and womanizing is no doubt the source of tremendous envy among political figures around the world today. [/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rasputin's rise to preeminence was due to his close relationship with Nicholas II's wife, Alexandra. The heir to the throne, Alexis, suffered from hemophaelia, and only Rasputin could do what the top medical professors could not: he could stop the boy's bleeding. Because of this, Alexandra believed he was a holy man sent to protect Alexis and she kept him close by at all times, despite the fact that he rarely bathed. [/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rasputin is as famous for his death as he is for his life. At the end of 1916, a group of aristocrats in cahoots with the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (a cousin of Nicholas II) decided that Rasputin's influence had grown too great and that he had to be killed in order to save Russia. They lured him to the Yusupovsky Palace on the pretext that Prince Felix Yusupovsky would introduce Rasputin to his beautiful wife. [/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rasputin was led to the cellar and fed poisoned cakes and wine, but these did affect him. Yusupovsky then shot the monk at point blank range and Rasputin collapsed on the floor. When Yusupov went to tell his fellow conspirators the good news, they sent him back to make sure he had done the job. On returning to inspect the body, Rasputin suddenly regained consciousness and started to throttle poor Yusupov, who needless to say was completely scared out of his wits. The Prince fled the cellar, screaming for help; when they returned Rasputin was gone. They found him in the yard crawling towards the gate and proceeded to shoot and bludgeon him. They then bound him and tossed him into the river. When Rasputin's body was found, his bonds were broken and his lungs were filled with water, showing that he didn't actually die until he was submerged in the frozen waters[/font]
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The last letter he wrote:

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I write and leave behind me this letter at St. Petersburg. I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st. I wish to make known to the Russian people, to Papa, to the Russian Mother and to the children, to the land of Russia, what they must understand. If I am killed by common assassins, and especially by my brothers the Russian peasants, you, Tsar of Russia, have nothing to fear, remain on your throne and govern, and you, Russian Tsar, will have nothing to fear for your children, they will reign for hundreds of years in Russia. But if I am murdered by boyars, nobles, and if they shed my blood, their hands will remain soiled with my blood, for twenty-five years they will not wash their hands from my blood. They will leave Russia. Brothers will kill brothers, and they will kill each other and hate each other, and for twenty-five years there will be no noblers in the country. Tsar of the land of Russia, if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigory has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death then no one of your family, that is to say, none of your children or relations will remain alive for more than two years. They will be killed by the Russian people...I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living. Pray, pray, be strong, think of your blessed family.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Words written by Grigory Rasputin in a letter to the Tsarina Alexandra, 7 Dec 1916[/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]23 days later, Rasputin was killed, by two relatives of the Tsar Nicholas II[/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]19 months after Rasputin's death, the Tsar and his family lay dead[/font]
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[Myah]

I actually did a paper on Rasputin in high school..but all I can remember of it was the stories of his death and his reputaion. His eyes were supposed to be extremely mesmorizing as well. (I actually dressed up like Rasputin for a history day..fake beard..everything )

 

[revolutio]

Rasputin was a basket case. His story really makes me question my disbelief in the supernatural. I suppose the most likely logical explanation is that he was part of a larger conspiracy. The events he predicted were actually orchestrated either by him or he was privy to the scheme. Either way his is a remarkable story.

The tale of his death is just downright frightening. It is like something out of a bad movie.

 

[Rainbow.]

I actually did a paper on Rasputin in high school..but all I can remember of it was the stories of his death and his reputaion. His eyes were supposed to be extremely mesmorizing as well. (I actually dressed up like Rasputin for a history day..fake beard..everything )

Wow Myah!
Do you have any of the photos, id love to see them!
I heard the same thing about his eyes it's very strange.Speaking of which, there's dog that can hypnotise people by them looking into his eys, it's amazing, whatapower to have?! I wouldn't want it unless it was Gpd given though!

 

[Rainbow.]

Rasputin was a basket case. His story really makes me question my disbelief in the supernatural. I suppose the most likely logical explanation is that he was part of a larger conspiracy. The events he predicted were actually orchestrated either by him or he was privy to the scheme. Either way his is a remarkable story.

The tale of his death is just downright frightening. It is like something out of a bad movie.

Yeah one which i never want to see!

Yeah, it's a remarkable story alright!. I get so confused by people who have been somewhat holy in some ways, and yet so off the rails at the same time.

 

[Myah]

I don't have any pictures, unfortunately It was so fun though, except for the fact that the fake beard itched terribly. I act out a little tirade though.

 

[ObbiQuiet]

I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw this man's eyes. They're unconfortable to look at. That man's gaze is increidble, it looks like he's staring right through me.

I've never been this spooked by a picture before.

 

[Injured Soldier]

Rasputin is an interesting fellow is he not? However he was a common example of an uneducated, wandering Siberian peasant-mystic at the time. Russian peasants (in fact most peasants in Europe prior to this) didn't have our logical minds, they had a mix of pious Orthodox beliefs mixed with occultic spiritual beliefs. But there is one thing that mostly we portray them as now but they definately were not: stupid. Russian peasants mostly were a canny bunch. Just think, few passed on knowledge via books, they all learnt by memorising what their parents and extended family told them. They learnt to speak Russian, a far more complex language than English. Their farms have been calculated to be more efficient than modern day farms in terms of resources wasted to output. They learnt all they needed to survive in a far colder and harsher climate than anywhere else. They memorised religious rituals. And they rarely had access to a doctor, childbirth was done by babka, medicine by a faith or herb healer.

So Raputin wasn't an exceptional holy man in terms of his outlook or beliefs. He was barely even exceptional in terms of his influence with the last Romanov family, there were a plethora of spiritual healers or mystics who had Alexandra and Nicky's favour before Rasputin. The only thing exceptional was that the conditions for his part to play in Russian history came together so neatly.

Nearly everyone in this post commented on his eyes. My mother commented on his eyes first time she saw the photo that was posted at the start, and a lot of people then noted it too. There is a lot of fallacies here. As for mesmerising, I don't think so. Felix Yousopov said they were mesmerising, he invited Rasputin into his livingroom once and told how Yousopov was lying on the couch and Rasputin was leaning over him, his eyes mesmerising him, dominating him. This may sound wierd, but to put it into context - even though Yousopov was married to a pretty lady, he was gay. To be from a family richer than the Tsar's family in Russia now and be openly gay would be shocking, back then it was a no-no. Yousopov's account of Rasputin's mesmerising eyes sound like a repressed homosexual fantasy to me. His eyes are strange, don't get me wrong, but I don't think they are too unusual when you take an unhealthy fatalismof a Russian peasant, the religious and occultic beliefs mixed, and the fact that the photo was set up. I have another shot of Raputin beside the Neva at home, and in terms of eyes he looks at least halfway normal.

Everyone commented on his death too. It does sound wierd. I read a likely theory on the poisoning, that the poison used was a diluted form of arsnic, and that when taken with a lot of carbohyrates all at once, it produces a delayed or reduced effect. So much for poisoning. Surviving a shooting and beating is stranger, even though the 3 men were scared out of their wits at Rasputin still shuffling along mumbling "Felix, I'm going to tell the Tsarina!". Even shots in the head don't have to be immediately fatal, and a shot to the body is more likely. The freezing water of the Neva may have jolted a half conscious Rasputin to take a few automatic breaths and drown.

The letter is strange, but for a canny person like Rasputin to miss a plot against him would be stranger. The two worst organised plots in Russia's history was the plot to assassinate Alexander II and the plot to assassinate Rasputin. Rasputin also warned Nicholas II about Russia entering WWI, saying he will be overthrown. And that is in 1914 (but that one is dead easy to explain, as a peasant himself Rasputin knew how most peasants in Russia saw war)! While I can't fully explain the 1916 letter, maybe Rasputin did see into the near future, his state of mind in a rioting Russia at war with signs pointing to an incompetant noble plot, doesn't exactly make it a prediction out of the blue.

Alexei's hemophaelia and it's cure has puzzled historians and doctors ever since, people who know more than you or I would care to know about the matter. Skeptical and faithful explainations have been given: Rasputin hyphotised him, simply reduced stress therefore blood pressure, or maybe it WAS a miracle. But a more likely explaination of the Spala episode that led to the belief that Rasputin healed Alexei of hemophaelia is found here: http://www.npsnet.com/alexei_found/. There is a strange secondry issue on that page, that of the fate of Alexei, but I'm not sure about that one, haven't really researched it. Overall I'm sure Rasputin didn't perform a miracle with Alexei's disease, because it constantly came back and Rasputin said it would not go away until after his 18th birthday, so had to constantly "heal" him. Once the Tsar actually threw Rasputin out of the palace, the boy got sick, Alexandra whinged, Nicky swallowed his pride and asked Rasputin back, but Rasputin sulked for a few days and didn't come to "heal" Alexei until later.

So my opinion is he had a lot of quirks and some strange stuff can be attributed to him, but most of the stuff he claimed as spiritual was a bunch of hooey. But still, study of Rasputin is a really interesting topic.

 

[nicodemus]

Regarding his eyes in photos:

One thing is they didn't have instamatic cameras back then. They had to have a look in photos that could be held for some length of time. That's why your rarely see old photos of people smiling, because it was too difficult to accomplish with the technology.