“My Father” - Maria Rasputin
Prelude
As I was preparing to publish this article I was reminded that today (July 16-17) is the anniversary of the murder of the Romanov family and their four close attendants, so I am just going to provide the following index to my previous articles on the Romanovs:
Documentary - "The Bolshevik Revolution - Darkness Descends"
“Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman” by Robert K Massie
Documentary – "The Romanovs - The History of the Russian Dynasty"
“Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Tsar and His Family” by Robert K Massie
“Maria Romanov: Third Daughter of The Last Tsar” – Helen Azar
Reading With the Romanovs - “In the Steps of the Romanovs” – Helen Azar
And now to today’s article:
My Father – Maria Rasputin
How did a simple peasant from the farming village of Pokrovskoye in distant midwestern Siberia come to be so inextricably involved with the Romanov royal household all the way over in St Petersburg and Moscow?
To gain an appreciation of the social environment in which this unlikely and fateful historical circumstance occurred, please enjoy this lecture by Dr Charles Arndt titled Religious Wandering in Russia. The Russian History Museum presents a monthly (second-Saturday) high quality masterclass lecture.
· Religious Wandering in Russia | Dr. Charles Arndt - Russian History Museum
In this article I am going to feature the booklet “My Father” by Maria (Matryona Grigorievna) Rasputin. A PDF copy can be found here.
https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.17594/page/n3/mode/2up
Do not read past page 119 – that section is the topic of my next Mention.
Here is Maria’s side of the story …
Maria explains why she wrote this Book
Maria writes:
It is my desire myself to present to the public the only literary work of my father [see next Mention]. Not that I believe that I possess such qualities as a writer as might serve to enhance the value of this little book of his - for if I thought myself capable of undertaking a literary career I should not today be struggling to earn my daily bread as a trainer of wild animals - but rather because it is my desire to consecrate myself to a task, direct the whole of my life towards one goal: that of giving back to my father his true character, obtaining for his memory the respect and veneration that are its due, and revealing his true personality.
Few people have been so much discussed - and not only discussed, but hated - as he has been. Because he was able to detach himself from the bulk of humanity and take his place in the front rank of the Russian stage the masses have, in envy, thrust him out of the brotherhood of humanity. At first they crawled to him, they licked his feet, did that innumerable crowd of men and women who rushed to kiss his hands as soon as he appeared! And then, when that scene against which appeared the personality of Rasputin began to tremble, the pack gave tongue; secretly at first, and then openly. They have killed him, they have dragged his memory in the mud. Those who exalted his powers as a healer and his simple mysticism have turned those very things into weapons against him. The mysticism and the faith that at times endowed him with a magnetic power they have made into vulgar hypnotism used consciously to obtain ignoble ends; his peasant simplicity has been turned into the repulsive coarseness and the vile sensuality of a depraved mouftk.
The hounds have flung themselves upon his body and destroyed it to the very bones.
A mass of books has appeared embellishing his legend, through lack of authenticated facts, with details calculated to appeal to the lowest tastes of the public. Since Rasputin was a monster, then why not lend him gratuitously all the attributes of a monster-lewdness, ambition, deceit, filth, avarice, passion? All the cardinal sins rose up at the call and lent their stereotyped vilenesses for the final destruction of the memory of one who was not there to defend himself.
I can bear it no longer. I will throw away my cross, for the sake of my father's memory and the future of my children. I would have my daughters proud of the name they bear, not forced to blush with shame at the unhealthy curiosity that is aroused whenever it is pronounced, that name of Rasputin.
Maria describes the night of her father’s Murder
Maria describes the night her father failed to return home – he had been murdered by Yusupov (Youssoupof) and Purishkevich (Pourichkevitch) – and the horror of finding out the next day that their father had been brutally murdered. Maria had a brother Dimitri and sister Varvara.
“Our anguish increased from moment to moment. I decided at last to inform the Tsarskoie Selo, and I was about to telephone to Madame Wyroubova when she herself rang me up. Warned by Protopopoff, she too asked me the same questions as the Minister, who had already told her of the disappearance of my father and of his suspicions on the subject. Almost at the same moment Katia introduced some police officers who, in their tum, questioned me, and informed me that shots, fired at Youssoupof's where a group of friends, including Pourichkevitch, was gathered, had been heard during the evening. Pourichkevitch I knew to be a deadly enemy of my father.
[…] Varvara, Katia and I recognised it without hesitation as being one of my father's boots. It had been found half buried in the snow near the Petrovsky Bridge. Terrified, I tried to telephone again to Protopopoff, but in vain; and we waited through an eternity of hours and minutes.
[…] In a few minutes, breaking the ice, it was possible to liberate the body of my father, completely frozen, wrapped in his fur-lined coat and his ankles bound with a rope. An hour later my sister and I, notified by Protopopoff who sent a car from the Ministry for us, together with the lady's companion who was always with us, and my first fiancé, hurried to identify my father's body.
Nothing will ever efface my impressions of that moment-the vision of horror is still as clear as ever before my eyes.
My father's body had been taken to the little chapel of Tchesmenskaia, where it had been laid on a whitewood table. The face was almost unrecognisable, clots of dark blood had coagulated in the beard and hair; one eye was almost out of its socket, and on the wrists were deep marks left by the bonds that my father had succeeded in breaking in his death-struggle, probably when, reanimated by the sudden shock of the freezing water, he had made a supreme effort to escape from his prison of ice. His hand still lay beneath his chin, contracted in a last sign of the cross.
[…]
We had telegraphed to our mother in Siberia to come to the bedside of our father, seriously ill. She immediately set out, accompanied by my brother Mitia [Dimitri]; but she learned of the murder on the boat, through the newspapers that published an account of the inquest.
The autopsy of the body had been commenced without our having been notified beforehand. I learned latter that it was thus ascertained that none of the wounds was actually mortal, and that my father might very possibly have recovered had his murderers not taken the precaution of drowning him. When the Tsarina learned that the autopsy of the "man of God " who had always shown such faithfulness to her and hers was taking place she shuddered with horror, and out of pity gave orders to cease the gruesome formalities and leave the body of Gregory Efimovitch Rasputin in peace.
[…]
On the 21st of December Father Alexander held the funeral service in the tiny chapel of the Tchemensk alms-house, in the presence of my sister and myself and a few intimate friends.
[…]
Faithful to the memory of the man who had cared for and given relief to her son, and supported her courage in her hours of distress, the Empress, surrounded by her four daughters, accompanied my father to his last restingplace. The Emperor, too, was present, having returned in haste from General Headquarters. It was a cold day, dark, and the snow fell. Sorrow and anguish weighed heavily upon us on that morning of bereavement.
That is what I, myself, know of the murder of my father. Those are memories and impressions that time will never succeed in effacing from my mind or from my heart.
[…]
Nicolas II, faithful in his friendships as in his alliances, and although the murderer of my father was the husband of his own niece, did not hesitate to take measures against him and name a judge to prepare the case. If the Revolution had not come to upset all established order, my father's case would have been judged. When, a refugee in Berlin, I wished to appeal to a justice outside my own country against the assassin of my father, laws were cited to me that placed the murderer in safety. He has been received as a hero in the very countries that are hostile to the regime whose appearance he hastened, in those countries that Russia abandoned as soon as the assassination of my father by Youssoupof had brought Anarchy into being.
Maria’s Thoughts on Purishkevich (co-Murderer)
“But what is not generally known is the motive that pushed Pourichkevitch to take part in the assassination of Rasputin. Here is the explanation, as it seems to me, of his hatred :
Vladimir Pourichkevitch, a property-owner of Bessarabia, was a man of integrity and, at times, a relentless worker. But, beneath this apparent energy was hidden a weak character, uneasy and ill-balanced. He was super-sensitive, one of those beings whose fervour and energy may change at a moment's notice to fanaticism and violence. In my belief, it was success that ruined him. Lacking in self-confidence in the beginning, the success of his parliamentary career opened the doors to all his ambitions. Pourichkevitch who, apparently, had a genuine love for his country, dreamed of holding the reins of it in his own hands, and entered the ranks of the Ultras (Tchornaia Sotnia). I have no idea if his decision was dictated by his personal convictions, or by his desire to obtain advancement by the help of that party. But I do know that at this period he had occasion to see my father several times, and that he came to our house, contrary to his ulterior declarations. He hoped to gain Gregory Efimovitch's good graces, and thus obtain the nomination as Minister that he desired. It was Sasonoff who introduced him to my father.
Maria’s impression of Illyodore (Iliodor, aka (Trufanoff):
“Finally, he who has vomited forth the vilest calumnies against my father is Illyodore; he who was his friend until he became jealous of his situation and his influence, jealous of the confidence that the Tsar and the Tsarina bestowed upon him.
Before my father came, Illyodore had enjoyed a certain amount of prestige in Court circles, and it was at his instigation that the practice of spiritualism became popular. A terrible wave of spiritualism inundated certain circles. Occultists famous in other countries of Europe were brought to St. Petersburg, and even the Empress, in her maternal anxiety, had had recourse to tableturning for advice on the bringing-up and treatment to be followed for her children, and also in order to be able to distinguish her true friends from those who, under a cloak of apparent devotion, betrayed her.
After my father had obtained a certain influence over the Tsarina, he openly opposed all these spiritualistic practices. " I do not know if it is true or false,” he said, " but if there is something in it, it comes from the Devil, and should be left alone.” And little by little the Tsarina and her following renounced these practices. Illyodore was exceedingly vexed at this, and his vexation soon turned into hatred of my father. He was a man so nervously constituted as to be almost unbalanced. "In my opinion, he was not normal," wrote Madame Wyroubova in her memoirs.
From then on, centres of hostility against my father were formed everywhere. lllyodore exerted his influence, usually in underhand fashion, though at times circumstances forced him to unmask his batteries. After having tried to create dissensions in the heart of the Holy Synod by manoeuvring His Grace Bishop Hermogene and pushing him to openly attack and insult my father, Illyodore was sent for some time to a monastery to devote himself to a less active and more contemplative form of life. But his irritation and his jealousy were no longer confined to insults and political intrigues ; he went as far as physical violence. There were two attempts to kill Rasputin. The first attempt was made in June, 1914, by Cousseva, a wretched prostitute, unbalanced mentally by the abuse of alcohol and by an accident that had disfigured her. My father had left St. Petersburg and had just arrived at Pokrovskoie, where he hoped to pass a few days with his family. On the following day the unfortunate woman, who had never seen him before, threw herself upon my father and stabbed him in the stomach. To the outraged mob that rushed upon her to lynch her, she cried repeatedly," Let me go ! Let me go ! I have killed the Anti-Christ "
A doctor sent for in haste arrived from Tiouman ten hours after the outrage. The wound had already started to discolour, and it was necessary to operate immediately, that night, and by the light of candles, in the isba to which my father had been carried. My father did not lose his lucidity of mind for one moment. On the following day he was transported by boat to the hospital of Tiouman. Peasants, weeping and lamenting, escorted the stretcher ; almost the whole village was plunged in sorrow.
The Cousseva woman was brought to trial some time later, and the enquiry revealed that the unfortunate wretch came from Tsaritsin, the monastery where Illyodore was at that time exiled ; and it was considered that he had urged her to commit the deed. My father obtained her pardon, maintaining that she was mad and not responsible for her acts ; and she was shut up in an asylum. My father owed his recovery from so grave a wound to the exceptional robustness of his physique, and he passed several weeks in the Tiouman hospital, while war flamed over Europe.
Could Rasputin Have Saved the World?
[This may well have been the most critical moment of the 20th Century. Rasputin was in vehement opposition to War, and if he was to have any influence on Nicholas to not get drawn into War, that moment was lost when he was convalescing from this assassination attempt in June 1914. War officially broke out the next month.]
More from Maria on Illyodore …
There was a second attempt. Was it Kvostov who sought out Illyodore for this purpose, or was Illyodore himself the instigator of the plot ? I do not know ; but at the last moment Kvostov took fright and sent his wife, together with all the relevant documents, to denounce the affair at St. Petersburg.
The hatred of Illyodore was not confined to Rasputin, but embraced the Empress and the Imperial family in general. He was hostile to her who had been his protectress and who had previously extricated him from the obscurity in which he vegetated. Far from consecrating his retreat to repentance, he employed his leisure in writing against the Imperial family, and against the Empress in particular, an ignoble book that is no more than a collection of infamous calumnies ; and in 1916 he had the audacity to propose to sell his abominable work to the Empress for a sum of 6o,ooo roubles.
The Empress received his proposals with the utmost contempt. Later, Illyodore profited by the disgrace and the death of his benefactors to sell his infamous work to their executioners, and it was published by the Bolshevik Government.
Illyodore’s Book - The Mad Monk
https://archive.org/details/madmonkrussiail00ilgoog
[…]
Maria continues…
By such dastardly means as these the author sought to fawn upon the new government and also, as soon as he was unfrocked and married, by devoting himself to a furious campaign of propaganda against the clergy.
It is from such sources as these that the authors of the innumerable books and films that have appeared against my father in the past fifteen years have drawn their information. What could be better for the purpose of exciting the senses of their readers than such scandalous and pornographic anecdotes as these ?• • • Who would take the trouble after reading them to search for historic facts ? They would be infinitely less thrilling than the legend of Rasputin, The Rascal Monk. If I quote this title, it is not that I make any particular attack against that book, which is of neither more nor less importance than the others written on the same subject, but that the title in itself is a striking example of the manner in which the history of my father has been written.
My father was never a monk-he never belonged to any order, never was a member of any religious sect.
[…]
It is true that my father was a Starets during a part of his life, but what does that imply, exactly?
Rasputin’s Visionary Call to Embark on his Religious Pilgrimage
Maria Rasputin goes on to describe how her father first decided to set out on his religious pilgrimage after claiming to have had a vision of the Holy Virgin whilst working in the fields.
It was in obedience to a call from the Beyond that my father first separated himself from his family and withdrew from the village of Pokrovskoie. He was already over thirty when he first heard the voice of God. He has often told us of the vision that showed the Way to him. It was one day when he was ploughing. Coming to the end of a furrow he lifted his head, and was dazzled by a marvellous radiance that emanated from a glorious apparition. Before him in the sky, veiling the sun from him, was the Holy Virgin, looking at him and making gestures with her hand. He closed his eyes but when he opened them again the Virgin was still there - not as he had seen her represented by the ikons of his family or of the village, but clad in quite different garments and as before she designated the horizon with sweeping gesture. My father fell upon his knees in prayer, determined to obey the command that the celestial vision had given him. At that time he could neither read nor write, but he departed to acquire religious teaching from monks and certain pious and learned men who taught verbally. With them he passed several months in different monasteries. His first pilgrimage was made to the monastery of Balak, in Siberia. He went there on foot, as did all the Startsyi.
My mother made no objections to his resolution nor to the resulting separation. She was a very active and capable woman, an excellent housewife, and well able to manage her farm and see to the cultivation of her land. I believe she was proud of her husband, spiritually superior to herself, endowed with contemplative faculties that she did not possess, desirous of perfecting himself and becoming a saint; proud too that Heaven had chosen him, since the Virgin of Kazan herself had pointed out the Way to him; for it was the exact likeness of the Virgin of Kazan that had appeared to him. When at a later date, he saw the revered image of Our Lady of Kazan, he immediately recognised the apparition that he had seen some months before. Many years later the Empress presented him with an Ikon of the Virgin of Kazan, and from that day my father had a particular veneration for the image and for the sanctuary at which, on various occasions, he had stayed.
[…]
Before hearing the mystic call that revealed to him his true vocation and changed the course of his whole existence, my father had lived the usual life of a Siberian peasant. He was born at Pokrovskoie, a large town in the north of Siberia half way between Tiouman and Tobolsk. There he passed all his childhood, growing up among the other children of the village, not troubling to learn anything save the prayers, the litanies and catechisms that all good Russian peasants know. His father, Efim Andreievitch Rasputin, was a well-to-do peasant, rich in lands and live-stock, as were at that time the majority of Siberian peasants. The situation of the Siberian peasant has always been different than that of the properly socalled Russian peasant, and that for a very good reason. Serfdom has never existed in Siberia.
Maria on Serfdom
Serfdom was instituted in Russia by Boris Goudounov at the beginning of the 17th century to remedy the unstable condition of agriculture, due largely to that restlessness that made a sort of nomad of the Russian peasant. Boris imagined that by attaching the man to the land for the cultivation of which he was responsible, he would put an end to the exodus and would assure the clearing and cultivation of land by giving to it the proportion of labour that it required in order to be productive. From that time there have been three categories of serfs: serfs belonging to a noble, or Pomestchikii; state-owned serfs, or Darstvenny-Kristiane; and serfs belonging to the Imperial family, or Udelnyi. Of these the first were by far the most miserable. A prey to the caprices and often the tyranny of their owners, they were forced to work for them without any possibility of redress, and were allowed for themselves only two days a week in which to assure their own sustenance. That state of affairs lasted until February, 1861, the date upon which Alexander II abolished serfdom. In Siberia, serfdom had never existed in the same manner. Presented in homage by the Cossack Ataman, Iermak Timofeevitch, to Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, Siberia came under the law of Boris Goudounov as did the rest of Russia, but with this difference: as there were no nobles, there were therefore no serfs owned by nobles, no Pomestchikii, but only state-owned serfs and a few Udelnyi, for whom the state of serfdom was limited to the payment of a small supplementary tax.
Maria on her father’s second-sight
[…]
My grandfather brought up his son Gregory in the same manner as all the other children of the country; he was at that time neither better nor worse, neither more holy nor more learned than they. But later my father used to tell us the following story, which may serve to explain many things that happened afterwards. "I used to play with the children of Pokrovskoie and quarrelled with them, but I never dared to steal or to pilfer the smallest thing. I used to believe that everybody would at once see that I had stolen something since I, myself, was aware of it as soon as one of my comrades had stolen. Even when he had stolen in a distant place and hidden the object he had taken, I could always see that object behind him."
It seems to me that this phrase carries in itself the explanation of the fabulous career that my father owed to his extraordinary gift of second-sight and to the power he had over those who approached him. There can, in fact, be no doubt of the unusual faculties that my father possessed. Even as a child, as he himself said, he could see behind his comrades the good or evil actions that they had accomplished far from his sight; but he thought that that gift was common to everybody. His vision was so clear, so natural, that he took it for an everyday fact. My father conserved that gift all his life.
Maria on her father’s magnetism
[…]
My father had another gift which, together with that of second-sight, was at the root of his celebrity and of his extraordinary career ; that of magnetism. From his childhood he possessed an incontestable power of magnetism which at first gave him a certain authority over his comrades of the village, and later gave him considerable empire over hundreds of people who approached him. This force lay principally in his very unusual eyes; eyes of an extraordinary blue, the pupils of which had the strange peculiarity of contracting and enlarging at will, like those of a cat. I believe that certain specialists in psychiatry maintain that this faculty is the indication of an exceptionally nervous constitution. I do not know whether this should be taken as a symptom, or rather as a resultant of a power voluntarily acquired by the exercise and expansion of his nervous force. I do not know the opinion of specialists on this subject ; I only know that my father had that peculiarity from his childhood, since it was that that first drew attention to him. Later, perhaps, the habit of meditation and long periods of fasting contributed to increase the nervous lustre of those eyes that "seemed to be able to see through you", and that impressed any nervous persons on whom they rested.
Maria: her father’s views on hypnotism and spiritualism
It has been said that my father had recourse to hypnotism in order to impose his will upon the Tsar and Tsarina, as well as upon numerous women who came to him in the hopes of being cured or of obtaining some favour, and that it was thus that he held them in his power. It is absolutely untrue. My father never had recourse to any hypnotic practices whatsoever. Not only was he entirely ignorant of these things which are in themselves a science, empirical or medical, but he opposed with all his strength the influences that pushed the Tsarina in particular towards their study and practice. He not only had distrust, but a real horror of anything to do with such things. I remember that on one occasion a very well-known hypnotist came to see my father, and addressed him as" my dear colleague". My father, in his indignation, threw him out of the house. Associating hypnotism with spiritualism, he used to declare " All of it comes from the Devil!"
Maria on her father’s influence over people
[…]
It would be absurd to deny that Rasputin exercised a deep influence over certain persons about him. It is a well-known fact that many nervous and impressionable subjects feel an indefinable uneasiness as soon as very clear blue eyes are fixed upon them. If the brilliance of such a look is further enhanced by the flame of an intense faith, exalted by the fervency of inner prayer, it gives forth a veritable magnetic force. That is the explanation of the almost miraculous cures obtained by certain country healers in cases of nervous diseases ; and that was also at the beginning of my father's favour at St. Petersburg. His reputation and his influence were definitely confirmed by his cure of the Tsarevich during his crisis of 1906.
Maria on her father’s healing powers and the Tsarevich
That was, moreover, the occasion of the first contact of Rasputin with the Court. The facts are well known. The Tsarevich was in a dying condition. Affected with a congenital malady, he was subject to crises of hemophilia. In 1906 the attack was particularly serious, and in spite of their efforts the doctors had been unable to stop the hemorrhage. The child, exhausted by loss of blood, was prostrated, without even the strength to open his eyes. It was then that Nicolas Nicolaievitch, in despair, proposed to the unhappy parents to bring my father to them in a last effort to resuscitate the child whom science, in the person of Dr Botkine, physician to the Imperial family, declared to be lost. My father has often described to me his entry into that room of the palace where the little boy lay, seemingly almost dead. His mother was on her knees, weeping, beside the bed. My father entered, saluted very simply, saying "Good day", and without kissing the hands either of the Emperor or of the Empress, for he did not know that such was the custom. Then he ordered everybody present to kneel and pray together while he, fixing the child steadily with his eyes, placed his hand on its forehead. The Tsarevich gave a little sigh, opened his eyes; and instead of being frightened at seeing a bearded stranger beside him, he smiled at him and then at his mother, towards whom he turned. It was the sign that the flame of life was rekindled. The hemorrhage ceased, the crisis was past, and the child recovered.
During the other attacks by which the child was seized and in which he was relieved, I may say saved, by my father, the same events took place. Twice, urgently apprised of the child's illness while he himself was away from the capital and unable to arrive in time, my father did no more than send a telegraphic message in order to establish a communion-prayer. Some people have seen in this an evident proof of a ridiculous charlatanism, and have even tried to draw the following abominable conclusions from it:
That in order to strengthen his influence, Rasputin had on certain occasions caused drugs or powders capable of provoking further haemorrhages to be administered to the Tsarevich by Madame Wyroubova; and then boasted of having cured the child, when in reality he had only caused his accomplice and tool to cease her criminal machinations.
These perfidious calumnies, prevalent among the general public who, not being admitted to the intimacy of the Imperial family were unable to verify the facts, were based on the undeniable sympathy that existed between my father and Dr Badmaiev, who was at that time the apostle of homeopathic medicine, and enjoyed an extraordinary, though recent, popularity in St. Petersburg society. Badmaiev was a Siberian, like my father; a Bourete, born on the shores of Lake Baikal, he had come to Russia to finish his studies. A remarkable scholar with an enquiring mind, he had travelled a great deal, and studied everything that had any connection with homeopathy and herbs. He had been very much interested to discover in Tibet a particularly welldeveloped medical science, in which diagnosis on the one hand and curative methods on the other, were based partly on a deep study of nervous reactions and phenomena, and partly on a very rich pharmacopoeia made up of herbs or of basic poisons administered in infinitesimal doses. In fact, he had discovered that homeopathy was sovereign in Tibet, and from the day on which he established himself in St. Petersburg, whether in all sincerity, or whether to arouse the curiosity of snobs, he proclaimed everywhere the virtues of Tibetan medicines. Therapeutics and advertising had succeeded in giving him the reputation of being some sort of a sorcerer, at the same time bringing him a considerable practice, which last was the subject of some envy.
During the Russo-Japanese War, Dr Badmaiev had been sent on a mission to his native country, and given a subsidy wherewith to win over the Mongolian chiefs to the Russian cause.
Kvostov, while he was Minister of the Interior, did his best to ruin Badmaiev in the sight of Nicolas II. His feeling against the doctor arose from the fact that it was at the latter's sanatorium that my father had first met Protopopoff, and he feared lest my father, who was much impressed with Protopopoff's intelligence and devotion to the Tsar, might use his influence to obtain the latter's nomination to the post of Minister of the Interior which he, Kvostov, occupied at the time.
Fortunately, Nicolas understood perfectly well the nature of the campaign of insidious calumny that was being carried on about him, and he refused to be influenced by the insinuations of the jealous Minister.
When, in 1917, the Revolution swept away everything that had any connection, whether distant or close, with the former administration, Dr Badmaiev, became a suspect and tried to escape into Finland; but the Baltic Sailors' Soviet arrested and imprisoned him. However, thanks to his remarkable skill that permitted him to effect some extraordinary cures, he managed to obtain the favour of his jailors - which may be taken as an irrefutable proof of his medical ability. Unfortunately, I do not know what eventually became of him, nor whether he is living or dead.
[…]
Some segments from Part II
Maria writes:
I have no intention of writing a biography of my father, but for the clarity of my narrative I must, in recounting his career, follow more or less chronologically the course of events.
From the age of fifteen, my father showed a keen interest in all religious questions. His extraordinary memory had permitted him to acquire an enormous mass of religious information. During the prayer meetings and the evening gatherings at which he enjoyed taking part, and several times at the village meetings when he spoke, people were amazed by his religious and philosophic learning, as well as by his gift of clairvoyance. Thus, one day the peasants were gathered at Efun Andreievitch's to discuss the recent theft of a horse and to decide upon what measures to take to discover the thief. Gregory Rasputin, twelve years old at the time, interrupted the conversation by calling from his bed where a fever had kept him for a week past, " It is so and-so who has stolen the horse." The peasants, taken aback by the assurance of the youngster who could not have seen anything of the crime, decided nevertheless to push their investigations in that direction, and discovered that the horse-thief was indeed the individual designated by him.
Thus Gregory Rasputin obtained a place apart in his village; but although he had already spoken of his profound religious aspirations to his intimate friend, Petcherkine, he nevertheless continued to lead the ordinary life of a young Siberian peasant, dividing his time between rough and simple pleasures, work in the fields and care of the live-stock. (My father had a particular fondness for horses and took loving care of them, saying that he understood their language. Indeed, they obeyed him in a marvellous fashion.)
[…]
Rasputin Meets His Wife
At the age of nineteen my father met, during a festival at the Aballakask convent, a peasant woman from a neighbouring village, Prascovie Doubrovine. He was taken with the girl who, without being actually pretty, must have been charming with her blond hair and her black eyes, according to those who remember my mother at the time of her marriage. Gregory courted her with the ardour that he put into everything that was of importance to him; six months later he married her and brought her to live in the house of my grandfather, Efim Andreicvitch. She was four years older than her husband. A son was born, who died suddenly at the age of six months. My father, profoundly affected by this blow, went to Verkhotourie in order to find moral support from the famous hermit, Makary, who lived there in an isolated hut on the borders of the forest, and who was celebrated throughout Russia for his asceticism and his devotion. Makary comforted him and sent him back to his home. Later, my parents had three children: a son, Dimitri; myself, Maria; and a second daughter, Varvara, younger than myself by two years.
Rasputin Experiences His Apparition
It was at this time that the apparition of Our Lady of Kazan, of which I have already spoken, took place; a vision that was to change the course of my father's life. He was profoundly impressed by it. He planted a wooden cross in the field at the spot where the Virgin had appeared, and from that day he had only one idea to follow the Way that the Virgin had pointed out to him, leaving everything in order to consecrate himself to that alone. In the company of the faithful Petcherkine he went to ask Makary to interpret the meaning of the vision he had seen. Having listened to his tale, the holy man said: "God has chosen you for a great achievement. In order to strengthen your spiritual power, you should go and pray to the Virgin at the convent of Afon" (monastery of Mount Athos).
[…]
Rasputin Embarks on His Pilgrimage to Mount Athos
My father returned home and meditated. He decided to join the Startsyi and go on a pilgrimage to Mount Athos. My mother was grieved at this decision, but did nothing to dissuade her husband. I believe she has always been proud of being the wife of one of the "elect of God". In any case, she had always urged my father to educate himself, she who could neither read nor write and she had always done all she could to keep trouble from him, courageously assuming all material tasks and taking active charge of the house and land. My grandfather, on the contrary, was in consternation at seeing the son who helped him with his tasks leave him, and said angrily that "Gregory had turned pilgrim out of laziness, so that he could loaf!" …
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Gregory Rasputin set out accompanied by the faithful Petcherkine. The road is long for those who go on foot from Siberia to Mount Athos, the whole of Russia having to be crossed diagonally. Sleeping with the country-folk, resting for a few days in monasteries, the two Startsyi at length reached their goal, and became novices; attending Mass and divine service, working and discussing the Scriptures, listening to the lives of the saints. I believe that at that time my father seriously considered taking holy orders, believing that he would be more sure of holding communion with God as a monk, withdrawn from the temptations of the world in the shelter of a cloister. A fortuitous incident turned him from that decision, which God doubtless did not wish him to take, for he discovered a scandal in the monastery that awoke him from some of his illusions. He often recounted how, of a sudden, he thought, "There is nothing here but moral dirt and vermin!" His reflex action, as always, was rapid. He quitted Mount Athos at once, leaving Petcherkine who had already taken the vows, and started for home in order to recount his scruples and his uneasiness to the venerable Makary, whom he considered to be his spiritual director.
I am not sure whether it was while going to Mount Athos or on his return from it that my father made his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from which he brought back descriptions and memories that enchanted our childhood.
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Rasputin Decides that a Monastic Life is not for Him
The venerable Makary explained to the pilgrim that the intentions of God are often impenetrable ; that evil exists everywhere and that, sometimes, temptation is strongest in the cloister, where renunciation should be final; that his experience at Mount Athos was the proof that the monastic life was not the one intended for him. " Remember your mission. . . . Since you have not found salvation in the monastery, try to save your soul in the outside world."
Rasputin Returns Home for a Visit
My father appeared at home one fine morning after more than two years' absence, during which time my mother had been without news of him. In order to surprise her he presented himself to her as one of the itinerant merchants who go from village to village; but after a few minutes she recognised his voice. She found him very changed. Physically, and above all morally, he had greatly aged, ripened. He was more and more absorbed by his prayers, passing hours in meditation in a little oratory that he had installed in the courtyard, knocking his forehead on the ground until the skin became red, emaciating himself with prolonged fasts. He would have liked to have seen his family share these austerities and religious practices, but I must confess that neither my brother, my sister nor myself appreciated these long prayers in common that lasted for hours, during which we remained on our knees on the ground-nor yet the fasts for which everything, anniversaries or penitences, served as an excuse.
From that time on, my father never ate meat.
The peasants of Pokrovskoie, more and more attracted by his reputation for sanctity and by their own exaggerated curiosity, often gathered about him to hear him tell of his travels and of the far-away countries he had seen. I remember those evenings very well, when everybody sat listening to father while we, the children, soothed by the sound of his voice though we understood nothing of the discussions and religious quotations, fell asleep, our heads full of marvels. . . . The priest, on the contrary, became more and more jealous of my father's influence, and was furious when he told him quite frankly the reasons for his disgust with Mount Athos.
At the end of a few months my father again started off on his search for the Truth. This time he went to Kief, where he stayed some time. On his return journey he stopped at Kazan, out of devotion to the Virgin venerated in that sanctuary, and in whom he had recognised the apparition that had previously come to him.
At Kazan, in 1902, he formed an acquaintance with the Katkoffs with whom he stayed, and later he took me to see those excellent friends in order that I might begin my education at the college in that town. But that was not before 1908.
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Rasputin Meets Father John of Kronstadt
There was at that time in St. Petersburg a man who had a reputation for holiness throughout the whole of Russia: Father John of Kronstadt. My father, having often heard him spoken of by Startsyi or by the monks of the various monasteries, decided to go and consult this man who would, perhaps, help him to find the Truth. He started out on foot for the capital, went to the cathedral where John of Kronstadt officiated, confessed himself among a crowd of penitents to the venerable man, and afterwards attended Mass. At the moment when he gave the blessing with the Holy Sacrament, Father John, to the general stupefaction of the crowd, called to my father who was at the back of the nave. He first blessed him, and then asked a blessing of him in return, which my father gave him. Who was this rough-seeming man with the beard of a moujik, clothed in little better than rags, but who nevertheless advanced at the summons of John of Kronstadt, passing through the crowd with an air of determination and without timidity, his eyes lighted by an intense flame? It would seem that he was unaware of that mass of people that drew apart to let him pass.
The incident aroused the curiosity and the gossip of the crowd; and news was spread abroad that a new "man of God" had been discovered.
John of Kronstadt, doubtless struck by the faith, the intelligence, and the sincerity of this Siberian peasant, invited him to go and see him, declaring to him that he was one of the "elect of God", and presenting him to the circle of friends and admirers that surrounded his holy person.
Rasputin’s ‘Rivals’ Become Envious
The news spread over the whole of Russia and even as far as Siberia and on returning to Pokrovskoie my father found the local clergy more than ever hostile to him. Father Pioti denounced him to the bishop of the diocese, maintaining that the famous night-meetings at our house were neither more nor less than meetings of Klystii, that sect of which the adepts pretend to mortify the flesh in a sort of mystic orgy, for the glorification of God. A commission of enquiry came to question the Faithful about these meetings, and it was demonstrated that not the slightest heresy marked the words of my father, and that he belonged to no sect. Still, in order to avoid these constant clashes between the clergy of the village and my father, it was decided that thenceforth meetings of a religious nature or having religious aims should be forbidden in our house.
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Rasputin’s Second Journey to St. Petersburg – Meets Bishop Feofan … and the monk Illyodore
My father had remained in touch with John of Kronstadt and, wishing to see and hear him again, undertook a second journey to St. Petersburg in 1906. On the way he stopped at the monastery of Monskoie-Podvoie and there, while discussing the meaning of a certain passage of the Gospel with one of the monks one day, the Archimandrite Feofan chanced to hear him. Feofan later declared that my father's words, his intelligence, and his expression, made a tremendous impression upon him. He was curious to know this Siberian peasant who seemed to be so gifted, and invited him to his house, thinking to attach him to himself, for he deemed that Rasputin would be an invaluable missionary to send about the countryside to stir up the masses, animate the spirit of Faith in the people and push them towards various Christian undertakings.
Having investigated the personality of the Starets who had attracted his attention, Bishop Feofan discovered that this newcomer was not entirely unknown, since John of Kronstadt had already remarked him some two years earlier and had, foreseeing the magnificent possibilities of this peasant, urged him to educate himself. Confirmed in his first impression, Feofan encouraged Rasputin to come to his house, where he met Bishop Hermogene - who was at that time one of the most popular men in the whole of Russia - and the monk Illyodore. At the beginning, Illyodore really presented certain analogies with my father. Come, like himself, from the people, he had been noted for his intense fervour and for the energy of his rough and direct speech. He had taken orders, but no sooner did he acquire a certain notoriety, than ambition, vanity and jealousy awoke in his soul and smothered his high aspirations. Having contributed by the eloquence of his direct appeal to the people towards the building of the monastery of Tsaritsin, Illyodore, drunk with success, now dreamed of playing a part in politics. Like Bishops Feofan and Hermogene, he had joined the famous Russian People's Party which, under the cloak of Panslavism, served the political ambitions of certain of its members.
Rasputin encounters the Russian Peoples’ Union
Completely ignorant of this side of the Russian People's Union, and believing in the sincerity of the desire proclaimed by the Union of acting as a link between the Tsar and his people, my father became, at the instigation of his new friends, a fervent adept of the group.
My father came into contact with the ecclesiastical members of the association just at the moment when it was endeavouring to acquire a direct influence over the Tsar. Now the Tsarina, and later the Tsar, took an intense interest in all that touched on the supernatural. It was thus that they had accorded a certain position to a French wonder-worker, Philippe de Lyon, whom they had brought to St. Petersburg and consulted on questions of a private nature, sometimes even on decisions to be taken on matters relating to affairs of State. Many people in Court circles were jealous of his sudden favour, openly blaming the confidence given to a foreigner. Some even tried to adapt to their own ends this method of influencing their Majesties by presenting Russian wonder-workers and clairvoyants to them, such as Daria Ossipova and Mitia Koliaba, in the hopes that they would be able to oust Philippe. Another French seer, "Papus ", had also enjoyed a period of favour.
I think that certain of the moving spirits of the Russian People's Union intended to push my father towards the Court, thinking that if, by his gift of clairvoyance and his piety, he were able to obtain the confidence of the Imperial couple, they would then be able to make use of him as a tool and so be in a position to sway affairs of State.
Rasputin is introduced to Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch – is confronted with Mysticism and Spiritualism
It was to this end, I suppose, that a little later Feofan presented my father to the Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch and his wife, Anastasia Nicolaievna.
At this time the Grand Duke was going through a period of mysticism and spiritual unrest, and his wife Anastasia pushed him towards spiritualism, of which she and her sister Militza were then fervent followers. It was they, the two Montenegrin princesses, who had also urged the Tsarina towards these practices when, in despair at having no son, she consulted doctors, specialists and wonder-workers to find out if one day she would give an heir to the Empire. lllyodore had given numerous seances of table-turning and spirit-writing at the home of the two Grand Duchesses.
The Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch eagerly fell upon my father when he was presented to him. He saw him frequently and lavished on him generosity and kindness. Hearing that my mother had been taken with a serious internal complaint that necessitated an operation, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna had her brought to St. Petersburg in order that she might receive the necessary care from expert hands. My mother always felt a profound gratitude towards her for this.
Rasputin gains some powerful friends
With these powerful friends and protectors Gregory Rasputin came to know many people, some of whom were destined to be the most faithful of friends - such as Osse Ignatiev, that remarkable woman whose salon was among the most interesting of the capital, and Madame Wyroubova. My father met this latter at Nicolas Nicolaievitch's house, fifteen days before the date fixed for her wedding with Wyroubov. She was the daughter of Chancellor Taneev, and had conceived a veritable devotion for the Empress from the day that the latter arrived as a young fiancee at the Court of Nicolas II. A common taste for simplicity and family life had brought them together; both of them, almost of an age, had a horror of the receptions, the balls and the official life of Courts. Alexandra Feodorovna had conceived a very great friendship for Anna Taneev, with whom she experienced an intimacy that seemed to her delightfully reposeful. On the day that she met my father she asked him to pray that God would never separate her from the Imperial family. "Go in peace, it shall be so", he replied, and so indeed it proved to be; for a few months after her unhappy marriage, Madame Wyroubova was obliged to obtain a divorce, and returned to live at Tsarskoie Selo, in the shadow of her powerful friends. She installed herself in a little villa, modest but comfortable, and never attended any of the Court functions.
Rasputin meets Nicholas and Alexandra
Certain people believe that the Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch, as soon as he realised my father's intelligence and personality, thought of bringing about a closer connection between the Tsar and the famous Russian People's Party by introducing Rasputin into the intimacy of Nicolas II. I do not know if the Grand Duke had ulterior motives in presenting my father to Their Majesties, I only know that it was his wife, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, who actually did present him, during the tragic events that I have already described, the illness of the Tsarevich.
After that how could the unhappy parents be blamed for giving their confidence and their favour to the man whose intervention had saved their son?
Nicolas II and his wife, who had very simple tastes, saw for the first time in him a peasant of their empire who spoke to them freely, as though to ordinary mortals, expressing fearlessly and without reticence, even roughly, the sentiments and ideas of those millions of Russian and Siberian peasants whose petitions, needs, sufferings, ideals and very existence had, up to then, been no more to Nicolas II than a sort of myth, dimly perceived through the intermediary of a bureaucracy, a system of red-tape worse in Russia than in any other country.
And then there was the Tsarevich, the poor little invalid whose parents adored him and on whose life depended the fate of the Russian Empire and of the dynasty. Alexis developed the passion of a spoiled child for my father, who used to tell him our magnificent Siberian legends, and stories of the saints.
But as it was only possible for the Emperor and the Empress to enjoy a little relaxation and rest in the evenings, once the affairs of State and the official receptions were done with, it was arranged that my father, instead of having to enter through the main gate of the palace - where he and his pass would be examined at the three different police guard-houses that had to be passed before reaching the Tsar - it was arranged, I say, that my father should be introduced by a private door and stair which gave access to the apartments of the Tsarevich, the nurse opening the door to him. My father had thus several intimate talks with the Imperial family. Sometimes the conversation turned on religious matters, on passages of the Gospel, or questions of a moral nature; at other times my father recounted his childhood, the life of the Siberian villagers, or perhaps the memories of his travels and impressions of his pilgrimages. The Grand Duchesses were there and nearly always the Tsarevich, for he refused to go to bed when he thought his friend was coming to tell him stories.
Lies about Rasputin start to circulate
Alas I it was the intimate nature of these talks that was at the root of a part of the calumnies that were circulated on the subject. The mysterious arrival of Rasputin by a private door took on the aspect of something clandestine; and from that to a belief in a guilty relationship between my father and the Tsarina was a step quickly taken by the enemies of both, helped as they were by this appearance of mystery. But I can affirm that my father was never received in Their Majesties' bedchamber, nor in those of the Grand Duchesses, but only in that of Alexis Nicolaievitch or in one of the drawing-rooms, and once or twice in the schoolroom. I remember that he described these rooms to us in answer to our childish questionings.
At that time my father lived with some friends in the apartment of the journalist, George Petrovitch Sassonoff. He had not at that time, nor ever, any intention of installing himself permanently in the capital. After spending a few months in the city he would always be seized with a sort of home-sickness, and return to Pokrovskoie and the bosom of his family. In 1908, he took me to some friends at Kazan in order that I might attend the college in that town; in 1910 he came for me, and took me to St. Petersburg. Urged by the Imperial family who sent for him on the slightest alarm when it was a question of the heir's health, he installed himself in a little apartment and proposed that my mother should come and live with him. She refused, for she had a certain horror, a sort of distrust, of big cities. "I will send the little girls to you so that they may be educated, but for myself, I shall stay at home and run the house with Dimitri," she said. As a matter of fact, my brother had but little aptitude for study, and much preferred countrylife and field-work.
Rasputin settles his children in St. Petersburg
At first, my sister Varvara and I had some trouble in accustoming ourselves to life in St. Petersburg. We boarded at the Seiman school, but were so much out of our element there, so unhappy, that at the end of a very short time my father took us away and we went to live with him. Our old servant, Katia, who had come from Siberia with us, served as general factotum to the family. She found a governess to look after us and take us out, and help us to make up for lost time by making good the considerable gaps in our early education. Alas! it was a hard task, hard for her without any doubt, but hard also for the two little savages whom she tried to make into young ladies! My father had always been very strict with us; we had additional hours of study when we came home from the courses that we took at the Steoline-Kamersky gymnasium; we were never allowed to go out alone, rarely were we permitted to go to a matinee, and later on, when young men began to gravitate about us, he proved to be the strictest of mentors. None of them had a right to more than half an hour's tete-a-tete; after that had elapsed, my father burst into the room and showed the poor lad the door! But what was not limited to half an hour, was the length of time devoted to prayers! Every morning and night we prayed together.
On Sundays we passed the morning at church, and the greater part of the afternoon in worship. My sister and I found those hours spent on our knees on the stone floor exceedingly long, though I must admit that the fashion of the time, with its long skirts, allowed us to cheat a little by clandestinely sitting on our heels when our father's eyes were not fixed upon us!
Rasputin remains simple despite his renown
In spite of his growing fame and the favour he enjoyed both with the most aristocratic classes and with the common people, my father was always very simple. In fact, up to the time of his death, he remained a true Siberian moujik; and I think that in the beginning it was that very simplicity, that roughness of speech, that fashion of treating Grand Dukes and peasants in the same manner that charmed the Russian aristocrats, accustomed as they were to meeting deference or servile flattery, or inspiring even a very real fear in those whom they considered to be and treated as vassals.
Our two apartments in St. Petersburg were far from being luxurious. The last one that we occupied, at 64 Gorokhovia Street, gave on to the courtyard. To enter one passed under an archway. The stairway led to a scantily furnished ante-chamber, on the right of which was the dining-room, followed by my father's room and a bathroom, which was used only by my sister and myself, my father preferring to go to the Turkish baths; and finally there was the room that I shared with Varvara, who was still a child. There was another big room, furnished with chairs round the walls for the visitors who waited there to see my father. My father never had fixed "reception" days. People came, and went away or waited if Rasputin was not there, or else they telephoned beforehand to announce their visit. It was my father himself, or perhaps Katia, who opened the door. From early morning the samovar steamed on the dining room table, and a cup of tea and a portion of the very simple food that we ourselves had, was offered to any visitor, whether known to us or a stranger. My father sat among the people gathered there and talked to them, answered their questions, and sometimes let himself be drawn into giving veritable impromptu lectures on religious matters - completely forgetting the time!
Rasputin gathers a following
On the whole, there was very little difference between these meetings at St. Petersburg and the old gatherings at Pokrovskoie. The audience was never the same ; instead of being limited to a circle of neighbouring peasants, faces changed ; certain faithful ones attended regularly, but the majority came from the four comers of Russia to beg my father to heal them, to obtain a favour, or a conversion; an astonishing mixture of all classes of society, from the humblest to the most powerful. I must say that all my father's sympathy was given to the poor and the humble. He received with the greatest demonstrations of joy the gifts that those humble ones brought him from their villages - cakes, fruit, chickens, ducks. It would seem that nothing could give him greater pleasure, and he always found a means of making the donors accept whatever fell to his hand; packets of bank-notes, ikons, or other presents that he himself had previously received. On the other hand, he accepted the sumptuous gifts of the rich almost with condescension, even sometimes with roughness.
Rasputin remains humble and simple
He never asked for money in return for his time. He has been reproached with demanding payment for his visits, and even with holding to ransom those who came to ask a service of him. This is absolutely untrue. He had no idea of the value of money; important sums must have passed through his hands, but he distributed them in the most generous and fanciful manner.
At Pokrovskoie he was adored by his old comrades, many of whom owed a part of their prosperity to him. To one he had given several head of cattle, for another he had obtained the right of felling in a state forest, while to a third he had given a carriage or agricultural implements. Apart from such prodigal and generous expenditure, his personal needs remained very simple. He always retained the costume of a Siberian moujik; heavy boots, velvet or cloth trousers, high-collared blouses. During his last years, he often received presents of silk blouses embroidered by the hands of grateful women.
Even the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses embroidered some of these blouses for him which, together with the gold cross presented to him by Alexandra Feodorovna, constituted his only luxury. And even that cross was made the object of reproach by some of my father's enemies, who accused him of wearing the pious ornament in order to deceive the public into believing that he belonged to some religious order, of which the cross was the priestly symbol!
Our manner of living always remained equally simple. At times it even happened that we had absolutely no money and when, in my position of mistress of the house, I worried about it, my father would say tranquilly, "Don't torment yourself about that. God will provide"; and in fact, sooner or later, some gift in kind or in money would arrive, quite unexpectedly, but very welcome.
My father's resources were at all times exceedingly precarious. He never received the smallest pension from Their Majesties. Yet in the last years of his life he made a touching effort to accumulate a certain amount, setting a few notes aside in his desk when he thought of it. "That is for Matrona's portion," he would say. I had then just become engaged. But when he was advised to put in the bank any sum he had received, he would shrug his shoulders: "The good God gives me money, he will give it to my children, too." Thus at his death, his whole fortune was found to consist of 3,000 roubles. As for the sum accumulated in his desk - it had completely disappeared. It is true that during the two days of distraction that followed my father's disappearance, an army of people passed through our apartment; had somebody had the lack of delicacy to take advantage of the situation by searching the desk ? Who knows?
Out of gratitude for what my father had done for her son, the Empress took from her privy purse and that of the Tsarevich the sum of 30,000 roubles for each of Rasputin's three children. Besides this we still had, naturally, our house at Pokrovskoie which, thanks to my mother's practical spirit and good judgment, was transformed and enlarged. The isba, cradle of the family, had been raised, rooms added to it, and numerous gifts had given an appearance of comfort, if not luxury, to its interior decoration.
Rasputin’s enemies show their colours
My father's enemies have spread abroad on this point, as on all others, the most fantastic calumnies; Rasputin, debauched and covetous, had extorted millions from the credulity of those who came near him. Supposedly, he forced all newcomers to pay as a sort of retaining fee, a huge sum, amounting to thousands of roubles. Without this initial payment, nobody could approach him. This is absolutely false ; yet I am forced to admit that there is a certain foundation for this legend, of which the following is the explanation:
In my opinion my father committed a grave error, surprising in a being endowed, as he was, with the gift of clairvoyance; he believed in the goodness of humanity, and received with an equal benevolence and an equal indulgence all those who flocked about him and affected a friendship or an admiration that they were in reality far from experiencing. He believed people to be sincere, as he was himself, he who had never known what it was to flatter. Unhappily, his growing influence and reputation singled him out as a prey to the schemers who sought to use him to their profit. Rasputin's clairvoyance seemed to desert him when it was a question of judging people where his own interests alone were concerned. And yet, as soon as he met anyone, he had a sort of instinctive knowledge of what his true and hidden nature was; but if he saw him again, and that person pretended to have a liking, or a sudden friendship for him, or still more a great confidence in him, my father, victim of his indulgent credulity, at once forgot the warnings of his instinct.
That is why he always allowed himself to be surrounded by doubtful persons, more or less equivocal, who trafficked, without his knowledge, in his influence. How many were there who boasted of being "Rasputin's secretary", when it was not "God's adjutant"! From bankers to princes, thanks to the secret intelligence that they gathered about people, or the information that could be gained. It was they, the satellites - or rather I should say, the parasites - of my father, who earned him his reputation of exploiter. Some of them priced at 10,000 roubles the service of presenting to him people who desired his support, and naturally let it be thought that it was the Master himself who had fixed the amount, and that it was in his name that they collected it. Others received bribes of 50,000 roubles, perhaps more, from would-be Ministers who hoped thus to assure to themselves the benefits of my father's influence with the Tsar. My mother perceived this very clearly when she came to St. Petersburg for short visits. "I do not like to see you surrounded by cheating and trickery," she would say to my father every time she came. But he did not realise the grave importance of this, nor of the intrigues that were being woven about him. Moreover, he feared nothing and refused to justify himself against calumnies, the falsity of which seemed to him evident. When he was shown some particularly venomous and violent newspaper cutting, he contented himself with saying, " Ha! well then, let journalists earn their living by writing such things!"
Life seemed to him to be simple and beautiful, provided that one soared above the thousand and one miserable little details of it that were of no importance.
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As much as I am enjoying re-reading and sharing this riveting testimony by Maria Rasputin, I will invite the interested reader to read the second half themselves from the PDF link provided.
In the following penultimate article on Rasputin, I intend to feature the last part of this document – Rasputin’s own thoughts and recollections of his trip to the Holy Land.
I then intend to post a final article on this topic with a variety of miscellaneous Rasputin links for further reading.
Gilbert says Hi from the loquat tree.
Fascinating recollection by Maria! This is the Rasputin that was never made known to us. It's the usual depiction that I know of him. I do wonder if the Bolshevik Revolution would've succeeded were Rasputin not murdered by those fellows...
Thanks very much for this enlightening post. I only read Massie's book on Nicky and Alix long ago, and was not aware of all the other books on the Romanovs!
What an invaluable body of work you have left us Brother Julius. Spaciba. As an aside, my wife Christine and I have had many animals throughout our years. Half cats, half dogs, and one serval! Her two favorite cats, and creatures she loved more than me or even her parents, were blue Abyssinian cats named Anastasia and Natasha. Well, she called that one Nastya! Both of us consider Sankt Petersburg the pinnacle of humanity, although my little Swede did love Paris when she lived there. She even kicked an Algerian in the balls.