Grigori Rasputin

(July 29, 1871 - December 30, 1916)
Grigory Rasputin was born July 29, 1871 in the village of Pokrovskoe Tyumen region. As the place of his birth was almost unattainable for the majority want, then the life of Grigori Rasputin at home remained only fragmentary and inaccurate information, the source of which was basically himself. It is likely that he was a monk, but it is not excluded that Rasputin - just a brilliant actor who perfectly portrays his election and the close communion with God.
. In 18 years, Rasputin made the first pilgrimage to the monastery in Verkhoturye, but vows not given
. In 19 years he returned to Pokrovskoye, where he married Praskovia Feodorovna. In this marriage were born three children - Dmitry in 1897, Maria in 1898 and Barbara in 1900.
Marriage is not chilled the ardor of Grigory Rasputin pilgrim. He continued to visit various holy places, even went so far Athos monastery in Greece and to Jerusalem. And all this on foot!
After such trips Rasputin imagines himself the elect of God, announced that he was a saint, and at every step, telling of his miraculous gift of healing to bring. Rumors of a Siberian sorcerer began to spread in Russia, and soon no longer Rasputin pilgrimage, as people tried to get to him. Many of his patients came from distant lands. It should be noted at the same time that Rasputin was never studied, did not even have a rough idea about medicine, was illiterate. However, he played his role perfectly: indeed helped people, he could reassure those who were on the verge of despair
. Once during plowing fields Rasputin was a sign - it was the Virgin, . who told about the illness of the Tsarevich Alexei, . the only son of Emperor Nicholas II (he suffered from hemophilia - a hereditary disease, . who conveyed to him through the maternal line), . Rasputin and ordered to go to Petersburg and to save the heir to the throne.,
. In 1905, Rasputin was in the capital of imperial Russia, and in very good time
. The fact that the church needed to "prophets" - people who would believe the people. Rasputin was just out of this category - a typical appearance of a peasant, a simple question, a sharp temper. But foes say that Rasputin used religion only as a smokescreen for his cynicism, lust for money, power and sex.
In 1907 he was invited to the imperial court - just in the midst of one of the bouts of illness, the Crown Prince. The fact that the imperial family hid hemophilia successor, fearing social unrest. Therefore, they have long refused the services of Rasputin. However, when the child's condition became critical, Nicholas surrendered.
All the subsequent life of Rasputin to St. Petersburg was inextricably linked to the treatment of Prince. However, not limited to these. Rasputin gained a lot of friends in the highest strata of society in St. Petersburg. When he was close to the imperial family, the metropolitan elite itself sought to be represented Siberian sorcerer, who called for the eye as nothing but "Grisha Rasputin.
. In 1910 she moved to St. Petersburg his daughter Maria to enter the Academy of Theology
. When she was joined by Barbara, two daughters of Gregory Rasputin were identified in the gymnasium.
Nicholas I did not welcome the frequent occurrence of Rasputin in the palace. Moreover, soon in St. Petersburg there were rumors about a very adult behavior Rasputin. They said that using its enormous influence on the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Rasputin took bribes (cash and in kind) for the promotion of specific projects or on the career ladder. His drunken fights and these pogroms horrified population of St. Petersburg. He, moreover, greatly undermined the imperial authority, since there was talk of too close relations Grigori Rasputin and the Empress.
In the end, patience was overcrowded. In the environment of the imperial entourage emerged plot against Rasputin. Its initiators were Prince Felix Yusupov (husband of imperial niece), . Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (MP IV State Duma, . known for his ultraconservative views) and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (a cousin of Emperor Nicholas),
. December 30, 1916, they invited Grigori Rasputin at Yusupov Palace to meet with the niece of the emperor, the famous beauty of St. Petersburg. In cakes and drinks, guest cast, contained cyanide. However, the poison had no effect. Impatient conspirators decided to use one hundred percent means - Yusupov shot Rasputin. But he again managed to escape. When he ran out of the palace, he was met Purishkevich and the Grand Duke, who was shot at point-blank "Siberian elder". He still tried to get on their feet when he tied up, stuffed into a bag with cargo and dropped in the hole. Later, an autopsy revealed that the elder, already being at the bottom of the Neva River, fought desperately for his life, but in the end, choked ...