Rasputin: Mad, manipulative, healer, prophet or all of the above?

The infamous Grigory Yefimovich Novykh came into this world as a peasant sometime around 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoe. Although not much is known about the beginning of his life, he earned the better-known name of Rasputin, which means debaucher, do to his wild youth of drunkenness, stealing and womanizing. On one of his �escapades� it is said that he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary.

Around the age of eighteen, Rasputin joined the outlawed heretical Khlysty (Flagellants) sect that believed the way to purge sin was to completely exhaust one�s self by indulging in it. This, as you could imagine, must have sounded like heaven to a sexually obsessed individual like Rasputin. He later traveled to various Orthodox Christian centers taking his one man sex show on the road and soon became known as a Staretz or holy man/healer as well as a hypnotist and a prophet. Reports of his healing ability from this time are scant at best.

Rasputin�s most well known display of his healing ability took place when he seemed to miraculously cure Alexis, the son of Czar Nicholas II and wife Alexandra, of Hemophilia, bleeding disorder where the person�s blood takes a long time to clot and abnormal bleeding occurs. Whether this was actually a supernatural act is still of much debate. Some claim that Rasputin hypnotized Alexis into somehow stopping the bleeding himself. While others believe that it was not hemophilia, but that he suffered from Aplastic Crisis.

WHAT IS AN APLASTIC CRISIS?
An aplastic crisis is an infection caused by parvovirus B19. It causes production of red blood cells (RBC's) to be shut down for 10 days. This means that RBC's are not being made during this period. Because the RBC's in children with sickle cell anemia live only 10-15 days (compared to 120 days in children who do not have sickle cell anemia), the blood count (hemoglobin & hematocrit) drops rapidly to dangerously low levels during the infection.

WHAT IS THE TREATMENT?
Most often a blood transfusion is given to raise your child's blood count until the body starts making its own RBC's again. Occasionally it is necessary to hospitalize a child during an aplastic crisis.

Whatever the reason, Rasputin gained the respect and admiration of Alexis�s mother, Alexandra, and, according to a 500 page secret file compiled by the Bolsheviks, her love as well.

One telegram from her to him dated Dec 7, 1914, says: "Today I shall be back in eight days. I sacrifice my husband and my heart to you. Pray and bless. Love and kisses - darling." Another, two years later, sent only a fortnight before Rasputin's murder by a nobleman angry at his influence at court, reads: "You have not written anything. I have missed you terribly. Come soon. Pray for Nicholas [her husband]. Kisses - darling."

More: www.telegraph.co.uk.../archive/2000/03/14/whulk14.html

This affair did not go unnoticed as rumors rang through St. Petersburg not only of sexual encounters with Alexandra, but also of Rasputin and each of her four daughters. Tsar Nicholas quickly summoned Rasputin and as punishment sent him back to the provinces. However when Alexis had another near fatal bleeding incident, Rasputin was allowed to stay.

Rasputin's influence over the boy guaranteed the monk's return to St. Petersburg. His position within the imperial circle was never again challenged. Alexandra grew completely dependent on the man, who not only became her son's faith healer, but also the Empress' confidant. The evil monk's presence among the Tsar and his family would further alienate them from the capital and all those circles that had traditionally been the mainstay of tsarism. Nicholas and Alexandra were doomed from that point on.

Rasputin�s death was of interest as well. One aspect of this came in the form of a letter he wrote in which he foresaw his own death as well as the demise of the royal family. Two months after his death, the Bolsheviks killed the entire family. The following is a copy of that letter.

"I write and leave behind me this letter at St. Petersburg. I feel that I shall leave life before January 1...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...if it was your relations who have wrought my death, then no one in the 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...You must reflect and act prudently. Think of your safety and tell your relations that I have paid for them with my blood. I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living."
Pray, pray, be strong,
think of your blessed family.
Grigory

His actual death on the night of the 29/30 of December 1916 was quite strange also because he was poisoned, which was ineffective, shot several times and beaten before being thrown into and icy river where he struggled to undo his bonds before succumbing to drowning. The murders and conspiritors were of the members of the St. Petersburg elite as well as Prince Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich and the Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch Romanov.


Sources:
www.occultopedia.com...
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk...
www.tdh.state.tx.us...
health.yahoo.com...
www.telegraph.co.uk.../archive/2000/03/14/whulk14.html
www.disinfo.com...
www.nationmaster.com...
www.eurohistory.com...


[edit on 6-8-2004 by Jonna]

Nice little biography there. I touched a bit on Rasputin in high school, bottom line is that he's obviously a fraud. He put on a magic act and people bought into it thinking he was some saviour. As for his medical stunts, im sure he either exploited them mentally or developed some sort of herbal lore. He obviously knew his way into people's minds piercing them mentally, he certainly knew it could give him an upper hand and he used it. Predicting his death? hardly he obviously screwed up big time with the Csar's wife and knew he made alot of enemies. Im sure he had buddies of his own telling him the news and his threat that the entire family line would be erased was either from studying the politics of the time (I faintly remember that around the same time the Bolsheviks were gaining support because good ol' Nick wouldn't allow the Duma to share some of the power). Conclusion? genius of the man, a born leader. He obviously rose to power from scratch and used his mental powers to seduce others and put on a illusionary healing act.

Dissolute, dirty, disgutsting pig. His malignant influence led to the downfall of the Romanov Dynasty which in turn allowed the Bolsheviks to sieze power. In a very real way he is responsible for much of the crap in the world today.

If the bastard were taken out when the Tsar's ministers first suggested it, there would be no Kim Jong Ill, only a short, pudgy Korean peasant.

I think Rasputin was a man of science and probably very smart, he had a hidden agenda and that was the fall of the Czar and he did it using the Czar's wife.

He was caught but too late for the ruler and Rasputin was put to death. The rest of the story is just myth and lore.

This my opinion he was not mad, he did manipulated the wife of the Czar, he obviously knew about healing and I don't think he was a prophet but he made others believe he was.

The guy was a sicko, no doubt. He was also possessed of an incredible constitution. And blaming Rasputin for bolshevism is a big leap of logic.

Originally posted by Gary Seven
The guy was a sicko, no doubt. He was also possessed of an incredible constitution. And blaming Rasputin for bolshevism is a big leap of logic.

He's not responsible for Bolshevism but rather the Bolshevik siezure of power. Rasputins influence was such that all major decisions were made in consultation with him, with disastrous results. This led to a breakdown in the apparatus of the state and negatively impacted Russia's performance in the war. This created a ripe environment for Lenin's revolution.