Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born on10 January 1869 in the small Russian village of Pokrovskoye. In his childhood, he showed indications of supernatural powers. At thirty, he was married and a father of four children. However, he was a drunkard and horse thief. One of the incidents of theft proved to be a turning point in his life, because he escaped from his village and took refuge in the Verkhoturye Monastery.
Rasputin then he became a religious mystic and wanderer, coming into contact with the banned Christian sect known as the khlysty whose intense services led to physical exhaustion.
In 1903, Rasputin arrived in Saint Petersburg, where he gradually gained a reputation as a man with healing and prophetic powers.
The royal family in Saint Petersburg was fond of magic, and in 1905, Rasputin was introduced to the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna who came to believe in his healing powers after he managed to reduce the bleeding of Tsarevich Alexei, the heir to the throne, who was suffering from hemophilia.
Rasputin’s influence over Alexandra increased and soon he became her personal adviser. But Rasputin’s enemies also increased. On 27 June 1914, Rasputin returned to his village in Siberia.
The next day Rasputin received a telegram, and on his way to send one in reply, he was attacked by a former prostitute. After surgery, however, Rasputin recovered and returned to Saint Petersburg where he gained more power and largely influenced the choice of ministers.
On 7 December 1916, Rasputin wrote a letter to the tsar in which he said, "If your relatives kill me then none of your family members will stay alive". Rasputin predicted plans were being made to kill him.
On December 30, 1916, a group of nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov, the husband of the tsar’s niece, and the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the tsar’s cousin, and the right-wing politician Vladimir Purishkevich, invited Rasputin to the Yusupovs’ Moika Palace, saying that Felix’s wife, Princess Irina wanted to meet him.
Rasputin was served poisoned cakes and red wine. It is said that Rasputin was unaffected, although Vasily Maklakov had supplied enough poison to kill five men.
Determined to have Rasputin killed, Yusupov shot Rasputin with a revolver. After being hit three times in the back, Rasputin fell, then he was clubbed to death, wrapped up and dumped into the Neva River.
Ten weeks after his death, the Russian Revolution destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
