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Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1869 – 29 December [O.S. 16 December] 1916) was a Russian mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei. Rasputin had often been called the "Mad Monk",[1] while others considered him a "strannik" (or religious pilgrim) and even a starets(ста́рец, "elder", a title usually reserved for monk-confessors), believing him to be a psychic and faith healer.

It has been argued that Rasputin helped to discredit the tsarist government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty, in 1917. Contemporary opinions saw Rasputin variously as a saintly mystic, visionary, healer and prophet or, on the contrary, as a debauched religious charlatan. There hasbeen much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and influence as accounts of his life have often been based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend.

The Myths Surrounding Rasputin
Facts and Fiction
Much of this controversy surrounding Rasputin’s life centres on the power he had over others. Rasputin's enemies often attributed his skills of seduction, his mystical healing ability and influenceon political figures to hypnotism. While people often reported feeling compelled to do things while in his presence, many examples his power have more rational explanations.
Rasputin the womaniser
Despite his lax attitude towards personal hygiene, Rasputin is infamous as a womaniser. Orgies, outings to bath houses, violent sex with society women and prostitutes all feature in accounts of hislife. One such story describes how Rasputin saved locks of hair from the virgins he seduced. After his death several boxes of this hair were found buried in his garden. Such stories are most likely exaggerations and reports of Rasputin having an affair with the tsarina are most likely false. They were simply defamatory rumours spread by tabloid newspapers after the royal family’s deposition.

Inaddition to theories of hypnosis or personal magnetism, several accounts attribute his many conquests to his reputed 13-inch penis. There is no scientific evidence to support this theory. It is simply more likely that as his fame grew, he attracted an ever increasing number of female followers.

Rasputin the Healer
Sceptics of Rasputin’s healing powers claimed that monk had in fact usedhypnosis to cure Alexei’s’ haemophilia. Medical evidence suggests that the boy was not actually suffering from haemophilia at all, but from aplastic anaemia. Many symptoms of this disease are similar to those of haemophilia. However unlike haemophilia it is also characterised by spontaneous remission. In many cases this remission is long term. It is likely that Rasputin simply arrived at the child’sbedside at the right time.

Rasputin the invincible
Descriptions of Rasputin’s assassination rely heavily on the accounts of the perpetrators or their co-conspirators. It is quite likely that Rasputin’s resilience was greatly exaggerated to cover up their own ineptitude. It is claimed that when an autopsy was performed on Rasputin’s body it was found that he actually died of drowning. Thisraises the question as to whether he had actually been poisoned, shot and beaten before being thrown into the river.

Rasputin the Clairvoyant
Rasputin's last letter to Tsarina AleksandraRasputin was reported to have had visions all his life, some of which foretold the future. The most famous of these premonitions relates to his own death and is described in a letter he sent to the Tsar.Reports by his secretary that Rasputin transferred all his money into his daughter’s account shortly before he died would indeed suggest that knew his death was imminent. However, given the level of hostility towards the monk it is unlikely that Rasputin would have needed clairvoyant powers to predict his assassination.

Controversy

Rasputin among admirers, 1914
Rasputin soon became a...