M. V. Rodzianko, excerpt from The Reign Of Rasputin: An Empire's Collapse
This contemporary drawing shows Rasputin with the Imperial Couple as his hand puppets. You can add your own distortion to the popular picture of the day by clicking on the image and dragging your mouse across it. |
Born into a peasant family in the small Siberian city of Tobolsk in 1871, Grigorii Rasputin does not seem to have been a particularly exceptional child. As a young married father, however, he begain to develop a reputation as a faith healer and mystic. He abandoned his wife and family and took to the road, wandering the area where the back slopes of the Urals meet the Siberian plain and subsisting on the generosity of rural believers. His activities there as a healer brought him to the attention of regional ecclesiatical authorities. The Church brokered Rasputin's introduction to Tsar Nicholas II in the hope that his alleged powers could ease the severe hemophilia that was afflicting Nicholas' son and heir Aleksei. Once invited into Court circles in 1911, Rasputin quickly became the favorite of Tsarina Alexandra -- she apparently was convinced that he was God's messenger, come to save both her son and Russia. This favoritism took on dark overtones, however, as Rasputin soon established a quasi-sexual dominance/submission relationship with Alexandra and her female entourage. He then proceded to use this influence to further his own interests: not only self-serving interference in the affairs of the Russian government but (by most accounts) drunken debauchery at some of the highest levels of Imperial society. The text below is typical of the outraged reaction on the part of many of Russia's movers and shakers. It is from the Memoirs of the head of the Duma (state legislature), M. V. Rodzianko,and documents an early attempt to orchestrate Rasputin's departure.
1. According to Rodzianko, how is Rasputin undermining the official authority of the Church?
2. And how is Rasputin allegedly transgressing the moral and spiritual authority of Orthodox practice?
3. What connections does Rodzianko say people are making between Rasputin and the Imperial family, and why might they be dangerous?
4. Rodzianko's account gives the impression that Nicholas was genuinely unaware of what Rasputin had been up to. Do you find this credible? If so, what does this clueless insularity suggest about the Tsar's awareness of anything else? How in touch with his Empire do you think Nicholas actually was?
February 26, 1912
"Your Majesty, my report today extends to matters far beyond its usual scope. With your Majesty's gracious permission, I intend to lay before you the detailed and documentary evidence concerning a process of destruction which has begun, one full of potentially disastrous consequences for all concerned...."
The Tsar glanced at me in some astonishment.
I continued:
"I refer to the starets (1) Rasputin and to the inadmissible fact of his presence at your Majesty's Court. I beg you, Sire, as your Majesty's most loyal subject -- will it be your pleasure to hear me to the end? If not, say but one word, and I will remain silent."
With bowed head and averted gaze the Tsar murmured in a low voice:
"Speak."
"Your Majesty, the presence of this man of more than tarnished reputation in the most intimate Court circles is an event unparalleled in the history of the Russian Monarchy. The entire nation views the influence this man exercises on the affairs of Church and State with profound apprehension. The whole machinery of government, from Ministers to the lowest ranks of the secret police, is mobilized for the purpose of shielding this adventurer. Rasputin is a tool in the hands of Russia's enemies. He is their instrument for undermining the Church and the Monarchy itself. No revolutionary propaganda could achieve as much as Rasputin's mere presence at Court. Everyone fears his intimacy with the Imperial Family. Public sentiment against him is running very high."
"But why such attacks on Rasputin?" interrupted the Tsar. "Why is he considered so harmful?"
"Your Majesty, the fact that Rasputin has created a split in the Holy Synod has become common knowledge, both by hearsay and through the Press. Everyone knows that bishops are being transferred from their posts owing to his intrigues."
"Which bishops?" asked the Tsar.
"The case of Germogen (2) aroused universal indignation as an undeserved insult to a prelate. Bishop Germogen has many supporters. I have received a petition signed by ten thousand people, begging me to intercede on his behalf with your Majesty."
"I think Bishop Germogen is a good man," said the Tsar. "He will soon be permitted to return. Still, I could not allow him to remain unpunished for his flagrant obedience to my Imperial order."
"Your Majesty, according to the canons of the Church, only an episcopal court may sit in judgment of a bishop. Germogen was banished solely on charges by the High Procurator, on the strength of his personal report. It was an infringement of the canons of the Church."
The Tsar listened in silence.
"The case of Iliodor (3) has also made a painful impression on the people. After the inquiry that your Majesty ordered, his trial was cancelled a year ago. Now, without trial, he is confined in the Florischevo Hermitage (4) -- this was done after he had dared to speak openly against Rasputin. These two were not the only ones to suffer. Bishop Feofan (5) lost his position as the Empress's confessor and was removed to Simferopol. Bishop Anton of Tobolsk, who was the first to inform the Synod of Rasputin's adherence to the khlysty sect (6) and to demand his trial, was transferred to Tver. Anyone who dares utter a word against Rasputin is being persecuted by the Synod. Such a state of affairs cannot be tolerated, your Majesty. How can Orthodox Christians stand by in silence, when Orthodoxy is being defiled and destroyed by the destructive activities of this rogue? The general outburst of indignation following the disclosure that Rasputin was a khlyst is completely understandable."
"What proof of this do you have?
"The police discovered that he went to the baths with women. That is one of the peculiarities of their religious practices."
"So what? It is merely a custom among common people."
"No, your Majesty, there is no such custom. Perhaps husbands and wives go together, but what we have here is sheer debauchery. Permit me, first of all, to read you letters from victims of his who fell into his trap and repented afterwards. Here is a letter from a priest in Siberia, addressed to several members of the Duma (I did not like to mention Guchkov (7) by name), and begging them to inform the authorities of Rasputin's exploits, his immoral conduct and the rumors he circulated concerning his position and influence at the Imperial Court." (This letter I read out from end to end.)
"Here is another letter written by a lady confessing to seduction and moral corruption by Rasputin. She afterwards recoiled from him and repented her fall...and met him one evening coming out of the baths in the company of her two daughters.... The wife of an engineer, Madame L., also fell victim to Rasputin's teachings. She went insane and is now in a lunatic asylum. Will your Majesty order this evidence to be verified?"
"I believe you," said the Tsar.
I read him other letters and extracts from Novoselov's pamphlet. (8) I stressed the painful impression that the prohibition of any publication in the Press concerning Rasputin had made on the public mind. He did not belong to the list of persons about whom it was forbidden to write. He occupied no exalted position; neither was he a member of the Imperial Family. Ministers of the Crown, presidents of the Imperial Duma. heads of the Council of the Empire were freely criticized in the Press. Why, then, this enforced silence concerning Rasputin? Such a policy naturally led the public to think him intimately connected with the Imperial Family.
"But why do you assume him to be a khlyst?"
"Your Majesty should read Novoselov's pamphlet. He made a special investigation of the case. He states that Rasputin was once prosecuted on the charge of belonging to that sect, but that for some reason or other the prosecution was stopped. Moreover, as has been verified, meetings of Rasputin's followers were held at Sazonov's apartment (9) while Rasputin himself was staying there. Permit me to show you a clipping from a foreign newspaper, which says that Rasputin was mentioned at the Masonic Congress in Brussels (10) as a useful instrument for carrying out Masonic policy in Russia. The whole plot, with all its subsequent developments, is as clear as day. It is not just the fate of the dynasty and the prestige of the Imperial Family that are involved."
"How so?" inquired the Tsar, greatly agitated.
"Your Majesty, there is no serious or responsible person in charge of the Tsarevitch. (11) He is entrusted to the care of a country bumpkin, Derevenko, (12) who may be a very good man at heart but is also a simple peasant. Ignorant people are naturally inclined towards mysticism. What if anything were to happen to the Heir Apparent? This is a subject of profound anxiety to all....
Notes:
(1) A starets was an unordained holy person, generally an older individual known for contemplative spirituality.
(2) The Orthodox Archimandrite (Bishop) of Saratov, who had been impressed by Rasputin's healing powers and first introduced him to Nicholas II. A falling-out then occurred, Rasputin using his influence in court circles to have Germogen removed from his see. Politically conservative, Germogen was linked to the Black Hundreds movement and the Union of the Russian People. He resurfaced after the Revolutions of 1917 as the Archimandrite of Tobolsk, and in this capacity was drowned by the Bolsheviks in the Tura River in April 1918.
(3) Iliodor, in the lay world known as Sergei Trufanov (1881-1952), was a lapsed monk with right-wing views who was a member of the Union of the Russian People and involved in the "black hundreds" vigilante movement. A one-time friend of Rasputin's and fellow traveller in influence-seeking, Trufanov broke sharply with his associate for reasons that are not clear. Whether for blackmail purposes or out of indignation, he compiled a so-called "sexual dossier" circa 1911 that charged Rasputin with fornication. 'Shopping' it in anti-Rasputin circles, Trufanov let it be known that certain objectively innocuous, but politically compromising letters from the Empress were involved. The charges, countercharges and leaks that followed resulted in Trufanov's arrest and preventive confinement, pending the results of an investigation. Rasputin intervened to prolong that detention. Trufanov emigrated in 1914, returned in 1918, was deported for anti-Soviet propagandizing, and spent most of the remainder of his life in new york city.
(4) The location is obscure.
(5) Archimandrite (Bishop) Feofan was the Inspector of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary and an early Rasputin patron who fell out with his protege.
(6) Khlysty were mystical Russian sectarians who generally followed the external rules of Orthdoxy but secretly considered the rites of the Church to be meaningless. They believed that Church formalities were necessary only for the unenlightened, and that khlysty teachings could lead to a state of grace allowing direct communication with God. The basic khlysty tenet was the constant manifestation of God in human form. For them the birth of Jesus was not a unique event. Moreover, they held that total self-denial and submission could lead to a "mysterious resurrection" allowing the elect to share divine abilities to prophesy, heal, raise the dead, etc. From this followed an even more ecclesiastically problematic doctrine: the way to salvation involved sin, since only after a person had sinned greatly could he become pleasing to God. Orthodox authorities routinely condemned khlysty as blasphemous fornicators. Though actual evidence on the latter point is inconclusive, it appears that the sect banned relations between partners whose marriage had been blessed by a priest, and encouraged group sex during wildly ecstatic worship services called radenye. Khlysty had similarities to Flagellants, Pentacostals, and Gnostics (to name a few sectarian analogs in the Western tradition).
(7) A. I. Guchkov, a leader of the progressive faction in the Duma who in 1917 became Minister of War in the Provisional Government
(8) Mikhail Novoselov headed the publishing division of the Moscow Theological Academy. The spiritual disciple of its ultra-orthodox rector, Archimandrite Theodore (Bishop of Volokolamsk), he had considerable backing in denouncing Rasputin.
(9) Sazonov is mentioned by Trotskii and others as a revolutionary martyr.
(10) Held in Brussels in 1910. Freemasonry in Russia had conspiratorial anti-establishment implications, disturbing the Orthodox Church on account of its mysticism and its links to conservative developments in Catholicism.
(11) Literally, "The Son of the Tsar." The title commonly used to refer to the heir apparent to the Imperial throne.
(12) Derevenko = a Ukrainian sailor from the fleet who was the Tsarevich Aleksei's main caregiver during most of his childhood.
Original translation from M. V. Rodzianko, The Reign of Rasputin: An Empire's Collapse. Translated by Catherine Zvegintzoff. Introduction by Sir Bernard Pares (London: Philpot, 1927), pp. 41-47, 49-59, 61-62. Revised and annotated by Jon Bone.
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