Grigori Rasputin

Grigori Rasputin

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин ) (22 January 1869 – 29 or 30 December 1916) was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son, Alexei. Some people called Rasputin the "Mad Monk", 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 has been much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and influence, as accounts have often been based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend. In his homeland he is revered as a righteous man by many people and clerics, among them Elder Nikolay Guryanov.