"Believe in the power of my prayers, and your son will live."
I remember reading about Grigori Efimovich Rasputin in high school. I admit to having an odd attraction to men with beards (my husband has one). But there was more to Rasputin than the beard which drew me in. Maybe it was the raw, hypnotic eyes.
He was called everything from a "miracle worker" to a "holy devil". His gaze was magnetic. When people, especially women, met him, they came under his powerful gaze and could not help but be pulled in. I know that there have been other people in the world who have/had the ability to hypnotize people in an incredible way. Today, hypnotists claim--and I don't doubt--that they can make you quit smoking or loose weight. But Rasptin was much, much more than an hypnotist. He was a holy man who became what the Russians called a "starets". These are religious men who go on pilgrimages, and are given underground places to stay in homes, where they pray continuously, in order to go through something called the "mysterious death of Christ". He attained divine grace through sinning, this included sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, and accepting bribes in return for helping petitioners who flocked to him. This was a particular secret religious sect found in Russia at that time--not something that Rasputin invented. His rise to fame came prior to and during WWI.
When the Tsarina Alexandra finally gave birth to a son, it was deemed a blessing. But she was a carrier of the hemophilia gene, and so her son naturally began suffering of this right away. Many times the little Tsearevich had been bleeding internally, and thought to not live the night. Somehow he would, and caution over how he played became the norm. But at one point, he was so terribly wracked with pain, so pale, his knees drawn to his chest as he lie moaning and crying for days, when finally, through a friend's contacts, Rasputin, the "little father" was brought to the palace. At once he prayed to the icons when he entered the boy's room, and then blessed the boy. For the first time, the young boy opened his eyes and stared at the odd stranger. Rasputin said, "Now, don't be afraid, Alesha, everything is all right again... Look, Alesha," he said, stroking the child's whole body from head to foot, "look, I have driven all your horrid pains away. Nothing will hurt you any more, and tomorrow you will be well again..."
And it worked! No other miracle worker that the royals had petitioned had been able to heal their young son. And Rasputin won the love and trust of the royal couple. Thing was he was not loved by all. Plus he took advantage of his powers and position in the court, having his rivals dismissed under his influence over the Tsarina Alexandra.
I wanted to give a brief summary of who Rasputin was here. There is no doubt that he could heal with a touch and hypnotize even the biggest doubters. Many, who came under his stare felt uncomfortable, and yet were drawn in by it. Rasputin was able to make men nearly mute with his stare.
Sounds to me like a vampire's stare. But it wasn't just his stare, either, even his voice could pull a person in. Let me give you an example from "Rasputin the Holy Devil"
I remember reading about Grigori Efimovich Rasputin in high school. I admit to having an odd attraction to men with beards (my husband has one). But there was more to Rasputin than the beard which drew me in. Maybe it was the raw, hypnotic eyes.
He was called everything from a "miracle worker" to a "holy devil". His gaze was magnetic. When people, especially women, met him, they came under his powerful gaze and could not help but be pulled in. I know that there have been other people in the world who have/had the ability to hypnotize people in an incredible way. Today, hypnotists claim--and I don't doubt--that they can make you quit smoking or loose weight. But Rasptin was much, much more than an hypnotist. He was a holy man who became what the Russians called a "starets". These are religious men who go on pilgrimages, and are given underground places to stay in homes, where they pray continuously, in order to go through something called the "mysterious death of Christ". He attained divine grace through sinning, this included sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, and accepting bribes in return for helping petitioners who flocked to him. This was a particular secret religious sect found in Russia at that time--not something that Rasputin invented. His rise to fame came prior to and during WWI.
When the Tsarina Alexandra finally gave birth to a son, it was deemed a blessing. But she was a carrier of the hemophilia gene, and so her son naturally began suffering of this right away. Many times the little Tsearevich had been bleeding internally, and thought to not live the night. Somehow he would, and caution over how he played became the norm. But at one point, he was so terribly wracked with pain, so pale, his knees drawn to his chest as he lie moaning and crying for days, when finally, through a friend's contacts, Rasputin, the "little father" was brought to the palace. At once he prayed to the icons when he entered the boy's room, and then blessed the boy. For the first time, the young boy opened his eyes and stared at the odd stranger. Rasputin said, "Now, don't be afraid, Alesha, everything is all right again... Look, Alesha," he said, stroking the child's whole body from head to foot, "look, I have driven all your horrid pains away. Nothing will hurt you any more, and tomorrow you will be well again..."
And it worked! No other miracle worker that the royals had petitioned had been able to heal their young son. And Rasputin won the love and trust of the royal couple. Thing was he was not loved by all. Plus he took advantage of his powers and position in the court, having his rivals dismissed under his influence over the Tsarina Alexandra.
I wanted to give a brief summary of who Rasputin was here. There is no doubt that he could heal with a touch and hypnotize even the biggest doubters. Many, who came under his stare felt uncomfortable, and yet were drawn in by it. Rasputin was able to make men nearly mute with his stare.
Sounds to me like a vampire's stare. But it wasn't just his stare, either, even his voice could pull a person in. Let me give you an example from "Rasputin the Holy Devil"
But his glance and speech would change: it was as if an all-devouring sensual desire flamed up in this strange man, his eyes began to blaze, his voice became excited, violent and passionate, confident and insinuating. His glances and words became lewd, cynical, and full of scarcely concealed suggestiveness, until, unexpectedly, his attitude again changed entirely, and he spoke of mystical and religious things with poetic ardour and genuine flaming enthusiasm.
Women could not resist him, in fact they flocked to him, no matter their social status. He cohabited with many.
While Rasputin's life was unusual, and his place in history of Russia during the WWI, is well known. His life came to a violent end. Those who hated him, or were jealous of him, conspired to kill him. He was first poisoned (although this was met with doubts by his daughter who said that her father would not have eaten the cakes that they had laced with rat poison), then he was drowned, but somehow managed to escape the water. What killed him was a bullet to the head--according the the coroner who examined him. I was impressed with how many times they tried to kill Rasputin, and were unable to. Like a vampire, Rasputin was hard to kill.
I think the total combination of who and what Rasputin was, also drew me toward vampires in my early days of discovery. You have to admit Rasputin was an unusual character. I've never come across such a dynamic personality in history who had the ability to charm, coerce, heal, and hypnotize people.
2 comments:
Excellent and well-research post as usual, Miss Lorelei.
The subject is an amazing one. He was fascinating as your post was!
Thank you, my dear!
Post a Comment