Tatyana Mironova

Grigori Rasputin: Belied Life – Belied Death

Personality Fabrication – Impersonator





Fabrication of historic documents and lies with reference to «eyewitnesses’ reports» are well-developed and time-tested methods used by history falsifiers. But creating a completely false personality, presenting a person as someone else is a sophisticated fraudulent invention with no precedents in the history of the Judaic hatred towards a Christian state.

Grigori Rasputin was hateful to the enemies of the Tsar. They targeted Grigori Efimovich when their real aim was the Tsar’s family and the Monarchy itself. False accusations were made against Grigori Rasputin and his personality was fabricated. The intellectual society in Russia longed for rumors and trusted them more than newspapers. Even Admiral Kolchak criticized the Tsar for having Rasputin as his close friend though he never met Rasputin. Here is a good example of how it worked. When Admiral Kolchak was serving in the Pacific Fleet, he hardly managed (according to him) to suppress the officers’ revolt in response to the rumor that Rasputin arrived in Vladivostok and wished to attend the warships. Kolchak himself was indignant at Rasputin but soon the rumors turned out wrong. Grigori Efimovich was not in Vladivostok but aversion to the starets after this case remained with Kolchak, as he himself confessed (1).

The French ambassador Maurice Paleologue also wrote about Rasputin but only on the basis of gossip and rumors circulating in Petersburg, retelling various lies. He met Rasputin only once at a party at Countess L. and this meeting did not give him reasons to think bad of Rasputin. The only thing he noticed was «a man with shrewd eyes» who looking at the arrogant Frenchman said: «There are fools everywhere» and left. Paleologue did not think it referred to him and that’s the only reason he gave a precise quote in his memoirs.

Who hated Grigori Efimovich and why? Who and what did he interfere with? What was he hated for?

In 1912, when Russia was ready to intervene in the Balkan conflict, Rasputin was begging the Tsar on his knees not to start military actions and, of course, he prayed to God to guide the Tsar’s heart. According to Count Witte, «he (Rasputin) revealed all the disastrous consequences of the European conflict and thus turned history around. The war was prevented» (2). The power of Rasputin’s prayers was so horrifying to the initiators of the war in which Russia had to be involved so that, according to Engels, «crowns would fall to the ground», that these initiators decided to kill Grigori Rasputin upon their new attempt to start the world war on the same date and hour when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo which triggered World War I. Rasputin was wounded heavily and while he was unconscious and could not pray, the Tsar had to start a nation-wide mobilization in response to the declaration of war by Germany against Russia. The enemies of Russia realized the threat to their destructive, anti-Russian and anti-monarchy plans which Rasputin presented. Purishkevich said in the Duma representing everyone who hated the monarchical Russia about the main obstacle to overthrowing the Tsar: «While Rasputin is alive, we cannot win» (3).

Meanwhile Grigori Efimovich Rasputin was just a humble religious man deeply convinced that his power rested in belief in God of those asking for prayers. Grigori Efimovich found himself in Saint Petersburg in 1904 to ask for permission to build the Church of Protection of the Holy Virgin in his native village of Pokrovskoye. It was the time when the Tsarevich was just born and his parents realized that hourly prayers to God were needed to save the child’s life. Looking around for potential heirs to the Imperial throne in Russia, the Tsar could see no one with a pure and believing heart who could take over and rule Russia.

The little Aleksey Nikolayevich given to the Tsar’s family by prayers of Seraphim of Sarov was the only hope of the Tsar for the well-being of the country he deeply and truly loved. He was like a ray of sun, a kind, bright child and a true consolation to the Tsar’s family who was afraid to think of anything bad happening to him. He was given to the Tsar by prayers of a holy man and could be kept alive only by the prayers of another holy man. He suffered from hemophilia which was painful and dangerous but not fatal. The sons of Tsarevich Aleksey could be absolutely healthy. God sent to the Tsar’s family a holy man who could pray for their son.

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin was introduced to the Tsar in October 1905. Grigori Efimovich at the first meeting with the Tsar and Tsarina knew about his godsent purpose and spent all his remaining life serving the Tsar. He stopped his pilgrimage and stayed in Saint Petersburg gathering around him people devoted to the Tsar. Most importantly he was close by every time the Tsarevich needed him as his prayers for the child (probably even unexpectedly for Rasputin himself) were heard and answered by God. This godly help to the Tsarevich was a sign for the Tsar that in the most difficult times of his czardom God sent him a spiritual mentor. According to Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the Tsar and the Tsarina «saw in him a peasant whose true devotion made him a holy man» (4, p. 298). The honest investigator V.M.Rudnev, a member of the Extraordinary Commission of the Provisional Government, wrote in his official investigation report that the Tsar and the Tsarina were deeply convinced that Rasputin was a holy man, the only one who could pray to God for the Tsar, Tsar’s family and Russia. (5, p.153).

There are true facts supported by many witnesses when Rasputin saved Tsarevich Alexey’s life. In 1907 when the Tsarevich was three years old, he had a strong bleeding which started from his leg in the Tsarskoye Selo Park. Grigori Efimovich was sent for, he prayed and the bleeding stopped. In October 1912 in Spala, the Tsar’s hunting area in Poland, Tsarevich Alexey Nikolayevich was almost hopeless after a serious injury and his doctors Fedorov and Rauhfus insisted on publishing bulletins on the Tsarevich’s health. The Tsarina however did not expect much help from the doctors. Instead she was hoping for the grace of God. At that time Rasputin was in his home village of Pokrovskoye. Anna Vyrubova sent a telegram to Rasputin following the Tsarina’s request. A response from Rasputin arrived promptly: «God saw your tears. Do not worry. Your Son will live». An hour after the telegram was received, the Tsarevich’s condition improved drastically. He was no longer in danger.

In 1915 when the Tsar followed the troops, he took Alexey Nikolayevich with him. On the way his nose started bleeding. The train turned back as the Tsarevich was bleeding to death. He was in his room, with «his small pale face and bloodstained cotton in his nostrils». Grigori Efimovich was sent for. «He arrived at the palace and went to the Tsarevich’s room accompanied by his parents. According to them he came up to the Tsarevich’s bed, made the sign of the cross upon him and said to his parents that it was not serious and they had nothing to worry about. Then he turned away and left. The bleeding stopped… The doctors could not understand how that happened» (6, p.143-144).

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna wrote: «There were thousands and thousands of people who firmly believed in the power of prayers and healing faculties of this man» (29, p.100). Grigori Efimovich regularly healed people with the help of God.

The prayers for the Tsarevich and his health were just a small part of what Rasputin did for his Tsar. He often saw the sophisticated lies and evil schemes plotted behind the Tsar’s back. He warned the Tsar against many decisions potentially dangerous for the country. He was against convening the last Duma, asked not to publish the seditious speeches pronounced at the Duma meetings. Just before the February Revolution he insisted on bringing food supplies to Petrograd – bread and butter from Siberia. He even thought of pre-packaging flour and sugar to avoid lines which gave a start to disturbances in the artificially created bread crisis and which were skillfully transformed into a «revolution». These are just some of Rasputin’s prophesies for the war and pre-revolutionary Russia in 1914-1917. Grigori was able to see people’s true nature and thus knew the souls and true intentions of the people close to the Tsar. He realized that Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich being the Commander in Chief would not only bring failure to the army but also presented danger to the monarchy. Rasputin insisted that the Tsar should himself be the Commander in Chief and success of the Russian army followed immediately.

Rasputin’s clairvoyance amazed everyone who met him. According to the words of Grigori Efimovich’s daughter Varvara written down by N.A. Sokolov in 1919, once a woman came to Rasputin’s apartment. «Dad approached her and said: «Just give me what you are holding in your right hand. I know what it is». The lady took her hand out of her sleeve and handed him a revolver» (7, p.184).

Rasputin was all-knowing and his God-given far-sightedness was acknowledged not only by those who were spiritually close to him. Rasputin’s murderer Felix Yusupov wrote in desperation: «I have been studying occultism for a long time and I can assure you people like Rasputin with such magnetic power come along once in several centuries… No one can replace Rasputin, thus his elimination will have positive consequences for the revolution» (8, p.532). The enemies of the Tsar intending to overthrow him by «disturbing the public» concentrated their efforts on false allegations against Rasputin. A special conference was even convened in 1912 in Basel which decided that all effort should be concentrated on discrediting Rasputin. Talking about the hardships caused by libel Grigori Efimovich wrote to Metropolitan Antony (Vadkovsky) who stopped communication with Rasputin: «That’s all because I’m with the Tsar’s family. That’s what I suffer for» (9, p.268). He wrote to Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) who believed accusations against Rasputin: «Do not take it unkindly. I will do no harm to you and if I have fallen in your eyes, then pray, pray for Grigori and let the Jews criticize me if they wish» (9, p.267).

The bishops and metropolitans in whose eyes Rasputin «fell» did not believe the Jewish newspapers but how were they to ignore the words of Bishop Feofan (Bystrov). A woman came to confess to him and told about the «frivolous behavior» of Rasputin. Bishop Feofan who could not imagine anyone lying in front of the cross and Gospel believed the woman. Feofan broke the seal of confession and revealed what he had heard to the Tsarina and synodic metropolitans. Feofan was used by the libelers and far-sighted Rasputin expected that: «They will send evil people, and evil tongues are worse than demons – not afraid of holy cathedrals, Holy Communion or anything else» (9, p.484).

How could Grigori Efimovich explain his non-existing sins and whom could he explain them to? The Tsar and the Tsarina every day saw and felt his holy help and did not believe any libel. The others – bishops, Feofan who broke the seal of confession (that woman later confessed to libel), just criticized and accused the Tsar and the Tsarina for their closeness to Grigori. Grigori Efimovich did not made excuses to anyone. He just prayed to God and his prayers are his acquittal for all times: «It is hard to live with all these wrongful accusations. God, they write horrible things! Give me patience and seal the lips of the enemies! Or grant me Your help and the eternal happiness of Your bliss» (9, p.491). «Oh the miserable devil brought entire Russia against me as if I am a criminal! The devil is always left with nothing. God, save us!» (9, p.486).

Praying for the Tsar and Tsarevich, Grigori Efimovich prepared them too for the last expiatory heroic deed for Russia: «God will never leave you but console and strengthen… God’s bliss is with you, the Tsar and with your children» (9, p.403). He sincerely explained to the Tsar’s family the essence of the divine revelation about his service to the Tsar: «I am confident that you have learned from me. Later when hardships follow you will be ready and understand it» (9, p.404). He sent to the Tsar his gold cross. A cross as a gift always meant that with the cross the person would receive grief and sufferings. The Tsar did not wear this gift from Grigori Efimovich and gave it to Yuliya Den who lost it. After Rasputin’s death the Tsar had the cross returned to him and put it on. The Tsar’s wore Rasputin’s gift till the last days of his life.

Going though all the sufferings for the Christ the Tsar’s family recalled the prophecies made by Rasputin and realizing that these trials were sent by God were getting ready for their last days. They remembered that Grigori had predicted that they would visit his native village when they were on a ship going through the Pokrovskoye village to Tobolsk. Later when the Tsar, Tsarina and Grand Duchess Mariya Nikolaevna were riding through Pokrovskoye, they stopped at the house of their holy man. Grigori Efimovich predicted that long ago and told about that not only to the Tsarina but to many others as well, including Yuliya Den: «They must come. Of their own will or not they will come to Tobolsk. Before they die, they will see my native village» (10, p.96).

They knew about the prophetic consolation sent by Grigori Efimovich to their little son Aleksey and of course knew what it was about: «My dear boy! Look at the Jesus! Do you see his wounds? He suffered once and then became strong and powerful. You will be strong and happy too. We will live and will die. See you soon» (9, p.403). They remembered that Rasputin had promised them that Tsarevich Aleksey would be healthy by 13-14 years, he would no longer be sick. They realized that Rasputin’s prophetic words written down by the Tsarina (in her notes) were about their fate: «God, your servants will be abused. Your enemies say lies, disgrace the words of the Anointed one. Oh grief! Tell us: we killed a holy man and he did not speak against us, let us go and confess our sins. The sun has gone down and there is no light! Too late!» (9, p.501).

This person, the Tsar’s Friend (in the most important meaning of this word) who always spiritually accompanied the Tsar in his devotion as the Lord’s Anointed, was murdered first spiritually by libel and accusations in order to separate Rasputin from the Tsar and break this holy union, a strong wall between the Tsar and His enemies willing to see Russia fall. Many people from close or far, those who believed these lies talked to the Tsar and Tsarina, wrote them insulting letters, threatened them and demanded to banish Rasputin from the court! Could the Tsar and Tsarina do that? Would Peter the Great stop seeing the Holy Bishop Mitrofany of Voronezh if the boyars demanded that? Would Alexander III banish John of Kronstadt who was maliciously called in Petersburg «the Rasputin of Alexander III»? Libel did not affect the Tsar and his family. The monarchy remained indestructible by prayers of the holy man Grigori. Libel however affected the crowd of intellectuals who forgot about their devotion to the Tsars.

Almost all memoirs about Grigori Efimovich Rasputin have one surprising flaw. Most memoirists never met Grigori Rasputin or saw him in passing or from afar. However all «memoirists» both those who sympathized with the Tsar’s family and those who did not, had the same attitude towards Rasputin and described him with the same words: a drunkard with an unrestricted sexual life, uncontrollable and selfish, Khlyst. What did they know about him? But for rumors, what could the Duma freemasons Pavel Miluykov and Alexander Kerensky, poet Zinaida Gippius, poet Alexander Blok and the English ambassador James Buchanan say about Rasputin? They all wrote in their memoirs: «I have never sought a meeting with Rasputin as I did not consider it necessary to establish a personal relationship with him». They never even met Rasputin but were zealously reporting the rumors about him. General Sukhomlinov saw him only once at the Sevastopol railway station in 1912: «Walking back and forth on the platform he was staring at me but his stare had absolutely no effect on me» (11, с.286). However this did not prevent the General from telling in his memoirs all rumors he had heard about Rasputin and putting the blame for his resignation on Rasputin. Archpriest Shavelsky saw Rasputin «twice and from afar: first time on the platform at the Tsarskoye Selo railway station and in 1913 at the Romanov festivities in Kostroma» (12, с.101). Shavelsky could not remember anything improper about his personal meetings with Rasputin. However he remembered well the rumors about Rasputin and the Tsar’s children he had heard from the governess of Grand Duchesses Ms. Sofiya Ivanovna Tuytcheva, a mentally-ill woman (who was dismissed for that reason) who came to Shavelsky for «advice». General V.N. Voyekov and resident tutor P. Zhilyar who were sincerely fond of the Tsar’s family could hardly say that they knew Rasputin. Zhilyar wrote about his only meeting with Rasputin: «Once I met him in the hall on my way out. I was looking at him while he was taking off his coat. He was tall with an exhausted face and had grayish blue eyes looking from under heavy eyebrows. He had long hair and a big beard like peasants do» (13, p.200). How could «several moments» be enough to describe him as a «drunkard and debauchee ruling the country»? The book by Zhilyar published in Vienna in 1921 had an ambiguous title: «Emperor Nicholas II and his family. After personal memories of Pierre Zhilyar, the former tutor of Tsarevich Aleksey Nikolaevich». What does «after personal memories» mean? Does it mean that someone retold Zhilyar’s memories? How can we know that those writing after Zhilyar’s memories did not put some of their own ideas in the book as it happened in numerous republications of Anna Taneeva’s (Vyrubova) memoirs when tendentious inserts were made by unknown editors and the most important passages were taken out of the book? The court superintendant General Voyenkov spoke to Rasputin once «with a special purpose – to make his own opinion of Rasputin» (14, с.76). Voyenkov’s opinion of Grigori was unfavorable though he noticed nothing bad during his talk with Rasputin: «He seemed a shrewd man trying to pretend being something else than he really was. At the same time I could feel an amazing magnetic power in him!»(14, p.76). Voyenkov was shocked by a difference between the Rasputin he saw and the Rasputin whose image was formed in general public according to rumors. The surprising part is that Voyenkov preferred believing rumors than his own eyes.

Fortunately some other people wrote memoirs as well. General Kurlov published his book titled «The Fall of the Imperial Russia» in Berlin in 1923. The General never belonged to the Rasputin’s circle so his enemies could not accuse the General of being biased. Moreover, he was a professional policeman, director of the Police Department, head of the Chief Prison Administration and a friend of the Minister of the Interior. He had huge experience dealing with people with criminal intentions and deeds and that’s the image created for Rasputin in the general public. He had no reasons to defend Rasputin and the Tsar’s family after 1911 as with Stolypin’s assassination his own life and career were destroyed. Kurlov described Rasputin as he himself saw him. «I was in the Minister’s office when the courier on duty brought Rasputin in. A thin muzhik with a dark beard and shrewd clever eyes approached the Minister. He sat at a big round table with Stolypin and started explaining to him that all these accusations against him were false and he was just a harmless religious man… Afterwards I told the Minister of my impression of him. I thought Rasputin was that type of a sly hard-headed Russian muzhik and he did not seem a charlatan to me» (15, p.312). «I first talked to Rasputin in the winter of 1912 at one of my acquaintances’… I had the same impression of his appearance as when I had seen him in the Minister’s office… Rasputin treated me with great distrust knowing that I served for the deceased Minister who he could not without reason consider his enemy… This time I was impressed with Rasputin’s deep knowledge of the Holy Writ and religious issues. He was self-composed and did not mention once his closeness to the Tsar’s family. I did not notice any signs of his hypnotic power and after our conversation I thought to myself that most of the rumors (which Petersburg is always so greedy for) of his influence on the people around him were not true» (15, с.317). Next time Kurlov met him «Rasputin showed vivid interest in the war as I had just arrived from the battle grounds. He asked my opinion of the possible outcome and emphasized that he considered the war with Germany a huge disaster for Russia… Being against the war he still considered that it should be completed and with great patriotism he talked about God helping the Tsar and Russia… That means that accusations of high treason against Rasputin are false just as accusations against the Tsarina… I talked to Rasputin several times during his last months. I met him at Badmaev’s and was impressed with his innate intellect and practical understanding of the current political issues» (15, p.318).

Thus libel had no effect on the Tsar’s family. Rasputin’s prayers served as a protective shield for them. The enemy of the monarchy and the Tsar’s family Felix Yusupov talked about that to freemason V.I. Maklakov: «The Tsar believes in Rasputin so much that if there were an uprising and people were going to the Tsarskoye Selo, the troops sent against them would either run away or join the rebels and the Tsar would be left alone with Rasputin, if Rasputin told him «Do not be afraid», the Tsar would not give in» (16, p.250). That’s why a decision was taken to kill the Tsar’s friend leaving the Tsar’s family alone, without spiritual and religious support. The public murder of Rasputin required making the general public want this murder. The flow of false accusations had to be multiplied to discredit the Tsar’s family. A Judaic scheme was invented for that with the use of a Rasputin impersonator.

The first suspicions about the Rasputin’s impersonator used to discredit the Tsar’s family arose soon after Rasputin’s murder. An evidence of it is a story told by the cossack chieftain of the Don Troops Count Grabbe that soon after Rasputin’s murder he «was invited for breakfast by Duke Andronnikov who reportedly used Rasputin’s help in his affairs. Entering the dining room Grabbe was shocked to see Rasputin standing in the adjacent room. A man who looked exactly like Rasputin was standing next to the table. Andronnikov looked at his guest inquiringly. Grabbe pretended not to have noticed the likeness of that man with Rasputin. The man stood there for a while, then left the room and never appeared again» (17, p.148). While Grigori was still alive, such «impersonator» could appear in any improper places, drink, make scenes and play around with women. Daily reports about that were published in newspapers always eager for dirty details. Such impersonator could leave the apartment on Gorokhovaya Street and go to a prostitute which was recorded in daily reports of security agents. Yuliya Den wrote in bewilderment: «They reported that Rasputin had been debauching in the capital while in fact he was in Siberia at that time» (10, p.95).

One story connected with the Rasputin impersonator was told by Nadezhda Teffi in her memoirs. In 1916 Teffi who at that time worked for the Russkoye Slovo newspaper, writer Vasily Rozanov working for the Novoye Vremya and Izmailov from the Birzhevuye Vedomosty newspaper were invited for dinner to a publisher to whom Manasevich («well-known in the literary circles») suggested «inviting some writers interested to see Rasputin» (18, p.223). The writers arrived at the said time and saw «Rasputin». «He was wearing a wool grey Russian caftan and high varnished boots. He was restless, turned round all the time and fidgeted on his chair… He was quite tall and lean with a sparse beard and a thin face with a long fleshy nose. He was staring with his closely set shrewd eyes from under strands of oily hair… He would say something and then look around as if asking everyone whether they were happy with what he had said or were surprised». The writer immediately noticed that there was something artificial about the situation. «Something in Rasputin’s manner – his anxiety or desire to please – showed that he knew who he dealt with. He felt like he was surrounded by «hostile journalists» and pretended to be a pious man». These thoughts made the meeting «boring» for Teffi. It seemed that «Grishka was acting out a certain scenario» (18, p.230). He said a couple of words about the «heavenly»: «I want to go back to Tobolsk and pray. It is nice to pray in my native village», and then he immediately started convincing a lady next to him to drink: «Drink, I tell you, God will forgive you!», then explicitly started inviting her over to his place. Finally he had his poems brought and recited one of them: «Mountains are high and beautiful. But my love is higher and more beautiful for my love is for God», then he wrote a couple of lines himself «in a hardly decipherable handwriting» – «God is love. You are free to love. God forgive. Grigori». Then the host approached Rasputin looking worried and said there was a call from the Tsarskoye Selo. Rasputin left the table and did not come back.

This was not the last meeting with the Rasputin impersonator. A second invitation followed a few days later. «Manasevich came, insisted on our coming (just like an entrepreneur! – said Teffi) and showed a precise guest list». Most of them did not know each other and came just to see Rasputin. The same scenario was acted out as a broken record: religious talks, sweet talking to ladies, speaking about the Tsarina with a dirty undertone. «The host was constantly filling up his glass saying that was his favorite wine». «Rasputin» got drunk, then loud music started playing. «Rasputin jumped up and started dancing… as if someone called for him. He seemed lost and tense… as if in a hurry and not of his free will he was deliriously jumping around. Rozanov exclaimed: «Khlyst!»… Suddenly Rasputin stopped. Immediately. The music stopped too as if the musicians knew what to do» (18, p. 235, 239).

The writer’s intuition made Teffi suspect that «some unknown things, evil deeds were done at these meetings» (18, p.240). Her suspicion was confirmed. Drunken «Grishka» gave away that he knew they were reporters. Teffi wrote: «That was really strange. We were not seeking to meet him. We were invited to meet him and moreover advised not to tell who we were as «Grisha did not like reporters» and avoided them. It turned out that our identity was known to Rasputin and he did not hide from us. On the contrary he wanted to establish a closer relationship. What kind of game was this? Was it all arranged by Manasevich? What for? We did not know.» It was indeed done by Manasevich (who was a Jew) for one reason. He wanted the writers and reporters see the «real Rasputin» – drunk, amorous and selfish, belonging to the Khlysty sect. «Anyone I told about this meeting with Rasputin showed incredible interest. They asked about each word Rasputin said and wanted a detailed description of his appearance. Most importantly they all wanted to know if they could go to these meetings», wrote Teffi. This is just what Manasevich wanted (18, p.234).

The director of these «Rasputin» performances Manasevich-Manuylov, who was a Jew, was a professional swindler. Long before the Rasputin performances he was widely advertising his connections in the upper circles offering patronage in various affairs in exchange for large sums of money – from permission to open a barber shop to a petition for arrested people and assignment to a state position. He could instantly satisfy requests by talking on the phone with either the Minister of the Interior or the Head of the Government who assured him on the phone that the issues his petitioners asked for would be solved in the near future. Manasevich took a fee for his services from people who believed in his authorities and further avoided them accepting new petitioners. His fraudulent activity most often remained unpunished. His petitioners did not have any witnesses and primarily asked Manasevich for something illegal so they did not make official claims against him.

When Manasevich started his performances with the impersonator, his benefits doubled. His schemes often worked due to the magic power of Rasputin’s name. This surely lead to increased accusations against Rasputin which Manasevich was obviously paid for. The absence of punishment was guaranteed here as well. The «performances» described by Teffi were not illegal. The impersonator never introduced himself as Grigori Rasputin. The guests were just told in advance that they would meet Rasputin. The impersonator did not usually say anything bad about the Tsar’s family but he talked about his closeness to the Tsar and the Tsarina which discredited them as such a rascal was accepted by the Tsar. If the police were to come to such a meeting and asked this «Grishka» for his documents, he would innocently hand over his passport with his real name, thus avoiding any responsibility for this «show». Such schemes were frequent and impudent due to the lack of punishment. The story of a debauch in the Moscow restaurant Yar is one of them.

On March 26th, 1915 Grigori arrived in Moscow and left the city on the same day. However the report by Colonel Martynov said that «according to Colonel Semenov of the second section of the Suchshevsky Police Department of Moscow» on March 26th around 11 p.m. Rasputin arrived at the Yar restaurant with a widow Anisya Reshetnikova, reporter Nikolay Soedov and an unidentified young woman. Later they were joined by Semen Lazarevich Kugulsky, the publisher and editor of the Novosti Sezona newspaper. They drank a lot. Inebriated Rasputin started dancing, behaved improperly, bragged of his power over the «old woman» (that’s how this man referred to the Tsarina). Around 2 a.m. they left the restaurant. Martynov attached a hand-written note by Rasputin taken by the police from a singer in the restaurant. The handwriting looked like that of Rasputin but it was not actually written by him: «Your beauty is higher than the mountains. Grigori». The content of the note is directly related to what Rasputin’s impersonator wrote for Teffi: «Mountains are high and beautiful. But my love is higher and more beautiful». This is more than just a coincidence. It indicated that one and the same person impersonated Rasputin in the restaurant and during the meeting with the writers. The note was the only «documented evidence» in the debauch case in the Yar restaurant. There were no witnesses or participants of the «orgy». Thus the Tsarina had good reasons to write to the Tsar: «He (holy man Grigori) was belied. As if they couldn’t have called the police and arrest him immediately» (19).

The Moscow restaurant Yar hosted Rasputin’s impersonator and his false party. They used the usual scenario: drinking, frivolous behavior with ladies, mentioning the Tsar’s family and Khlysty ecstatic dancing. If the police had arrived, they would have discovered that this man was not Rasputin and Anisya Reshetnikova, a pious widow of 76 years old, had never been to the restaurant. However the Jewish journalist Semen Lazarevich Kugulsky was real and he most probably directed and staged this «orgy». He made sure the debauch in the Yar restaurant got to the newspapers with numerous indecent details prior to investigation. The State Duma later made an inquiry about the incident in the Yar restaurant and cancelled it purposefully, spreading the rumors that the Duma was not allowed to investigate the case as the Tsar’s family was «afraid of the truth». That started a whole new wave of accusations and criticisms – a drunken man with unrestricted sexual desires, the favorite of the Tsar’s family!

That was how skillful and audacious the Rasputin impersonator was introduced to the public. Though the impersonator’s actions, his words, notes and even his appearance (long fleshy nose, sparse beard, shifty eyes) were quite different from pious Rasputin, he was consistently presented and eagerly accepted as the holy man and friend of the Tsar’s family.

Let’s now have a look at the so-called «notes» by Rasputin which were used for fabrication of his personality. Two letters were written to the Russkoye Slovo newspaper addressed in uneven handwriting to «Grigori Spiridonovich Petrov and Editor of the Rutskoye Slovo from Grishatka Rasputin, Pokrovskoye Village, Tobolsk Guberniya» (20).

These letters are included in the inventories as hand-written by Grigori Rasputin. However the first attentive reading reveals two important circumstances making their authenticity doubtful. First, the author of the letters made his handwriting look like the awkward writing of an illiterate peasant and tried to write letters not evenly on line but jumping here and there, specially distorting some letters making them unrounded and with no right slant characteristic for cursive handwriting of an educated person. He tried to show that the author of the letter was not used to writing a lot however some letters are written with calligraphic precision which can be acquired only in spelling lessons at school.

Sometimes the author accidentally went back to his own handwriting and then we see a hand of an educated person accustomed to doing paper work. The letters then have a strong right slant, they are rounded, written on a straight line without jumping. Some of the letters forming the basis for cursive writing are written particularly skillfully. If we compare these letters to the documents truly handwritten by Grigori, even a cursory look at them shows their difference from the fabricated letters. The actual handwriting of Rasputin though uneven and with unconnected letters is still quite confident. There are very few variations of letters.

The second reason to believe the letters were not written by Grigori Rasputin is corrections to letters made in the entire text to make it look untidy and «illiterate». The forger changed letters in some words and introduced spelling mistakes to the already written correct words (khodit – khadit, rugatsya – rugatsa, otpravimsya – otpravimse). In his attempt to make it sound authentic he even invented a non-existing word («estim»).

The forgery also displays awkward imitation of the folk language in the letters. Here are these non-convincing writings filled with folk phrases and sayings.

Letter 1. «Shame on you, Grisha, for removing me from my native land. What kind of politician are you? You just get crazier going around with the crazy. You, dear, do not blame Grisha if he did not do right. Grishka Rasputin».

Letter 2. «To Grisha Petrov. Why do you, Grisha, use such a language, want to go around with sabers – so you don’t want to be a saber-fencer either. You might soon get it. Anything might happen. If someone is published in «Russkoye Slovo». Grishkas never ask Grishkas not to be sly in brandishing «sabers» for lasciviousness. And, heh, Grisha, Grisha, don’t be shy. Should I beg your pardon when you are already ivying me absolutely for nothing, and in such a way that I am totally terrified. When not much depends on me. You know not much although are bold. I mean no evil to you. I mean no evil to you, I even never wished you to be weak not to yank that much. And you got so bitter that glued me up in stench with horrid worms. Beware, God might punish you for that. I don’t mean to threaten you, I’m just appealing to your conscience and the truth. And don’t deny you’ve been playing the fox. Whatever you try to do with the sabers you can do it this way or another. The village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk gubernia. Grisha Rasputin.»

Grigori Rasputin used the west Siberian dialect and his pronunciation did not include such forms as «usyako» which stands for «vsyako» or «myane» more characteristic of the Belorussian language. Grigori Efimovich pronounced the pronoun on’ as [on] and not as given in the letters and is characteristic of only the western and Belorussian dialects – en’. This en is used as a flourish to imitate the language of people.

The author of the forged letters filled them with folk words (nadezha, edak i vot edak i s drugogo kontsa, ezhel, erykat, pyryat, duyzhe) and even distorted a word on the envelope (instead of «redactor» – «ledakhtor»). The name of the newspaper Russkoye Slovo he wrote as «Rutskoye Slovo». However Grigori Efimovich, judging by his real letters and telegrams, seldom used substandard language. His speech was simple but not illiterate. It was not filled with local words. If Rasputin did use them, they were rare and carefully selected.

Thus, a study of the language and handwriting of the letters allegedly written by Grigori Rasputin proves that he did not write them. The style of these letters gives away their author. It was neither a linguist nor a writer for the letters are forged unskillfully both linguistically or stylistically. He was most probably a reporter familiar with the Russian folk speech in its Belorussian or western dialect.

We identified only these two letters as forged and not written by Rasputin himself. However they are still listed as his authentic letters. Hundreds of forged notes with well-known spelling mistakes were circulating in Saint Petersburg and were delivered to various state officials. The civil servants receiving such notes from lying petitioners were familiar neither with Rasputin’s handwriting nor with him and the swindlers did not deal with Shturmer and Protopopov, the ministers who knew Rasputin well. Any high-ranked civil servant should have been full of indignation at an impossibly brazen request filed by a petitioner accompanied by a letter «from Grishka». The Tsar was informed of such cases immediately and that was exactly what the Jewish swindlers wanted.

Thus Duke Zhevakhov wrote in his memoirs that a certain man named Dobrovolsky referring to Rasputin wished «to be appointed vice-director of the Holy Synod secretariat». When Zhevahov expressed his fair indignation to Rasputin, he was surprised to hear the following response: «Ministers should not believe each impostor… You yelled at me but did not ask if I sent him to you. Maybe he came himself and used me as a pretext… Show him to the door» (21, p.186).

Due to the existence of the Rasputin impersonator, police reports picture two Rasputins. The first is pious and virtuous, goes to church and attends liturgies, lights up candles, goes to see patients and heals them, accepts visitors and his spiritual followers and has meals with them and (as people really close to him said) does not eat meat or pastries and does not drink wine. He follows strict abstinence. Any money given to him as a gift by petitioners he immediately gives away to other visitors. Most importantly he respects and worships the Tsar’s family. The other Rasputin is drunk for weeks, goes to prostitutes, accepts bribes, debauches in restaurants breaking plates and mirrors and speaks poorly about the Tsar’s family.

Time will come and new evidence and documents will become available proving the existence of the Rasputin impersonator used by the enemies of the Russian imperial state.

Belied Murder – Disguised Ritual

Not only Grigori Rasputin’s life was belied, distorted and fabricated but the truth about his death was concealed too. The dreadful murder was purposefully presented wrong with the only purpose of disguising the ritual nature of this crime.

There are numerous discrepancies in the description of Grigori Rasputin’s murder regarding the evidence considered as documented proof. The so-called diary by Vladimir Purishkevich telling about the preparation of the murder and the murder itself was published in 1923 after the author’s death. The style of the diary is boastful and grandiloquent as if the author wrote it not for himself but for general public. Otherwise it is hard to explain why Purishkevich in his own diary on many occasions mentioned his devotion to the Tsar and Russia, explained to himself the details of his own life, for instance, that his wife and sons served at a hospital train, or described the interior of his own apartment. It is also clear that the diary was written a long time after Rasputin’s murder although its dates (from November 19th to December 19th, 1916) seem to indicate the current events. Indeed it would be absolutely insane to write about preparing and committing the murder, destroying the evidence and naming all the accomplices (including his wife) to this crime in the days when it all was done. An imminent investigation and search could reveal the diary as the main evidence of the crime. No matter who wrote the diary, Purishkevich himself or someone else under his name, it was written long after the murder, probably after the Tsar’s abdication as on March 4th, 1917 the Minister of Justice ordered to stop the investigation of Rasputin’s murder and there was no longer a threat of legal proceedings.

The memoirs by F.F. Yusupov, another accomplice to the murder, were published much later than Purishkevich’s diary – in 1927. In further editions of his memoirs in spite of various revisions and additions, Yusupov followed the same line of events when telling about Rasputin’s murder as described by Purishkevich. The evidence of two Rasputin’s murderers did not contradict each other. However these two documents which gave a similar description of the circumstances of Rasputin’s murder did not agree in material aspects with the police documents on Rasputin’s murder known from the memoirs by S.V.Zavadsky who in 1916 was the public prosecutor of the Petrograd Appellate Court, and from the autopsy done by Professor D.N.Kosorotov. The comparison of Grigori Rasputin’s murder story according to Purishkevich and Yusupov, on the one hand, and the police documents, on the other, makes us suspect that the murderers intentionally distorted the events in their memoirs.

The first surprising thing is that Purishkevich and Yusupov were not aware of what Grigori Rasputin was wearing on the night of the murder. They did not know what he wore under his fur coat as if he did not take it off in the dining room at Yusupov’s palace, as they wrote in their memoirs. Purishkevich wrote that Rasputin wore boots, velvet pants and a silk beige shirt with silk embroidery (22). Yusupov repeated his words saying that Grigori Efimovich wore boots, velvet pants and a white shirt with embroidered cornflowers (23). However the public prosecutor of the appellate court Zavadsky wrote that the murdered wore a blue silk shirt with golden embroidery (24, p.240). He also had a gold bracelet with the Tsar’s monogram on his hand and a gold cross around his neck. Although both the bracelet and the cross are eye-catching details, the murderers did not mention them. The blue silk shirt which Grigori wore on his last night was also mentioned by Ekaterina Pecherkina, a servant at Rasputin’s house, who saw Grigori last late that night when Felix Yusupov came to fetch him (25, p.76).

There is another more significant discrepancy between the memoirs and the police files in how Grigori was actually murdered. Purishkevich witnessed that Rasputin had three gunshot wounds: Yusupov shot him in his chest, around his heart. About half an hour later Rasputin allegedly got up and ran to the yard where Purishkevich shot him in the back or, as it «seemed» to him, in the head. Yusupov wrote he did not see Purishkevich shooting in the yard. He just confirmed that he killed Rasputin by shooting him in the chest, around his heart (23, p.202).

However the police files completely exclude the shot in the heart. They said that Grigori Rasputin died from three lethal gunshot wounds – in the liver (abdomen), kidneys (back) and brain (head) (26, p.239). Yuliya Den also wrote about the fatal wounds of Grigori as she knew about them from her conversations with the Tsarina and Anna Vurybova in Tsarskoye Selo: «Grigori Efimovich had wounds in the head, at the side and in the back» (10, p.74-79). The forensic experts claimed that with the first wound in the liver a person could live no longer than 20 minutes thus Rasputin could not «resurrect» in half an hour and start running. There was no shot in the heart in the dining room as stated by both murderers.

Let us quote the forensic expert Professor D.N. Kosorotov: «The autopsy revealed numerous injuries most of which were inflicted post-mortem. The entire right side of the head was split due to the fall of the body from the bridge. Death resulted from excessive bleeding caused by a bullet wound in the abdomen. The shot was made almost point-blank from the left to the right through the stomach and liver which caused disruption of the right side of the liver. Bleeding was profuse. The autopsy also revealed a bullet wound in the back around the spine with disruption of the right kidney and another gunshot wound in the forehead at close range (and not from behind as stated by Purishkevich! – T.M.), at that time he was probably already dead or dying. The organs in the chest cavity were intact and were examined only briefly. There were no signs of death by drowning. The lungs were not inflated and there was no water or foamy fluid in the respiratory tract. Rasputin was already dead when his body was thrown into the water» (26, p. 307-308). The report by Professor Kosorotov showed that Grigori Rasputin was bleeding to death but neither Yusupov nor Purishkevich mentioned excessive bleeding. There were no traces of blood according to their memoirs.

There are also discrepancies between the evidence of Purishkevich and Yusupov and the official police files regarding how the body was drowned. Purishkevich said that Rasputin’s body was wrapped in blue cloth, tied and then thrown in the Nevka river from the bridge (22). The fur coat and one boot were thrown in the water after the body. The fur coat was wrapped around weights and chains prepared for drowning the body but left in the car in a hurry. They planned to burn the fur coat in a hospital train but failed to fulfill their plan. The coat did not fit in the furnace and Purishkevich’s wife for some reason bluntly refused from cutting it into pieces. The second boot, according to Purishkevich, was left in the dining room of Yusupov’s house. Yusupov did not participate in drowning the body and retold what he had been told that «the body was wrapped in the beaver coat», «Rasputin’s arms and legs were tied tight with ropes» (23, p.202).

Now let’s turn to the police files. «The body was discovered by a policeman… He saw blood stains on the bridge and under the bridge next to a quite large ice-hole there was a high winter boot. About one hundred steps away from the hole the policeman noticed a big black area under the water which he could see through the ice as the snow was blown away from it. It turned out to be Rasputin’s body in the fur coat and one boot which lay on a shallow space» (24, p.237). The pictures of the murdered Rasputin (the only evidence kept in the case files, all the other documents from it disappeared) showed that Rasputin wore a fur coat and one boot (the other boot was lost when the body was falling into the water from the bridge).

Both Yusupov and Purishkevich for some reason tried to prove that Rasputin took off his coat and spent two hours in Yusupov’s dining room, where he was later fatally wounded and then murdered in the yard of Yusupov’s palace. Then on the basis of the police files we should admit the impossible – the murderers spent over two hours with Rasputin and did not remember the color of his shirt, did not notice whether the first bullet hit him in the chest or belly, that after the fatal shot they dressed the body in the fur coat and boots, caught him running and shot again in the yard and after that took the body to drown it.

However the readiness with which Purishkevich and Yusupov confessed the murder had a magical effect on Zavadsky and he accepted their version of the murder with several corrections which he had to make due to the obvious facts discovered upon investigation – the color of Rasputin’s shirt, time of the murder, the character of the wounds. «If the experts are right then we have to believe the following sequence of events: the first shot was made from the front when Rasputin was standing in Yusupov’s study. Got wounded Rasputin turned around and started running towards the yard through the side door. The second shot got him in the back. However Rasputin managed to run to the gate where he fell down. Someone approached him from behind and shot in the back of his head» (24, p.239). Zavadsky made an attempt to bring together the facts discovered by the police and confessions of the murderers so he talked about «a shot in the back of the head» though the post-mortem picture of Grigori showed a bullet wound in the forehead which was also confirmed by the autopsy report of Professor Kosorotov and memoirs by Yuliya Den.

Why were Purishkevich and Yusupov not aware of apparent facts of the murder discovered by the police? The key to this mystery may be found in the following fact confirmed by Prosecutor Zavadsky on the basis of the case files: «On the night of the murder before 1 a.m. Prince Yusupov dressed as a chauffeur came to fetch Rasputin but did not take him directly to his palace. Rasputin died two hours later and he was probably murdered immediately after he was brought to the palace» (24, p.240).

What happened during those two night hours which Purishkevich and Yusupov diligently tried to explain by drinking tea with Grigori Efimovich and treating him to wine and pastries laced with cyanide? The forensic expert Kosorotov wrote that Rasputin’s body suffered sophisticated tortures – terrible wounds in the head, pulled hair, a huge wound in the temple and a lacerated wound in the side made by a special tool like a spur, bruises on the face and the whole body. Yusupov and Purishkevich again diligently tried to convince everyone that they inflicted these wounds to already dead Rasputin in a fit of frenzy. However Professor Kosorotov is convinced that not all the wounds were inflicted to the dead body. The Minister of the Interior Alexander Protopopov who by the order of the Tsarina supervised the investigation, made a very important statement in his interview to Ya. Naumov from the Novoye Vremya newspaper: «This was not just a murder… it was done by exasperated people who turned the murder into a torture» (27, p.6).

Intra vitam tortures of Rasputin are a fact established by the investigation and that’s what Purishkevich and Yusupov tried to conceal by confessing to abusing the dead body.

The readiness of Purishkevich and Yusupov to confess was an obvious attempt to cover the other participants of the murder. They insisted that from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Rasputin was at Yusupov’s palace. However they did not know what he had on and where Rasputin’s wounds were. Felix Yusupov confessed to one of the shots, the other two were assigned to Purishkevich. They insisted that the shots were made within one hour although with the first wound Rasputin could not live for over 20 minutes while all the three wounds were inflicted while Rasputin was still alive. Purishkevich and Yusupov stated that Grigori’s arms and legs were tied after his death to make it easier to take him through the city by car and drown in the river. However posthumous pictures from the police files showed the scraps of rope around Rasputin’s wrists as handcuffs. He still had enough power to break the rope and raise the right hand for his last sign of the cross. He was tied prior to the long torture and was still tied when they murdered him. We will probably never know whether that happened in Yusupov’s palace or in any other place prepared by the villains for that purpose. Yusupov and Purishkevich could not give a comprehensive explanation of how the fur coat and boots «removed» from Rasputin’s body in the basement of the palace were still on him when his body was found under ice. The postmortem pictures of Grigori Rasputin showed him lying on the ice in just a shirt. The fur coat was cut, removed from his body and placed next to him on the ice. These significant discrepancies between the memoirs and the police files can be explained by the fact that neither Purishkevich nor Yusupov were real murderers. They were accomplices or were just used to disguise the ritual murder.

The Tsar and the Tsarina must have known or could have guessed about the ritual character of Rasputin’s murder so the forensic examination was assigned to Professor Kosorotov of the Russian Military Medical Academy. Professor Kosorotov was also an expert in the case of the ritual murder by Beilis of Andrei Yushchinsky, an orthodox boy. It was obvious to the Tsar that those whom the entire Petersburg congratulated with the «patriotic deed» were only indirect participants of the murder. Here is an entry in the Tsar’s diary: «At 9 a.m. our entire family drove past the photography building and went to the right to the field where a sad scene opened to our eyes. The coffin with the body of Grigori killed at night on December 17th by monsters in Yusupov’s house was already put in the ground» (28, p.616). The Tsar did not name the murderers who confessed to the crime but said that Rasputin was murdered by monsters thus emphasizing the fanatic character of the crime. The punishment of the false murderers was also symbolic. The Tsar sent Felix Yusupov to his estate in Kurskoe and ordered Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich to join the field forces in Persia. Purishkevich who left on December 17th with his sanitary train was not punished at all. This lack of punishment definitely alarmed the real murderers who expected further investigation. Realizing how shaky the confessions of the self-accused murderers were they further tried to hide any evidence of the ritual crime by burning Grigori’s body after the Tsar’s abdication.

Both the Tsar and any Christian person familiar with the Judaic rituals could suggest that the murder was ritual on the basis of the circumstances of the crime – tortures, tied arms and legs, excessive bleeding and then immediate death and drowning of the body (not burying or hiding) done by Christian separatists who were later claimed as actual murderers.

According to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, both Dmitri Pavlovich and Yusupov confessed to him that «they participated in the murder but refused to name the main murderer» (29, p. 226). Later when Felix Yusupov told his relatives about Rasputin’s murder with the non-existing shot in the heart, someone asked him if he ever had any remorse for killing a person. «Never» responded Yusupov with a smile. «I killed a dog» (30, p.218). Yusupov did not lie. He really killed one of his dogs to disguise the human blood or imitate Rasputin’s murder in the yard of his own house. Several years later Purishkevich’s diary was published. It was an attempt to assert a certain version of the murder according to which Grigori Rasputin was murdered by noble Christians, members of the imperiality. Three years after publication of the diary, Felix Yusupov published his memoirs entitled «Rasputin’s End» where he gave the same description of the circumstances of the murder given by Purishkevich but totally ignored the investigation files which had become known by that time due to publications by Prosecutor Zavadsky.

The investigation of Rasputin’s murder lasted for about two months and was hastily closed on March 4th, 1917. Grigori’s body was burnt overnight from March 10th to 11th and a symbolic inscription in German was made on a birch tree at that place: «Hier ist der Hund begraben» («The dog is buried here») and after that: «Here the body of Grigori Rasputin was burnt overnight from March 10th to March 11th, 1917» (31, p.7).

In 1917 after abdication of the Tsar the Byloe magazine published the case files about Grigori Rasputin’s murder but only the records of interrogation of Yusupov, family members of Grigori Efimovich, yard-keepers, policemen and janitors. The forensic and investigation reports were not published. Any further literary or historic publications on this topic served to convince everyone that Purishkevich and Yusupov had told the truth.

The murder on December 17th, 1916 was a prototype to the murder in Yekaterinburg on July 17th, 1918. «Oh this horrible 17th», wrote the Tsarina to her relatives from exile. Indeed the Manifesto was published on October 17th, 1907. Starets Grigori was tortured and murdered on December 17th, 1916. On July 17th Tsar Nicholas II and his Family were murdered. Gunshots and tortures, cuts and bruises on the children’s bodies, drowning the bodies in the mine water and later removal of the bodies and their burning on monstrous ritual fires… All that was accompanied by a periphrasis from Heine in German: «Belsatzar ward in selbiger Nacht von seinen Knechten umgebracht» («This night the White Tsar was murdered by his people»). Next to it there was a cabbalistic inscription: «Here upon the order of the secret powers the Tsar was sacrificed for the destruction of the state. All nations are informed thereof».

Everything the Tsar’s family suffered was first suffered by their Holy Man. He was tortured with knives and «spurs» and then killed thrice. His body was drowned in the river, then poured with gasoline and burnt. Two inscriptions were made confirming the ritual character of the murder one of which was in German. There were no graves of either Grigori or the Tsar’s family. The Tsarina knew they would share the same fate from a prophesy of a staritsa who threw under her feet eight dolls, pouring red liquid on them and put them on fire.

The tortures and murder of Grigori Rasputin served the Jews and their supporters in many ways. By abusing the name of the Tsar’s friend they abused the Tsar himself. People were shocked at how such a bad person as Rasputin could be the friend of the Tsar and Tsarina and stopped believing in the monarchy itself. At the same time discrediting Grigori Efimovich by the Jews was supposed to make the Tsar believe the false accusations and waive him from the court. When the attempts at Grigori’s spiritual murder failed, they killed him physically for without this murder the Judaic powers would not have been able to destroy the Russian Tsar.

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