The Mysterious Rise of Rasputin: A Disheveled Star Monk.
Introduction
Grigori Rasputin was born on 21 January, 1869 in a small peasant dominated village in Russia. If he were alive, today would have marked his 155th year of birth. As a boy, i was privileged to read about Rasputin from a tattered book abandoned to the mercy of dust in the basement of a public library. Grigori Rasputin was an enigmatic figure and everything about him was mysterious.
The Disheveled Monk.
It began when in 1897, he experienced a spiritual phenomenon which some related to as visions of some spiritual personages. This encounter happened outside his small village during a pilgrimage. He must have been 28 years old when this experience occurred to him. History has it that at this period, he was already married with a son and his wife was expecting another baby. Rasputin spent several months in two holy monasteries: Znamensky at Abalak, Nicholas at Verkhoturye and Tobolsk cathedral. However, the authentic spiritual encounters happened at the Nicholas monastery and when Rasputin arrived his village of Pokrovskoye, he was never the same again. It was also in Nicholas monastery that Rasputin learnt how to read and write. When he returned to Pokrovskoye, he wore unshaven beard and hair, practiced vegetarianism, gave up alcohol and prayed all the time. Later in 1900, he become a religious wanderer called Strannik and his wandering took him to as far as Mount Athos where he met members of the eastern monastic orthodox church.
The Mysterious Monk.
Rasputin began his mission by organizing strange church services in his family house where he had gained followership of some family members, friends and village folks. There was a speculation that before service, Rasputin was bathed by the female members of the newly of his new prayer group. Some villagers who were not part of his group purportedly reported Rasputin group for singing strange songs, engaging in sexual orgies and harming their bodies with whips in the name of penance. These kind of reports caused opposition from the already existing village church in Pokrovskoye. One weapon that Rasputin has built for himself was charisma and a height of about 1.93m. He could look at someone straight in the eyes to hypnotized him or her. 
The Star Monk
Rasputin's rise to stardom was possible because of his mysterious manners. He was claimed to have healed strange diseases and news of him spread to neighboring cities. Even though Rasputin was not affiliated officially to the Eastern Orthodox Church, he managed to win over many religious leaders despite the rumours that he had sex with numerous ladies. The height of his promise came when he healed the son of Nicholas II of a disease called Hemophilia. The last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra decided to keep Rasputin as an ally in the palace. Rasputin was known as a prophet, mystic and visionary during his rise to stardom.
Accusations
There were many accusations thrown at Rasputin during his stay with the imperial family. Some said he was having sex with the empress, her daughters and other females of royalty lineage. There was even speculation that ladies fought each other to have a taste of Rasputin. This forced Nicholas II to ask Rasputin to leave the imperial palace but Alexandra, the impress was not happy about this. Rasputin decided to go the Palestine for yet another pilgrimage.
The Cat with nine lives.
Rasputin was disliked by the local eastern orthodox church and was labeled a heretic. Amidst accusations of sexual misconduct with low women and prostitutes, rape, sexual affairs with the Empress and other oligarchic women and influencing the Emperor himself amongst others, several attempts were made to kill Rasputin, one being the case of a woman who stabbed him in the stomach in 1914 in his own village but after a long hospitalization Rasputin survived.
The Death of Rasputin
Rasputin was invited to the home of at midnight to a certain oligarchy house. It was a plan to murder him but what ever transpired in that house, no one would ever know. According to some account, his cake and three cups of wine which he consumed were poisoned with cyanide but this had no effect on Rasputin. However, postmortem analysis contradicted the story of cyanide poisoning and even Rasputin daughter's testified that her father abhorred sugary foods.
There were also speculation that Rasputin was shot three times in the head but still was not dead yet the doctors that examined his corpse said it was one bullet that took his life. What was known, however, was that Rasputin corpse was found in the little Nevka river.
Rasputin was buried in his Tsarskoye Selo on January 2 without the presence of his wife. Only the imperial family members and friends showed up and there was a plan by the imperial family to build a church over his grave but Rasputin's body was removed from the grave and burnt on the instruction of Alexander Kerensky not too long after Nicholas II abdication of the throne.
Conclusion
The story of Rasputin is a long one but just summarized here. What do you think was the actual reason why Rasputin was killed? Do you think his dead was political or sentimental? Why are there so much controversies and ironies surrounding this man and his death. Your comments are highly welcomed. If you like such story, follow me on bulb to have more of similar stories: https://www.bulbapp.io/u/EFmr8rwar9ABW4ViEd3jd162xaJTABxsby3VVK5dcWQx/validivar
Reference and bibliography.
Readers can read the detailed stories of Grigori Rasputin from the sources below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
Fuhrmann, J. T. (2013)Rasputin: the untold story. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Radzinsky, E.(2000)The Rasputin File. Anchor Books
Smith, D. (2016) Rasputin: the biography. Pan Macmillan
