Rasputin The Mad Monk
Rasputin The Mad MonkThroughout Russian history, there were many individuals who captured the interests and curiosity of scholars both domestic and foreign, but one stands out as the most ambiguous. Grigori Yefimovitch Rasputin, the so- called "Mad Monk" or "Siberian Mystic Healer", has gained notoriety throughout the world for his astounding medical feats involving the stopping of the sometimes never ending bleeding of hemophiliacs. In the time of Rasputin, 1864-1916, there were no effective medical means to stop the bleeding that plagued hemophiliacs, yet the mystical powers of one man had the power to do so. Since there were no written records compiled at the time to account for his legacy, the stories of Rasputin have been passed along throughout time by believers and skeptics alike.
It is said that as early as 1900, Rasputin had gained fame in Eastern Russia as a faith healer, or wandering holy mendicant. He was said to have had the powers of precognition, foreseeing the future, clairvoyance, seeing events happening elsewhere, and healing the sick without medication or therapy. Many have attributed Rasputin's powers to the arts of the Orientals, which he had picked up along his travels. Many groups in Russia wished Rasputin dead, because they could not logically interpret his actions and could not rationalize his power. He was seen at this time as a sort of "Devil's Advocate", because no one believed that a Holy Man could posses such powers. His methodology was not that of the time period he lived in, and just as it is today, people fear what they cannot understand in rational means. Though Rasputin was a savior for many, he was looked upon by the majority of Russian peoples as a fraudulent evil doer. No matter what the general consensus was, Rasputin extended the lives of many where they would have surely died without his help.(Candler 1).
From an early age Rasputin's mystical powers were present. When he was only a child, he had the ability to calm and heal farm animals. He also possessed the powers of clairvoyance at an early age. He could judge a man's motives and character with just a glance into his eyes. On one described occasion in his childhood, Rasputin was in bed with a fever, when he envisioned the face of a man stealing a horse. Rasputin identified the man, who was a rich and prominent villager, and though the man denied the accusation, it was later proven that he was the thief. These small accomplishments of his youth, along with the teachings he received at the Monastery of Verkhotourie, provoked Rasputin to speak with the holy hermit Makari. Makari informed him that God had some large tasks for him to overcome, and that he must travel abroad to sacred sites to enrich his knowledge of the divine. He spent many years of his life wandering as far as...
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