On 10 January 1869, in the midst of a harsh winter, Gregory Efimovich Rasputin was born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. Little is known of his background. His father, Efimy, was a farmer of moderate success, married to a wife, Anna, who had already provided him with an older son, Dimitri. Although later enemies were to allege that Rasputin's surname was in fact an insult meaning "debauched" in Russian, it had been the family name for years, derived from the word for a fork in the road. Pokrovskoye perched on the banks of the Tura River in Tobolsk Province; Pokrovskoye was a typical Russian peasant village where few if any were educated and town's people were religious, narrow minded and fearful.

One day, while working in the fields, Rasputin claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary. According to his version, she instructed him to become a pilgrim. He decides to bid his family farewell and sets off on a staggering journey on foot that would take him to the Orthodox monastery at Mount Ethos in Greece, two thousand miles away. When he returned to his village, his semi-religious aura seemed even more impressive. He attracted large crowds when he preached, although his version of the Gospel, sprinkled with half-learnt truths about sin and salvation, was decidedly un-Orthodox. Rasputin also allegedly began to practice what he preached, bedding as many of his female disciples as would allow him. According to Rasputin, such sexual unions, far from being wrong, were simply a way to true penance, which in turn would lead to salvation. It is one of the greatest contradictions in Rasputin's story, and he was never able to reconcile his physical desires with his spiritual goals. Shortly after the turn of the century, Rasputin left Pokrovskoe on another pilgrimage which would take him to Kazan and finally to St. Petersburg. Here he attracted much attention among the local Orthodox hierarchy for his seemingly genuine desire for salvation coupled with his undoubted gift for speaking and persuasion. He left the Imperial capital, only to return, this time for good, in 1905, when a fateful meeting propelled him into the orbit of the Czar and Czarina. Thus setting his image in Russia's history forever.

Rasputin is as famous for his death as he is for his life. One evening at a meeting of Russian officials, it was decided that Rasputin was putting the entire nation in danger. Three men, Prince Feliks Yusupov (husband of the Czar's niece), Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (a member of the duma) and the Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich (the Czar's cousin) took control of the situation. They lured him to the Yusupovsky Palace on the pretext that Prince Felix Yusupovsky would introduce Rasputin to his beautiful wife. Rasputin was led to the cellar and fed poisoned cakes and wine, but these did not affect him. Yusupovsky then shot the monk at point blank range and Rasputin collapsed on the floor. When Yusupov went to tell his fellow conspirators the good news, they sent him back to make sure he had done the job. On returning to inspect the body, Rasputin suddenly regained consciousness and started to throttle poor Yusupov, who needless to say was completely scared out of his wits. The Prince fled the cellar, screaming for help; when they returned Rasputin was gone. They found him in the yard crawling towards the gate and proceeded to shoot and bludgeon him. They then bound him and tossed him into the river. When Rasputin's body was found, his bonds were broken and his lungs were filled with water, showing that he didn't actually die until he was submerged in the frozen waters.

Rasputin's other daughter Varvara arrived and the girls attended the prominent Steblin-Damensky Gymnasium. Praskovia, Rasputin's wife, now made yearly voyages to the city to visit her daughters and husband.

Finally, what of the legend that Rasputin and the Empress were lovers? When letters written by Alexandra to the peasant surfaced, they seemingly indicated the worst. But Alexandra wrote in a highly charged, emotional way to nearly all of her correspondents, and it is therefore not surprising that she would also adopt this tone with the man she believed sent by God to guide her husband and save their son. Above all, Alexandra remained passionately in love with her husband; the idea that she would ever have had an affair contradicts everything we know of her prim Victorian and moral character; that she would have selected an uneducated peasant whose sole relationship with her was built on religious principles is beyond belief.

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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)