Question by Ryan: Should Grigori Rasputin officially be named a saint?
There are people trying to get Rasputin officially canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church because he is already regarded by many Russians as what is known as an “unofficial saint” or folk saint. What is your opinion on the matter?
Yes, no, or don’t care?
Answers and Views:
Answer by No Chance Without Jesus
what the hell is wrong with you people
Answer by Maurog IV
I don’t care much. He was a charlatan who preyed on the queen’s weakness and her son’s illness, and abused that influence recklessly. On the other hand, he was a unique and memorable character, and that makes him pretty cool.
Probably would fit right in with all the other so called saints.
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
Wave2012 says
Sorry to disappoint you, but Rasputin is a fairy tale for your media, nothing more.
In Russia he is NOT seen as Saint by 99,999999999% of Russians and even not as someone 100000000 km close to Saints.
There are some radical persons who gave this idea but it has no single chance to come true.
chana devora says
Having read over 100 books on the subject, and having spent 15 years researching my own book, I can tell you that he wasn’t the evil character that history has depicted him as. He was a healer. The nobility hated him because he helped disadvantaged people against whom the nobility was prejudiced, such as the peasants and the oppressed Jews. The aristocrats spread horrible rumors about him which, unfortunately, became history. As the saying goes, history is written by the powerful, not by the common man.
Here are the things Rasputin did: (If you were an aristocrat, you would think them evil)
1. He was against war or bloodshed of any kind. He didn’t see the need for Russians, or anyone else, to be needlessly killed. Russia was pro-war, so he was looked at as a traitor.
2. He advised the Tsar not to send unarmed men into war – also to wait until after they helped with the harvest to send them, so the country would have a good food supply.
3. He advocated equal rights for the oppressed Jews who were forced to live in a ghetto (in the area of Poland) and who, by law, were deprived of any rights – the right to educations, most occupations, to live where they wanted…. in fact, to live at all. The hatred of Jews was so fierce at that time, as evidenced by the laws restricting their lives, that the military (with the Tsar’s knowledge and consent) conducted raids on Jewish villages, torturing and slaughtering entire families. Rasputin thought this was evil and tried to get the Tsar to give the Jews equal rights, but he didn’t listen. The nobility saw Rasputin as a traitor for this.
4. He tried to get the Tsar to appoint Cabinet Members who would be against war and give the Jews equal rights. This was seen as meddling in politics, even though it was an attempt to stop ethnic cleansing and discrimination.
5. He also proposed to the Tsar that he borrow money to buy some of the nobility’s land, to give to the peasants to farm and increase the country’s food supply. He also suggested that the money the nobles would get from the sale of those lands could be used to build factories which would not only create employment for those in the cities, but would also help bring Russia into the industrial age.
As you can see, none of his ideas were used by the Tsar, showing how little influence he really had, but all of his ideas were beneficial to the working classes, the peasants and the Jews, which infuriated the aristocracy. So, they spread rumors about him being a drunk and a womanizer and evil and demonic. These charges were hypocritical, seeing as how the aristocracy drank French champagne and vodka by the case, and many, many of them were afflicted with venereal disease because they were, themselves, promiscuous and had many affairs.
While the blood of many innocent people was on the hands of Czar Nicholas II (also called “Nicholas the Bloody”), Rasputin never harmed nor killed a soul in his life.
tea&cake says
I don’t know.
But I do feel bad for Rasputin, from a historian’s perspective. People don’t seem to realize how much of the stories about him were rumors spread by the nobility who hated him. Now he’s remembered as a total creep which is exactly what they wanted.
Noah says
At the time he was canonized Russia was one messed up country
Jeancommunicates says
Jesus said that he would say to many so-called saints, “I never knew you.”
Bluto says
he was a HORNDOG!
so hell yeah!!!!
Feivel says
I am Jewish so I don’t care but I too have to ask “what is wrong with people”. That guy was FAR from a saint and I mean….FAR
sour lime says
The Mad Monk!
He was even harder to kill than Christ himself.
Surely that counts for something.
m92 says
Didn’t he believe in magic?