Question by cauliflower: How and why was Rasputin famous for being with the ladies?
I’ve been reading a book about Russian history, and he’s only mentioned as being a political figure and a monk!
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Answer by Carolyn M
Rasputin was a disreputable sort, slovenly and unclean who by some magnificent quirk of fate managed to improve the young czars medical condition (he had hemophilia) thereby impressing the Alexandria the Czarina. This gave him clout among the Russians. He was extremely manipulative and cunning and portrayed himself as a spiritual leader a sort of early version of Charles Manson.
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glenn says
Rasputin "succeeded" with the ladies because he asked every single woman he met to sleep with him… if only one in every 300 did, he slept with many, because he met many thousands of women.
Jcamp says
He hypnotized the ladies with his Mojo.
crossstitchkelly says
Gregori (The Mad Monk) Rasputin was considered to have a hypnotic effect on others. He was born a poor peasant boy, but began having visions, and eventually came to the attention of the Tsar and Tsarina. Their only son was a hemophiliac, and Rasputin was somehow able to make him feel better when he had an episode, so they trusted him as a holy man. He was widely hated because of the influence he had over them, though, since they took his advice so readily, and he truly seemed evil. At one point he was invited to a dinner where he was shot, stabbed, poisoned, castrated, and finally thrown into the river. When they found his body, they found that he had survived all the rest–he died of drowning!
The reason he was known for "being with the ladies" is because of his lifestyle. He was anything but a monk. He had lavish parties, taking on many women at a time. I'm sure many of them came because of his power, but he was also rumored to have hypnotic powers over others.
Erik Van Thienen says
In 1903, Rasputin arrived in Saint Petersburg, where he gradually gained a reputation as a starets, or holy man, with healing and prophetical powers. After he managed to help the ill Tsarevich Alexei, the Tsarina and the Tsar trusted him completely.
"The Tsar referred to Rasputin as "our friend" and a "holy man", perhaps a sign of the trust the family put in him. Rasputin had considerable personal and political influence on Alexandra."
"The Tsar and Tsaritsa considered him to be a man of God and a religious prophet, and Alexandra believed God spoke to her through Rasputin."
"Rasputin soon became a controversial figure, becoming involved in a paradigm of sharp political struggle involving monarchist, anti-monarchist, revolutionary and other political forces and interests. He was accused by many eminent persons of various misdeeds, ranging from an unrestricted sexual life (including raping a nun) to undue political domination over the royal family."
"While fascinated by him, the Saint Petersburg elite did not widely accept Rasputin: he did not fit in with the royal family. Rasputin and the Russian Orthodox Church had a very tense relationship. The Holy Synod frequently attacked Rasputin, accusing him of a variety of immoral or evil practices. Such anecdotal evidence about Rasputin's life should be treated skeptically. However, because Rasputin was a court official, he and his apartment were under 24-hour surveillance; accordingly, there exists some credible evidence about his lifestyle in the form of the famous "staircase notes", reports from police spies which were not only given to the Tsar, but published in the newspapers."
"According to Rasputin's daughter, Maria, Rasputin did "look into" the Khlysty sect, and rejected it. One Khlyst practice was known as "rejoicing," (радение), a ritual that sought to overcome the human sexual urges by engaging in group sexual activities so that in consciously sinning together, the sin’s power over the human was nullified."
"Like many spiritually minded Russians, Rasputin spoke of salvation as depending less on the clergy and the church than on seeking the spirit of God within. He also maintained that sin and repentance were interdependent and necessary to salvation. Thus, he claimed, yielding to temptation (for him personally, this meant sex and alcohol), even to humiliation (to dispel the sin of vanity), was a necessary step on the road to repentance and salvation. […] During the war years, Rasputin’s increasing drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, willingness to accept bribes in return for helping petitioners who flocked to his apartment, and efforts to have his critics dismissed from their posts made him appear increasingly cynical. Another way to look at this is that like most Orthodox Christians, Rasputin was brought up with the belief that the body is a sacred gift from God. Attaining divine grace through sin seems to have been one of the central secret doctrines that Rasputin preached to (and practiced with) his inner circle of society ladies. The idea that one can attain grace through correction of sin is not unique. It is also understood that sin is an inescapable part of the human condition, and the responsibility of a believer is to be keenly aware of his sins and be willing to confess them, thereby attaining humility."
"Grigori Rasputin" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
Rachel K says
Oh Rasputin was quite the ladies' man. I saw that on PBS and was floored, because he was certainly not easy on the eye. Some people even think he had something going on with the czar's wife! Most women/girls who he wooed were attracted to his philosophical ideas, some people even think they were brainwashed by his freaky mystical arts.
This website has more information: http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/r/Rasp…