IN the preceding chapter I thought I ought to dwell on events some of which took place before I took up my duties, because they alone could explain the fundamental reasons why Rasputin was ever able to appear on the scene and obtain so great an influence over the Czarina.
I should have preferred to confine my book to events in which I have taken a direct part and give personal evidence only. But if I did so my story could not be clear. In the present chapter I am compelled once more to depart from the rule I wished to lay down for myself. If the reader is to understand me, it is essential for me to give certain details about the life and beginnings of Rasputin and to try and disentangle from the legends innumerable of which he is the subject such facts as seem to me part of history.
About one hundred and fifty versts south of Tobolsk the little village of Pokrovsko?e lies lost in the marshes2 on the banks of the Tobol. There Grigory Rasputin was born. His father’s name was Efim. Like many other Russian peasants at that time, the latter had no family name. The inhabitants of the village, of which he was not a native, had given him on his arrival the name of Novy (the Newcomer).
His son Grigory had the same kind of youth as all the small peasantry of that part of Siberia, where the poor quality of the{60} soil often compels them to live by expedients3. Like them, he robbed and stole.... He soon made his mark, however, by the audacity4 he showed in his exploits, and it was not long before his misdoings earned him the reputation of an unbridled libertine5. He was now known solely6 as Rasputin, a corruption7 of the word rasputnik (debauched), which was destined8 to become, as it were, his family name.
The villagers of Siberia were in the habit of hiring out horses to travellers passing through the country and offering their services as guides and coachmen. One day Rasputin happened to conduct a priest to the monastery9 of Verkhoturie. The priest entered into conversation with him, was struck by his quick natural gifts, led him by his questions to confess his riotous10 life, and exhorted11 him to consecrate12 to the service of God the vitality13 he was putting to such bad uses. The exhortation14 produced so great an impression on Grigory that he seemed willing to give up his life of robbery and licence. He stayed for a considerable time at the monastery of Verkhoturie and began to frequent the holy places of the neighbourhood.
When he went back to his village he seemed a changed man, and the inhabitants could hardly recognise the reprobate15 hero of so many scandalous adventures in this man whose countenance16 was so grave and whose dress so austere17. He was seen going from village to village, spreading the good word and reciting to all and sundry18 willing to listen long passages from the sacred books, which he knew by heart.
Public credulity, which he already exploited extremely skilfully19, was not slow in regarding him as a prophet, a being endowed with supernatural powers, and in particular the power of performing miracles. To understand this rapid transformation20
moi je vous en prie.
Olga Romanoff
13. May 1914.]
LETTER TO THE AUTHOR FROM THE GRAND-DUCHESS OLGA NICOLA?EVNA
(LIVADIA, CRIMEA, MAY 13/26, 1914).
[Facing page 60.
{61}
one must realise both the strange power of fascination21 and suggestion which Rasputin possessed22, and also the ease with which the popular imagination in Russia is captured by the attraction of the marvellous.
However, the virtue23 of the new saint does not seem to have been proof against the enticements of the flesh for long, and he relapsed into his debauchery. It is true that he showed the greatest contrition24 for his wrongdoings, but that did not prevent him from continuing them. Even at that time he displayed that blend of mysticism and erotomania which made him so dangerous a person.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, his reputation spread far and wide. His services were requisitioned, and he was sent for from distant places, not merely in Siberia, but even in Russia.
His wanderings at last brought him to St. Petersburg. There, in 1905, he made the acquaintance of the Archimandrite Theophanes, who thought he could discern in him signs of genuine piety25 and profound humility26 as well as the marks of divine inspiration. Rasputin was introduced by him to devout27 circles in the capital, whither his reputation had preceded him. He had no difficulty in trafficking in the credulity of these devotees, whose very refinement28 made them superstitious29 and susceptible30 to the magnetism31 of his rustic32 piety. In his fundamental coarseness they saw nothing but the entertaining candour of a man of the people. They were filled with the greatest admiration33 for the na?veté of this simple soul....
It was not long before Rasputin had immense authority with his new flock. He became a familiar figure in the salons34 of certain members of the high aristocracy of St. Petersburg,{62} and was even received by members of the royal family, who sang his praises to the Czarina. Nothing more was requisite35 for the last and vital stage. Rasputin was taken to Court by intimate friends of Her Majesty36, and with a personal recommendation from the Archimandrite Theophanes. This last fact must always be borne in mind. It was to shelter him from the attacks of his enemies for many years.
We have seen how Rasputin traded on the despair which possessed the Czarina and had contrived37 to link his life with that of the Czarevitch and acquire a growing hold over his mother. Each of his appearances seemed to produce an improvement in the boy’s malady38, and thus increased his prestige and confirmed confidence in the power of his intercession.
After a certain time, however, Rasputin’s head was turned by this unexpected rise to fame; he thought his position was sufficiently39 secure, forgot the caution he had displayed when he first came to St. Petersburg, and returned to his scandalous mode of life. Yet he did so with a skill which for a long time kept his private life quite secret. It was only gradually that the reports of his excesses spread and were credited.
At first only a few voices were faintly raised against the staretz, but it was not long before they became loud and numerous. The first at Court to attempt to show up the impostor was Mademoiselle Tioutcheva, the governess of the Grand-Duchesses. Her efforts were broken against the blind faith of the Czarina. Among the charges she made against Rasputin were several which, in her indignation, she had not checked with sufficient care so that their falsity was absolutely patent to her sovereign. Realising her impotence, and with a view to discharging her responsibilities, she asked that in any{63} case Rasputin should not be allowed on the floor occupied by the children.
The Czar then intervened, and Her Majesty yielded, not because her faith was shaken, but merely for the sake of peace and in the interests of a man whom she believed was blinded by his very zeal40 and devotion.
Although I was then no more than one of the Grand-Duchesses’ professors—it was during the winter of 1910—Mademoiselle Tioutcheva herself told me all about this debate and its vicissitudes41.[11] But I confess that at that time I was still far from accepting all the extraordinary stories about Rasputin.
In March, 1911, the hostility42 to Rasputin became more and more formidable, and the staretz thought it wise to let the storm blow over and disappear for a time. He therefore started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
On his return to St. Petersburg in the autumn of the same year the tumult43 had not subsided44, and he had to face the attacks of one of his former protectors, Bishop45 Hermogenes, who employed terrible threats and eventually extracted a promise from Rasputin to keep away from the Court, where his presence compromised his sovereigns.
He had no sooner left the Bishop, who had actually gone so far as to strike him, than he rushed to his powerful protectoress, Madame Wyroubova, the Czarina’s all but inseparable companion. The Bishop was exiled to a monastery.
Just as futile46 were the efforts of the Archimandrite Theophanes, who could never forgive himself for having stood sponsor in some degree for the staretz’s high moral character,{64} and thus reassuring47 the Czar and Czarina by his personal recommendation. He did his best to show him up, but the only reward for his pains was to find himself transferred to the Government of Tauris.
The fact was that Rasputin managed to make the two Bishops48 seem low intriguers who had wanted to use him as an instrument, and then, becoming jealous of a favour they could no longer exploit for their own personal benefit, tried to bring about his downfall.
“The lowly Siberian peasant” had become a formidable adversary50 in whom an utter lack of moral scruple51 was associated with consummate52 skill. With a first-class intelligence service, and creatures of his own both at Court and among the men around the ministers, as soon as he saw a new enemy appear on the scene he was always careful to baulk him cleverly by getting in the first blow.
Under the form of prophecies he would announce that he was going to be the object of a new attack, taking good care not to indicate his adversaries53 too plainly. So when the bolt was shot, the hand that directed it held a crumbling54 missile. He often actually interceded55 in favour of those who had attacked him, affirming with mock humility that such trials were necessary for the good of his soul.
Another element which also contributed to keep alive the blind faith in him which lasted until the end was the fact that the Czar and Czarina were accustomed to see those to whom they paid particular attention become objects of intrigue49 and cabals56. They knew that their esteem57 alone was sufficient to expose them to the attacks of the envious58. The result was that they were convinced that the special favour they showed to an obscure moujik was bound in any case to raise a storm of{65} hate and jealousy59 against him and make him the victim of the worst calumnies60.
The scandal, however, gradually spread from the purely61 ecclesiastical world. It was mentioned in whispers in political and diplomatic circles, and was even referred to in speeches in the Duma.
In the spring of 1912, Count Kokovtzof, then President of the Council of Ministers, decided62 to take the matter up with the Czar. The step was a particularly delicate one, as hitherto Rasputin’s influence had been confined to the Church and the Imperial family circle. Those were the very spheres in which the Czar was most intolerant of any interference by his ministers.
The Czar was not convinced by the Count’s action, but he realised that some concession63 to public opinion was necessary. Shortly after Their Majesties64 went to the Crimea, Rasputin left St. Petersburg and vanished into Siberia.
Yet his influence was of the kind that distance does not diminish. On the contrary, it only idealised him and increased his prestige.
As in his previous absences, there was a lively exchange of telegrams—through the medium of Madame Wyroubova—between Pokrovsko?e and the different residences occupied in turn by the Imperial family during the year 1912.
The absent Rasputin was more powerful than Rasputin in the flesh. His psychic65 empire was based on an act of faith, for there is no limit to the power of self-delusion possessed by those who mean to believe at all cost. The history of mankind is there to prove it!
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1
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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libertine
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| n.淫荡者；adj.放荡的，自由思想的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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consecrate
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| v.使圣化，奉…为神圣；尊崇；奉献 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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reprobate
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| n.无赖汉；堕落的人 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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salons
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| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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interceded
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| v.斡旋，调解( intercede的过去式和过去分词 )；说情 | |
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cabals
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| n.（政治）阴谋小集团，（尤指政治上的）阴谋( cabal的名词复数 ) | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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calumnies
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| n.诬蔑，诽谤，中伤（的话）( calumny的名词复数 ) | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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majesties
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| n.雄伟( majesty的名词复数 )；庄严；陛下；王权 | |
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psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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aberration
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| n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差 | |
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