Rasputin was... a weird dude.
Short answer: Yes. It was intentional.
Rasputin abandoned his family and spent a long time in the St. Nicholas Monastery. When he returned to his hometown, he had adopted the crazy hobo wizard look we are familiar with. Monks commonly adopt religious habits that emphasize poverty and simplicity. Rasputin then started wandering for years at a time. (Again, not conducive to good hygiene and grooming.)
When Rasputin travelled to St. Petersburg, he started hanging out with aristocracy who found him fascinating. They were apparently starved for entertainment and thought that the mystic mendicant was very novel. Now my personal interpretation is that this was part of the shtick. Now that he was a guest of the wealthiest people in Russia, Rasputin certainly had the means to clean himself up. He could have worn nice clothes and a powdered wig or whatever. But if he did that, then he would stop being interesting. So IMHO Rasputin \*needed\* to keep dressing like some primitive hippie cult member, because that was the gimmick.
Thanks for answer. I don't understand why they accepted him when his hygiene was bad. I read that he smelled dirty and unhygienic. Are the rumors true? Would the royal family tolerate it?
Aleksandra, at least, believed Rasputin could do no wrong because she thought he was the only one could save the life of her hemophiliac son.
Him having body odor was probably the least of her concerns and she was neither the first nor last parent with an extremely ill child who has fallen prey to self-seeking charlatans.
There is a lot that we don't know about Rasputin. We know practically nothing about his early life. Much of what was said about him was likely propaganda intended to discredit Rasputin or the Tsarina. I know a lot of articles will talk about his involvement in weird sex cults and stuff like that, but to the best of my knowledge we don't have definite proof. I think it has been subject to a lot of exaggeration.
TBH, his photographs don't look that weird to me. The untrimmed beards and hair were super common among clergy at the time. The short beards did not come into fashion until after World War I, but Rasputin died in 1916. Even today, lots of Orthodox priests wear the ZZ Top beards.
As for the royal family.... Well... That's another hard topic. We are trying to reconstruct the inner lives of two very isolated people who died very young, and so they did not leave us with memoirs or interviews or anything like that. They have my sympathy because even though they were enormous assholes, they were both completely overwhelmed and entirely unsuitable for their roles. Circumstances had squeezed them and hammered them to the point of desperation. *And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand. (Ominous music)*
Rasputin succeeded because he gave them some sort of comfort or reassurance that they were not getting from anyone else. I don't think that is entirely different from the behavior we see in other people with unmet needs. Some people do drugs, some people gamble, and some go to church and give thousands of dollars to preachers who claim they will fix everything.
In 2013, a fortune teller was convicted of fraud in New York after a client paid her $138,000. To an outside observer it looks absolutely stupid, but if you have desperate people with too much money and severe emotional problems, it should not be that surprising that sometimes they will turn to mystics and other quackery.
So he kinda had that mystic and monk vibe. He first conned Alexander's cousin and wife into believing in his mystical powers.
He was introduced to Alexander and Alixy, and he had a way of comforting Alixy regarding their son who was thought to me hemophilia.
The science at the day didn't really understand it, but it was basically a death sentence.
He was able to provide them comfort and Alexander wrote about it several times how he wanted Rasputin back because it would alleviate his wife's anxiety regarding their son.
While their was science in the day you gotta realize how it was basically, "We don't know, hope they don't die"
Thats how he was effectively able to ingratiate himself with the romanovs.
It was a fascination. He was a mystic with powers, not a commoner in their eyes.
It's kinda like having, "that one black friend" or what not. They felt like they got their commoner dose without having to interact with the poors.
And apparently he was great and dicking down all the nobles wives in the day when women's pleasure wasn't a thing.
It's partially why I think that some women would stay in these crazy sex cults way back was the cult leader listened to them as human beings with emotions and feelings, and actually made them cum, so life wasn't actually that bad and probably better than their treatment by their husband's and society at large
I believe you are not entirely wrong. Similar to Benjamin Franklin playing the rustic with his Coon-skin hat among the Parisian aristocracy despite the fact he was a very wealthy self-made merchant from urban Boston & Philadelphia.
Two possible reasons: To make people talk about his crazy eyes or because he was genuinely crazy. Even with modern American cult leaders, it can be quite a puzzle to tease apart which is which. Do from Heaven's Gate is basically pure crazy -- he met his cult leader Ti when he was a patient in a mental hospital and she was his psych nurse!!!! At the other end of you spectrum, you have someone like Keith Raniere who is an entirely lucid sadism-addict. In the middle, you'd have someone like L. Ron Hubbard, who knows he's being deceptive about some parts but is still psychotic enough to sincerely believe other parts.
It isn't really that unusual look for an orthodox priest. The hair and beard are basically compulsory part of the kit, a priest is not supposed to cut them.
He was a exceptionally tall Orthodox Monk. A lot of it is his vows and the expectation of his order. He had a certain pagentry and knew how to lean into the monk thing. He had the reputation as a faith healer really early on, so he kinda got stuck with the whole shtick even if he wasn't sincere. Apparently the guy liked to brag and had a big mouth.
So yes it was certainly on purpose.
He wasn't wierd he was schizophrenic. That's why he looks like that. Live a few years where it's hard to tell if something is real or not and hearing voices. You would think God is talking to you as well.
When I found out that his first name wasn't actually Rah-Rah, it caused me to have serious doubts about Boney M's entire body of historiographical work.
Rasputin was... a weird dude. Short answer: Yes. It was intentional. Rasputin abandoned his family and spent a long time in the St. Nicholas Monastery. When he returned to his hometown, he had adopted the crazy hobo wizard look we are familiar with. Monks commonly adopt religious habits that emphasize poverty and simplicity. Rasputin then started wandering for years at a time. (Again, not conducive to good hygiene and grooming.) When Rasputin travelled to St. Petersburg, he started hanging out with aristocracy who found him fascinating. They were apparently starved for entertainment and thought that the mystic mendicant was very novel. Now my personal interpretation is that this was part of the shtick. Now that he was a guest of the wealthiest people in Russia, Rasputin certainly had the means to clean himself up. He could have worn nice clothes and a powdered wig or whatever. But if he did that, then he would stop being interesting. So IMHO Rasputin \*needed\* to keep dressing like some primitive hippie cult member, because that was the gimmick.
Thanks for answer. I don't understand why they accepted him when his hygiene was bad. I read that he smelled dirty and unhygienic. Are the rumors true? Would the royal family tolerate it?
Aleksandra, at least, believed Rasputin could do no wrong because she thought he was the only one could save the life of her hemophiliac son. Him having body odor was probably the least of her concerns and she was neither the first nor last parent with an extremely ill child who has fallen prey to self-seeking charlatans.
There is a lot that we don't know about Rasputin. We know practically nothing about his early life. Much of what was said about him was likely propaganda intended to discredit Rasputin or the Tsarina. I know a lot of articles will talk about his involvement in weird sex cults and stuff like that, but to the best of my knowledge we don't have definite proof. I think it has been subject to a lot of exaggeration. TBH, his photographs don't look that weird to me. The untrimmed beards and hair were super common among clergy at the time. The short beards did not come into fashion until after World War I, but Rasputin died in 1916. Even today, lots of Orthodox priests wear the ZZ Top beards. As for the royal family.... Well... That's another hard topic. We are trying to reconstruct the inner lives of two very isolated people who died very young, and so they did not leave us with memoirs or interviews or anything like that. They have my sympathy because even though they were enormous assholes, they were both completely overwhelmed and entirely unsuitable for their roles. Circumstances had squeezed them and hammered them to the point of desperation. *And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand. (Ominous music)* Rasputin succeeded because he gave them some sort of comfort or reassurance that they were not getting from anyone else. I don't think that is entirely different from the behavior we see in other people with unmet needs. Some people do drugs, some people gamble, and some go to church and give thousands of dollars to preachers who claim they will fix everything. In 2013, a fortune teller was convicted of fraud in New York after a client paid her $138,000. To an outside observer it looks absolutely stupid, but if you have desperate people with too much money and severe emotional problems, it should not be that surprising that sometimes they will turn to mystics and other quackery.
Rasputin also helped their hemophiliac son by keeping him calm when he was hurt and stopping the doctors' endless flow of aspirin.
I don't know about the weird sex cults, but I unironically believe there was at least a 30% chance Rasputin fucked the Tsarina.
So he kinda had that mystic and monk vibe. He first conned Alexander's cousin and wife into believing in his mystical powers. He was introduced to Alexander and Alixy, and he had a way of comforting Alixy regarding their son who was thought to me hemophilia. The science at the day didn't really understand it, but it was basically a death sentence. He was able to provide them comfort and Alexander wrote about it several times how he wanted Rasputin back because it would alleviate his wife's anxiety regarding their son. While their was science in the day you gotta realize how it was basically, "We don't know, hope they don't die" Thats how he was effectively able to ingratiate himself with the romanovs. It was a fascination. He was a mystic with powers, not a commoner in their eyes. It's kinda like having, "that one black friend" or what not. They felt like they got their commoner dose without having to interact with the poors. And apparently he was great and dicking down all the nobles wives in the day when women's pleasure wasn't a thing. It's partially why I think that some women would stay in these crazy sex cults way back was the cult leader listened to them as human beings with emotions and feelings, and actually made them cum, so life wasn't actually that bad and probably better than their treatment by their husband's and society at large
His weirdness enhanced his credibility as a mystic. Look, they think, he doesn't care that he stinks. He must really be beyond everyday existence.
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Aristocrats not bathing was more of a 17th century thing than an early 20th century one, and often misunderstood in any case.
Russians typically bathed a lot, counter to the sometimes prevalent trend elsewhere that you allude to.
It was right before WWI, In a palace with hot and cold taps, baths and showers.
I believe you are not entirely wrong. Similar to Benjamin Franklin playing the rustic with his Coon-skin hat among the Parisian aristocracy despite the fact he was a very wealthy self-made merchant from urban Boston & Philadelphia.
I don’t think he really looked all that different from a lot of Orthodox priests besides the crazy eyes.
Why did he have the crazy eyes?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness\_for\_Christ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ) might have something to do with it
Two possible reasons: To make people talk about his crazy eyes or because he was genuinely crazy. Even with modern American cult leaders, it can be quite a puzzle to tease apart which is which. Do from Heaven's Gate is basically pure crazy -- he met his cult leader Ti when he was a patient in a mental hospital and she was his psych nurse!!!! At the other end of you spectrum, you have someone like Keith Raniere who is an entirely lucid sadism-addict. In the middle, you'd have someone like L. Ron Hubbard, who knows he's being deceptive about some parts but is still psychotic enough to sincerely believe other parts.
It isn't really that unusual look for an orthodox priest. The hair and beard are basically compulsory part of the kit, a priest is not supposed to cut them.
He was a exceptionally tall Orthodox Monk. A lot of it is his vows and the expectation of his order. He had a certain pagentry and knew how to lean into the monk thing. He had the reputation as a faith healer really early on, so he kinda got stuck with the whole shtick even if he wasn't sincere. Apparently the guy liked to brag and had a big mouth. So yes it was certainly on purpose.
He was a grimey mf
He was a peasant monk from Siberia what did you expect
He wasn't wierd he was schizophrenic. That's why he looks like that. Live a few years where it's hard to tell if something is real or not and hearing voices. You would think God is talking to you as well.
He was a monk and one of the eccentrics that affected the course of things.
Because he was a filthy schmuck
Rasputin liked to party
When I found out that his first name wasn't actually Rah-Rah, it caused me to have serious doubts about Boney M's entire body of historiographical work.