Thread by @femibased

On Rasputin and the Saints

In this thread we will be going over the different opinions that the Saints of the Orthodox Church held towards Rasputin, the religious healer and friend of the Royal Family, who was accused of degenerate and heretical behavior throughout his life.

Nowadays, he is remembered infamously by most people, however, a project of “historical rehabilitation” aiming to vindicate Rasputin has been carried out by authors such as Igor Evsin, A.N. Bokhanov, Oleg Platonov, and Tatiana Mironova.

Several people consider Rasputin to be a Saint. The aim of this thread is to see whether other Saints held the same or similar views as those who nowadays venerate Rasputin.

Holy Martyr Gregory the New

Saint John of Kronstadt: Saint John of Kronstadt met Rasputin in 1903. Saint John believed Rasputin was a holy man sent by God to help people.

Sources differ on when their meetings happened and what was said during those meetings, but all of them confirm that the meetings happened, and that Rasputin left a good impression on Saint John.

Saint Nikolay Guryanov: Saint Nikolay fervently venerated Rasputin and claimed that the Martyr Grigory was slandered and that he is a Saint.

Saint John Vostorgov: Saint John supported Rasputin and called him a “true Christian”. Saint John was slandered himself and accused of horrible crimes that he didn’t commit.

Tsar Saint Nicholas II: Despite what some people may claim, Tsar Saint Nicholas II considered Rasputin a very close friend of the family and revered him for his holiness.

Tsarina Saint Alexandra: Tsarina Saint Alexandra was close to Rasputin and appreciated his miraculous healing powers that saved the life of her son, Saint Alexei. She never believed in the slanders against Rasputin.

Saint Olga, Saint Tatiana, Saint Maria, Saint Anastasia: The Romanov Sisters venerated Rasputin until the end of their lives, when they were cruelly martyred.

Saint Alexei: Tsarevich Saint Alexei knew of Rasputin’s holiness better than anyone, since he was saved multiple times by the holy man, who treated him for his hemophilia.

Despite the fact that several Saints venerated Rasputin and considered him to be a holy man, there were others that disliked him and believed in the slanders against him.

Saint Elizabeth Feodorovna: The Venerable Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna believed in the slanders against Rasputin and praised Felix Yusupov for murdering him.

Her mistake can be explained by the fact that she never met Rasputin personally and formed her opinion about him on the basis of stories from other people and newspaper publications.

Saint Mikhail Novoselov: Saint Mikhail wrote horrible articles against Rasputin in liberal Moscow newspapers. He accused him of being a sexual deviant and a Khlyst. These claims were investigated and proven to be false.

As historian Anatoly Stepanov puts it: “Why should we assume that if, for example, Mikhail Novoselov was martyred for Christ and was glorified by the Church, then he was also right when he unfairly accused Rasputin of being a Khlyst?”

Saint Hermogenes (Dolganyov): Saint Hermogenes knew Rasputin closely and initially spoke very well of him.

Later on, however, he started to believe the slanders against Rasputin and rejected him. Saint Hermogenes was misled by “Hieromonk Iliodor” (Sergey Trufanov), a hypocritical liar who renounced his monastic vows and the Orthodox Church.

Saint Hermogenes himself admitted that Iliodor deceived him. It is unclear whether Hermogenes reconciled with Rasputin or not.

“Poor Russia bears a penance... It is our duty to cleanse the memory of the Elder from slander... This is vital for the spiritual life of the whole Russian Church... As Divine Truth begins to be revealed, everything will change in Russia”

Elder Nikolay Guryanov

Subsequently, however, he was misled by open anti-Rasputinist Saint Vladimir Bogoyavlensky and began to dislike Rasputin as well.