http://svpokrov.narod.ru/rasputin/rasputin2.jpg

Painting showing the Tsarovich, Alexie with Rasputin!

:hmm:

:xdance:

why is this amazing?

:xdance:

why is this amazing?
Hard to say exactly. Maybe because for me its very sad when you realize the fate of the young Tsarovich.

Many people would agree that Alexei was an innocent victim of his father's bad policies which caused revolution and the eventual deaths of the entire Imperial Family.

This picture shows the Czar's son with Rasputin, a man described alternatively as a mystic, a fraud, a con artist and a great healer. In fact, Rasputin was brought to the palace by Alexandra, the Czarina who was convinced that only he could heal her son who suffered from hemophilia. Whether or not Rasputin's curative powers were real or not, she did trust him not only to heal her son but his powerful personality led her to give him a position of power.

Rasputin was, of course a drunkard, a womanizer, a liar and a fraud. But his personality made him, for a while, the most powerful man in Russia.

That neither Rasputin, the boy or his family survived the War and Revolution underlies the powerful message that I believe this picture is conveying.

lenin lived, lenin lives, lenin shall suck my balls. :)

Where exactly is the young Tsarevitch in this picture? He was a very young child while Rasputin was still alive, and I can see no young boys in this picture. In fact, I do not see Rasputin in the picture. Is there a link to another picture that I cannot see?

Where exactly is the young Tsarevitch in this picture? He was a very young child while Rasputin was still alive, and I can see no young boys in this picture. In fact, I do not see Rasputin in the picture. Is there a link to another picture that I cannot see?
Once again....

Try clicking this link and look at the picture...

http://svpokrov.narod.ru/rasputin/rasputin2.jpg

Thank you for posting the link. The picture appears to be an image (or icon) for veneration rather than a photograph. The Tsarevitch appears to be about 10-12 years of age in the picture. Rasputin was assassinated by a cabal of Russian aristocrats lead by Prince Felix Yousopov on December 29-30, 1916 (at which time Alexei was about 12). He was remarkably difficult to kill, resisting poison and bullets, and eventually succumbing to hypothermia and drowning in Petrograd. He was feared by the aristocracy who, largely ignorant of the severity of the Tsarevitch's haemophilia, believed that he exercised too much influence over the Tsar and his not very popular wife, Alexandra. Some have written that he was beloved by the Russian people who felt that he would not let the Tsar forget them. In any event, his death would probably have been a minor occurrence except for the larger events of World War I, which Russia was losing. Eventually the Germans put Lenin on the famous secret train, and shipped him from exile into Russia where he set about making a revolution and withdrawing Russia from the war (thus freeing more German and Austrian troops for the Western Front).

Do you know the date for the picture? I think that the image may well have been made after the deaths of both Rasputin and Nikolai, as it shows them almost as saints. It is interesting to note that the body of Alexei and one of his sisters has never been recovered.

Here is a photo of Rasputin. You can see how very idealized the painting is by comparing the two. Rasputin looks so incredibly grubby that it is hard to understand how the Russian aristocracy could have believed that he was the lover of the Empress Alexandra!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/180px-Rasputin.gif http://svpokrov.narod.ru/rasputin/rasputin2.jpg

Do you know the date for the picture? I think that the image may well have been made after the deaths of both Rasputin and Nikolai, as it shows them almost as saints. It is interesting to note that the body of Alexei and one of his sisters has never been recovered.
Not really. I found a link from another message board. I did find it rather amazing.

Here is a photo of Rasputin. You can see how very idealized the painting is by comparing the two. Rasputin looks so incredibly grubby that it is hard to understand how the Russian aristocracy could have believed that he was the lover of the Empress Alexandra!

Rasputin never bathed. It was some sort of religious thing. He believed that by being dirty it made him holy or something.

In fact he was probibly from a Gnostic cult. There were a great many odd religious groups in Siberia where they had more freedom than elsewhere in Russia. He believed that to become saved one had to first know sin, at least thats what he told his followers. He had a real following among the women of St Petersburg, many of them aristocratic. It was said that he was a... (ahem)... remarkably "endowed" man, and that he had a real lust for women and for liquor as well.

He believed that to become saved one had to first know sin, at least thats what he told his followers. He had a real following among the women of St Petersburg, many of them aristocratic. It was said that he was a... (ahem)... remarkably "endowed" man, and that he had a real lust for women and for liquor as well.

What a crock!
He sounds very much like a run-of-the-mill charlatan to me; someone who's just out for the money and sex and liquor. Add the really disgusting personal hygiene, and you really would have had to be depraved or stupid to get it on with him.

I guess desperate mothers will tolerate anything that gives them hope about a desperately ill child. I can think of no other reason for the Tsarina tolerating somebody as unappealing as Rasputin.

What a crock!
He sounds very much like a run-of-the-mill charlatan to me; someone who's just out for the money and sex and liquor. Add the really disgusting personal hygiene, and you really would have had to be depraved or stupid to get it on with him. He probibly was a fraud. But it sure worked for him. He did sucker in the cream of Russian society.

Would he have just been a sick pervert and a drunk it would have been one thing. The problem with Rasputin was that it went beyond that. He was dictating policy to the Czar by way of his wife and got his friends, who happened to be corrupt and nasty people into very high positions. His evil deeds hastened the fall of the Romonovs.

There are now some rumors that Rasputin may actually have been in league with the revolutionary elements, though I doubt that.


I guess desperate mothers will tolerate anything that gives them hope about a desperately ill child. I can think of no other reason for the Tsarina tolerating somebody as unappealing as Rasputin.
Indeed. It was very tragic for her children, though her and her husband were both wretched people in my opinion.

There were widespread rumors in those days that Rasputin was having his way with the Czarina and her daughters. It was an ugly rumor and probibly not true but Russians loved gossip and considering the weak position that the imperial government was in, it did contribute to the belief that Nicolas was too weak to govern,

The desperation of the Tsarina was not focused on her daughters but only on the Tsarevitch Alexei. She herself was not very popular in the court circles which much favored her very beautiful and charming mother-in-law, the Tsarina Marie. Marie was a Danish princess, sister to Queen Alexandra of England, famous for her beauty and charm. Poor (Tsarina) Alexandra of Darmstadt Hesse was quite the provincial in comparison, who frequently condemned the Russian Court for its loose behavior. She was a very reactionary influence on her husband, and extremely protective of his power as autocrat of the Russias. Because she had her 4 daughters first, she had lost much respect in the court circles that was not completely restored with the birth in 1904 of the Tsarevitch, who unfortunately was a hemophiliac. The hemophilia was carried genetically on the x chromosome, and was inherited from her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, who managed not to pass it to any of her male offspring. Her desperation was born of the fact that it was both her responsiblity to bear a male heir, and then also her "fault" that the male heir that she gave birth to was so very ill as a result of an illness that she had given to him. She was desperate for a way to control a beloved child's pain, desperate to conceal the illness from the Russian people, and desperate to conceal how very ill the heir to the throne was from the aristocrats of the court. This was a perfect recipe for a "faith healer" to ingratiate himself. It was only by sheer luck that her first contact with him, by letter no less, coincided with the recovery of her son from a very severe attack of bleeding. Her concern for her daughters had nothing to do with this. Archduchesses, who were so unimportant to the succession and who were generally in very good health, no matter how beloved, could never have given someone such as Rasputin the opening that he needed.

Interesting stuff.

Bunnyears, you seem pretty up on this stuff. I am glad you can be part of this forum. Please feel free to post more stuff. :)