Rasputin Biography - Early Life

Grigori Rasputin was born into a peasant family in Siberia, Russia, around 1869. After failing to become a monk, Rasputin became a wanderer and eventually entered the court of Czar Nicholas II because of his alleged healing powers. Known for his prophetic powers, he became a favorite of the Nicholas's wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, but his political influence was small. He became swept up in the events of the Russian Revolution, and met a brutal death at the hands of assassins in 1916.

Early Life

Born to a Siberian peasant family around 1869, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin received little schooling, and probably never learned to read or write. In his early years, some people of his village said he possessed supernatural powers, while others cite examples of extreme cruelty. For a time, it was believed his name "Rasputin" meant "licentious" in Russian. Historians now believe that "Rasputin" meant "where two rivers meet," a phrase that describes an area from where he was born in Siberia.
Rasputin entered the Verkhoture Monestery in Russia with the intention of becoming a monk, but left shortly thereafter, presumably to get married. At age 19, he wed Proskovia Fyodorovna, and they later had three children. In his early 20s, he traveled to Greece and the Middle East, and presumably made several pilgrimages to the Holy Land.