RASPUTIN THE VILE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 267, 10 November 1928, Page 13 (Supplement)

RASPUTIN THE VILE.

1 !' A DISSOLUTE MONK. ".,,j SINISTER XNI'IAJENCE OVEK .WOMEN". •'J PEASANT ANDvBOGUE.. r — ■ i ;.•> Astonishing revelations of life • in Eussia in the years before the revolution are contained in a" hook which has just been published. This book, "Easputin, the Holy Devil," is a translation from tie' German' of Eene Fulop-Miller, whose previous book, "The Mind and Eace_of Bolshevism," provided a remarkably penetrating survey of post-revolution Eussia. Sinister beyond all imagining was the monk Easputin, but the portrait drawn by Mr. Fulop-Miller shows him . to possess qualities appertaining both to devil and saint. It.is acgnasterly portrait. Easputin was born in a Siberian village, and was the son'of a carter. As a child he created a local- sensation when, while still delirious through some ailment, he identified a,horse thief by what appeared to be a ; spiritual intuition, ' Carnal Sin. • As a youth he led a life of vulgar dissipation, but saw visions and heard angelic music, which gave his thoughts a religious tinge. He was greatly taken in the course of his studies by the teachings.'of the prophet Eadaev, who deliberately practised every carnal sin in the devout conviction that it is only the man "who debases himself through sin whose penitence is truly acceptable to God." ' . / .'•'■;• ■ ; This undoubtedly was the basis _ of the extraordinary mixture of religion' and , vile debauchery with, which -he created for himself a.name that is an abomination in the history of Eussia. ' He became a religious .pilgrim, indulged in unspeakable orgies, made numberless infatuated converts, was taken up by-the high priests of the Eussian Church, and eventually found himself in St. Petersburg. Here he soon established a cult in a blasphemous atmosphere of sex and religion. Women surrendered themselves toi his embrace in the belief or pretence that they" were abasing their pride before God. . Men admitted-the power of his magnetic personality. He gained an immense reputation as a miracle-worker in healing the sjck by oral blessings and by holy strikings of the forehead and breast. >■ _ Abominable incidents took place in' the private' room of : Easputin's flat, ; 8 room which was known as."The Holy of Holies." "'■*' .." ; JV . "Many, a young girl had left this mysterious room with a happy, radiant face, .but there were also many women who rushed out suddenly, with their dress disarranged and" crumpled, weeping and deeply insulted, or, trembling with fury, and raging and shrieking so that they had to be;removed with the assistance of det«*ives-lurkjng:-onjthe staircase.'' - ■"—'-?- ,'".-■' ; ;-_ >

Eoyal Household. was in the household.of the Eoyal Family itself that this human fiend reached his highest aspirations. It was his reputation as a miracleworker that secured him- the entry into the Palace. The little Czarevitch was ill, and Kasputin, dirty/ pyil, ghoulish, was introduced secretly into the presence of the Czar and the Czaritza. Then:— ■: "Basputin went up to the Imperial couple with a-beaming, smile, and, without ceremony, embraced the all-powerful ruler of'all the Eussias and his consort with a smacking kiss!" His influence over all women and most men was astounding. It was not long. , before " the; ■ Czaritza evidenced devotion to this man, peasant and rogue though' he was, who could soothe her ailing.son as no one else had been able to-do.'- ? '" From that time he became all-power-ful ;in ; the Eoyal. entourage, the Czar himself relying on the extraordinary powerof Easputin's magnetic eyesto see' through those who surrounded him. Soon the Czar made Easputin's inspection of any candidate the preliminary to an appointment. Much of-the book deals with Easputin's "Holy of Holies." The incredible orgies that went on with women of the highest society, his "intimates"—those who had achieved "redemption through sin" —are described in'-''the' 'frankest language of. Bacchanalian by a woman who was curious but terrified. The political influence exerted by Basputin : upon his weak and vacillating Eoyal benefactors, however, was by no means bad. He had the peasant's hatred of war. It was in response to his fervent appeal that the Czar kept Eussia out of the Balkan war in 1912. Superstitious Faith. Easputin's murder, in 1916, by Prince Yusupov, a young man of -pie Eussian nobility, and a band of. aristocratic conspirators, is dramatically described When the Empress heard the news she fell on a friend's neck sobbing with grief,."for-she felt with perfect certainty that hi 3 death meant the ruin of tho Imperial-family." ilany superstitious people in the provinces interpreted Easputin's murder as a fatal omen, and with troubled faces quoted his own prophecy: "If I die, the Emperor will soon, after lose his Crown." . ...,.--" --• : .-'-- . -'(-'i ' :■ <