Read about It. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 38 стр.

       By 1911, St. Petersburg was in an uproar over Rasputin. It was        dignant. Why should there be such a storm? The man has done nothing
the Church which initiated the first formal investigation of Rasputin’s      but good. Thus a messenger of death has placed himself between the
activities and carried the first official complaints to the Tsar. Bishop     throne and the nation... And because of the man’s fareful duality, under-
Theophan, who had been impressed by Rasputin’s faith and had rec-            stood by neither Tsar nor people, neither side can understand the other.
ommended him to the Empress, was the first to entertain doubts. Once         So the Tsar and his people, however apart, are leading each other to the
he had been Alexandra’s confessor; now he advised her that something         edge of the abyss.»
was fearfully wrong about the «Holly Man» he had recommended to                     Pierre Gilliard was more succinct. «The fatal influence of that
her. The result was that Theophan, a distinguished theologian, was           man [Rasputin] was the principal cause of death of those who thought
transferred from the Theological Academy to become Bishop of the             to find in him their salvation.»
Crimea.
       Next, the Metropolitan Anthony called on the Tsar to discuss                1. Look through the text again and find all the epithets used to
Rasputin. Nicholas replied that the private affairs of the Imperial family   describe the personality of Gregory Rasputin. Divide them into two
were no concern of the Church. «No , Sire,» the Metropolitan replied,        groups [with positive and negative meaning] and consider which one
«this is not merely a family affair, but the affair of all Russia. The       prevails in number. Make a conclusion.
Tsarevich is not only your son, but our future sovereign and belongs to
all Russia.» Nicholas nodded and quietly ended the interview. But soon              2. Answer the following questions.
afterward, Anthony fell ill and died.                                               1. Can we guess that the book was written not by the Russian au-
       The single most damaging attack on Rasputin came from a flam-         thor? If yes, how?
boyant young zealot of a monk named Iliodor. Iliodor was fanatical in               2. The author said that the rise of Rasputin was possible only in
his beliefs. He preached strict adherence to the Orthodox faith and the      Russia. How did he explain this statement? Do you find these argu-
absolute autocracy of the Tsar. In Rasputin, Iliodor saw an ally. When       ments enough?
Rasputin was first brought to him by Theophan , Iliodor welcomed the                3. How did the author explain the term starets?
primitive religious fervor manifested by the starets. In 1909, Iliodor              4. What facts of Rasputin’s biography are mentioned in the text?
discovered Rasputin’s other face.                                                   5. Were there any priests trying to reveal Rasputin’s real face?
       After the Revolution, Basil Shulgin, an intensely monarchist          What happened to them?
member of the Duma and one of the two men who, trying to preserve                   6. Do you consider Rasputin as positive or negative event in his-
the monarchy, obtained the abdication of Nicholas II, analyzed               tory of Russia? Why?
Rasputin’s role: «Rasputin was a Janus... To the Imperial family he had
turned his face as a humble starets and, looking at it, the Empress can-           3. Translate the text below into English.
not but be convinced that the spirit of God rests upon this man. And to            Григорий Распутин родился 29 июля 1871 года в селе По-
the country he has turned the beastly, drunken unclean face of a bald        кровское Тюменской области. Поскольку место его рождения было
satyr from Tobolsk. Here we have the key to it all. The country is in-       практически недосягаемо для большинства желающих, то о жизни
dignant that such a man should be received under the Tsar’s roof. And        Григория Распутина на родине сохранились лишь отрывочные и
under the roof there is bewilderment and a sense of bitter hurt. Why         неточные сведения, источником которых был в основном он сам.
should they all be enraged? That a saintly man came to pray over the               В 18 лет Распутин совершил первое паломничество в мона-
unhappy Heir, a desperately sick child whose least imprudent move-           стырь в Верхотуре, однако монашеского обета не дал. В 19 лет он
ment may end in death? So the Tsar and the Empress are hurt and in-          возвратился в Покровское, где женился.

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