Editing Grigori Rasputin (section)

==Controversies==
[[File:Rasputin Photo.jpg|thumb|Rasputin among admirers, 1914]]
The imperial family's belief in Rasputin's healing powers brought him considerable status and power at court.{{sfn|Figes|1998|p=31}} Nicholas appointed Rasputin his ''lampadnik'' (lamplighter), charged with keeping the lamps lit before religious icons in the palace, which gained him regular access to the palace and imperial family.{{sfn|Ferro|1995|p=138}} By December 1906, Rasputin had become close enough to ask a special favor of the tsar: that he be permitted to change his surname to Rasputin-Noviy (Rasputin-New). Nicholas granted the request and the name change was speedily processed, suggesting that Rasputin already had the tsar's favor at that early date.{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|pp=41–42}} Rasputin used his position to full effect, accepting [[bribery|bribes]] and sexual favors from admirers{{sfn|Figes|1998|p=31}} and working diligently to expand his influence.

Rasputin soon became a controversial figure; he was accused by his enemies of religious [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] and rape, was suspected of exerting undue political influence over the tsar and was even rumored to be having an affair with the tsarina.{{sfn|Figes|1998|pp=32–33}} Opposition to Rasputin's influence grew within the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]. In 1907, the local clergy in Pokrovskoye denounced Rasputin as a heretic, and the Bishop of Tobolsk launched an inquest into his activities, accusing him of "spreading false, ''[[Khlyst]]-like'' doctrines".{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|pp=52–53}} In Saint Petersburg, Rasputin faced opposition from even more prominent critics, including [[Prime Minister of Russia|Prime Minister]] [[Pyotr Stolypin]] and the ''[[Okhrana]]'', the tsar's [[secret police]].{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|p=57}} Having ordered an investigation into Rasputin's activities, Stolypin confronted Nicholas but did not succeed in reining in Rasputin's influence or exiling him from Saint Petersburg.{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|pp=58–59}}

Outside of the royal court, Rasputin preached that physical contact between him and others purified them; he engaged in drunken revels and extramarital affairs with a wide range of women from [[prostitute]]s to high-society ladies.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Grigory-Yefimovich-Rasputin Grigori Rasputin''. ''Britannica'', 2023.]</ref><ref>Harris, Carolyn (2016). "[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-rasputin-100-years-later-180961572/ The Murder of Rasputin, 100 Years Later]". Smithsonian Magazine.</ref> In 1909, Khioniya Berlatskaya, one of Rasputin's early supporters, accused him of rape. Betlatskaya sought aid from Theofan, who became convinced that Rasputin was a danger to the monarchy.{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|p=61}} Rumors multiplied that Rasputin had assaulted female followers and behaved inappropriately on visits with the imperial family—and particularly with Nicholas's teenage daughters Olga and Tatiana.{{sfn|Smith|2016|p=168}}{{sfn|Fuhrmann|2012|pp=61–62}}

[[File:Rasputindaughtercropped.jpg|thumb|left|Rasputin with his daughter [[Maria Rasputin|Maria]] (rightmost), in his St. Petersburg apartment, 1911]]
[[File:Rasputin listovka.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Caricature of Rasputin and the imperial couple, 1916]]
During this period the [[World War I|First World War]], the dissolution of [[feudalism]] and a meddling government bureaucracy all contributed to Russia's rapid economic decline. Many laid the blame on Alexandra and Rasputin. One outspoken member of the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|Duma]], far-right politician [[Vladimir Purishkevich]], stated in November 1916 that he held the tsar's ministers had "been turned into [[marionette]]s, marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna—the evil genius of Russia and the Tsarina... who has remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its people".{{sfn|Radzinsky|2010|p=434}} (The tsarina had been born a German princess.)