St. Rasputin!? Then St. Stalin?

Posted on February 6, 2003 in Hypocrites Myths & Mysticism Strange

I am more surprised than Karen Zipdrive would be to find a piece worthy of a Nobel Prize in the pile of small town newspaper editorials she has been force-marching herself through.

First, the Moscow Times reveals that a faction within the Russian Orthodox church wants the mad monk made a saint! Then the news reaches the Western world through The Telegraph. Among the external links is a piece I wrote some months ago. Father Victor Sokolov sees it and kindly sends me a copy by email.

Suddenly I am renowned as a pundit in England.

And, yes, some want to make Rasputin into a saint.

To the credit of the Orthodox hierarchy, a condemnation of the movement to canonize the Mad Monk has been issued. Rasputin’s champions aver that their cult figure died because of the international Jewish conspiracy. His cause is linked to that of Ivan the Terrible, a notable opponent of saints. Patriach Alexy II scoffed in rebuttal: “This is madness. What believer would want to stay in a Church that equally venerates murderers and martyrs, lechers and saints?”

Viktor Malukhin, the church’s chief spokesman, said: “You cannot give glory at the same time to martyrs and their persecutors. This goes against God’s laws and human law.”

Amen.

It gets worse. Alexander Dvorkin, an authority on peculiar sects within the Russian Orthodox Church, makes an even grimmer if flippant prophecy: “This will be followed by demands to canonize Stalin — there is already some so-called research showing that he was secretly a monk. It is impossible to disprove all of these myths.”

The Orthodox Church sets a good standard: that its saints should simply live a pure life and be openly allied with the causes of Christ. Rasputin does not qualify. In addition to his womanizing, he tempted the Czarina and her husband with promises of visions and a miraculous cure for their hemophiliac heir while the nation’s people suffered under political repression and famine. The great soundrel fooled plenty of peasants whose grandsons and great grandsons lead the present movement.

“The Church is furious only because we belong to a movement that is outside its control,” whines the editor of Rus Pravoslavnaya, a cry known all too well to those of us who monitor conspiracy fanatics of all persuasions.

What impresses me is that after all these years of living under Communism, the Orthodox hierarchy has kept its head. Rasputin will not be canonized, at least not by this generation.

The Vatican on other hand leads me to despair. Led by a man who also lived under Communism, its leaders have dubiously canonized the head of Opus Dei, despite evidence that he had sexually and physically harassed initiates who questioned his orders. Genuine saints of our age — John XXIII, Dorothy Day, and Oscar Romero — wait for miracles that their followers are too principled to manufacture.

I think the Vatican would do well to drop the requirement for miracles. Too often, it accepts as miraculous reversals of sickness which can be explained by current medical science as having more mundane causes. God’s Church on earth has become the thrall of charlatans eager to propel right wing causes into the illusory light of sanctifying grace.

It’s not bleeding icons or weeping statues that make a saint. It is the good works and dedication to the ideals and methods of Christ.

Contemporary Catholics must wait for a miracle, like the one that followed the reign of Hitler’s friend, Pope Pius XII. When the College of Cardinals elected an elderly Italian cardinal as an interim candidate and asked him by what name he would be known, the man who became the hero pope to millions reached into history and restored to reverence the name of the apostle who Jesus gave to his mother as her new son.

“His name is John,” said the new Pope. And that should be the name of the Church’s next saint.

But alas, I doubt it will be until the keepers of the keys realize that right wing fascism is no less evil and insidious than communism.

My sincere thanks to Father Sokolov for notifying me of the link to my page.

Some more Rasputin links:

• The Evil Monk: The life and times of Gregory Efimovich Rasputin –
  European Royal History
• Russian Orthodox Church News
• The Alexander Palace Time Machine Bio of Rasputin
• The Home of Rasputin

And, perhaps, even stranger than the idea of St. Rasputin:

• Rasputin: The Musical