20. An Inexplicable Ability to Comfort a Sick Child Secured This Charlatan’s Influence
Rasputin was introduced to Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and their children, including the heir to the Russian throne, the young Tsarevich Alexei. Alexei suffered from an acute case of hemophilia – a disease whose sufferers bleed uncontrollably from even minor cuts because their blood does not clot up at the surface of an injury. As a result, Alexei had come close to dying on numerous occasions. Doctors had no cure, and were often unable to even alleviate the symptoms or ease the poor child’s suffering.
Rasputin arrived in the midst of that family tragedy at a time when his parents, particularly his mother, were driven to desperation by their only son’s ailment. Rasputin had developed a reputation as a faith healer by then. When Tsarevich Alexei suffered a severe bout of internal bleeding in 1907 and the doctors could offer no relief, Empress Alexandra asked him to pray for her son. He arrived at the palace at night and began praying, and the following morning, the child had stopped bleeding. Rasputin’s standing with the Tsarina rose dramatically.
