In 1897, Rasputin traveled to the St. Nicholas Monastery in Verkhoturye.4 Whatever prompted this spiritual pilgrimage is unclear — from avoiding legal punishment to experiencing a divine vision — but he returned a changed man. He spent the following years as a strannik, or pilgrim, wandering the country to visit various holy sites.

Rasputin soon made a name for himself wandering as far as Greece. During his travels, he developed unorthodox practices and amassed followers, mostly women. Despite his unkempt appearance, Rasputin was a charismatic man. As Simon Sebag Montefiore notes in his book The Romanovs, Rasputin was “utterly self-possessed” and his charm “rough and simple.” Eventually, he caught the attention of senior members of the imperial Romanov family. In 1905, he was introduced to Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, tsar and tsarina5 of Russia. However, it wasn’t until 1906 that he made “a remarkably strong impression,” as the tsar later told Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin.