Rasputin had realised the state of mind of the despairing mother who was broken down by the strain of her struggle and seemed to have touched the limit of human suffering. He knew how to extract the fullest advantage from it, and with a diabolical cunning he succeeded in associating his own life, so to speak, with that of the child.
This moral hold of Rasputin on the Czarina cannot possibly be understood unless one is familiar with the part played in the religious life of the Orthodox world by those men who are neither priests nor monks--though people habitually, and quite inaccurately, speak of the “monk” Rasputin--and are called _stranniki_ or _startsi_.
The _strannik_ is a pilgrim who wanders from monastery to monastery and church to church, seeking the truth and living on the charity of the faithful. He may thus travel right across the Russian Empire, led by his fancy or attracted by the reputation for holiness enjoyed by particular places or persons.
The _staretz_ is an ascetic who usually lives in a monastery, though sometimes in solitude--a kind of guide of souls to whom one has recourse in moments of trouble or suffering. Quite frequently a _staretz_ is an ex-_strannik_ who has given up his old wandering life and taken up an abode in which to end his days in prayer and meditation.
Dostoïevsky gives the following description of him in _The Brothers Karamazof_:
“The _staretz_ is he who takes your soul and will and makes them his. When you select your _staretz_ you surrender your will, you give it him in utter submission, in full renunciation. He who takes this burden upon him, who accepts this terrible school of life, does so of his own free will in the hope that after a long trial he will be able to conquer himself and become his own master sufficiently to attain complete freedom by a life of obedience--that is to say, get rid of self and avoid the fate of those who have lived their lives without succeeding in sufficing unto themselves.”
God gives the _staretz_ the indications which are requisite for one’s welfare and communicates the means by which one must be brought back to safety.
On earth the _staretz_ is the guardian of truth and the ideal. He is also the repository of the sacred tradition which must be transmitted from _staretz_ to _staretz_ until the reign of justice and light shall come.