He also had very limited education so he was left illiterate. This made his theatrical abilities become very useful.
One day while Rasputin was plowing in the fields he had a revelation. The story states that a Heavenly Mother touched him. She told him of young Aleksei, the tsarevich and she instructed him to appear at the boy's side to stop his bleeding. His bleeding was a result of his hemophilia. He made his initial move towards St. Petersburg in1902, when he visited the city of Kazan near the Volga River. After this trip he had a rapidly growing group of disciples and acquaintances in the upper class, and he was known as a man of God.
The City of St. Petersburg.
Rasputin arrived in St. Petersburg at a time when church leaders were really vulnerable. They wanted people with religious influence, and who had power over the people. Rasputin was both an ordinary peasant - simple, forceful, and direct - while at the same time he possessed the power to astonish people with his healing powers and his insight into the future. People in the city had different views on the man. One was that he was a very holy man who possessed great powers. The other is that he was just a cynical, and that he used religion to mask his drive for sex, money, and power.
Sex Life.
Rasputin had a very active sex life. He was reported to hold orgies in the basement of his house at the same time he lived with his wife around 1900. Later, after Rasputin had a rise to fame he attracted a large crowd of female followers. Many of the pictures of Rasputin are with him surrounded by women. There are reports of Rasputin raping women. These reports are untrue because Rasputin really didn't have to rape the to get them into bed. All of these activities did not conflict with Rasputin's religious beliefs. He did not particularly care for the orthodox religion. He was a member of the Khlisti sect. Followers of the Khlisti sect believed that all of the desires of the man should be fulfilled, and man of its members held orgies to fulfill their needs.