Between 1905 and 1912, the monk Iliodor (Trufanov) set Russia ablaze with his inflammatory right-wing rhetoric, causing scandal after scandal. In this episode, we follow Iliodor's remarkable life from humble beginnings to would-be assassin of Grigorii Rasputin.
Sources
S. Dixon, ‘The “Mad Monk” Iliodor in Tsaritsyn’ in S. Dixon, ed., Personality and Place in Russian Culture: Essays in Memory of Lindsey Hughes (London: Modern Humanities Research Association for the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 2010), pp. 377-415.
D. Smith, Rasputin (London: Pan Macmillan, 2017).
M. Iu. Krapivin, ‘Deiatel’nost’ S. M. Trufanova (byshego ieromonakha Iliodora) v Sovetskoi Rossii (1918-1922) v sviazi s formirovaniem gosudarstvennoi politiki v otnoshenii pravoslavnoi tserkvi’, Vestnik tserkovnoi istorii, no. 1/2 (21/22), 2011, pp. 137-149.
In August 1702, the serving girl Marta came into the possession of a Russian general following a siege. Some twenty-two years later, she was...
As is well known, Grigorii Rasputin wielded a considerable and scandalous level of influence over Tsar Nicholas II. What is less well known is...
In 1910, Europe and Russia were rocked by a sensational murder trial: three Russians stood accused of conspiring to murder one of their compatriots...