I'm having difficulty determining what religion the majority of Russians followed in the early twentieth century. Whatever jt was, I don't understand the power Rasputin got from it. The way I've learned, he basically had a sex cult and made himself into an important religious figure, Father Grigori. He met the Tsar in 1905, and became a friend in 1906. What were the circumstances that led them to meet? Was he a celebrity, or whatever that periods term may have been? And how did he communicate with the Tsar between those years. I'm also curious about what his religious beliefs were and how they influenced others, as well as the monastery he took a pilgrimage too. Is there a record of where the monastery was, or who he met, or what exactly happened there?