I couldn’t sleep last night and was watching this tv show on Rasputin, and the end was talking about his really bizarre poisoning/shooting/drowning death, and mentioned that those rumors are probably really exaggerated, because he probably only died from drowning, the czarina wanted to make him a saint. A quote from the show was, “You can’t drown and be a saint.”
Whoa! Maybe this is a really dumb question, but is that really a true statement? That would be so awesome and bizarre if it was true. Or is it a hyperbole-type “You can’t eat like that and still be thin!” statement, saying that drowning is such an undramatic way to die that it doesn’t fit the life of a saint?
Also Florian, patron saint of firefighters. (He was supposed to be burned at the stake, but his tormenters threw him into a river instead, where he drowned.) He died early enough (3d cen) that I would expect him to be a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as in the Western Church. However, I can’t find any confirmation that he actually is a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church. Hmmm…
Having seen the History channel documentary on the Kooky
Clergyman, I can clear this up. The river Rasputin drowned in had a reputation as a sewer. To drown in it carried the same stigma as being found dead in a peep show booth. Rasputin’s enemys wanted to make him a demon. His friends wanted to make him a saint. The embellished story of his drowning served to make him supernatural, pleasing both sides.