There is a big battle going on in the Russian Orthodox Church over whether or not one of history’s zaniest figures should be canonized as a saint. The UK’s Telegraph reports:

The movement, which leading Orthodox officials have sought to quash, is spearheaded by a growing revisionist movement in the Church. It believes that Grigori Rasputin, a notoriously dissolute Siberian monk who was murdered by two royalists in 1916 because of his growing influence over Empress Alexandra, was the victim of a Jewish conspiracy.

The movement also contends that Ivan the Terrible, who murdered hundreds of priests and even his son, was a deeply religious and humble man who showed great mercy to his enemies. The campaign began in the early 1990s with a spate of pamphlets and books. Since then the movement has attracted a growing number of adherents, particularly in the countryside.

The crusade has gained such momentum that theologians allied to the Church leadership have felt compelled to condemn it publicly.

Opponents of the canonizations claim that Rasputin was a womanizer, and possibly a sorceror - among other things - and that Ivan the Terrible was a notorious murderer. From the Telegraph article:

In an official statement issued in 2001, Patriarch Alexy II said: “This is madness. What believer would want to stay in a Church that equally venerates murderers and martyrs, lechers and saints?”

Viktor Malukhin, the Church’s chief spokesman, said that if Ivan the Terrible, Russia’s first tsar, were canonised, it would automatically mean that his many victims, including Moscow’s Metropolitan Filip, would be de-canonised. He said: “You cannot give glory at the same time to martyrs and their persecutors. This goes against God’s laws and human law.”

Proponents of the movement, on the other hand, claim that Rasputin was merely made into a scapegoat by political enemies, and that both men already are the subject of religious icons and folk veneration. Hm, here’s an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia on Rasputin:

Rasputin is reputed to have cut locks of hair from the virgins he had sex with. When his house was pulled down in 1977, the authorities unearthed several boxes containing hair buried in the garden.

Also, if you’ve ever wondered what Rasputin’s penis would look like if it was severed and put in a jar, an erotic museum in Russia can help you out. Wonder no more! It’s super gross-looking!

[Telegraph article found via Fantastic Planet]