
On June 29, 1914,
he had either just received a telegram,
or was just exiting church,
when he was attacked by Khionia Guseva.
A former prostitute,
she had become a disciple of the monk Iliodor
— once a friend of Rasputin's,
who had become disgusted with his behavior
and his disrespectful talk about the royal family.
Iliodor appealed to women
who had been harmed by Rasputin
and formed a survivors' support group,
with the intention of discrediting or killing him.
Guseva thrust a knife into Rasputin's abdomen.
His entrails hung out of what seemed like a mortal wound.
After the attack, Guseva supposedly screamed,
"I have killed the antichrist!"
After intensive surgery Rasputin recovered.
It was said about his survival:
"the soul of this cursed muzhik was sewn on his body."
