Rasputon's Journey to Kazan

One story says that what brought him to kazan in the first place was the widow of a merchant. Rasputon would have had his reasons to get close to her. Some lingering legends recount that gregory was a paid escort on her own pilgrimages. It may have been through her that he met the head of monasteries and the archimandrite of the city as well. And no doubt, it pays to have wealthy and powerful friends, all the better if they carry the enormous authority of the russian church.