Final answer:
Gerasim returned to Moscow shortly before the 1916 assassination of Grigori Rasputin, which occurred against the backdrop of World War I and growing instability that would eventually lead to the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Tsarist government.
Step-by-step explanation:
Gerasim returned to Moscow a short while before the assassination of Grigori Rasputin in 1916. The period leading up to Rasputin's death was marked by significant turmoil in Russia. World War I had dramatically impacted the Russian state, leading to a decline in the political stability, widespread social unrest, and a looming revolutionary sentiment. Rasputin, a highly influential figure believed by many to have been a negative influence on the Russian monarchy, was assassinated by a group of Russian nobles as a result of these circumstances. This event prefaced the more substantial political upheaval that was to come, as Russia edged towards revolution and an eventual overthrow of the Tsarist government in the February Revolution of 1917.