Fools: Holy fools. Modern holy fools live in almost all major Russian cities Holy Fool module

Cm … Synonym dictionary

The central character of A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov” (1825). In Rus', holy fools were called the blessed ones who renounced earthly blessings “for Christ’s sake” and became the people’s “sorrowers.” The holy fools led a beggarly lifestyle, wore rags and usually... ... Literary heroes

holy fool- (incorrectly holy fool) ... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language

Holy Fool, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Isaac of Pechersk, the first Russian holy fool (icon by V. Vasnetsov) Foolishness (from the Slavic “ourod”, “fool” fool, crazy) is a deliberate attempt to appear stupid, insane. In Orthodoxy, holy fools are a layer of wandering monks and religious... ... Wikipedia

holy fool- oh, oh 1) outdated. Mentally abnormal. Foolish guy. See me off, all the Moscow rabble. Holy fool, thieves, Khlysty! Priest, shut my mouth tightly with the bell soil of Moscow! (Tsvetaeva). Synonyms: crazy/crazy, weak/much,... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

holy fool- YURODYYY, wow, m Same as blessed. // holy fool, oh. The moon is shining, the kitten is crying, holy fool, get up, let’s pray to God (P.) ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

holy fool- oh, oh; YURO/DIVIY, wow, m., meaning. noun 1. In the minds of superstitious, religious people, a madman with the gift of divination. The holy fool stands, sighs, crosses himself... // Nekrasov. Who can live well in Rus' // 2.… … Dictionary of forgotten and difficult words from works of Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries

Dr. Russian holy fool, starting from the 14th century, before that - ugly. According to Sobolevsky (ZhMNP, 1894, May, p. 218), it is connected with Art. glory ѫrod ὑπερήφανος; see Meillet, Et. 232; see also freak (above)… Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer

Books

Holy Fool, Daniil Vladislavovich Pospelov. The hero of the book says to himself: “I’m in pain, I’m bored and I’m lonely.” The main “question and answer” for him is Man. He asks: “What should you listen to: your heart or your mind?” Someone shouts to him... eBook
Holy fool. Antichrist and the Russian Tsar. Volume 2, Sukharenko A.. "Romeo and Juliet" of the Apocalypse. The curse of Satan still prevents the Holy Fool and his beloved from being together. Russia is the only obstacle on the Antichrist's path to world domination. Son…

One of the most famous university professors, giving his lectures on theology, noted, not without irony, that such concepts as “sin” or “demon” cause confusion among the educated public - so use them directly, without cultural reservations, in a serious conversation with intelligent people it is almost impossible. And he told the following anecdote: a certain missionary, giving a sermon at a technical university, was forced to answer the question of how a person first thinks about a crime. Trying to speak to the audience in their language, he formulated the following phrase: “The thought of a crime telepathically broadcasts to a person a transcendental-noumenal totalitarian-personalized cosmic evil.” Then the head of an astonished demon pokes out from under the pulpit: “What did you call me?”

The point is that truth is not afraid of controversy. Truth cannot be destroyed. Therefore, the world has come up with an effective way to recycle- like some dangerous radioactive material that is sealed in an impenetrable lead container and buried in a remote wasteland. At first, the truths obtained by great minds in a painful struggle become familiar and commonplace. What was a long-awaited trophy for fathers becomes a toy for children, like grandfather’s medals and order bars. People get used to treating truths as something taken for granted. Then the familiar becomes banal and they try to get rid of it through cynicism, irony and quotation marks. “No, brother, this is all licentiousness, emptiness! - says Turgenev's Bazarov. – And what is this mysterious relationship between a man and a woman? We physiologists know what this relationship is. Study the anatomy of the eye: where does that mysterious look come from, as you say? This is all romanticism, nonsense, rot, art.” Ultimately, the ridiculed and caricatured truth under the guise of folklore is generally removed from the discursive field. Good and evil begin to be associated exclusively with the “hut on chicken legs”, and such things as heroism and betrayal without quotes are preserved only in children’s everyday life - along with “woman” and “good fairy”.

"Christians believe that Jesus is from Nazareth, supposedly in one word he healed the sick and supposedly raised the dead supposedly and He Himself rose again on the third day after death.” Only in this way, in a straitjacket of quotation marks, surrounded by word-orderlies, can the Gospel Truth enter the “enlightened” assembly of secular people.

The proud mind is unable to make Truth even the subject of criticism. "What is truth?" - the Jewish procurator asks ironically and, without waiting for an answer, passes by the One Who Himself is Truth and Life.

This process is sensitively reflected in the literature. In the preface to the collection “Russian Flowers of Evil,” Viktor Erofeev traces the paths of the Russian literary tradition, noting that in the new and recent period “the wall, well guarded in classical literature, collapsed... between positive and negative heroes... Any feeling untouched by evil , is questioned. There is a flirtation with evil, many leading writers either look at evil, bewitched by its power and artistry, or become his hostages... Beauty is replaced by expressive pictures of ugliness. The aesthetics of outrageousness and shock are developing, and interest in the “dirty” word and swearing as a detonator of the text is intensifying. New literature oscillates between “black” despair and completely cynical indifference. Today we are observing a completely logical result: the ontological market of evil is overstocked, the glass is filled to the brim with black liquid. What's next?"

“I will not raise my hand against my brother,” said the great Russian saints Boris and Gleb. In the culture of feudal fragmentation, “brother” is a synonym for the word “competitor”. This is the one who makes you have less land and power. Killing a brother is the same as defeating a competitor - a deed worthy of a real prince, evidence of his superhuman nature and the usual image of courage. The holy words of Boris, when first heard in Russian culture, undoubtedly seemed like the mysterious delirium of a holy fool.

Foolishness is considered to be a specific form of Christian holiness. However, ancient Greek philosophers often resorted to this means of returning truths from the “cultural archive.” Antisthenes advised the Athenians to adopt a decree: “Consider donkeys as horses.” When this was considered absurd, he remarked: “After all, by simple voting you make commanders out of ignorant people. When he was once praised by bad people, he said: “I’m afraid I’ve done something bad?”

When one depraved official wrote on his door: “Let nothing evil enter here,” Diogenes asked: “But how can the owner himself enter the house?” Some time later, he noticed a sign on the same house: “For sale.” “I knew,” said the philosopher, “that after so many drinking sessions it would not be difficult for him to vomit his owner.”

Shem, treasurer of the tyrant Dionysius, was a disgusting man. One day he proudly showed Aristippus his new home. Looking around the magnificent rooms with mosaic floors, Aristippus cleared his throat and spat in the owner’s face, and in response to his rage said: “There was no more suitable place anywhere.”

Foolishness, among other things, makes a person marginal and therefore can be a very effective cure against vanity. False honor encourages us to appear better to people than we are. That is why it turns out to be more difficult to talk about your sin in confession than to commit it. In this case, we can be helped by the example of the sages and saints who fulfilled the words of Christ: “When you are invited by someone to a marriage, do not sit in the first place, lest one of those invited by him be more honorable than you, and the one who invited you and him, coming up, does not say I wish you: give him a place; and then with shame you will have to take the last place. But when you are called, when you arrive, sit in the last place, so that the one who called you will come up and say: friend! sit higher; Then you will be honored before those who sit with you, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

You probably won’t learn about modern holy fools either from a guide accompanying a tourist group or from a glossy guidebook. However, there are still holy fools in our country. Moreover, some of them not only live well, but also prosper. If previously madmen, as a rule, predicted the coming of the Antichrist and the birth of people with dog heads, now they wander through cities and villages, paint the faces of saints, give lectures on the international situation, and sometimes write songs for famous musicians.

What is known about the people from whose midst many revered saints emerged? It is known that in Rus' at least 10 holy fools were canonized in the 14th-16th centuries alone. Let us at least remember Vaska Nagogo, who, according to legend, denounced Ivan the Terrible and predicted the capture of Kazan. When the blessed one died, the metropolitan himself performed his funeral service. In his honor, popular rumor renamed the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square into St. Basil's Cathedral.

But the blessed are a very heterogeneous social group. Among them there are “philistines” and “artists”, “politicians” and even “businessmen”.

Today, the Versiya newspaper tried to figure out who they are - these blessed ones, kaliki, eccentrics and fools who gave the cities a special “Old Russian” charm.

Sema the book lover found printed materials at the city dump

So, there was once such an old man - Pinya. He acted as a fool mainly on the streets of Samara, although he wandered as far as Kazan and Moscow. Pinya was once a talented jeweler, then he went crazy and went traveling with a homemade canvas bag. One obsessive thought lingered in his head: that he, Pinya, was a goldsmith. For more than half a century, roaming the streets of cities, the holy fool collected pebbles and put them in his bag and pockets. Sometimes the stones fell apart - then the former jeweler cried with grief. Having collected enough “goods”, Pinya laid out the “jewels” on a rag and began to trade. Bent over, with a sad nose and a bird's head, he waved his arms, caught imaginary customers by the floor and whispered something convincingly under his breath. And even now you can hear from Samara residents: “You are behaving like Pinya!”

Blessed Lipetsk Sema the book lover was no stranger to the spirit of commerce. He found printed materials at the city dump. The room that Syoma shared with his mother was littered with books and magazines. He carefully washed and dried some and prepared them for sale. He could “trade” in front of city schools for days on end, shifting his blurry books and enduring ridicule and kicks from high school students. As a child, Sam was injured by his alcoholic father - he damaged the boy's spine - so that he walked sideways, and a hump grew on his back.

It should be noted that not every holy fool businessman is pathetic and defenseless. For example, Penza taxi driver Voldemar made a very successful living. In the evenings, the holy fool would lie in wait for late-arriving citizens and force them to ride a broom with him for several blocks. Having taken him to his destination, Voldemar never forgot to demand payment from the exhausted women for travel.

The blessed Saratov wrote songs for Alena Apina

A distinctive feature of modern holy fools is a passion for dressing up. Thus, Volgograd fools Andryusha and Seryozha are a gifted generation of urban eccentric artists. The boys wear law enforcement and soldier uniforms. The benefit of this goodness is in abundance in Russian families and they are willing to share it with the poor. Mummers perform antics on the central streets of the city, either depicting battle scenes from the life of samurai, or performing homemade songs. For example, when begging for alms, they whistle on an empty beer can: “Give for us, give for you, and for the special forces, and for Hamas, and for Gorgaz, and for KamAZ, and for the frost, and for Davos!” And they are given it.

One of the most talented blessed people of our time should also be recognized as the well-known Saratov poet Yura Druzhkov, the author of all the hit songs of the “Combination” group. Thanks to his texts, Alena Apina and others like her rose to the heights of fame and prosperity. Yura wrote poems with multi-colored felt-tip pens on scraps of paper, carefully drawing out curlicues. It was with pleasure that I gave verses to those who met me and those who crossed me. He did not receive a penny for his songs, he wandered the streets of his native Saratov in disarray, for which he was beaten more than once. A month ago, Yura was found stabbed to death in his own apartment.

King Apricot talks about a supernova explosion

Russian foolishness has always been highly politicized. The blessed one could say to the face of the boyars and tsars something for which an ordinary person would have his head screwed off. For example, it is known from history that one of the Moscow holy fools, Ivan the Great Kolpak, incited the people against Tsar Boris Godunov. Madmen boldly pointed out the sins of the nobility and predicted political changes. The prophecies of holy fools in the old days were valued more than the current forecasts of German Gref.

In the same Penza, in one of the pubs you can hear the loud voice of a decently dressed man in a hat and tie. The “King of Political Science,” a blessed man with the strange nickname Apricot, gives beer lectures to visitors about the international situation, rogue oligarchs, the confrontation between Western and Eastern civilizations, and the explosion of a supernova in the center of the Universe. For a variety of knowledge, the lecturer is awarded a “foam”. Despite the broad theme of his speeches, the abundance of quotes, versions and counter-versions, Apricot ends his speeches equally sadly: “Stupid Russia, fucking country!”

And, of course, politically concerned crazy people can be found at any more or less significant meeting, regardless of the color of the banners that are raised there.

The foolish Natalya dreams of marrying a colonel

Among the blessed there are also their own, so to speak, “philistines” - people who do not strive for a political or artistic career, or for wealth. This includes, for example, Lida Kazanskaya. In her youth, she was a model, considered herself to be among the cultural elite, and wore a fashionable Parisian coat with a muff. What happened to her is unknown, but the lady quickly became poor and went crazy. With her hands covered with scabs, she proudly strides along the pavement - in her unchanged Parisian coat, which has long since turned into rags. And everything is muttering in French. The aristocracy does not allow her to beg. She does not take the clothes that people give her out of pity. Disdainful.

Another famous city madman is Tyumen Lesha the bathhouse attendant. He is in excellent health and returns home from the bathhouse in wet clothes in any weather. Lesha hates it when people touch him - he frantically rubs the “stained” area with a washcloth. Jokers often take advantage of this: they casually touch a madman, forcing him to scrub himself in a soap bar for hours. Lesha is most afraid of rats. The city punks are tailing him, bawling: “Lekha, a rat got into your pants!” The holy fool spins around, hits himself on the thighs and shakes his finger at the hooligans.

Other holy fools seek family happiness in their own way. So, in the area of the Volgograd factory "Aora" you can meet a gigantic girl, a real grenadier in a skirt, who throws herself at unfamiliar men with joyful screams. Red-haired Natalya squeezes passers-by in her steel embrace, which is not easy to free herself from. The fact is that Natalya dreams of marrying a colonel and is persistently looking for her betrothed. However, in all other respects she is a completely harmless girl.

The wanderer Martha wanted to go around all the famous holy places of Russia

Finally, the most numerous category of Russian blessed are the directly wretched, that is, eternal pilgrims, cliques and near-temple madmen. This is, for example, the pilgrim Marfa the photographer, whom the Versiya correspondent managed to meet in Saratov. Martha collects memorial notes from parishioners and distributes them to famous monasteries. In some villages she is considered almost a saint: mothers think that if this holy fool caresses a child in a cradle, he will certainly recover.

Martha gave the impression of an ordinary grandmother, but she did not look directly, but from the side, tilting her head to the side. Her feet were completely black and bare in the cold.

I go to holy monasteries. “I was in the Kyiv Lavra, in the Optina Hermitage, in Diveevo,” the wanderer intoned. - I go without food, sometimes I eat potatoes from the gardens, sunflowers by the road. And I drink water from marsh, lake and herbal dew. The cross must be lowered into the puddle and crossed three times, with prayer, then there will be no loss to health. I walk with a staff and sing the Jesus Prayer.

If in the villages they are not invited into the house, the wanderer spends the night in bathhouses or in haystacks, or even right in the field. Martha also has a goal: she hopes to go around all the famous holy places in Russia and photograph some kind of miracle in each. She found her device, a cheap soap dish, broken on the sidewalk and does not suspect that it at least needs film. Her friend, pilgrim Alexey, wanders with her. “We went to Sarov together,” the blessed one said willingly. “He bathes in anthills, but he eats like a horror! He grabs a little roll and, holding it in his teeth, plucks and marks up the whole roll, and what’s in his mouth is food for him.” ". He is a "Jerusalemite", carries with him slivers from the Holy Sepulcher and pieces from the ladder that Jacob saw in a dream. He also has vials, he shows them to everyone and assures that there is Egyptian Darkness there. Completely touched."

Once the holy fool was beaten and the homeless wanted to rob her, but they found nothing in her knapsack except funeral notes.

But last year Tver lost its most beloved holy fool - Stepanych, whom many called the symbol of this city. At night the blessed one huddled in the gatehouse of the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, and during the day he drew with chalk on the asphalt, on the embankment of the Tmaka River. He painted colorful temples and faces of saints. People who knew him spoke of him as a touching and defenseless person; they believed that this grandfather was not a simple beggar, but a saint. At the same time, Stepanych was repeatedly attacked by aggressive teenagers who beat the old man and took away money and crayons given by people.

When people approached Stepanych and admired his drawings, he blossomed. He said: “Look, how the churches are burning, people like it! I treat everyone well, I don’t divide by faith, for me there are neither Muslims nor Jews, because God is one...” Clergymen and city officials came to talk with the blessed one.

Last summer, the artist was beaten and stabbed to death by tramps. Thus Tver lost its blessed one. The poor man was buried with money collected by the parishioners of the Intercession Church.

Most of the holy fools - all these "traffic cops", "taxi drivers" and "book lovers" - go quietly, as if to nowhere, and people don’t even notice it. After all, as popular wisdom says: Rus' has fools in reserve for the next 100 years.

People believe that a holy fool is a person who necessarily has a mental disorder or physical defect. In simple terms, this is an ordinary fool. The Church tirelessly refutes this definition, arguing that such people spontaneously condemn themselves to torment, shrouded in a veil that hides the true goodness of their thoughts. Theology calls for distinguishing between two concepts: holy fools by nature and holy fools “for Christ’s sake.” If everything seems clear with the first type, then we should talk about the second in more detail. Because of their strong love for God, they became ascetics, protecting themselves from worldly goods and comforts, dooming themselves to eternal wanderings and loneliness. At the same time, they could indulge in crazy, indecent behavior in public, and try to seduce passers-by. Spending weeks in prayer, months in fasting, they were endowed with the gift of providence, but despite this, they tried to avoid earthly fame.

The ideal clothing for the blessed is a naked, tortured body, showing disdain for human corruptible flesh. The naked image carries two meanings. Firstly, this is the purity and innocence of an angel. Secondly, lust, immorality, the personification of the devil, who in Gothic art always appeared naked. This costume carries a dual meaning, being salvation for some and destruction for others. Still, they had one distinctive attribute of clothing - a shirt or loincloth.

The language the holy fool speaks is silence. But there were few adherents of muteness, since this contradicted the direct duties of the blessed one: to expose human vices and voice predictions. They chose something between silence and broadcasting. The ascetics muttered and whispered indistinctly, and spoke incoherent nonsense.

Interpretation of the word

Foolishness is translated from Old Slavonic as a madman and a fool, and comes from the following words: urod and holy fool. Having studied the explanatory dictionaries of Ozhegov, Efremova, Dahl, we can conclude that the semantic load of the word is similar.

Semantic properties

1. In religion, a holy fool is a person who has renounced earthly advantages and chosen for himself the path of an ascetic. A wise madman who is one of the faces of holiness. (The holy fools danced and cried. V.I. Kostylev “Ivan the Terrible”)

2. The ancient meaning of the word "stupid".

3. A disapproving designation that belittles a person: eccentric, abnormal. (Do I look like the young wandering holy fool who is being executed today? M.A. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”)

The meaning of existence

With their behavior they tried to reason with people, showing them their actions and deeds in a caricature form. They ridiculed such human vices as envy, rudeness, and resentment. This was done in order to evoke a feeling of shame among the masses for their unworthy existence. Unlike fairground buffoons, holy fools did not resort to biting sarcasm and satire. They were guided by love and compassion for people who had lost their way in life.

Procopius of Ustyug

The holy fool, the blessed one, who was the first to compare himself to the ambassador of God's will, calling on the next Sunday morning the entire population of Ustyug to pray, otherwise the Lord will punish their city. Everyone laughed at him, thinking he was crazy. A couple of days later, he again tearfully asked the residents to repent and pray, but again he was not heard. Soon his prophecy came true: a terrible hurricane hit the city. Frightened people ran to the cathedral, and near the icon of the Mother of God they found the blessed one praying. The residents also began to pray fervently, which saved their city from destruction. Many saved their souls by turning their gaze to the Almighty. In the heat and frost every night, Blessed Procopius spent time praying on the church porch, and in the morning he fell asleep in a dung heap.

Holy fools were observed in Antioch, one of whom had an identification mark in the form of a dead dog tied to his leg. Because of such oddities, people constantly made fun of them, often kicking and beating them. Hence the conclusion that a holy fool is a martyr, only in contrast to the classical understanding of this word, he experiences pain and suffering not just once, but throughout his entire life.

Blessed Andrew for Christ's sake, the holy fool

During the reign of Emperor Leo the Great - the Wise, there lived in Constantinople a man who bought many slaves, among whom was a boy of Slavic appearance named Andrei. The owner loved him more than the others, since the young man was handsome, smart and kind. From childhood, church became his favorite place to visit; in reading, he gave preference to the Holy Scriptures. One day the devil caught him praying and started knocking on the door to confuse him. Andrei got scared and jumped into bed, covering himself with the skin of a goat. Soon he fell asleep and had a dream in which two armies appeared before him. In one, the warriors in bright robes looked like angels, and in the other they looked like demons and devils. The black army invited the whites to fight their mighty giant, but they did not dare to engage in battle. And then a fair-faced young man descended from heaven.

In his hands were three crowns of unearthly beauty. Andrei wanted to buy them for any money that the owner would give him, seeing such beauty. But the Angel offered another option, saying that these wreaths are not sold for any earthly wealth, but they can belong to Andrei if he defeats the black giant. Andrei defeated him, received crowns as a reward, and then heard the words of the Almighty. The Lord called on Andrew to become blessed for his sake and promised many rewards and honors. The holy fool listened to this and decided to fulfill the will of God. From that time on, Andrei began walking down the street naked, showing everyone his body, cut up the day before with a knife, pretending to be crazy, talking incomprehensible nonsense. For many years, he endured insults and spitting in the back, steadfastly endured hunger and cold, heat and thirst, and distributed the alms he received to other beggars. For his humility and patience, he received as a reward from the Lord the gift of clairvoyance and prediction, thanks to which he saved many lost souls and brought deceivers and villains to light.

While reading prayers in the Blachernae Church, Andrei the Fool saw the Most Holy Theotokos, from whom he received a blessing. In 936, Andrei died.

Fearless Sayings

The holy fools fought not only against human sins, but also against their own, for example, pride. The humility they acquired over the years of their life helped them survive all human attacks and beatings. But their humility and obedience does not mean that they are weak-willed and soft-bodied. Sometimes they made loud statements from the stands where other people stood and lowered their eyes in fear.

Example in history

After much persuasion by Nikolai Sallos, known as the Pskov holy fool, Ivan the Terrible still refused to eat meat during Lent, arguing that he was a Christian. Blessed Nicholas was not taken aback and noticed that the king had a strange position: not to eat meat, but to drink Christian blood. The king was disgraced by such a statement and, together with his army, was forced to leave the city. Thus, the holy fool saved Pskov from destruction.

Examples in the literature

The classic image of the holy fool, known to everyone from an early age, is the hero of Russian folk tales, Ivan the Fool. At first he seemed like an absolute fool, but over time it became clear that his stupidity was only ostentatious.

N.M. Karamzin created a hero named Vasily the Blessed, who, without fear of Ivan the Terrible’s disgrace, denounced all his cruel deeds. He also has the character John the Blessed, who even in the bitter cold walked barefoot and at every corner spoke about the nasty deeds of Boris Godunov.

Blessed Pushkin

All these heroes of Karamzin inspired A.S. Pushkin to create his own image of the holy fool, nicknamed the Iron Cap. Despite the secondary role assigned to him and a couple of lines in only one scene, he has his own “mission of truth” with which he fills the entire tragedy. It’s not for nothing that they say that a word can not only hurt, but also kill. He turns to Godunov for protection after local boys offend him and take away his money, demanding the same punishment that the tsar once proposed to apply to the little prince. The holy fool demanded that they be slaughtered. The news itself about the baby’s fate is not new, it was mentioned in previous scenes, but the difference is in the presentation. If before this they had only whispered about this topic, now the accusation was made face to face and publicly, which came as a shock to Boris. The king described what he had done as a small blemish on his reputation, but the Iron Cap opened the eyes of the people to the fact that this was a monstrous crime, and that they should not pray for the Herod king.

The blessed ascetics shunned earthly glory, but for their suffering and unappreciated exploits, the Lord rewarded them with the ability to work miracles with the power of the prayer word.

Foolishness

Isaac of Pechersk, the first Russian holy fool (fresco by V. Vasnetsov in the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral)

“The Holy Fool”, painting by Pavel Svedomsky

St. Basil the Blessed

Andrei the Holy Fool (d. 936) - Byzantine holy fool

Foolishness(from the Old Slavic urod, yurod - “fool, crazy”) - a deliberate attempt to appear stupid, insane. In Orthodoxy, holy fools are a layer of wandering monks and religious ascetics. Goals of imaginary madness ( for the foolishness of Christ) denunciation of external worldly values, concealment of one’s own virtues and incurring reproaches and insults are announced.

In Church Slavonic “fool” is also used in its literal meaning: “ Five of them are wise, and five are fools"(Matthew 25:2, "Parable of the Ten Virgins").

Foolishness in the Old Testament

Many prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible are considered the predecessors of the holy fools “for Christ’s sake.”

The prophet Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years, warning of the soon-coming Egyptian captivity (Is. 20:2-3); the prophet Ezekiel lay in front of a stone, representing besieged Jerusalem, and ate bread prepared, at the command of God, in cow dung (Ezek. 4:15); Hosea married a harlot, which symbolized Israel's unfaithfulness to God (Hos. 3). The purpose of the above actions was to attract the attention of others and encourage the people of Israel to repentance and conversion. The prophets listed in the Old Testament were not considered holy fools in the full sense of the word, but only from time to time resorted to unconventional or provocative actions to convey the will of God to the people, but such actions were not their ascetic aspirations.

Examples in the ancient world similar to foolishness

The work of the ancient Roman historian Justin, “Epitome of Pompey Trogus’s History of Philip,” describes the following episode from the life of the Athenian legislator Solon:

There was a life-and-death struggle between the Athenians and the Megarians for the possession of the island of Salamis. After many defeats, the Athenians established the death penalty for anyone who would introduce a law to conquer this island. Solon, fearing that his silence would harm the state, and his speech would destroy himself, pretended to suddenly fall into madness and decided, under the pretext of insanity, not only to talk about what was forbidden, but also to act. In a torn state, as those who have lost their minds usually have, he ran to where there were a lot of people. When the crowd came running, he, in order to better hide his intention, began to speak in verse, which was unusual at that time, and incite the people to violate the ban. He captivated everyone to such an extent that it was immediately decided to start a war against the Megarians, and after defeating the enemies, the island [Salamin] came into the possession of the Athenians.

Justin “Epitomes of Pompey Trogus’s History of Philip” Book II, Chapter 7

A striking example of feigned madness in Ancient Greece is the marginal philosopher Diogenes of Sinope.

Foolishness after the Nativity of Christ

According to Christian ideas, the religious feat of foolishness consists in the rejection with the greatest consistency of worldly concerns - about home, family, work, about subordination to authority and the rules of public decency. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians calls "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ"(1 Cor. 11:1). From this they conclude that Christ and the saints could be an example “for those zealous Christians who sought to follow the Teacher in everything, to endure what He endured.”

The madness of the New Testament is understood in a spiritual sense, not a psychopathological one. If the institutions of the then society are considered wisdom, then Christ and his disciples called for changing them or renouncing them, becoming, accordingly, “mad” for “this world.” One of the foundations for the feat of foolishness is considered to be the sermons of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament:

“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; We are weak, but you are strong; you are in glory, and we are in dishonor. Even to this day we endure hunger and thirst and nakedness and beatings, and we wander and toil, working with our own hands. They slander us, we bless; they persecute us, we endure..."(1 Cor. 4:10)
“Has God not turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness?”(1 Cor. 1:20)
“No one should deceive himself. If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise.”(1 Cor. 3:18)
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God...”(1 Cor. 3:19)
“...the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing”(1 Cor. 1:18)
“...it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save the believers”(1 Cor. 1:21)
“...we preach Christ crucified...for the Greeks it is madness”(1 Cor. 1:23)
“...for the foolish things of God are wiser than men”(1 Cor. 1:25)

The Monk Anthony in the early centuries of Christianity said: “ The time is coming when people will go mad, and if they see someone who is not mad, they will rise up against him and say: “You are going mad,” because he is not like them.„.

According to Saint Athanasius of Alexandria:

People call those who know how to buy and sell, conduct business and take from their neighbors, oppress and extort, make two out of one obol, smart, but God considers such people stupid, unreasonable and sinful. God wants people to become foolish in earthly matters and smart in heavenly things. We call someone smart who knows how to do God's will.

There were the most holy fools in Rus' - 36 holy fools are venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church[ source not specified 1291 days]. The first of the famous holy fools on the territory of present-day Russia is considered to be Procopius of Ustyug, who from Europe arrived in Novgorod, then in Ustyug. He led a strict ascetic lifestyle. The holy fools replaced the wise men and were welcome guests for the entire society of that time[ specify]. Ivan the Terrible himself treated them with reverence: so, when Mikolka Svyat cursed the tsar and predicted his death from lightning, the tsar asked to pray that the Lord would save him from such a fate. Another famous holy fool under Ivan was Vasily, who walked completely naked. St. Basil's Cathedral is named in his honor. Professor Liu Tiancai even considers foolishness to be a tradition of Russian culture.

Holy Fools

Abraham of Smolensk (1172 (? 1150) - 08/21/09/03/1221-24) - Holy Venerable Archimandrite Smolensk Wonderworker
Alexy Bushev (Alexey Vasilievich Bushev) (? - 06/24/1880) - Blessed Fool of Vologda for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Alexy Elnatsky (Alexey Ivanovich Voroshin) (1883-86 - 09/12/25/1937) - Holy Blessed Martyr (Cathedral of Ivanovo Saints and New Martyrs of Russia) Fool for Christ's sake
Alexy Elder (Alexey Konstantinovich Shestakov) (1754 - 05/25/1826) - Blessed Hieroschemamonk Elder of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (not canonized)
Alexy the man of God (? - 17.03 end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century) - Holy Reverend ascetic in Syria for Christ's sake, holy fool
Alexander the Wanderer (Alexander Mikhailovich Krainev) (1818 - 12/10/23/1889) - St. Petersburg elder-wanderer for Christ's sake, holy fool (Mitrofanievskoe cemetery) (not canonized)
Alexandra Schema-nun of Diveyevo (Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova) (1720-35 - 06/13/25/1789) - Holy Reverend Diveyevo, perspicacious schema-nun, founder of the Diveyevo Convent
Alypia Goloseevskaya (Agafia Tikhonovna Avdeeva) (03/16.03.1905-11 - 30.10.1988) - Holy Blessed Reverend Kiev Wonderworker nun elder pillar ascetic for Christ's sake holy fool
Andrey Totemsky (1638 - 10/23.10.1673-74?) - Holy Blessed Totemsky for Christ's sake, the Fool for Christ's sake
Andrey the Holy Fool (Tsaregradsky, Constantinople) (? - 10/02/936) - Holy Fool of Constantinople, especially revered in Rus' for Christ's sake
Anastasia Blessed - Pskov Blessed Perspicacious Elder (not canonized)
Anastasia Strulitskaya (Anastasia Mikhailovna Denisova) (1913 - 06.1987) - Pskov Blessed Perspicacious Elder (not canonized)
Anisia, Matrona, Agafia Blessed Ryazan (sisters Petrin Anisia, Matrona and Agafia Alekseevna) (Anisia 12/25/1890 - 10/10/1982), (Matrona 03/27/1902 - + 02/04/1995), (Agafia 02/04/1910 - 05/08. 1996) - Blessed Ryazan visionary elders, their mother elder Anna Dmitrievna Petrina (All - cemetery Ryazan region, Shatsky district, village of Polnoye Yaltunovo) (not canonized)
Anna Diveevskaya (Anna Vasilievna Bobkova-Morozova) (? - 01/14.05.1984) - Diveevskaya Blessed, perspicacious old woman for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Anna of Petersburg (Anna Ivanovna Lashkina (Lukasheva)) (? - 07/01/1853) - St. Petersburg Blessed Seeful Holy Fool for Christ's sake (Smolensk Cemetery) (not canonized)
Anna Petrovna Komissarova - St. Petersburg ascetic (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
Anna Blessed Ryazan (Petrina Anna Dmitrievna) (1871 - 05/02/1956) - Blessed Ryazan perspicacious old woman for Christ's sake, holy fool, mother of 3 old women: Anisia, Matrona, Agafia Petrin (All - cemetery Ryazan region. Shatsky district, village of Polnoye Yaltunovo) (not canonized)
Anna Sereznevskaya (Anisiya Gureevna Stolyarova) (01/12/1895 - 12/28/1958) - Holy Reverend Confessor Blessed Schema-Nun Seleznevskaya
Arseny of Novgorod (? - 07/12/1570) - Holy Reverend Novgorod, perspicacious for Christ's sake, holy fool (chains under clothes)
Afanasy Orlovsky (Afanasy Andreevich Sayko) (01.1887 - 05.05.1967) - Blessed Orlovsky elder, who acted like a fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Vanya the holy fool of Ryazan (Ivan Vysotsky) (before 1900 - after 1917) - Blessed martyr (stoned during the Revolution) Ryazan holy fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Basil the Blessed (Vasily Iakovlevich) (1469 - 08/02/1552) - Holy Moscow miracle worker for Christ's sake, the holy fool, one of the most famous saints of the Russian Orthodox Church
Basil the Blessed of Pskov - Pskov Blessed the Perspicacious (not canonized)
Vasily barefoot (Vasily Filippovich Tkachenko) (1856 - after 1918) - St. Petersburg Blessed Pilgrim for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Vasily Grafov (? - 1943) - Pskov Blessed Righteous Man (not canonized)
Vasily - St. Petersburg Blessed Fool for Christ's sake (Smolensk Cemetery) (not canonized)
Varvara the Blessed (Varvara Grigorievna Trofimova) (1906-07 - 1994-97?) - Pskov-Staro-Russian-Novgorod Blessed Perspicacious Blind Elder (rests in Staraya Russa) (not canonized)
Varvara Elder (Natalia Fedorovna Tretyakova) (10/15/11/07/1907 - 10/14/1999) - Vyritskaya Blessed schema-nun Elder for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Vissarion of Egypt (? - 06/19.06 end of the 5th century) - Holy Venerable Egyptian hermit, wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Blessed Faith (? - + 1962) - Pskov Blessed Perspicacious Elder (not canonized)
Vladimir Kamensky (Vladimir Andreevich Kamensky) (05.01 (23.12.1897 - 28.07.1969) - St. Petersburg Blessed Archpriest of Christ for the Fool's Sake (Shuvalov Cemetery) (not canonized)
Vladimir the monk (Vladimir Alekseevich Alekseev) (16/29.04.1873(78?) - 1927) - St. Petersburg Blessed Fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Galaktion Belozersky (? - 12/25.01 after 1506) - Holy Venerable Blessed Monk of the Ferapontov Monastery, venerable, perspicacious for Christ's sake, holy fool
Gabriel the Venerable (Zyryanov Gabriel Fedorovich) (03/14/1844 - 08/24/1915) - Holy Venerable Schema-Archimandrite
Gabriel (Urgebadze Goderzi Vasilyevich) (08/26/1929 - 11/02/1995) - Holy Reverend Archimandrite Tbilisi Confessor of Christ for the Fool's sake
Georgy Shenkursky (? - 04.23.1392(1450 ?)) - Holy Blessed Shenkursky, venerable Novgorod miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Grisha the holy fool (Grigory Kalinovich Deyanov) (before 1845 - after 03/29/1932) - St. Petersburg martyr for Christ's sake the holy fool (not canonized)
Daniil Kolomensky (Daniil Ivanovich Vasiliev) (1825 - 08/18/31/1884) - blessed Kolomensky Fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Daryushka the Wanderer (Daria Aleksandrovna Shurygina) (c. 1774 - 01/14/07/1854) - St. Petersburg (Novodevichy Convent) Blessed (not canonized)
Daria, Daria and Maria novices of Diveyevo (Daria Siushinskaya, Daria Timolina, Maria Neizvestnaya) (? - 05/18.08.1919) - Holy New Martyrs of Diveyevo faithful novices (Evdokia Diveyevo)
Domna Tomskaya (Domna Karpovna) (early 19th century - 12/16/28/1872) - Saint (Cathedral of Siberian Saints) Tomsk Blessed Fool for Christ's sake
Evdokia Diveevskaya (Evdokia Aleksandrovna Shishkova) (1840-60 - 05/18.08.1919) - Holy New Martyr (with novices: Daria, Daria, Maria) Venerable Martyr Diveevskaya Blessed perspicacious unsilver of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (chains)
Evdokia Tokarevskaya of Ryazan (20th century) - Blessed Ryazan (Ryazan region village of Tokarevo) perspicacious old woman (not canonized)
Eulampia of Pskov (before 1900 - ?) - Pskov nun, perspicacious old woman (not canonized)
Euphrosyne schema-nun of the Ural (Mezentseva Anna Ivanovna) (1872 - 10.25.1918) - Ural Blessed, perspicacious schema-nun, Elder of Christ for the Fool's sake (not canonized)
Euphrosyne (Efrosinya) unknown Kolyupanovskaya (Princess Vyazemskaya Evdokia Grigorievna) (c.1758 - 07/03/16/1855) - Holy Blessed Eldress, locally revered Tula Princess Vyazemskaya, who left the imperial court and became a holy fool for Christ's sake
Egorushka Tikhvinsky (? - 1879) - Tikhvin blessed fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Ekaterina Vyshgorodskaya (Ekaterina Trofimovna Molenko) (1929-1997) - Kiev Blessed Holy Fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Ekaterina Pskovskaya Blessed (Bulynina Euphrosyne) (before 1900 - after 1955) - Pskovskaya (Dmitrovskoe cemetery) Blessed nun, perspicacious old woman for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Ekaterina Pyukhtitskaya Blessed (Ekaterina Vasilyevna Malkov-Panina) (05/15/1889 - 05/05/1968) - Pyukhtitsa novice elder Blessed, perspicacious for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Elena Diveevskaya (Elena Vasilyevna Manturova) (before 1800 - 05/28/1832) - Diveevskaya Blessed nun (sister of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who died for him) (not canonized)
Elena Pyukhtitsa Elder (Elena Bogdanovna Kushaneva) (05/21/1866 - 11/10/1947) - Pyukhtitsa Blessed, perspicacious Elder for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Elena the Holy Fool of Moscow (XVI-XVII century) - Moscow famous for Christ's sake, the holy fool of the times of Boris Godunov
Jacob Borovitsky (? - 04/07/1540) - Holy Blessed Borovitsky, Novgorod miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha (1783-1861) - blessed Moscow visionary for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Ivanushka Rozhdestvensky (before 1799 - 07/17/1836) - Tsarskoye Selo for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Ignatius the Blessed (Ignatius Fedorovich Yakovlev) (after 1880-1971) - Blessed visionary elder (not canonized)
John of Moscow (Big Cap, Water-Bearer) (? - 03/14.07.1589-90 ?) - Holy Moscow miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool
John of Verkhoturye (? - April 16, 17th century) - Saint (Cathedral of Siberian Saints) Verkhotursky for Christ's sake, holy fool
John Vlasaty (Merciful) (? - 09/03/1581) - Holy Blessed Rostov wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
John of Ustyug (? - 05/29/1494) - Holy Blessed Ustyug wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Jonah (? - 1737) monk of the Peshnoshsky monastery in the Moscow province of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
Irina - St. Petersburg Blessed (Smolensk Cemetery) (not canonized)
Isaac of Pechersk (? - 02/14/27/1090) - Holy monk and recluse of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the first known holy fool in Rus'
Isidore - St. Petersburg Blessed Fool for Christ's sake (Smolensk Cemetery) (not canonized)
Isidor of Rostov (Tverdislov) (? - 05.14.1474-84 ?) - Holy Blessed Rostov wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool, originally from Germany
Isidora of Taven (? - 10/23.05 to 365) - Holy Venerable Egyptian one of the first of Christ for the sake of holy fools (rag-crown on her head)
Cyprian of Suzdal (? - 10/02/1622) - Holy Blessed Suzdal wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Kornily Krypetsky (Luka Mikheevich) (1841 - 12/28/1903 old style) - Holy Venerable Pskov Blessed Perspicacious Monk of the Krypetsky Monastery of Christ for the Fool's sake
Cosmas of Verkhoturye (Nemtchinov (Nemtikov)) (? - 12/08/1680 (? after 1704)) - Saint (Cathedral of Siberian Saints) Ural Verkhoturye local venerable fool for Christ's sake
Ksenia of Petersburg (Ksenia Grigorievna Petrova) (1719-32 - until 1806) - Saint Petersburg Blessed Christ for the Fool's sake (Smolensk cemetery)
Lavrenty Kaluga (? - 08/10/1515) - Holy Blessed Kaluga wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Lyubov Vereykina (Pelageya Panteleevna Vereykina) (05/09/22/1901 - 05/11/1997) - Moscow Blessed schema-nun, perspicacious old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, Moscow Olympia, Izmailovo village) (not canonized)
Lyubov of Ryazan (Lyubov Semyonovna Sukhanova) (28.08/10.09.1852 - 08/21.02.1921) - Locally revered holy Ryazan Blessed Elder
Lyubushka Susaninskaya (Lyubov Ivanovna Lazareva) (09/17/1912 - 09/11/1997) - Blessed, perspicacious wanderer of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
Magdalene Schema-Abbess of Ekaterinburg (Dosmanova Pelageya Stefanovna) (1847 - 07/16/29/1934) - Blessed Ekaterinburg sagacious eldress (not canonized)
Macaria Schema-nun (Feodosia Mikhailovna Artemyeva) (06/11/1926 - 07/18/1993) - Blessed, perspicacious schema-nun old woman (crept) for Christ's sake, the holy fool (Smolensk region, village of Temkino) (not canonized)
Maxim Kavsokalivit (? 1259-1354) - Holy Venerable Svyatogorsk Fool for Christ's sake
Maxim of Moscow (? - 11/11/1433-34) - Holy Blessed Moscow wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Maxim of Totemsky (c. 1615 - 01/16/29/1650) - Holy Blessed Totemsky Priest of Christ for the Fool's sake
Maria Gatchina (Lidiya Aleksandrovna Lelyanova) (1874 - 04/05/18/1932) - Holy Martyr of Gatchina Schema-Nun (Smolensk Cemetery)
Maria Diveevskaya (Maria Zakharovna Fedina) (c. 1860 - 08/26/09/08/1931) - Holy Blessed Diveyevo Elder for Christ's sake, fool for Christ's sake
Maria Starorusskaya (? - 08/13/1982) - Blessed Starorusskaya, the perspicacious old woman for Christ's sake, the holy fool (not canonized)
Maria Schema-Nun (Maria Pavlovna Makovkina) (1884-1969) - St. Petersburg Blessed Schema-Nun Elder of Christ for the Fool's Sake (Shuvalov Cemetery) (not canonized)
Marfa Semyonovna Diveevskaya (Maria Semyonovna Malyukova) (before 1810 - 08/29/1829) - Blessed Diveevskaya perspicacious schema-nun elder (not canonized)
Martha - St. Petersburg seer of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
Matvey of Petersburg (Matvey Klimentievich Totamir) (11/16/1848 - 09/17/1904) - Blessed Recluse of St. Petersburg (St. Nicholas Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra) (not canonized)
Matthew Malsky the sick (Matvey Kondratiev) (1838 - 14-15.16.1905 old style) - Blessed Malsky Izborsk righteous man (not canonized)
Matrona Anemnyasevskaya (Matrona Grigorievna Belyakova) (06.11.1864 - 16/29.07.1936) - Holy Ryazan Blessed Elder of Christ for the sake of the Fool
Matrona of Moscow (Matryona Dmitrievna Nikonova) (11/22.11.1881(-85?) - 02.05.1952) - Holy Moscow Blessed Elder of Christ for the sake of the Fool
Matronushka-barefoot (Matrona Petrovna Mylnikova) (1814 - 03/30/1911) - St. Petersburg Blessed Fool for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Mitenka the Blessed (Dmitry Princes) (1906 - ?) - Blessed, perspicacious Elder of Pskov-Novgorod (not canonized)
Michael the Blessed (Mikhail Vasilievich Vasiliev) (1897 - 07/20/1976) - Pskov Blessed monk elder (not canonized)
Mikhail Klopsky (before 1400 - 01/11/1452-56) - Holy Venerable Novgorod visionary miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool, relative of Prince Dmitry Donskoy
Misha-Samuel Pereslavsky (Mikhail Vasilyevich Lazarev) (03/08/1848 - 02/23/1907) - Locally revered holy Yaroslavl, Pereslavl-Zalessky for Christ's sake, holy fool
Natalia Blessed Diveevskaya (Natalya Dmitrievna) (before 1840 - 02/09/1900 (? 02/22/03/07/1899 (? 1890))) - Diveevskaya Blessed, perspicacious old woman for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
Natalia Blessed Ryazan (before 1870 - 11/25/1975) - Blessed Ryazan (Shatsky district) perspicacious old woman (not canonized)
Nikolai Kochanov (? - 07.27.1392) - Holy Blessed Novgorod, perspicacious wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Nicholas of Pskov (Nikolka Salos) (? - 02.28/03.13.1576) - Holy Blessed Pskov wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Nila schema-nun (Novikova Evdokia Andreevna) (08/04/1902 - 03/06/1999) - Moscow Region (M. O. Voskresensk) Blessed, perspicacious old woman (not canonized)
Olga Matushka (Maria Ivanovna Lozhkina) (1871 - 01/23/1973) - Blessed Schema-Nun Elder of Christ for Christ's sake (not canonized)
Olga Vasilievna Elder (Olga Vasilievna Bogdanova-Bari) (07/30/1881 - 10/31/1960) - St. Petersburg Blessed Elder (St. John the Theological Cemetery) (not canonized)
Olga Ivanovna - St. Petersburg seer (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
Paisiy of Kiev (Prokopiy Grigorievich Yarotsky) (1821 - 04/17/1893) - Saint (Council of Kyiv Saints) Venerable Blessed of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
Patermufius the Silent (? - until 1840) - St. Petersburg blessed elder-silent fool for Christ's sake (Alexandro-Nevsky Lavra) (not canonized)
Paraskeva Diveevskaya (Pasha Sarovskaya (Paraskeva Ivanovna)) (1795 - 09/22/10/05/1915) - Holy Blessed Diveyevo Elder of Christ for the Fool's sake
Pelagia Diveyevo (Pelageya Ivanovna Serebryannikova) (1809 - 01/30/02/12/1884) - Holy Blessed Diveyevo Elder for Christ's sake (wore an iron belt)
Pelagia of Ryazan (Pelageya Aleksandrovna Orlova) (1890-1966) - Holy Venerable Blessed Ryazan visionary blind old woman
Praskovya Semyonovna Diveevskaya (Praskovya Semyonovna Malyukova) (? - 06/01/1861) - Blessed Diveevskaya perspicacious schema-nun elder (not canonized)
Procopius of Vyatka (Prokopiy Maksimovich Plushkov) (1578 - 12/21/1627) - Holy Blessed Vyatka, perspicacious miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Procopius of Ustyug (? - 07/08/1303) - Holy Blessed Ustyug miracle worker for Christ's sake, holy fool, originally from Lubeck
Rachel Borodinskaya (Maria Mikhailovna Korotkova) (1833 - 09/27/1928) - Holy Venerable Blessed Perspicacious Elder Maiden (Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery)
Elder Samson (Sivers Eduard Esperovich) (07/10/1898 - 08/24/1979) - Hieroschemamonk Blessed Russian Elder Count Sivers (Moscow, Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye Cemetery) (not canonized)
Sarah of Borodino (Potemkina) (before 1860-1911) - Blessed, perspicacious schema-nun elder (Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery) (not canonized)
Sevastiana schema-nun (Olga Iosifovna Leshcheeva) (1878 - 04/07/1970) - Moscow Blessed schema-nun, perspicacious old woman (Rogozhskoe cemetery) (not canonized)
Seraphim Schema-Nun (Ushakova Sofia Ilyinichna) (07/19/1875 - 02/17/1950) - Moscow Blessed Schema-Nun, perspicacious old woman (Biryulyovskoye Cemetery) (not canonized)
Seraphim schema-nun (Evfrosinya Andreevna Naumenko) (1887 - 11/26/1981) - St. Petersburg Blessed schema-nun eldress for Christ's sake (Bolsheokhtinskoe cemetery) (not canonized)
Seraphim Schema-Nun of Pavlovo-Posad (Mezentseva) (before 1870 - 06/19/1919) - Pavlovo-Posad Blessed Schema-Nun, perspicacious old woman (Pokrovsko-Vasilievsky Monastery) (bed - oak coffin) (not canonized)
Serapion Sindonite (? - 14/27.05 beginning of the 5th century) - Holy Egyptian Venerable Christ for the Fool's sake
Simon the Blessed Yuryevets (? - 04/17.11.1584(86?)) - Holy Blessed Wonderworker from Yuryevets of the Volga Region
Simeon the Holy Fool of Emesa (c.522 - 580-590) - Holy Reverend of Emesa, Palestinian hermit monk who lived in Syria for the sake of the Holy Fool
Stachy (Athanasius of Rostov) (? - April 20 to 1690) - Holy Rostov wonderworker for Christ's sake, the holy fool (wore an iron camisole of 59 pounds and 2 weights of 4 pounds each)
Fyodor Kuzmich (Feodor Tomsky) (d. 1864) - Righteous Tomsk Elder for Christ's sake (possibly Emperor Alexander I)
Blessed Fyodor - Vyritsky Blessed Fool for Christ's Sake (not canonized)
Theodosius of the Caucasus - (1800-1841-1848) holy venerable
Mother Theodosia (Natalia Nikiforovna Kosorotina) - Pskov (Spaso-Elizarovsky Monastery) Blessed perspicacious nun elder (originally from Ryazan) (not canonized)
Theodosia Elder (Feodosia Ustimovna) (before 1900 - after 1960) - Pskov-Pechersk blessed old woman, pilgrim of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
Theodore of Novgorod (1325-35 - 01/19/02/01/1392(95?)) - Holy Blessed Novgorod, perspicacious wonderworker for Christ's sake, holy fool
Theophilus of Kiev (Gorenkovsky Foma Andreevich) (1781(? 88) - 10/28/1853) - Holy Reverend Blessed Hieroschemamonk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of Christ for the Fool's sake
Philippushka the blessed (Dove) (Khorev Philip Andreevich) (11/9/1802 - 05/18/1869) - schemamonk founder of the Chernigov monastery of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
Thomas the Syrian (d. 04.24.546-560) - holy monk of Kelesaria of Cappadocia for Christ's sake, holy fool

What does holy fool mean?

Before the baptism of Rus', those who were expelled from their families were called fools. Deprived of the path, the protection of the God of the Family, and erased from the family memory.

In Christianity, a substitution of concepts again occurred, and the holy fool received the status of a blessed beggar, a madman with the makings of holiness. Since the holy fools had nowhere else to go, they were more willing to accept the new faith.

Also, the word freak became a dirty word under Christianity. Before baptism, it meant the first child in the family, dedicated to God Rod. And in a family there is not without a freak, that is, in a normal family there is not without a first child.

Now, ugly is bad. Fool - this is even welcomed deep down.

Byemon epu

In the old days, a strange, unsociable person was called a holy fool. Fool. And at the same time, no one dared to lay a finger on the holy fools. Because it was considered a bad omen. Among other things, the holy fools endured all possible illnesses and saw the future. At least that's what was thought.

Yulia Muromskaya

The word “holy fool” can be interpreted as an unusual, eccentric person who behaves strangely and incomprehensibly. In the old days, people who possessed supernatural abilities were called holy fools. Currently, the meaning of this word has not changed.

A holy fool is not like those around him in his actions, thoughts, speech, and abilities. From the outside, this person seems narrow-minded and even crazy at times. Although behind such repulsive behavior were hidden the ability to sense and predict events.

Maryushka darling

Wikipedia says that Foolishness is a deliberate attempt to appear insane or simply stupid.

In Orthodoxy, this word has a slightly different meaning - wandering monks were considered holy fools.

Here's what Dahl's dictionary says about who the holy fool is:

Dolfanika

Pakhom from the Battle of Psychics calls himself a holy fool, although he doesn’t look like a real holy fool, but there is something there. He also speaks words out of place, which people perceive as a revelation from above. Strange people are called holy fools, but they are considered blessed, that is, God's grace has fallen on them when a person does not understand that he is feeling bad, but lives in harmony with himself.

Tamila123

In the 17th-19th centuries, crippled people who allegedly suffered for the sins of other people were called holy fools. For example, if a good man lost his leg by a terrible accident, this means that he is a holy fool, because of the sins of a neighbor or residents of the town.

Now the holy fool is the blessed one. Moderately incomprehensible, moderately crazy, moderately psychic, but a kind and sensitive person to people.

Arbiter justus

Original meaning of the word holy fool not at all what it is today. In our country, the word holy fool now seems to be associated with the word “freak” or mentally abnormal. And before this word meant just someone “expelled” from the clan or a wanderer. The same wandering monks fit this definition.

Marlena

The word holy fool means a person who behaves unusually, strangely and unusually. His actions are either senseless or completely strange. Previously, cripples were also called this word. Also, people who gave up everything for other people were also called this way.

The word holy fool has acquired an ambiguous meaning during its existence. So in Orthodoxy, wandering monks and religious ascetics were called holy fools. In the world, this word is used to describe people who seem and behave strangely, not like everyone else.

Who are the Holy Fools?

FOOL, mad, god-willed, fool, crazy from birth; the people consider holy fools to be God's people, often finding in their unconscious actions a deep meaning, even a premonition or foreknowledge; the Church also recognizes fools for Christ’s sake, who have taken on the humble guise of foolishness; but in the same ecclesiastical meaning. A holy fool is sometimes stupid, unreasonable, reckless: Five of them are wise, and five are holy fools, Matt. Nowadays they are more pronounced: holy fool. Foolishness w. and foolishness cf. the state of a holy fool; madness. To assume foolishness, to act like a fool, to act like a fool, to put on foolishness, to pretend to be a fool, as the jesters did of old;
play pranks, fool around. To make a fool of someone, to make a fool; to become a fool, to become like that, to become stupid, to become stupid, to lose one's mind. Foolishness, action or state according to the verb. Foolish life. Yurod and Yurod m. Yurodka f. fool, natural fool, weak-minded;

For many centuries now, scientists, historians, theologians, and artists have been trying to unravel the mystery of these unusual people - holy fools. The word "fool" is ancient Greek. Its root explains part of the meaning: "ouros" means "stupid." So the concept of foolishness initially has a negative meaning. But there is something paradoxical in the Russian tradition: the people have always revered these blessed madmen more than anyone else.
People of this type came along with Christianity from Byzantium to Russia and took root in it. And then they completely became a specifically Russian phenomenon, which has not spread in any other country in the world.

There were not so many genuine holy fools in Rus'. A hundred or two. Sixteen of them were canonized by the church.
Who are the holy fools? These are not sick, not abnormal, although they behave in such a way that many take them for crazy. Fools are saints who deliberately hide their
holiness under the guise of unreasonableness.
Only very good and simple people discern deep meaning in the strange actions and words of holy fools. Such a holy fool was Basil the Blessed under Ivan the Terrible, who denounced the cruelty of the Tsar and whom Tsar the Terrible himself did not dare to execute.

In everyday life, foolishness is certainly associated with mental or physical squalor. A holy fool, from the point of view of the notorious common sense, is an ordinary fool. This is a delusion, which Orthodox theology never tires of repeating. St. Demetrius of Rostov in his Four Menaions (they were a reference book for many generations of Russian intellectuals - from Lomonosov to Leo Tolstoy) explains that foolishness is “self-inflicted martyrdom,” a mask hiding virtue. Theology teaches us to distinguish between natural foolishness and voluntary foolishness, “for Christ’s sake.”

Holy fools are strange people. As a rule, they are poor and wretched. But in Rus' they were treated well - they gave alms and believed their predictions. Some holy fools were passionate believers; under their rags they wore chains - chains that scratched the body (self-torture in honor of the torment of Christ).

Svetlana Pavlova

Roughly speaking, people are not of this world”, who have not accepted the temporary values of success and prosperity, in the understanding of an Orthodox person
Holy Rus' is a man of God, devoid of his own mind and reasoning, through whose mouth God speaks."

Elena sunny

Saints and enlightened ones in the understanding of the sages who found insight and their true path in this world. For everyone whose goal in life is only material values, they are fools and madmen. The meeting “on the other side of life” will show who was wise and who was foolish.

Please tell me the meaning of the word "Holy Fool"

The word holy fool comes from the Old Russian word yurod. The word yurod means fool. In Christianity, holy fools are those people who take on the mask of madness and obediently listen to the scolding of other people for spiritual improvement.

Foolishness (from the famous “ourod”, “fool” - fool, crazy) is a deliberate attempt to appear stupid, insane. In Orthodoxy, holy fools are a layer of wandering monks and religious ascetics. The goals of imaginary madness (foolishness for Christ's sake) are declared to be the denunciation of external worldly values, the concealment of one's own virtues and the incurring of reproaches and insults.

Foolishness (from the Slavic “ourod”, “fool” - fool, crazy) - a deliberate attempt to appear stupid, insane. In Orthodoxy, holy fools are a layer of wandering monks and religious ascetics. The goals of imaginary madness (foolishness for Christ's sake) are declared to be the denunciation of external worldly values, the concealment of one's own virtues and the incurring of reproaches and insults.
In Church Slavonic, “holy fool” is also used in its literal meaning: “Five of them are wise, and five are holy fools” (Matthew 25:2, “Parable of the Ten Virgins”).

Galina A.

Holy Fool, oh, oh.
1.
Eccentric, crazy; abnormal. Yu guy. She is sick and a fool.
2.
= Blessed (2 digits).< Юродивость, -и; ж. ЮРОДИВЫЙ, -ого; м.
1. In Orthodoxy:
a holy ascetic with the gift of prophecy, who rejected all worldly values, worldly wisdom and chose for himself a special feat - homeless begging. Yu. Vasily barefoot.
2.
Fogy; fool (2 digits).< Юродивая, -ой; ж.

What does the word "foolishness" mean?

Olga1177

The word is related to the words “freak”, “ugly”, “holy fool”, comes from “foolishness” (in contrast to “holy fool”, which has a negative connotation), means:

In other words, to act like a fool is to become like a fool, a jester, doing funny things while working for the public. The initial yu in the analyzed word is a sign of Old Slavonic origin.

Examples of sentences with the word:

Citizen Yudina, accused of pickpocketing, at the police station, in order to pity the operatives, began to openly act like a fool: pretending to be a poor, illiterate girl who does not understand anything.

You are an adult man, and you are busy begging in the middle of nowhere and openly acting like a fool!

Maria muzja

The word “foolish fool” is an imperfective verb, with the root word “foolish fool”.

The meaning of the word “foolishness” is to behave somehow abnormally and foolishly, that is, to commit ridiculous/senseless acts, pretend to be someone else, act weird and go crazy.

There are also religions. the meaning of this word is to be “blessed”, “foolish”.

What is foolishness?

Svetlana I

These are people not of this World. God's favorites. Basil the Blessed, Matronushka, Xenia the Blessed - they are all holy fools. Some people are born this way, others will accept foolishness themselves in the name of the Lord. Help people even after their physical death

Slava Ivanov

Regarding the unhealthy and mentally retarded - this is, after all, a later meaning that has actually become figurative. You can see the discussion of the topic here: Russian foolishness as a cultural phenomenon, its national significance ([link blocked by decision of the project administration]), and also here: http://bestreferat.ru/referat-6712.html

Elena Murevava

Holy fool and freak are words that are close in meaning. According to popular beliefs, if there is a holy fool in a family, then the sins of this family are forgiven up to the seventh generation.
There are completely different explanations online:
http://search.enc.mail.ru/search_enc?q=foolishness
http://go.mail.ru/search?project=answers&lfilter=y&q=foolishness

Igor Gladky

Foolishness is the presence of mental, mental, and sometimes physical (kaliki) defects, practically synonymous with the later word “ugliness.” However, in old Rus', foolishness (mental) was considered a special “gift of God”; holy fools, kaliks and other “people of God” were not offended; on the contrary, they tried to welcome them according to their wealth. It was believed that God (Jesus, the Mother of God, etc.) spoke through the mouths of holy fools. To offend a Kalika or holy fool was considered a sin and the height of incivility. The holy fools, whose “revelations” were revered as the “voice of God,” were not subject to ordinary civil or even spiritual proceedings. In fact, in Rus' and among some other peoples they (the holy fools, the crazy) enjoyed personal immunity. The analogues of Russian holy fools in the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East were dervishes, and there were analogues in other cultures: the Aztecs, Mayans, tribes of North America and Africa. The “Institute of Holy Fools” in Russia has its continuation - this is the deputy corps: the overwhelming majority of deputies are clearly “not themselves,” but at the same time enjoy parliamentary immunity.

He is no one's son, no one's brother, no one's father, he has no home (...). In fact, the holy fool does not pursue a single selfish goal. He achieves nothing (Julia De Beausobre, “Creative Suffering”).

Foolishness is a symbol of people lost to this world, whose destiny is to inherit eternal life. Foolishness is not a philosophy, but a certain perception of life, endless respect for the human person (...), not a product of intellectual achievements, but a creation of a culture of the heart (Cecil Collins, “The Penetration of Foolishness”).

The holy fool has nothing to lose. He dies every day (Mother Maria of Normanbay, “Fool for Fool”).

Fall or rise?

In the spiritual tradition of the Christian East there is no figure more paradoxical, and even, as many believe, scandalous, than the “fool of God,” the fool for Christ, in Greek salos. Anyone who has read Tolstoy’s “Childhood” will remember the vivid description of “God’s Fool” Grisha. His portrait is by no means flattering, and Tolstoy does not try to hide the contradictions that surround the personality of the holy fool:

“The door opened, and a figure appeared in it, completely unfamiliar to me. A man of about fifty with a pale, elongated face pitted with smallpox, long gray hair and a sparse reddish beard (...) entered the room. He was wearing something tattered, similar to a caftan and cassock; in his hand he held a huge staff. Entering the room, he slammed it on the floor with all his might and, wrinkling his eyebrows and opening his mouth excessively, laughed in the most terrible and unnatural way. He was crooked in one eye, and the white pupil of this eye jumped constantly and gave his already ugly face an even more disgusting expression. His voice was rough and hoarse, his movements were hasty and uneven, his speech was meaningless and incoherent (he never used pronouns) (...). It was the holy fool and wanderer Grisha.”

One feature immediately catches the eye: the holy fool is free. Grisha freely enters the landowner's house and walks wherever he pleases. Next, Tolstoy points out the mysterious, almost “apophatic” trait of Grisha’s personality. No one knows for sure who he is:

“Where was he from? who were his parents? What prompted him to choose the wandering life he led? Nobody knew this. I only know that from the age of fifteen he became known as a holy fool, who walks barefoot winter and summer, visits monasteries, gives icons to those he loves and speaks mysterious words that some take for predictions.”

The holy fool, as we see, is a mysterious face. He is free from the usual ties of family life - "no one's son, no one's brother, no one's father" - homeless, wanderer, often an exile. As a rule, he is not a hermit; on the contrary, he is constantly in the crowd, among mere mortals. And yet, in some ways, he remains a stranger, an outcast, he is on the outskirts of a civilized society, in the center of the world - and not of this world. The holy fool is free, he is a stranger, and therefore capable, as we will see, of performing prophetic service.

It is significant that Tolstoy gives absolutely opposite opinions about Grisha:

“Some said that he was the unfortunate son of rich parents and a pure soul, while others said that he was just a peasant and a lazy person.”

The holy fool is a mysterious, mysterious, always exciting question mark. When dealing with foolishness for Christ's sake, it is extremely difficult to distinguish genius from profanity, holy innocence from godless fraud. A man of God from a jester, a fence-sitter or a beggar. Is it possible to “test spirituality”? There is no clear boundary between fall and ascent.

Let's fast forward three centuries from Tolstoy's Russia to the Russia of Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov. In his book “On the Russian State,” the English traveler Giles Fletcher describes the holy fools he saw walking through the streets of Moscow during his visit in 1588–1589:

“Even in the most severe frosts, they walk completely naked, covering themselves only with a piece of cloth, with long and tousled hair falling over their shoulders, many of them wear metal collars or chains on their chests. The holy fools take upon themselves these deprivations as prophets and people of great holiness, allowing them to speak freely whatever they consider necessary, without the slightest regard, even to “His Majesty” himself. Therefore, if a holy fool openly denounces someone, even in the most merciless way, no one can contradict him, for this is “due to sins.” And if a holy fool, passing by a counter, takes something and then gives it to someone at his own discretion, then he is allowed because he is considered a saint of God, a holy man.”

And with purely English sanity, Fletcher adds: “There are not many such people, because walking naked in Russia is difficult and cold, especially in winter.”

The nudity of holy fools is important: it is not a manifestation of eccentricity, it has theological significance. To a certain extent, the holy fools returned to the status ante peccatum, to the purity of Adam in paradise before the Fall, when he was naked and not ashamed. In this sense, the holy fools resemble boskoi - ascetics of early Christian monasteries, who ate grass or tree shoots and lived naked in the open air among antelopes in accordance with all animal creation. Such naked ascetics still live on the Holy Mountain: the French traveler Jacques Valentin talks about one of them in his book “The Monks of Mount Athos.” When Valentine asked a certain monk about the naked ascetic, he replied: “We are free, and this is how he shows his love for God.” And again we are faced with a mention of freedom.

Also important is Fletcher’s reference to the prophetic ministry of the holy fool: “They are taken for prophets.” Complete non-acquisitiveness, a voluntary renunciation of any external status or security, gives the holy fool the freedom to speak when others, fearing the consequences, prefer to remain silent - to speak the truth “without the slightest regard,” even to “His Majesty” himself, the tsar-autocrat. We will look at such an example later. In the meantime, speaking about this side of foolishness, one cannot help but recall the prisoner Bobynin from Solzhenitsyn’s novel “In the First Circle.” During interrogation by Abakumov, Stalin’s all-powerful minister of state security, Bobynin says: “You need me, but I don’t need you.” Abakumov is amazed: as the head of the secret service, he could send Bobynin into exile, torture him, destroy him, while the latter did not have the slightest opportunity to take revenge. But Bobynin insists on his own. Abakumov, he says, can only scare those who have something to lose:

“I have nothing, you know? Nothing! You can't touch my wife and child - they were killed by a bomb. I have nothing in the world except a handkerchief (...). You took my freedom many years ago, and you cannot give it back to me because you don’t have it yourself (...). You can tell the old man - you know who, up there - that you have power over people until you take away everything they have. And when you have stolen everything from a person, he is no longer in your power - he is free again.”

For Christ's sake, the holy fool is also free for the reason that he has “nothing to lose”: but not because everything was taken away from him, but because he himself renounced everything. He, like Bobynin, has no property, no family, no position, and therefore he can speak the truth with prophetic courage. He cannot be seduced by glory, for he is not vain; He fears only God.

The phenomenon of foolishness for Christ's sake is not limited to Russia alone. Since the 4th century, it has also been present in Greek and Syrian Christianity. Fools can be found in the Christian West, and even outside the Christian tradition, for example, among Jewish Hasidim, Islamic Sufis and Zen Buddhists.

This is a universal figure. In Eastern Christianity, one of the earliest manifestations - and perhaps the earliest - was not male, but female foolishness. This is an unknown nun, described by Palladius in the Lawsaic, who lived in the fourth century in Upper Egypt in the convent of the Rite of St. Pachomius. Pretending to be crazy, she wrapped her head in rags instead of a monastic doll and in this form worked in the kitchen. She had the hardest and dirtiest work, she was despised, humiliated and insulted by other nuns. Once the famous ascetic Pitirim visited the monastery. To everyone's surprise, he fell at her feet, asking for her blessing. “She’s crazy (sale),” the nuns protested. “You are crazy,” answered Pitirim. “She is your amma (spiritual mother) - mine and yours.” A few days later, the nun, in order to avoid veneration, disappeared, and was never heard from again. “And where did she go,” adds Palladium, “no one knows where she disappeared or how she died.” It seems that no one even knows her name.

And again we see that the holy fool is elusive: he is unknown to anyone, mysterious, and always a stranger to everyone.

In the Greek tradition, two holy fools are especially revered: Saint Simeon of Emesa (VI century) and Saint Andrew of Constantinople (IX century). Simeon is a historical figure. He lived in the middle or end of the 6th century, and is mentioned in particular by his contemporary, the church historian Evagrius. The Life of Simeon, compiled around the 40s of the 7th century by St. Leontius, Bishop of Naples in Cyprus, is partly based on an earlier, now lost written source, but the question of the protograph still remains open. I will not here assess the degree of historical authenticity of this monument: within the framework of current discussions, it is enough for us to look at the life as a kind of “icon” that captures the most characteristic ideas for the Orthodox tradition about the holy fool for Christ’s sake. The figure of Andrei raises much greater doubts. The author of this text is considered to be Nikephoros, presbyter of the Hagia Sophia temple in Constantinople, but when it was written is unclear, and almost all researchers tend to consider it nothing more than a “hagiographic novel.” But even if the life of Andrei is pure fiction, it can also be considered as an “icon”. In Russia, Andrei is known mainly in connection with the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos (October 1). Simeon was a monk, Andrei was a layman; but they are united by the fact that both of them performed their feat of foolishness in the cities: Simeon in Emesa, Andrei in Constantinople, and both only seemed crazy, but in fact they were true fools for Christ’s sake.

As far as we know, the first holy fool for Christ's sake in Rus' is considered to be the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Isaac (11th century), whose madness was, rather, real than ostentatious. It is interesting to note that many Russian holy fools were of foreign origin. Thus, Saint Procopius of Ustyug (beginning of the 14th century) was a German who converted to Orthodoxy; Saint Isidore Tverdislov of Rostov (13th century) also probably came from a German family. Undoubtedly, St. John “The Hairy One” of Rostov (died 1581) was a foreigner; Even in the 18th century, the Latin Psalter that belonged to the saint remained incorrupt on his shrine. All these examples confirm the idea expressed earlier that the holy fool is always an alien and a stranger. But here a question may arise: is foolishness really a special calling of a Westerner who has come to the Orthodox Church? However, I myself could give several similar examples from the life of British Orthodoxy.

The golden age of Russian foolishness falls on the 16th century, written by Fletcher. The two most famous holy fools of that time were Saint Basil the Blessed (+ 1552) and Saint Nicholas of Pskov (+ 1576); both were associated with Ivan the Terrible. After the 17th century, there were significantly fewer holy fools in Russian culture, and the Russia reformed in the European way of Peter the Great and his successors did not really need “fools of God.” But still the tradition was not interrupted: in the 18th century, Blessed Xenia of Petersburg, the widow of a colonel who died during one of Peter’s orgies, became famous (students still come to pray at her grave before exams); in the 19th century - Theophilus Kitaevsky, who was visited by Emperor Nicholas I and his spiritual daughter, St. Seraphim of Sarov Pelageya, who slapped the bishop, and the 20th century discovered the famous Pasha of Sarov, who in 1903, on the days of the glorification of St. Seraphima hosted the last Russian sovereign. Pasha had the custom of putting a lot of sugar in the tea of visitors if she saw their unfortunate fate. When the future royal martyr came to her, the holy fool put so many pieces into his cup that the tea overflowed. But are there any holy fools left in the Soviet Union? (The article was written in 1984 - Approx. Per.) According to recent emigrants, Christ for the sake of holy fools can be found in Russia to this day: “They are hiding or they are being hidden,” because as soon as such a “strange person” is noticed, he will be immediately sent to a mental hospital. Today's tyrants have many reasons to fear the freedom of holy fools.

What does this service, outwardly so eccentric, but in essence deeply Christian, teach? To understand this, let us turn to the life of Saint Simeon of Emesa, written by Saint Leontius; for in addition to the fact that this is the earliest and most complete life of the holy fool, this text has another advantage - a solid historical basis. In addition, the undoubted dignity of the life of St. Simeon is that it represents Christ for the sake of the holy fool in all his shocking and defiant appearance. As is known, in extreme forms the phenomenon appears in all its severity and becomes more visible.

From the desert to the city

Saint Simeon, the Fool for Christ's sake, was born around 537 or, according to other estimates, around 500 in the “blessed city” of Edessa (modern Urfa in southeastern Turkey), the main center of Syrian-speaking Christianity. Being the son of wealthy parents, Simeon received a good education and was fluent in Greek and Syriac. At the age of about twenty, still single, he goes on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his elderly mother. Apparently, Simeon was the only son in the family; his father had already died by then. In the Holy City, he met another young man from Syria, named John, who was also making a pilgrimage with his parents. Simeon and John immediately became inseparable friends. Having visited the holy places, they, accompanied by Simeon’s mother and John’s parents, went home together. When they were driving through the Dead Sea valley through Jericho, they suddenly noticed monasteries visible in the distance along the banks of the Jordan, and, succumbing to a sudden impulse, John suggested, and Simeon immediately agreed, not to return home, but to turn off the road and become monks. They came up with an excuse to lag behind their companions - and disappeared without explanation; At the same time, Simeon left his old mother, and John left his parents and his young wife waiting for him at home. Their companions simply did not understand what had happened to them.

In terms of atmosphere, this part of Leonty’s narrative is more like a fairy tale and, undoubtedly, less historical than the subsequent sections of the life, which deal with the life of Simeon in Emesa. It is interesting that the hagiographer does not try to portray John and Simeon in a favorable light, to justify heartlessness and cruelty towards their neighbors, and indeed, towards themselves. On the contrary, Leonty goes out of his way to emphasize that Simeon and John are capable of strong emotions. In his description, they appear to be very sensitive people. John loved his wife, Simeon was devoted to his mother, and both grieved immensely because of the Separation from their loved ones. But why then did they do this? Life offers a simple explanation. Monasticism is the path of salvation.

This explanation is unlikely to suit the modern reader. Can't family life in the world become a path that also leads to eternal life? As St. says in the Great Canon. Andrey Kritsky:

“Marriage is truly honest and the bed is undefiled,

Christ bless both of them first,

Poisonous in the flesh, and at Cana turning water into wine at the wedding.”

However, there are many other places in the New Testament that Simeon and John could well have referred to to justify their action. Thus, Christ calls us to “hate” father and mother, wife and children (Luke 14:26) and does not even allow the apostles to say goodbye to their families (Luke 9:61–62) - such is the power of the Divine call. The incident in the Jordan Valley clarifies one characteristic feature that is clearly visible throughout Simeon’s life: the desire to literally understand the “difficult passages” in the Gospel, the refusal of any compromise, maximalism.

Leaving their parents, Simeon and John came to the monastery of Abba Gerasim near the Jordan and on the same day received monastic tonsure from the abbot. Two days later they decided to leave Kinovia and go into the desert to spend their boskoi life there. It is noteworthy that they decided to take such a step without asking the abbot’s permission: the holy fool was never distinguished by obedience to any authorities. The nun described by Palladius is humble, but is she obedient? She does not ask for the abbess's blessing either for feigned madness or for escaping from the monastery. In the case of Simeon and John, the abbot was warned in a dream about their upcoming departure and intercepted them at the monastery gates in order to give them his blessing. But even if he had not come out to bless his friends, they would still have left the monastery.

Simeon and John went far downstream of the Jordan and at the confluence of the river with the Dead Sea they found an abandoned cell, where they settled. Thus, although the hagiographer calls them boskos, this concept in the strict sense is not applicable to them, because, unlike real hermits, they had, albeit primitive, but still a dwelling. Soon they reached a state of unceasing prayer. Usually Simeon and John prayed separately, moving away from each other at the distance of a thrown stone: “But if sinful thoughts or a feeling of despondency (acedia) visited one of them, he hurried to the other, and together they prayed to God that temptation would leave them.”

Even in the wild, harsh desert, Simeon and John were able to preserve pieces of the friendship that once united them in the Holy City.

This continued for thirty-one years. And so, when Simeon turned 50 years old, he said to his companion: “We no longer need to remain in the desert, brother. But listen to me, let’s go and serve the salvation of others.” Extremely frightened by such a proposal, John tried his best to dissuade Simeon, but he continued to insist on his own: “Believe me, brother, that I will no longer stay here, but I will go and mock the world.” This place is largely clarified by the Armenian version of the life of St. Simeon, where the above phrase sounds like this: “... I’m going to bring peace to earth.” John understood that the path chosen by Simeon - to return from the desert to the city in order to “mock the world” - was beyond his strength:

“In the name of God, I ask you, dear brother, do not abandon me in my misfortune. I have not yet reached such perfection that I can mock the world. But for the sake of Christ, who united us, do not separate from your brother. You know that after God I have no one but you alone, my brother.”

In addition, John warned Simeon against possible delusion of the devil. To which Simeon replied: “Do not be afraid, brother John; I did not choose this path myself, but by God’s command.” And so, shedding bitter tears, they parted.

From this time on, a special period begins in Simeon's life - he puts on a mask of madness. We have the most information about this time. When Simeon returned from the desert, he was a little over fifty. First of all, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and prayed at the holy places, “... so that his deeds would be hidden until he passes away from this life, in order to thereby avoid human glory, which leads to pride and vanity.” Consequently, he chooses the path of feigned madness, first of all, in order to avoid fame and maintain humility. But, in addition, Simeon had other motives.

From Jerusalem he went to Emesa (modern Homs in western Syria) and there he began to act like a fool:

“Approaching the city, the blessed one saw a dead dog on a trash heap; Having removed the belt, he tied the dog by the leg and dragged him along, as if running away. So he passed through the city gates. There was a school near the gate, and when the children saw him, they ran after him shouting: “Hey, holy fool!” And they threw stones at him and beat him with sticks. The next day, Sunday, he entered the church at the beginning of the Liturgy, carrying nuts in his bosom. - First, Simeon began to crack nuts and put out candles, and when they wanted to drive him out, he jumped onto the pulpit and threw nuts at the women, and with great difficulty they could drive him out of the temple. While running away, he overturned the tables of the grain merchants, who beat him so badly that he barely survived.”

All of Simeon’s subsequent actions were approximately the same. Every now and then he provoked those around him with senseless and indecent antics. He mocked church rules by publicly eating meat during Holy Week; It should be noted that all this time he walked around in monastic vestments. Simeon galloped through the streets, knocking people over, and pretended to be an epileptic. A certain merchant hired him to look after his grocery store, but at the first opportunity Simeon distributed all the food and drinks to the poor. He then got a job in a tavern. One day, when the tavern owner’s wife was sleeping alone, Simeon entered her room and pretended to be about to undress, which caused the unbridled rage of her husband, who came in after her. (But, note, Simeon had special reasons for doing this). Another time, when his friend John the Deacon (not to be confused with the other John, Simeon’s companion in the desert) suggested that they go together to bathe in the public baths, he responded with a laugh: “Yes, let’s go, let’s go.” In the middle of the street, he took off all his clothes, wrapped them around his head like a turban and rushed straight into the women's half of the bathhouse.

Throughout Leonty’s entire narrative, echoes of Simeon’s laughter can be heard. He follows his chosen path easily and joyfully, “... sometimes limping, sometimes jumping, sometimes jumping on chairs.” The words “game” and “play” appear again and again in life; Simeon plays the holy fool in the full and true sense of the word. Who knows, maybe it is here, in the mockery of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, in his cleansing laughter, that lies the possibility of the true Christianization of irony, the basis for the theology of laughter.

Simeon goes mainly to the outcasts, to the despised and rejected. He spends time in the company of actors and actresses - representatives of a profession that was by no means revered in the ancient world. Like Gladstone, he visits harlots and establishes special relationships with some women, whom he calls his “friends.” “Respectable” and well-intentioned people were indignant at the actions of this strange monk; the poor and outcasts saw in him a true friend and were not just condescending towards him, but often showed genuine sympathy and love. They found him funny and genuinely cared about him. Yes, Simeon was poor, but he still had a tiny, abandoned shack where he rested at night. Andrew of Constantinople and many Russian holy fools did not even have this; they usually slept in the entrance or on the porch.

Leontius clearly shows: Simeon’s madness in Emesa was feigned. In fact, he never lost his mind, but he skillfully pretended to be insane. Simeon spoke all kinds of nonsense to those around him, but when talking alone with John the Deacon, he spoke seriously and coherently. During the day he hung around in the crowd, fooled around, and when darkness fell, he retired to hidden places known only to John, where he spent the night hours in prayer. Simeon was not only a holy fool, but also a man of prayer, a man of prayer for the city. It is no coincidence that John once happened to see Simeon praying standing in the middle of “pillars of fire ascending into heaven, and a fiery radiance around him...”. And then you remember Abba Arseny from Memorable Tales and St. Seraphim, engulfed in fire during a conversation with Motovilov.

Let us also note that the outrages of the holy fool always have their limits. In public, Simeon defiantly eats meat, but secretly he keeps Lent much more strictly than the rules require. The holy fool is not a schismatic or a heretic, but a faithful child of the Church: he can throw nuts during the Divine Liturgy, but he partakes of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and does not question the virgin birth of Christ the Savior or His bodily resurrection! He is eccentric, but not immoral. Despite the fact that Simeon spends days and nights in taverns and brothels, he maintains perfect chastity and purity, true virginity of spirit; caressed by harlots, he does not experience any lust and does not even for a moment remove his heart from the Lord. After Simeon was kicked out of the women's bathhouse, where he had broken into in such a strange way, his friend John asked: “What did you feel, among the great multitude of naked women?” To which Simeon admitted: “It’s like a tree among trees, so and I was among them, not feeling that I had a body, not thinking that I was among corporeal beings, but my whole thought was focused on the work of God and did not leave Him for a moment.”

The unceasing prayer granted to him in the solitude of the desert remained with him wherever he appeared in the city. Simeon possessed not only unceasing prayer, but also apatheia or dispassion - purity of feelings, inner freedom, integrity and wholeness of soul and body. He followed the path of self-abasement chosen in his youth to the end and died alone in his hut, covered with brushwood, for he had neither a bed nor a cover. Only two days later, friends discovered his body. Simeon, as Leonty narrates, was buried carelessly, “without psalmody, without candles and incense,” in a cemetery for strangers. Even in his death, the holy fool remains a stranger.

“I’ll go and mock the world”

But what is the spiritual value of Simeon's life, if it has any value at all? Or would it be more honest to repeat after Lucretius: “Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum” - “This is what evil religion can inspire”? Should we see in Simeon's feigned madness nothing more than a deplorable clouding of reason, of interest only to students of religious psychopathology, and is it not better to simply pass over this topic in silence? Or can the holy fool from Emesa teach us something today?

To begin with, let us pay attention to the main feature of Simeon’s calling to foolishness. As we have seen, he was a monk, a hermit, who, after a long stay in the desert, felt called to return to the city. Having survived the “flight of one to the One,” he returns to spend his last years on the streets, in crowded places, in the bustle and noise. As well as about St. Anthony, one could say about Simeon that his spiritual path is a flight and a return. Andrei and the majority of Russian holy fools, on the contrary, were never monks, hermits or hermits; their whole life was spent “in the world.” In some cases, as with the nun described by Palladius, the holy fool lives in a communal monastery. All three situations have something in common: the holy fool follows his chosen path, constantly coming into contact with other people. There are individual cases when the holy fool lives in complete solitude, but these are rather exceptions to the general rule. In most cases, the life model of a holy fool is something like this. He has an inner prayer life, but few or no one knows about it; in “external” life, he is among people, together with them, giving himself to them. His calling is social: to live with his neighbors and for the sake of his neighbors.

The service is public, but at the same time very strange. What exactly made Simeon go into the desert and put on the mask of foolishness? Three motives can be distinguished here. The first is the one that Simeon revealed to his companion in his hermitage, John: “I will go and mock the world.” Leonty mentions the other two: “He performed some actions to save people and out of compassion (sympatheia), others - so that his spiritual feat remained hidden.” So, let’s name the main reasons that led Simeon to the path of foolishness:

The holy fool mocks the world;

The holy fool seeks the path of humility and humiliation;

The holy fool wants to save others out of compassion.

Next, we will look at each of these properties in order to ultimately answer the main question: was Simeon’s madness feigned, or is it an obligatory attribute of foolishness? Can a madman be considered a fool for Christ's sake?

“I’ll go and mock the world.” We will better understand this side of the calling of the holy fool if we remember the beginning of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. It is no coincidence that Leonty cites these words in the prologue to the life of Simeon: they constitute the “creed” of Christ for the sake of the holy fool:

“The foolish things of God are wiser than men […]. If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise […]. We are fools for Christ's sake" (1 Cor 1:25; 3:18; 4:10).

Above, describing how Simeon left his mother, we talked about his maximalism, his desire to understand the Gospel literally. Here we are faced with the same maximalism. The holy fool takes the words of the apostle literally. But is he really so stupid when he admits that Paul, when he wrote: “Be foolish,” meant exactly what he said? As G. P. Fedotov notes:

“We are so accustomed to the paradox of Christianity that we can hardly see anything more than rhetorical exaggeration in Paul’s terrible words. But Paul insists here on the complete irreconcilability of the two orders: the worldly and the divine. The complete opposite of our earthly values reigns in the Kingdom of God.”

Foolishness for Christ’s sake, Fedotov continues, reminds us of the need to expose the gap between Christian truth, on the one hand, and common sense and the moral sense of the world, on the other.”

This is the purpose of the holy fool’s “mockery” of the world. With his entire way of life, he testifies to “irreconcilability,” a fundamental discrepancy between two orders or levels of being: between this present age and the age to come, between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of Heaven, between - in the language of St. Augustine - “the city of the earth” and “the city of God.” The Holy Fool reminds us of the “complete opposite of values”; in the Kingdom of God there is a reverse perspective, the pyramid stands at the top. This is the literal meaning of repentance: metanoia, “change of thoughts” - not a feeling of guilt, but a radical change of priorities, a completely new understanding. In this sense, the holy fool is primarily a repentant one. According to Irina Gorainova, he “lives life in reverse order,” he is “a living witness of the anti-world, the possibility of the impossible.” He turns the world upside down in his own way and builds it according to the Beatitudes.

Such a life in reverse order” poses, according to Fedotov, a challenge to the “common sense” and “moral sense” of our fallen world. With his inner freedom, laughter, and “playfulness,” the holy fool makes no sense and ridicules any attempts to reduce Christian life to decency and generally accepted moral standards. He mocks all forms of legalism that turn Christianity into a set of “rules.” He is implacably opposed to those who, in the words of Christos Yannaras, “identify faith and truth with a secularized idea of moral cleanliness and external decency.” The Holy Fool, Yannaras continues, “embodies the fundamental idea of the Gospel: you can keep the whole law without ever freeing yourself from your biological ego, from corruption and death.” In this regard, we note that in the prologue to the life there is an expressive reminder of the greatest value of human conscience: Simeon is guided not by objectivist laws, but by the voice of God sounding in his heart. In this sense, the holy fool, as Cecil Collins puts it, shows “infinite respect for the human person.” It testifies to the immense superiority of the individual over the rule.

Mocking the world, the holy fool tears off the masks of hypocrisy, exposes the actors, reveals human dignity and nobility behind the façade, all too human. He is the only one who dares to say: “And the king is naked!” To cure those around him of “pious” complacency, he often has to resort to shock therapy. But at the same time, he never tries to shake the faith of his neighbors or make them doubt the truths of the Church, even if he himself breaks the fast or misbehaves during the Divine Liturgy. The holy fool, as has already been said about Simeon, is not a schismatic or a heretic. He does not mock the Holy Scriptures, the Creed, the sacraments or icons. He mocks only pompous and self-righteous persons occupying a high position in the church hierarchy, and at gloomy ritualists who confuse external gestures with internal piety. His protest is not destructive, but liberating and creative. “Mocking” the world, the holy fool, as the Armenian version of the life of Simeon very accurately says, at the same time “brings peace” to the world.

In his mockery of the fallen world, the holy fool appears as an eschatological figure, asserting the primacy of the coming age. He is a “sign” testifying that the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world. This helps to understand why holy fools appeared mainly in those times when almost no one distinguished “Caesarean” from God, and Christianity became part of the social order. In the first three centuries of our era, the Church was persecuted, and therefore there was no special need for the ministry of the holy fool: at that time all Christians looked like holy fools in the eyes of those in power. But when the danger of mixing earthly kingdoms with the Kingdom of Heaven loomed, as happened, starting from the 4th century, in the Christianized Eastern Roman Empire or in the sacralized Moscow autocracy of the 16th century, the holy fool became necessary. Like the monastic, he turns out to be an antidote to “Christianity,” which willingly colludes with the world.

As a sign and witness of the Kingdom of Heaven, the holy fool is in many ways similar to a child, as the Greek proverb reminds us: “Through the mouths of babes and holy fools the truth speaks.” In Russia there was a custom of bringing children to holy fools for blessing. St. Isaac, the holy fool of Kiev for Christ's sake, loved to gather children around him and play with them; and in our days, Blessed John (Maksimovich) showed special love for children, who had many of the traits of the Fool for Christ’s sake. Thanks to his freedom, innocence and virginity of spirit, the holy fool is the one who became “like a Child” (Matt 18:3) and learned all the secrets that God “hidden from the wise and prudent” and “revealed to babes” (Matt 11:25) . “Before the face of the Divine, a person is like a child,” says Heraclitus; the holy fool takes these words to his very heart; he plays like a child before the Deity. In this sense, it expresses something that lives in all of us while we are children and dies when we grow up, something that we need to rediscover and return to our lives. But even when playing, the holy fool is serious, his laughter borders on tears, for he is equally susceptible to the tragedies and comedies of the world. He embodies both the joy of life and its sadness.

Sometimes a holy fool, like Simeon of Emesa, for example, is loved mainly for his childish innocence, “playfulness.” But much more often he is feared and hated. It is unbearable to see the sadistic cruelty with which the world treats him. But why be so afraid and hate the holy fool? Because he is free, and therefore interferes with the world; because he doesn’t need anything and doesn’t seek power, which means she can’t use him.

This is the first meaning of foolishness for Christ's sake. The Holy Fool testifies to the fundamental difference between human and Divine wisdom. “Mocking” any forms of legalistic, generally accepted morality, he affirms the unconditional value of the human person. He, like a child, points to the Kingdom of Heaven, which, as we know, is not of this world.

Imitation of the Divine Fool

The second feature of the calling of a holy fool is the desire to maintain humility through voluntary humiliation of oneself. Before returning to the world, Simeon, fearing the honors that might be given to him as a saint, prays that “his deeds will be hidden.” Imaginary madness became the path by which he could evade honors and hide his deeds. This trait is especially evident in the plot with the innkeeper’s wife: since he began to venerate Simeon as a saint, the holy fool pretended to want to seduce his wife. As a consequence, he causes anger, but thereby keeps himself from being proud.

However, there is another, more significant reason for the self-deprecation of the holy fool. He desires, as far as possible, to unite with the humiliated Christ, who “was despised and humbled before men” (Is 53:3). The holy fool must be considered as a person who resembles Christ, imitating the Lord Jesus. According to Cecil Collins, “the greatest holy fool in history was Christ, […] the Divine Holy Fool.” True, it is impossible to completely identify the holy fool with Christ. Christ did not throw nuts in the Temple, did not knock people down in the streets, did not pretend to be an epileptic and did not act out madness. But in other respects He behaved in such a way that his close relatives might well consider Him crazy. “And when his neighbors heard him, they went to take him, for they said that he had lost his temper” (Mk 3:21) - a phrase omitted (which is not at all surprising) from Matthew and Luke. And although Jesus was not insane and did not pretend to be so, His actions offended the common sense and moral sense of his contemporaries. Just as Simeon ate meat during Holy Week, He openly and even demonstratively violated the Sabbath regulations (Mk 2:23). Like Simeon, He associated with those whom “decent” society rejected with contempt as sinners (Mark 2:15-16; Luke 7:34; 19:7), and was especially merciful to women of dubious reputation, such as to the sinner at the well (John 4:7-26) or to the wife caught in adultery (John 8:11). Like Simeon, He overturned the tables of merchants in the house of God (Matt. 21:12; John 2:15). By refusing to lead a political party, by deliberately rejecting the path of human glory and worldly power, and finally by choosing the Cross, the Lord, in the opinion of the majority of His followers, acted like a madman.

This is the great similarity between the Savior and the holy fool. The fool accepts the temptation and madness of the Cross, which at the same time is true wisdom (1 Cor 1:23-24). The icon of the humiliated Christ, the holy fool undividedly accepts the kenosis of the Lord, agrees to reproach and ridicule in order to become like his Savior. We glorify Christ in suffering, He conquers in humiliation and weakness. The same can be said about the holy fool. In the worldly, secular understanding, the holy fool does not achieve any pragmatic goals, but from a pragmatic point of view, the Cross was also not needed. In his kenotic maximalism, the holy fool appears as a deeply evangelical figure. He dies every day, which means he rises from the dead every day, for the Crucifixion is inseparable from the Resurrection... Having become an icon of the humiliated Christ, the holy fool is at the same time an icon of the great joy of the Transfiguration.

Prophet and Apostle

The “Sign” of the Kingdom of Heaven, the icon of the One who was “despised and belittled,” the holy fool, thirdly, carries out prophetic and apostolic ministry. “The soothsayer is a fool,” says Hosea (Hosea 9:7), but this statement can be interpreted completely differently: a fool (fool) is a soothsayer (prophet). His foolishness is a way to awaken the conscience of those around him. Pretending to be insane, he is engaged in missionary work, preaching the Good News of salvation to those who cannot be reached in any other way.

Let us remember how Simeon explained to his fellow soldier John why he wanted to return to the world: “There is no longer any need for us, brother, to remain in the desert. But listen to me, let’s go and serve the salvation of others.” For Simeon, foolishness was an expression of love for others. He felt like a “Boddhisattva”: it was not enough for him to intercede for the world by moving away from it, but out of love for the world he must return to the world. In the prologue, Leonty reveals the meaning of his sacrificial love: “Having been so exalted and exalted by God” as a hermit, Simeon considered it inappropriate to neglect the salvation of his neighbors; but, following the words of Christ: “Love your neighbor as yourself” - and, remembering that Christ, remaining unchanged, did not refuse to take the form of a servant for the salvation of servants, he imitated his Master, giving his own soul and body to save others. .

Simeon gives his life. The holy fool, like the monk, is a martyr. But this is not an external martyrdom of blood, but an intimate martyrdom of conscience and heart. The holy fool saves his neighbors not so much by what he says, but by the very way of his life. He is a living parable, and he convinces of salvation not with lofty words or skillful arguments, but with compassion. Or, as Leonty writes about Simeon: “He returned to the world, wanting to show compassion to the persecuted and save them.” The holy fool is alien to exhortations and reproaches - he chooses the path of solidarity. This is why Simeon spends time with harlots and everyone whom the Pharisee disdains as the “dregs” of society. Simeon shares the fate of the humiliated and unloved, the losers and the wretched, “brothers and comrades in need,” in the words of another holy fool, Andrei. And with his solidarity he brings hope and healing. Like Christ, the holy fool goes in search of the lost sheep and carries it on his shoulders. He goes down into the pit to pull his neighbors out.

But here the question arises: could not Simeon have converted sinners in a simpler and more familiar way, without pretending to be insane for this? Most likely no. If he came to a tavern and started preaching, who would listen to him? He touched the hearts of harlots and drunkards with his meekness, playfulness, and laughter. When Cecil Collins speaks of the “wild, painful tenderness of the holy fools for the suffering of all creatures living in the Universe,” his words could well be attributed to Simeon: behind the mockery and disgusting antics, he hides tenderness for all the outcasts. He loves sinners without condoning sin, and avoids the slightest hint of his moral superiority. “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11): like Christ, the holy fool does not judge or curse, and this is his attraction. According to Leonty, the apostolic mission of Simeon’s foolishness turned out to be quite successful: “With jokes, he often brought harlots and harlots to legal marriage […]. By the example of his purity, he persuaded others to repent and accept monasticism.” Jokes, not reproaches and not righteous anger.

Simeon showed special love for another group of outcasts - the “possessed”, who were treated extremely cruelly by the late antique world:

He sympathized with the suffering of those possessed by unclean spirits more than with the suffering of others. Often he walked with them and behaved like one of them; and spending his time among them, he healed many of them with his prayers.”

He participated in the suffering. The calling of the holy fool is the path of compassion in the full sense of this not very popular word today, “mysterious and universal compassion,” as Collins writes. Simeon does not try to help from a safe, inaccessible distance, but comes to the possessed and completely shares their fate. The prayers of the holy fool are healing because he himself experiences all the pain of those for whom he asks. His path is what Charles Williams calls the path of "exchange" and "vicarious love."

Julia de Beausobre writes wonderfully about this. But why not say “Christian” instead of “Russian”?

“How does Russian compassion overcome evil, heal a wound, destroy a gap? On a global scale this is simply not possible; this is generally impossible without losing position. This is only done from person to person; without any organizations or material donations, but only complete selflessness […].

Anyone who feels pity for another must leave his home in the sun in a respectable society and go in search of his neighbor, wherever he is - in darkness, in evil - and be ready to stay with him there; if in the end you return, then only together with your neighbor and with his consent.

Evil can be defeated by man only through knowledge, knowledge of evil; and it seems to the Russian consciousness that a person can know something exclusively through participation...

The goal of the holy fool is to take on part of the evil in suffering. This becomes his life’s work, because for a Russian person here on earth, good and evil are intricately intertwined. For us this is the great mystery of earthly life. Where evil reigns, there must be the greatest good. For us, this is not even a hypothesis. This is an axiom."

This is the axiom of the holy fool: without participation there is no healing; without complicity it is impossible to be saved. The same axiom is revealed to us by the Incarnation and the Garden of Gethsemane.

Although sometimes the holy fool prophesies and teaches in a more clear manner, he, as a rule, resorts not to words, but to symbolic actions. This is a very ancient tradition. The Old Testament prophets often committed eccentric and even shocking actions, which, however, had a deep meaning behind them. Isaiah walked naked (20:2), Jeremiah wore a yoke like a beast of burden (27:2), Ezekiel baked cakes in human feces (4:12), and Hosea took a harlot as his wife (3:1). Events of this kind occurred in the life of Simeon. One day, on the eve of a big earthquake, he rushed around Emesa, hitting the columns of buildings. He ordered some buildings: “Stop,” and they actually stood; to others he said: “Neither stand nor fall,” and they sat down in half. Shortly before the pestilence, Simeon went to schools and kissed children, saying: “Have a nice journey, my dear,” but he did not do this to everyone. He said to the teacher: “Don’t hit those children whom I kiss, because they have a long journey ahead of them.” And when the epidemic began, everyone he kissed died of the plague.

Amazing symbolic actions also distinguish Russian holy fools. Procopius of Ustyug carried three pokers in his left hand, and by the way he held them, the peasants could predict whether the harvest would be good or bad. Behind the strange actions of St. Basil there were hidden prophecies: he destroyed the shops of some merchants, because they traded dishonestly; he threw stones at the houses of respectable people, because demons, expelled from within, clung to the outer walls; he kissed the corners of the houses in which “blasphemy” was happening, for the angels, not being able to enter such houses, stood around in tears. And what horrified his contemporaries most of all was that he smashed the miraculous icon of the Mother of God on the Varvarinsky Gate with a stone, because an invisible demon approached the board behind the holy image.

So, behind the wild, inconsistent actions of the holy fool lies a deep meaning: they warn of impending danger or expose secret sins. The absurdity of the holy fool is purposeful; behind the external idiocy lies insight and perspicacity. Many scenes from the life of Simeon testify to his characteristic diakrisis - the gift of insight or discrimination. He breaks a vessel of wine, into which a poisonous snake has fallen, unnoticed by others; he knows the secret thoughts of hearts; he reads thoughts from a distance. In other words, the holy fool is the living conscience of society. He is a mirror in which a person sees his true face, he makes the secret apparent, and makes the subconscious come to the surface. He is a catalyst: while remaining on the sidelines, he nevertheless helps others change.

Humility in the holy fool is combined with insolence; he has the prophetic charisma of rebuking the powers that be. A free man, accustomed to suffering and hardship, a stranger with nothing to lose, speaks without fear of revenge. In the life of Simeon there are no examples of protest against the authorities, but they can be found in the biography of St. Andrei the Holy Fool, but most often they are found in stories about holy fools who lived in the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Thus, Fletcher cites an incident that occurred during Lent, when the Tsar came to Pskov. The holy fool Nikola came out to meet him and handed him a piece of fresh meat. Ivan recoiled in disgust:

“Ivashka thinks,” said Nikola, “that you cannot eat cattle meat during Lent, but is it possible to eat people, as he does?” “And threatening the emperor with a prophecy of misfortunes that would fall on his head if he did not stop killing people and did not leave the city, the holy fool then saved many human lives.”

So Nikolai Fedorov quite rightly characterized the Russian system as an autocracy limited for Christ's sake to holy fools.

Unwitting prophets?

Is the madness of Christ for the sake of holy fools always imaginary and feigned, or can sometimes it be an example of a real mental illness? This question assumes that there are clear differences between sanity and insanity; but is that the only thing? By calling some people “normal” and others “abnormal,” are we not assuming that we know what “normal” is? But to the extent that this line still exists, it seems that the madness of a holy fool can only be imaginary, and only in this case will his actions be voluntarily chosen foolishness for Christ’s sake, and not manifestations of an illness. In reality, drawing this line is not so easy. Simeon's madness was, of course, feigned, although one neurologist who specifically studied Leontius' text suggested that Simeon very skillfully and accurately imitated the symptoms of real mania. Madness is also presented in life as imaginary. But in other cases, it is not so easy to understand what is behind the obvious signs: for example, Isaac of Kiev (at least part of his life) and some other Russian holy fools actually suffered from a mental disorder. Therefore, next to those who consciously chose for themselves the role of a madman, it is very important to notice those holy fools who were actually susceptible to mental illness. Can't the grace of Christ work through them too? A person may be mentally ill, but spiritually healthy; mental retardation does not at all contradict moral purity. Such people, undoubtedly, should be counted among the holy fools for Christ's sake, and we have every reason to believe that they received the gift of prophecy from God, for the prophet does not always realize what he is talking about. As it is said about Caiaphas in the Fourth Gospel: “But he did not say this on his own, but, being high priest that year, he predicted that Jesus would die for the people” (John 11:51). Caiaphas is a prophet against his own will and desire. He does not understand with his mind the truths he speaks about, but he expresses more than he is capable of understanding. If God, without encroaching on the freedom of a prophet, can proclaim through his lips a truth inaccessible to him, why not assume that the same thing happens with Christ for the sake of holy fools? Even if a person is truly mentally ill, the Holy Spirit, through his weakness, is able to heal and save others.

The dangers of foolishness

Sometimes they say that the holy fool walks on a tightrope stretched over the abyss of hell. His prophetic innocence can turn into eccentric self-will. The temptation to run away from routine social norms is too great, without rushing to the Kingdom of Heaven. There are very few true fools for Christ's sake, and it is no coincidence that in the Orthodox tradition foolishness is considered an extremely dangerous calling. Many holy fools had disciples, but it is unlikely that we will be able to find at least one case where a holy fool deliberately pushes a follower onto his path. Simeon of Emesa realized that he had to come out of the desert in order to “mock” the world; his companion John decided to stay because he felt that he did not have enough spiritual strength: “I have not yet reached such perfection that I could mock the world.” Living in the desert is much easier than foolishness. It is not without reason that many doubted Simeon’s calling and suspected that “his prophecies came from Satan.” But he would hardly have succeeded in becoming a holy fool if he had not heard that the Lord was calling him. So does Rev. Seraphim of Sarov constantly reminded that foolishness is a calling, and did not really approve of dreams of such a path:

“Others came to the elder to ask for blessings and approval for their desire to become fools for Christ’s sake. He not only did not advise this, but angrily exclaimed: “All who take upon themselves the feat of Christ for the sake of foolishness, without having a special calling from the Lord for this, fall into delusion. You can hardly find at least one holy fool who has not fallen into delusion, died, or returned to the world. The elder [in our monastery] never blessed anyone to become a holy fool for Christ’s sake. In my time, only one monk showed signs of foolishness: he began to meow in church like a cat. Elder Pachomius [abbot] immediately ordered him to be taken out of the church and taken to the monastery gates."

So is it any wonder that the church authorities were extremely wary of Christ for the sake of foolishness. Thus, the Trullo Council (692), in its sixtieth canon, strictly condemns “those who hypocritically rage and pretend to accept such a course of action out of malice of morals.” In a commentary on this rule, the 12th-century canonist Theodore Balsamon concludes that it refers to holy fools for Christ's sake - and makes this conclusion, despite the fact that, in his opinion, along with malevolent deceivers, true holy fools for Christ's sake may well exist. The date of appearance of this canon is curious: it was adopted approximately a century and a half after the appearance of the Life of Simeon of Emesa and, perhaps, expresses an official reaction to the popularity of this text. And another canonical source condemning foolishness - “Interpretations” of Nikon of Montenegro - directly mentions the life of Simeon: “Divine laws condemn those who indulge in foolishness in the image of the great Simeon and Andrew; this is also prohibited in our days.”

However, despite all the dangers, foolishness still exists to this day. There is still a place in the Orthodox Church for this unusual but life-giving calling. And this is something to be happy about.

Although the holy fools for Christ's sake are not included in the church hierarchy, they are undoubtedly included in the “apostolic hierarchy” of prophets and seers, spiritual fathers and mothers who make up the free, uncontrolled “charismatic” life of the Church. But are we always ready to accept them into our communities? After all, a community that does not tolerate holy fools may one day find itself slamming the door in the face of the Divine Holy Fool, Christ Himself.

Inner Kingdom