Fools, Holy
JUSTIN M. LASSER
The term “holy fool” (Gk. Salos; Slav. Iurodivye) describes a distinctive and unusual phenomenon within Orthodox spirituality: the hagiographical account of saintly protagonists who, to all the world, look as if they are mad, so great is their departure from “normal” social standards. This revelatory stupidity of the Christian protagonist carries with it an impressive prehistory in both Israelite and Classical Hellenic society. The Hebrew prophets took it upon themselves of old to lambast the wealthy and powerful for ignoring justice while merely “honoring God with their lips” and priding themselves over pious subtleties. Accordingly, the prophets were often socially marginalized. It was a similar passion to point to the neglect of justice and expose the prevalence of false piety that drove the holy fool.
Like the Hebrew prophet, the Greco- Roman Cynic philosophical school had also established a robust critical apparatus within ancient Greek society. The greatest virtue, and weapon, of the Cynic philosopher was wit. Indeed, both the Holy Fool and his Cynic sage predecessor shared a rhetorical style of luring the unwary into their dialectical nets by teasing remarks, stinging barbs, and highly symbolic puzzling behavior. The founder of the Cynic school was Diogenes of Sinope, who could be seen walking the streets of Athens in broad daylight with a lighted lamp. If an unsuspecting observer asked him what he was doing he would receive the reply: “I am looking for an honest man!” before he, pointedly, moved off again on his disappointed search. The term “Cynic” derives from the Greek word for dog, an epithet earned by the custom of the Cynic sages of barking at their allegedly civilized compatriots while themselves living a “natural” dog-like life of begging and grazing for scraps on which to subsist. The Cynic sages were notorious for the lengths to which they pushed this symbolism of the “return to nature” and were known to defecate in public and walk around naked, the latter being a trait which is repeated by several Christian holy fools and desert ascetics. St. Gregory Nazianzen, like most of the fathers of the church, studied the famous sayings of Diogenes, whose rhetorical wit was used in the schools to teach the arts of persuasion. Most masters of ancient rhetoric were trained in the chreia (sayings) technique (see Hock and O’Neil 2002), which are demonstrated in the Cynic apophthegms designed as “performance philosophy.” These books of Chreia were the standard manuals of rhetoric in the time of the fathers, and they were used liberally. It is not surprising, therefore, that we can detect many resemblances between Cynic definitions of the performance of “the sage” and the life of the Christian “Sophist” as it later appeared in the hagiographies concerning holy fools. They belong, essentially, to the world of late Antiquity, though Christian hagiographical texts would propel the practice through the Middle Ages and even beyond in the Orthodox world. The parallels between Jesus’ and the Cynic’s use of sharp wit to make a telling point are instructive.
One of the earliest references to the holy fool is the story of the “Mad Nun of Tabennisi” as recorded in the Egyptian desert literature. A holy bishop visiting a convent is able to recognize that the allegedly mad and much despised nun who cleans in the kitchens is actually the leading spiritual sage of the community. After his revelation the community is suitably chastened, but the nun disappears to live unnoticed elsewhere. The first major literary account of a holy fool is found in the Life of St. Symeon the Holy Fool (d. 590), written by Leontius of Cyprus. Here we find classical motifs reminiscent of the Cynics, woven with deliberate parallels of the life of Jesus as imaged in the life of his disciple. Like Jesus, St. Symeon moved to the Judean desert with his companion John, where they lived an ascetic life of prayer. After many years, however, St. Symeon chose to leave his rigorous seclusion and return to the great city of Emesa. His companion is scandalized, but Symeon presents the choice as a divine mandate for the preaching of salvation to others, and as being a stage higher in the spiritual life than radical seclusion. He returns to the city dragging a “stinking dead dog” behind him, and begins a series of exploits that turn the life of the town upside down. He “liberates” bread for the poor from his employers; he raids the bath-house when it is women’s day and is beaten by the female guards for forcing his way in among them (to demonstrate his passing beyond sexual temptation); he eats in a revolting way and passes wind ostentatiously. Most famously of all he waits in the church and at any sign of pious behavior he throws nuts at people. The odd actions annoy and stimulate the people to reflect. Symeon is presented as a fool in the eyes of the world, who is wise in the sight of God, for he has turned away to “mock the world” and remind his co-religionists that it is passing away. His voluntary debasement is a mark of witness undertaken for their benefit. We note the common element in the life of the fool, which is the embracing of suffering in imitation of the suffering Christ. The common theme of all lives of holy fools is that God sees where human superficiality cannot. The fool’s antics serve to call for repentance, humility, and renewed sincerity in a tired church. Their deep interior life of holiness serves as a powerful force of intercession for their compatriots, which is usually only realized in retrospect – for they remain hidden and unappreciated while they are alive.
After Symeon came a series of holy fools. The Life of Andrew the Scythian (9th century) made a transition between the old Byzantine models (looking back to a classical past) and the newer Slavic Orthodox world which took to the idea enthusiastically. The holy fool was a vivid aspect of both ancient and modern Russian society and provided an important counterbalance to absolutist tendencies in both church and state. The beautiful Cathedral of St. Basil in Red Square, Moscow, is dedicated to the Fool for Christ Basil of Mangazeia (d. 1552), a saint who would bark at the cruelties of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, walk naked in winter, and shoplift for the benefit of the poor. Later Russian fools for Christ include St. Isidor of Rostov (d. 1474), St. Xenia of St. Petersburg (d. 1796), Feofil of Kiev (d. 1853), Terentii (d. 1886), Pelagia (d. 1884), and Pasha of Sarov (d. 1915). Comparatively there were very few renowned Saloi in the modern Greek tradition. Panagis Basias (d. 1888) is a rare exception (Gorainov 1993). In Tolstoy’s Boyhood and Youth there is a beautiful recollection of a holy fool, whose peasant simplicity and dedication to prayer touches the heart of the young protagonist who had set out to laugh at him. More recently, Eastern Europe’s long winter under Soviet persecution has provided many more examples of “holy fools” in the eyes of the wider society: saints who danced to their deaths, to silent obscurity and harsh imprisonment, or sank under officially imposed impoverishment because of their single-mindedness in following God. As in the icon of the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos, it was the holy fool alone who could see the heavenly life all around with clear eyes and courageous heart.
SEE ALSO: Charity; Monasticism; Protecting Veil; Repentance; Wealth
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Gorainov, I. (1993) Oi Dia Christon Saloi. Athens: Tinos.
Hock, R. F. and O’Neil, E. N. (eds.) (2002) The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric: Classroom Exercises. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
Ivanov, S. A. (2006) Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond, trans. S. Franklin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krueger, D. (1996) Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontius’ Life and the Late Antique City. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Saward, J. (1980) Perfect Fools. Oxford: Oxford University Press.