Holy Fools in Byzantium and BeyondOUP Oxford, 2006 M04 6 - 492 pages There are saints in Orthodox Christian culture who overturn the conventional concept of sainthood. Their conduct may be unruly and salacious, they may blaspheme and even kill - yet, mysteriously, those around them treat them with even more reverence. Such saints are called 'holy fools'. In this pioneering study Sergey A. Ivanov examines the phenomenon of holy foolery from a cultural standpoint. He identifies its prerequisites and its development in religious thought, and traces the emergence of the first hagiographic texts describing these paradoxical saints. He describes the beginnings of holy foolery in Egyptian monasteries of the fifth century, followed by its high point in the cities of Byzantium, with an eventual decline in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. He also compares the important Russian tradition of holy fools, which in some form has survived to this day. |
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Page xii
... .. Some who achieve ... sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings. George Orwell, 'Reflections on Gandhi', in A Collection of Essays (New York, 1945), 176 Introduction 'Holy fool' is a term for a person who.
... .. Some who achieve ... sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings. George Orwell, 'Reflections on Gandhi', in A Collection of Essays (New York, 1945), 176 Introduction 'Holy fool' is a term for a person who.
Page 9
... never simply simple. Nor, quite emphatically, is the Orthodox holy fool either a heretic or a religious reformer. He does not recruit imitators and followers; indeed, he actively repels them. Nor is the holy fool a mystic, for he makes ...
... never simply simple. Nor, quite emphatically, is the Orthodox holy fool either a heretic or a religious reformer. He does not recruit imitators and followers; indeed, he actively repels them. Nor is the holy fool a mystic, for he makes ...
Page 20
... never refer to holy foolery as an example of observing Paul's commandments: see: Nicholas of Methone, Refutation of Proclus' Elements of Theology, ed. A. D. Angelou (Athens, 1984), Prooem. 40–5; Michael Psellos, Theologica, ed. P ...
... never refer to holy foolery as an example of observing Paul's commandments: see: Nicholas of Methone, Refutation of Proclus' Elements of Theology, ed. A. D. Angelou (Athens, 1984), Prooem. 40–5; Michael Psellos, Theologica, ed. P ...
Page 23
... never used in connection with the Pauline notion of 'foolishness for Christ's sake'. * * * In the later Middle Ages, and especially in Rus, holy. 23 Didymos of Alexandria, De Trinitate ii. 13, col. 447. 24 See John Chrysostom, In ...
... never used in connection with the Pauline notion of 'foolishness for Christ's sake'. * * * In the later Middle Ages, and especially in Rus, holy. 23 Didymos of Alexandria, De Trinitate ii. 13, col. 447. 24 See John Chrysostom, In ...
Page 24
... never commended the idea of holy madness. According to Origen, 'to prophesy while in a state of ecstasy and madness, with no control over oneself (‰ò ìçäÆì ̃øò ÆPôcí Æıô ̃fiçfiç ðÆæÆŒïoïıŁå ̃Øí)—this comes not from God's Spirit'.27 ...
... never commended the idea of holy madness. According to Origen, 'to prophesy while in a state of ecstasy and madness, with no control over oneself (‰ò ìçäÆì ̃øò ÆPôcí Æıô ̃fiçfiç ðÆæÆŒïoïıŁå ̃Øí)—this comes not from God's Spirit'.27 ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
2 Insane Saints | 49 |
3 Lechers and Beggars | 66 |
4 Holy Scandal | 104 |
5 The Second Edition of Holy Foolery | 139 |
6 The New Theologians | 174 |
7 Balancing at the Edge | 195 |
10 The Iurodivyi and the Tsar | 285 |
11 Iurodstvo in an Age of Transition | 311 |
12 Iurodstvo Meets Modernity | 345 |
13 The Eastern Periphery | 359 |
14 The Western Periphery | 374 |
Conclusion | 399 |
Bibliography | 415 |
Index | 457 |
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Common terms and phrases
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