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 2
... saint, but not all Orthodox writers have approved. The distinguished church historian E. Golubinskii took the view that 'strictly speaking, holy foolery is anticanonical'.2 I have nothing whatever to contribute to such debates, and they ...
... saint, but not all Orthodox writers have approved. The distinguished church historian E. Golubinskii took the view that 'strictly speaking, holy foolery is anticanonical'.2 I have nothing whatever to contribute to such debates, and they ...
Page 3
... Saint, ed. S. Hackel (London, 1981; 2nd edn. New York, 2001), 106–13; A. M. Panchenko, 'Smekh kak zrelishche', in D. S. Likhachev, A. M. Panchenko, and N. V. Ponyrko, Smekh v Drevnei Rusi (Leningrad, 1984), 72– 153; E. Thompson ...
... Saint, ed. S. Hackel (London, 1981; 2nd edn. New York, 2001), 106–13; A. M. Panchenko, 'Smekh kak zrelishche', in D. S. Likhachev, A. M. Panchenko, and N. V. Ponyrko, Smekh v Drevnei Rusi (Leningrad, 1984), 72– 153; E. Thompson ...
Page 8
... saint, it cannot be called holy foolery, since its aim is practical rather than metaphysical. The same can be said of cases of insanity feigned for the sake of modesty. For example, when Ephrem Syrus was threatened with being ...
... saint, it cannot be called holy foolery, since its aim is practical rather than metaphysical. The same can be said of cases of insanity feigned for the sake of modesty. For example, when Ephrem Syrus was threatened with being ...
Page 24
... saint also had little in common with the Old Testament prophet. If the latter, when prophesying, shed his own persona and was regarded as a medium, the saint was, by contrast, supposed. 25 R. P. Van de Kapelle, 'Prophets and Mantics', in ...
... saint also had little in common with the Old Testament prophet. If the latter, when prophesying, shed his own persona and was regarded as a medium, the saint was, by contrast, supposed. 25 R. P. Van de Kapelle, 'Prophets and Mantics', in ...
Page 36
... saint acts mad in self-defence. would speak to many with simple and ridiculous words, and like a fool, saying, 'Why ... Saints, ed. E. W. Brooks, PO 17, fasc. 1 (1923), 64–5, 68–9. Cf. M. Whitby, 'Maro the Dendrite: An Anti-Social Holy ...
... saint acts mad in self-defence. would speak to many with simple and ridiculous words, and like a fool, saying, 'Why ... Saints, ed. E. W. Brooks, PO 17, fasc. 1 (1923), 64–5, 68–9. Cf. M. Whitby, 'Maro the Dendrite: An Anti-Social Holy ...
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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