holy fool

Yuro marvelous And ( region) holy fool, holy fool, holy fool.

1. Stupid, eccentric, insane. "Everyone has his own tale about the holy fool landowner." Nekrasov.

2. in meaning noun holy fool, holy fool, husband. A Christian ascetic-madman or who has taken the form of a madman and who, according to believers, has the gift of divination ( church, rel.). For Christ's sake, or in Christ, a holy fool. "Pray to God for me, holy fool!" Pushkin.

Ozhegov's dictionary

holy fool

YUR ABOUT DIVY, oh, oh.

1. Eccentric, crazy (colloquial).

2. holy fool, Wow, m. A madman with the gift of divination.

| and. holy fool, oh (to 2 digits).

Dictionary of Efremova

holy fool

1. m. A Christian ascetic-madman or who has taken the form of a madman, possessing - according to believers - the gift of divination.
2. m. An eccentric, stupid, crazy person.
3. adj.
   1. :
      1. Crazy, stupid, insane.
      2. Full of foolishness.
   2. trans. unfold Impractical, unsuitable for life.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Vladimir Dal

holy fool

crazy, god-willed, fool, born crazy; the people consider the holy fools to be God's people, often finding in their unconscious actions their deep meaning, even premonition or foreknowledge; the church also recognizes the holy fools for Christ's sake, who have taken upon themselves the humble guise of foolishness; but in the ecclesiastical sense. The holy fool is sometimes stupid, unreasonable, reckless: Five of them were wise, and five holy fools, Matt. Now they say more: holy fool. Foolishness and foolishness cf. the state of the holy fool; madness. To take on foolishness, to be foolish, to be foolish, to act foolish, to pretend to be a fool, as jesters used to do in the old days;

fool around, fool around. To fool someone, to make a holy fool; to become a fool, to become such, to become stupid, to become stupid, to lose one's mind. Foolishness, action or state according to vb. Yurodstvennoe life. Yurod and Yurod m. Yurodka f. fool, fool of birth, foolish;

made a fool of himself.

Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language

holy fool

Old Russian - holy fool.

In modern Russian, the word came from Old Slavonic. It means: “a weak-minded, mentally deranged person, sometimes a beggar, according to deeply religious people, possessing the gift of clairvoyance.” At present, the word is used very rarely and has practically gone out of use. Quite often, only the word "freak" is used, which in Old Slavonic was pronounced as "fool".

Russian - East Slavic - the form "freak", from the y- - prefix, which means "inferiority", "lack", "waste". Iotation, on the other hand, arose on Old Slavic soil.

Related are:

Ukrainian - holy fool.

Czech - jurodivy.

Derivative: foolishness.

A completely different attitude towards holy fools who are canonized by the Church. Foolishness is a kind of spiritual feat of man. In this sense, it is understood as madness for the sake of Christ, a voluntary feat. It should be noted that this rank of saints appears precisely in Russia. It is here that foolishness is so vividly presented as sublime and indicates various serious problems of society under the guise of imaginary madness.

For comparison, out of several dozen holy fools, only six asceticised in other countries. Thus, it turns out that the holy fools are people canonized by the Church. Their crazy behavior called people to look at the spiritual problems that exist in society.

The first mention of holy fools dates back to the 11th century. Hagiographic sources point to Isaac of the Caves, who labored in the famous Kyiv Lavra. Later, for several centuries, the feat of foolishness is not mentioned in history. But already in the XV-XVII centuries, this type of holiness began to flourish in Rus'. Many people are known who are glorified by the Church as great ascetics of piety. At the same time, their behavior could cause many questions from others. Basil the Blessed of Moscow is considered one of the most famous holy fools. In his honor, a famous temple was built in Moscow on the main square of the country. The names of Procopius Ustyugsky, Mikhail Klopsky are preserved in history.

Foolish people did crazy things. For example, in the market they could throw cabbage at people. But it is worth distinguishing foolishness for the sake of Christ from innate foolishness (madness). Christian holy fools were usually wandering monks.

Historically, in Russia, buffoons and clowns, who amused the princely palaces and pleased the boyars with their ridiculous behavior, could also be called holy fools. The opposite of this is foolishness for the sake of Christ. Such holy fools, on the contrary, were denounced for the sins of the boyars, princes and themselves.

What is the meaning of foolishness for the sake of Christ

Holy fools could be respected by the great figures of Rus'. For example, Tsar Ivan the Terrible personally knew Basil the Blessed. The latter denounced the sins of the king, but for this he was not even executed.

The very phenomenon of foolishness for Christ's sake, as a type of holiness, has not yet been fully understood and explained by secular sciences. Holy fools, who voluntarily took on the feat of appearing insane, still attract the attention of psychologists, philosophers and theologians.

Holy fool (saw Boris Godunov): — Aaaaaaaa!

Boris! Ah, Boris!
They offended the holy fool!
Boris (stops in front of Yurodiv): - What is he crying about?
Holy fool: - The boys took a pretty penny, tell them to slaughter them,

how you killed the little prince.

Foolishness as a quality of personality - a tendency to intentionally try to appear holy foolish, stupid, insane; a tendency to senseless, insane, absurd acts that only a holy fool could do.

XVI century, Moscow. “In 1521, under Tsar Vasily Ivanovich, one night the blessed one came to the Kremlin’s Great Assumption Cathedral and, standing in front of its doors, prayed for a long time with tears, along with some pious people, for the deliverance of Moscow from the impending danger. Suddenly, they all heard a great noise with horror: the doors of the cathedral opened, a voice rang out in the cathedral, denouncing Moscow of iniquities, the miraculous image of the Vladimir Mother of God moved from its place, and the words were heard: “The icon with the saints wants to leave the city.” At the same time, fire appeared throughout the cathedral, and its flame, knocked out of the windows and doors of the cathedral, brightly lit up the neighboring temples. Having learned about this vision, Moscow anxiously expected some kind of trouble. And the trouble was not long in coming: in the same year, the Tatar Khan Mohammed Giray unexpectedly approached Moscow, burned its environs and horrified her; - the capital was preparing for destruction, and only God's help saved it: frightened by a miraculous vision, the khan retreated from Moscow. In 1547, during the reign of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the Terrible, on June 20, Blessed Vasily came to the Vozdvizhensky Monastery (now Exaltations on Vozdvizhenka) and began to weep bitterly here. No one understood that day what the blessed one was crying about, but the next day the reason for the tears was explained: on June 21, a wooden church in the Vozdvizhensky Monastery caught fire, the fire, intensified by the storm, spread to neighboring buildings. Soon the Kremlin, Kitay-Gorod and Bolshoi Posad burst into flames; the entire middle part of Moscow became a victim of fire; royal chambers, cathedrals, parish and monastery churches with all the treasury and treasures - everything burned down. There was nothing to think about saving them when the fire made the iron glow like in a furnace, and the molten copper flowed over the earth like water. Some adults (not counting babies) then burned 1,700 people. This is what a terrible disaster the blessed one mourned the day before ”(Kuznetsov I. Moscow Pokrovsky and St. Basil’s Cathedral. M., 1914. P. 45-47).

Basil the Blessed predicted the heir to the king. As you know, after Ivan the Terrible, his eldest son John was to ascend the throne. When Basil the Blessed was dying, the king, along with both sons and daughter Anastasia, came to say goodbye and ask him to pray for them. On his deathbed, the blessed one unexpectedly turned to the youngest son of the tsar, Theodore, and he, and not at all the eldest, predicted to accept the kingdom. And so it happened, although at that moment there were no signs of sonicide. When the throne was empty, the younger one, Fedor, took over.

In severe frost and under the scorching sun, Vasily walked naked and barefoot through the streets of Moscow. The saint sometimes overturned the trays with goods and gladly accepted the beatings of the merchants. However, later it turned out that he acted in this way according to God's Providence, since the goods he overturned were worthless. And it soon became clear that Vasily was a man of God. Many Muscovites turned to the blessed for advice. Despite the hardships and hardships, Vasily reached a ripe old age and died on August 2, 1557 at the age of 88.

The Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron gives the following definition: “Yurodievs are people who, out of love for God and their neighbors, took upon themselves one of the feats of Christian piety - foolishness in Christ. They not only voluntarily renounced the comforts and blessings of earthly life, the benefits of social life, the closest and most intimate kinship, but took on the appearance of an insane person who knows neither decency nor a sense of shame, which sometimes allows seductive actions. These companions did not hesitate to speak the truth in the eyes of the mighty of this world and consoled the pious and God-fearing people. Thus, the holy fools were not insane in the usual sense, but took on the appropriate form and, under the guise of foolishness, performed such civil feats that ordinary people did not dare out of fear of the powerful of this world or out of worldly calculations.

Foolishness in Holy Rus' is one of the most amazing and difficult feats of Christian piety. It is based on a fiery love for God, combined with great self-sacrifice, extreme impartiality towards oneself, patience with reproach, contempt from the people, enduring hunger, thirst, heat and other hardships associated with a wandering life. This holy feat reveals to man the gift of God's grace - spiritual wisdom for turning dishonor into the glory of God, not allowing anything sinful in the ridiculous, seductive in the obscene, and nothing unjust in the denunciation.

Holy foolishness, having established itself in a person, brings him closer to prophetic ministry. Constant self-observation, vigilant vigilance over the slightest movements of one's inner world, moral purity, true spiritual perfection created the prerequisites for holy vision.

Foolishness, as a rule, manifested itself as a deliberate effort to appear stupid, insane. 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 reproach and insults. All sources emphasize that the madness of the holy fools was feigned. It is said about Ammon: "The elder pretended to be a fool." Abba Ohr recommends the following: "Either run away from people, or hide from the world and people, presenting yourself as insane in many cases." The title of the story about Isidore reads: "About acting out madness." Then the words follow: "There was a sister in this convent who acted out insanity." About the monk Abba Silvanus it is said that "he pretended to be insane" and "played out insanity." Regarding Mark of Alexandria, it is specified that “this brother pretended to be insane”, and he himself, talking about his past, describes how he conceived his feat as follows: “... I said to myself: “Now go to the city and become insane” ". John of Ephesus says about Theophilus and Mary that they played "endless jokes and buffoonery", that they were dressed: she was like a courtesan, he was like a mime. At the same time, John notes that they behaved this way "in order to deceive the audience." The author of the life of Simeon repeatedly emphasizes that his madness was feigned, for example, he writes: “Simeon did everything under the guise of stupidity and buffoonery.<…>Now he seemed to be lame, then he ran skipping, then he crawled on his goose, then he tripped a hurrying trip and knocked him down, then on the new moon he looked at the sky, and fell, and jerked his legs, then he shouted something, because, according to his words, , for those who, for the sake of Christ, show themselves to be holy fools, such behavior is the most suitable. But at the same time, when Simeon was alone with his friend John, he "never showed himself to be a holy fool, but spoke with him so reasonably" that, "as this venerable John assured:" I could not believe that this was the one who recently seemed to be a holy fool."

The authority of the holy fools (God's people) is so great that many swindlers realized that it is possible to earn big money on this, influence political decisions, and exert the necessary influence on the unorganized masses. Fraudsters, with appropriate training, have learned to pretend to be fools, have learned to act foolish, giving out in their supposedly unconscious actions a hidden deep meaning, premonition or foresight. What is it for a manipulator and a crook to pretend to be a stupid, eccentric, insane person? A couple of rubbish. But the profitability of this metamorphosis may exceed all the most incredible expectations.

Petr Kovalev 2014

People believe that a holy fool is a person with the obligatory presence of a mental disorder or a bodily defect. In simple terms, this is an ordinary fool. The Church tirelessly refutes this definition, arguing that such people spontaneously doom themselves to torment, wrapping themselves in a veil that hides the true goodness of their thoughts. Theology calls to distinguish between such two concepts as fools by nature and fools "for Christ's sake." If everything seems to be 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, protected themselves from worldly goods and comforts, dooming themselves to eternal wandering and loneliness. At the same time, they could afford insane, indecent behavior in public, trying 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, tormented body, showing disdain for human perishable flesh. The naked image carries two meanings. First, it 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 death for others. Yet they had one distinctive attribute of clothing - a shirt or loincloth.

The language spoken by the holy fool is silence. But there were few adherents of dumbness, 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, spouting incoherent nonsense.

Word interpretation

Foolishness is translated from Old Slavonic as a madman and a fool, comes from the following words: ourod and 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, who has chosen the path of an ascetic for himself. A wise fool 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. Disapproving designation that belittles a person: eccentric, abnormal. (Do I look like a young vagrant holy fool who is being executed today? M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita")

The meaning of existence

By 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, touchiness. This was done in order to arouse in the masses a sense of shame for an unworthy existence. Unlike the fair buffoons, the holy fools did not resort to biting sarcasm and satire. They were guided by love and compassion for people who have lost their way in life.

Procopius of Ustyug

A holy fool who was the first to compare himself with an ambassador of the will of God, calling on the next Sunday morning the entire population of Ustyug to pray, otherwise the Lord would punish their city. Everyone laughed at him, considering him insane. 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. Residents also began to pray fervently, which saved their city from destruction. Many also 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 fell asleep in a dunghill.

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 kicked and beat them. Hence the conclusion that the holy fool is a martyr, only in contrast to the classical understanding of this word, experiencing pain and suffering not once, but throughout his life.

Blessed Andrew Christ for the sake of the holy fool

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

In his hands were three crowns of unearthly beauty. Andrey wanted to buy them for any money that the owner would give him, seeing such beauty. But the Angel suggested 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 Andrew to become blessed for his sake and promised many rewards and honors. The holy fool listened to this and decided to do the will of God. Since that time, Andrey began to walk naked along the street, showing everyone his body, cut up with a knife the day before, pretending to be crazy, carrying inarticulate nonsense. For many years he endured insults and spitting in the back, steadfastly endured hunger and cold, heat and thirst, and distributed the received alms to other beggars. For his humility and patience, he was rewarded by the Lord with 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 Blachernae Church, Andrew the holy fool saw the Most Holy Theotokos, from whom he received a blessing. Andrew died in 936.

Fearless Sayings

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

An example in history

After much persuasion by Nikolai Sallos, known as the Pskov holy fool, Ivan the Terrible nevertheless refused to eat meat during fasting, arguing that he was a Christian. Blessed Nicholas did not lose his head and noticed that the tsar 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 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 to be an absolute fool, but over time it became clear that his unreason was ostentatious.

N.M. Karamzin created a hero named St. Basil the Blessed, who, not being afraid of the disgrace of Ivan the Terrible, denounced all his cruel deeds. He also has the character of John the Blessed, who, even in severe frost, walked barefoot and talked about the nasty deeds of Boris Godunov at every corner.

Pushkin's blessed

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 whole tragedy. No wonder they say that a word can not only hurt, but also kill. He turns to Godunov for protection after he was offended by local boys and took away a penny, 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 about the fate of the baby itself is not new, it was mentioned in previous scenes, but the difference is in the presentation. If before that this topic was only whispered, now the accusation was made in person and in public, which was a shock to Boris. The king described what he had done as a small speck on his reputation, but the Iron Cap opened the eyes of the people to the fact that this was a monstrous crime, and that it was not worth praying for the king-herod.

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

foolishness

foolishness(from the old Slav. ourod, yurod - “fool, insane”) - a deliberate attempt to seem 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) the denunciation of external worldly values, the concealment of one's own virtues and the incurring of reproach and insults are announced.

In Church Slavonic, "holy fool" is also used in its direct meaning: " Five of them are wise, and five holy fools"(Matt. 25:2, "The Parable of the Ten Virgins").

Foolishness in the Old Testament

Many prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible are considered the forerunners of the holy fools "for Christ's sake."

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

Examples in the ancient world, similar to foolishness

In the work of the ancient Roman historian Justin "The epitome of the work of Pompey Trogus" History of Philip "" describes the following episode from the life of the Athenian legislator Solon:

Between the Athenians and the Megarians there was a struggle not for life, but for death for the possession of the island of Salamis. After many defeats, the Athenians instituted the death penalty for whoever introduced a law for the conquest of this island. Solon, fearing that his silence would harm the state, and his speech would destroy him, 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, such 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 the victory over the enemies, the island [Salamis] passed into the possession of the Athenians.

Justin "Epitome of Pompey Trogus's History of Philip" Book II, Ch.7

A striking example of feigned madness in ancient Greece is the marginal philosopher Diogenes of Sinop.

Foolishness after Christmas

According to Christian ideas, the religious feat of foolishness consists in the rejection with the greatest consistency of worldly concerns - about the house, family, work, about submitting 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 Corinthians 11:1). From this they conclude that Christ and the saints could be an example "for those zealous Christians who strove to follow the Teacher in everything, to endure what He endured."

The madness of the New Testament is understood in a spiritual sense, not in 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 of the feat of foolishness is considered to be the sermons of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament:

• “We are foolish 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 we labor, working with our own hands. They curse us, we bless; persecuted us, we endure ... "(1 Corinthians 4:10)
• “Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into folly?”(1 Corinthians 1:20)
• “No one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks to be wise in this age, he must be foolish in order to be wise.”(1 Corinthians 3:18)
• "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God..."(1 Corinthians 3:19)
• "... the word about the cross for those who are perishing is foolishness"(1 Corinthians 1:18)
• “... God was pleased with the foolishness of the sermon to save the believers”(1 Corinthians 1:21)
• "... we preach Christ crucified... for the Greeks madness"(1 Corinthians 1:23)
• "...because the foolishness of God is wiser than men"(1 Corinthians 1:25)

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

According to St. Athanasius of Alexandria:

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

Most of the holy fools were in Rus' - 36 holy fools are revered in the Russian Orthodox Church [ source unspecified 1291 days]. The first known holy fool on the territory of present-day Russia is Procopius of Ustyug, who arrived from Europe to Novgorod, then to Ustyug. He led a strict ascetic life. The holy fools replaced the Magi and were welcome guests for the entire society of that time[ specify]. Ivan the Terrible himself treated them with reverence: for example, when Mikolka Svyat scolded the tsar and predicted his death from lightning, the tsar asked to pray that the Lord would deliver him from such a fate. Another famous holy fool under Ivan was Vasily, who went completely naked. Basil's Cathedral is named in his honor. Professor Liu Tiancai even classifies foolishness as one of the traditions of Russian culture.

Holy fools

1. Abraham of Smolensk (1172 (? 1150) - 08/21/09/03/1221-24) - Holy Reverend Archimandrite of Smolensk wonderworker
2. Alexy Bushev (Alexey Vasilyevich Bushev) (? - 06/24/1880) - Blessed Vologda Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
3. Alexy Elnatsky (Alexey Ivanovich Voroshin) (1883-86 - 09/12/25/1937) - Holy Blessed Martyr (Cathedral of the Ivanovo Saints and New Martyrs of Russia) for Christ's sake, holy fool
4. Alexy the Elder (Alexey Konstantinovich Shestakov) (1754 - 05/25/1826) - Blessed Hieroschemamonk Elder of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (not canonized)
5. Alexy the man of God (? - 17.03 end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century) - Holy Reverend ascetic in Syria for the sake of the holy fool
6. Alexander the Wanderer (Alexander Mikhailovich Krainev) (1818 - 10 / 23.12.1889) - St. Petersburg old man-wanderer of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Mitrofanevsky cemetery) (not canonized)
7. Alexandra Schimonakhinya Diveevskaya (Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova) (1720-35 - 06/13/25/1789) - Holy Reverend Diveevskaya clairvoyant schema nun, founder of the Diveevsky Convent
8. Alipia Goloseevskaya (Agafia Tikhonovna Avdeeva) (03/16/03/1905-11 - 10/30/1988) - Holy Blessed Reverend Kiev wonderworker nun old woman pilgrimage ascetic for the sake of the holy fool
9. Andrew of Totemsky (1638 - 10/23.10.1673-74?) - Holy Blessed Totemsky Christ for the sake of the holy fool
10. Andrei the Holy Fool (Tsaregradsky, Constantinople) (? - 02.10.936) - Saint, especially revered in Rus', Constantinople Christ for the sake of the holy fool
11. Anastasia Blazhennaya - Pskov Blessed clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
12. Anastasia Strulitskaya (Anastasia Mikhailovna Denisova) (1913 - 06.1987) - Pskov Blessed seer old woman (not canonized)
13. Anisia, Matrona, Agathia Blessed Ryazan (sisters Petrina Anisia, Matrona and Agafia Alekseevna) (Anisia 12/25/1890 - 10/10/1982), (Matrona 03/27/1902 - + 02/04/1995), (Agafia 02/04/1910 - 08.0 5.1996) - Blessed Ryazan shrewd old women, their mother old woman Anna Dmitrievna Petrina (All - cemetery Ryazan region Shatsky district, village Polnoe Yaltunovo) (not canonized)
14. Anna Diveevskaya (Anna Vasilievna Bobkova-Morozova) (? - 05/14/1984) - Diveevskaya Blessed clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
15. Anna of Petersburg (Anna Ivanovna Lashkina (Lukasheva)) (? - 07/01/1853) - St. Petersburg Blessed clairvoyant Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
16. Anna Petrovna Komissarova - St. Petersburg ascetic (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
17. Blessed Anna of Ryazanskaya (Petrina Anna Dmitrievna) (1871 - 05/02/1956) - Blessed Ryazan clairvoyant old woman for the sake of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, mother of 3 old women: Anisia, Matrona, Agafia Petrin (All - cemetery Ryazan region Shatsky district, village Polnoe Yaltunovo) (not canonized)
18. Anna Sereznevskaya (Anisia Gureevna Stolyarova) (01/12/1895 - 12/28/1958) - Holy Rev. Confessor Blessed Schema Nun Seleznevskaya
19. Arseny of Novgorod (? - 07/12/1570) - Holy Reverend Novgorod of the perspicacious Christ for the sake of the holy fool (chains under clothes)
20. Afanasy Orlovsky (Afanasy Andreevich Saiko) (01.1887 - 05.05.1967) - Blessed Oryol elder, who fooled for Christ for the sake of Christ (not canonized)
21. Vanya the holy fool of Ryazan (Ivan Vysotsky) (before 1900 - after 1917) - Blessed martyr (with stones during the Revolution) Ryazan holy fool for Christ (not canonized)
22. Basil the Blessed (Vasily Iakovlevich) (1469 - 08/02/1552) - Holy Moscow wonderworker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, one of the most famous saints of the Russian Orthodox Church
23. Basil the Blessed of Pskov - Pskov Blessed the perspicacious (not canonized)
24. Vasily Barefoot (Vasily Filippovich Tkachenko) (1856 - after 1918) - St. Petersburg Blessed Wanderer of Christ for the Holy Fool (not canonized)
25. Vasily Grafov (? - 1943) - Pskov Blessed Righteous (not canonized)
26. Vasily - St. Petersburg Blessed Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
27. Blessed Barbara (Varvara Grigoryevna Trofimova) (1906-07 - 1994-97?) - Pskov-Old-Russian-Novgorodskaya Blessed seer blind old woman (rests in Staraya Russa) (not canonized)
28. Barbara Staritsa (Natalya Fedorovna Tretyakova) (10/15/11/07/1907 - 10/14/1999) - Vyritskaya Blessed schema-nun old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
29. Bessarion of Egypt (? - 06/19.06 end of the 5th century) - Holy Venerable Egyptian hermit, wonderworker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
30. Blessed Faith (? - + 1962) - Pskov Blessed clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
31. Vladimir Kamensky (Vladimir Andreevich Kamensky) (01/05 (12/23). 1897 - 07/28/1969) - St. Petersburg Blessed Archpriest of Christ for the Holy Fool (Shuvalovskoye Cemetery) (not canonized)
32. Vladimir monk (Vladimir Alekseevich Alekseev) (04/16/29/1873 (78?) - 1927) - St. Petersburg Blessed Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
33. Galaktion Belozersky (? - 12 / 25.01 after 1506) - Holy Reverend Blessed monk of the Ferapontov Monastery, the locally revered clairvoyant Christ for the sake of the holy fool
34. Gabriel the Monk (Zyryanov Gavriil Fedorovich) (03/14/1844 - 08/24/1915) - Holy Reverend Venerable Schema-Archimandrite
35. Gabriel (Urgebadze Goderzi Vasilievich) (08/26/1929 - 11/2/1995) - Holy Reverend Archimandrite Tbilisi Confessor of Christ for the sake of the fool
36. Georgy Shenkursky (? - 04/23/1392 (1450?)) - Holy Blessed Shenkursky locally venerated Novgorod miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
37. Grisha the holy fool (Grigory Kalinovich Deyanov) (before 1845 - after 03/29/1932) - St. Petersburg martyr of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
38. Daniil Kolomensky (Daniil Ivanovich Vasilyev) (1825 - 08/18/1884) - blessed Kolomna for the sake of the fool for Christ (not canonized)
39. Darya the Wanderer (Daria Aleksandrovna Shurygina) (c. 1774 - 07/01/14/1854) - St. Petersburg (Novodevichy Convent) Blessed (not canonized)
40. Daria, Daria and Maria the novices of Diveyevo (Daria Siushinskaya, Daria Timolina, Maria Neizvestnaya) (? - 08/05/1919) - Holy New Martyrs Diveyevo faithful novices (Evdokia of Diveyevo)
41. Domna Tomskaya (Domna Karpovna) (beginning of the 19th century - 12/16/28/1872) - Holy (Cathedral of the Siberian Saints) Tomskaya Blessed Christ for the sake of the holy fool
42. Evdokia Diveevskaya (Evdokia Alexandrovna Shishkova) (1840-60 - 08/05/1919) - Holy New Martyr (with novices: Daria, Daria, Maria) Venerable Martyr Diveevskaya Blessed clairvoyant unmercenary Christ for the sake of the holy fool (chains)
43. Evdokia Tokarevskaya Ryazanskaya (XX century) - Blessed Ryazanskaya (Ryazan region, village of Tokarevo) clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
44. Evlampia of Pskov (before 1900 -?) - Pskov nun, clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
45. Euphrosyne schema-nun of Ural (Anna Ivanovna Mezentseva) (1872 - 10/25/1918) - Ural Blessed clairvoyant schema-nun old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
46. Euphrosyne (Ephrosyne) unknown Kolupanovskaya (princess Vyazemskaya Evdokia Grigoryevna) (c. 1758 - 07/03/16/1855) - Holy Blessed old woman, locally venerated Tula princess Vyazemskaya, who left the imperial court and became Christ for the sake of the holy fool
47. Yegorushka Tikhvinsky (? - 1879) - Tikhvinsky blessed for the sake of the holy fool for Christ (not canonized)
48. Ekaterina Vyshgorodskaya (Ekaterina Trofimovna Molenko) (1929-1997) - Kiev Blessed Christ for the Holy Fool (not canonized)
49. Blessed Catherine of Pskov (Bulynina Euphrosyne) (before 1900 - after 1955) - Pskovskaya (Dmitrovsky cemetery) Blessed nun, clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
50. Ekaterina Pyukhtitskaya Blessed (Ekaterina Vasilievna Malkov-Panina) (05/15/1889 - 05/05/1968) - Pyukhtitskaya novice old woman Blessed clairvoyant Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
51. Elena Diveevskaya (Elena Vasilievna Manturova) (before 1800 - 05/28/1832) - Diveevskaya Blessed nun (sister of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who died for him) (not canonized)
52. Elena Pyukhtitskaya old woman (Elena Bogdanovna Kushaneva) (05/21/1866 - 11/10/1947) - Pyukhtitskaya Blessed clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
53. Elena the Fool of Moscow (XVI-XVII century) - Moscow famous fool for Christ for the sake of the times of Boris Godunov
54. Jacob Borovitsky (? - 04/07/1540) - Holy Blessed Borovitsky, Novgorod miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
55. Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha (1783-1861) - blessed Moscow clairvoyant Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
56. Ivanushka Rozhdestvensky (until 1799 - 07/17/1836) - Tsarskoye Selo Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
57. Ignatius the Blessed (Ignatius Fedorovich Yakovlev) (after 1880-1971) - Blessed perspicacious elder (not canonized)
58. John of Moscow (Big Cap, Water-bearer) (? - 07/03/14/1589-90?) - Holy Moscow wonderworker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
59. John of Verkhoturye (? - 16.04 XVII century) - Saint (Cathedral of the Siberian Saints) Verkhotursky for the sake of the holy fool
60. John Vlasatiy (Merciful) (? - 09/03/1581) - Holy Blessed Rostov miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
61. John of Ustyug (? - 05/29/1494) - Holy Blessed Ustyug miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
62. Jonah (? - 1737) monk of the Peshnoshsky monastery in the Moscow province of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
63. Irina - St. Petersburg Blessed (Smolensk Cemetery) (not canonized)
64. Isaac of the Caves (? - 02/27/1090) - Holy monk and recluse of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the first known holy fool in Rus'
65. Isidore - St. Petersburg Blessed Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
66. Isidor of Rostov (Tverdislov) (? - 05/14/1474-84?) - Holy Blessed Rostov miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, originally from Germany
67. Isidora of Tavenskaya (? - 10 / 23.05 to 365) - Holy Reverend Egyptian one of the first Christ for the sake of the holy fools (rag-crown on her head)
68. Cyprian of Suzdal (? - 02.10.1622) - Holy Blessed Suzdal miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
69. Kornily Krypetsky (Luka Mikheevich) (1841 - 12/28/1903 old style) - Holy Rev. Pskov Blessed clairvoyant monk of the Krypetsky Monastery of Christ for the Holy Fool
70. Kosma Verkhotursky (Nemtchinov (Nemtikov)) (? - 12/08/1680 (? after 1704)) - Saint (Cathedral of the Siberian Saints) Ural Verkhotursky locally venerated Christ for the sake of the holy fool
71. Xenia of Petersburg (Xenia Grigorievna Petrova) (1719-32 - until 1806) - Saint Petersburg Blessed for the sake of Christ for the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery)
72. Lawrence of Kaluga (? - 08/10/1515) - Holy Blessed Kaluga miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
73. Lyubov Vereykina (Pelageya Panteleevna Vereikina) (05/09/22/1901 - 05/11/1997) - Moscow Blessed Schema-nun, the clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (church of the Life-Giving Trinity, M. O. settlement of Izmailovo) (not canonized)
74. Lyubov Ryazanskaya (Lyubov Semyonovna Sukhanova) (08/28/09/10/1852 - 02/08/21/1921) - Holy locally venerated Ryazan Blessed old woman
75. Lyubushka Susaninskaya (Lyubov Ivanovna Lazareva) (09/17/1912 - 09/11/1997) - Blessed clairvoyant wanderer of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
76. Magdalene Schemamenia of Yekaterinburg (Dosmanova Pelageya Stefanovna) (1847 - 07/16/29/1934) - Blessed Yekaterinburg clairvoyant shiigumeniya old woman (not canonized)
77. Macarius schema nun (Feodosia Mikhailovna Artemyeva) (06/11/1926 - 07/18/1993) - Blessed clairvoyant schema nun old woman (crawled) for the sake of Christ for the holy fool (Smolensk region, Tyomkino village) (not canonized)
78. Maxim Kavsokalivit (? 1259-1354) - Holy Venerable Svyatogorsky Christ for the sake of the holy fool
79. Maxim of Moscow (? - 11/11/1433-34) - Holy Blessed Moscow miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
80. Maxim of Totemsky (c. 1615 - 01/16/29/1650) - Holy Blessed Totem Priest of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
81. Maria Gatchinskaya (Lydia Alexandrovna Lelyanova) (1874 - 04/05/1932) - Holy Martyr Gatchina schema-nun (Smolensk cemetery)
82. Maria Diveevskaya (Maria Zakharovna Fedina) (c. 1860 - 08/26/09/08/1931) - Holy Blessed Diveevskaya old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
83. Maria Starorusskaya (? - 08/13/1982) - Blessed Old Russian clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
84. Maria schema nun (Maria Pavlovna Makovkina) (1884-1969) - St. Petersburg Blessed schema nun old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Shuvalovskoye cemetery) (not canonized)
85. Marfa Semenovna Diveevskaya (Maria Semyonovna Malyukova) (before 1810 - 08/29/1829) - Blessed Diveevskaya clairvoyant schema-nun old woman (not canonized)
86. Martha - St. Petersburg clairvoyant Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
87. Matvey of Petersburg (Matvey Klimentievich Totamir) (11/16/1848 - 09/17/1904) - St. Petersburg blessed recluse (Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra) (not canonized)
88. Matthew Malsky sick (Matvey Kondratiev) (1838 - 14-15.16.1905 old style) - Blessed Malsky Izborsky Righteous (not canonized)
89. Matrona Anemnyasevskaya (Matrona Grigorievna Belyakova) (11/06/1864 - 07/16/29/1936) - Holy Ryazan Blessed Old Woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
90. Matrona of Moscow (Matryona Dmitrievna Nikonova) (11/11/22/1881 (-85?) - 05/02/1952) - Holy Moscow Blessed old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
91. Matronushka-sandal (Matryona Petrovna Mylnikova) (1814 - 03/30/1911) - St. Petersburg Blessed Christ for the Holy Fool (not canonized)
92. Blessed Mitenka (Dmitry Princes) (1906 -?) - Blessed far-sighted Pskov-Novgorod elder (not canonized)
93. Michael the Blessed (Mikhail Vasilievich Vasiliev) (1897 - 07/20/1976) - Pskov Blessed Elder Monk (not canonized)
94. Mikhail Klopsky (before 1400 - 01/11/1452-56) - Holy Reverend Novgorod clairvoyant miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, a relative of Prince Dmitry Donskoy
95. Misha-Samuil Pereslavsky (Mikhail Vasilyevich Lazarev) (03/08/1848 - 02/23/1907) - Holy locally venerated Yaroslavsky, Pereslavl-Zalessky Christ for the sake of the holy fool
96. Natalya Blessed Diveevskaya (Natalya Dmitrievna) (until 1840 - 02/09/1900 (? 22.02 / 07.03 1899 (? 1890))) - Diveevskaya Blessed clairvoyant old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
97. Natalya Blessed Ryazanskaya (until 1870 - 11/25/1975) - Blessed Ryazanskaya (Shatsky district) clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
98. Nikolai Kochanov (? - 07/27/1392) - Holy Blessed Novgorod clairvoyant miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
99. Nicholas of Pskov (Nikolka Salos) (? - 28.02 / 13.03.1576) - Holy Blessed Pskov miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
100. Nila schema-nun (Novikova Evdokia Andreevna) (08/04/1902 - 03/06/1999) - Moscow region (M. O. Voskresensk) Blessed clairvoyant old woman (not canonized)
101. Mother Olga (Maria Ivanovna Lozhkina) (1871 - 01/23/1973) - Blessed schema-nun near Moscow, old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
102. Olga Vasilievna Staritsa (Olga Vasilievna Bogdanova-Bari) (07/30/1881 - 10/31/1960) - St. Petersburg Blessed Staritsa (St. John the Theologian Cemetery) (not canonized)
103. Olga Ivanovna - St. Petersburg perspicacious (Smolensk cemetery) (not canonized)
104. Paisius of Kiev (Procopius Grigorievich Yarotsky) (1821 - 04/17/1893) - Saint (Cathedral of the Kyiv Saints) Reverend Blessed from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
105. Patermufiy the Silent (? - until 1840) - St. Petersburg Blessed Elder Silent Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Alexander Nevsky Lavra) (not canonized)
106. Paraskeva Diveevskaya (Pasha Sarovskaya (Paraskeva Ivanovna)) (1795 - 09/22/10/05/1915) - Holy Blessed Diveevskaya old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
107. Pelagia Diveevskaya (Pelageya Ivanovna Serebryannikova) (1809 - 01/30/02/12/1884) - Holy Blessed Diveevskaya old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (she wore an iron belt)
108. Pelagia Ryazanskaya (Pelageya Aleksandrovna Orlova) (1890-1966)
109. Praskovya Semenovna Diveevskaya (Praskovya Semyonovna Malyukova) (? - 06/01/1861) - Blessed Diveevskaya clairvoyant schema-nun old woman (not canonized)
110. Procopius of Vyatka (Procopy Maksimovich Plushkov) (1578 - 12/21/1627) - Holy Blessed Vyatka, the perspicacious miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool
111. Procopius of Ustyug (? - 07/08/1303) - Holy Blessed Ustyug miracle worker of Christ for the sake of the holy fool, originally from Lubeck
112. Rakhil Borodinskaya (Maria Mikhailovna Korotkova) (1833 - 09/27/1928) - Holy Venerable Venerable Blessed See-Through Elder Maiden (Savior-Borodino Monastery)
113. Samson Elder (Sivers Eduard Esperovich) (07/10/1898 - 08/24/1979) - Hieroschemamonk Blessed Russian Elder Count Sievers (Moscow, Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery) (not canonized)
114. Sarah Borodino (Potemkina) (until 1860-1911) - Blessed clairvoyant schema-nun old woman (Savior-Borodino Monastery) (not canonized)
115. Sevastiana schema-nun (Olga Iosifovna Leshcheeva) (1878 - 04/07/1970) - Moscow Blessed Schema-nun the perspicacious old woman (Rogozhskoe cemetery) (not canonized)
116. Seraphim schema nun (Ushakova Sofia Ilyinichna) (07/19/1875 - 02/17/1950) - Moscow Blessed schema nun the perspicacious old woman (Biryulevskoye cemetery) (not canonized)
117. Seraphim schema nun (Evfrosinya Andreevna Naumenko) (1887 - 11/26/1981) - St. Petersburg Blessed schema nun old woman of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery) (not canonized)
118. Seraphim schema nun Pavlovo-Posadskaya (Mezentseva) (until 1870 - 06/19/1919) - Pavlovo-Posadskaya Blessed schema nun perspicacious old woman (Pokrovsko-Vasilyevsky monastery) (bed - oak coffin) (not canonized)
119. Serapion Sindonit (? - 14 / 27.05 beginning of the 5th century) - Holy Egyptian Rev. Christ for the sake of the holy fool
120. Simon the Blessed Yuryevets
121. Simeon the Holy Fool of Emesa (c.522 - 580-590) - Holy Venerable Emesa, a Palestinian monk-hermit who lived in Syria for the sake of the holy fool
122. Stachy (Athanasius of Rostov) (? - 20.04 to 1690) - Holy Rostov wonderworker of Christ for the sake of the fool (he wore an iron camisole of 59 pounds and 2 weights of 4 pounds each)
123. Fyodor Kuzmich (Theodore of Tomsk) (d. 1864) - Righteous Tomsk elder of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (possibly Emperor Alexander I)
124. Theodore the Blessed - Vyritsky Blessed for Christ's sake, holy fool (not canonized)
125. Theodosius of the Caucasus - (1800-1841-1848) holy reverend
126. Mother Theodosia (Natalya Nikiforovna Kosorotina) - Pskovskaya (Savior Elizarovsky Monastery) Blessed clairvoyant nun old woman (born in Ryazan) (not canonized)
127. Theodosia old woman (Feodosia Ustimovna) (before 1900 - after 1960) - Pskov-Pechersk blessed old woman wanderer of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
128. Theodore of Novgorod
129. Theophilus of Kiev (Gorenkovsky Foma Andreevich) (1781 (? 88) - 10/28/1853) - Holy Rev.
130. Blessed Filippushka (Dove) (Khorev Philip Andreevich) (11/9/1802 - 05/18/1869) - schemamonk founder of the Chernigov Skete of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra of Christ for the sake of the holy fool (not canonized)
131. Thomas the Syrian (d. 24.04.546-560) - holy venerable monk of Celesaria of Cappadocia Christ for the sake of the holy fool

What does foolish mean?

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

In Christianity, there was again a substitution of concepts, 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, and they were more willing to accept the new faith.

Also, the word freak in Christianity has become abusive. Before baptism, it meant the first child in the family, dedicated to God Rod. And the family is not without its black sheep, that is, in a normal family, not without the first child.

Now, a freak is bad. Fool - this is even in the depths of the soul welcomed.

Bemont epu

In the old days, a strange, unsociable person was called a holy fool. Fool. And at the same time, no one dared touch the holy fools with a finger. Because it was considered a bad omen. Among other things, the holy fools endured all possible diseases and saw the future. At least it was thought so.

Yulia Muromskaya

The word "holy fool" can be interpreted as an unusual, quirky person who behaves strangely and incomprehensibly. In the old days, people who possessed supernatural abilities were called holy fools. At present, 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 sometimes insane. Although such repulsive behavior hid the ability to feel and predict events.

Maryushka darling

Wikipedia says foolishness is a deliberate attempt to appear insane or just plain stupid.

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

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

dolphinica

Pahom from the Battle of Psychics calls himself a holy fool, although he doesn’t look like a real holy fool, but there is something. 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 fell on them when a person does not understand that he is ill, but lives in harmony with himself.

Tamil123

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

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

Arbiter justus

The original meaning of the word holy fool not at all what it is today. In our country, the word holy fool is now, as it were, associated with the word "ugly" or mentally deranged. And earlier this word meant everything “expelled” from the clan or a wanderer. The same wandering monks fit this definition.

Marlena

The word holy fool denotes a person who behaves unusually, wonderfully and unusually. His actions are either senseless or generally strange. Previously, this word was also called cripples. Also, people who gave up everything for the sake of other people were also called that way.

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

Who are the Fools?

Holy fool, insane, God-willed, fool, born crazy; the people consider the holy fools to be God's people, often finding in their unconscious actions their deep meaning, even premonition or foreknowledge; the church also recognizes the holy fools for Christ's sake, who have taken upon themselves the humble guise of foolishness; but in the ecclesiastical sense. The holy fool is sometimes stupid, unreasonable, reckless: Five of them were wise, and five holy fools, Matt. Now they say more: holy fool. Foolishness and foolishness cf. the state of the holy fool; madness. To take on foolishness, to be foolish, to be foolish, to act foolish, to pretend to be a fool, as jesters used to do in the old days;
fool around, fool around. To fool someone, to make a holy fool; to become a fool, to become such, to become stupid, to become stupid, to lose one's mind. Foolishness, action or state according to vb. Yurodstvennoe life. Yurod and Yurod m. Yurodka f. fool, fool of birth, foolish;

For many centuries, scientists, historians, theologians, artists have been trying to unravel the mystery of these unusual people - holy fools. The word "holy 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 a similar warehouse came along with Christianity from Byzantium to Russia and took root in it. And then they completely became a specifically Russian phenomenon, which did not spread in any other country in the world.

There were not so many genuine holy fools in Rus'. Hundred or two. Sixteen of them have been canonized by the Church.
Who are the holy fools? They are not sick, not abnormal, although they behave in such a way that many take them for crazy. Holy fools are saints who deliberately hide their
holiness under the guise of unreason.
Only very good and simple people guess the deep meaning in the strange actions and words of the holy fools. Basil the Blessed was such a holy fool under Ivan the Terrible, who denounced the cruelty of the tsar and whom the tsar the Terrible himself did not dare to execute.

In the worldly view, foolishness is invariably associated with spiritual or bodily misery. The holy fool, from the point of view of the notorious common sense, is an ordinary fool. This is a delusion, which Orthodox theology never tired of repeating. St. Demetrius of Rostov in his Fourth Menaia (they were a reference book for many generations of Russian intellectuals - from Lomonosov to Leo Tolstoy) explains that foolishness is "self-willed martyrdom", a mask that hides virtue. Theology teaches to distinguish between natural foolishness and voluntary foolishness, "for Christ's sake."

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

Svetlana pavlova

Roughly speaking, people not of this world "who did not accept the temporary values ​​​​of success and prosperity, in the understanding of an Orthodox person
Holy Rus' is a man of God, deprived of his own mind and reasoning, through whose mouth God speaks"

Elena solar

Saints and enlightened in the understanding of the sages who have found insight and their true path in this world. For everyone whose goal of 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 stupid.

Please tell me the meaning of the word "holy fool"

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

Foolishness (from the Slavs “ourod”, “yurod” - a fool, insane) - a deliberate attempt to seem 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 reproach and insults.

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

Galina a.

Holy fool, th, th.
1.
Eccentric, crazy; abnormal. Yu guy. She is sick, foolish.
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. Y. Vasily is barefoot.
2.
Fogy; fool (2 characters).< Юродивая, -ой; ж.

What does the word "to be a fool" mean?

Olga1177

The word is related to the words "ugly", "ugly", "holy fool", comes from "foolishness" (as opposed to "holy fool", which has a negative connotation), means:

In other words, to act like a fool - 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.

Example sentences with the word:

Citizen Yudina, accused of pickpocketing, in the police department, in order to pity the operatives, began to openly play the fool: pretend to be a poor, illiterate, who does not understand anything.

• You are an adult man, and you are engaged in the fact that you are begging in the passage and openly foolish!

Maria music

The word "foolishness" is an imperfective verb, with the root of the word "foolishness".

The meaning of the word "foolishness" is this - it means to behave somehow abnormally and foolishly, that is, to commit ridiculous / senseless acts, to pretend to be someone, to be weird and crazy.

There is also religion. the meaning of this word is to mean to be "blessed", "holy fool".

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. Someone is born this way, someone in the name of the Lord will take foolishness himself. Help people even after their physical death

Glory to Ivanov

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

Elena Muravieva

Holy fool and ugly are words that are close in meaning. According to popular beliefs - if there is a holy fool in the family, then the sins of this family are forgiven up to the seventh generation.
There are other explanations on the web:
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Igor smooth

Foolishness - the presence of mental, mental, and, sometimes, physical (Kaliki) shortcomings, practically a synonym for the later word "ugliness". However, in old Rus' foolishness (psychic) ​​was supposed to be a special "gift of God", the holy fools, kaliks and other "people of God" were not offended, on the contrary, they tried to welcome them as far as they could. It was believed that God (Jesus, Mother of God, etc.) speaks through the holy fools. Offending a Kalika or a holy fool was considered a sin and the height of lack of culture. Holy fools, whose "revelations" were revered as the "voice of God", were not covered by the usual civil and even spiritual legal proceedings. In fact, in Rus' and among some other peoples, they (holy fools, crazy) enjoyed personal immunity. Dervishes were an analogue of Russian holy fools in the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East, 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 - such is the deputies: the vast majority of deputies are clearly "not in themselves", but at the same time they enjoy parliamentary immunity.

the category of holy ascetics who have chosen a special feat - foolishness, i.e. the appearance of madness, taken for the sake of "outrage to the world", a radical rejection of the values ​​of worldly life and service to Christ through witnessing to the outsideness of Christ's path to worldly wisdom and worldly greatness. Foolishness as a path of holiness realizes the opposition between the wisdom of this age and faith in Christ, which the Apostle Paul affirms: there is foolishness before God, as it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness" (I Cor. 3:18-19), cf. also: "We are fools for Christ's sake" (I Cor. 4:10). Foolishness as a special kind of asceticism arises among Eastern monasticism around the 5th century. Palladius in Lavsaik (see patericon) tells of a nun in one of the Egyptian monasteries who pretended to be insane and possessed by demons, lived apart, did all the dirty work, and the nuns called her salh later her holiness is revealed, and Palladius indicates, that she brought to life those words of the Epistle to the Corinthians quoted above. Evagrius (d. 600) tells in his Ecclesiastical History about herbivores, ascetics who ate herbs and plants; these ascetics returned from the desert to the world, but in the world they continued their ascetic feat - they walked in the same loincloths, fasted and pretended to be insane. Their behavior was full of temptation, and this demonstrated that perfect dispassion Simeon, the holy fool from Emesa in Syria, who, hiding behind madness, denounced sinners, worked miracles; after his death, the inhabitants of Emesa are convinced of his holiness. ) as an extreme means of destroying pride, the ability to divination, carried out under the guise of madness and only gradually comprehended by people, the humble acceptance of reproaches and beatings as following Christ, the denunciation of sinners and the ability to see demons, their surroundings, secret prayers at night and demonstrative impiety during the day, etc. e. Foolishness as a type of behavior apparently uses the model that was set by demon-possessed people who lived near the relics of saints. In the V-VI centuries. near the churches built on the graves of saints (martyriums), communities of demon-possessed are formed, who are periodically subjected to exorcism, and the rest of the time they live near the church, performing various work in the church economy. Possessed take part in church processions and can, with cries and gestures, expose those in power in sins and impiety; their denunciations are perceived as prophetic words emanating from the demon dwelling in them (the belief that demons dwelling in demon-possessed people can reveal truths hidden from people is based on the gospel examples of demons confessing the Son of God, cf. Matt. 8:29; Mk 5.7). At the same time, in the lives of holy fools, the motif of perceiving them as possessed by demons is often repeated, and their prophecies and denunciations as coming from demons (in the life of Simeon of Emesa, in the life of Andrei, the holy fool of Constantinople, etc.). The feat of foolishness does not receive significant distribution in Byzantium, or, in any case, only in rare cases is it recognized in the form of veneration sanctioned by the church. A number of saints resort to foolishness only for a certain time, devoting, however, most of their lives to asceticism of a different type. The period of foolishness is noted, for example, in the lives of St. Basil the New (X century), st. Simeon the Studite, the teacher of Simeon the New Theologian, St. Leontius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1175) and others. However, Byzantine sources contain numerous stories about "God's people" who took the form of madmen, walked naked, wore chains and enjoyed exclusive reverence for the Byzantines. John Tsetse (XII century) speaks, for example, in his letters about noble ladies of Constantinople, who in their home churches hang not icons, but chains of holy fools who filled the capital and are revered more than apostles and martyrs; John Tsetse, however, writes about them with condemnation, as do some other late Byzantine authors. This kind of condemnation was apparently characteristic of the church authorities of that era and was associated with the desire to establish a cenobitic monasticism, living according to the charter and not practicing unregulated forms of asceticism. Under these conditions, of course, the veneration of holy fools as saints did not receive official sanction. If in Byzantium the veneration of the holy fools is of a limited nature, then in Russia it is becoming very widespread. The first Russian holy fool should be considered Isaac of the Caves (d. 1090), who is described in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. Further, there is no information about the holy fools until the XIV century, in the XV - the first half of the XVII century. there is a flourishing of asceticism associated with foolishness in Muscovite Rus'. The Russian holy fools were guided primarily by the example of Andrei, the holy fool from Constantinople, whose life was extremely widespread in Russia and caused numerous imitations (the life was written in Byzantium, apparently in the 10th century BC). and soon translated into Slavic; the life of Andrei is attributed to the 5th century, numerous anachronisms and other kinds of inconsistencies encourage us to think that Andrei is a fictional figure). Abraham of Smolensk, Procopius of Ustyug, Vasily the Blessed of Moscow, Maxim of Moscow, Nikolai of Pskov Salos, Mikhail of Klopsky and others are among the revered Russian holy fools. In their ascetic feat, those features that are also characteristic of the Byzantine tradition of foolishness are clearly identified: outward madness, the gift of divination , temptation as a principle of behavior (inverted piety), denunciation of sinners, etc. In Muscovite Rus', the holy fools acquire great social significance, they act as accusers of unrighteous power and heralds of God's will. Foolishness is perceived here as a full-fledged path of holiness, and many holy fools are revered during their lifetime.

Watch value holy fool in other dictionaries

holy fool- crazy, god-willed, fool, born crazy; the people consider the holy fools to be God's people, often finding in their unconscious actions their deep meaning, even a premonition ........
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

holy fool- and (reg.), holy fool, holy fool. 1. Stupid, eccentric, crazy. Everyone has their own tale about the holy fool landowner. Nekrasov. 2. in value noun holy fool, holy fool, m. Christian ........
Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

holy fool- This is a word meaning "blissful" or "mentally deranged", of the same root as the noun freak, which somewhat clarifies its meaning.
Etymological Dictionary of Krylov

holy fool— I.
Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov

Vasily the Fool of Solvychegodsky- (according to the manuscript. holy memory 3

Georgy, Yurodivy Novgorodsky- memory 3
Big biographical encyclopedia

Georgy, Yurodivy Shenkursk.— miracle worker, † 23 Apr. 1392
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John, St., Blessed. Yurodivy Moscow.- "water carrier, big cap"; † 3 July 1569
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John, St., Fool- miracle worker. Ustyug; representative May 29, 1494; the celebration of his memory on May 29 was established in Moscow. Cathedral. 1547
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John, Fool of Moscow- - blessed, holy fool of Moscow, kind. in Vologda, died July 3, 1589 in Moscow. In his youth, he was a water carrier at a salting plant. Then, having taken upon himself the feat of foolishness, he lived ........
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John, Yurodivy Ustyug- - saint, holy fool of Ustyug; genus. near the city of Ustyug; after the death of his mother, the former abbess of the Oryol women's monastery, he began to act as a fool in the city of Ustyug. Died May 29, 1494. On his ........
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holy fool- - the central character of the tragedy by A.S. Pushkin "Boris Godunov" (1825). Holy fools in Rus' were called the blessed, who refused "for Christ's sake" from earthly blessings and became "sad" ........
literary heroes

Michael, Holy Fool for Christ's sake- Solvychegodsky, when he lived, unknown. (p. 15 book. Veryuzhsky "Vologda
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Nikola the holy fool- † March 8, 1629 (according to the Synodikon of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral No. 1550 in the library of St. Petersburg. spirit.
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Parthenius the Fool- (or Ugly) - a controversial writer, a resident of the mountains. Suzdal; lived in the first half of the 16th century. Two of his works are known: "The Canon of St. Archangel Michael" and "Message to the Unknown ........
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Procopius, St. Christ for the Holy Fool- in the mountains. Ustyug the Great; † 1303 July 8 (St.
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Theodore, Novgorod Fool- - Novgorod holy fool of the XIV century; was born in Novgorod and at a young age was taught to read books. He early began to love piety - on Wednesday and Friday he strictly fasted and constantly ........
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Thomas, for the sake of Christ the Holy Fool- Solvychegodsky, alive. in the beginning. XVI
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holy fool- a category of holy ascetics who have chosen a special feat - foolishness, that is, the appearance of madness, taken for the sake of "scandal of the world", a radical rejection of the values ​​\u200b\u200bof worldly life ........
Philosophical Dictionary

YURODIVYY- Holy fool, th, th. 1. Eccentric, crazy (colloquial). 2. holy fool, th, m. A madman with the gift of divination. || and. holy fool, -oh (to 2 meanings).
Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov