Proverbs and sayings about May HORIZONTALLY: 2. May will deceive - in ... will leave.4 ....
One of the most famous university professors, while lecturing on theology, noted not without irony that such concepts as "sin" or "demon" cause confusion for the educated public - so directly, without cultural reservations, use them in a serious conversation. with intelligent people is almost impossible. And he told the following anecdote: a certain missionary, delivering a sermon at a technical university, was forced to answer the question of how a person first gets the idea of a crime. Trying to speak with the audience in their language, he formulated the following phrase: "The thought of a crime to a person telepathically broadcasts a transcendental-noumenal totalitarian-personalized cosmic evil." Then, from under the pulpit, the head of an astonished demon protrudes: “What did you call me?”
The fact is that truth is not afraid of dispute. Truth cannot be destroyed. So the world came up with effective method her dispose of- as some kind of dangerous radioactive material, which is soldered into an impenetrable lead container and buried in a remote wasteland. First, the truths obtained by great minds in a painful struggle become familiar and ordinary. 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 the mysterious relationship between a man and a woman? We physiologists know what these relationships are. You study the anatomy of the eye: where does the mysterious look come from, as you say? It's all romanticism, nonsense, rottenness, 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 a feat and betrayal without quotes are preserved only in children's everyday life - on a par with "babai" and "good fairy".
"Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth, supposedly healed the sick with one word and supposedly resurrecting the dead, supposedly and he himself rose again on the third day after his death. Only in this way, in a straitjacket of quotation marks, surrounded by orderly words, can the Gospel Truth enter the “enlightened” assembly of secular people.
The proud mind is unable to make Truth even the object of criticism. "What is truth?" - ironically asks the Jewish procurator and, without waiting for an answer, passes by Him 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 has collapsed ... between positive and negative characters ... Any feeling untouched by evil , is called into question. There is a flirtation with evil, many leading writers either look at evil, fascinated by its power and artistry or become its hostages... Beauty is replaced by expressive pictures of ugliness. The aesthetics of outrageousness and shock are developing, interest in the "dirty" word, swearing as a detonator of the text, is growing. New Literature fluctuates between "black" despair and quite cynical indifference. Today we are witnessing a quite 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 synonymous with the word "competitor". This is the one for whom 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, having sounded for the first time in Russian culture, undoubtedly seemed like the mysterious nonsense of a holy fool.
Foolishness is considered to be a specific form of Christian holiness. However, this means of returning truths from the "cultural archive" was often resorted to ancient Greek philosophers. Antisthenes advised the Athenians to adopt a decree: "Consider donkeys as horses." When this was considered absurd, he remarked: “After all, you make generals out of ignorant people by a simple vote. When he was once praised by bad people, he said: "I'm afraid that I did something bad?"
When a 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 "For Sale" sign on the same house. “I knew it,” said the philosopher, “that after so much drinking, it would not be difficult for him to vomit his owner.”
Shem, the 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 face of the owner, and in response to his fury said: "Nowhere was a more suitable place."
Foolishness, among other things, makes a person marginal and therefore can be a very effective medicine against vanity. False honor encourages us to appear to people better than we are. That is why it is more difficult to talk about your sin in confession than to commit it. In this case, the example of the sages and saints who fulfilled the words of Christ can help us: “When you are called by someone to marriage, do not sit in the first place, so that one of those called by him will not be more honorable than you, and the one who called you and him, coming up, did not say would you: give him a place; and then in shame you will have to take the last place. But when you are called, when you come, sit down in the last place, so that the one who called you, coming up, would say: friend! sit up higher; then you will be honored before those who sit with you, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In modern Christianity, there are practically no true holy fools left who, for the sake of Christ, of their own free will and in full health of mind, renounced the comforts of this world and the rules of behavior in it.
And in the history of Orthodoxy there were not so many of them, only 16 were beatified.
Who are the holy fools for Christ's sake
It is difficult to trace when the first holy fools appeared. The first Christians who voluntarily changed their way of life were taken by many as crazy. They endured reproach from the people and went to their death in the name of Jesus.
For a church person, foolishness is one of the forms of holiness
Unlike ordinary Christians, the holy fools, by their behavior, provoke others to the manifestation of their vices.
Important! The blessed in Christian churches outwardly seem insane, but they are absolutely healthy people who, of their own free will, took upon themselves this feat of foolishness.
Often people confuse fools with insane people. According to ignorant people, these are mentally retarded fools. An explanation about these strange people is given in the sermons of St. Demetrius of Rostov, who calls them ascetics of voluntary martyrdom, hidden behind a mask.
The Russian people have always respected, condescendingly, graciously treated these strange people, honoring them as saints, hiding holiness under the guise of madness, perhaps that is why foolishness is revered only in Orthodoxy. Strange at first glance, actions and words that differ from the society of people sometimes have a deep meaning, often denouncing the actions of certain Christians and the whole government.
The Apostle Paul often in his epistles spoke of the foolishness of Christ. Really, who is mad in this world? The one who, for the sake of profit, wealth, goes to murder, rejection of human values, meanness, bribery, and at the same time he has a direct road to hell? Or those who have given up all the blessings of earthly life for the sake of knowing the other side of life, the will of God in it and seeking the Kingdom of Heaven on earth?
Why are the insane for the sake of Christ filled with holiness and enlightened faces, what they see, stupid according to the concepts of people, such that it is not given to see the main mass of Christians. In his epistle, Paul writes that he who thinks he is wise, become foolish so that he may be wise (1 Cor. 3:18).
The true wisdom of this world is in knowing the wisdom of God and discovering the laws eternal life. Is it not foolish to care about the hour, neglecting eternity?
What motivates ascetics to the feat of foolishness
It is difficult to describe the motives that moved the blessed to become holy fools for Christ's sake, which can be compared with monasticism.
Saint Lawrence, holy fool for Christ's sake
Voluntary abandonment of the usual norms of life may be dictated by:
- the desire to cleanse oneself of pride, hatred, discontent and unforgiveness;
- belittling one's own self for the sake of magnifying the name of Jesus;
- trampling on vanity;
- acceptance of humility through humiliation and insults;
- deliverance from the sin of sins - pride.
The desire to serve God is secretly hidden behind foolishness, the mask of a mentally ill person, through the acceptance of an insult to be filled with humility. The holy fool for the sake of Christ always soberly evaluates his actions, being in a state of grace, filled with the power of the Lord. This distinguishes the blessed from the mentally ill, who have no control over words or emotions.
Holy fools of Russia
- John the Terrible was denounced more than once by St. Basil the Blessed, who was considered far-sighted at court. No one could understand why the blessed one broke the icon of the Mother of God until they found the face of the devil under a layer of paint. Basil foresaw the death of people and expressed it through actions. He scattered the goods of dishonest merchants, and gave gold to the poor.
- The first holy fool Peter of Ustyug, once a wealthy German merchant, having learned the true veneration of the Creator in Veliky Novgorod, gave away all his wealth and retired to Ustyug. He slept on the bare ground and constantly prayed in the temple. Peter was not taken seriously until one occasion when the blessed one shouted in the temple and called on everyone to repent. Nobody listened to him, they just laughed. However, having seen the approach of a terrible cloud, feeling the earthquake, people fled to the church and began to cry out to the icon of the Mother of God, which averted the misfortune from the city.
- Xenia of Petersburg, once a wealthy noblewoman, after the death of her husband, dressed in his clothes, distributed wealth, began to live where they would accept, eat what was served, constantly staying at night in the field, in prayer. The inhabitants of St. Petersburg knew that the house where the blessed one stayed would be lucky.
The Orthodox do not forget about Annushka and Ivan Koreish, Pasha of Sarovskaya and Matrona of Moscow, constantly bringing flowers to their burial place and asking in prayers for their needs.
Important! Foolishness appeared in the Christian environment as a means of denunciation, instruction and reconciliation.
Among modern Christianity, there are not so many church-going believers who truly fear and love God, observe fasting and prayer rules not out of fear of the Creator, but out of love for the Almighty.
True believers differ from the world in their behavior, attitude to earthly values, sometimes they are called blessed. Perhaps the time has come for modern holy fools to appear who will be able to convict modern society of sins before the Almighty.
Who are the holy fools?
Foolishness arose somewhat later than monasticism (which originated at the end of the 3rd century), and also in Egypt. According to prof. Golubinsky (10, p. 656) it owes its appearance to monasticism. The description of the first holy fool, Saint Isidore, who died about 365, was made by Saint Ephraim the Syrian. Saint Isidora, who labored in the Taven convent of Men, was quiet and well-behaved. She was nicknamed the holy fool because she wore old clothes, tied her hair with a rag, and ate very poorly. This woman, unlike the Russian holy fools, did not make predictions, did not denounce power structures, did not wear a chain - all this appeared later in Russia. Initially, foolishness arose in Byzantium, the Monk Serapion Sindonite, the Monk Bessarion the Wonderworker, the Monk Thomas, Saint Simeon of Emesa, Saint Andrew of Constantinople are widely known (the last two were especially famous in Russia, thanks to translated lives). The vast majority of the Byzantine holy fools were blacks, while in Russia there were very few holy fools-monks. By the XIV century. foolishness in Byzantium is gradually disappearing, the last known Byzantine holy fool was Maxim Kavsokalivat, who died in 1367. For five centuries (VI - X) in the general month of the Orthodox Church, there are about six holy holy fools from various countries, while in Russia for three centuries (XIV -XVI) 10 holy fools were canonized. From this we can conclude that this type of asceticism is more widespread than in other Orthodox countries in the Russian state. They are also neither in Ukraine nor in Belarus (Isaac Pechersky remained the only holy fool in Kiev). This phenomenon is also alien to the Roman Catholic world. This, in particular, is proved by the fact that foreign travelers of the 16th-17th centuries wrote about Russian holy fools with considerable surprise. -- Herberstein, Horsey, Fletcher and others. To embark on the path of foolishness, a European had to move to Russia. Therefore, among the holy fools there are so many visiting foreigners. Among the Russian saints were immigrants from Western countries: Blessed Procopius of Ustyug (1303), Blessed Isidor Tverdislov of Rostov (1474), Blessed John Vlasatii of Rostov (1580).
Foolishness in Russia is no different from foolishness in Byzantium. A large number of holy fools received the approval of not only the common people, but also the church, which is confirmed large quantity temples built in their name during their lifetime, which gives this form of Christian asceticism a national Russian character. The feat of foolishness enters the Russian Church approximately from the beginning of the XIV century. Its heyday falls on the 16th century, somewhat lagging behind monastic holiness. For centuries, the honored Russian holy fools are distributed as follows: XIV century - 4; XV - 11; XVI - 14; XVII - 7. According to Fedotov, the appearance of the holy fool coincides with the extinction of princely holiness. The holy fool becomes the successor of the holy prince in social service (53, p. 242). In Russian foolishness, at first the first, ascetic side prevails, in the 16th century it is already undoubtedly the third: social service.
In Kievan Rus, foolishness was expressed as an additional ascetic means to achieve dispassion. This was a temporary stage of monastic life (53, p. 296). In the 12th century St. Avraamy Smolensky, in his youth, distributed his property to the poor and put on thin robes. His social self-abasement in his life was attributed to foolishness. Social humiliation, the "thin robes" of St. Theodosius also border on the foolishness of humility. In the Mongolian period, temporary foolishness is attributed to St. Kirill Belozersky. He begins to commit some acts like mockery and laughter, for which the abbot puts him on bread and water. In the examples given, foolishness is motivated by the desire to avoid fame. It had an immoral character (discipline violations). In the holy foolishness of the saints there are no sharp features of the classical type. This is not a special form of service, but an incidental moment of asceticism. Isaac of the Caves (1090) is considered the first Russian holy fool (38, p. 249). At first, his foolishness manifested itself in strange deeds, he becomes the object of ridicule. Then he performs an amazing deed, the astonished brethren begin to revere him as a miracle worker. Then his foolishness takes a completely voluntary act. He was the first and last holy fool in Kiev. Canonized as a reverend.
The period of the Tatar-Mongol invasion had a negative impact on all aspects of spiritual life. During the Tatar-Mongol invasion, for almost three quarters of a century after the conquest, not a single holy ascetic was recorded, not a single new monastery was founded. During this period, only a few princes of martyrs were canonized. And only in the 2nd quarter of the 14th century did the monastic movement revive, on a scale unheard of in ancient Kievan times.
The new monastic asceticism from the second quarter of the 14th century is the asceticism of the desert dwellers, close to the classical tradition of the desert dwelling of the monks of Egypt and Syria. This could also be affected by the cultural and social shock of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, in which people saw punishment for sins. Having undertaken the most difficult feat associated with contemplative prayer, they raise spiritual life to new heights not yet reached in Russia.
Klyuchevsky writes that in the 14th century the monastic movement headed north, across the Volga - this was the most free land for desert dwellers, where there were the least clashes with landowners. In the same period, the first Russian saint appeared in Novgorod, canonized in the rank of a holy fool. The city of Novgorod was the birthplace of Russian foolishness, such famous saints as Procopius of Ustyug (1303), Nikolai and Fyodor Kochanovs (1392), Mikhail Klopsky (1456), John Borovichsky (1542), Nikolai Salos of Pskov (1570) labored in it .). All known holy fools of the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries are directly or indirectly connected with Veliky Novgorod. (53, p. 305). The historian Klyuchevsky noted that "many Rostov lives copy those of Novgorod". For 200 years it was the most cultural part of Russia. According to Klyuchevsky, V. Novgorod early freed itself from the pressure of princely power, from princely strife, and Polovtsian robberies, did not experience Tatar oppression and fear, and was the economic and political center during this period. Veliky Novgorod existed as a free city until 1478.
The first holy fool Procopius of Ustyug lived in Novgorod in the 13th-14th century. Whether he gave monastic vows is not mentioned in his life. In later times, most of the holy fools were laymen. When a rumor spread about his ascetic life, he takes upon himself the foolishness and leaves the monastery to wander. He leads a cruel life: he does not have a roof over his head, he sleeps "on a pus" naked, after that - on the porch of the cathedral church. In the life, traces of the influence of the Greek life of Andrei the Holy Fool are visible, especially in the description of the frosty patience of the saint. Prays secretly, at night, asking "useful hail and people." And just as the blessed one loved God, so God loved him and gave him a prophetic gift, so that Procopius worked marvelous miracles during his lifetime.
It can be seen from the life that, as by the middle of the 16th century, the idea of the holy fools in the minds of Russian society still remained unchanged: the holy fool begins the feat, having achieved holiness and avoiding the praises of the world; endures dishonor and prays for offenders, dies in disgrace and after death is glorified by miracles and becomes revered as a saint of God. The case with the fiery cloud is somewhat different: different is the behavior of the world, when all people turn to God and, together with the holy fool Procopius, pray for deliverance. St. Procopius here takes off the mask of madness and appears as a holy prophet and prayer book
In Novgorod, Nikola (Kochanov) and Fedor rioted in the 14th century, parodying the bloody clashes of the Novgorod parties with their fights. The legend adds that after such battles, the blessed happened to return not on the bridge, but right on the water, “as if on dry land.”
15 versts from Novgorod, in the Klopsky Trinity Monastery, St. Michael (1453), called the holy fool, although in his lives we do not see foolishness in the proper sense of the word. Only the whimsical form, the symbolism of gestures, with which some of his prophecies are associated, could be interpreted as foolishness.
In the prophetic predictions of Michael, opposition to the Novgorod boyars and support for the Moscow authorities can be traced. Later legends attribute to him the providence of the birth of Ivan III and the prediction of the death of Novgorod freedom.
From the end of the 15th century, a number of Moscow saints appear, starting with jur. Maximus (1433). His life has not been preserved. The main features of bliss. Maxima are dispassion (expressed in the transfer of insults and "taking off the garments"), disregard for all earthly comforts; some moral lessons taught by him to the world around him.
Saint Isidore of Rostov (1474) is characterized by extreme non-acquisitiveness (lack of any everyday amenities); meekness and gentleness (in his prayer for offenders); innocence to the existing norms of behavior (in his nakedness and in being in the most unsuitable places for that); hidden unceasing prayer (all-night vigils); extreme humility (imputation to nothing, which allowed rejoicing and glorifying God when insulting). The heyday of foolishness in Russia falls on the XIV-XVII centuries, when, according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, the holy fool becomes "a walking worldly conscience, a living image of the denunciation of human vices."
The maximum number of holy fools falls on the 16th century.
In the 16th century, such famous saints as St. Basil the Blessed, John the Great Kolpak labored in Moscow. In the Moscow period, the paradigm of sanctification, the sacralization of all historical existence through the transforming action of God's power in the empirical sphere, was born. “We find a special development of this asceticism just when the passionate, utopian poem about "Moscow - the third Rome" begins, with its naive identification of Russian reality with "holy Russia". The holy fools were also inspired by the ideal of holy Russia, but with complete sobriety they saw all the lies of reality,” Zenkovsky wrote.
Political power over the specific principalities is concentrated in the hands of the Moscow Tsar Ivan III. (53, p. 372), this is the period of the triumph of Orthodoxy, when the idea of "Moscow-Third Rome" dominates. It is characterized by relative stability, religion is perceived as a tradition. In this era, foolishness takes the form of prophetic service. During this period, the Josephite hierarchy weakens in the duty of denunciation of untruth. Holy fools take on the service of the ancient saints and ascetics. In the 16th century, the denunciation of the king and the nobility was a common phenomenon in the lives of holy fools. The clearest evidence comes from the chronicle of St. Nicholas Salos of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The general respect for ascetics during this period completely changed the meaning of ancient Christian foolishness. Least of all is this a feat of humility. In this era, foolishness is a form of prophetic service, combined with extreme asceticism. The specifically holy fool lies only in ridiculing the world.
The earliest source reporting on St. Basil the Blessed is the “Book of Power of the Royal Genealogy”. Information from it was borrowed into the life, known in three varieties: complete, abridged and special composition. The complete life was compiled by order of Patriarch St. Job, shortly after his canonization.
He lived for 88 years, 72 of them in the foolishness. He was an eyewitness to the events of the first half of the 16th century. He remained in a single capacity under three monarchs: under Ivan III, during the reign of Vasily III, during the reign of Elena Glinskaya and under Ivan the Terrible. He knew the future sovereign Theodore Ioannovich as an infant. Survived 8 metropolitans, canonized under Patriarch Job in 1589.
The place of the saint's exploits was Moscow. A favorite place to stay is Red Square and the tower at the Barbarian Gates.
Even in childhood, the blessed one had a prophetic gift. At the age of 10, the blessed one took upon himself the feat of foolishness. At first he took a vow of silence and was in unceasing mental prayer. Then, guided by the Holy Spirit, he “transformed into foolishness and laid bare his body.” (41, p.130)
The life says that the blessed one leads a harsh life, "tasting very little food and water, having neither a den, nor a stable, without a roof."
In the description of lifetime miracles, his nakedness is associated with the miracle of healing by the saint who laughed at his appearance and was punished for this with blindness. Repentant, they were healed.
The saint was also revered by foreign merchants as the patron saint of sea travelers. Bl. Vasily calmed the blizzard in the Caspian Sea and saved the merchant ships. Early accounts note his gift of foresight. According to the Book of Degrees, the saint in the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral in 1521. there was a fiery vision from the icon of the Mother of God, announcing God's wrath on the Muscovites and the imminent invasion of the Crimean Khan Mahmet Giray on Moscow. According to the Book of Degrees, he foresaw fires in Moscow in June 1547.
Later biographies of the saint give a large number of cases of his clairvoyance - the foreknowledge of events about which the blessed one spoke allegorically, the ability to see angels, demons, to guess the lies and actions of the devil under external piety, etc.
Tsar John IV Vasilievich, who often talked about him with Metr. Macarius.
In later sources, in the description of the lifetime miracles of the blessed one, there are legends about the relationship of the saint with Tsar John IV. One of the legends says that the saint once received “some kind of drink” from the king as a treat, and threw out two cups one after the other out of the window. Basil the Blessed explained to the king, enraged by this act, that he had extinguished the fire in Vel. Novgorod.
Another story is connected with the campaign of John IV to Vel. Novgorod in 1569, in the midst of the executions of Novgorodians, the blessed one invited the tsar to the "poor den" and offered him "a vial of blood and a piece of raw meat." The executions were stopped. But this plot contradicts all the dating of the life of the saint.
The burial of the holy fool took place very solemnly. The funeral was performed by the Metropolitan himself. Macarius, the king and princes carried the coffin, while a large alms were distributed from the royal treasury. According to the testimony of life during the burial of the blessed, the sick received healing. Approximately in 1587-1588. according to the chronicle, several miracles were performed from the relics of the saint, which became the reason for the canonization and the erection of a chapel in honor of the saint near the eastern wall of the Intercession Cathedral. During the 16th century, St. Vasily is referred to only as "the luminary who shone within Moscow", the saint was revered as the patron and healer of Moscow. Tradition says that he was revered by the imp. Elizabeth Petrovna. Temples of St. Basil the Blessed exist in the city of Likhvin, in Kaluga, Kashin, Penza, Penza, Volgodonsk, in the Simonov Monastery, etc.
St. Basil the Blessed is an epigraph to Russian foolishness, its kind of encyclopedia. No wonder the people dubbed the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.
The exploits of St. Basil the Blessed very soon after his death became an example to follow. Another Moscow holy fool, St. John (1589) - also walked around the city naked, denounced the rulers (among them Boris Godunov) and bequeathed to be buried next to St. Basil the Blessed. He wore chains, heavy rings and a large iron cap.
In the 16th century, according to the testimony of foreign travelers in Moscow, the holy fools were numerous, but only a few were canonized. Since the middle of the 16th century in Russia, a general decline in the level of spiritual life has been noted. It could not but affect the foolishness.
In the 17th century, a restructuring of culture took place, the holy fools, according to Panchenko (29, p. 131), adjoin the conservative trend. They unite around Archpriest Avaakum. Foolishness becomes for the Old Believers something like a banner, which they put up in defense and use for their own purposes. Patriarch Nikon, at first sympathetic, later turns to a negative assessment of foolishness, anticipating their rejection by Peter I.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the 17th century. at first he favored the holy fools. But under him, palace etiquette began to change in a Western manner. According to Klyuchevsky (26), in the 17th century Russia was inferior to the West in terms of trade and industry. This caused a feeling of national impotence and distrust of own forces, which caused the beginning of Western influence in all spheres of life.
"> The children of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Peter and Sophia went even further along the path of Europeanization. But, despite this, in critical moments of their lives they also turned to the holy fools for help. Princess Sophia consulted with the holy fool Ivashka. Tsar Peter I had a friend of the holy fool Thaddeus. Cultural the stereotype, which provides for the closeness of the king and the holy fool, has not lost its significance even in the Europeanized court everyday life of the 80s of the 17th century.
In the 18th century Moscow holy fools are no longer canonized by the Church. Foolishness, like monastic holiness, is localized in the north, returning to its Novgorod homeland. Vologda, Totma, Kargopol, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka are the cities of the last holy fools. Deprived of the support of the state, foolishness descends into the people.
The 18th century historian M. Shcherbatov wrote about this: “Pre-Petrine Russia did not suddenly disappear, did not evaporate without a trace and was not transformed at the request of the reformer into a European state; she for the most part she went into herself, shut herself up in cages and towers, plunged more than ever into ossified stagnation” (43, p. 79). The old Moscow way of life was crumbling.
At the beginning of the 18th century, there were so many holy fools in the cities of Russia that the government took measures to limit them (43, p. 77). According to Ryabinin, the holy fools became the spokesmen for the mass rejection of reforms, changes and innovations. At this time, a lot of false fools appeared. Decree of the Synod of 1722. holy fools were placed in monasteries "with their use in labor until the end of their lives." And the Decree of 1732 forbids "letting the holy fools in koshun robes into churches." January 29, 1757 A decree was issued by which the poor and the crippled were forbidden to roam the streets of St. Petersburg. Russia aspired to become one of the most developed European powers. Foolishness in enlightened Europe fell only into the category of a social disease that needed to be treated. Thus, the foolishness in Russia in the 18th century loses the patronage of the state and church authorities. But, despite this, foolishness was still popular among the people. This is confirmed by the fact that the phenomenon of foolishness in Russian culture continued to exist until October revolution 1917. Proof of this are the images of holy fools in the literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries, for example, in the works of such prominent writers as F. M. Dostoevsky ("The Brothers Karamazov") and L. N. Tolstoy ("Childhood"). Images of holy fools appear in painting - this is Surikov's painting "Boyar Morozova". In folk art, it was noted that Ivan the Fool in fairy tales is a secular parallel to the holy fool "for Christ's sake", as well as Ivan the Tsarevich - the holy prince. It was also noted that Ivan the Fool, who is always destined to win, has no analogues in Western European folklore.
The eighteenth century produced two canonized saints, Evdokia of Suzdal and Xenia of Petersburg.
St. Blessed Xenia was born in the first half XVIII century from godly parents. (5, p. 100). Blessed Xenia, who labored in foolishness for 45 years, was buried at the Smolensk cemetery, where at one time she helped build a church.
Many signs of God's mercy began to take place at her tomb. After a memorial service was performed over her grave, the suffering received healing, broken peace was established in families, and those in need received good places.
Over the grave of Blessed Xenia in 1902. a chapel was built. In 1988 Blessed Xenia was canonized as a saint.
Petersburgers keep in memory the names of other ascetics. For more than 30 years, Blessed Anna Ivanovna Lukasheva (1853) labored in the feat, continuing her prayerful intercession before the Lord for the city of St. Peter, begun by Blessed Xenia. For many decades, Petersburgers served memorial services in the chapel over the grave of bl. Anna. At the Smolensk cemetery (5, p. 99), in addition to them, there are also blessed people of the 19th century revered by the people: Marfa, Matrona (1814-1911), Irina, Anna Ivanovna Komisarova, Olga Ivanovna, at the Shuvalovsky cemetery there is the blessed old woman Maria Makovkina (1904-1971 ) (5, p. 97). In the 19th century Paraskeva Ivanovna Kovrigina (1846-1886), who was revered by St. John of Kronstadt. In memory of her, grateful residents erected a chapel at the Kronstadt Trinity Cemetery, similar to the one built in honor of St. blessed Xenia. Maria Lelyanova (1874-1932) was buried at the Smolensk cemetery, who in 1981. numbered among the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
In the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo convent of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, the succession of blessed elders was observed, starting from the holy blessed Pelagia Ivanovna Serebrennikova (1809 - 1884), whom the Monk Seraphim himself sent to Diveevo for the spiritual guidance of the sisters. In 1848, Blessed Natalia Dmitrievna (1900) came to pilgrimage with wanderers and remained in the monastery. In 1883, Blessed Pasha Sarovskaya settled in the monastery.
The feat of Pelageya Ivanovna is imbued with the spirit (40, p. 10), which is visible in the ancient ascetics: her extreme selflessness, deep humility, her tearful prayers for her neighbors, the gift of insight. Rejecting the human mind, she saw through the secrets of human hearts, predicted the future, healed bodily ailments by word and touch, exhortations and instructions delivered from spiritual infirmities. The call to the feat of foolishness was felt in her from a young age, but she was finally affirmed during her trip to the Sarov Monastery to the glorified Elder Seraphim. The Monk Seraphim talks with her for about 6 hours. What they talked about remained unknown. Letting her go, in front of those who came, he said: “Go, mother, go without delay to my monastery, take care of many orphans. Many will be saved by you, and you will be the light of the world, ”and at the same time he gave her a rosary. In the monastery, the blessed one led an even more difficult life compared to how she lived in the world. Here it is said about her poverty, non-acquisitiveness, vigilance all night, humility, patience, etc. There are many cases of the ascetic's insight, the effectiveness of her prayers, the gift of healing. The legend says “Pelageya Ivanovna had a wonderful gift of tears, but before that she cried in secret. And 2 years before her death, she cried non-stop. When asked about this, the blessed one replied that if they knew everything, then the whole world would be forced to cry. It was a prediction about the future troubles of Russia. For about 20 years the blessed one lived in the monastery, playing the fool and enduring all sorts of reproach. But the light of the blessed gifts that lived in it began to attract people to it. People of various ranks and positions began to gather in Diveevo. Saved many souls, according to the prediction of St. Seraphim of Sarov, mother Pelageya. Having asked all the sisters for forgiveness before her death, she went to the Lord in 1884. A monument was erected to her 2 years after her death.
Blessed Pasha Sarovskaya (in the world - Irina) she settled in the Diveevsky Monastery in the autumn of 1884. Contemporaries noted that all her oddities were an allegorical conversation, severe reprimands and antics, it was only external, deliberately hiding humility, meekness, love. The blessed one spent all her nights in prayer, and during the day, after the church service, she reaped the grass with a sickle, knitted stockings, and did other work, continually saying the Jesus Prayer. Exhausted in the morning, Praskovya Ivanovna lay down and dozed off.
Worshipers crowded under the windows of her house for days on end. The name of Praskovia Ivanovna was known not only among the people, but also in the highest circles of society. Almost all of the dignitaries, visiting the Diveevsky Monastery, considered it their duty to visit Praskovya Ivanovna. The blessed one more often answered thoughts than questions, and the Lord, through His faithful servant, revealed the future to them, healed mental and bodily ailments.
The writing of the Chronicle of the Diveevo Monastery was blessed by the blessed one. Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov) told the following about his first meeting with the blessed old woman: “Pasha, lying on the bed (she was old and sick), exclaimed:“ It’s good that you came, I I am waiting: the Monk Seraphim ordered me to tell you to report to the Sovereign that the time has come for the discovery of his relics and glorification ..». (40, p.13).
The blessed one was visited in 1903 by Emperor Nicholas II. The blessed old woman predicted the birth of an heir, warned of the impending persecution of the Church, of the death of the Romanov dynasty. After that, the Sovereign often turned to the blessed Paraskeva Ivanovna, sending the grand dukes to her for advice.
From the memoirs of Hegumen Seraphim Putyatin (21, p. 13): “The great ascetic seer, Sarovskaya Praskovya Ivanovna ... predicted a thunderstorm approaching Russia. She prayed to the portraits of the Tsar, the Tsaritsa and the Family along with the icons, crying out: “Holy Royal Martyrs, pray to God for us.” Blessed Paraskeva died on October 5, 1915.
Before her death, she blessed her successor, Blessed Maria Ivanovna. Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna, anticipating her death, said: “I am still sitting at the camp, and the other is already scurrying about, she is still walking, and then she will sit down” (40, p. 17).
On the day of her death, the nuns expelled Blessed Mary from the monastery, annoyed by her oddities. However, having heard the story of the peasant, testifying to the perspicacity of blessed Mary, they returned her back.
Maria Ivanovna (Maria Zakharovna Fedina, 1931) not only predicted, denounced, through her prayers, the Lord healed the suffering many times, about which eyewitness accounts have been preserved.
During the years of difficult revolutionary trials for Russia, the prophecies and predictions of the blessed old woman helped many people to avoid death, to find the right path in difficult circumstances. The blessed old woman said in 1926: “What a year is coming, what a difficult year! Elijah and Enoch are already walking on earth.” And when, after Easter, searches began in the monastery, she said that only three months remained of a quiet life. On September 7/20, 1927, the nuns were asked to leave the monastery. After the closing of the monastery, Maria Ivanovna lived in the homes of believers. Representatives of the authorities forbade the blessed one to receive visitors. Once she was arrested, but after interrogation, recognizing her as insane, they released her.
Blessed Maria Ivanovna also predicted to the sisters the revival of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery. The blessed old woman died in 1931 at the age of about 70 years. Numerous testimonies have been preserved of miraculous healings through the prayers of the blessed elders, which have taken place in our days.
The holy elders Pelageya, Paraskeva and Maria Diveevsky were glorified in July 2004 during the celebrations dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
But the majority of the blessed, having lived for about half a century before the eyes and lips of all the high society of that time in Russia, turned out to be unsolved, misunderstood and rejected by them, just as they later rejected the Orthodox faith itself. The majority of society did not accept, through blessed ascetics strong in spirit and faith, the path to salvation given to the lost. In the Moscow merchants and in aristocratic circles there were families in which nothing was done without first visiting the holy fools and following their advice. But the secular society of that time, with its lack of spirituality, was extremely greedy for all sorts of mysterious sensations and legends. Natural magnetism (hypnosis) and table-turning (spiritualism) acquired mass distribution and application at that time. Therefore, of the many people who visited the blessed, the majority did not know and were not interested in the ascetic and the ways of his ascetic exploits, as well as Orthodox faith in general, but they came only to find out the future of their affairs and to experience a new living curiosity - the prophets, losing their spiritual rebirth. Only a few consciously built their entire lives according to the instructions and prophecies of the holy fools, and reached certain spiritual and worldly heights in this field. During the years of persecution of the Orthodox Church, many ascetics took upon themselves the feat of foolishness, since the theomachists, not understanding such a confession of faith and mistaking them for the sick, allowed the legal existence of the blessed, who secretly preach to people about the Savior. In the 20th century, the blessed old women became especially famous, who voluntarily took upon themselves the heavy cross of foolishness in Christ, who, for their great humility, were rewarded with the great gifts of the Holy Spirit. Like the ancient ascetics, the blessed old women of the last times, “who denounced the madness of the world with their imaginary madness,” were not inferior to them in the strength of feats. Blessed Pasha of Sarovskaya during her wanderings through the Sarov forests before coming to the monastery "had the appearance of Mary of Egypt." Blessed Diveyevo, Maria Ivanovna, dressed by kind people, a few days later “came again in everything torn and dirty ...” Her real name was Maria Zakharovna, not Ivanovna. When they asked her why she was called Ivanovna, she answered: “These are all of us, blessed, Ivanovna - according to John the Baptist” ... Blessed Matronushka-Sandals, having made a vow of foolishness for Christ's sake, for 33 years went only barefoot. Numerous canonizations (3, p. 4) that have taken place in our days testify to the power of veneration of the blessed among the people. Thus, among the blessed suckers, the Church recently glorified Matrona Nikonova in Moscow; in Ryazan - Vasily Kadomsky, Lyubov Sukhanov, Matrona Anemnyasevskaya; in Rostov - Pavel Taganrog; in Vologda, Nikolay Rynin; in Ivanovo - Alexei Voroshin; in Simbirsk, Andrei Ilyich Ogorodnikov; in the Caucasus - prep. Theodosius of the Caucasus; in Siberia, John and Cosmas of Verkhoturye; in Kiev, Paisiy Yarotsky; In Nizhny Novgorod - Diveevsky blessed; in St. Petersburg - Xenia of Petersburg. Several blessed people are buried at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg, who are still revered by the people.
In its history, no country has presented the world with so many holy fools and respect for them as Russia.
Basil the Blessed
Vasily was in childhood given to a shoemaker as an apprentice. It was then, according to the rumor, that he showed his perspicacity, laughing and shedding tears over the merchant who ordered boots for himself: the merchant was expected to die soon. Having abandoned the shoemaker, Vasily began to lead a wandering life, walking naked around Moscow. Vasily behaves more shockingly than his predecessor. He destroys goods in the market, bread and kvass, punishing unscrupulous merchants, he throws stones at the houses of virtuous people and kisses the walls of houses where "blasphemers" were happening (the former have exiled demons hanging outside, the latter cry angels).
He gives the gold given by the king not to the beggars, but to the merchant in clean clothes, because the merchant has lost all his fortune and, starving, does not dare to beg. He pours the drink given by the tsar into the window to put out the distant fire in Novgorod.
The worst thing is that he breaks with a stone the miraculous image of the Mother of God at the Barbarian Gates, on the board of which a devil's mug was drawn under the holy image. Basil the Blessed died on August 2, 1552. His coffin was carried by the boyars and Ivan the Terrible himself, who revered and feared the holy fool. Metropolitan Macarius was buried at the cemetery of the Trinity Church in the Moat, where Tsar Ivan the Terrible soon ordered the construction of the Intercession Cathedral. Today we most often call it St. Basil's Cathedral.
Procopius of Ustyug
It is customary to call him the first in Russia, since it was he who became the first saint whom the Church glorified in the guise of holy fools at the Moscow Cathedral in 1547. From the life, which was compiled only in the 16th century, although Procopius reposed in 1302, little is known. Life leads Procopius to Ustyug from Veliky Novgorod. From a young age he was a wealthy merchant from the Prussian lands. In Novgorod, having learned the true faith "in church decoration", icons, ringing and singing, he accepts Orthodoxy, distributes his wealth to the townspeople and "accepts the foolishness of Christ for the sake of life." Later, he retires from Novgorod to Veliky Ustyug, which he also chose for "church decoration."
He leads an ascetic life: he does not have a roof over his head, he sleeps “on a pus” naked, after that - on the porch of the cathedral church. Prays secretly at night, asking for the city and people. He accepts food from God-fearing citizens, but never takes anything from the rich. The first holy fool did not enjoy special authority until something terrible happened.
One day, Procopius, entering the church, began to call for repentance, predicting that otherwise the townspeople would die "by fire and water." No one listened to him, and for days on end he alone cries on the porch, grieving for the upcoming victims. Only when a terrible cloud came over the city, and the earth shook, did everyone run to the church. Prayers before the icon of the Mother of God averted God's wrath, and stone hail broke out 20 miles from Ustyug.
Procopius of Vyatka
The holy righteous holy fool was born in 1578 in the village of Koryakinskaya near Khlynov and bore the name Prokopy Maksimovich Plushkov in the world. Once, while in the field, he was struck by lightning. After that, as they said then, “he was damaged by his mind”: he tore his clothes, trampled on them and walked naked. Then the grieving parents took their only son to the Vyatka monastery of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, where they prayed for him day and night, eventually praying for healing for the boy. At the age of 20, secretly from his parents, who were going to marry him, he retired to Khlynov and took upon himself the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake.
The blessed one imposed on himself the feat of silence, and almost no one heard a word from him, even during the beatings, which he suffered a lot from the townspeople. Again, the saint silently predicted recovery or death to the sick: he lifted the sick man from his bed - he would survive, he began to cry and fold his hands - he would die. Long before the fire started, Procopius climbed the bell tower and rang the bells. Thus the blessed one labored for 30 years. And in 1627 he also foresaw his death: he prayed earnestly, wiped his body with snow, and in peace surrendered his soul to the Lord.
Xenia of Petersburg
During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the holy fool "Xenia Grigorievna", the wife of the court chorister Andrei Fedorovich Petrov, "who was a colonel", was known. Left a widow at the age of 26, Xenia distributed all her property to the poor, put on her husband's clothes and wandered under his name for 45 years, having nowhere to live. The main place of her stay was the St. Petersburg side, the parish of the Holy Apostle Matthew. Where she spent the night remained unknown for a long time, to many, but the police were extremely interested to know.
It turned out that Ksenia, despite the time of year and the weather, went out to the field for the night and here, in kneeling prayer, stood idle until dawn, alternately making earthly bows on all four sides. One day, workers who were building a new stone church at the Smolensk cemetery began to notice that at night, during their absence from the building, someone dragged whole mountains of bricks onto the top of the church under construction.
Blessed Xenia was an invisible helper. The townspeople considered it lucky if this woman suddenly came into their house. During her lifetime, cab drivers especially revered her - they had such a sign: whoever manages to let Xenia down, wait for good luck. Xenia's earthly life ended in the 71st year. Her body was buried at the Smolensk cemetery. The chapel on her grave to this day serves as one of the shrines of St. Petersburg. As before, after performing a memorial service at the burial site of Xenia, the suffering receive healing, peace is established in families.
Read more about the first saint of St. Petersburg.
Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha
Although he was Ivan Yakovlevich, the holy fool of Moscow, they went to him for advice and prayer from all over Russia. The clairvoyant, soothsayer and blessed was not canonized, but still people with their needs go to his grave near the Elias Church in Moscow. He was born in the family of a priest in the city of Smolensk, but after graduating from the Theological Academy, he did not become a priest. He decided to be a teacher at the Theological School, he was already there, instructing the youths, pretending to be crazy. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the city of Smolensk both feared and adored him.
He predicted this or that event to the finest details: death, birth, matchmaking, war. Having deliberately chosen foolishness, Ivan Yakovlevich stood out among the blessed with an aura of romance: he signed, for example, "a student of cold waters." glorified him most famous people 19th century: St. Philaret (Drozdov), writers Leskov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Ostrovsky. And yet the result of everything was the placement of Ivan Yakovlevich in a lunatic asylum in Moscow on Preobrazhenka.
For the remaining 47 years of his life, he did not leave the walls of hospitals for the mentally ill. He occupied a small corner in the large room near the stove, the rest of the space was completely occupied by visitors. It can be said that all of Moscow went to Ivan Yakovlevich, and many of them out of curiosity. And there was something to see! He treated extremely: either he would put the girl on her knees, or he would smear the venerable matron with sewage, or he would fight with those who were thirsty for healing. They say he hated real fools and ridiculous questions. But with such important and intelligent gentlemen as, for example, the philologist Buslaev, the historian Pogodin, according to one of the legends - Gogol, he spoke a lot and behind closed doors.
Under Nicholas I in St. Petersburg, the holy fool "Annushka" was very popular. A small woman, about sixty years old, with thin, beautiful features, poorly dressed and with the same reticule in her hands. An old woman came from a noble family, chatting fluently in French and German. It was said that in her youth she was in love with an officer who married another. The unfortunate woman left St. Petersburg and returned to the city a few years later as a holy fool. Annushka walked around the city, collected alms and immediately distributed them to others.
For the most part, she lived with this or that kind-hearted person on Sennaya Square. She wandered around the city, predicted events that did not fail to come true. Kind people assigned her to an almshouse, but there the dear old woman with the purse showed herself to be an extremely absurd and disgusting person. She arranged frequent quarrels with the almshouses; instead of paying for transportation, she could leave the cabman with a stick. But in her native Sennaya Square she enjoyed incredible popularity and respect. All the inhabitants of this famous square came to her funeral, which she arranged for herself, at the Smolensk cemetery: merchants, artisans, laborers, clerics.
Pasha Sarovskaya
One of the last holy fools in the history of Russia, Pasha Sarovskaya, was born in 1795 in the Tambov province and lived in the world for more than 100 years. In her youth, she fled from the serfs, took monastic vows in Kiev, lived as a hermit in caves in the Sarov forest for 30 years, and then settled in the Diveevsky monastery. Those who knew her recall that she constantly carried several dolls with her, which replaced her relatives and friends. The blessed one spent all her nights in prayer, and during the day, after the church service, she reaped the grass with a sickle, knitted stockings, and did other work, continually saying the Jesus Prayer. Every year the number of suffering people who turned to her for advice, with requests to pray for them, increased.
According to the testimony of the monastics, Pasha knew the monastic rank poorly. She called the Mother of God "mother behind a glass", and during prayer she could rise above the ground. In 1903 Nicholas II and his wife visited Paraskovya. Pasha predicted the death of the dynasty and the river of innocent blood to the royal family. After the meeting, she constantly prayed and bowed before the portrait of the king. Before her own death in 1915, she kissed the portrait of the emperor with the words: "darling already at the end." Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna was glorified as a saint on October 6, 2004.
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Introduction
V modern world we increasingly hear the words tolerance, empathy, morality, spirituality, patriotism. The world has become so cruel that people increasingly began to come to temples, turn to God. V educational institutions programs for spiritual and moral education were introduced, which are closely connected with Orthodox culture.
Preparing for one of these lessons on spiritual local history, I read a statement that interested me very much "We are holy fools for Christ's sake." I became interested in what kind of people were called that, the history of their appearance, what place they occupied or occupy in society and in the history of our state. So, object my research was the phrase "We are holy fools for Christ's sake."
Definition of a specific task and its formulation.
My job, devoted to this phenomenon topical that brings the light of spiritual enlightenment to the world around.
Tasks, that I set for myself when doing this work:
In educational terms: to study: reference (dictionaries, encyclopedias, Wikipedia), historical, spiritual and Orthodox, fiction.
In educational terms: education of love and respect for the history and culture of the people, a sense of compassion.
In the developmental plan: the development of mental abilities and horizons, an aesthetically creative personality.
Through participation in the creation of the project, to contribute to the education of innermost feelings in the hearts of the children, to clarify in their peace of mind sincerely humane attitude to holy concepts.
Main part
Chapter 1. Terminology
Term "holy fool" originated from the word “fool”, from the Greek word meaning “insane”, as well as “simple, stupid”. “Yurody” in ancient Russian sources are called Blessed Simeon (“The Life of Blessed Simeon”), Isaac of the Caves (“Pechersky Paterik”), Nikola Novgorodsky Salos, etc.
By “holy fools” it is customary to understand people who were guided by the words of the Apostle Paul “we are mad (ancient Russian “fools”) for Christ’s sake” and who accepted one of the feats of Christian piety - foolishness in Christ. These people were not necessarily truly insane, as is commonly believed. There were the largest number of crazy people among the holy fools - 40%, while the rest did not actually suffer from mental disorders, but consciously assumed the image of a holy fool.
Holy fools, like monks, voluntarily renounced all the benefits of “worldly” life (property, position in society, etc.) and even blood relationship. But, unlike those who took the tonsure, these people did not seek solitude, on the contrary, they lived among people, there were especially many of them in cities. The holy fools, by their example, word and deed, sought to turn people away from sin. Often these "madmen" moved among the most fallen people in public opinion, and it happened that they really managed to return them to the path of Christianity.
Often the holy fools had a prophetic gift. V. O. Klyuchevsky describes such a case: “The posadnik Nemir, who belonged to the Lithuanian party (in Novgorod), came to the Klopsky Monastery to Blessed Michael. Mikhail asked the posadnik where he was from. “He was, father, with his forefather (mother-in-law).” - “What do you have, son, for a thought, what are you all going to think about with women?” “I hear,” the mayor said, “the prince of Moscow is going to attack us in the summer, and we have our own prince Mikhail.” “Then, son, it’s not a prince, but mud,” the blessed one objected, “send ambassadors to Moscow as soon as possible, finish off the Moscow prince with your forehead for your guilt, otherwise he will come to Novgorod with all his strength, you will go out against him, and there will be no God's help to you, and he will kill many of you, and even more will bring you to Moscow, and Prince Michael will leave you for Lithuania and will not help you in anything. Everything happened just as the blessed one predicted.” 1 However, the behavior of the holy fools was by no means always decent. A person who adopted foolishness, at the same time, discarded all norms of decency and a sense of shame: “He walks naked (or dressed in ugly dirty rags), wears chains (various iron chains, stripes, rings, and other objects on his naked body for the sake of“ pacifying the flesh ” ), usually prays only at night, as if embarrassed by this, wallows in mud, ashes, etc., does not wash, does not comb his hair, defecates in public, disturbs order in the church and on the street, with his whole appearance indicates involvement in the base, dirty, shocking” 2
3 Holy fools could parody what was happening around them in order to reason with people in this way. For example, in Novgorod in the XIV century. two holy fools - Nikola Kachanov and Fedor - staged fights among themselves, mocking the bloody clashes of the Novgorod parties. However, often the actions of the holy fools were completely strange and difficult to explain, for example, Basil the Blessed kissed the walls of the houses of sinners, and threw stones and pieces of earth into the houses of the righteous. This behavior of his was explained by people as follows: “Angels cry over the houses of sinners, and he (the holy fool) seeks to bow to them; and demons hang outside the houses of the righteous, because they cannot get into the house, it is the man of God who throws stones at them. 3
At the same time, the holy fools were among the few who dared to tell the princes and boyars, kings and nobles the truth. For example, St. Basil the Blessed reproached Ivan the Terrible for thinking about worldly things during the church service, and Blessed John of Moscow denounced Boris Godunov for participating in the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry. At the same time, the holy fools enjoyed immunity for some time, sometimes their advice was taken into account. But when the patience of a noble person was overwhelmed, or if he was initially too proud to endure such treatment, the holy fool could be declared “false holy fools”, or simply insane (another evidence in favor of the fact that the holy fools were not simple crazy), then this person was deprived his immunity and he could be punished and even executed.
"Holiness" is associated with holiness. The concept of holiness is a very complex one. Its roots go back to the pagan Slavic culture, where death is overcome by a new birth. Then this pagan understanding of holiness clashes with the Christian one, where holiness is a connection with God.
Holy fools are a special kind of saints in Russia who have chosen a very specific way of serving the church - self-abasement and divination. The feat of foolishness is one of the hardest feats that individuals took upon themselves in the name of Christ for the sake of saving their souls and serving their neighbors with the goal of their moral awakening.
“For the sake of the holy fools for Christ”, despite their diligent efforts to hide their feat, he revered and loved the world (Basil the Blessed was revered by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, like Nikolai Salos; Isidore of Rostov, Procopius of Ustyug, John of Moscow are buried almost by the whole city).
The holy fools were mostly laymen, but there were also holy fools monks. Among them is Saint Isidore, the first holy fool in time (died in 365), a nun of the Taven monastery; Saint Simeon, Saint Thomas.
The Orthodox Church is of the opinion that the holy fool voluntarily assumes the guise of insanity in order to hide his perfection from the world and in this way avoid vain worldly glory. For some, monasticism, that is, leaving the world, a vow of non-acquisition (voluntary poverty), chastity and obedience, becomes the road to spiritual insight, for others, foolishness, that is, being in the very thick of society, voluntary poverty, the appearance of madness, condemnation human vices, denunciation of those in power, the removal of curses and bullying.
Different attitudes towards the holy fools among the people are reflected in the Explanatory Dictionary of V. Dahl: “The holy fool is insane, God-willed, a fool, born crazy; the people consider the holy fools to be God's people, finding deep meaning in unconscious actions. Foolishness means not only holiness, but also madness; to play the fool means to act foolish, to pretend to be a fool.
As St. Seraphim of Sarov explained, the feat of foolishness requires special courage and fortitude, and no one should take it upon himself without God’s deliberate calling - otherwise you can “break loose” and become a false fool.
Foolishness is such a feat and such a sacrifice that human thought stops in amazement. This is the limit of holiness available to human powers, the limit of achievement. The holy fools for the most part moved in the most vicious circles of society in order to correct these people and save them, and many of these outcasts were turned to the path of good. Foolishness in Christ puts on a mask of insanity, invites persecution and persecution, exposes itself to all sorts of tortures and moral tortures. For their courage in criticizing kings and nobles, a special way of life, the ability to prophesy, the holy fools were very revered by the people, they were placed no lower than saints, and some were canonized by the Orthodox Church.
All of the above allows us to conclude that the phenomenon of foolishness is one of the key points Russian culture. Social and cultural changes transform foolishness from a religious and social phenomenon into a phenomenon that determines the national identity of Russian culture as a whole. Chapter 2
Foolishness for the sake of Christ, as a special kind of asceticism, arose in the middle of the 4th century in Egypt, simultaneously with monasticism. The foolishness can be viewed from two sides. The first is God's calling. Holy fools carry a special mission among the sinful world. The second is a very difficult feat: the “narrow path” that a person takes to achieve great spiritual perfection.
The description of the first holy fool, Saint Isidora, who died about 365, was made by the Christian theologian and poet Ephraim the Syrian. Saint Isidora, who got tied up in the Tavensky convent, is described as quiet and well-behaved. The holy fool was nicknamed because she wore old clothes, tied her hair with a rag, and ate very poorly. This woman, unlike her Russian "followers", did not make any predictions, did not denounce power structures, did not wear a chain - all this was mainly the property of holy fools in Russia.
Thus, we can conclude that foolishness was not originally a Russian phenomenon. Initially, it spread in Byzantium, the Monk Serapion Sindonite, the Monk Bessarion the Wonderworker, the Monk Thomas, Saint Simeon of Emesa, Saint Andrew of Constantinople are known. However, by the XIV century. foolishness here is gradually fading away, references to them disappear, the last Byzantine holy fool known now was Maxim Kavsokalivat, who died in 1367.
Since that time, foolishness has become a specifically Russian phenomenon (in Ukraine and Belarus, this feat of Christian piety did not become widespread, and there are no materials about the existence of holy fools there). The first Russian holy fool, which is now known, is the Kiev-Pechersk monk Isaac, who died in 1090.
Rev. Isaac was a native of Toropetsk merchants. He entered the Caves Monastery under St. Anthony. Under his sackcloth he put on the raw skin of a freshly killed goat, so that it dried on him. For some time he lived in a cave measuring 4 cubits, slept little, ate only prosphora and water. Isaac was subjected to a terrible temptation. Once his cave was lit up and filled with demons in the form of radiant angels, and an inexperienced hermit, mistaking one of them for Christ, bowed to him. Then the demons seized him, forced him to dance with them, and by morning they disappeared, leaving him unconscious, barely alive. Rev. was ill for three years. Isaac: at first he lay motionless, deprived of his tongue, could neither eat nor drink. Then he began to walk and talk little by little. When he came to his senses, he realized his mistake and, for the sake of humility and learning, doomed himself to the service of the brethren in the kitchen, began to wear the worst sackcloth and shoes so torn that his feet froze to the floor in church.
From Kiev, foolishness moved to Novgorod. Holy fool by his own choice, became Procopius of Ustyug(died 1285 or 1303). He came from a noble family of Hanseatic merchants. In Novgorod, he converted to Orthodoxy and distributed all his property to the city's beggars and poor; and part donated it to the Varlaamo-Khutynsky monastery. After the Novgorodians began to revere Procopius, he began to act like a fool: “On the day of death, like a holy fool, you stay at night without sleep, and praying unceasingly to the Lord God” 4 . Later he retired to Veliky Ustyug, where he lived on the porch of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God.
Lived on alms, was dressed in rags. The blessed one usually slept on damp earth, on a heap of rubbish or on stones.
In 1290, Procopius foresaw a natural disaster - a strong storm with a thunderstorm, forest fires and a tornado of great destructive power, which were the result of a meteorite falling 20 miles from Vel. Ustyug. A week before the fall of the meteorite, Blessed Procopius began to walk around the city, calling with tears to the inhabitants of Veliky Ustyug to repent and pray that the Lord would deliver the city from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. During the week the righteous man warned of the imminent judgment of God, but no one believed him. When a storm broke out, the inhabitants rushed to the most fortified and safe building of the city - the cathedral church, where they found Procopius praying for them and for the salvation of the city.
Procopius lived in foolishness for 60 years. After his death, he was canonized as an Orthodox saint.
Novgorod was the birthplace of Russian foolishness. All famous Russian holy fools of the 14th - early 15th centuries are associated with Novgorod. They rampaged here in the 14th century Nikola (Kochanov) and Fedor, parodying the bloody clashes of the Novgorod parties with their fights. Fifteen versts from Novgorod, in the Klopsky Trinity Monastery, he asceticised St. Michael(1453), a relative of the Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy.
For 44 years he lived in the Klopsky monastery, exhausting his body in labor and various hardships.
The saint denounced the vices of people, not fearing the mighty of this world. He predicted the birth of Grand Duke John III (1462-1505) on January 22, 1440 and the capture of Novgorod by him, denounced Prince Dimitri Shemyaka for his villainy.
Isidore, For Christ's sake, holy fool, Rostov miracle worker. In his youth, he accepted Orthodoxy and renounced the world, began to play the fool and left the rich house of his parents with a staff in his hands.
Arriving in Russia, he stopped in Rostov the Great and stayed there to live, having built himself a hut of branches, on an elevated dry place in the middle of a huge puddle, and lived in it until his death. However, he retired to it only for prayer. He spent his days on the streets of the city, enduring all sorts of reproach.
Blessed Isidore's contemporaries, who were more than once convinced in practice of the fulfillment of his predictions, called the saint "Tverdislov".
A number of Moscow holy fools begins with Maxim (1433), canonized at the cathedral in 1547. Blessed Maxim, holy fool for Christ's sake, lived in Moscow. In summer and winter, Maxim went almost completely naked, enduring both heat and cold with prayer. He said: "Though the winter is fierce, but paradise is sweet." Russia loved its holy fools very much, appreciated their deepest humility. And everyone listened to the holy fools: from the great princes to the last poor man.
Blessed Maxim lived in difficult times for the Russian people. Tatar raids, droughts, epidemics ruined and killed people. The saint said to the destitute: “Not everything is woolly, otherwise, and vice versa ... They will beat you for the cause, confess, but bow lower; do not cry beaten, cry unbeaten; we will endure, and we will be people; gradually and damp firewood catches fire; for patience God will give salvation.
Miraculous healings began to occur at the relics of the holy saint of God. The Church of Boris and Gleb, in whose fence the saint was buried, burned down in 1568. A new church was built in its place, which was consecrated in the name of St. Maximus, Christ for the sake of the holy fool.
The 16th century gave Moscow St. Basil the Blessed and John, nicknamed the Big Cap.
Holy Blessed Basil, the Moscow miracle worker at the age of 16 began the thorny feat of foolishness. His actions were strange: he would overturn a tray with rolls, then he would spill a jug of kvass. Angry merchants beat the Blessed One, but he gladly accepted the beatings and thanked God for them. And then it turned out that the kalachi were badly baked, the kvass was cooked unusable. The veneration of Blessed Basil grew rapidly: he was recognized as a holy fool, a man of God, a denouncer of untruth.
Preaching mercy, the Blessed One helped, first of all, those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but meanwhile needed help more than others.
Many noticed that when the Blessed One passed by a house in which they were madly having fun and drinking, he hugged the corners of that house with tears. The holy fool was asked what this meant, and he answered: “Sorrowful angels stand by the house and lament over the sins of people, and I entreated them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.” 5
Under Tsar Theodore Ivanovich in Moscow, another holy fool John, nicknamed Big Cap. He wore heavy chains and an iron cap on his head, for which he received his nickname. Around 1580 he visited Blessed Irinarkh, a recluse of Rostov (1616; Comm. 13/26 January) and predicted the invasion of the Poles and their defeat.
Blessed Nicholas of Pskov more than three decades carried the feat of foolishness. Pskov contemporaries called him Mikula (Mikola, Nikola) Sallos, who during his lifetime was revered as a saint, also called Mikula the Holy.
In February 1570, after a devastating campaign with oprichnina army to Novgorod, Tsar Ivan the Terrible moved to Pskov, suspecting treason and preparing for him the fate of Novgorod. As the Pskov chronicle testifies, “the king came ... with great fury, like a roaring lion, he wanted to tear apart innocent people and shed much blood.” 6
The whole city prayed for the aversion of the royal wrath. All the inhabitants of Pskov took to the streets, and each family knelt at the gate of their house, taking out bread and salt to meet the tsar. On one of the streets, blessed Nicholas ran out to meet the tsar, riding on a stick. The holy fool offered the king a piece of raw meat for a treat. "I am a Christian and do not eat meat during fasting," John told him. “You drink human blood,” the blessed one answered him, instructing the king with “many terrible words” 7 so that he would stop killing and not plunder the holy churches of God. But John did not obey and ordered the bell to be removed from the Trinity Cathedral, and then, according to the prophecy of the saint, the best horse of the king fell.
Frightened by the prophecy and convicted of atrocities, Grozny, ordering to stop the robbery, fled the city. Oprichniki, witnesses of this, wrote: "The powerful tyrant ... left beaten and ashamed, as if driven away by the enemy. So the poor beggar frightened and drove out the king with many thousands of soldiers" 8 .
In Russia, foolishness was unusually widespread, which invariably amazed foreigners who got there in the 16th-17th centuries. Travelers. The Englishman Fletcher writes (1588): "Besides monks, the Russian people especially honor the blessed (holy fools), and this is why: the blessed, like lampoons, point out the shortcomings of the nobles, about which no one else dares to speak." About the great respect of the Russians for As early as the beginning of the 16th century, another foreigner Herberstein also wrote to the holy fools: “The holy fools went naked, the middle of their body was covered with a rag, with wildly flowing hair, an iron chain around their necks. They were also revered as prophets: those who were clearly denounced by them said: this is according to my sins. If they took something in the shop, the merchants also thanked.
From these descriptions of foreigners, we can conclude, firstly, that the holy fools in Moscow were numerous, constituted a special class, some of which were canonized. Secondly, the general respect for them, which, of course, did not exclude individual cases of ridicule on the part of children, the very chains worn for show, completely changed the meaning of ancient Christian foolishness in Russia. Least of all is this a feat of humility. In this era, foolishness takes the form of prophecy. It is no longer the world that swears at the blessed, but they swear at the world.
The finest hour of Russian foolishness was the 16th century. During this century, more than 10 holy fools became famous. The Russian philosopher G. Fedotov sees the reason for such a rise in the popularity of holy fools in the fact that they "filled the void that had formed in the church after the era of the holy princes."
In the 17th century, the holy fools are less common, the Moscow ones are no longer canonized by the church. Foolishness - like monastic holiness - are found in the north, returning to their Novgorod homeland. Vologda, Totma, Kargopol, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka are the cities of the last holy fools. In Moscow, the authorities, both state and church, begin to be suspicious of the blessed. She notices the presence among them of false fools, naturally insane or deceivers. The Synod generally ceases to canonize holy fools. Deprived of the spiritual support of the church intelligentsia, persecuted by the police, foolishness descends into the people and undergoes a process of degeneration.
In modern times, only one holy fool was canonized - Xenia of Petersburg. “At twenty-six years old she lost her husband and became “ holy fool of Christ for the sake of ”(they assured, however, that she had really gone crazy): she gave away property, went around in her husband’s clothes, spent the night where she had to. “Often they saw how she left the city and prayed in the field, turning alternately to the four cardinal directions. She was also seen stealthily working at night, bringing bricks to build a large church that was being built in her area. The population of the suburb where she lived adored her. Mothers would let her rock their children or kiss them, and this was considered a blessing. The drivers begged her to sit down with them for a few moments and after that they were sure that they would make good money in a day. Sellers forcibly shoved their goods into her hands - if she touched him, buyers must have come. Xenia during her lifetime became a famous miracle worker, ”she predicted the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (January 5, 1761). After her death, her veneration spread not only among the people, but also in the upper strata of society. For example, it is known that the future emperor Alexander III He was healed of relapsing fever with the help of sand from the blessed grave and prayers to her” 9 .
However, foolishness was still popular among the people. This can be judged at least by the fact that this phenomenon of Russian culture continued to exist until the October Revolution of 1917. Proof of this are the images of holy fools in the literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
L.N. Tolstoy writes about the Holy Fool Grisha in his autobiographical trilogy “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". S. Yesenin: “I’ll give up everything, let my beard go, and go around Russia like a tramp ... I’ll blow my nose loudly in my hand and play the fool in everything ... Because I can’t live on earth without these eccentricities.”
Researchers have repeatedly noted the phenomenal character of Ivanushka the Fool in Russian fairy tales. In Russia, where he becomes a favorite hero and, in fact, turns out to be much more intelligent than all imaginary heroes and cunning people. In the blessed they saw that children's pure, not stained with vanity and sin small world with which the brightest memories merged in the soul. Hypocrisy, worldly calculations - all this seemed so alien to children and holy fools that it even became a proverb: "Stupid and small will tell the truth." And from this it becomes clear why Russian society, in difficult times, sought solutions to issues and deliverance from disasters from the blessed.
In addition, the holy fools were closer to the people because of their direct life in the world (on church porches, in city squares). The holy fools, appearing to the world not in the luxurious attire of prayer books and the righteous, but in the miserable rags of vagabonds, were psychologically closer to the sinful world. 10
Chapter 3. Religious Meaning.
What is the religious background of foolishness, which has become so widespread in Russia?
“The Orthodox Church is of the opinion that the holy fool voluntarily assumes the guise of insanity in order to hide his perfection from the world and thus avoid the vain worldly glory. She considers spiritual instruction in a paradoxical form to be the second motive for foolishness. eleven
The activity of the holy fool among people should contribute to the purification of mankind and the conversion to God and other people "mired in sin." If the official church cannot influence people, then this should be done by some of its ascetics, the role of which the holy fools actually took upon themselves. Holiness is, of course, good, but it in itself imposes certain obligations, one of which is to help other people on their path to salvation - this is exactly what the holy fools tried to do with their very peculiar “sermons”. 12
Another obligation that the holy fools have assumed is complete self-denial, i.e. renunciation of oneself, of one’s desires and even of one’s body, a kind of symbolic offering of it as a sacrifice to Christ. The reason for this can be considered the desire inherent in all Christian ascetics to follow the actions of Christ himself - in this case, this is his sacrificing himself for the salvation of all people.
As mentioned earlier, foolishness relied on the words of the Apostle Paul “we are fools for Christ's sake”, you can also remember the “Gospel of Mark”: “Whoever wants to go with Me, deny yourself” 13 . Thus, we can conclude that in order to get closer to God, you need to renounce yourself as much as possible. To do this, the holy fools used all methods: renouncing their bodies, they wore chains, endured beatings, cold, insects attracted by a dirty body. The meaning of this can be described as "the pain of my body is not my pain." 14 Those who endured all these trials learned to look at their body from the outside, as something alien and not related to them - thus, the maximum renunciation of the carnal and approaching the incorporeal, divine was achieved.
The second stage of renunciation of oneself is actually the guise of a holy fool - an insane, stupid person who causes ridicule. A person is extremely prone to pride, he always strives to look better than he really is, and, naturally, it is almost impossible to make a person look stupider than he is in the eyes of others. With such an approach and behavior, those saints who moved away from the world into the wilderness can also be regarded as pride: after all, they considered themselves unworthy of living in a world of sin. Their self-esteem could not stand the neighborhood with sinful and vain people. These ascetics seemed to say with their departure: “I am too pure, too holy for your world, mired in sin and debauchery. I can’t live next to people so unworthy of my society, so I’m leaving.” The holy fools sought to overcome pride in themselves both in life “in the world” and in their behavior: presenting oneself as a madman in the eyes of others, a fool who can only cause ridicule - this is the humility of pride. The holy fools also renounced their desires: in the lives of the holy holy fools, as well as in numerous testimonies about the life of the holy fools who were not canonized, one can find references to the fact that these people ate the simplest food, dressed, as already mentioned in rags. So they just didn't let their body die ahead of time assigned to them by the Lord, but in no case did they indulge, but, on the contrary, in every possible way overcame their desires. 15
From all this we can conclude that the religious meaning of foolishness was to renounce oneself as much as possible and thus draw closer to God.
Chapter 4
Of course, in addition to the religious meaning, foolishness also had specific social prerequisites, which were at the same time the reasons for its wide distribution on the territory of the Russian state.
First, the vast, overwhelming majority of the Russian population was illiterate and obeyed more oral versions than church sources.
Second, among the people long time pagan traditions existed alongside Christianity.
Thirdly, the presence in Russia of the “laughter world”. This reverse side of the life of Russian society gave the holy fools rich ground for parody, imitation and self-abasement.
Another reason for the appearance of holy fools was that ordinary people very often suffered from arbitrariness, violence, selfishness, selfishness. At the same time, there was no one to complain to, and if someone managed to get to higher persons than his offender, then usually the matter was decided not in his favor anyway, and the person who decided to seek the truth was punished for this search. The holy fools, firstly, to some extent enjoyed immunity, and because of this they could afford more than other people; and secondly, for the holy fool to suffer from the arbitrariness of power was even better: by doing this he suppressed his pride, pacified his body, and if he was executed, he died for the truth and for faith, however, this rarely happened. An example is the case described above about Ivan the Terrible and Elder Salos Nikola.
Evidence that foolishness takes on an almost mass character and meets with the approval of not only the common people, but also the church, can be a large number of temples built in their name. So in Novgorod they revered Nikolai Kochanov, Mikhail Klopsky, Jacob Borovitsky, in Ustyug - Procopius and John, in Rostov - Isidore, in Moscow - Maxim and St. Basil the Blessed, in Kaluga - Lawrence, in Pskov - Nikola Salos.
Conclusion
The meaning of foolishness for Russian culture
The significance of such a phenomenon as foolishness on Russian culture is complex and multifaceted. It can be found in many areas of art, but the most important, in my opinion, is the influence of foolishness on the formation of a special psychological type of a Russian person.
Foolishness introduced one very important and inherent of all European peoples, in my opinion, only Russian psychological feature: the craving for martyrdom. In European countries, the tradition of asceticism has been adopted: renunciation of life's blessings, leaving for the difficult life of a monk with its hard work, many hours of prayer and various restrictions. But only in Russia there was a desire not only to leave the world and live, overcoming difficulties, but to suffer and, perhaps, even die for the faith, for something sacred for the Russian people.
Indirect evidence of the Russians' desire for martyrdom can be the Old Believers, who were burned alive for their faith, as well as numerous sects, of which there were many in Russia and in Russia, with rather barbaric, cruel customs: eunuchs, whips, etc.
We can talk about the same trait of the national character, recalling examples that are very far from the religious sphere, the example of Ivan Susanin, partisans during the Great Patriotic War, and many others.
In the art of Russia and Russia, the influence of foolishness is also traced. So in literature and painting, images of holy fools appear (in literature, I already mentioned this, in painting - this is Surikov’s painting “Boyar Morozova”).
Thus, in my work, I traced the history of the development of foolishness. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
Firstly, foolishness was born even before the separation christian church into Catholic and Orthodox, but it has never been widespread in the West. This phenomenon was characteristic first of Byzantine and then of Russian religiosity. At the same time, from the XIV century. foolishness becomes an exclusively Russian phenomenon, since it is dying out in Byzantium.
Secondly, specific social prerequisites contributed to the relatively wide spread of this Christian feat in Russia.
Thirdly, the religious basis of foolishness is the idea of renouncing everything material, including one's own body, and, most importantly, getting rid of pride in order to achieve closer spiritual contact with God.
And, finally, fourthly, foolishness had a significant impact on the culture of Russia, and especially on the psychology of the Russian people: it contributed to the emergence and strengthening of people's craving for martyrdom, which had a noticeable impact on the historical development of Russia right up to our time.
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Appendix
Alexey Elnatsky
Andrew the Holy Fool, or Andrew of Constantinople - a holy fool especially revered in Russia
Basil the Blessed (1469-1552) - Moscow holy fool, one of the most famous saints of the Russian Orthodox Church
Euphrosyne Kolyupanovskaya (c. 1758-1855) - Princess Vyazemskaya, who left the imperial court and became a holy fool
Jacob Borovichsky († 1540) - Borovitsky miracle worker
Ivan Koreysha (1783-1861)
John of Moscow (? - 1589) - Moscow holy fool
John of Verkhoturye (XVII century) - Siberian holy fool
John the Merciful (Rostov miracle worker) - (? - † 1581)
John (Ustyug holy fool) († 1494) - Ustyug holy fool
Isaac of the Caves († 1090) - the first known holy fool in Russia, a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery
Isidore of Rostov († 1474) - Rostov miracle worker, originally from Germany
Isidora of Tavennia (IV century) - one of the first holy fools
Cyprian of Suzdal
Xenia of Petersburg
Maxim Kavsokalivit († 1354)
Maxim of Moscow († 1434)
Maria Diveevskaya
Mikhail Klopsky (XV century) - a relative of Prince Dmitry Donskoy
Misha-Samuel († 1907)
Nikolka Salos
Paisius of Kiev († 1893) - reverend from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
Pasha Sarovskaya
Pelageya Diveevskaya
Procopius of Vyatka (1578-1627)
Procopius of Ustyug (? - † 1303) - miracle worker saint, originally from Lübeck
Saiko, Afanasy Andreevich (1887-1967) - Oryol elder, who played the fool in the middle of the 20th century
Simon the Blessed († 1584) - a saint from Yuryevets of the Volga region.
Simeon the Holy Fool (VI century) - a monk, a hermit and a holy fool who lived in Syria.
Stakhiy - Rostov holy fool.
Theodore of Novgorod († 1392)
Theophilus (Gorenkovsky) († 1853) - Hieroschemamonk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
Thomas the Syrian
one . O. Klyuchevsky “Russian history. Full course of lectures” / Rostov-on-Don. "Phoenix". 1998. Vol. 1. Pp. 435.
2. O. Klyuchevsky “Russian history. Full course of lectures” / Rostov-on-Don. "Phoenix". 1998. Vol. 1. Pp. 435.
3 "Christianity: Encyclopedic Dictionary". / Moscow. Scientific publishing house "Great Russian Encyclopedia". 1995. T. 3. P. 286.
4 Life of Procopius of Ustyug. - In the book: Monuments ancient writing, issue. S1P. SPb., 1893, p. eight.
5 Blessed Basil, fool for Christ's sake. Edit.arch. A. Mileant, ed. ridge Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, 1996.
6 L.N. Zheltova About the lives of holy fools…. St. Petersburg, 2001
7 Zheltova E.V. About the lives of the holy fools ... / / The life of Andrei the holy fool. St. Petersburg, 2001
eight . See ibid.
9 Sindalovsky N.A. St. Petersburg: History in Traditions and Legends. - St. Petersburg, 2002.
10 See ibid.
11 Ivanov S. A. “Byzantine foolishness”. / Moscow. 1994. Page 4. // The footnote is taken from A. V. Yudin’s book “Russian Folk Spiritual Culture”. / Moscow. "Graduate School". 1999 Page 253.
12 Zheltova E.V. About the lives of holy fools…// St. Petersburg, 2001
13 Yudin A.V. “Russian Folk Spiritual Culture”. / Moscow. "Graduate School". 1999 Page 255..
14 Yurkov S.E. Under the sign of the grotesque: anti-behavior in Russian culture. St. Petersburg, 2003.
