The holy fool is ... The meaning of the word "holy fool". Holy holy fools

People believe that a holy fool is a person with a mandatory presence of a mental disorder or a corporal flaw. In simple terms, it's an ordinary fool. The Church tirelessly refutes this definition, arguing that such people spontaneously doom themselves to torment, enveloping themselves in a veil that hides the true kindness of thoughts. Theology calls for distinguishing between such two concepts as the holy fools from nature and the holy fools of "Christ's sake." If the first type of everything seems to be clear, then the second should be discussed in more detail. They, because of their strong love for God, became ascetics, shielded themselves from worldly goods and amenities, condemning 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 of prayer, months in office, 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, torn body, showing disdain for human corruptible flesh. The nude image has two meanings. First, it is the purity and innocence of the angel. Secondly, lust, immorality, the personification of the devil, who always appeared naked in Gothic art. This costume has a dual meaning, being for some a salvation, and for others destruction. Yet they had one distinctive attribute of clothing - a shirt or loincloth.

The language the holy fool speaks for is silence. But the adherents of dumbness were few, as this contradicted the blessed direct duties: to expose human vices and to pronounce predictions. They chose something in between silence and broadcasting. The movers muffled and whispered incoherently, carrying incoherent nonsense.

Interpretation of the word

Foolishness is translated from the Old Slavonic as a madman and a fool, comes from the following words: Ourod and Yurod. Proshtudirovan explanatory dictionaries Ozhegova, Efremova, Dahl, we can conclude that the meaning of the word is similar.

Semantic properties

1. In religion, the holy fool is a person who has renounced earthly advantages and has chosen the path of asceticism for himself. A wise madman who is one of the faces of holiness. (The holy fools danced and wept. VI Kostylev "Ivan the Terrible")

2. The ancient meaning of the word "stupid".

3. A disapproving designation that belittles a person: eccentric, abnormal. (Do I look like a young wandering holy fool who is being executed today? MA Bulgakov, Master and Margarita)

The meaning of existence

By their behavior they tried to reason with people, showing them in a caricature form their actions and actions. They ridiculed human vices such as envy, rudeness, resentment. This was done in order to arouse in the masses a sense of shame for an unworthy existence. Unlike fairy buffoons, the holy fools did not resort to sarcastic sarcasm and satire. They were guided by love and compassion for people who lost their way in life.

Procopius Ustyugsky

The holy fool, who first compared himself to the ambassador of God's will, urging the whole population of Ustyug to pray on Sunday morning, otherwise the Lord will punish their city. Everyone laughed at him, thinking he was insane. A couple of days later he again tearfully asked residents to repent and pray, but again was not heard. Soon his prophecy came true: a terrible storm hit the city. Frightened people ran to the cathedral, and near the icon of the Mother of God they found a praying blessed man. Residents also began to pray diligently, which saved their city from destruction. Many saved their souls, turning their gaze to the Almighty. In the heat and frost every night, Blessed Procopius spent time praying at the church porch, and in the morning he fell asleep in a dunghill.

In Antioch, holy holy fools were observed, one of which had an identification mark in the form of a dead dog tied to his leg. Because of such oddities, people constantly teased them, often kicking and beating. Hence the conclusion that a holy fool is a martyr, only in contrast to the classical understanding of this word, suffering pain and suffering more than once, but throughout his life.

Blessed Andrew Christ for the holy fool

During the reign of Emperor Leo the Great-Wise, a man who bought many slaves lived in Constantinople, among whom was a boy of Slavic appearance named Andrei. The owner loved him more than others, since the youngster was handsome, clever and kind. Since childhood, his favorite place for visits has become the church, in reading he gave preference to the Holy Scriptures. Once he was caught by the devil and began to knock on the door to confuse. Andrew was frightened and jumped into bed, covering himself with the skin of a goat. Soon he fell asleep and he had a dream, in which two troops appeared before him. In one war they were in light robes like angels, and in the other were like demons and devils. The Black Army offered the White to fight with their mighty giant, but they did not dare to engage in battle. And then a light-faced young man came down from heaven. In his hands were three crowns of unearthly beauty. Andrew wanted to buy them for any money that the owner would give him, after seeing such beauty. But Angel suggested another option, saying that these wreaths are not sold for any earthly riches, but they can belong to Andrew if he defeats the black giant. Andrew overcame him, received the crowns as a reward, and after hearing the words of the Most High. The Lord called Andrew to become blessed for his sake and promised many awards and honors. The holy fool listened to this and decided to do the will of God. From that time, Andrei began to walk naked on the street, showing his body the body cut on the eve of the knife, pretending to be crazy, carrying an inarticulate nonsense. For many years he suffered insults and spitting in the back, endured hunger and cold, heat and thirst, and gave alms to other beggars. For his obedience and patience, he received as a reward from the Lord the gift of clairvoyance and prediction, thanks to which he saved many erring souls and brought deceivers and villains to the surface.

While reading the prayers at the Vlaherna church, Andrei the holy fool saw the Blessed Virgin, from whom he received a blessing. In 936 Andrey died.

Fearless Sayings

Fools fought not only with human sins, but also with their own, for example, with pride. Acquired by them for years of life humility helped to survive all human attacks and beatings. But their humility and obedience does not 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 frightenedly lowered their eyes.

An example in history

After much persuasion by Nikolai Sallos, known as the Pskov fool, Ivan the Terrible refused to eat meat in the post, arguing that he was a Christian. Blessed Nikolai 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 the literature

The classic image of the holy fool, known to everyone from an early age - the hero of Russian folk tales Ivan the Fool. At first he seemed an absolute fool, but in time it became clear that his irrationality was ostentatious.

N.M. Karamzin created a hero named Vasily Blazhenny who, without fearing the disgrace of Ivan the Terrible, denounced all his cruel deeds. He also has a character named John the Blessed, who walked barefoot even in a fierce frost and at every corner spoke about the nasty things of Boris Godunov.

Pushkin's blessed

All these heroes of Karamzin inspired Alexander Pushkin to create his own image of a holy fool, nicknamed Iron Kolpak. Despite the secondary role assigned to him and a couple of replicas in only one scene, he has his own "mission of truth", to which he fills the entire tragedy. No wonder they say that the word can not only injure, but also kill. He appeals for protection to Godunov after he was offended by local boys and took a penny, demanding the same punishment that the tsar once proposed to apply to the little prince. The holy fool demanded to kill them. The very news about the fate of the baby is not new, it was mentioned in the previous scenes, but the difference in the pitch. If before this topic only whispered, now the accusation was pronounced in person and publicly, which was a shock for Boris. The king indicated what was done, as a small speck on his reputation, but the Iron Cap opened the eyes of the people to the fact that this is a monstrous crime, and that it is not worthy to pray for the king-king.

Blessed ascetics avoided earthly glory, but for their misery and undeveloped feats the Lord awarded them the ability to work miracles with the power of a prayer word.