02 — The Holy Fool in Moscow

The tradition that makes sense of everything else about Basil: yurodstvo, foolishness-for-Christ, the deliberate embrace of apparent madness for the sake of the Gospel. This section sets out the theology of holy folly and then the concrete persona Basil enacted — the naked, chained ascetic of the Moscow streets and markets.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox (glorified 1588; feast 2 August O.S. / 15 August N.S.)

To read Basil’s Life without the yurodstvo tradition is to read a catalogue of eccentric acts; to read it with the tradition is to see a coherent ascetic vocation whose provocations are its language. This section provides that frame. The first file treats the theology of foolishness-for-Christ — its scriptural root in St. Paul, its Byzantine models, its distinctive Russian flowering — and links the sibling case of St. Xenia. The second describes the persona Basil actually enacted, the one part of his life for which there is a near-contemporary external witness in Giles Fletcher.

Section Contents

• Foolishness for Christ in Rus’ — the yurodstvo tradition and its theology; the Pauline root, the Byzantine models, the Russian path, with the Xenia parallel
• The Naked Ascetic of the City — the persona: nakedness through the winters, the chains, the streets and markets, confirmed from life by Fletcher

See Also

• The Fool-for-Christ Tradition — the fuller treatment of yurodstvo and Basil’s place among the Russian fools
• Hagiography vs. History — what is attested of the persona versus the anecdotes
• St. Xenia of St. Petersburg — the sibling fool-for-Christ

References

• Ivanov, Sergey A. Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond. Trans. Simon Franklin. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Fedotov, G. P. The Russian Religious Mind, vol. 2. Harvard University Press, 1966.
• Fletcher, Giles. Of the Russe Commonwealth (1591). Ed. Pipes and Fine. Harvard University Press, 1966.