Pavel Svedomsky. A Fool-in-Christ. no date (circa late 19th century)

A Fool-in-Christ (Pavel Svedomsky, no date, circa late 19^th century)

The iurodivets (“fool-in-Christ”) is perhaps the most misunderstood category in the Orthodox lexicon. A Fool is not insane, although many modern secular and religiously liberal sorts think such (unfortunately, some are Orthodox, generally found amongst seminary professors and modernist clergy). The Fool is eminently sane, as he sacrifices everything, home, possessions, family, and even outward sanity for the sake of his salvation. This is a standing indictment of all who have compromised their faith in exchange for worldly preferment (especially the office-seekers and bureaucrats amongst the clergy).

The Fool accepts everything without demur. The Fool prays for all, including (and especially) those who torment and mock him for his radical commitment to Christ and His teachings. There are those who denigrate the Fool even after his death, as we see in the modern intellectuals who sneer at great warriors of prayer such as St Basil the Blessed of Moscow. Even so, the saint prays for his detractors now that he is glorified, just as he prayed for his mockers when he was here on the earth. It does not matter to the sainted Fool that the intelligentsia and their odd-sod hangers-on call him insane and mentally unbalanced. He still prays for all of us. St Ksenia, St Andrew, St Basil, and St Aleksei the Man of God suffered indignity and slander whilst they were alive. They returned good for evil. Why should they change because they are now before the Throne of God?

Look at the figure pictured in the painting. He is barefoot, in rags, all in the teeth of the Russian winter. His look is not focused on this world; instead, it concentrates on the world to come. This is why those who are possessed by the passion of greed and avarice hate him so. He stands as a mute contradiction of all of their desires and verities. No doubt, the fool has been driven from door to door with blows and curses. Some housewives begrudgingly threw him a scrap of food. Some householders set the dogs upon him. Yet, he still prays for all, for he knows that to return the hatred he receives from his tormentors shall indict him on the Last Day. He is radically alone, with no human companionship. However, what do we see in his hand? It is his most precious possession, an icon of the Mother of God.

With his pilgrim’s staff in his other hand, he is not merely wandering about in confusion. He is purposefully on his way to a given earthly destination. Is he going to see an elder in some distant skete, or, is he heading for the comforting modest home of the family of a saintly parish batiushka? I believe that for every person who cursed the Fool, there was another who took pity on him. Of course, most people, as always, were inert. They neither cursed nor blessed the Fool. Yet, the Fool prays for them as well. He sees their weakness and fear, and he weeps and wails before the Mother of God for their deliverance from the grip of apathy. In this, the Fool teaches us a lesson. In Orthodoxy, we do not have the same emphasis on individual salvation as do some of the Western confessions. We stand or fall TOGETHER. The Fool knows this instinctively. If he fails to pray for a single soul (yes, even a Hitler or Stalin!), we are all diminished and fall short of the standard of Heaven. No, this does not mean that earthly malefactors receive a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. They can (and should) face earthly justice. Yet, the Fool’s prayers can lift them into Heaven at the last.

We may stand with the Fools or pontificate with the professors. Truly, after all, is it such a hard choice…