TO holy fool Our ancestors treated the “city madmen” with deep respect. It would seem, why such honor to half-mad ragamuffins carrying some kind of nonsense? However, these people, who led a more than, in our opinion, strange way of life, chose their own special path of serving God. After all, it was not for nothing that many of them possessed miraculous powers, and after death they were numbered among the clique of saints.

Blessed for Christ's sake

Fools have been known since the dawn of Christianity. The Apostle Paul in one of his epistles said that foolishness is the power of God. Blessed wanderers who renounced blessings Everyday life, have always been respected by others. It was believed that the Lord spoke through the mouths of holy fools; many of them were given the ability to see the future.

A special attitude towards God's people was noted even in the Byzantine Empire. The holy fools of Constantinople could publicly expose the vices of the powerful, their unseemly actions, without fear of retribution for their insolence.

It must be said that those in power rarely subjected the blessed to repression, but, on the contrary, listened carefully to their words and, if possible, “revised” their behavior. Rich ladies of the capital of the empire even hung chains of holy fools in their house churches and worshiped them as shrines.

However, most of all they revered the blessed ones for Christ's sake on Russian soil. After all, over the course of several centuries, the Orthodox Church canonized 56 “God’s wanderers.” The most famous of them are Maxim of Moscow, Martha the Blessed and John the Big Cap, whose warnings more than once saved people from troubles and misfortunes.

It must be said that it was not only in the days of hoary antiquity that holy fools enjoyed great respect. So, at the beginning of the last century, the blessed fool Mitka from the city of Kozelsk was invited several times to the court of Tsar Nicholas II, where he prayed with him and the grand duchesses, drank tea with jam, and then was sent home by the royal train.

The image of the blessed one, oddly enough, was close to Stalin. While listening to the opera “Boris Godunov” in 1941, the “father of nations” was so impressed by the small role of Ivan Kozlovsky, who sang the role of the holy fool, that he ordered the Stalin Prize to be awarded to the artist.

Born on the porch

One of the most famous holy fools in Russia is St. Basil the Blessed (Naked), who lived at the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century. A beautiful temple erected in the center of the capital is named after him.

Vasily began his life's journey on the porch of the Epiphany Cathedral in the village of Elokhovo (today it is one of the districts of Moscow), where his mother suddenly gave birth.

Since childhood, Vasily amazed his relatives with his accurate predictions. At the same time, he was a kind and hardworking boy, and took on the feat of foolishness at the age of 16, when he was assigned as an apprentice to a shoemaker’s workshop. One day a rich merchant came to Vasily’s owner and ordered expensive boots for himself. When the visitor left, the boy burst into loud crying, telling those around him that the merchant “decided to celebrate the funeral shoes that he would never put on his feet.”

And indeed, the customer died the next day, and Vasily, leaving the shoemaker, began to wander around Moscow. Soon the holy fool, who walked naked through the streets of the city in winter and summer, covering his naked body only with heavy iron chains, became famous not only in the capital, but also in its environs.

Legends have been preserved that Vasily’s first miracle was the salvation of Moscow from the raid of the Crimean Khan. At his prayer, the invader approaching the capital suddenly turned his army around and went into the steppes, although a practically defenseless city lay in front of him.

Vasily’s whole life was aimed at helping the poor and disadvantaged. Receiving rich gifts from merchants and boyars, he distributed them to those who especially needed help, and tried to support people who were embarrassed to ask others for mercy.

Legends say that even Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself revered and feared the holy fool. Thus, after the suppression of the rebellion in Novgorod by order of the tsar, brutal executions took place in the city for several weeks. Seeing this, Vasily, after the church service, approached the king and handed him a piece raw meat. Ivan Vasilyevich sharply recoiled from such a gift, to which the holy fool declared that this was the most suitable snack for a drinker of human blood. Having understood the holy fool’s hint, the king immediately ordered the executions to be stopped.

It must be said that until his death, Ivan the Terrible respected the holy fool and listened to his words. When the Blessed One was preparing to depart to another world in 1552, the Tsar, along with his entire family, came to say goodbye to him. And then, to the surprise of those around him, Vasily pointed to the youngest son of the Terrible, Fyodor, and predicted that it was he who would rule the Muscovite kingdom. When the Blessed One died, the Tsar and his nearby boyars carried his coffin to the Trinity Cemetery and interred the body.

A few years later, the tsar ordered the construction of a temple near the burial place of the holy fool in honor of the capture of Kazan, which is now known to us as St. Basil's Cathedral.

In 1588, Patriarch Job canonized Vasily as an Orthodox saint; his relics were placed in a silver shrine and displayed in one of the chapels of the temple. Today they are one of the main shrines of Moscow and are famous for their numerous miracles.

Guardian of St. Petersburg

Another particularly revered holy fool of Russia is the blessed Ksenia Petersburgskaya. She was born in the 20s of the 18th century into a noble family and was married to the court singer Andrei Fedorovich Petrov.

But a few years later, Ksenia’s husband died suddenly, and after his funeral the young widow dramatically changed her lifestyle. She took off her woman's dress, put on her husband's clothes, distributed all her property to her friends and went to wander around the city. The blessed one declared to everyone that Ksenia had died, and she was her deceased husband Andrei Fedorovich, and now responded only to his name.

Wandering the streets, blessed Ksenia steadfastly endured all the ridicule of the city children, refused alms, only occasionally accepting money from the “king on horseback” (old pennies), and tried in every possible way to help people with advice or timely predictions. So, stopping one woman on the street, Ksenia handed her a copper coin, saying that it would help put out the fire. And indeed, the woman soon learned that a fire had broken out at home in her absence, but it was put out very quickly.

Late in the evening, Ksenia went out of town and prayed there in an open field until the morning, bowing to all four sides. Soon the blessed one became known throughout St. Petersburg. At the Sytny market she was a welcome visitor, since it was believed that if she tried any product, its owner would be guaranteed a happy trade. In houses where I went to rest or have lunch
Ksenia, luck, peace and prosperity reigned, so many people tried to get such a guest under their roof.

It was noticed that if Ksenia asked a person for something, then trouble would soon await him, but if, on the contrary, she gave him any little thing, this promised great joy to the lucky one. Seeing the holy fool on the street, mothers rushed to bring their children to her. It was believed that if she caressed them, the babies would grow strong and healthy.

Blessed Ksenia died in 1806 and after her death was buried in the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg. And soon the sick and suffering came from all over the country to her resting place, wanting to enlist the help of the deceased holy fool. At the beginning of the 20th century, with donations from believers, a spacious stone chapel was built over Xenia’s grave, and the flow of pilgrims here did not dry up even in Soviet times.

Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg was canonized as an Orthodox saint only in 1988. It is believed that she helps all people who turn to her for help. Most often, believers ask her to grant them a happy family life and health for their children.

Elena LYAKINA, magazine "Secrets of the 20th Century", 2017

Remembering the life of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, who is known not only throughout Russia, but also among Orthodox Christians all over the world, I would like to talk about the history of the origin of the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake. The holy fool (glorified stupid, crazy) is a person who has taken upon himself the feat of depicting the external, i.e. visible madness in order to achieve inner humility. For the sake of Christ, the holy fools set themselves the task of overcoming the root of all sins - pride. To achieve this, they led an unusual way of life, sometimes appearing as if they were devoid of reason, thereby causing people to ridicule them. At the same time, they denounced evil in the world in allegorical and symbolic form, both in words and in actions. Such a feat was undertaken by the holy fools in order to humble themselves and at the same time have a stronger influence on people, since people are often indifferent to ordinary simple preaching. The key to understanding this feat is a phrase from Holy Scripture: “...the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God...” (1 Cor. 3:19).

This feat has existed in the Church of Christ for a long time. The Universal Church knows 40 examples of such service to God, six of them relate to church history times of the Byzantine Empire.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, about four hundred holy fools are venerated. In Holy Rus' this is one of the most amazing and difficult feats of Christian piety. It is based on a fiery love for God, combined with great self-sacrifice, extreme impartiality towards oneself, patience with abuse and contempt from those living in the elements of the world, enduring hunger, thirst, heat and other hardships associated with a wandering life. This holy feat reveals to man the gift of God's grace - spiritual wisdom for turning dishonor into the glory of God, not allowing anything sinful in the ridiculous, anything seductive in the indecent, nothing unjust in reproach.

Moral purity gave the holy fools the courage to speak the damning truth to the “powers of this world”; they returned the hearts of those who sinned to the path of truth and goodness.

The art of faith and the art of doing God operate in the feat of holy foolishness. This art is revealed to those who have trusted the Word of God with their whole being and have internalized it with living faith as “ God's power for salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Spiritual wisdom is perceived by worldly people as foolishness, according to the words of the apostle: “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness; and cannot understand, because this must be judged spiritually” (1 Cor. 2:14).

Folk love and reverence for the foolishness of Christ is embodied in folk tales. Doesn’t the cycle of fairy tales about Ivan the Fool remind us of this? A fairy-tale hero, an exponent of the folk Christian ideal of modesty, non-covetousness, “poverty of spirit” and foolishness.

The desire for success and well-being is completely alien to Ivan the Fool. His “stupidity” and ridiculous, senseless actions are emphasized. It is this “stupidity” that seems from an everyday point of view that saves Ivan the Fool when he finds himself in a dangerous situation, and all the “smart” people around him die. Thanks to his “stupidity,” Ivan the Fool passes all the tests - he defeats the enemy, marries the Tsar’s daughter, receives wealth and fame, and becomes Ivan Tsarevich.

Now, when many believe that darkness has almost won, it is worth re-reading the tales about Ivan in order to learn from him fortitude and mental balance. And yet he has to get everything himself, in unimaginably difficult circumstances. And they buried him, and fried him, and chopped him into pieces, and drowned him, but he was still alive! And mind you, he never made an idol for himself, nor offended his neighbor, nor any creature, nor a tree, nor a blade of grass. Ivan’s whole destiny lies in helping others, in selflessly protecting the weak and offended.

“Son,” the old man says, “feed me: I’ve grown thin for long journey, there is nothing left in the bag.

Ivan answered him:

- And we, grandfather, don’t have a crumb of bread in the hut, if I had known that you were coming, I wouldn’t have eaten the last crumb myself just now, I would have left it for you. Go, I’ll wash you and rinse your shirt.”

Predicting his behavior is easy. You can, without making a mistake, say how he will behave in each situation. He, without ever mentioning the commandments of Christ, follows them as if this is the norm of his behavior. On fairy tale hero, the most inconspicuous, ordinary sinful person named “servant of God” lies the reflection of Christ.

The Greek proverb sounds a little different than ours: “Through the lips of babes and holy fools the truth speaks.” Although it was in Rus' that people listened to the words of the fools for Christ, perhaps more than anywhere else. Who were these people “not of this world”? What was their rare feat? What were they trying to tell us with their unusual actions and deeds?

Why do you have to pretend to be crazy to save yourself?

To the ear, the word “holy fool” sounds completely unattractive. You immediately hear something ugly, ugly, you imagine scabs, rags, a toothless mouth, figuratively speaking, a beggarly appearance. And indeed, foolishness has its root in the word “freak”. In the Gospel of Matthew we meet “foolish virgins” ( Mf. 25:1), where this word is used in its original, direct meaning, that is, “stupid.”

IN Greek To denote this concept, the noun salos is used, meaning “swaying, wavering” or “a person with a restless mind,” that is, crazy. Why should all these unpleasant epithets apply to people whom we consider blessed saints? Where does this discrepancy come from? After all, the feat of foolishness is considered the most difficult in Orthodoxy. So don't even try to repeat it at home.

In the New Testament we hear about the specific properties of Christian preaching from the Apostle Paul:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God ( 1 Cor. 1:18), For when the world through its wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe ( 1 Cor. 1:21).

It turns out that the very Truth of Christian doctrine in the eyes of the world seems like madness. And further the apostle teaches:

If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, then be foolish in order to be wise ( 1 Cor. 3:18)

This is a direct call to be fools for Christ’s sake. And, by and large, we should all be ready for it. Why did only a few take on such a radical and great feat? Because if to achieve holiness you need unconditional determination, then in order to take the path of foolishness, you need determination in a cube. So, who are these “people of God” or, as they were also called, “God’s fools”?

They are called those who, having followed Christ, renounced everything in the world and put on the guise of visible madness. The important point is that they seemed fools to those around them, and they did it deliberately, but they themselves were not crazy. This, strictly speaking, is the exceptional feat of foolishness, which at first glance is completely incomprehensible to ordinary people.

What is the meaning of such apparent tomfoolery, imaginary madness? Is his goal really only to attract attention to himself, as we see in modern shocking? Not at all. And it would be even more correct to say that its main meaning is precisely the opposite.

We can identify three main reasons or objectives for such “inappropriate” behavior of fools, although in reality there are, of course, more of them:

1. to acquire the greatest humility through voluntarily attracting ridicule and reproach from others;
2. to expose worldly untruth, external piety;
3. hide your true virtues.

Speaking an unknown language

What exactly does this specific type of holiness consist of? How unpredictably do fools for Christ's sake behave? In addition to the fact that they, as a rule, do not have a specific place of residence, they are distinguished by an extremely ascetic lifestyle, they often walk naked, indicating closeness to the state of pristine purity of Adam.

Special attention is drawn to the way holy fools transmit information. This is their special way of “speaking” with strange actions, deeds that are often incomprehensible to others. It should be noted that all these saints were endowed with the gift of clairvoyance. But they often presented their prophecies not in a direct, but in an allegorical form with the help of various signs, symbols, and unusual behavior.

For example, the famous ascetic Pasha Sarovskaya she loved to pour a lot of sugar into tea for those who faced great misfortunes ahead. She even poured so much of it for Tsar Nicholas II that the tea overflowed, thereby predicting his bitter fate. She loved to convey her predictions with the help of her favorite dolls, which were all over her bed.

Also, fools for Christ's sake can often behave outwardly immoral, reproaching generally accepted Christian norms. Eg, Simeon of Emesa defiantly ate meat Holy Week, Theophilus of Kyiv He brought armfuls of beetles and spiders to the church and released them there. The meaning of this behavior, the so-called “inverted piety,” was to expose the external, legalistic behavior of Christians, and to strive to point out the deep essence of faith.

Often behind such behavior there was hidden something that the external eye could not see, but which was revealed to the saints. So, for example, one day St. Basil the Blessed threw a stone at the icon, which was revered as miraculous. Later it turned out that under the top layer of paint there was a demon depicted on it - the icon was hellish. This fool for Christ, moreover, loved to throw stones at the houses of pious people, and on the houses of dysfunctional families he kissed the walls. People were perplexed. And then it became clear why he did this. On the walls of the first there were demons who were not allowed in, and on the walls of the second angels were crying.

How do the foolish differ from the blessed?

Very often, famous holy fools are also called blessed saints. This designation is generally accepted, although there are differences between these two forms of holiness. The blessed are people who are characterized by childlike gentleness, meekness in its fullest manifestation. They will never respond to insult or insult, they will always retreat and hide in the shadows. Those who have suffered the feat of foolishness differ from them in their active position in society; they try to stir up and expose society with their behavior.

They are also called people of God, but such ascetics were not always characterized by foolishness. Take, for example, Alexy, a man of God who did not do anything provocative to those around him. And it is precisely this social orientation—outwardly demonstrative behavior—that distinguishes those who are fools from the blessed and God’s people. Moreover, being themselves on the periphery of society, the holy fools for Christ’s sake were not afraid to speak out in denunciation even against the top of the government, even against the kings.

The phenomenon of foolishness in history

It is interesting that some features of the foolishness of saints are found even in Old Testament. They noted some unusual actions of the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea. In New Testament times, the feat of foolishness was first mentioned in the 5th century. In Palladius's "Lavsaik" (stories about the lives of the holy fathers) there is a certain nun who lived in one of the eastern monasteries, who pretended to be possessed, put rags on her head instead of a monastic doll, did the dirtiest work and suffered constant abuse from her sisters. Accordingly, she was revered as a madwoman, but later she turned out to be a blessed saint.

In the history of Evagrius, already in the 6th century, certain herbivorous ascetics, boskoi, are mentioned, who lived in the deserts among wild animals. Returning to the city, they behaved the same as in the desert, walking around in only loincloths and pretending to be crazy. But the very first actual fool for Christ, whose name we know, lived in the 7th century in Syria. And his name was Simeon of Emesa.

It is characteristic that foolishness has not “taken root” in Western countries. Sometimes it occurs only as a certain period in the lives of some saints. But it gained the greatest fame in Rus'. The Russian Church knows more than thirty people of God who were glorified in this rare feat.

The first holy fool in Rus' is traditionally considered to be Isaac of Pechersk, the same one who was initially seduced by demons and forced to dance. After healing, he worsened his feat. However, foolishness in his life was also only a certain stage. The first, in the true sense, fool for Christ in Rus' can be considered Procopy of Ustyug, who lived in Novgorod in the 13th century and was of foreign origin.

The 16th century saw the heyday of foolishness in Russian lands. Moreover, it took root here so much and gained great popularity that during the time of Peter I the Church was even forced to issue a ban on it. In addition, many false fools appeared, the so-called “cliques” and simply crazy people who could be mistaken for blessed saints. The last and most famous true Russian ascetic on this path can be considered Ksenia of Petersburg.

Why were there most holy fools in Rus'?

Why did the feat of foolishness manifest itself so abundantly in Rus' that it can almost be called a specific form of Russian holiness? Moreover, it is characteristic that some of the saints who shone in this feat came from Western countries. Among them: Procopius of Ustyug, Isidore and John of Rostov. Was it really necessary to be in Rus' in order to act like a fool? Perhaps so. What's the secret here?

It is likely that this type of holiness fits very well into the traditions of folk laughter culture. It is worth remembering how popular all kinds of buffoonery and buffoonery were here. However, this asceticism does not exist for the sake of laughter alone. Laughter in foolishness is not even purifying, but accusatory. He is called to proclaim the Truth of God, trampling upon human truth.

Since ancient times, the Russian people have been considered lovers of truth and seekers of truth. And it is precisely for this reason, one must assume, that the inhabitants of Rus' fell in love with the holy fools for Christ’s sake. It was considered a great honor to take pity and benefit such a saint, and a great sin to offend a man of God. Fools were listened to as prophets or the voice of conscience. Only they could tell God's truth face to face, regardless of faces and social differences.

In addition, Russian people are characterized by a certain maximalism and extremes. Foolishness is just such a feat that brought asceticism and asceticism to the limit. That's why most of saints who shone forth in this feat labored precisely on Russian lands.

The most famous examples of ascetics

Of the Byzantine holy fools for Christ, Andrei of Constantinople is best known to us, mainly in connection with the history of the Feast of the Intercession. Among their saints, the most famous among the people are: Procopius of Ustyug, Abraham of Smolensk, Nikola of Pskov, John of Rostov, Maxim of Moscow, Isidore of Rostov, and of course, Basil the Blessed and Holy Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.

A “chain” of foolish holy elders maintained spiritual purity in the Diveyevo monastery in the 19th – early 20th centuries, taking turns replacing each other at the “post”: Pelageya, Paraskeva and Maria of Sarov. Some fools for Christ's sake lived almost in our time. They labored on the territory of Ukraine Theophilus of Kyiv, made famous in 2014 Bartholomew Chigirinsky and an oxbow who has not yet been canonized, but is widely revered by the people Alypia Kyiv.

see also documentary about these unusual people:

Foolishness- a spiritual and ascetic feat, which consists of renouncing worldly goods and generally accepted standards of life, taking on the image of a person without reason, and humbly enduring abuse, contempt and bodily deprivation.
The key to understanding this feat is a phrase from Holy Scripture: “[i]... the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God...” (1 Cor. 3:19).

A holy fool (glorified stupid, crazy) is a person who has taken upon himself the feat of depicting the external, i.e. visible madness in order to achieve inner humility. For Christ's sake the holy fools set themselves the task overcome the root of all sins - pride. To achieve this, they led an unusual way of life, sometimes appearing as if they were devoid of reason, thereby causing people to ridicule them. At the same time, they denounced evil in the world in allegorical and symbolic form, both in words and in actions. Such a feat was undertaken by the holy fools in order to humble themselves and at the same time to have a stronger influence on people, since people are indifferent to ordinary simple preaching. The feat of foolishness for the sake of Christ was especially widespread among us on Russian soil.

THE FOOL AS PROPHET AND APOSTLE

He is no one's son, no one's brother, no one's father, he has no home (...). In fact, the holy fool does not pursue a single selfish goal. He achieves nothing.
Julia De Beausobre, “Creative Suffering”
Foolishness is a symbol of people lost to this world, whose destiny is to inherit eternal life. Foolishness is not a philosophy, but a certain perception of life, endless respect for the human person (...), not a product of intellectual achievements, but a creation of a culture of the heart.
Cecil Collins, “The Penetration of Foolishness” The holy fool has nothing to lose. He dies every day.
Mother Maria of Normanbay, “Foolishness”

Gospel of Luke

"foolishness for Christ's sake."

Anyone who exalts himself will be humiliated, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.
Gospel of Luke

It is not typical for a true Christian to be hypocritical and pretend, he must be honest and open with everyone, however, there is a special kind of Christian feat, which can be outwardly described as pretense and feigned eccentricity. The name of this feat "foolishness for Christ's sake."

This and many other cases show how holy fools tried to reason with people by their example, bringing to the point of absurdity the vices that are characteristic of many of us. They, being obviously holy people, granted the gift of miracles by God, caricatured petty resentment, envy, and grumpiness, giving people the opportunity to look at themselves from the outside. Look and be ashamed.

You should not see caustic satire in the behavior of holy fools. Unlike carnival jesters, holy fools were motivated by compassion and love for erring people. So blessed Procopius of Ustyug, who is considered the first holy fool in Rus', one Sunday began to call the residents of Ustyug to repentance, warning that if they do not repent of their sins, the city will suffer God's wrath. People laughed at the blessed one, saying “he is out of his mind.” A few days after this, blessed Procopius, with tears in his eyes, begged the Ustyug people to repent, but no one listened to him. And only when the saint’s formidable prophecy soon came true, and a terrible hurricane hit the city, people ran in trepidation to the cathedral church, where the holy saint of God tearfully prayed before the icon of the Mother of God, the warm Intercessor of our family. Following his example, the residents of Ustyug also began to pray fervently. The city was saved, but most importantly, many souls were saved, having received admonition thanks to the prayers of Saint Procopius.

Being great prayer books, fasters and seers, the holy fools avoided earthly glory, pretending to be insane. Blessed Procopius, spending every night, despite the severe frosts, in prayer on the porch of the cathedral church, in the morning he could fall asleep on a heap of manure, and Saint Simeon, who lived in Antioch, could be seen dragging him around the city tied by his leg dead dog. This often resulted in the saints being ridiculed, cursed, kicked, and sometimes beaten. Their feat can be called voluntary martyrdom, and, unlike the martyrs who suffered once, the holy fools for the sake of Christ endured sorrow and humiliation all their lives.

Leading such a lifestyle, the holy fools fought not only against the sins of other people, but first of all waged an invisible battle against sin, which could destroy them own soul- with pride. The feat of foolishness, like no other, contributes to the development in the soul of the ascetic of the virtue of humility, otherwise how could the holy fools be able to endure the sorrows that befall them.

But humility does not mean weakness of will and connivance in sin. Sometimes holy fools fearlessly raised their voices where others were afraid to open their mouths. Thus, the Pskov saint Nicholas Sallos suggested that Tsar Ivan the Terrible try raw meat during Lent. “I am a Christian and I don’t eat meat during Lent,” the king was indignant. “You drink Christian blood,” came the saint’s answer. The king was humiliated and left the city, in which he was going to inflict severe reprisals.

For Christ's sake, the holy fools fulfilled the words of the Apostle Paul: “If a person falls into any sin, you who are spiritual correct him in the spirit of meekness, watching each one of you so as not to be tempted.”

The blessed ascetics avoided vain earthly glory, but with their difficult deeds they earned incorruptible heavenly glory and were glorified by the Lord on earth with numerous miracles performed through their prayers.

We are mad for Christ's sake... we endure hunger and thirst, and nakedness, and beatings, and we wander... We are like rubbish to the world, like dust trampled underfoot by everyone.
Epistle of Saint Apostle Paul

JURODIQUES- ascetics Orthodox Church who took upon themselves the feat of foolishness, that is, external, apparent madness. The basis for the feat of foolishness was the words of the Apostle Paul from the first letter to the Corinthians: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18) “For when the world through its wisdom does not knew God in the wisdom of God, then it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:21), "but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks" (1 Cor. 1:23), " If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, then be foolish in order to be wise” (1 Cor. 3:18).

The holy fools refused for Christ's sake not only from all the benefits and conveniences of earthly life, but also often from generally accepted norms of behavior in society. In winter and summer they walked barefoot, and many without clothes at all. Fools often violated the requirements of morality, if you look at it as the fulfillment of certain ethical standards. Many of the holy fools, possessing the gift of clairvoyance, accepted the feat of foolishness out of a sense of deeply developed humility, so that people would attribute their clairvoyance not to them, but to God. Therefore, they often spoke using seemingly incoherent forms, hints, and allegories. Others acted like fools in order to suffer humiliation and disgrace for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. There were also such holy fools, popularly called blessed, who did not take upon themselves the feat of foolishness, but actually gave the impression of being weak-minded due to their childishness that remained throughout their lives.

If we combine the motives that prompted the ascetics to take upon themselves the feat of foolishness, we can distinguish three main points. The trampling of vanity, which is very possible when performing a monastic ascetic feat. Emphasizing the contradiction between the truth in Christ and so-called common sense and standards of behavior. Serving Christ in a kind of preaching, not in word or deed, but in the power of the spirit, clothed in an outwardly poor form.

The feat of foolishness is specifically Orthodox. The Catholic and Protestant West does not know such a form of asceticism.

The holy fools were mostly laymen, but we can also name a few holy fools - monks. Among them is Saint Isidora, the first holy fool († 365), nun of the Tavensky monastery; Saint Simeon, Saint Thomas.

The most famous of the holy fools was Saint Andrew. The holiday of the Intercession is associated with his name Holy Mother of God. This holiday was established in memory of an event that took place in Constantinople in the middle of the 10th century. The city was in danger from the Saracens, but one day the holy fool Andrei and his disciple Epiphanius, praying during the all-night vigil in the Blachernae temple, saw in the air Holy Virgin Mary with a host of saints, spreading her omophorion (veil) over the Christians. Encouraged by this vision, the Byzantines repelled the Saracens.

Foolishness for Christ's sake was especially widespread and revered by the people in Rus'. Its heyday falls in the 16th century: in the 14th century there were four revered Russian Yuri, in the 15th - eleven, in the 16th - fourteen, in the 17th - seven.

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.

In Kievan Rus there has not yet been a feat of foolishness for the sake of Christ as such. Although individual saints, in a certain sense, practiced foolishness for a certain time, it was rather asceticism, which at times took forms very similar to foolishness.

The first holy fool in the full sense of the word in Rus' was Procopius of Ustyug († 1302). Procopius, according to his life, from his youth was a rich merchant “from Western countries, from the Latin language, from the German land.” In Novgorod he was captivated by the beauty Orthodox worship. Having accepted Orthodoxy, he distributes his property to the poor, “accepts the foolishness of Christ for the sake of life and turns into violence.” When they began to please him in Novgorod, he left Novgorod, headed “to the eastern countries,” walked through cities and villages, impenetrable forests and swamps, accepted beatings and insults thanks to his foolishness, but prayed for his offenders. Righteous Procopius, for Christ's sake, chose the city of Ustyug, “great and glorious,” for his residence. He led a life so harsh that his extremely ascetic monastic deeds could not be compared with it. The holy fool slept naked in the open air “on the rot”, later on the porch of the cathedral church, and prayed at night for the benefit of “the city and the people.” He ate, receiving an incredibly limited amount of food from people, but never took anything from the rich.

The fact that the first Russian holy fool arrived in Ustyug from Novgorod is deeply symptomatic. Novgorod was truly the birthplace of Russian foolishness. All famous Russian holy fools of the 14th century are connected in one way or another with Novgorod.

Here the holy fool Nikolai (Kochanov) and Fyodor “raged” in the 14th century. They staged ostentatious fights among themselves, and none of the spectators had any doubt that they were parodying the bloody clashes of the Novgorod parties. Nikola lived on the Sofia side, and Fyodor lived on the Torgovaya side. They quarreled and threw themselves at each other across the Volkhov. When one of them tried to cross the river on the bridge, the other drove him back, shouting: “Don’t go to my side, live on yours.” Tradition adds that often after such clashes the blessed ones often returned not over a bridge, but over water, as if on dry land.

In the Klopsky Trinity Monastery, the Monk Michael labored, revered by the people as a holy fool, although in his lives (three editions) we do not find typical features of foolishness. The Monk Michael was a seer; his life contains numerous prophecies, apparently recorded by the monks of the Klop Monastery.

Saint Michael's foresight was expressed, in particular, in indicating the place to dig a well, in predicting an imminent famine, and the elder asked to feed the hungry with monastery rye, in predicting illness for the mayor who infringed on the monks, and death for Prince Shemyaka. Predicting the death of Shemyaka, the reverend elder strokes his head, and, promising Bishop Euthymius his consecration in Lithuania, he takes the “fly” from his hands and places it on his head.

St. Michael, like many other saints, had a special connection with our “lesser brothers.” He walks behind the abbot’s coffin, accompanied by a deer, feeding it with moss from his hands. At the same time, possessing the high gift of Christ's love for neighbors and even for creatures, the elder sternly denounced the powers that be.

A contemporary of St. Michael of Rostov, the holy fool Isidore († 1474) lives in a swamp, plays the holy fool during the day, and prays at night. They will choke him and laugh at him, despite the miracles and predictions that earned him the nickname “Tverdislov”. And this holy fool, like the righteous Procopius of Ustyug, “is from Western countries, of the Roman race, of the German language.” In the same way, another Rostov holy fool, John the Vlasaty († 1581), was an alien from the West. The foreign-language origin of the three Russian holy fools testifies that they were so deeply captivated by Orthodoxy that they chose a specifically Orthodox form of asceticism.

The first Moscow holy fool was Blessed Maxim († 14ЗЗ), canonized at the Council of 1547. Unfortunately, the life of Blessed Maxim has not survived,

In the 16th century, St. Basil the Blessed and John the Great Cap enjoyed universal fame in Moscow. In addition to the life of Saint Basil, the people's memory has also preserved the legend about him.

According to legend, St. Basil the Blessed was apprenticed to a shoemaker as a child and then already showed insight, laughing and shedding tears at the merchant who ordered boots for himself. It was revealed to Vasily that the merchant was expecting near death. After leaving the shoemaker, Vasily led a wandering life in Moscow, walking without clothes and spending the night with a boyar widow. Vasily's foolishness is characterized by denunciation of social injustice and the sins of various classes. One day he destroyed goods in the market, punishing unscrupulous traders. All his actions, which seemed incomprehensible and even absurd to the eyes of an ordinary person, had a secret meaning. wise sense seeing the world with spiritual eyes. Vasily throws stones at the houses of virtuous people and kisses the walls of houses where “blasphemy” took place, since in the former there are exorcised demons hanging outside, while in the latter, Angels are crying. He gives the gold donated by the tsar not to the beggars, but to the merchant, because Vasily’s perspicacious gaze knows that the merchant has lost all his fortune, and is ashamed to ask for alms. Yu pours the drink served by the tsar out the window to put out a fire in distant Novgorod.

St. Basil was distinguished by a special gift for revealing the demon in any guise and pursuing him everywhere. So, he recognized a demon in a beggar who collected a lot of money and, as a reward for alms, gave people “temporary happiness.”

At the height of the oprichnina, he was not afraid to expose the formidable Tsar Ivan IV, for which he enjoyed enormous moral authority among the people. The description of Basil the Blessed’s denunciation of the Tsar during a mass execution in Moscow is interesting. The saint denounces the king in the presence of a huge crowd of people. The people, who were silent during the execution of the boyars, at the same time when the angry tsar was preparing to pierce the holy fool with a spear, murmured: “Don’t touch him!.. don’t touch the blessed one! In our heads you are free, but don’t touch the blessed one!” Ivan the Terrible was forced to restrain himself and retreat. Vasily was buried in the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, which in the minds of the people was forever associated with his name.

John the Big Cap labored in Moscow under Tsar Theodore Ioannovich. In Moscow he was an alien. Originally from the Vologda region, he worked as a water carrier in the northern saltworks. Having abandoned everything and moved to Rostov the Great, John built himself a cell near the church, covered his body with chains and heavy rings, and when going out into the street, he always put on a cap, which is why he got his nickname. John could spend hours looking at the sun - this was his favorite pastime - thinking about the “righteous sun.” The children laughed at him, but he was not angry with them. The holy fool always smiled, and with a smile he prophesied the future. Shortly before his death, John moved to Moscow. It is known that he died in a movnitsa (bathhouse); he was buried in the same Intercession Cathedral in which Vasily was buried. During the burial of the blessed one, a terrible thunderstorm arose, from which many suffered.

In the 16th century, denunciation of kings and boyars became an integral part of foolishness. Vivid evidence of such exposure is provided by the chronicle of the conversation between the Pskov holy fool Nikola and Ivan the Terrible. In 1570, Pskov was threatened with the fate of Novgorod, when the holy fool, together with the governor Yuri Tokmakov, suggested that the Pskovites set up tables with bread and salt on the streets and greet the Moscow Tsar with bows. When, after the prayer service, the tsar approached Saint Nicholas for a blessing, he taught him “terrible words to stop the great bloodshed.” When John, despite the admonition, ordered the bell to be removed from the Holy Trinity, then at the same hour his best horse fell, according to the prophecy of the saint. The surviving legend tells that Nikola placed raw meat in front of the king and offered to eat it, when the king refused, saying “I am a Christian, and I don’t eat meat during Lent,” Nikola answered him: “Do you drink Christian blood?”

The holy fools of foreign travelers who were in Moscow at that time were very amazed. Fletcher writes in 1588:

“In addition to monks, the Russian people especially honor the blessed (fools), and here’s why: the blessed... point out the shortcomings of the nobles, which no one else dares to talk about. But sometimes it happens that for such daring freedom that they allow themselves, they also get rid of them, as was the case with one or two in the previous reign, because they had already too boldly denounced the rule of the tsar.” Fletcher reports about St. Basil that “he decided to reproach the late king for cruelty.” Herberstein also writes about the enormous respect the Russian people have for holy fools: “They were revered as prophets: those who were clearly convicted by them said: this is because of my sins. If they took anything from the shop, the merchants also thanked them.”

According to the testimony of foreigners, holy fools. there were a lot of them in Moscow; they essentially constituted a kind of separate order. A very small part of them were canonized. There are still deeply revered, although uncanonized, local holy fools.

Thus, foolishness in Rus' for the most part is not a feat of humility, but a form of prophetic service combined with extreme asceticism. The holy fools exposed sins and injustice, and thus it was not the world that laughed at the Russian holy fools, but the holy fools who laughed at the world. In the XIV- 16th centuries Russian holy fools were the embodiment of the conscience of the people.

The veneration of holy fools by the people led, starting from the 17th century, to the appearance of many false holy fools who pursued their own selfish goals. It also happened that simply mentally ill people were mistaken for holy fools. Therefore, the Church has always approached the canonization of holy fools very carefully.

Theological-Liturgical Dictionary

One of the most famous university professors, giving his lectures on theology, noted, not without irony, that such concepts as “sin” or “demon” cause confusion among the educated public - so use them directly, without cultural reservations, in a serious conversation with intelligent people it is almost impossible. And he told the following anecdote: a certain missionary, giving a sermon at a technical university, was forced to answer the question of how a person first thinks about a crime. Trying to speak to the audience in their language, he formulated the following phrase: “The thought of a crime telepathically broadcasts to a person a transcendental-noumenal totalitarian-personalized cosmic evil.” Then the head of an astonished demon pokes out from under the pulpit: “What did you call me?”

The point is that truth is not afraid of controversy. Truth cannot be destroyed. That's why the world came up effective method dispose of it as some kind of dangerous radioactive material, which is sealed in an impenetrable lead container and buried in a remote wasteland. At first, the truths obtained by great minds in a painful struggle become familiar and commonplace. 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 this mysterious relationship between a man and a woman? We physiologists know what this relationship is. Study the anatomy of the eye: where does that mysterious look come from, as you say? This is all romanticism, nonsense, rot, 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 heroism and betrayal without quotes are preserved only in children’s everyday life - along with “woman” and “good fairy”.

“Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth, who supposedly healed the sick with one word and supposedly raised the dead, supposedly also resurrected Himself on the third day after death.” Only in this way, in a straitjacket of quotation marks, surrounded by word-orderlies, can the Gospel Truth enter the “enlightened” assembly of secular people.

The proud mind is unable to make Truth even the subject of criticism. “What is truth?” - the Jewish procurator asks ironically and, without waiting for an answer, passes by the One 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 modern period“the well-guarded wall in classical literature collapsed... between positive and negative heroes... Any feeling not touched 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, and interest in the “dirty” word and swearing as a detonator of the text is increasing. New literature oscillates between “black” despair and completely cynical indifference. Today we are observing a completely 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 a synonym for the word “competitor”. This is the one who makes 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, when first heard in Russian culture, undoubtedly seemed like the mysterious delirium 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, by simple voting you make commanders out of ignorant people. When he was once praised by bad people, he said: “I’m afraid I’ve done something bad?”

When one 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 sign on the same house: “For sale.” “I knew,” said the philosopher, “that after so many drinking sessions it would not be difficult for him to vomit his owner.”

Shem, treasurer of the tyrant Dionysius, was a disgusting man. One day he proudly showed Aristippus his new house. Looking around the magnificent rooms with mosaic floors, Aristippus cleared his throat and spat in the owner’s face, and in response to his rage said: “There was no more suitable place anywhere.”

Foolishness, among other things, makes a person marginal and therefore can be a very effective cure against vanity. False honor encourages us to appear better to people than we are. That is why it turns out to be more difficult to talk about your sin in confession than to commit it. In this case, we can be helped by the example of the sages and saints who fulfilled the words of Christ: “When you are invited by someone to a marriage, do not sit in the first place, lest one of those invited by him be more honorable than you, and the one who invited you and him, coming up, does not say I wish you: give him a place; and then with shame you will have to take the last place. But when you are called, when you arrive, sit in the last place, so that the one who called you will come up and say: friend! sit higher; Then you will be honored before those who sit with you, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Sergey Mazaev

Crazy Love

The Lives of Saints is a literary genre. And like every genre, it has its own character traits. Since this is a very ancient type of literature, and the Church is a very conservative environment (which is wonderful in itself), hagiography retains many of the properties it acquired many hundreds of years ago. Modern man is a minimizer. Becoming more and more flat, he does not understand and rejects all the magnificent complexity of previous eras, and therefore of his past. Many things seem funny to him, many things seem naive. He refuses to believe in many things. The saints for him today are actors and athletes, and the lives of these saints fit into the format of gossip columns or scandals. The logical end of this process is in hell. So what should I do? We need to meet each other halfway, that is, to bring the lives closer to modern understanding, and for people who are interested, to rush towards the saints.

Meeting any of the saints is a personal meeting of two human souls. Meeting “through the years, across distances.” It is precisely the piercing depth of personal feeling that distinguishes these acquaintances. The rest of the historical surroundings - such as the era of the saint's life, clothing, morals, way of life, changes in royal dynasties - recede into the background and become secondary. We would very much like people living today to have as many friends as possible from among those already living in Heavenly Jerusalem. We would really like people to communicate with the saints, learn from them and take their example, fulfilling Paul’s words: “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.” To this end, we will try to talk about the saints with a sense of personal warmth, as great, but still friends, overcoming stereotypes and schematism that interfere with personal communication.

It's like removing a robe from an ancient image. The chasuble is precious and good, but ancient colors are better. Thus, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Rublev’s “Trinity” was revealed to the world, piously hidden by previous generations behind kilograms of silver. The Trinity was so good that the vestments themselves were perceived as hidden iconoclasm. The leafy-sublime style in talking about holiness can also be harmful for a broken person of the 21st century. The path is not easy, but the one who walks will master the road.

The life and feat of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg

Of all the cities in Russia, St. Petersburg is the most non-Russian city. On the political map of the world, only in Africa many countries have borders cut into a ruler. This is the legacy of colonialism.

Petersburg was also built for the line. Moscow grew overgrown with suburbs the way a merchant's wife grows skirts, like an onion grows flesh. Cities have been growing organically for centuries. But not St. Petersburg.

Planned according to the line, it arose in a matter of years, while other cities made meat on the bones, overgrown with settlements and suburbs over the course of centuries. Built at right angles, drowning thousands of souls under marble, giving a head start to Rome, Amsterdam and Venice combined, it grew out of the rotten swamps for no apparent reason - and immediately bristled with guns against enemies and crosses against demons.

Half a century later, the young city confirmed its Russianness with its holiness. One of his first and unofficial saints was a woman who was not glorified by anything on the outside. The city was imperial, service, bureaucratic. Hundreds of Akakiev Akakievichs scurried back and forth with government papers. Poverty shivered in the cold and stretched out its hands for alms. There were many churches, but little feat for Christ's sake and little mercy.

Suddenly a woman appears, having given everything to everyone and praying for everyone as if they were her own children. Childless women tend to be cruel. The prisoners, seeing off their friends to freedom, congratulate them, but bury the bitterness of resentment in their souls. After all, they are already leaving, but they still remain. Selflessly begging for others what you yourself are deprived of is the highest degree of love.

Ksenia Grigorievna loved her husband very much. They did not live long in marriage and did not have children. Sudden death turned the young widow's whole life upside down. In marriage, husband and wife are united into one flesh. And if one half crosses the line of life and death before the other, then the second half is also drawn over the line, although the time has not yet come for it. Then the person dies before death.

Some die for social life and become drunkards. Others die to a sinful life and begin the feat for the sake of God.

Ksenia wanted her husband to be saved for eternity. Having been deprived of temporary family happiness, she wanted her and him to be together in eternity. It was worth the effort. And so the young widow begins to go crazy, in Slavic - to act like a fool. She answers only to her husband's name, dresses only in his clothes and behaves in everything like she has gone crazy. From now on, and for half a century, behind the guise of madness, she will maintain unceasing prayer for her husband.

A person who prays always moves from praying for one person to praying for many. The heart flares up, expands in love and embraces those traveling, the sick, the suffering, the captives, the dying and many other states in which restless human souls find themselves. Big things start from small things. As soon as you love one person and invisibly shed blood in prayer for this one thing, abysses will immediately open, and before your mind’s eye you will see thousands of mourners, tremblers, despondents, and those in need of prayer.

Ksenia found it, although she wasn’t looking for it. She wanted to beg for the soul of her beloved husband, Andrei Fedorovich, for blissful eternity. But this fervent prayer for one person made her a prayer book for the whole world. This is how big things grow from small things. This is how people find something they didn’t expect.

Ksenia Grigorievna did not give birth to children from Andrei Fedorovich, whom she loved. Didn't enjoy it family happiness, I didn’t see my grandchildren. However, she begs people for a solution to various everyday problems: reconciliation with mothers-in-law and mothers-in-law, finding a job, changing living space, getting rid of infertility...

Usually, someone who hasn’t had something won’t beg for it. Those who have not fought do not understand those who have gone to war. A woman who has not given birth will not understand a woman with many children. And so on... But Ksenia, who wanted but did not have worldly happiness, without any envy begs for this same happiness to all those who turn to her.

St. Petersburg is the most non-Russian city. Planned to fit a ruler, like Africa, sliced ​​like a pie, it was entirely born from the mind, and not from life. However, Russian people settled it, and after half a century Russian saints were born in it.

They overcame both their own sinfulness and the unnatural environment in which they lived, and showed us the triumph of Ecumenical Orthodoxy in the windswept northern latitudes of a hitherto unknown area called St. Petersburg...

How much Great feat of Love to the spouse (who died without repentance)
she dedicated her whole life Pleasing God, of all the paths, choosing the most thorny one - the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake... (about the holy blessed Xenia of Petersburg)

There is probably not a single history textbook that talks about Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, whose memory we celebrate today. But every history textbook will definitely have a story about Napoleon and his deeds. These two people lived at approximately the same time - at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. Are their contributions to history completely disproportionate?

The deeds of Napoleon are known: hundreds of thousands of dead (some of them were buried here in the Sretensky Monastery); ruined, robbed churches, not only in Russia, but also, for example, in Venice, and throughout Europe; ruined destinies of many people. The spiritual influence of Napoleon was also enormous in his time, as evidenced in particular by the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov, tormented by doubts as to whether “I am a trembling creature or whether I have the right,” chopped up an old money-lender with an ax, one might say, with the name of Napoleon on her lips...

The life of Blessed Xenia is also well known to us: at the age of 26, a very young woman, she suddenly became a widow and took upon herself the feat of foolishness, abandoning her home, wandering around in her constant red jacket and green skirt or green jacket and red skirt, being subjected to constant ridicule and insults, being in unceasing prayer. For her long-term feat, incomprehensible to the world, Blessed Ksenia received from God the grace of quick and effective help to people - her participation in thousands of destinies was manifested brightly and triumphantly.

Her special gift was the device family life many people. So, one day, having come to the Golubev family, blessed Ksenia announced to a 17-year-old girl: “You are making coffee here, and your husband is burying his wife on Okhta. Run there quickly!” The embarrassed girl did not know how to respond to such strange words, but blessed Ksenia literally used a stick to force her to go to the Okhtinskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg. There, a doctor buried his young wife, who died in childbirth, sobbing inconsolably and finally losing consciousness. The Golubevs tried to console him as best they could. This is how they met. After some time it continued, and a year later the doctor proposed to Golubeva’s daughter, and their marriage ended up in highest degree happy. There are countless such cases of Blessed Xenia’s help in building a family - she truly became the creator of human destinies.

Napoleon is buried in the center of Paris, in the cathedral of the Invalides, and tourists eagerly come to gaze at his red porphyry sarcophagus, mounted on a green granite pedestal. No one comes to pray or ask him for anything; For modern man Napoleon is just a museum exhibit, a past preserved in alcohol. His influence today is negligible - in best case scenario hackneyed material for cinema or the pseudo-historical exercises of a beginning graphomaniac.

For more than 200 years, the grave of Blessed Xenia has been a source of healing, effective help in difficult circumstances, and a solution to insoluble problems. Thus, Blessed Ksenia appeared to one person who was suffering from wine drinking and said threateningly: “Stop drinking! The tears of your mother and wife flooded my grave.” Need I say that this man never touched the bottle again?

Every day thousands of people gathered (and continue to gather) at the grave of Blessed Xenia and asked her for help, left notes shouting for help, and with these notes, like garlands, the saint’s chapel was constantly hung. Hundreds, thousands, millions of notes called her name - was there even one such note at Napoleon’s tomb made of red porphyry on a green pedestal?

In modern historical science The term “social history” is becoming increasingly widespread. This is a very promising direction, which speaks of the importance of simple human destinies, the importance of “small deeds” in the life of society, and the determining role of ordinary people in the historical process.

Don't think history is being made strongmen of the world this, on the political Olympus; history is not at all what we are shown on television. True story happens in human heart, and if a person cleanses himself with prayer, repentance, humility, and patience with sorrows, then his participation in his own destiny, and therefore in the destiny of those around him, and therefore in all of human history, increases immeasurably.

Blessed Xenia did not lead the state, did not gather armies of thousands, did not lead them on campaigns of conquest; she simply prayed, fasted, humbled her soul and endured all insults - but her influence on human history turned out to be immeasurably greater than the influence of any Napoleon. Although the history books don’t talk about this...

However, Christ tells us about this in the Gospel: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?” Using the example of Napoleon and Blessed Xenia, these words become even more convincing.

History is made not in the Kremlin and not in the White House, not in Brussels and not in Strasbourg, but here and now - in our heart, if it opens to God and people. Amen.

Hieromonk Simeon (Tomachinsky) 02/6/2006

One of the episodes from the life of St. Basil... Performing various strange things, Vasily, among other things, threw dirt and stones at some houses, and at some houses, kneeling down, kissed the walls. People took a closer look at these houses and were surprised. Dirt flew to where they lived modestly and righteously. And the walls of the houses where drunkards, villains, and debauchees lived were watered with tears and kissed. Blessed Basil saw the angelic world. He saw how demons were prowling around the houses where righteous people lived, but they could not enter inside. There, inside are bright Angels. Vasily threw stones at the demons outside. On the contrary, where sin nestled in homes, demons found shelter next to people. And the bright spirits with tears are outside. Next to them and with them, the holy fool prayed for Christ’s sake.

Archpriest ANDREY TKACHEV