Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond

A fascinating and absorbing study of one of the most vivid and ambiguous cultural and social phenomena brought to Rus’ as a legacy from the Byzantine Empire—holy fools (yurodstvo).

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Who are yurodivy and why, in Ancient Rus’, were they called “hags”? What’s the difference between “fools for Christ’s sake” and ordinary madmen? Why did yurodstvo as an institution take shape in Rus’ at the same time as autocracy? What was the attitude toward staged, culturally interpreted madness in the Near East and in ancient Greece? Can we call the yurodivy Prince Myshkin or Vladimir Zhirinovsky? And Oleg Kulik and “Pussy Riot”? Why should a monk go to a tavern? And for what purpose, in the end, does a yurodivy—become a yurodivy? Historian Sergey Ivanov, using an incredible amount of materials—from ancient texts to modern research—gives a comprehensive, engaging, and incredibly informative description of yurodstvo as a religious-cultural phenomenon, tracing its history from the Byzantine Empire to modern times.

The second, expanded and revised edition of an audiobook by Dr. of Historical Sciences, professor of HSE and St. Petersburg State University, a specialist in Byzantine history, writer, and science popularizer Sergey Ivanov.