Becoming St. Xenia: A Study of Sanctity and Madness

The holy fool saints of Russia have a legacy for being heroes to the Russian people and an enemy to the Russian state. There is a multitude of captivating literature pertaining to this tradition as the Russian Orthodox Church has a large number of adherents, second only to the Roman Catholic Church. I find Russian Orthodoxy to be nuanced and the cultural significance of their saints to be rich. Soviet life and Bolshevik attacks on the church organization in the early twentieth century have created gaps in the continuity of literature due to the difficulty in publishing Russian Orthodox literature during times when printing was banned. However, literature that is readily available includes engaging narratives, folk tales, and appraisals that illustrate how dynamic the culture is. Through my work, I discuss one piece of this orthodox tradition by looking at the perceived sanctity and madness of Russian fools-for-Christ’s sake. We must examine the multitude of relationships with regards to the holy fools, Russian Orthodox establishment, local communities, Muscovite cults, western adherents, and tsars of The origins of the modern Russian Orthodox holy fool saint are from Greek Orthodox holy fools called salos1. The holy fool fell out of favor in Greece and reappeared further east in Kiev and Russia where the Russian word for holy fool is yurodivy. The usage of the term yurodivy must taken in context because of the varying partisanship of individuals using the word and the overtones they may have applied to the holy fool. In Russia, the yurodivy were spoken of as pokhabyi with reference to the sincere act of holy foolishness.2 Prevailing opinions regarding the holy fool had wild swings as the fickle marketplace of Russian sainthood caused a larg