Voordrachten

Wie is hier de gek? Dwaasheid om Christus' wil in Byzantium en in Rusland

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Abstract

Holy fools (Gr. saloi) are a special group of saints venerated in the Oriental Church. Moved by extreme humility, they pretend madness and, through scandalous and enigmatic actions, they intend to expose the wickedness and hypocrisy of the world. This extravagant form of imitatio Christi originated in early monasticism (Egypt, Syria; prototype is Symeon Salos), flourished in Byzantium (Andreas Salos) and found its way to Russia, where it became very popular, especially under the tsars. Russian jurodivye played also an important role in society as defenders of the people and accusers of injustice. Dostoevsky’s fascination for jurodstvo resulted in the creation of the beautiful characters of Prince Myshkin in ‘The Idiot’ and Alesha in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.

How to Cite:

Vereecken, J., (2006) “Wie is hier de gek? Dwaasheid om Christus' wil in Byzantium en in Rusland”, Tetradio 15(1): 5, 101–128. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tetradio.91763