Foolishness-for-Christ in Byzantine Spirituality and the Russian Tradition. Historical-Theological Contextualization and Comparative Conceptualization
Foolishness-for-Christ in Byzantine Spirituality and the Russian Tradition. Historical-Theological Contextualization and Comparative Conceptualization

Summary/Abstract: Foolishness-for-Christ is a rare, unconventional, challenging and often controversial ascetic practice in Orthodox spirituality. Emerged in the monastic space as an extreme way of acquiring humility, it has transmuted into the urban world, ostentatiously and provocatively, but at the same time humbly and providentially, promoting its role of awakening consciences and calling to a rediscovery of Christian dignity transfigured by the martyr condition. The present study aims to trace the specificity of this rare and eccentric necessity within the Byzantine spirituality in which it emerged and developed, but also in the Russian tradition in which it manifested itself as a true phenomenon. The concepts of salόs and yurodivy will be comparatively analyzed, which designate in the two spiritual traditions these devotees of the “holy foolery”, the comparative study focusing not only on the etymological meaning but also on the specific meaning of each Christian space analyzed and especially on the essence of this need.

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